Mindset Coach Category: Mindset Coach

  \  Mindset Coach  March 30, 2020

Habit versus Willpower

Where do you get your Success?

We are in the midst of the holiday season and typically stress along with it. You have desires and goals you want to achieve and now is the time to implement that desire. Don’t wait for January; this moment is the moment for you. But, how do we reach and strive for our goals during this busy time? What do we implement and how do we implement it? Some say it is all about willpower, others say it is all about habit.  I think it involves a little bit of both.

According to dictionary.com a HABIT is an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.

And Willpower is the ability to control oneself and determine one’s actions, a firmness of will.  Those with willpower demonstrate the unwavering ‘strength of will’ to carry out one’s decisions.

Do you have that, the ability to stick with an intention that you have set before you in order to attain that goal? I believe willpower is like a muscle, it must be used and strengthened for it to take hold within your very being.  With habits, it is a matter of repeating the same thing over and over and eventually you won’t even have to think about it anymore…it will just happen.  The brain is looking for ways to save effort and forming a habit is one of them.

According to a 2006 Duke University researcher, 40% of our actions each day are not the result of well-formed decisions but are the result of a habit.  How many habits have you implemented on autopilot today?  The brain likes to take sequence actions and formulate them into routines so we can do 2 things at once. For example, tying shoes and carrying on a conversation. These complicated motor skills along with the ability to develop deep emotions and memories are all stored in the basal ganglia of the brain. It is our auto-pilot mechanism.  Habits allow the brain to think less and take more action.

There are pros and cons to this. For instance, if you have a habit that is no longer benefiting you, you will find that it happens automatically without recall to do so. This can make it difficult when you would rather reach for a nourishing snack vs a candy bar. The habit is to have money in your pocket and get a snack from the vending machine when out and about. Whereas the new habit of carrying nourishing snacks wherever you go must be implemented over and over for it to override the old habit of just needing money in your pocket.

Willpower steps into this scenario when you have realized you do not have nourishing snacks with you, you only have money for the vending machine. Are you going to practice ‘unwavering strength of will’ to abstain from the vending machine or will you give in with the excuse that you don’t have anything else, so you have no choice but to swipe a candy bar?

There is a downside to willpower, it is great and serves us until stress hits, and if you don’t have wholesome habits to back it up then the ease to default to unwholesome habits is overwhelming. You can have a strong will power muscle but when you find yourself in a stressful time, the brain defaults to unwholesome habits…it is just easier. Remember, the brain loves to think less and act more. “Habits persists even when we are tired and don’t have the energy to exert self-control” – Wendy Wood, PhD, professor of psychology and business at USC

So, how do you develop the habit and willpower to begin this transition of carrying snacks vs money?

HABIT

First and foremost, you need a trigger, a cue, a signal of sorts that reminds you of the new habit you wish to start.  Have it set for the same time every day.

Secondly, develop a routine to implement the new habit.  Remember that the brain loves patterns and sequences. Also make the routine simple to implement, let it flow into your day so that it is easy to pick up.

Thirdly, reward yourself; the brain uses this to determine if this “loop” is worth remembering for the future. For example, the feeling you get after any movement activity whether it is a hard core workout or dancing around your house, allow yourself the time to reflect on why you love this and the wonderful feeling it gives you. Enforce this reward every time you perform the new routine you want to adopt as a habit.

If you miss a day, don’t judge yourself

Simply breathe and pick it up in the next moment

There is no perfect amount of time that it takes to develop a habit; some say 21 days others say 365. It really depends on the habit and the person developing the habit.  Keep your focus on what you want to implement and let the brain do the rest.

Willpower

First, discover what motivates you? Write this on your mirror so you see if every day or post it on your refrigerator…someplace where you will see it several times a day.

Second, set a clear goal – short and concise, do-able and measurable

Third, monitor your behavior toward that goal. If your behavior doesn’t match the desired end point, then shift, make a transition so that it does. This is where strength of will comes into play.

Fourth, apply a never quit attitude. This also takes practice, especially if you have “quit” something several times in your life.

Remember too, you never fail, you are always practicing

 And some days are better than others.

(simply pull yourself up by your bootstraps and keep going)

Practice unwavering strength of will and develop habits that benefit you and your health for long term sustainable action in living at your natural, healthy and fit weight this holiday season. Don’t let January regrets sneak up on you, master habits that empower you and willpower that drives you now!

Does this topic ring true for you?

Ashly Torian

  \  Coaching Calls  March 30, 2020

Coaching Call – Transformation Challenge Week 11: Nourishment

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Hello and welcome. We are in Week 11 of this NewYou90 Challenge, and what a fabulous time we have had thus far. It is so good, so good going. We’re learning so much about your body, how to show up with food, how to show up in your life, and the power of your mindset. The power of your mindset. You’re learning how to strengthen that through all these tools, the mind-body nutrition tools that you are learning and implementing into your life. It is creating more of a solid mindset. We are training our brain to think in a new way, to be in existence in a new way. And it is a very revealing process, isn’t it?

And this topic that we are talking about tonight is powerful in this. This is the topic of nourishment. And nourishment, this is one of my favorites because nourishment doesn’t mean it’s just about food. When we limit only to food, we limit ourselves within our life. And if you have had any type of eating behavior issues, eating disorders or disordered eating, so to speak, any behaviors that trip you up with food, then nourishment most likely was part of the issue. Meaning this: if we put so much emphasis on nourishment being part of the tongue and the tongue is the only place where we will receive nourishment, then we have pulled ourselves out of balance. One part of our body cannot be overworked that way. We’ll become restrictive. We will become controlling. We can become a little off kilter in our food choices, meaning we will tend to steer towards foods that are not beneficial for us. Because when we’re looking for nourishment from the tongue, from the taste buds, we’re looking for things to taste good, to crunch right, to… I don’t know… feel different on the pallet, and if you are looking at it only in this place, then nothing will ever, ever taste right, nothing will ever have that just right crunch or that smooth feel on the tongue. It will always be off, and you will never be satisfied. Therefore, what happens is we begin to eat more. We eat more because we’re looking for that nourishment, and we’re thinking that food is going to provide it, when really it doesn’t. Nourishment is about so much more than food. So let’s dive in. So I am going to show you tonight a different way to be nourished. Yes. What a wonderful, wonderful way to move forward in our life after today.

One moment. All right. I just want to check in with y’all. Everybody knows Q&A Facebook Live on Thursdays, 12 noon at the NewYou90 Mannatech site. That’s every Thursday, so do not miss it. I give a lot more information on the Q&A. If there’s not enough questions or if I go through the questions and we have some time to spare, I do throw in some extra stuff. So you don’t want to miss those. You can always go back and watch them later, though. Send your questions to info@ashlytorian.com or you can text me. I think it’s easier if you can email them, though. So if you would do that, that’d be great. Next steps: next week we’re going talk about that. So if you are thinking that you need a little bit more, I’ve got a couple of programs I’m going to be revealing to you guys. So stay tuned for that next week. And then at the end of this, during our time that we talk, I will also be talking with y’all about an event coming up soon. All right. So stay tuned for everything.

Here we go. I want to start tonight with just reminding y’all of some new ways to exercise that we have gone over while you have been in the NewYou90 Challenge: power walking, yoga stretching, one-minute movement segments that are found in my book—Join Me in the E.N.D. Zone. You can find several routines including core routines, that are listed next on this slide. There’s also Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and other meditative movements that I’ve given you so far in the NewYou90 Challenge. Weightlifting and dancing. And there’s so much more, but these are just some that we’ve gone over. But I want to remind you that nourishment can come from moving our body as well. It does. Nourishment through movement, vitally important to your well-being, to your mindset, to the health of your body. In that when we exercise, we bring in more oxygen, we take deep cover breaths, we train our body to take breaths at an even pace. And when you do that it extends and flows over in o other areas of your life, so I highly recommend that you keep up with the movement part of your program. Do not leave it out. It is like a doctor’s appointment in your day. And if you want to take a rest one day, then it’s great. Do a rest, but make sure you are stretching on that day and doing deep breathing while you’re stretching. Its mindful breathing and mindful stretching. You can also, on your rest days, do a short core routine. I have several of those in my book, Join Me in the E.N.D. Zone, in the last segment of the book. It’s the Tools section. And you can pick up any of those core routines, and they are very short and easy to implement into one of your rest days. So make sure you’re putting in a rest day along with all of the other wonderful movements that you have found during this challenge. Nourish your body physically. It needs it. Yes, it does.

So let’s talk about nourishment. When we adopt nourishment into the moment by moment play of our life, we see a surge of metabolic power. What I mean by this is do you remember our topic of pleasure? And the question for us throughout that week was: how can I make this activity more pleasurable? It’s very similar with nourishment. You want to look at your day and see how you can receive nourishment from different aspects of your day. From talking with someone, how do you receive nourishment from that? How do you receive nourishment from sitting at your desk and working on your records for the month? How do you see nourishment by sitting outside or going for a walk with your animal, with your sweet puppy or whatever it is that you have—a goat [Laughs] or whatever. How are you receiving nourishment? And the reason why this is so important and why I want to stress it to you is that in the very beginning we talk about slow and the impact that slow has on our body in putting us in that parasympathetic stress response state, which is the relaxation phase. Nourishment puts us in that place.

And where the talking box is, that says “Weight loss number”, is what’s hidden there. So oftentimes, the physiological stress of trying to obtain a specific weight loss number is more detrimental to our weight loss efforts than our eating habits. Meaning that if our focus is solely on our weight loss number during this process, then we’re not going to receive nourishment from this process. We will be in a state of stress because all we’re doing is focusing on that number. And we learned about that in the very first couple of weeks, about how don’t weigh yourself all the time, put four weeks in between each weigh time, measure yourself every four weeks. Give your body time and space to move and make changes and to shift.

So nourishment we receive from so many different aspects of this whole process that we’re doing together. Instead of focusing on that weight loss number, we are focusing on how we feel, and we’re focusing on all these tools and how we are in our life, how we show up in your life and how we are being in our life in a slow way, in a relaxed way. Eating in circadian rhythm, watching how we are in that rhythm with our eating, with our sleep. We receive nourishment from those things. In fact, take a look back right now and reflect back on how you’ve received nourishment from being in circadian rhythm. Think to before you started on this program, when you were eating sporadically. You ate at whatever time you could get food, and a lot of times it was after 8:00 at night. And now after we’ve been talking about circadian rhythm, you’ve been in a rhythmic flow with food, and you’re eating more on a timely basis in accordance with how the sun is moving around the earth. And so when you’re looking at that, do you see that you are more nourished by your mealtimes than you were before? Remember, when we are looking at nourishment, it’s more than just the vitamins and minerals you get from food. Nourishment is a heart-centered activity. I spoke in the very beginning of this class about the tongue. And if we leave it up to our tongue to be the reader of nourishment, we will find feel restricted because we’re in this controlled way of being. When you do this, you will have a greater disconnect between your body, your soul, and your spirit. Nourishment is heart centered. What are you receiving nourishment from in your life?

We have talked about pleasure. We’ve brought in embodiment. And now we’ve brought in nourishment. These are three very powerful aspects to the mind-body nutrition protocols that I am teaching you. These help us and guide us to tap in to our innermost being, so that when we show up in the day with food, we are more centered, we’re grounded. And we, our walking in our relationship with food, the food is not walking us. The food is what’s not in control. When we apply pleasure, embodiment, and nourishment, it’s not. There is no control. control doesn’t need to be had because we are at peace. We are at ease with food and with our behaviors and with our rhythm of food. So there is no need for a restriction and control when we apply nourishment in every aspect of our life. Not just food, but also the way we are in our life, who we are in our relationships, who we are when we do show up at the table. How are we receiving nourishment from who we’re being during our day?

I had a client several years ago that was going through a lack-of-nourishment feel and… Excuse me. She got to a point where she was so malnourished with life that she was eating uncontrollably. Very fast, she was a binge eater. And food began to not even taste well at all. Meaning she kept searching for what her pallet wanted, and it had her going from one food to the next food to the next food to the next food, trying to make the tongue happy and to make her heart happy and to make her heart feel at peace. But nothing was satisfying her. No food could quench that thirst, so to speak, the hunger that she had. And what it all came down to was nourishment because she was not doing what she wanted to do with her life. She was trapped. She felt trapped. She wasn’t trapped at all, of course. But she felt trapped. She wasn’t living her inspiration. She wasn’t living her reason for being. She was in the middle, just being there, not applying her gifts. And when we begin implementing efforts and actions for her to begin stepping back into her life, into her role of who she saw herself being the rest of her life, her nourishment quotient started being full again. And she wasn’t leading her to food after food after food, trying to find that need, that taste that she needed. It was more of her taste for life that was missing. And she found it because she began applying intentional action steps towards living the life that she knew she was meant to live, her reason for being, utilizing her gift.

So that’s what this nourishment is all about. Are you being nourished in your life? The way you’re living your life, what you’re living for, are you nourished by that? Well, there are three ways that you can implement nourishment into your life. Number one, it is a choice. Our greatest power is our power to choose. That is a great book, [Laughs] by the way. If you read my blog post, you saw that. It is a great book. I love that book, Our Greatest Power. So we can choose to receive nourishment or not. We can choose. In my mindset programs, I teach people this very important aspect of mindset. And that is: it is your power to choose every single day if you’re going to have the mindset of life or the mindset of death. It is up to you. Life, flowing through, doesn’t determine if you’re going to have a mindset of life or a mindset of death. You do. You have that power to choose how things are going to affect you. So right here, right now you have the power to choose if you’re going to receive nourishment. Are you going to receive nourishment from every aspect of your day and be all in?

The second step is to observe. Observation in your life is vitally important. When you are in observation mode and you’re watching how you live your life, you can catch those instances when you are stuck in the muck and not receiving nourishment, refusing to receive nourishment. Because, remember, it’s a choice. We either choose to receive it or we refuse to receive it. When you’re in observation mode, it will get you in your life. You will be stepping into your power, your greatest power, the power of being you, all in, choosing to live, choosing that mindset of life, choosing nourishment. So think about and ask yourself a question when you’re in the middle of it, and you see that, oh, you’re not choosing nourishment, ask yourself a very important question. What can you do right here, right now in this moment, to change or make a shift in your perspective about your current experience, your current situation? How can you make it shift? The biggest shift-maker that I have found is gratitude. Gratitude is the single most shift-maker. I love it. Because in a moment, when you begin thanking and being in a thankful place and having a thankful heart for just what’s right in front of you, your whole being shifts and you receive nourishment. Gratitude gives you nourishment. So observe how you’re being, and you will get into nourishment.

So the next is once you have observed and you see a way that you can receive nourishment from it, be all in. No fifty-percenters here. Be all in. Be with it. Be in it. Be one with it. Give it your whole heart. There’s intimacy here. There is a connection with self when we allow ourselves to be all in and to be one with the nourishment. It’s a great connector within our self, with our spirit. with our maker. Beautiful. There is intimacy there, and it is a moment where you connect with yourself.  And it will sustain you, body, soul and spirit. We can choose. After you’re done with this program… We have one week left. And when you are done with this program, you can go back to the old way of being—eliminate nourishment, eliminate pleasure, eliminate embodiment—very slowly. It’s not going to happen all at once, but it can. It can happen a little bit at a time, more days in between the days that you thought about it. And you’ll begin to feel that separation of self. The overeating and the emotional eating could come back. When you check out of nourishment, embodiment, and pleasure, overeating does come back in because we are trying to find that nourishment and that need that we have, that hunger that we have, we’re trying to satisfy on the pallet. And it doesn’t work that way. Food will then become a band-aid for the emotional need of nourishment.

You have worked so hard during this 90-day challenge to overcome those food obstacles, to overcome behaviors that you had in your life previously. You have worked diligently. Action, you’ve taken action each and every day to be where you are now. Receive nourishment. Continued to receive nourishment from this day forward in every aspect of your life, and the hunger that you used to feel on your tongue will not show up like the ravaging wolf. You will be more at peace with it. And you will see the signs coming at you, and you’ll go, “Oh.” All the sudden, you’ll feel that devouring wolf are raving wolf, you’ll feel it on your tongue, and you’ll go, “Wait a minute. Where am I not receiving nourishment? Where am I not receiving pleasure or embodiment? Where have I started going so fast in my life that I forgot what slow felt like?” You will begin to get those senses, the clues that something is off kilter in your life and just by the tongue. That will be your biggest cue, and you can get right back on track. You always can. It’s never gone forever, right? You can always go back to day one. Let’s implement slow. Let’s implement circadian rhythm, food quality, macronutrient balance, pleasure, guidelines, embodiment, nourishment, energy. You can always go back and add all those back in and redo them and add them in because you will receive nourishment from every one of those. You’ll receive nourishment from going back and learning them and reviewing them again. Nourishment is impactful, and it will change your life when you begin allowing yourself to take hold of it.

All right. So I also did a video in this week’s e-mail. And The Power of I AM, I love it. This is the Universal Law of Attraction. Many of y’all have heard all of these before. but I love to review them because I want to remind you.  And this is very similar to the mindset protocol that I gave y’all last year at MannaFest and those of you who have heard my mindset talk outside of that. And it’s the see it, feel it, be it, and declare it. So on the Universal Law of Attraction they’re saying to state it out loud. State out loud what it is you want. State it right out there for the world to hear. Every day, post it on your mirrors. Repeat it back to yourself. And you got to state it like you mean it. You got to have emotion and energy in it. When you state it out loud, it’s “I am victorious. Yes, I am victorious. Yes. I am victorious.” You got to state it like you mean it, or it doesn’t mean anything. The physiology of your body will not shift unless you create the emotional shift. You’ve got to bring that emotion and power into it, and then you take action. You take action on it. You step into being that victorious person. You step into being that person. You take action every day as being a victorious person. It’s not “I’m going to be.” It’s you already are.  And of course, positivity has power. Yes. You have the mindset of life or the mindset of death. And the mindset of life has power. It has positivity. It has so much more than positivity. [Laughs] Yes. So go back and review that video and the Laws of Attraction and see what you are implementing into your life already and check out what you can add in now to make it happen for you.

As we know that rock-solid mindset, it ends the struggle. It does when we are all in, when we are being that person. And now that you’ve learned nourishment, you get to experiment this week in being nourished. What does nourished feel like? What does it feel like? Let your body feel what it feels like, and it will want to go back to it over and over and again. Because, remember, our body loves to feel good. Our body loves that shift in physiology. So take hold of it today. Do not let a day go by without feeling nourishment.

Thank you so much for joining me this evening. I am always available. Please feel free to message me on Facebook or in the group itself. I am available to answer your questions, and I’m also available to help you in any way that I can. Next steps are revealed next week, so stay tuned for that. And be there. Be all in. You’ve got this. You can do this. We are on the home stretch, people. And next week we’re going to talk about what we’re going to do moving forward in your life, as far as the NewYou90 goes. All right? I will talk with you next week. Have a great one. Bye, y’all.

Recorded and current as of March 18, 2019

Always consult with your physician or other qualified healthcare provider before embarking on a new diet or program. This program is not recommended for pregnant or lactating women. If you are taking medications, have a health condition or are planning a medical procedure, consult your health professional before beginning this program. It is also not recommended for children under the age of 18. If you have any specific questions about these matters, you should consult your doctor or other healthcare provider.

  \  Coaching Calls  March 17, 2020

Coaching Call – Transformation Challenge Week 10: Energy

 

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Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for being here for our week 10 of the New You 90 Challenge. We are doing so well, aren’t we? We are rocking it. We are champions. We are champions of our mind. We’re champions of our heart. We are champions of the way that we do food. We are walking the walk, talking the talk, and being all in in this New You 90 Challenge. I am so very proud of you. You’re doing an awesome job. I want you to take a moment and celebrate everything that you’ve done in the last 10 weeks because I know you have a lot to celebrate.

I want you to really take a moment and think about those things. What is it that you feel like you have really done well and accomplished? Getting to the point of energy. How you grocery shop. Has that transformed? How you organize your food for the meals coming up in the next week. How have you done with the embodiment or pleasure or the cravings that we spoke about last week. Eating to the point of energy. How are you in relationship to your food? Do you find that you are in a place of responsibility and eating from the place of queen or king? Where you make wise decisions about food and you nourish yourself well.

Where are you and celebrate that. Celebrate how far you’ve come. Just breathe it in for a minute. Just be with it. Celebrating you. Wonderful, wonderful you. This is so much fun. Yes, I love being on this journey with you. Tonight we are talking about energy. Energy and fatigue are topics that many of my clients come to me for help, especially with all of the autoimmune diseases that are coming up in this time, in these decades. From the nourishment that we’ve done in the past and how it has culminated and where it’s led us with our health. All these new things that are coming up for us, our bodies are working very, very, very hard and fatigue can be a problem. It can be an issue, but really what fatigue is, is it’s a whisper. It’s a notice. The body is saying, “Hey, look at me. I’m trying to send you a message and you’re not listening.”

That is exactly what fatigue is saying. It is sending a message, a very loud message for you to please take note. Please take note and see what’s happening with your energy level. And that’s where we are today. If you find as we go along and I’m talking about energy and things are coming up for you that you think may be on a deeper level of the energy factor, please email me and send me your concern, your question, whatever it is, because energy and fatigue can be a very, very deep topic. In the realm of health, in the vitality of your body, and there can be many factors that play a role in this. So if after tonight’s recording, if you’re listening to it or if you’re here live with me now, if things are coming up for you, please feel free to email me and let’s talk about it. All right? Because energy and fatigue are a big factor and they’re a big message and the body is sending it very loudly. So let’s take a listen in.

Let me share my screen with you so that we can see the same thing together. Energy. What does energy mean to you? What does energy mean to you? Do you have enough? Do you have the amount of energy you need to walk through your day with vitality and with clarity of thinking? Do you have enough energy for your workout and your day-to-day living? Do you have enough energy to do your workout, your day-to-day living, and if some problem comes into your day, do you have the amount of energy it takes to process that problem? To process the experience. To process whatever hiccup is coming at you. Do you have enough energy to walk through that and still have plenty of energy left over for your evening? Do you have enough?

Energy is often thought of to be in short supply. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way. I’m going to show you ways that you can increase your energy and feel fantastic. It’s just a matter of how we are in our day, how we are with ourselves, who we’re being, if our mindset is open or closed, if our heart brain is open or closed, and the gut brain if it’s open or closed. When those are open, we have more than enough energy. It’s when we close them because of experiences or beliefs or negative thinking, negative thoughts. A problematic situation that you cannot find a solution to and so therefore, it’s allowed to drain your energy instead of releasing it and being able to move forward.

Let’s move on with this. Be sure that you write down your questions throughout the week as you are working through this process of energy and fatigue. Write down your questions, send them in to me because we have Facebook Live on Thursday at 12, noon, central time on the New You 90 Mannatech Facebook page. You can send those questions to info@AshlyToria.com or text me at 214-682-9867. You can also Facebook message me as well. That’s a really easy way to get me and several of you are already doing that and I love that. Thank you. Thank you for utilizing that.

And then Next Steps. Let’s talk about that for just a moment. I know we’re coming down to the wire on Next Steps after the New You 90 Challenge. We’re on week 10. We have three weeks left of this challenge. I am going to address Next Steps and I’ve got some things that are downloading and I’m processing ways that we are going to move forward and can move forward. I want you to know that that’s coming in the next couple of weeks. But for right now, I would love for us just to continue our focus and finish strong. This is a very important week this energy week. I want us to finish this very strong. Really take hold of this information this week and next week. And we will move right into Next Steps after that.

All right, but for now be the energy you want to attract. Yes. Yes, if you want high energy, if you want to attract that high energy, that energy that is just sustainable and lasting, then you want to be that same energy. Energy is not in short supply. We have more than enough energy. We are given a certain amount of energy, it is a way that we manage it determines how long it will last. If we miss manage our energy, then we lack energy. But when we manage the energy we’re given, it stays with us. It stays with this.

Let’s think about this. When we are in a place of low energy. Back in the, what was it, the ’80s or ’90s? There was this Snickers satisfies commercials and it was all about that 3:00 slump. When you’re in that 3:00 slump, do a Snickers and it will revive you and give you energy. The sad thing is, is that we cannot create energy, energy is energy. It is in a certain amount and it’s that amount all the time. We can’t create it, but we can sure diminish it through mismanagement and through eating poorly, and other things like activities that we do. Activities that we have can zap energy. Thoughts that we think can zap our energy. Beliefs. Belief systems.

It’s something that has come up for me lately is a decade school around our belief systems and around the way that we think. I call it decade school because to me every time we’re entering into a new decade, we want to enter into that decade clean and strong and clearer, clearer thinking, clarity of mind. However, when we bring into the new decade, last decade’s trash, last decade’s way of thinking that doesn’t serve us anymore, last decade’s belief systems that don’t serve us anymore as we move forward. All of those things, we tend to pull them into the next decade with us and it drains our energy. It pulls life from us because they aren’t needed anymore, but for some reason, we feel like we still have to own them.

We don’t have to own them. We can release those belief systems. We can release the patterns of thinking that were good for that decade, but they do not serve the next decade. We can release them and not have them zap our energy into the next one, two, three decades, four decades that we have left on this earth. So think about that. If you are all in for decade school be sure and send me a an email because that is something that is really laying on my heart, is some kind of program like that, that helps people move from one decade to the next.

All right, and then there are people that can zap our energy and there’s also people that can give us energy. Places can zap our energy. The sounds in a place. The loudness or the softness of noise can affect our energy. Our feelings and emotions affect our energy. The foods that we eat. Supplements that we take, our experiences. Wow, there is a lot that plays a role into our energy isn’t there? So much. So therefore, there is a lot of things that can give us energy. All we have to do is know in our mind and our heart and our very being what gives us energy and what takes our energy away.

This right here, this activity is one of the Home Play materials that I gave you. I gave you a principle version of that activity, so that you can hand write these down. But you want to flow through the activities, thoughts, beliefs, people, places, feelings, foods, supplements, and experiences that take energy from you. You want to be in full awareness of what in your life is taking energy from you. And have that list so that you can begin weeding those out or shifting a belief system around them. There are some times when, let’s say an experience, for instance, there’s a belief system, a perspective, centered around an experience that is draining energy from you.

Sometimes all it takes is a shifting our perspective and the way that we see and view that experience from a different angle that will totally change the impact it has on our energy. All those things that you’re writing down that takes energy from you, when you’re looking at those, look and see if just a perspective needs to be shifted. Like people, for instance. There may be some people that zap your energy, but they’re in your life. There is no way to separate them out of your life, right? There’s some people that we don’t want to do that with, we want them to be in our life. But for some reason, being with them drains energy. So it’s a matter coming at it from a different perspective, a different thought pattern, a different belief system around being with that person and just shifting that.

I had a client who had this same issue in their life with a mother-in-law. There was no way they were going to be releasing their mother-in-law. The mother-in-law was in their life for good and so she had to change the way she was with her so that her energy level wasn’t impacted. So the physiology of her body wasn’t impacted because remember when our physiology is impacted in a negative way, it takes our body into a state of stress. When our body is in that state of stress, if you’ll remember from weeks one and two, when our body is in that state of stress, our body stores fat and uses lean tissue for energy. And a whole host of other things, if you’ll remember. Decrease in enzymatic output. Decrease in healthy gut bacteria. Excuse me. The excretion of vital minerals and nutrients and vitamins.

So many things happen in a negative sense physiologically when we are in that place of stress in our body. So when we cannot release an experience, a belief, or people in our life or something of that nature, then we must change, we must change the way that we are with them. One of those places is by coming from that place of openness that we talked about with the mindset and the heart brain. A place of openness versus closed.

So think about that as you’re making out your list. And you will do that same thing with what brings you energy. This is a fun list to do. After you do both lists of what takes energy from you and what brings you energy, what you’ll want to do is to fill your day up with those things that bring you energy. Especially on those days that you are doing something that takes energy from you, but there’s just no way around it. Shift your perspective around that experience that you’re about to go through.

Shift your belief system around it, your perspective, how you show up. Shift all of that and then surround that experience with things that bring you energy. Support yourself fully when you’re in this place. You can fill up your morning time ritual, your evening time ritual with things that bring you energy. You can fill up your 3:00 ritual. Three in the afternoon, you can fill that ritual up with things that bring you energy. Your day will just run so well, so beautifully, so smoothly. Yes.

In the video that I put in the New You 90 newsletter that you received yesterday or today, I put in there seven ways that you can elevate your energy. Seven ways. One of them is sleep. Now we’ve talked about circadian rhythm and getting your body in alignment with circadian rhythm. There are several things that play a role in this, but your sleep patterns is key. In order for your sleep pattern to be on task, circadian rhythm is very important. This also helps balance out your cortisol levels. When your circadian rhythm and sleep are in alignment, then your cortisol levels will have the ebb and flow that they need in order to give you the energy you need throughout the day.

So sleep is very important. Getting to bed in that 10:00 timeframe. Waking up with the sun the next morning. Circadian rhythm is vital. I know not all of you can do that because of jobs, night work, night school and night shifts that you may have. No worries on that. You just do the best that you can and you get your body on some kind of rhythm to where you’re getting seven to nine hours of good, restful sleep.

Be around those people that build you up. Yes. Be around positive, uplifting people. Move your body daily. We talked about this and in fact, in this week’s newsletter I gave you three workouts for the core and full body movements. Highly recommend you move your body daily. Also in the book, join me in the inside of it. You got an electronic copy of for being in this challenge. In the back of that is several workouts that you can choose as well. Go for a walk, walk barefoot in the grass when weather is permitting and it’s a good time of year to do that. That is one of the best ways to elevate your energy. It grounds you. It connects you to nature. Into the earth. Nothing is more magnetic than doing that.

Fill your diet with life giving foods. Oh yes. You’re learning how to do that in this New You 90 Challenge and you have done so well eating low glycemicly. Filling your body with nourishing foods. That is what it’s about. Finish what you start. This is a good one. If you leave tasks unfinished, it will drain your energy. It will. If you start to clean up the kitchen and don’t finish, it will drain your energy. If you start to go through your mail, but leave the stack on the dining room table instead of taking it to your office and filing it in the appropriate spots, it will drain your energy. If you do laundry and leave the clothes in a basket for a week, that will drain your energy. If you start a project for your work and you leave it unfinished and you never go back and finished it, that will drain your energy.

All of those things that seems small, you pack a lot of those on top of each other and your energy is going to be low. Low. You will be draining your energy by not finishing what you start. When you begin a task, finish it. If it is a multi-day task, then you have to schedule that and you have determination and intention to follow through and finish it out and complete it. That right there when you complete something that gives you energy. Yes.

Eliminate your negative slant in your vocabulary. If you have a tendency to say, “Oh, it’s an okay day, you know I’m getting by.” Eliminate that negative slant. “I am victorious and I’m doing superb. I am so enthusiastic.” That may be going a little overboard. But it sure will catch people’s attention when you say that. “I am doing great. I’m filled with enthusiasm.” They’ll go, “Huh? What are you on? I want what you’re having.” And they will want to know all about what you’re doing. It is a great way to start a conversation around health and vitality. Great way to start that

Focus on your gift, your reason for being. Oh my, yes. When you first begin this program with me, I asked you and during prep week to think about your vision. What you’re wanting to create. Not only for yourself in this 90 day challenge, but in the years to come. What is it? What are you visualizing? What kind of body do you want to live in. Healthy and vibrant body. What does that look like? What does it feel like? How do you dress? Where do you want to be in your career? What does that look like? What does it feel like to be in that place in your career? Presidential. Silver Presidential. Platinum Presidential. What does it feel like? What does it look like?

That is your vision, your reason for being. The service that you provide in that. That’s your reason for being. Focus on that and that’s going to give you energy. Focus on the task that lead to that. That gives you energy and vibrancy. That improves the health of your body exponentially. Yes, it does. When you are thinking about the big picture. When you are living inside that big picture that you’re creating, what you want in your life, the service, you’re providing, the love you’re giving, the connection you’re being involved in, the compassion, the commitment it takes to stay the course. That is what gives energy. That is it right there.

Hold on to that vision that you’ve created for yourself. Spend time with it, make it grow, add more detail, more color, more vibrancy, more action, more intention. Be in that vision so that you are focusing on your gift, your reason for being, why you’re here. You will be magnetic and so enthusiastic, you will never have a need for a Snickers bar ever again. Or a quick fix of energy, you’ll just be living with a full energy tank. That is what it’s about. It’s about us as human beings with all of our flaws, with all of our stuff, our baggage that we collect and take on. What this journey for us in life is all about is how to release that and how to live with an open heart and open mindset so that we are focusing on our gift, our reason for being, and offering that up to the world.

That is our journey is how do we do that as human beings, release all of that. And that is what this 90 day challenge is part of. Is you are learning how to let go of what is no longer necessary for you to hold on to so that you can live in a healthy body with vibrancy, living at your reason for being, living in service, for the life that you want to create. That is what this journey is all about.

Forgive yourself, give yourself some grace for those things that you’ve held on to for too long. For the things that you’re allowing to hold you back and direct your energy, forgive and release it, let it go. Take that step forward with intention to only live by that open heart. Only live by that open mindset. When you get sidetracked, when you sabotage yourself, forgive, release, and move on. It’s not about perfection, it’s about putting your best foot forward. It’s about doing your best every single day in that moment. That’s what it’s about. You can do that, you’ve got this.

Release the striving and get into thriving. So on this journey, don’t strive for perfection, don’t strive to overcome obstacles, master them, and get into the thriving of it. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So much fun. This topic of energy can go on and on and as you can tell it is very deep. Very deep and very moving. If you have questions and need a little bit more direction around your energy and fatigue please feel free to reach out to me. My contact information is on the screen. I would love to help you with that. Finish this 90 day challenge strong. We are coming down to the wire. You got three weeks left. Three more tools to learn and to add to your toolbox. Yay. We’ve got so much more coming, so much more.

Like I said, this week’s newsletter about energy was packed full of workouts, recipes, energy techniques for you in order to determine where you’re getting your energy from. Utilize those, watch the video, learn all you can about energy and it will stay with you. It will. What a privilege it is to walk this journey with you. Thank you so much for that. Thank you. Thank you for welcoming me into your world and embracing me and embracing and engaging in the concepts and the tools that I’m teaching you. Thank you so much for showing up 100%.

Have an awesome week. I look so forward to seeing you on the Q&A on Thursday. Be sure and send me your questions, email them to me, or Facebook message me your questions and I will love to hear from you and be able to visit with you about them. All right, everybody, have a great week. See you next time.

Recorded and current as of March 11, 2019

Always consult with your physician or other qualified healthcare provider before embarking on a new diet or program. This program is not recommended for pregnant or lactating women. If you are taking medications, have a health condition or are planning a medical procedure, consult your health professional before beginning this program. It is also not recommended for children under the age of 18. If you have any specific questions about these matters, you should consult your doctor or other healthcare provider.

  \  Ashly's Q&A, Mindset Coach  March 17, 2020

NewYou90 Q & A

Q: What if I have an allergic reaction to food?

A: An allergy is a physical resistance to something. If you have an allergic reaction to a food that is life threatening, seek medical attention immediately. For mild reactions, this could be a high amount of something in your body triggering an allergy. Look at the symptoms you have when you eat high-allergen foods–symptoms like moods, organ functions, digestion, skin, mouth–everything in your body. If you can isolate a food and determine it is the cause, avoid eating the food for 90-120-day rest from the food. You may then test the food by eating a small amount 1 day. Give the body a 3-day rest from the food and note if any symptoms occur. Repeat this process for a week or 2.

Q: If I have a belief that a certain food makes me gain weight, will it?

A: The head brain is amazing. When we repeat something often enough, the body begins to believe it.

Q: What is the gut/brain axis?

A: Neurotransmitters in the gut signal the brain to release chemicals, like serotonin, leptin and ghrelin, in the gut that affect your digestion, mood and behavior. When you trust what you gut has to say about what food to eat or not to eat, often times, it is right.

Q: What is meant by embodiment?

A: Embodiment is the body-mind connection. To be embodied means you have become the biological equivalent of the trait, activity, state of being. It is focused awareness. Deep breathing is a simple way to become embodied. Embody is to BE in your body with full and focused awareness.

Q: What is the best way to use embodiment to change my body?

A: The TruHealth Challenge works because it allows you to set goals and visualize what you want. When a VISION of the health, physical body and fitness level is kept at the forefront of your mind and you EMBODY that VISION, your behaviors and habits will begin to reflect that.  The foods you gravitate to will fuel and feed the physical body and fitness level you desire.  Visualization and clarity give you an anchor point to keep, and stay, on track.

Q: What time of day do your cravings hit you?

A:  Mid-afternoon around 3 -4 p.m are usually the hours when our bodies tend to dip and we don’t have as much energy. It may just be signaling this is a good time for us to chill. One thing you can do is understand the needs of your body. It may not need food, but may just need a rest. Slow down, hydrate and take a few deep breaths. When your craving is accompanied by procrastination or boredom, ask yourself what you are procrastinating about? Is there fear? What is keeping you from what you want to do? Try to discover what the fear-based emotion is stemming from. Boredom is not getting engaged in your life. Examine what is holding you back. This usually stems from fear. What are you afraid of? Turning to vices and experiencing emotions like procrastination and boredom is covering up fear or pain. It’s time to stop covering up and face your fears.

Q: When you crave a certain food to eat be sure to ask, “Is this food in alignment with my life and goals?

A: If the food you are craving does not serve your goals, then dismiss the food and move on. If the craving keeps coming back, look at why you are craving it. You may need to take a deeper dive into your emotions. Once the emotions are resolved around this craving, the desire for the food will dissolve.

  \  Mindset Coach  March 16, 2020

The Hunger Hormones

There are two hormones that determine whether you feel hungry or full — Ghrelin and Leptin.

An easy way to remember the names of these hormones is Ghrelin sounds like gremlin, which is the same noise your tummy makes when it is empty and requires food. This hormone is sending the signal that it is time to eat.

The other hormone that is helpful to know is leptin; I love leptin because it sends a message from your stomach that tells your brain you are full. This takes up to 20 or 30 min, so it is best to eat slowly. This is where slowing down plays a major role in your weight loss efforts.

If you eat fast, the tendency is to eat too much because the signals from these two hormones become crossed and you don’t get an accurate reading.

Ghrelin:

  • Ghrelin is produced in the cells lining the fundus (bottom of) of the stomach and pancreas
  • Ghrelin increases before meals and decreases after meals
  • Short term regulator of body weight…”When do we eat, I’m hungry’
  • Stomach makes ghrelin when its empty

Leptin:

  • Leptin is produced in the adipose tissue
  • Leptin  induces Satiation – tells the hypothalamus that we have enough fat and can stop eating
  • Long term regulator of body weight
  • Can become leptin resistant due to too much body fat; signal is disrupted
  • More body fat can screw up appetite signals and make you hungrier

Ghrelin and Leptin may be produced in different parts of the body, but they affect the brain via the hypothalamus (the control center for the autonomic N.S.)

For example: “When you’re hungry, ghrelin sends messages every 20 or 30 minutes. It takes 30 minutes to turn those signals off, so unless you take 30 minutes to eat, you’ll probably eat too much. If you have eaten some food and can wait 20 minutes, leptin will send the message that you’re full and you’ll get over the craving to keep eating. “

Sounds simple enough, right?

It can be until lifestyle, culture, and continued overeating quiets these signals. Then we could have a problem. The goal is for these hormones to work in synchronicity, so here is a line-up of meal ideas to keep growlin’ ghrelin and love’in leptin balanced.

Breakfast: Eat a high-fiber breakfast like oatmeal, quinoa, Ezekiel bread with nut butter, eggs or a protein smoothie w fruit and a cup full of greens.

Snack: Fruit or veggies

Lunch: Don’t think too hard about this; keep your favorites on hand for a quick and easy meal. If you allow yourself to get too hungry the gremlin will come to life and the tendency is to overeat.

For example, a good lunch would consist of BLT lettuce wraps or green salad w chicken and mushrooms w an olive oil dressing.

Snack: have a snack high in essential fatty acids, these tend to put leptin in full swing and you will feel satisfied and full. Example: nuts and seeds, fresh coconut or avocado.

Dinner: Be sure to not skip meals, this puts the ghrelin to growlin’ and you don’t want that by the time dinner rolls around.  Eat a dinner high in lean protein, a few fresh veggies. I like to add in the squashes like butternut or spaghetti, they give a satisfied feeling.

Timing: have your last meal at least 3 hours before you go to bed for the night, eat with circadian rhythm throughout the day eating your largest meal at high noon and smaller meals at breakfast and dinner.

Where you eat matters: sit down at the table at meal time, relax with some music, and allow the senses to come to life so you may not only benefit from the nutrition of the meal but from the experience as well.

Ashly Torian

  \  Delicious Recipes  March 11, 2020

Quick & Easy Recipes by Ashly: Skillet Dinner Mix

Take the hassle out of dinner and make my favorite!

Ingredients:

  • Mushrooms
  • Butternut squash
  • Okra
  • Fresh Rosemary
  • Olive or Coconut Oil
  • Cooked Chicken (fresh – no nitrates or preservatives)
  • Parmesan

Sauté’ mushrooms, frozen butternut squash and okra in coconut or olive oil and fresh rosemary until they reach your desired tenderness. Mix in previously cooked chicken and top with Parmesan.

Variation:

Add greens at the very end for added nutrition.

  \  Coaching Calls  March 11, 2020

Coaching Call – Transformation Challenge Week 9: Cravings

Watch Video

Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for being with us. We are in week nine of our NewYou90 challenge, and it is all about cravings this week. I hope you enjoyed allergens last week. I hope you learned a lot and are now able to navigate your way through those foods and food sensitivities that may have blocked you in the past. And now you are set free to this next step that we are at, which is all about cravings.  Cravings can be seen as an enemy sometimes. Cravings can seem as just this big giant that interferes in your life and we’re so afraid to face it. Because when we have a craving, we’re afraid we’re going to go overboard. I want to let you know that that doesn’t have to happen. It doesn’t. Because cravings are really a friend. Cravings let us know what’s missing in our life. What we need to tap into in our life in order for us to be more grounded with food and for us to feel more nourished by food versus the stress and fear of it and the tug of war about it. This week I want you to take this lesson and go through the email that I sent you, the newsletter, the NewYou90 newsletter that I sent you that will describe every aspect of cravings. And you can walk through each individual piece of it and learn about your cravings, so that you know how to walk with them the rest of your lives because they really can be a friend.

All right. So, hello, everyone. I’m so glad y’all here. This is a fantastic night. I am going to share my screen with you now, so that you can see the presentation and we can get moving right along with this fabulous topic. Let’s first talk about announcements. There are no announcements other than our live Q&A on Thursday. These Q&As happen on the Facebook page, the NewYou90 Mannatech Facebook page. I do it on that page so that those who are in the challenge, those who are part of that group, and who have participated in this will have access to these Q&As and be able to hop on anytime and ask a question. So, remember, when these are Q&As on Facebook, in the Facebook Group NewYou90 Mannatech, that means that I am showing up on a live video. There is no link you go to other than in your notifications. When Facebook sends you a notification, it will say Ashley Torin is now live at NewYou90 Mannatech. Whoo! [Laughs] And that is where you click on that notification and it is going to take you live. You can also go straight to NewYou90 Mannatech Facebook Group and be able to tap onto the live screen there.

All right. Two ways that you can send me questions is info@ashlytorian.com and you can Facebook message me, Ashley Torian, Ashley Fredrick Torian. Both of those will get me the question that you have for the Q&A Thursday. Also, feel free to text me at 214-682-9867 if that’s the only way you can do it. Because I know sometimes we can’t get through on Facebook, so you need an alternative route and that is what that is. Okay. All right. Here we go.

Body Love Tip. If you determine your outcome with your past patterns and beliefs, it will happen that way, meaning your patterns around cravings do not have to own you. They do not have to determine what’s going to happen with your body, with your health, with your peace of mind, your mindset. Cravings do not run the show, unless we allow them to run the show. What I’m going to share with you tonight is going to totally free you from this pattern of craving. Because we want to walk this path with the cravings and know that they are here to help us. They are here to help us. That is always such a fun thing. We do have to be in a state of awareness. In the very beginning of this program, I talked with you about the importance of slow. If you will notice, I have brought up that in every single class. Because in every single tool that I’m teaching you, it’s vitally important that you’re in this place of slow. Slow is where the action is. Slow is where magic happens. Slow is where you are going to see a craving, and you are going to be able to dissect it and figure out what kind of craving that it is, but it only takes place when we are slow in an awareness. This is another very important place where you can practice slow. There are three types of cravings. One is Supportive. This is when the body instinctively yearns for a food that enhances your nourishment, enhances your health, enhances a healing process. It can fulfill an emotional need or void, or it neutralizes an imbalance. Now I sent you a Cravings Guide in the NewYou90 newsletter this week. That NewYou90 newsletter comes from me. It’ll say from Ashly Torian, so that you can immediately recognize it.

There is a link for Cravings Guide. And this Cravings Guide is awesome. It helps you to see where your salty craving if you’re craving a salty food, a sweet food, a bitter food, a pungent food. If you’re craving ice, if you’re creating cold food, hot food, light food, heavy food, creamy food, it will describe to you where the deficiency is. Also, it gives you food ideas so that you’re not going to chocolate as your go-to whenever you have a craving or a triple mocha latte or whatever it is that you have as your go-to craving. Sometimes we could be craving something that’s creamy and we go to chocolate automatically. Or we could be craving who knows what it could be, but we have go-tos. Have you noticed that? There’s a go to that whenever you’re feeling some kind of an emotional need, you automatically go to that food that you go to. Well, look through this list because you may be deficient in something, and it may help you and help curb the craving from showing up over and over again. So, check out the Cravings Guide.

The second type of craving is a Dispersive craving. Now this is the cravings that are not always good for us. If you are running all over the place, burning the candle at both ends, not getting enough sleep, you are stressed to the max because you have emotional stuff, you have business stuff, you have home stuff, whatever it is, you’re behind on things and you’re stressed. You are going through a drive through every day to help you stay awake, whether it’s that triple mocha latte, whether it is a chocolate bar, energy drinks, energy shots, whatever it is, if you have that within you to do that, then this is a dispersive craving. You’re hoping that if there’s that sense that we think, “Okay, if I can just have this, I’ll be okay and I’ll be awake enough to handle the next step.” Well, that is not always the case. It usually leaves us wanting and even more fatigued than we were before.

When we have dispersive cravings, it is time for us to get quiet. This is one of those moments where you go off by yourself and you have a quiet moment to deep breathe and just writing in your journal, pray, meditate, stretching or yoga or something that is more meditative and fluid. When we have dispersive cravings, this is when our body is saying, “You have run me to the max and I have to rest.” That’s what a dispersive craving is all about. When you have these, the ones that send you to get hooked up with some caffeine or chocolate or anything that makes you feel better, temporarily speaking, that is when it’s time for you to go, “No, I don’t think that’s going to do it for me this time. I need to rest. I need quiet.” And go give yourself that quiet.

The third type of craving is an Associative cravings. Now these can be fun. These cravings connect you to a meaningful experience you’ve had in your life. Associative cravings are like when you were a young kid and when you walked in from school, your mom was baking cookies and after school, that was a time that you could sit down, have a glass of milk and some cookies, and just let it all out. Talk to your mom, tell her what happened at school, just really decompress and just relax. If you’ve ever noticed when you’ve come home from work, and let’s say you just really need to decompress and you would love to go back to those days of milk and cookies with your mom and be able to just lay it all out on the counter with your mom while you’re eating her homemade cookies and milk, nothing beats that, right? There are days when you may come home from work and from meeting with a client, from meeting with an associate, whatever it is, and you smell that smell as you walk in the door but it’s not there, but it leads you to baking some cookies and to having some milk. That’s an associative craving. Craving it’s a yearning. Sometimes those are very much needed because they reconnect us. They ground us.

Associative cravings are not “bad” for us. Associative cravings can be very healthy, very nourishing, when they are utilized with wisdom, when they’re utilized without judgment or criticism, and when they’re utilized and followed through with love and with knowing, “Wow, this reconnects me.” Having that knowing that you’re connected again, that you’re grounded, that is fulfilling, nourishing and that’s when they are very, very healthy. So, watch out here though and make sure that you’re not abusing your associative cravings. There was a time when I abused my associative cravings of ice cream. Because when I was a young girl — you’ve heard me say this — celebration was ice cream. So, when I was in that struggle of pain and fear and just being terrified of food and where I was at with that relationship, ice cream made me feel better. I had ice cream almost every single day. Haagen-Dazs vanilla was my friend, and I began to abuse that associative craving, so I can connect back. And all of a sudden, that comfort and that connection that I had gotten from it before, it was kind of disappearing and I wasn’t receiving that beauty from it. I wasn’t receiving that comfort from it anymore. That’s what you want to watch out for on that one and that is it. Just make sure you are responsible with your associative cravings. You’re using wisdom. Okay? But that’s a fun one to experiment with. So, those are the three types of cravings.

I hope I was helpful in showing you that cravings are not bad. Cravings are helpful, very, very helpful for us. They let us know where we’re at and what’s happening in our life. The other side of cravings is something I want you to know about and that is, pleasure. When we spoke about pleasure a couple of weeks ago, I want you to understand that with that pleasure, if you eliminate that pleasure from your life, you’re going to crave even more. And it’s going to be the dispersive and the associative that you’re going to crave more than ever. Because pleasure has been eliminated from your life. So, do not eliminate pleasure. All right. There are two ways to process cravings. One is to minimize the intensity with an intuitive eating technique. This is when you’re asking questions of yourself. This is on the dispersive and on the associative and sometimes on the supportive as well. But it’s just for you to check in with it. So, when we use this technique we’re asking questions that are very helpful on us, figuring out if we really need that food right then, in that moment, in our life. The questions look like this. First, you want to recognize what’s happening. That’s what slow is about. We get an awareness. “I am going for that chocolate again that’s in my food bag. What’s happening with that?”

Now you want to just see it for what it is. Does it feed muscle or fat? Does the chocolate in my bag feed muscle or does it feed fat? In this moment, it’s my third time to grab the chocolate, so I would say at this point, it’s feeding fat. Next question, is this in alignment with my purpose, with what I’m wanting to achieve in this 90-day challenge? Is that really part of my goal, my purpose, my mission? No, it’s not. Number one because I’m blindly grabbing it. Number two because I’ve grabbed it for the third time in a row. Once I put it back in the bag, zipped up the bag, now I’m unzipping it for the third time. That’s showing me that there’s a pattern, that I’m avoiding something, right? Wouldn’t you agree with that? When you were jumping in towards a food for three times and you zip it up and you close it, and then you’re opening it up again to grab it again, there’s a pattern here. Something’s being avoided. No, it’s not in alignment with my purpose. If I’m avoiding something, I’m definitely not in alignment. Do I still want it? If it’s not in alignment and it’s feeding fat, do I still want to take in this food for a fourth time? Yes or no. If you answered no, then you went through your intuitive eating questions with confidence, with a queen type or king type presence. You know what’s good for you, what’s best for you, and you said, “Nope, don’t want any more,” and you put it away and you’re good. But what if you said, “Yes, I still want it.” There’s just this driving need. If you’re going to go ahead and have that food, then have it with pleasure and with love. There is no judgment or criticism about you going for it.

The only prerequisite I have is this. If you’re going to go for it again and you said, yes, you’re going to go ahead and have it, then you wait until you can be all in with that food. Taste, aroma, pleasure, satisfaction. You can eat it slowly. You can let that chocolate, for this example, melt on your tongue and you can savor the flavors and the texture of it. When you swallow it, you can still taste it in your mouth. It lands beautifully in your stomach. You take that deep breath of oxygen, so that the body continues to burn in a relaxed state, which means your thermogenic capacity is on fire. That is the prerequisite that if you do this intuitive eating technique and the answer is still yes, that you must ritualize the way you’re going to eat that food. Ritualizing, meaning it is done with flair. [Laughs] It’s done with fun. It’s done with pleasure and confidence in who you are as an eater. You’re not hidden. You’re not in avoidance. You’re not blinded. You’re in none of those places. It is with full awareness for what you’re doing. I guarantee you and I promise you that when you do it that way, it’s going to change the way you show up with that food the next time. It will totally change.

Now the second way we can process cravings. The second way we can process these cravings is to feel the craving, meaning this, when you begin to feel that craving that you are wanting the bag of cookies or that coffee, whatever it is that you’re craving, and you feel like you have little Pac-Man in your jaw and they’re just [Inaudible 00:19:00] [Laughs]. Just driving you to have that craving. I ask you to sit with it and to feel. What you do is you say, with your eyes open, “I feel this.” Close your eyes. Where do you feel it? Where do you feel this craving in your body? Do you feel the Pac-Man at the back of your jaws? Do you feel this gripping in your stomach? Do you feel a rush of blood flowing through your body? Notice that I mentioned all sensations that you can feel in your body. You just want to feel. If you begin to think and attach thoughts to these feelings that you’re having in your body, you will break the benefit of this exercise. You must cut off all thoughts to where all you do is feel these sensations. These sensations will flow through your body. About two-and-a-half minutes, that’s typically the lifespan of them. Sometimes it can go to five, especially if little thoughts keep bumping in, but if you do not allow those thoughts to flow in, then you can eliminate this sensation for that craving in your body in about two-and-a-half to three minutes. When that emotional current, that craving current is processed through your body, you just wait until it’s completely gone, and then you can open up your eyes and ask yourself, “Okay, do I still want that food? Am I still in a place where I need that food?” Typically, the answer is going to be no. I don’t need it anymore. So, those are two ways you can process your cravings. Spot on ways. They’re awesome. Beautiful, beautiful.

All right. Let’s move on to self-sabotaging behavior, within these cravings and around them and separate from them. The way we speak to our self can trigger these cravings. If your self-talk is negative which we’ve had a couple of negative-thought fast while we’ve been in this NewYou90 challenge. We’ve undergone a couple of those. You’ve been watching for those negative thoughts, that negative self-talk. Did you notice that whenever you spoke negatively to yourself it could send you to a craving or it could send you to an undesired eating behavior? We want to stop this. This week I want to help you turn around those negative thoughts, the negative self-talk that is coming at you. When you come in from the day, a negative thought or a negative self-talk statements could look like this, “I have had a hard day. I deserve this bowl of ice cream.” You can change to “I deserve some comfort tonight. So, what else could I have that would provide me comfort?” Remember the… No, we haven’t done that yet. All right. Coming soon, we are going to be stepping into energy and what gives us energy and comfort.

Comfort is kind of like energy. Make a list right now. What brings you comfort? What brings you comfort? What makes you feel good? What makes you feel like you just ate a bowl of ice cream with the cherry on top, without eating a bowl of ice cream with the cherry on top? What makes you feel warm and loved? Write those things down so you have them on you at all times, so that if you need comfort, then you can resort to that comfort list. I do deserve some comfort tonight. I am going to go take an Epsom salt bath and put plenty of frankincense in there and play some beautiful harp music and just breathe and put some candles on. Yes, comfort. I deserve some comfort. We can have comfort outside of food. We can experience comfort outside of food. There’s other ways, but food is typically the fastest. We can sit down and curl up and watch TV or wrap a blanket around us and enjoy it, but it doesn’t give us the comfort that we’re really looking for. That’s what we’re doing in this 90-day challenge is we are looking to see what other ways we can receive comfort and energy and vitality that’s not food. Because food is nourishment and we want another long list of things that can bring us the other and help us to be grounded and ready. There was another example in here. I already cheated with the piece of chocolate this morning. I might as well blow the whole day and start fresh tomorrow.

One bite doesn’t blow anything. A full bowl of ice cream doesn’t blow anything. You’re changing this to “I am making progress each day. I am doing this.” Because just think, before, you may have had that bowl of ice cream every single day. It’s been two months and now you’re having a bowl of ice cream. You didn’t blow anything. No. Never. We never blow anything. We experiment. We learn. We overcome. We learn to give ourselves some grace and to know that all is well all the time, no matter what. No matter what. You just get back on in the next moment. Remember, each moment is different not each day. Each day is different, but you don’t have to blow a whole day just because you ate this chocolate or had a bowl of ice cream or went through a drive-through a Taco Bell. You didn’t blow it. You learn from it. What was I craving? What kind of craving was that? You ask yourself questions, so that you can learn more about who you are as an eater. It’s so much fun.

All right. So, I love this picture this is one of my favorite pictures of the beetle inside the flower. Nothing can distract him, can’t it? Not right now and that is how you are in this 90-day challenge. You are going forth. You are practicing. You are experimenting. You are learning about yourself. When things pop up for you with cravings, with lack of pleasure, with stepping out of your body, and cutting off your mind-body connection, anytime you do things like that, you’re not being distracted and pulled off course. You are being given opportunities to learn more about yourself and who you are. So that you, after these 90 days, you know exactly what to do when you have a hiccup. Yes, these are all opportunities to practice. They’re not distractions. They’re not pulling you of course. They are keeping you accountable to what you’re doing. Yes, so exciting and so much fun. So much fun. Never look on these occurrences, hiccups, cravings, whatever it is that you feel is to be pulling you off course, it’s your opportunity, your biggest opportunity, to stay the course to learn about yourself so that you can keep going. As you are losing this fat weight, as you are getting down to the size that you’ve always wanted to be, you can stay there. You can stay there because you are the master of it. You are the queen. You are the king. Yes, love this. You are rocking it. I am so proud of you. I am so thrilled that you have stayed the course because you are getting energy from this. I can’t wait for our energy class. [Laughs] It’s in a couple more weeks. Energy is awesome. You can receive energy as you are walking through this craving list that I gave you, figuring out what cravings you have. You are going to fill yourself up with energy because you have taken away some mental stress. Reducing mental stress always builds us up, builds up our energy tank.

All right. Go out and have a great week nine. I am thrilled about this. I am so excited for you, and I am cheering you on each and every day. Have a wonderful week, everyone. I will check in with you on the Q&A on Thursday, NewYou90 Mannatech at 12 noon, central time. I will see you then. Bye, everybody.

Recorded and current as of March 4, 2019

Always consult with your physician or other qualified healthcare provider before embarking on a new diet or program. This program is not recommended for pregnant or lactating women. If you are taking medications, have a health condition or are planning a medical procedure, consult your health professional before beginning this program. It is also not recommended for children under the age of 18. If you have any specific questions about these matters, you should consult your doctor or other healthcare provider.

  \  Ashly's Q&A, Mindset Coach  March 11, 2020

NewYou90 Q & A

Q: I have not exercised before. What is the best form of activity for me to do?

A: begin walking 15 min at a slow to moderate pace. A pace that is comfortable for you. Walk 3-5 times a week and add 5 min each week. Also begin a stretch routine. Breathe deeply and fully during each stretch. Hold stretch for at least a count of 20 – 60.

Q: when I get hungry between meals, what should I snack on?

A: if you are following the TruHealth protocol most likely if is by habit that you feel hunger. To determine if this is real hunger, drink a full glass of water and wait about 5 min. Typically the feeling of “hunger” will go away. If not, then snack on raw veggies or fix a ½ serving of TruPlenish.

Q: what can I use in place of milk for the TruPlenish Smoothie?

A: coconut milk, almond milk, hemp milk or oat milk.

Q: what can I use for a sweetener when on the TruHealth program?

A: stevia, monk fruit and coconut sugar are healthy alternatives to sweeten drinks or use for alternative baking.

Q: what is a healthy amount of “weight” a body can lose in 1 week?

A: the body can metabolize ½ pound of fat a day. The maximum weekly fat loss is 2 ½ pounds per week. During the first few weeks the body May release more weight in pounds due to excess fluids the body is releasing.