January is here, which means you’ve likely set a New Years’ resolution! for your health goals. It is important to have holistic goals, where you in are sync emotionally, spiritually, mentally, psychologically, and financially.

2020 and 2021 were not easy. However, I am going to leave you with this

Mallory Aldred is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist who provides an individually tailored, non-diet approach to whole-body wellness where she offers a variety of programs centered around real-time education, teamwork, and accountability. She gives a few helpful strategies to stick to your 2022 health objectives and goals.

Is one of your health goals to lose weight?

Is one of your health goals to start packing your lunches?

How about becoming more active?

If so, well done! Here are a few helpful strategies I provide my nutrition clients that may help you stick to your 2020  health goals:

Start small and realistic. Oftentimes, we set goals that are extremely overwhelming which can make it difficult to get started. Instead of promising yourself, you’ll lose 50 pounds this year, focus on dropping 5 pounds for the month of February.

Find an accountability buddy. Having support, whether it be a friend, family member, or professional coach can be super motivating. Aim for daily or weekly check-ins to keep yourself on track. It’s important to ask for help as many of us are unable to get to where we want on our own.

Create space for setbacks. It’s unrealistic to think you’ll go from A to Z overnight. View setbacks as progress towards achieving your goals and use them as motivation rather than defeat. Your “failures” are simply providing you information about what works and what doesn’t.

Finally, don’t expect a quick fix. We are all built differently and have our own unique timelines. Comparing yourself to others can often cause unnecessary disappointment. Be patient, gentle to yourself, and never give up.

If you are looking for professional health and wellness support, you can contact her at malloryaldred@gmail.com

The post 4 Strategies to Achieve Your Health Goals appeared first on Four Columns of a Balanced Life.

Katrina lives a gluten-free vegan lifestyle in a picturesque little corner of Vermont with her husband, 6-year-old daughter, and their 16-year-old dog. Her blog is The Gluten-Free Vegetarian, where she shares recipes, as well as tools and resources for meal planning. Her recipes are primarily designed for busy parents who want to cook healthful meals that are also quick and simple to make. She became a vegetarian in 1992 and has dabbled with being vegan, ovo-lacto vegetarian and pescatarian. Katrina became very sick in 2018 and the general practitioner suggested she cut gluten from her diet. She has a severe sensitivity to gluten and it inspired her to learn new ways of cooking and enjoying food. She is grateful to feel healthy again.

Katrina, I want to know a little bit about the vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian lifestyle?

A vegan diet eliminates all animal products, including meat, dairy, eggs, and other items such as a gelatin or honey. An ovo-lacto vegetarian diet omits meat but includes dairy and eggs. An ovo-lacto pescatarian diet includes dairy, eggs, and seafood, but no other types of meat.

I first went vegetarian in 1992. Since that time, I’ve been vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian during different periods of my life, so on my blog, you’ll find different recipes that meet each of these dietary requirements. All my recipes are gluten-free.

From my perspective, the greatest thing about vegan and vegetarian diets is helping animals! In addition, there are wonderful environmental and health benefits of reducing your meat consumption.

You write a lot about a gluten-free vegan diet. Walk me through this diet?

Gluten is a protein found in foods including wheat, rye, and barley. Some popular foods that often contain gluten are bread, pasta, muffins, and pancakes. The great news is that a gluten-free diet is easier now than ever. Food manufacturers and restaurants are more aware of consumers who cannot eat gluten, whether due to a sensitivity or celiac disease (the autoimmune disease that causes an immune reaction to eating gluten). Therefore, we have more availability of gluten-free products and better product labeling than in the past.

In 2018, I became very sick for six months without understanding why. After much trial and error, I finally discovered that I have a severe sensitivity to gluten. At first, I saw this as a restriction on my diet, but over time it has inspired me to learn new ways of cooking and enjoying food. As I live a gluten-free lifestyle now, my health has vastly improved. My blog was born from my own journey of learning how to cook vegan and vegetarian food that is also gluten-free.

Talk to me about your favorite and the least favorite vegetables?

My least favorite vegetables are bell peppers and eggplant. It’s disappointing that I don’t like these vegetables, because they are staples in vegetarian cooking! Every once in a while, I try them again to see if my palette has changed, but so far it hasn’t. I hope that someday I will like them! Also, my husband has a deep dislike of mushrooms, so I only cook them when he is out of town.

I love a lot of veggies. For flavor, I love baby carrots when they are especially sweet, butter lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, and the special blend of cherry tomato varieties that my husband grows in our garden. Lately, I’ve been enjoying beets and leeks more than I used to, so it’s fun to experiment with those.

In terms of nutrient-dense vegetables, it’s hard to beat kale, so I use it a lot! I also love using fresh spinach and toss it into all kinds of recipes, from smoothies to pasta sauce and salads.

Give me one of your favorite smoothies, snacks, lunch, and dinner recipes?

I really love all of these!

Smoothie: https://gf-veg.com/chocolate-grapefruit-protein-shake/

Lunch: https://gf-veg.com/beyond-burger-with-quinoa-salad-and-hummus/

Snack: https://gf-veg.com/maple-pumpkin-overnight-oats/

Dinner: https://gf-veg.com/maple-veggie-sausage-skillet/

Vegans are known to be healthy. What is one of your weaknesses? I love chocolate.

Chocolate is absolutely my weakness! Fortunately, it can be good for us too, at least in moderation, so I can enjoy it without guilt in many recipes. Protein smoothie bowls are one of my latest obsessions, and I almost always have a chocolate-flavored bowl. These make a wonderful meal because they’re quick and simple to make, and you can pack them full of nutritious ingredients. For my last smoothie bowl, I blended together vegan protein powder, vanilla soy yogurt, and some mixed berries, then poured the mixture into a bowl. I topped the bowl with banana slices, almond butter, fresh blueberries, coconut flakes, and chia seeds. It was delicious. As an added bonus, smoothie bowls also look beautiful and satisfy your sweet tooth.

How has marriage changed you? Did anything surprise you about it?

One of the most surprising turning points in marriage for me happened several years ago when I did a year-long exercise recommended by a pastor in a sermon I heard. Every day for a year, I wrote down one wonderful thing that my husband did or said. No matter how happy or how difficult the day was, without fail, I recorded one great thing my husband did. When I first started the project, my intention was that the journal I created would be Valentine’s Day present for my husband. It wasn’t long before I realized that the gift was actually for me. The exercise taught me to see my husband in a completely different light. It revealed how much he does for our family, how positive his intentions are, and how hard he works. It helped me to stop nagging (or at least do it much less often!) and to appreciate how much effort he makes. Honestly, I don’t think our marriage has ever been the same, and I don’t think I’ve ever been the same as a wife, in very good ways.

I see you have a beautiful daughter. How has motherhood made you look at life differently?

Thank you so much! Motherhood made me prioritize my faith. For years before I became a mother, I considered myself just a spiritual person without a particular faith. I thought I would figure out exactly what I believed in terms of God and my faith “later.” When my husband and I decided that we might become parents, I realized that “later” had come. I wanted to know what I believed before bringing a child into the world. I dug deep into a Bible study and asked myself the hard questions. I left no stone unturned and didn’t take any shortcuts or easy ways out. I found that my true faith is Christianity, and my belief and relationship with God have continued to deepen and grow over the years. My daughter is six years old now, and she’s starting to ask me questions of her own about faith and God. It’s fun, challenging, and engaging to try to answer them and explore them with her!

I have never heard about Proverbs 31 ministry. What is it all about and what was your role there?

Proverbs 31 Ministries is a wonderful organization. It is a non-denominational, non-profit Christian ministry that seeks to lead women into a personal relationship with Christ with Proverbs 31:10-31 as a guide. There are many facets to the organization, but I was involved with their Online Bible Studies. I volunteered with the ministry for almost three years. I served as a small group leader to work with online groups of around 20 women as they went through each Bible study. I also transcribed Bible study videos for hard of hearing and deaf study participants. I did the transcription work in honor and memory of my Gram, who was deaf and a woman of strong faith. I loved working with this organization and still benefit from their programs, including daily email devotionals and the First 5 app. The First 5 app is designed to help you spend the first five minutes of the day in God’s Word.

I want you to choose three women of your choice to have a meal with. What would you cook for each of them and you can ask only one question what would that be?

I would choose to have a meal with my mom and my two grandmothers. One of my grandmas (my “Gram”) is in heaven, and I live thousands of miles away from my other grandma and my mom, so I don’t see them very often. It would be amazing to have the four of us together for a meal. The one question I would ask them is this: how do they each pray for our family? I know our family has many blessings because of the faithfulness of each of these women. I would learn a lot from hearing about what their prayer lives look like and what they pray for.

Both of my grandmothers loved cooking and were excellent cooks, so I would be a bit nervous about preparing food for them! For the main course, I might make a gluten-free pasta dish with roasted vegetables, since it would be warm, hearty, and comforting. For dessert, I’d make a gluten-free, vegetarian lemon meringue pie. Lemon meringue pie was one of my favorite desserts my Gram made. Her meringue was a labor of love, and it was flawless. I’ve seen vegan versions online and would love to try one.

You made it to the pearly gates and you run into Deborah, Phoebe, Mary, and Martha. They ask you to prepare a 4-course vegan meal. Tell me about it?

What a great question, and what a great dinner party this would be! For fun, I’ve tried to come up with a meal using mostly ingredients that my guests would have been familiar with while they were here.

The first course would be a bread service with several types of gluten-free bread: unleavened, flatbread, and herb-crusted. I’d serve the bread with fresh olives, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

The second course would be figs with tahini sauce, drizzled with agave (a vegan substitute for honey).

The third course would be our main course: bowls with red lentils, quinoa, cooked apples, walnuts, and garlic.

The fourth course would be a grape sorbet for dessert.

Being in the company of these women would be an extraordinary opportunity to learn. I would ask Deborah what it’s like to hear directly from the Lord as a prophetess; I’d ask Mary and Martha to share what it was like to host Jesus; I’d ask Phoebe to tell some stories about Paul. Then at the end of our meal, I would encourage Martha to leave all the dishes to me.

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A healthy lifestyle is vital for us and allows us to deal with the daily vicissitudes of life. A healthy lifestyle consists of exercising regularly, not eating junk and processed food or drinking too much pop, sleeping well, and making ethical decisions in your life.

Remember Rome was not built in one day. I would recommend you do the same with yourself. Take it easy, make small changes, enjoy the wins, be pliant, and find support with any issues you are facing. You can do this.

I ask Mallory Aldred why we should have a healthy diet.

Mallory Aldred is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist who provides an individually tailored, non-diet approach to whole-body wellness where she offers a variety of programs centered around real-time education, teamwork, and accountability. She gives some reasons for having a healthy diet.

Mallory, tell me a little about you?

Sure, I would love to! I am a “30-something” professional currently living in Toronto, ON. I have a Scottish fold munchkin cat named Peanut and I lead a very active lifestyle. I place a strong value on family, friends, and self-care. After a very long break from athletics (previous NCAA softball player at Canisius College), I have recently jumped back into challenging myself physically via sprint triathlons and distance cycling. 

What made you choose to become a Nutritionist and tell me the reason for having a healthy diet?

About 13 years ago, I was 50 lbs heavier than I am now. Because of the excess weight, I experienced low energy, poor sleep, a lack of self-confidence and I had a terrible immune system. One day I became fed up and decided it was time to make some healthy changes. As I gradually lost the weight (without a crash diet), my entire life changed for the better. It was at that time I knew I needed to share the gift of healthy, nutritious eating with others. I enrolled at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition and received my designation in 2010.

How important is healthy food in our daily lives?

What we eat determines how we look but, more importantly, how we feel. If you want to accomplish more and feel fabulous doing it, incorporating healthy food into your daily routine is crucial. I strongly believe that if you eat nutritious foods most of the time, you are naturally more optimistic, and your obstacles become challenges you can meet.

Do I have to eat like an Olympic athlete daily?

If you’re an Olympic athlete, then absolutely, but most of us are not. The biggest mental flaw most have with nutrition is thinking it has to be an all or nothing approach. Over the years, I’ve found with myself and my clients, it’s the smallest changes that go the longest distance with health.

Give me a few examples of foods that are not good for our health?

There are a lot of different theories out there, however, personally, my body does not react well to simple carbohydrates (white flour products and sugar), trans/saturated fats, or most dairy products. Generally speaking, the fewer ingredients listed on the nutrition label, the better!

Give me a few examples of foods that are tasty and good for our health?

Some of my favorites are roasted root vegetables (sweet potato, parsnips, squashes), seafood (shrimp, lobster, scallops), dark chocolate, & a banana spread with natural nut butter (peanut, cashew, almond). 

Can we indulge once a week? 

In my opinion, absolutely! I do not believe in diets or unrealistic restrictions. Food should be viewed as fuel to operate rather than a reward or punishment.

Define a balanced diet?

It is my belief that a balanced diet incorporates lean protein, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, 100% whole grains, fruits and vegetables. It is also important to hydrate with water and herbal teas.

How has life changed for you as you are pursuing your passions?

When I am sharing the gift of nutrition, I never feel like it’s “work”. I’ve formed many meaningful relationships pursuing my passion and it’s a true pleasure to watch my clients take back control of their health and happiness.

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Healthy anger, healthy boundaries, and healthy eating are a holistic approach to life. I interviewed Dr. Valerie Fitzpatrick in February 2019. This interview is a favorite among my readers. Valerie is a chiropractor, a great listener, and helps patients deal with the effects of life-long stressors and traumas like abandonment, financial stress, bullying, divorce, immigration, and codependence. These can have a negative impact on a patient’s current health issues.

In this interview, we go into detail on expressing healthy anger, the importance of healthy boundaries, attachment to safe people, eating healthy, and pursuing a passion. Dr. Fitzpatrick gets real, vulnerable, and honest about her own challenges in understanding some of these issues. Relax, have your favorite drink, and read this interview a couple of times. Please comment on what made sense to you in this interview, and if there is anything else you want Valerie to cover in our next interview. 

Valerie, in our last interview together, you mentioned the importance of expressing healthy anger. Please explain? 

Yes, expressing anger can be so healthy for the mind and the body.  Anger is often maligned, regarded as a bad or negative emotion. People often repress it, deny that it is even there, or hold it in for so long that they become sick. I have learned that expressing anger and getting it out can be healthy. I am not talking about acting out your anger, which is not healthy.  Acting out hurts others and does nothing to actually discharge or reduce your stress. Repression of anger hurts your body and has actually been linked to some cancers and some autoimmune diseases. A great book on this topic is “When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress” by Dr. Gabor Maté.

When I was going through a very challenging time in my life, it was a huge breakthrough for me to recognize the anger that I had, and to start expressing it in a healthy way. Discovering my anger really put a fire back in my soul. There were obviously some things that I couldn’t change for myself and my daughter, but there were some things that I still had control over. Anger helped me take my power back. I didn’t want to live in quiet resignation or as a victim.

Really there are no bad emotions, just badly expressed emotions. The therapist Dr. Joann Peterson said that anger is the energy Mother Nature gives us as little kids to stand forward on our own behalf and say I matter. She said that the difference between the healthy energy of anger and the hurtful energy of emotional and physical violence is that anger respects boundaries. Standing forward on your own behalf does not invade anyone else’s boundaries. She wrote a great little book called, “A Book about Anger, Boundaries and Safety”.

I liked that you mentioned the importance of healthy boundaries and attachment to safe people. What did you mean by those comments?

These were important lessons for me, and I think for a lot of people. Especially if you have lived with manipulative, abusive or unpredictable people.  To stay healthy emotionally and physically we need healthy boundaries and a sense of autonomy. Dr. Gabor Maté also talks about this in his book. It can be very helpful to ask yourself if you are doing unnecessary things for others? Are you feeling resentful as you help others? Do you know where your responsibilities end, and where the other person’s responsibilities begin? Basically, do you know where your boundaries lie?

It is a wonderful thing to help someone else when they are burdened, but we don’t need to take on their loads or responsibilities. Now I let God be God for me, and I let God be God for others. I am learning to live and let live. I am learning to let others have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. It is not my responsibility to protect and shield everyone from discomfort or consequences. Protecting them may be preventing them from a valuable learning experience. I found the “Boundaries” series of books, by Dr.’s Henry Cloud and John Townsend to be very helpful.

To stay healthy, we also need a connection with safe people. “What is a safe person?”, you may ask. A safe person will not jump to conclusions about you, they will not be quick to judge, they will give you permission to be human and still feel lovable, they will speak the truth, and they will allow you to speak your truth as well, and they will want more and better things for your life. If you start to realize that someone is manipulative or unsafe, you can lovingly detach.

As a healthcare professional give me some advice on how to eat healthily?

Eating healthy is a contentious topic! I have my academic studies in nutrition, my ongoing reading of the research, and my personal experience. I have followed so many eating programs myself, and I have seen the results of different eating plans with my patients. I have come to realize that diet is very personal. There is no one plan that is going to work for everyone. There is a lot of dogma out there, and there are a lot of extreme diet systems that are just not sustainable or are just not suitable for everyone or at every stage of life. Sure, a certain diet may cause your complexion to be radiant or your clothes to fit better – but if you can’t form a coherent sentence, or your hair is suddenly falling out, you are not getting enough nutrients. There are so many different diet guidelines out there: eating for your blood type, veganism, vegetarianism, the Paleolithic diet, the raw food diet, the ketogenic diet, low FODMAP diet, low lectin diet, whole food plant-based diet, anti-inflammatory diet, etc. etc.  Each diet guideline may have its merits, but each of us is a product of our genetics, our environment, the eating patterns of our ancestors, and our own past or current illnesses. It can take a lot of trial and error to find out what works for you and your health goals eg. gaining muscle mass, losing fat, regulating blood sugars, reducing seizure frequency, reducing joint inflammation and pain. In a sense, a choice of diet should be mindful, intuitive, and flexible. If you get bloated or exhausted after certain foods or your joints are stiff and painful you may want to make some changes to your diet.  Certain food may be regarded as ‘healthy’, but it may not be healthy for you and your constitution, it may trigger some sensitivities for you. You may want to generally follow a diet plan but modify it for yourself, depending on how you feel. We don’t need rigidity or judgment about diet.

In our home we eat a pesco-vegetarian diet; we eat a lot of plant-based whole foods and have ocean fish about twice per week.  I originally switched to a vegetarian diet 28 years ago, but after a few months found it difficult to concentrate, so I added fish back into my diet. In the past 28 years, there have been two times where I added a little meat back into my diet for a few weeks because I was really feeling depleted and even having dreams about bacon!  So weird!

As a chiropractor, I don’t talk about meal plans very much but mostly give advice about increasing the good fats and oils which have an anti-inflammatory effect and reducing the bad fats which can increase inflammation and pain.

Please talk about the importance of pursuing your passions?

I think it is so important to ask yourself “What did I love doing when I was 10 years old?’”

What was your first passion, before the world got its hands on you? Did you love reading, drumming, writing poetry, gardening, scrapbooking, songwriting, playing guitar, dancing, acting, photography, makeup, making model trains, drawing action heroes, pottery, crochet? As humans, it is in our nature to create; it doesn’t matter if we can make a career of it. We can find affirmation of our sense of Self and we can boost our health through creativity and pursuing a passion. This is especially important for most women, a way of staying connected with the female soul. A long but worthwhile read is “Women Who Run with the Wolves”, by Clarissa Pinkola Estés. Creativity in any form can be therapeutic. It does not have to be pretty, impressive, appreciated, or understood by others. An inspiring read is “Art is a Way of Knowing; A guide to self-knowledge and spiritual fulfillment through creativity”, by Pat B. Allen.

I had loved art from childhood into my twenties, taking art and pottery courses, and painting for many hours at a time.  When I was going through a challenging time in my life a few years ago, I thought about art again, but I thought it was too late to start back, too much time had passed, and I probably didn’t have the ability anymore. I didn’t have time, and I was too busy already. I checked my art supplies and found that most of my old brushes were brittle and wrecked, and my paints had dried up. It would cost hundreds of dollars to re-stock everything. But then that new fire in me, told me “It’s now or never!”.

Obstacles will present themselves. I have learned to expect them, then find a way to deal with then.  It can be difficult to start; I totally get it. I went to the art store to buy supplies. Insecurity set in. I felt ridiculous:  a middle-aged suburban mom, at the art store where all the staff were in their early twenties with facial piercings and edgy outfits. There were new art products and mediums I had never seen before, and I didn’t know how to use them.  But the staff were great and encouraging. I bought new supplies and slowly started painting for a friend. My art skills were so rusty, but I persevered. I felt that I needed even more motivation, so I submitted some of my old art pieces for a local juried art show and got accepted! It was the push I needed to get over my creative hurdle.

So, I made some new paintings, I participated in the art show, I made new friends, I sold three paintings, and I made enough money to cover the cost of the art supplies I had just purchased. Since that time, I have taken three college courses at the Haliburton School of Art and Design and two courses with a local artist whom I admire very much.   I have learned spiritual and life lessons through my art instructors. My daughter and I have held two art shows in our home, inviting many friends and neighbors.  Regardless of whether a painting sells or not, it is wonderful to see a person connect with the art. I am happier and feeling more whole. I have made art on days that I felt completely frustrated, days I felt hurt, and days when I felt overflowing joy. Art has been my therapy and my means of self-expression. Spending time or money on your passion is never wasteful or silly.  Amazing things can happen to your mood and your health when you let go of the need for results, or perfection, or payment in an area of your life – when you do something just for the sake of following your passion.

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