A quote I LOVE the sound of… and still need reminding to actually live 😅 “Ask yourself, ‘What if it were easy?’ Then go ahead and do that.” Tim Ferriss So naturally… I made an acronym 👀 💚 E.A.S.Y. ✨ ENJOYABLE Sometimes we accidentally make healthy habits feel harder by focusing on everything we won’t enjoy. “What if this was easy?” might look like: 🥔 keeping meals simple 🌮 repeating favourite recipes 🎧 listening to a podcast while food prepping ☀️ walking outside instead of forcing yourself onto cardio machines you hate Healthy doesn’t need to feel miserable to “count.” ⚡ AUTOMATIC You know what makes things feel REALLY hard? Overthinking them for three hours before doing nothing 😅 “What if this was easy?” might look like: 👉 immediately chopping vegetables after groceries 👉 setting a pot of lentils on to cook while making breakfast 👉 putting workout clothes on before motivation arrives 👉 scheduling the thing instead of mentally wrestling it daily Tiny automatic actions save enormous mental energy. 🌱 SUSTAINABLE Setting the bar too high can secretly become procrastination and perfectionism. “What if this was easy?” might look like: 💪 a 15-minute workout 🥗 one EASY tray-bake meal to have on repeat this week 📹 one imperfect video instead of waiting to become confident first 🚶‍♀️ consistency over intensity The best routine is rarely the most impressive one. It’s the one you’ll actually keep doing. 🫶 YOUR BEST INTERESTS Some things feel easy now… yet become heavy later. Future-you matters too. “What if this was easy long-term?” might look like: 🌈 keeping healthy food visible and ready 😴 protecting sleep 💚 choosing habits that support your energy instead of draining it 🥙 learning a few EASY healthy meals that make eating food that loves your body back feel realistic instead of overwhelming The older I get, the more I think “easy” is underrated. Not because life should be effortless. Because unnecessary struggle is exhausting 😅 I'd love to know: Where could you make life 1% easier this week?

1.) Spend time daily in deep relaxation, at least an hour throughout the day...more if possible. This is a powerful way to balance and decrease the stress hormone cortisol. The more cortisol you have running through your body, the more your body will gain and hold onto weight like there's no tomorrow. 2.) Take longer pauses between your meals. You can do this by eliminating snacking throughout the day, or extending the time between dinner and breakfast. Doesn't have to be the same pause every day, it's actually great to vary it up, but more time pausing between meals will help you lose weight. Some people call this intermittent fasting. Don't matter what you call it. It works by decreasing insulin and countering insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can make weight loss almost impossible. Similar to cortisol...the more insulin you have running through your body, the more your body will gain weight and refuse to let it go. 3.) Start a Food and Mood Journal. Write down everything you eat, and how you felt while eating and afterwards. No judgment, just data. You can use dirty napkins to write it down, or a fancy journal. Don't matter, just write it. No need to analyze, or think about it after you write it. Simple, straightforward, just write it down. Anything we bring awareness to, we naturally and automatically start to change for the better. As long as we don't judge it and bring shame to this process. 4.) Eat more vegetables and low sugar fruits. If you are looking to let go of weight, strive for at least 50 percent of each meal being veg/fruit. The nutrients from these foods prevent cravings that come from malnourishment. The fiber helps you get full faster and keeps your digestion humming along nicely. These are some of the basic steps I took to let go of over 70 pounds in just a few months. I had an aunt that also let go of a lot of weight during the same time. She worked REALLY hard...exercising daily, for an hour or more, eating special foods. I respect her immensely. I felt guilty sometimes that I was doing less and having similar results. You're welcome to chime in here, in the comments, and share about your amazing transformation, if you'd like @Bev Elton :)

Share any insights or takeaways from Chapters 5 and 6 in the comments below. Chapter 5- The Overfeeding Paradox This chapter considers the idea that eating overfeeding makes us gain weight and shares some surprising experiments. In one experiment, a dude eats a bunch more calories than usual, but he eats them in the form of fat and protein and limited carbs. He gains a little weight, not as much as expected, but also gains muscle, and loses inches off of his waist line, showing that he has actually lost fat during this time. He then does the same experiment with the Standard American Diet, eating more calories with lots of processed carbs and highly processed foods. His waistline expands and he gains fat, just as one might expect. It's not just about calories, the kind of calories we are eating matter. We are introduced to Leptin, the hunger hormone. Leptin is one of the primary hormones involved in weight regulation. Chapter 6- A NEW Hope This Chapter introduces the Hormonal Theory of Obesity, explaining how the hormone insulin is intricately related to whether our body is holding onto fat or letting go of it. Chapter 7- Insulin Deep dive into Insulin. We read about a variety of studies that show clearly that the more insulin a person is exposed to via medication, the more weight they gain. Likewise, medications that lower insulin actually lead to weight loss. This is true regardless of how many calories a person is eating.

So why not take some time today, right NOW, to connect with JOY and GRATITuDE, and maybe even a dash of DEEP Peace?! Having goals and things to strive for is wonderful…it can give purpose, meaning, and direction to our lives. But, if we WAIT to reach our goals to experience joy, fulfillment, and peace, we may never get to those feelings. The goals we have may not be as fulfilling as we expected when we actually attain them, and… There will always be new goals around the corner to strive for. You can spend a lifetime WAITiNG to feel GOOD. And yet, joy and gratitude are available to us at every moment. We just need to slow down and allow ourselves to feel them. It’s important to create goals and work towards them. And it’s equally important to build our CAPACITY for feeling good along the way. Like anything, the more you practice feeling good, and taking time for joy and positive emotions, the better you get at it! If there is an inner, emotional block to feeling GOOD, there are tools that can help you move past the block… Tools like Tapping, Prayer/Meditation, the emotional tools created by Dr. Laurel Mellin, and many such tools ⚒️ What’s one way that you can slow down and give yourself the experience of JoY, or maybe even BLISS today?

First of all, welcome to our newest members, @Tatyana Madzharova , @Elena Maren , @Elizabeth R , @René Barlow , @Steven Bornstein , @Chelsea Sachs , and @Andrea Lecos !! Relaxation Saturday serves as a reminder for us to take time to relax TODAY, this weekend, and beyond. Relaxing can be as simple as taking a few deep breaths, humming and singing to yourself as you drive somewhere, or as involved as spending an hour in meditation and prayer. Whatever works for you, however you can fit it in, is just right! Sharing some videos of our amazing animals on this relaxation Saturday. Sheep eating grass, guinea hen doing the ancient art of “dirt bathing”… Spending time with animals and watching them just do their thing is one of my favorite ways to relax.