There is so much confusing and conflicting diet advice out there it can be hard to know who to trust. 

To address this problem, researchers conducted a study to compare popular diet plans such as low-carb, Paleo, etc. Their findings are refreshing as they advocate ditching the rigid plans and principles in favor of broader guidelines. They explain, "A diet of minimally processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants, is decisively associated with health promotion and disease prevention."

Read the full article, Science Compared Every Diet, and the Winner Is Real Food, for more information on this practical approach. 

If your goal is to implement this advice but you don’t know where to start, learn more about how Wellness Coaching can help you with this and other change goals by requesting a free session.

The key is to take advantage of the 3-step neurological process that creates a habit. First, choose a cue, like leaving your running shoes by the door, then pick a reward — say, a piece of chocolate when you get home from the gym. 

Eventually, when you see the shoes, your brain will start craving the reward, which will make it easier to work out day after day.

View an infographic based on The Power of Habit to learn more.

Resolve to eat better and spend more time with loved ones by cooking more with friends and family in this winter.

Read four ways to cook more with family from ChopChop.

ChopChop is a non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire and teach kids to cook real food with their families.

"You can compare a child’s body to a building under construction. A lot of different materials are needed to build it and to keep it in good repair. But a human being is also a kind of machine that’s running. It requires fuel for energy, and other substances to make it work properly, just as an automobile needs gasoline, oil, grease and water.

To do this, keep a balanced attitude. You don’t judge foods on calories alone, or on vitamins alone, or on minerals alone. Everybody in the long run needs a balance of low and high-calorie foods as well as a balance in other respects in the diet. Fortunately, there are a number of good books available and many of which include a variety of recipes. As important as consulting a book, however, is encouraging your child to eat a variety of vegetables at an early age."

Read the full article by Dr. Benjamin Spock, MD. 

The relationship between physical environment and wellbeing is sometimes overlooked, yet having a calming safe haven from the demands of the world is often the key to recharging one’s batteries. 

When you return from a long day what awaits you? Do you face clutter, conflict and many more things to be done in the way of housework? If so it may be time to invest some time and thought into creating a place that will allow you to relax, be yourself and practice self-care. 

Check out this great Freshome.com article, How to Make Your Home Feel More Relaxing, for insight on where to start and specific room-by-room suggestions to optimize your home environment.

RESOLUTIONS: WHAT IS THE GOAL?
Do you have a new year's resolution, or several? 

If you do have more than one and they are large in scope, such as losing weight or getting a new job, the best approach is to be realistic in your change goals and to accept that change is a slow, but very rewarding, process. 

If you want to change many things about your life, it may help to reflect on the change you believe to be the most material to your happiness or sense of fulfillment. What really is the most important thing to you right now, January 2016? 

Is it career satisfaction? Finding more balance? Adopting a healthier, more sustainable, lifestyle? Making more time for family and close friends? Learning to take care of yourself, along with everyone else that depends on you?

WHAT IS THE PLAN?
The key to the plan is WHAT IS REALISTIC BASED ON MY LIFE?

Focus on the your one key goal and accept, for now, the others things about your life you would like to change. 

Now compose a REALISTIC plan based on the amount of time and energy you have given your weekly schedule to begin and sustain gradual, slow, evolutionary change. 

SLOW AND STEADY STAYS THE COURSE
Behavioral change is not often accomplished in a linear fashion. Maintain your patience as your change slowly, with the support of others. Often change occurs in a recycling pattern, so staying confident and committed during a perceived set back is very important. 

Often successful lasting change will come from this: one step forward, two back, four forward, two back, etc., course correct, and keep going. But slowly change takes hold and requires less and less effort. 

Learn more about change theory by scheduling a free coaching session.

Work with a wellness coach to get a new perspective this year.

Can't think of what to get someone on your shopping list?

What about planning something to do together in the coming months, such as brunch, a movie or a concert?

Collect moments, not things, this year.

"The health care establishment is structured to profit from chemical and surgical intervention. Diet still takes the back seat to drugs and surgery.

One criticism that is constantly leveled at the dietary argument is that patients will not make such fundamental changes. This criticism is not only wrong and insulting to patients; it is also self-fulfilling. If doctors do not believe that patients will change their diets, they will neglect to talk about diet, or will do it in an off-handed, disparaging way.” 

Except from T. Colin Campbell's, The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health.

The T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies (CNS) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Ithaca, NY, home of Cornell University. 

Started in 2007 by T. Colin Campbell, PhD, and Megan Murphy, the Center grew out of T. Colin Campbell’s life work in nutritional research and the recognition of The China Study, the 2005 book co-authored with his son Thomas Campbell, MD. 

In 2009 CNS, in collaboration with eCornell, began offering the Certificate in Plant Based Nutrition. The certificate program has become a nationally-recognized nutrition education program, enrolling thousands of students who have gone on to use their knowledge in a variety of endeavors. 

In addition to the general public, CNS has helped educate a growing number of health professionals through its continuing education credit programs.

Learn about working with a wellness coach that is an alumni of this program.

Visit Heidi Swanson's stellar cooking blog, 101 cookbooks, for this Ginger Soba Noodles recipe. 

Ingredients 
12 oz / 340 g Dried soba noodles

Ginger Dressing:
1 Tablespoon freshly grated fresh ginger
1 Teaspoon toasted sesame oil
zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 cup / 2.5 oz / 70 g Chopped white onion
1 Teaspoon mirin (optional)
2 Teaspoons brown sugar or honey
1/2 Teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
3 Tablespoons brown rice vinegar
1 Celery stalk, strings removed, then chopped
1/3 Cup / 80 sunflower oil or untoasted sesame oil

3 Tablespoons of chopped tarragon, plus more to taste

A few big handfuls of cubed tofu, pan-fried or baked until golden

1/3 Cup + toasted squash seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, or sesame seeds

Read the directions on 101cookbooks.com.

Its September tomorrow! 

For most of us, this means a return to crazy schedules and greater demands on our time for the rest of the year.

Fall can sometimes also feel like resolution or new habit time, with that back-to-school vibe that we all remember. This makes it a great time to set a goal or lay the foundation for a new wellness routine. 

The best way to push and stretch yourself into a more productive, happier and/or healthier you is to do so with some self-love and humor. 

We won't change if we expect perfection or are too hard on ourselves. We will have setbacks on a new path; that is distinctly part of the change process. But with a few depreciating laughs and the endurance that self-love fuels, you will perserve in the long run. And as with all lifestyle changes, time and realistic incremental steps will help you get where you want, and stay there permanently. 

So cheers to being as amazing as Queen Bey this Fall, by knowing that it doesn't mean we ever have to be #flawless.

1. The quality or state of being healthy in body and mind, especially as the result of deliberate effort. 

2. An approach to healthcare that emphasizes preventing illness and prolonging life, as opposed to emphasizing treating diseases.

The Definition of Wellness on Dictonary.com.

Discover three tips to add an inch to your arm in eight weeks from Men's Fitness. 

Schedule a free coaching session to tackle a new fitness goal this month. 

A great way to improve your diet slowly and gradually, without depravation, is to deploy the method of “crowding out.” 

Instead of going on a restrictive “diet,” crowding out entails slowly increasing your consumption of nutrient dense fuel foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, to gradually reduce the ratio of processed foods and/or the amount of animal products you eat. 

For many this strategy is a way to optimize your diet for health, without the overwhelming all or nothing approach. 

According to theWall Street Journal, chefs are taking note and reorienting restaurant offerings to appeal to this trend. 

The article explains, “Several trends have converged in a perfect culinary storm. Awakened by the national obesity crisis, many Americans want to eat more healthfully—though perhaps not enough to leave the table hungry. The Harvard School of Public Health recommends eating red meat no more than twice a week. But chefs know that dividing the portions across many meals is a smarter strategy. Studies show that having even a little meat on the plate makes for more satisfied diners. Increasingly, chefs like Jody Adams in Boston, Michael Solomonov in Philadelphia and Alain Ducasse in Paris are finding delicious ways to strike a balance between health and hedonism.” 

Read the full article: Meat on the Side: Modern Menus Shift the Focus to Vegetables.

It's a challenge to let ourselves slow down. 

As Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul, says, "We seem to have a complex about busyness in our culture. Most of us do have time in our days that we could devote to simple relaxation, but we convince ourselves that we don't. It seems there is always something that needs doing, always someone who needs our attention."

Moore continues, "Unfortunately, we don't get a lot of support in this culture for doing nothing. If we aren't accomplishing something, we feel that we're wasting time."

We all need time to ourselves, where no external demands are being placed on us, to recharge. How can you cultivate more time for yourself on a regular basis? 

Learn more about self-care by working with a wellness coach.

The New York Times has reported welcome news: New diabetes cases have begun to fall in the United States. 

The article asserts that, "the rate of new cases fell by about a fifth from 2008 to 2014, according to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the first sustained decline since the disease started to explode in this country about 25 years ago." The Times mentions the following possible reasons why the decline occurred. 

• Eating habits have finally begun to improve. 
• Soda consumption is down
• Physical activity has started to rise
• Obesity rates, a major driver of Type 2 diabetes, have flattened
• People realize the danger of a sedantary lifestyle
• Many realize the result of healthier habits is a better quality of life

Still, however, "diabetes afflicts one in every 10 American adults and is the country’s leading cause of blindness, limb amputations and kidney dialysis." 

“It’s not yet time to have a parade,' said Dr. David M. Nathan, the director of the Diabetes Center and Clinical Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. But he noted, 'It has finally entered into the consciousness of our population that the sedentary lifestyle is a real problem, that increased body weight is a real problem.”

Read the full article. 

Want to work on anything this article brings up, such as eating habits or becoming more active? Contact Thrive Wellness Coaching to schedule a free wellness coaching session. 

Heidi Swanson's Natural Food Guide
The term natural is open to interpretation, but here is what it means to me: Natural ingredients are whole--straight from the plant or animal--or they are made from whole ingredients, with a little processing and as few added flavorings, stabilizers, and preservatives as possible, thus keeping nutrients and original flavors intact; for example, tomatoes crushed into tomato sauce, cream paddled into butter, olives pressed into olive oil, or wheat berries ground into flour. Read more.

Ingredients
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter or extra-virgin coconut oil
1 Onion, chopped
Scant 1 tablespoon red curry paste, or to taste
2 Pounds carrots, peeled and chopped - 1/2-inch chunks
1 14-ounce Can full-fat coconut milk
1 1/2 Teaspoons sea salt, or to taste
1 1/2 Cups / 360 ml of water, or to cover
1 Lemon or lime

To serve (topping ideas): micro greens / cilantro, chopped, toasted almonds , chile oil

Directions 
In a large soup pan over medium-high heat add the butter and onion. Stir until the onions are well-coated, and allow to saute until translucent, a few minutes. Stir in the curry paste, and then the carrots. 

Read more on Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks.

We have all been making merry for weeks. 

Schedule a free wellness coaching session to set up some new heathy habits for 2016. 

Happy new year and, ahem, welcome back to reality today. 

A big thank you to Funny or Die for the laugh as we adjust this morning to an intense case of the Mondays.