The Quick + Optimal Food I Get at Mexican Restaurants

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I’m taking you on a trip for today’s Munchie Motivation because we’re getting optimal restaurant food 👏😍

Eating optimally doesn’t mean you have to cook EVERYTHING at home. You’re busy, stressed and still want to eat yummy, optimal food on the go.

So today, I take you to El Charro Del Rio and share my favorite optimal go-to Mexican dish when I’m on the run.

Plus I share WHY I order these specific ingredients 💪

Once you’ve watched comment below...

➡️ What’s the hardest part about eating healthy or optimal at restaurants for you? 🤔

Let me know bc tomorrow on Take Control Tuesdays I’ll let you know how to overcome those challenges. I’ll share tips for eating optimally at restaurants 💪

Then please ‘like’ and ‘share’ to spread the Munchie Motivation 🙌❤️

Love and Leafy Greens,

Trish

P.S. get 25 optimal munchie recipes FREE here 😘

8 Ways to Persist and Get Healthier with Inner Peace When Life is Tough

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Sometimes the world throws us challenges… challenges upon challenges. It’s a tough time in the world right now. Plus, the intensity of personal struggles can make these time very hard. Soothing yourself in a healthy way to continue to grow and enjoy life is very important for your wellbeing right now.

Here’s what has helps me persist and pursue my dreams with inner peace amongst stress and hardships. My hope is these 8 tips can help you too.

8 Ways I Find Pursue My Goals & Inner Peace

When Life is Tough

  1. Eat optimally.

    Eating optimally is the number one way I keep my body feeling great, pain free, lean and strong. Having that, directly creates a stronger ability to handle tough times.

    Once you know how to properly fuel your body is a maintainable way, food becomes a foundation… deliciousness to depend on to support you through the hard times (not cause you to spiral or cause added turmoil in your life). Food is powerful medicine and eating is one of the the few things we have control over in life (although it may not feel that way for you now).

    As a Maintainable Weight Loss Coach, I help about 95% my clients lose 1-3 lbs a week with a sustainable lifestyle change that’s best for their whole health (in addition to weight loss). Watch video success stories of my clients here to learn the power of Optimal Eating.

    Or, read my book ‘The Optimal Eating Solution: Maintainable Weight Loss and Longevity Even If You Can’t Exercise.’ It details a step-by-step guide for how to slim down without eating less, calorie counting, supplements, shakes or portion control. It includes everything I teach my clients!

  2. Vigorous Exercice.

    I vigorously exercise (preferably in the morning) to get my blood pumping because NOTHING helps me conquer my day like intense exercise. Nothing else helps my mental health better than challenging exercise.

    You might not be at the place where you can vigorously exercise (nor is it the place to start if you’re struggling with 75+ extra pounds… eating optimally is where to start). Do the best you can whatever fitness ability you currently have and stay committed to learning how to eat optimally. Then, exercising becomes a lot easier and less painful.

    That’s the process I take my clients through — we put an optimal eating plan in place first, get them losing 1-3 pounds a week, lower their inflammation, increase their energy and then our personal fitness trainer puts an individualized exercise program in place for them and starts training them online.

  3. Sleep.

    I can better handle stress when I go to bed before 12 a.m. (this is not easy for me) and when I wake up earlier. Getting 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep (this means my cat Philly has to sleep elsewhere) is imperative for a healthier emotional and physical state of being. Tracking my sleep and setting a “get ready for bed” alarm on my phone are two ways I keep myself accountable to reaching this goal because everything is harder when you’re tired.

  4. Counseling.

    Last year I started great counseling for the first time in my life and still, weekly, I talk with a counselor. This has significantly helped heal and strengthen my emotional health (in ways I didn’t even know I needed). Remember, asking for and accepting help is a brave and courages act. Your emotional and mental health are just as important as your physical health.

  5. Gratitude and journaling.

    Almost every morning I start my day by writing down what I’m grateful for, how I feel and a few other Trishy things to reach my biz goals and stay on track. Gratitude and journaling help put my mind in a strong and love-filled space to feel peace, appreciation and strength going into my day.

  6. Meditation or yoga.

    My goal is to meditate for 10 minutes every morning to calm the mind, connect with my Self and get inspired with new creative ideas. My one year clients and I start some of our coaching calls with meditation too.

  7. Friends and community.

    We humans are social creatures. It’s essential to connect with people you love, who encourage you and whom you can have fun with.

  8. Play.

    I LOVE to dance (what’s your favorite way to play? Comment below. I’d love to hear). I’m a competitive pole dancer and it’s one of the funnest things I doing multiple times a week. I was a gymnast as a child, so pole dance is the perfect combination of flipping, climbing and dancing that brings me so much joy, fun and lol nice muscle too ;). During the COVID-19 shutdown, I’ve also been blasting music on my back porch and dancing by myself amongst the trees just for the fun of it.

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I don’t do all of eight of these everyday but a large combination of them is present in every one of my days, especially when times are tough. I never skip out on optimal eating though. That one is essential multiple times a day ;)

There’s NO expectation that you should be able to figure how to do all of these things on your own. Remember, there’s no shame in getting help. In fact, getting help will grow your self-esteem, help you feel stronger and more capable because you’re being brave and taking a step in the right direction for yourself.

If you need help with maintainable weight loss that’s great for your whole health despite injuries and additional diagnoses, I encourage you to schedule a free Zoom video consult with me here. We’ll see what’s possible for you and if you like, you can ask me if I think I could help you.

In your corner.

Love and Leafy Greens,

Trish

Six Ways to Eat More Veggies and Why That’s So Important in The Time of COVID

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My kitchen is overflowing with veggies right now. That’s not normal for most Americans. In fact, according to the CDC, 90.7% of Americans are NOT eating the recommended amount of veggies — for women, 2.5 cups a day and for men, 3 cups a day (source).

Which is even more astounding because the CDC includes potatoes and beans, peas and lentils as veggies too.

My Optimal Eating clients are an exception to this devastating statistic and so and I (and I hope you are or will be too).

A recent pre published article (not peer reviewed yet) "Reducing COVID-19 hospitalization risk through behavior change" reviewed “data (N=444,649) from the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to identify potentially modifiable risk factors associated with underlying conditions (cardiovascular disease, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, hypertension or obesity) that increase risk of US hospitalizations for COVID-19. Risk factors included lifetime smoking, sedentary lifestyle, and inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption” (source).

**The authors found that in increasing fruit and veggie consumption, increasing physical activity and not smoking can reduce someone’s risk of being hospitalized by 36%!** (source).

Those tragically dying from COVID-19 predominantly have diet-related comorbidities (high blood pressure, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease etc.) and or are over age 65 (something diet has zero control over) (source).

My most recent client who graduated as an optimal eater, Tracy, is 53 years old and look what she accomplished…

  • went from having high to normal blood pressure,

  • got off TWO blood pressure medications,

  • lost 16 pounds (in part, from eating more veggies although there’s more to it than that),

  • lost 2.5 inches off her waist,

  • decreased chronic pain 3-4 points throughout her body and - has drastically improved her digestion.

  • and, she’s full, satisfied, loves what she’s eating and has the vitality to move more.

Tracy, has significantly reduced her risk of being hospitalized by COVID-19 if she gets it and dying from the virus. BUT at the same time, she’s doing the best thing to SIMULTANEOUSLY add years to her life.

So, how can you increase your vegetable consumption to help strengthen your immune system (which is your body’s frontline defense mechanism for fighting viruses)?

Six Ways to Eat The Recommended Amount of Veggies a Day (and Like It)

1. Focus on the veggies you love or like

I never have my clients eat foods they don’t like. For your enjoyment and sustainability sake, focus on eating the veggies you like or love even if that means you’re eating the same ones repeatedly.

2. Make sure you have veggies at home.

You don’t have to buy organic. Canned, frozen or fresh are fine. Focus on the veggies you know you already like or love and stick to those. You can cook them in the microwave too! I love canned French cut green beans! Same thing with vegetarian baked beans. Buy the can!

3. Eat your veggies first!

This is a great tip for kids too. This ensures you don’t fill up on other foods first (and forget the veggies). Veggies also taste better when you eat them first because they are the lowest in calorie density of any food. The more calorie dense a food is the better it tastes so they won’t taste as good if you wait to eat them last.

4. Start at lunch. Don’t wait until dinner to eat your veggies.

My clients don’t measure their veggies or portion sizes ever (because who will do that for the rest of their life? And, it’s just unnecessary to get their results). Lunch should always include at least a cup of veggies. If you wait until dinner (or only eat once a day) you won’t get enough. Bonus points for having them with breakfast. Remember, potatoes, sweet potatoes and beans count too.

5. Eat no more than 3 ounces of meat a week.

To eat more veggies, you’ll probably have to eat less of something else. Meat, especially processed meats, have been shown numerous times to contribute to chronic disease in the normal American amount. Substitute a veggie burger for a beef burger (there are some really yummy, whole plant food burgers out there), a baked sweet potato instead of chicken, rice and beans in tacos instead of beef etc. You’ll stick get enough protein!

6. Make cheese sauces using veggies instead of traditional dairy cheeses.

You’ll get more vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants and skip the cholesterol and saturated fat — two nutrients that are non-essential for you to eat to survive. To the contrary, they’re harmful for your health.

Here’s two of my favorite plant-based cheese recipes:

In this video I also share what veggies are in my fridge and what you can do with them to make them taste good :)

I lay out my step-by-step eating and lifestyle plan that I give my clients (before we tailer it to their unique situation and needs) in my book “The Optimal Eating Solution.”

If you’re a go-getter and great and making changes on your own, I highly recommend reading and IMPLEMENTING the action steps in the book. It’s packed with research AND a concrete plan for losing 1-3 pounds a week like 95% of my clients do. Order ‘The Optimal Eating Solution: Maintainable Weight Loss and Longevity, Even If You Can’t Exercise,’ here.

Need my personal coaching as your private Nutritionist?

If you know you need help reaching your health and weight goals because you can’t do it on your own (there’s no shame in that), please reach out for a free consult. We’ll see if working with me is truly what you need or not (remember, asking for help is courageous and something to be proud of). Schedule your free video consult here and see my client’s amazing health transformations here.

Now comment below…

What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to eating 2.5-3 cups of veggies a day? What are your favorite veggies?

Can’t wait to hear.

Love and Leafy Greens,

Trish

P.S. While researching for this article I found that 10,000 children a MONTH are dying from COVID-19 hunger around the globe, brought on by our human response to the virus. For example, because food “markets closed because of coronavirus restrictions” people don’t have money from selling produce to feed their families and access to food is more challenging (source).

In Easton, PA yesterday, where I live, a non-profit ‘Animal Defender’ was giving away produce and plant-based products for the third month in a row yesterday (every Wednesday at 12 pm in front of Terra Cafe if anyone needs produce/food). I was there and there was a line 45 minutes before they opened.

In the U.S. Sadly, with 20 million Americans additionally unemployed because of shutting down society, it will be harder for many Americans to eat more veggies in a time when it is more important than ever (poverty is the main disparity to decreased fruit and veggie consumption according to the CDC). Plus, there are no no negative effects from increasing vegetable consumption. It can only help you (source).

Getting lean, and reducing chronic disease is more important than ever because it can reduce COVID-19 hospitalizations up to 36% (source).

 
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