Miscellaneous

Healthy Halloween - here's what we did

Hey guys,

I shot a quick video a few days ago to share what my family was doing to have ALL THE FUN on Halloween and none of the garbage!

  • Do we give out candy?

  • What about the school parties?

  • How do we deal with the trick or treating results?

I get into it all in this video.

Please note: This is what we choose to do as a family. This is by no means a judgment on your choices. ;-)

In good health,

Tara

My virtual nutrition & fitness coaching program - behind-the-scenes

Hey guys,

I'm peeling the curtain back and taking you behind the scenes...

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If you have heard me talking about my VIRTUAL, one-on-one nutrition and fitness coaching program, you may have wondered HOW it all works.


HOW do I deliver the habits and daily lessons?
HOW do the workouts work?
HOW do we stay in communication?
WHAT the heck does the software look like?


These are some of the questions I reveal in THIS VIDEO TUTORIAL in which I turn the camera onto my laptop and show you EXACTLY how it all works.  :-)

If you would like some more information about my program - Pioneer Nutrition and Fitness Coaching - check it out and hit 'reply' to this email with any of your questions.  I read and answer every single one myself.


Have a fabulous day and week!

In good health,
Tara


P.S. Here is that tutorial again:



How to achieve ANY goal you have!

Do you want to lose weight? Do you wish you could eat better more consistently? Have you been putting off your workouts?

In the video below, I share everything you need to know to break down ANY goal you have into action steps and daily practices. I discuss The Habit Loop and The Cycle that you can apply to any area of your life that you’re looking to upgrade.

**Warning: The video gets wonky around minute 4 but then picks up around minute 7 or so. This was a livestream and my internet connection was poor. However, you don’t miss much at all (what the heck was I talking about for those 3 minutes, anyway?!?) and I believe you will gain so much from watching this if you are looking to achieve something in particular.



If you are not on my email list, hop on ASAP so you can receive the companion worksheet I mentioned that’s heading to an inbox near you on Tuesday, October 23, 2018. :-) Sign up right here!

In good health,

Tara

Why my virtual coaching program is 12 months!

Hey people!

Have you ever noticed the ridiculous claims some health and weight loss coaches make?

“Drop 20 pounds in 21 days!”

“Lose 3 pants sizes in a week!”

Blah, blah, blaaaaaaaaah.

Why are we drawn to such statements? Well, because we want to believe it’s true, even though we’re skeptical. The truth is, it doesn’t work that way. The other truth is, even if it DID work that way, when you when back to doing life after the week or 21 days, it would all. come. back (sometimes with interest).

My private, virtual coaching is a longer-term commitment at 12 months and I LOVE IT that way. It works. Check out this video to find out why. :-)

Happy weekend!

In good health,

Tara

Wrapping up 2018 with a WIN

October is HERE!

Isn’t that bananas?! I can’t believe we have entered the final 3 months of the year…the last 90 days…the 4th quarter…

Anywho, here’s what’s awesome about that: YOU get to decide how you want to end 2018. YOU get to choose to hold your head up and see this year out with tons of momentum going into the New Year. The holidays certainly bring up some unique hurdles and traditions, but it never has to mean that they have control over you. Never. YOU are always the one in control.

If you’ve been feeling like you want to focus on something - a goal - to wrap up the year and feel accomplished, then this video is perfect for you. We get into the 7 steps you need to choose what to focus on.

HOW do you want to feel on December 31st as you’re counting down 10-9-8-7…?

HOW do you want to show up for yourself?

HOW do you want your energy, your strength, your immune system, your confidence, your patience, and your life to look? Give yourself the edge this year and COMMIT to something.

It’s your journey. What will you choose?

In good health,

Tara

Is that a protein bar...or a carb bar?

As a health coach - slash - nutritionist - slash - personal trainer - slash - RN, you can imagine that while I work with lots of ‘general health’ requests, weight loss is a top priority for many of my clients.

One of the most common mistakes I see people make on their weight loss journey is mislabeling their food groups. Watch the video below to find out if you, too, are making this common mistake. The good news is that with a few simple swaps, you may be right back on track with your weight loss goals.

If these videos are helping, make sure you sign up for my newsletter list so you don’t miss any!

“See” you soon!

In good health,

Tara

To Purell or Not To Purell...?

Now, for the more sour part.  My daughter, Magnolia, is starting Kindergarten in 2 days and one of the items on her list of school supplies was…Purell antibacterial hand sanitizer!  

Some of you may be thinking, "OK.  What's the big deal?" Others might be appalled. So, I decided to shoot a quick video all about how I feel about this and how I will be handling it.  Check out the video below!

I want to first point out that I did not get into too many details here - kept it pretty general.  There is so much more to know (like how it isn't as effective as we've been told and that it can cause infertility and estrogenic weight gain / obesity, etc.)  Rather, this video is to start the discussion and open the topic to continue to talk and / or allow you to dive into some more research on it.

If you'd like to continue the discussion on this topic, or ANYthing health / nutrition / fitness related, please head on over to my Facebook group - Lean In with Tara Allen Health - and join us.  It's a FREE resource for you.  :-)




In good health,
Tara


P.S. Are we friends on social yet?!?!  Check out my Facebook and Instagram pages and let's connect over there!

How to save time so you can COOK more

Hey there,

With my husband out of town, it dawned on me that I am NOT the only mama (or parent, or busy person) that struggles with time management and being able to feed myself and my family the healthiest food I can.  In fact, it requires quite a bit of planning, prep work, and thinking ahead to the 'what ifs' (What if someone gets sick?  What if I have a last minute client or meeting that pops up?).  

With the 5 tips I share in today's video, you will find you have some more time to be able to allow cooking to rise higher on your priority list than it has been lately.  :-)

I hope this helps!  Let me know in the comments below...will you be trying any of these tips or do you have any tips of your own to share?

In good health,

Tara

How often should you eat for weight loss?

Hey there,

If you are on a weight loss journey, you may be wondering how often you *should* be eating.

Is it 6 mini meals?

3 meals and 1 snack?

Three squares?

Check out my latest video to find out!  I'm also chatting about meal timing, frequency, metabolism, real foods, intermittent fasting, balancing meals, detoxing, and more.  :-)

Do you find these videos helpful?  Let me know!  Is there something else you'd like me to do a video on?  Drop that in the comments below!

In good health,

Tara

The 6 components of any successful weight loss program

The weight loss industry can be maddening!!

Am i right?!?

When you're looking for a coach or program to help you lose weight, you may be wondering what it is that you should be looking for.

Watch the video below to learn about the 6 components of any successful (sustainable!) weight loss program. Please do not go with something or someone that does not address all of these 6 pieces of the puzzle!

Here is some more information about my coaching program, Pioneer Fitness and Nutrition Coaching

In good health,

Tara

The 4 reasons you eat (yup, there are ONLY 4!)

When it comes to losing weight, you MUST treat the cause...or the results will be temporary!
— Tara

Here's the deal...diets are bandaids.  They are NOT getting to the root cause of why you are overweight.  They are NOT teaching you anything except for how to conform to someone else's rules for a set amount of time.  And?  The weight comes right back...and then some.

Boo!

But there's good news too...

There are ONLY 4 reasons why you ever eat.  You may eat for 2 or more of these reasons at a time, but it will ALWAYS fit into at least one of the following reasons:

1) Fuel.  You're physically hungry and want to fuel your body with healthy foods.  Cool!

2) Joy.  You want the pleasure of the way something tastes or the experience (social, usually).  This can be a glass of wine, some dark chocolate, or your favorite cupcake or ice cream.  There is a time and place for this in our lives.  Frequency of the indulgence should depend on your goals.

Goals are dreams with a deadline. Treat them as such.
— Tara

3) Distraction.  You really need a break or to veg out.  You think you deserve _______ (insert junk food here) because you've been working hard all week.  You find yourself at the bottom of a bag of chips and don't remember eating them all!  You will recognize this as feeling out-of-body - like you're in a fog while you're eating.

4) Numbing.  You're avoiding feeling sad, angry, bored, lonely, frustrated, stuck, powerless, etc.  This gets deep.  And, this one means that when you stop overeating, you will HAVE to start to accept feeling your feelings and not resisting them.  It takes us just as much energy to resist our feelings as it does to just feel them and carry on.  Wowza!  You will recognize this category as binge eating...lots of food in a small window of time.  It will feel as though it's out of your control.  But, it's not.  There's that good news I mentioned!

Once you become aware, things can start to change.  Awareness alone can be a powerful change agent.

Check out this live video I did on facebook last week all about this topic.

If you're feeling like you're ready for a change, let's make a change!  Consider me your tour guide.  Check out my customized, all-online (no appointments necessary), one-on-one coaching program - Pioneer Nutrition and Fitness Coaching.  ***This is only for those that are serious about making a change and who are ready to experience the added benefits of boosted energy, healthy emotions, and overall wellness that will come with their weight loss.

In good health,

Tara

P.S. Are you inside of my private facebook group yet?  If so, "see" you there!  If not, why not!? You will get a community of like-minded women, challenges to participate in if you wish, healthy recipes, and weekly workouts...all for FREE!  ;-)  Join us!

Why am I overeating?

What were you like as a child?

This question fascinates me because it tells me about your childhood, your memories, your priorities, but also much more than that.  It gives me a little window into the way you view things. Chances are, if you speak negatively about yourself as a child now, you're probably often speaking negatively to yourself as an adult.

  • Circumstances trigger thoughts. 
  • Thoughts create feelings.
  • Feelings lead to actions (or inaction or reaction).
  • And action (or inaction or reaction) lead to a result.

"Great, Tara, but I thought you were a health coach...not a therapist." (insert eye-roll here).  ;-)

Yup...exactly!  I'm a health coach.  I deal with nutrition and fitness and lifestyle changes.  But really, truly what I deal with is people.  The WHOLE person.  Because becoming healthier, losing weight, gaining confidence, lower your blood sugar...these are require a change in thought to be able to end up with a changed result.  It's not a quick or easy fix, but it IS a permanent fix!

I want you to absorb this.  This is big and it may require you to open your mind and allow yourself to see things differently.  Circumstances are just facts.  They are the things that happen with NO judgements placed on them.  It is our thoughts that follow that label things "good", "bad", "mean", or a "problem".  Those thoughts then trigger a feeling - sad, frustrated, happy, angry.  The feeling makes us take action, NOT take action, or REact.  And THAT action, brings us directly to our results.  

What's empowering about this is that so much of what we think is out of our control is in fact, very much in our control.

I'm overweight. I overeat.  I can't stop overeating.  It just happens.  Why does this have to happen to me?  Why do I have to have this body?  I don't want to be deprived or hungry.  I don't overeat, my metabolism is broken.

Does ANY of that sound familiar?  It's a snippet of the stream of thought I hear from so many women!  When we take on the role of the victim and place the control outside of ourselves, it's easier to check out and not face our emotions.  The only problem food can solve is hunger.  Almost every person I know (including myself) has tried to solve problems other than hunger with food at least once or twice or way more than that.

The good news is that it IS in our control to stop the cycle.  It will mean that we have to feel the things we were trying to avoid feeling by overeating, though.  It won't be easy or totally comfortable.  It WILL get easier as you get curious about yourself and allow yourself to feel the full spectrum of feelings.

Who says we're always supposed to feel happiness, anyway?  We're humans and we have a mixed bag of emotions.

If you are overweight - whether you are currently gaining weight or simply maintaining a weight that is more than you believe to be healthy - it means you're overeating.  Overeating simply means eating more than your body needs to maintain your desired level of health.  Quite often we need FAR less food to maintain our optimal health than we think, so we assume something is wrong with us.  We assume our metabolism is broken.  It's not.

If you eat when you're hungry and stop when you no longer feel that hunger, you'll have eaten enough.  If you still want food after you are no longer feeling hungry, then you are using food as a comfort for something else.  We have ALL done it.  No shame.  No guilt.  Just love and curiosity for yourself and what you might actually need besides the extra food.

Overeating doesn't mean you overeat at every meal, or everyday, or even every week.  It can look like this: You eat like a bird all day or all week and then finish a whole bag of chips and a handful of cookies because your willpower ran out.  Or, you end up ordering lots of food at a restaurant, but only on your "cheat" day (I really dislike that term, by the way!).  It comes in many forms.  But, if you are gaining unwanted weight or maintaining a weight that is more than you'd like for your health, then overeating according to what YOUR body needs is happening at some point. 

This is good.  This is great, actually!  Why?  Well, this means YOU are in control.  You CAN and will be able to improve your health and lose weight once you allow yourself to cure the root cause rather than treat the symptoms (such as going on a "diet").

This might have struck a cord with you.  And I owe it to you to share it with you anyway because I'm here to help, not to hide information from you that might ruffle your feathers a bit.  I hope you can understand that.  :-)

In good health,

Tara

P.S. If you're feeling really lost or confused, please, please, PLEASE send me an email at Tara@TaraAllenHealth.com so we can chat.  You have the ultimate control over your health and life.

How to gain weight FAST (and what it means for your weight loss journey)

Hey there,

Sometimes when I get frustrated about lack of progress somewhere in my life, I think about how I could go about it a different way.  

Today, I'm sharing the secrets of people who want to gain weight FAST...so you can do the exact OPPOSITE and apply it to your successful weight loss journey.

Sound good?

It's a simple strategy, but that doesn't mean it's easy.  Are you up for the challenge?  Watch the video for details.  :-)

In good health,

Tara

Do you like Amazon?

Me too!  That's why I'm so excited to announce that I will be giving away a $25 Amazon gift card (no sponsors....just ME buying something for YOU) on the 4th of July.

Check out this video for details. 

Join the free group today!

Best of luck in the raffle!

In good health,

Tara

Weight Loss is More Than Calories In, Calories Out!

Hey there!

Have you ever experienced weight loss resistance?  You're counting calories, points, macros...and just NOT getting the results you think you should be?

Weight loss tends to be oversimplified most of the time when, in fact, there are A LOT of factors that go into who loses weight, when, how, why, how much, how fast, etc. 

In this video, I talk about 3 things having NOTHING to do with calories that can affect your weight and metabolism and give you clues into where you may want to focus your attention.

Now, if you are liking these videos, consider joining my private Facebook group where I share DAILY content to help those on their weight loss and health journey.  :-)  Yup - daily - for FREE!

Join us now!

In good health,

Tara

15 small dietary tweaks to help you lose weight - Insider & Business Insider

Eek!  Ya know that feeling when you're so excited you wanna scream it from the rooftop?!?

I was featured TWICE in Insider and Business Insider this week.  The article is about small dietary tweaks you can make to help you lose some excess weight.  Check out my tips (the last two) about tea and bread.  :-)

You can read the article here.

I'd love to hear from you.  Have you tried implementing any of these tips already?  

In good health,

Tara

7 ways to ADD stress into your life (yup...ADD stress)

Hey guys,

I'm sharing 7 (it's actually 8...shhh) tips that I use to varying degrees to add beneficial stress (called hormesis) onto my body.  This beneficial stress is enough to build a more robust immune system, allow my body to become more resilient, fight disease, and prevent some future disease.

Curious about this?  Check out my tips in this video.

P.S. If you want to make sure you don't miss any of my healthified recipes, workouts, and wellness tips, make sure you sign up for my newsletter list AND join my private facebook community. That's where all the fun is!  :-)

In good health,

Tara

Are you ready to get pampered?!

You could use some pampering…

…am I right!?!

When was the last time you treated yourself to some pampering?

Yup.  That's what I thought.  It's about time, don't ya think?!

Join me - and so many amazing women and local businesses - on Sunday, May 20th as we take the chance to pamper YOU in the Red Tent Event and nourish your mind, body, and soul.

This exclusive event will be held at The Polish Hall in Riverhead, NY on May 20th from 12 PM - 4 PM.

Be sure to get there in time for my talk, "Love Your Body", at 12:45 PM. Stick around for a free health coaching consultation with me as well.  :-)

Come say hello and be treated as the VIP that I know you are!

What else can you expect?

Mini massages, hand massages, chiropractic care, acupuncture, acupressure, mini hair-dos, makeup, belly checks, and more!

***Please note: ticket sales are NOT done through me.  This is a charity event and I am volunteering my time and services. Please visit www.birthandbeyondresources.com for more information and to purchase a ticket.  Use code "TARA" for 25% off.

 

redtent.JPG

 

Hope to see you there!

In good health,

Tara

I have PCOS and autoimmune issues...

A few days ago, I did a totally different kind of live video....I turned the lens on MYSELF!  

I get different versions of the same question from you guys A LOT.  It's something like, "Where are you at on YOUR health journey?" or, "How do you have the motivation to lead a healthy lifestyle?", or even sometimes, "You don't know what it's like to be unhealthy like me!"

So, I set up my iphone, took a seat, and spoke from the heart....for almost an HOUR!  It's raw, it's real, and it's me.  I take you through my PCOS journey, autoimmune issues, blood sugar issues, infertility and IVF, and share what I'm doing to combat these issues holistically.

Thank you for watching and if you're going through your own health struggles, please leave me a comment or email me at Tara@TaraAllenHealth.com.  I want you to know I read every one myself and I want you to know you're NOT alone!

In (search of) good health,

Tara

It was V-Day...did you love yo'self?!

Ahhhh....Valentine's Day.  People seem to love it or hate it.  How about you?  Did you enjoy this Hallmark-created holiday this year?

I think if we all took a step back and saw the holiday as one day a year that we can be EXTRA grateful for any & all love we have in our lives, we might look at it differently.  Specifically, are you loving yourself?

Self-care and self-love often brings up images of hippy-dippy peeps or candlelit bubble baths that are nearly impossible to pull off between when the last kid falls asleep and the first kid to wake up for a feeding....or teething....or nightmares.

But, that's just one teeny tiny aspect of self-care and self-love.  Let's talk about the big picture.  Check out my latest video all about self-love mentality...

So...whatdya say?  Ready to fall in love with yourself again?  Hope you have a nice, lonnnnnnng weekend!

In good health,

Tara