Teri has been in the health and wellness industry for 25 years now, but it wasn’t until about 15 years ago when she had health problems that her path of healing lead her to taking a more holistic approach, combining both Eastern and Western Medicines to help her reach a place in her life and her health, where she could feel better and whole again. This journey opened up a world of understanding us as more than just a mechanical being and physical being and realizing we are ENERGY as well.

She found the bigger picture. Where HOW we eat, not just what we eat, and our lifestyle plays a much larger role in our health then we realize.

Since then, she has healed from her health issues and expanded her wealth of knowledge to now helping others find other sustainable ways of living so that they are able to heal as well. Teri found that by looking at things in a holistic perspective, she was able to find that it’s not about should-haves, it’s about looking at food and health, and how can I create a lifestyle that I can do with my everyday choices. It is about a happier and healthier sense of WELL BEING.

Okay, so for years we are being told, you can and can’t eat this, this isn’t good for you, eat more protein, eat more vegetables, eat fewer carbs, and the list goes on and on. And that healthy relationship with food dissipates till we are left with just with what we are eating and not really paying attention to how we eat. At that point, it turns into an unhealthy relationship with food, and we become rigid in our ways, and it spills out onto this rigid mindset. Basically, HOW we do food is HOW we do life! It is literally just a reflection of who you are. And this is where we have to change how we eat and be mindful of our food in order to change who we want to become on the outside.

When you jump into talking about food, you have to know that this goes way deeper than just calorie counting, diet culture, body image, weight, and tying yourself worth to the relationship you have with food. Yes, that is all a part of the conversation, but a lot of us are not flexible and open about our food. We may think that we are, but in reality, you really aren’t! If you are really particular about what you eat, when you eat, you are super structured, what you like or don’t like… THAT is not being flexible.

In order to stimulate change within ourselves and look at food in a new way on how it can heal our bodies, we have to be open to trying NEW things. And this includes NEW foods, eating when you are hungry versus when the clock says it’s time to eat, and try new experiences! Raise your hand if you like what is familiar, what makes you feel safe and grounded. Yup! But life is supposed to be an evolving art, so you have to keep putting yourself in that space of newness.

But HOW do I get around eating the same thing all the time’

HOW can I add this newness and variety into my life when it comes to food’ And one way to do it, is to eat like we used to, around the seasons. Now you are wondering, what does that even mean.. Well, it simply means eat what would be growing around you during that season. What would be harvested then or available to eat’ It helps you and your bodies energy to become aligned with nature, it gives you a guideline of foods, and you are never giving things up, you are just eating it seasonally. It means that its “not the time for that food” not “no you can’t eat that”.

What does food do to our bodies when we eat’

If we do not feel grounded and centered within ourselves, we tend to turn towards food that is the one thing easily accessible that we CAN CONTROL. And when we eat to feel better, it sends off these certain hormones and different neurotransmitters that help us feel centered and grounded in our life. Each time you eat, it slows down your vibration so that you feel a sense of centering, so every time someone takes in a little bit of food, it slows the vibration within our bodies that allows us to feel a sense of comfort and safety even if it’s just a temporary little blib… So that’s why people like to eat all day long as you know, six meals a day or grazing all day.

{which this doesn’t have any type of scientific backing for like weight loss, but it helps people feel that constant goodness all day from eating.}

Our bodies were not meant to eat all day long. Our bodies are meant to eat, digest the food we just ate and go along with this entire process within our bodies that has to take place while we are NOT EATING. Then we wait for those hunger cues, that my brain is saying okay, you are ready to eat now, long AFTER it has already become satisfied. Just understanding those hunger cues, allowing yourself to feel satisfied with that meal and ENJOY every single bite, will help to take food out of the picture as that temporary comfort. But you have to make sure you stop worrying about whether the foods are good or bad!

To get to this, we have to FEEL GROUNDED within ourselves and when I say grounded, I mean to feel a sense of home within yourself. This sense of grounding comes from our Root Chakra which is the Chakra of stability, security and our basic needs.
● Do you feel centered, safe in your own skin’
● When you wake up do you feel a sense of inner peace’
● Do you feel comfortable in your own skin and body’

When you become all of the above then it will take your mindset and make it more flexible! Yes! See, it all goes together!! Better mindset, more flexibility! When you are open to this life, you’re going to be flowing, kinder, and friendlier when you feel centered and grounded. You then show up as the best version of yourself!!

But when you are not mindful and grounded, you are going at life fearfully, worried about what can happen, sizing people up, become US VS THEM. And you feel like you are not on the same team as other people!

So, tell me, which would you rather be’ Grounded and centered or being on the defense all day every day’ Below is a great example..

“Outside is a reflection of what’s happening on the inside.” If you were to walk out into the world, and just think everyone you meet is super rude and crazy, you’re going to meet every rude and crazy person, because they’re there!!! But if you walk out and you’re like, oh shoot! Everyone is so nice here, then you’re going to meet the friendliest people because that’s what you’re placing your attention on!
So that’s part of the inner work of shifting your mindset, shifting your belief systems. And that starts with doing different meditative practices, doing different mindfulness practices, and you can actually use the way that you eat to initiate that.

1. Stop eating on the go; SLOW down and really see your food and connect with it. You WANT to feel that satisfaction and you WANT to feel full.
2. Don’t worry just about how much protein or calories are on your plate. These things are so insignificant right now when we talk about food.
3. Show up to your meals and be aware of what you are eating!
4. Connect with it. EAT while you are EATING with little to no distractions.
5. Our bodies do not communicate fullness for about 20 minutes, so if you are woofing down food in 5 minutes, chances are you are still going to continue to feel hungry, and then you are going to feel heavy!
6. Try and relax and not eat when you are stressed. Try and lower your stress levels as much as possible because it affects your body negatively no matter how healthy the food is you are eating. It stresses out your nervous system and changes are, those good foods don’t even really “get in”.

“Yes, you might be eating the right macronutrients, you might be eating all the right “great foods”, but if you are stressed as fuck and you are not sleeping, it doesn’t matter!!”

Our bodies are always trying to communicate with us. Whether in different emotions that show up during the day, or thought processes, or acid reflux, or gas and bloating, aches and pains, headaches, sciatica. Whenever it shows up, those are the subtle messages from the body saying, “Hey, what we are doing is not exactly working and we need to reset.” And instead of throwing a band aid on it and trying to cover it up with some Advil, we have to stop and get to the root. When you get to the root that’s how you become grounded and if you’re grounded, you will be healthy.

● Stop putting so much pressure on ourselves.
● SLOW down and stop multitasking. (you would be surprised at what more you can accomplish when you actually stop and do one thing at a time)
● Pick 3 things a day that you want to do and do them! Doesn’t have to be big things, can be small. But write them down and knock them off your list and you will feel freaking amazing and you got that shit done!
● We will always have a “TO DO List” but be sure to give yourself some REST!
○ Work
○ Play
○ Action
○ REST
○ And find a balance between them!

You are probably wondering, what does this have to do with FITNESS!’

Girl, how you do ANYTHING is how you do EVERYTHING!! In order for us to feel healthy, move forward and feel happy, it asks us to look at the way we do everything. And the food is JUST ONE of the pathways to get you there.

After I started this business and talked to more and more people, I realized that it wasn’t just me telling my clients about bicep curls. It was looking at their whole lives and helping them realize how I can help them to make time for themselves.

It is that holistic perspective. It’s looking at someone as wholeness for all that you are. And when we only look at someone doing bicep curls, and we’re only looking at how much protein they had, or how many calories they have, and putting it in a spreadsheet… We are completely missing who they are as a dynamic being! And that’s why all those different processes don’t lead to healing and thriving because they’re just small little snippets in the bigger picture! It has to be about living this lifestyle, and It’s about welcoming a newness into your life all the time.

Let’s talk chakras!!

Chakras are energy centers in your body that are behind your biology or physical being. There are 7 main ones that go up through the spinal cord to the crown of our head and each one is associated with a different organ and system. Each one of these 7 energy centers have a different vibration, and they each impact different parts of our bodies. In order for us to have coherence or health inside our body, it’s about finding balance within these energy systems, that then makes our physiology balance or our physical body healthy.

Teri specializes in chakras and how we use foods to help bolster some of the chakras where they need it. When you take in certain foods that have particular qualities, it helps to nurture the mindset, not just the physical aspect of you. And she talks about this all in her book, The Hidden Messages in Food which goes much deeper into foods and Chakras, what foods will do for which Chakra and how to tell when they are out of balance and the foods that will help re-align it.

As my followers know, each episode on my podcast, I ask my guest, “What makes you feel magical.” and Teri’s response gave me all the feels!  “What makes me feel magical is when I feel completely connected to the universe. When I feel synchronicities in life, when I feel aligned with life, the feeling of love and openness, and when things effortlessly unfold for me. Life is all about energy and the less calculating you do on the physical essence; the more surprises and goodness can come to you.”

“When we place ourselves in a space of that openness, all of that is drawn to us and yeah, it’s sounds a little woo, but it makes me feel connected to my soul, which just makes me show up as my best version of myself.”
-Teri Mosey

If you want to learn more about Teri and think that this is in alignment with you and how you are feeling, be sure to check out her book. Or you can check out her 8-week Heal and Thrive Program, to work more extensively with her. You can also find Teri over on her website and on social through Facebook and LinkedIn .

(these are all linked above, but here they are again)
Website link – https://www.terimosey.com/
Link to book – https://www.terimosey.com/the-hidden-messages-in-food-book
Link to course – https://www.terimosey.com/heal-and-thrive-program
Link to socials – https://www.facebook.com/Teri-Mosey-Holistic-Health-and-Wellness-1573651989586202/

The post Apply These Tips To Master Your Nutrition appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

Kim: Let’s flash back to when you just had two kids.

Laura: Okay, if I can remember that!

Kim: I’m sure it may have been a little less chaotic with two kids versus four’ What was it like for you’ You were always active. You were a runner. You did Pilates. At the time were you competing before you had the kids or after you had the kids’

Kim: Here you are, you’ve got this busy Pilates business going on. You have kids and you were competing. How did you fit that all in’ You’re a new mom. You don’t know how any of this works.

Laura: Fitting it all in – my husband was really great. He knew that I needed time to do that and take an hour for myself because it made me more patient with the kids. I could go and do my little thing and have my own personal little victory every day and still come home and be the best mom, the most present mom that I could be. That’s really what that hour was about for me. Getting myself back to a healthy place and also I was more focused on the kids instead of thinking that I should have worked out and this and that. I wish I would have worked out and keep saying that all day long. I would always get up early and get it done. I would go while my husband was still home. I was able to go to the gym and get home before he left for work and then all day long it was just something that I could just check off my list, one last thing to worry about. That’s mainly how I did it. There were times when I didn’t get up early or my husband traveled for work a lot where I had to try to fit it in during a naptime or something like that. Even when they were awake, there were other things I did during the day to make sure that I could be fit.

Kim: Awesome. Now that you have doubled your pleasure and you have girls, is it the same thing where you’re getting up early and getting to the gym before your husband leaves and then still trying to squeeze it in when you can when the kids are napping or otherwise occupied’

Laura: Yes. It’s still that. Every day is something new. The night before I’m planning out my day. Can I fit it here’ I try not to get up early because I try to get as much sleep as possible, so that doesn’t happen a lot. I‘ll plan it out where maybe my mother-in-law is watching the kids or I’ll take the boys to their nursery school for the hour. I’ll drop them off and do a quick work out somewhere around town, just running hills somewhere doing long jumps from the sidewall. People driving by think I’m crazy. Then I go pick them up and I’m home again. There are times when they’re napping and I’ll try to get in a workout here at home, just something functional that I can do with body weights and some small dumb bells that I have. Sometimes I’ll even get on the treadmill and try running sprints. They don’t really like that because it’s loud. I try to work something in. Even when the kids are awake, I’ll do something with them. I hold the girls in my arms and I’ll do squats and lunges all around the house. You can get in a really good leg workout carrying your kids around. Different things like that.

Laura: They’re laughing all the time and giggling. The boys will try to do workouts with me. I’ll do push-ups. When the girls were very little and they didn’t really move a lot, I could lay them down on the floor and I could do a push up on one girl and then I’d walk over to the other girl and do a push up and I’d give them kisses every time I did a push up. It connected with them, but it also made sure that I did a full range of motion. Fun stuff like that and they loved it.

Kim: When you originally had the boys, was there a motivation to work out’ You were already fit before you had the boys. Your motivation to work out, was it just to get the baby weight off or it helps me stay sane and feel like Laura’

Laura: It was more to help me feel like me. That was a part of my life before and I didn’t turn into a different person just because I had kids. I still had this fitness element that I loved and I didn’t really want to try to get rid of all the baby weight. I tried to nurse both sets of twins for the entire year that was recommended. That involved keeping on a little bit of weight so that you can keep up your milk supply. It was more about me feeling like me. When you have your first child or first set of twins for me, the rest of your world really does change. That was one thing that really helped me feel like me.

Kim: Awesome. Kids are kids. Things happen. They don’t sleep through the night or someone’s sick. You’re beautiful plan just blew up. How do you stop yourself, like all women do, would have, could have, should have and having the grumpies’ What do you you do when stuff happens’

Laura: First I try to make my nutrition that day really on point and then just knowing that my kids are only once little or little once. They need me. It’s not going to be forever that I have to be skipping workouts and things like that. It’s really just living in the moment and being present for them and knowing that tomorrow I’m going to get in there right away no matter what and just really kill it.

Kim: That leads me to another question. Most mommies tell me that we live a nice clean healthy diet. I don’t want my kids to be the weird kids with carrots when everyone else is having Cheerios. Do you buy those things for your kids or go for the most healthful snacks. Also, how do you keep yourself from nibbling off their plates’

Laura: Mostly I give them all healthy things. We try to buy the most healthy things we can. I do nibble, but close to a show you have to cut all that out or a photo shoot or maybe even a race that I’m trying to really prep for and be in my top game. The thing is just knowing my goals and physically placing reminders of my goals around. We have a big picture wall and on the fridge in the kitchen and I have pictures or little phrases of things that remind me. You don’t really need to eat those three bites of that peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It seems small, but it’s not going to help you reach your goal. That’s always in the back of my mind when I’m prepping for something and picking and eating little snacks and bites of their food is a habit and you can just as easily make a habit out of not doing that. After a couple of weeks of being really conscious of it, it actually becomes easier and you don’t even think twice about taking their food. It all goes in the left over container and into the fridge. You don’t even think twice about it anymore. It becomes a habit.

Kim:  For me I deal with a lot of mommies who are new mommies and they have the guilt and I’m always encouraging them. It’s good for your kids to see you be fit and active. We all talk about childhood obesity, but if you’re mom is fat, typically the kid is going to be fat because they don’t understand that link. If your kids see Mommy running around and you make them always run around, it’s normal. You’re doing it with them.

Laura: If you aren’t being healthy yourself, you’re teaching them that it’s okay not to be healthy. You really have to set the example for your children and some of the best memories I have of last summer is when we’ve been at races and my boys are so excited. The girls don’t know what’s going on yet, but they’re so excited. They’re going to different spots along the race and cheering me along and then we’ve actually entered some kid races together. It’s a whole other connection you can have with your kids through fitness and it’s a nice bond to have.

Ladies it is possible for you to fit in clean living as well as a healthy and happy family. You need to have a plan and include your family in that plan. Be sure to share with your family your goal. Make it a family thing. Put the kids in the stroller and head out for a walk. While your kids are at the park squeeze in a a little workout, play tag with them. Do walking lunges around the sand box. Little things add up.

If you have any other fun ways to get active with kids I’d love to hear it. Please leave me a comment below.

PS> Check out Laura’s website. She has an amazing number of Pilates DVDs  http://tarbellpilates.com/

The post Can I Be A Yummy Mummy’ appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.