Tag Archive for: destress

Travel-Friendly Snacks

/4 Comments/in /by

It’s that time of year, when a whole lot of us living in northern latitudes plan delightful escapes from our snowy, gray landscapes and jet off to recharge our spirits – and vitamin D levels – with sun, palm trees, beaches, and the salty, meditative ocean.

 

Over the last few weeks three different clients heading off to enviable havens have asked me for healthy travel snack ideas. I felt so uplifted and energized by these conversations! Making healthy choices while navigating airports, sitting on airplanes, and without access to our well-stocked pantries and fridges requires a little creativity. But if you’re willing to take on the challenge, it sure as heck demonstrates that choosing quality food has become a non-negotiable part of your life – not just a whimsical choice you make when it’s convenient. And that makes me smile.

 

Eating healthy while traveling doesn’t have to be super difficult if you intentionally plan ahead. It’s kind of amazing; once you’re committed to feeding yourself well, eating crap while traveling doesn’t even feel like an option anymore.

 

(In the end, our success always comes down to planning, doesn’t it?)

 

Here in Minneapolis, we’re lucky to have some fantastic dining options at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. If I’m leaving from the MSP airport, it’s not unusual for me to stop at French Meadow Bakery and pick up a salad and a probiotic-rich kombucha for my flight (just be careful opening that naturally carbonated kombucha on the plane or your seat mates might unexpectedly get treated to some kombucha too! Ka-pow!). Other airports around the world don’t always have the healthful dining options we’re lucky to have, but I’ve learned that finding a salad or fruit elsewhere is pretty doable. True, it might not be organic, but I encourage you to do the best you can and try to just relax when it’s not exactly what you’d prefer.

 

Additionally, I want to emphasize that I never leave for a trip without snacks. Never. In fact, I probably spend as much time thinking about and preparing my snacks as I do the clothes I’m packing. No exaggeration. Being hungry on a plane is as miserable as the snack packs they offer.

 

Below is a list of the healthy snackables I often pack. I usually choose 3-5, depending on how long the trip is:

Travel-Friendly Snacks

– apple slices or clementines that peel easily
– sliced veggies like red pepper or cucumber slices (usually 1 cucumber and 1 red pepper is plenty); these travel well and have the added bonus of being hydrating
– nuts and seeds, or a favorite trail mix
– plantain chips (I am always so proud and happy with myself when I’ve taken the time to make these for a trip; I can hardly wait to dig into them)
– Keen-wah Decadence bars: one of the best “protein bars” I’ve found
– a peeled hard boiled egg or an organic turkey stick for longer trips where I anticipate wanting/needing protein
– Laughing Giraffe truffles for something sweet yet sustaining, or some dark chocolate
– ginger tea bags, just in case there’s turbulence and I start to feel woozy

 

Of course I avoid soda, so I also bring my refillable water bottle to ensure I stay hydrated. And remember that if you’re traveling to another country, they can get fussy about what they’ll allow you to bring into their country. Don’t pack too much, or you might have to toss your delicious treats into the trash. That feels awful.

 

What kind of food do you pack when you travel? I’ve got a couple of long plane trips coming up in the next six weeks, and I’d love more ideas myself. If you feel like sharing in the comments section below or on my Facebook page, I’d sure appreciate it. After all, us adventurers need to help each other!

 

In love & service,

Claudine

Surviving the Holidays, Calm and Intact

/2 Comments/in /by

Dear Lovely Health Warrior,

I have a special treat for you this month! No, sorry, I won’t be hand-delivering chocolate bon-bons to each of you (although I did post a lovely sweet recipe next door to this blog post in case you have a hankering for something sweet). No, my treat for you is WAY better – it’s a distilled, practical, easy-to-follow, guest blog post from my dear friend Catherine Carpenter, transformational coach and meditation instructor, about how to survive the holiday season (and life beyond the holidays) with your nerves and sanity intact.

It’s good stuff, and I’m so excited to share it with you.

For the record, Catherine and I have been friends for 20 years, and she actually married my husband and me! For anyone who wants to get started with meditation or deepen her practice, Catherine is your woman (check out her upcoming meditation series beginning in January).

Enjoy!

Surviving the Holidays, Calm & Intact, by Dr. Catherine Carpenter

Even if you are not a consistent meditator there are small things you can do that will destress you and bring more calm and even joy into your life, both during the holiday season and beyond.

It seems the people we love the most are often the ones who can trigger us the easiest. How coincidental that we tend to spend more time with these people during the holiday season? And if the busyness of holiday social events weren’t enough, most of us are also working, buying gifts for the people on our list, preparing the food we’re responsible for, traveling, and oh! Did I mention it is also the time of year with the least amount of daylight? So we’re also tired and often pushed to our limits. It’s no wonder the holidays are filled with opportunities to stress out.

Breathe & Center Yourself
When you feel the stress beginning to mount, take a time out to breathe and center yourself. Find 5-10 minutes to sit quietly. Start with three soft belly breaths. The easiest way to breathe is to say to yourself, “soft” on the in-breath and “belly” on the out-breath. You should feel yourself expanding horizontally on the in-breath and contracting in your lower abs (bringing them in towards your spinal column) as you breath out. Go ahead, close your eyes and try this, nice and slow, three times, right now. I’ll wait. Taking a moment to do three, slow breaths brings you back to your center and calms you. Try this several times a day to stay centered.

Tune into the Felt Sensation of the Breath, Emotions, Thoughts, & Images
If you are ready for a little advanced practice, try tuning into the felt sensation of the breath, the emotion, the thoughts, and images. This is the way we liberate ourselves from our thoughts and feelings. Track the felt sensation — the quality, where it is in your body, and the strength. Just observe as it flows, changes, and then recedes. Notice how the emotions rise and fall like a wave. Similar to the breath, there is expansion and contraction. Ride the wave, neither suppressing it nor fanning it with your thoughts — just sit with it as it rises and falls.

Practice Gratitude
Embrace the beauty of this season with gratitude. Offering gratitude starts an inner conversation of thanks and devotion for the good things in life. On the other side is the response, bringing you more good things to be grateful for. Look around you and notice things anew: The way the light reflects more magically, softly, almost mystically than other times of the year. A snowflake…a dried leaf…the shapes of trees reaching towards the light in all their glory. Notice and give gratitude—right now—for this gift of breath in this very moment.

I love this small gratitude practice by Deepak Chopra. Have in mind three things to be grateful for — people, events, or nature:

Visualize the first thing you are grateful for. You can say the words, thank you, if you feel comfortable starting that way but the real key is feeling. Let the gratitude come from your heart — it’s a warm gentle sensation that brings a smile. Now, imagine that what you are grateful for (person, moment, nature) is aware of your thanks. See it smiling back at you, shimmering with the same warm feeling. Thanks has been received and welcomed.

After a moment go to the second thing and give thanks for it and see it receive your thanks — then do the same with the third thing you are grateful for. You have successfully started the flow of grace. When it is alive and flowing it works like a feedback loop.

This is the goal: we become our meditation — peacefully, loving, in present moment awareness.

In love & service,
Catherine (& Claudine)

Catherine Carpenter, D.Min. is a coach and meditation instructor. She is offering a six week class beginning January 11, 2018 and also facilitates a once a week Drop In Meditation. For more information see www.catherinecarpenter.com.