5 Tips for Achieving Your Healthiest Life

Living a healthy lifestyle goes so much deeper than just eating well and working out.  It is a commitment to making lasting changes that resonate through each and every part of your life.  It takes committing to yourself, holding yourself accountable, and giving yourself permission to not be perfect along the way.

Here are 5 tips to help you create and live your healthiest life.

Set your intention.  What does your healthiest life look like and why do you want to achieve it?  If you have a solid “why”, use that as your motivation in the moments when you don’t feel like committing to change.  Your vision and version of a healthy life is unique.  Don’t compare yourself to anyone else.  Set your own goals and work hard to achieve them.    

Be kind to your body.  You only get one body, so fuel it well and make it move.  Exercise, sweat, and push yourself to get a little uncomfortable.  Get up and workout even when you don’t feel like it.  Put the best possible fuel into your body that you can.  We ask our bodies to do a lot for us every moment of the day, so give it what it needs to function at its best. 

Eat real food.  The kind that comes right from the ground or was alive at one point very recently.  Ditch the processed, non-food stuff, and start incorporating as many nutrients into your meals and snacks as possible.

Challenge yourself.  Set small goals every day, every week, short term, long term, set them all.  Hold yourself accountable and challenge yourself when you aren’t following through.  You have to put in the work if you want the results.  Don't take the easy way out, but hold yourself to a higher standard and have the self-discipline to do what it takes to achieve your goals.     

Commit to the process.  The thought of making big lifestyle changes can be daunting.  Realize that it is a process, that there will be ups and downs, that you will make great choices and you will make not-so-great choices.  Your body might not respond the way you want it to even though you are trying so hard.  Stay consistent, know you are making healthy choices, and give yourself permission to enjoy the journey. 

If you are ready to take the next step and commit to making healthy changes in your life, I am here to help! 

Workout of the Week

Wall Squat Workout

In this workout you're going to spend a lot of time sitting... In a wall squat.  You'll have a circuit of exercises to do between wall squats, and a variety of fun things to do while squatting. And yes, you're legs are supposed shake like that. 


1 minute wall squat

10 rotating push ups (single count: do a push up, rotate body so you are doing a side plank on the left, then return to do a push up, rotate body so you are doing a side plank on the right.)
10 lateral raise
10 lunge row (in each side)
10 overhead press
10 dips
10 sprinters on each side (lie on back with legs outstretched and arms by your sides. Lift your chest, drive your right knee to your chest and drive your left arm like your sprinting. Lie back down and repeat with left leg and right arm)

1 minute wall squat with alternating bicep curl using light weight

Complete circuit

1 minute wall squat with alternating punches using light weight 

Complete circuit 

1 minute wall squat with torso rotation holding weight- try to tap wall on either side

Complete circuit

1 minute wall squat with overhead raise holding 1 weight in both hands- touch wall overhead and keep arms straight the whole time

Complete circuit

2 minute wall squat 

What Should I Actually Eat?


What Should I Actually Be Eating??

I know you have all asked yourself this question many times.  What should I eat?  What’s the best diet?  Should I be vegan, paleo, gluten free, keto, or (insert newest diet fad here)?  It seems like the answer is always changing and that maybe, just maybe, if you follow one of these diets all of your hopes and dreams and wishes will come true. 

Sorry to break it to you, but that’s not going to happen.  Going on a diet means eventually going off of a diet.  It’s not necessarily sustainable (unless you like being unhappy and depriving yourself of the joys of eating delicious food all of the time), and cutting out huge food groups can prove challenging and sometimes unnecessary. 

So that leaves us with the question again, what should I actually be eating? 

Although it seems like it, the answer to that question is not actually changing as quickly as these fad diets come and go.  The answer has always been the same.  It all comes back to real food.  Eat real food.  Eat mostly plants, good quality protein, and healthy fat.

When you eat, think about eating foods from these 3 categories: protein, healthy fat, and high fiber carbohydrates.  Avoid things that are not in those categories like added sugar, processed grains, anything with preservatives, artificial ingredients, refined fats, and highly processed dairy.


Eat protein at every meal and with snacks.  Protein should be good quality, so things like grass fed, organic and wild caught really do matter.  Protein can come from animal sources like meat, fish, chicken, eggs, or plant sources like beans and lentils.  Mix things up and get a variety of sources in your diet.

Healthy Fat

Fat is your friend.  Eat fat with every meal and snack.  It is great for your brain, your hormones, your heart, and it will help keep you full.  Healthy fats come from sources like avocado, grass fed butter, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, full fat dairy, and nuts and nut butters.

High Fiber Carbohydrates

Carbs have gotten a bad reputation.  They are not inherently bad.  What we have done to them is bad.  Yes, carbohydrates come from highly processed foods like sugar, sweets, pastas and breads, but carbohydrates also come from fruits and vegetables.  That’s why I make the distinction to say high fiber carbohydrates.  High fiber sources like fruits, vegetables (the starchy and non-starchy), and minimal whole grains like bran, Ezekiel Bread, quinoa, wheatberries, or any other actual grain, are your best options.  Avoid carbs in the form of cereals, white bread, pasta, white flour, sweets, sugar and juice. 

That’s a very simple answer to what has become a very complicated question.  Here’s a great book to help give you more information on the topic.  It’s called “What the Heck Should I Eat?” by Dr. Mark Hyman.  It’s worth the read!

Workout of the Week


For this workout you are going to start with 20 reps of each exercise. Then, for the rest of the workout work your way down by 2 reps each round for a total of 10 rounds, finishing up with 2 reps of each exercise.  Good luck! 

Lunge jumps (single count)

Push ups 

Plié squat jumps

Plank row (single count)

Dead lift 

Bicep curl/overhead press (light-moderate weight) 

Bicycle abs (on both sides) 

Workout of the Week

Arms and Abs

This workout will focus on your arms and your abs. You'll do a circuit of exercises 3 times, alternating between arm exercises and ab exercises. The rounds will decrease in reps, 20 for the first round, 15 for the second round, and 10 for the third round.  You'll need a physioball and some weights to get through this one.  Good luck and happy sweating!


Flies on the physioball

Decline push-ups: legs on the physioball

Crunches on the physioball

Pullovers on the physioball (head and neck on the ball, pull weight over your head with straight arms, then drive it back up)

Straight arm crunches on physioball (reach arms overhead swueeze biceps by ears)

Lunge row left

Lunge row right

Reverse fly with hips on physioball (facing the physioball, hips on the ball, toes on the ground, extend through your spine and lift your chest. Then do a reverse fly with light weights)

Mountain climbers on the physioball (on each side)

Bicep curl/overhead press

Tricep extension

In and out abs: balance on tailbone, hug knees into chest. Extend legs out, keeping them off the ground, reach arms out to the sides, then hug knees back in)

Lateral raise

Front raise

1 minute plank