Nutrition Plan vs. Meal Plan

Which one is better? Nutrition Plan or Meal Plan?

Well, it depends on how you define better.



I define better as something that is sustainable and allows you to live the lifestyle that makes you happy and makes you SHINE at the same time.



And if that's the case, then THIS VIDEO tells you exactly how I do it with my clients and why. 



They each have their place, but by in large, nutrition plans that teach you to honor your body, your health, and a flexible / delicious lifestyle is the one I stand by.



Questions? Ready to learn more? Email me and let’s chat! Tara@TaraAllenHealth.com



XO,
Tara

Are the days of Intermittent Fasting over?

If you've skipped some of the headlines lately, you might think that's the case.



But wait! There's more! ;-)



CHECK OUT MY LATEST VIDEO BELOW where I talk about the study that has been referenced in every newspaper and magazine recently and what it tells us. I also share why intermittent fasting CAN be a tool for weight loss and why sometimes it's completely ineffective. 


And if you're interested in more than weight loss / fat loss... if health + longevity is your jam (like it is mine), make sure you stay 'til the end where I talk about IF in the context of overall health and wellness.



Happy Fasting!


XO,
Tara

How to run away from your goals

Some of us say we have certain goals, but don't actually know what it might entail to achieve said goals.



Some of us want what we want... while being comfortable the whole time and having an otherwise 'easy' life.



And others.... others do it differently. People who are successful at reaching their goals understand what it will take and they're willing to put in the work, even when no one is watching.



CHECK OUT THIS WEEK'S VIDEO for more about how most people end up inadvertently running away from their goals and how you can do exactly the opposite to finally make progress on yours.



XO,
Tara



P.S. Have you decided to end 2020 with some positivity? Maybe you are looking to get a bit leaner and healthier? Maybe you'd like to stop feeling so out of control around food and cravings? Maybe you want to finally commit to a home-based exercise program customized just for YOU.


And maybe you want ALL OF THE ABOVE (yeah....dream big!)



Did you know this is what I do for a living? I help all different kinds of people get from where they are right now to where they want to go. How? Through very targeted nutrition (never restrictive and always with room for FUN foods + drinks), a customized workout routine that can be followed from anywhere, and lots and lots of COACHING to get through the obstacles that derail most people -- time management, meal prep ideas, motivation, emotional eating, and lack of confidence that can make us feel less-than. If you've ever been curious about my 1-on-1 coaching program or would like to see details like the cost and some client before + afters, check it out! 

If you're having some guilt thinking about investing into your health, consider this: My top priorities are family, health, and career. When I do a quick audit of my calendar and finances, these 3 priorities are VERY much reflected as such. Is health a priority of yours as well? Does your calendar and budgeting reflect this yet? If not, it may be time to reconsider whether or not it's a true priority.


Whether you and I ever end up working together or not, I look forward to the day when you email me back and tell me you've moved your health to a top 3 priority spot. I know you deserve it. And I know you're here to love others for a long time and do great things ... that deserves your health as well!


If you'd like to chat about how you can be well on your way towards your goals long before we pop the bubbly and say au revoir to 2020, you can sign up for a free call so we can  make sure it's the right fit before moving forward. :-)

Fat Loss and Instant Gratification

Instant gratification...

We all want it. Our brain SEEKS it out. And yet, we're barking up the wrong tree when it comes to fat loss.

The answer isn't NOT to look for instant gratification on your fat loss / health journey. The answer also is not to look for instant gratification where the science tells us it's simply not possible.

So where SHOULD we be seeking out instant gratification?

LET ME TELL YOU!

Any questions? I'm a comment away. ;-) Happy Monday, you guys!

XO,
Tara

Saving money NOW so you can stay on top of the priority list

Money is tight for many people right now…

...and yet, more than ever we are reminded that we need to take our health into our own hands! We cannot wait for insurance companies to catch up with true health care, unfortunately. The time is now!


How are my longest clients managing to continue to pay me monthly for our important nutrition, fitness, and health coaching work during this current financial crisis?


I was curious. So I asked them. :-)


And the responses were pretty awesome! Maybe you have been looking for a sign that it's time to take the next step towards feeling INCREDIBLE and vibrant and fit and sexy. Maybe you've felt some guilt (as we do sometimes) about how to make room for a coach like me in your budget.


Or maybe it's just not in the cards for you and I to ever work together but you'd like to hear a few ideas about saving money in 2020 anyway!


Whatever the reasons that pique your interest, CHECK OUT THE VIDEO RIGHT HERE.


And if you think you're worth the $157 / month for a year so that you can feel fabulous and healthy indefinitely, here are the details of my customized, virtual (yay) coaching program. Simply hit reply to this email if you'd like to schedule a (free) time to chat some more.


XO,
Tara

P.S. Attn: MOMS…

I was recently interviewed for this piece about motherhood lessons. "Inner Beauty" is where you can find my response, but check out the whole article. It's such a beautifully written, thoughtful article.
Link: https://circlearound.com/post/15-moms-share-what-motherhood-has-taught-them

Nut-free healthy snacks for kids

Nut-free healthy snack ideas for kids...

...that also happen to be free of gluten + dairy!



SHARING TODAY a few of the snacks the kids have been having at school so far this year. They help fill them up without making their blood sugar spike and crash... so these are some good ideas for adults too. ;-)



Are you a snacker or prefer to stick to your 3 meals?



Happy Tuesday,
Tara

Low insulin vs. calorie deficit for fat loss...

Low insulin vs. calorie deficit for fat loss...

Which one is actually more effective?



You might be surprised to learn that one does seem to matter a lot more than the other to achieve your fat loss goals. CHECK OUT THIS QUICK (3 min.) VIDEO to hear more.



What questions do you have about your goals? Leave a comment and I'll be happy to help. :-)


Happy Tuesday,
Tara

You're not stuck because you're UNDEReating

You're not in starvation mode.

Look, it sounds good, right? If we don't eat enough our body holds onto every last morsel of food and we go into starvation mode -- unable to lose anymore body fat.



But it's simply not true. 


Due to the society we live in, it's quite a blow to our ego to admit to ourselves that we are overeating. It feels much more gentle to say you're undereating and that's stopping your progress. But I think the bigger blow to our egos come when we are chasing the same goals year after year without seeing progress.


If I locked myself in the basement for a week with no food, I wouldn't weigh the same. I'd have lost quite a bit of weight! Some of it would be water weight, some fat, and some muscle due to the rapid nature of the weight loss.


You can certainly down-regulate your metabolism by undereating, but not enough to stop seeing progress. What's more likely is that your body requires less fuel than you think it does... or on average, you're overeating or eating to maintain your body just as it is now without reaching those fat loss goals. This is VERY common with 'weekday dieters'... the ones that hardly eat anything Monday through Friday and then overdue it on the weekends so much so that they have negated any kind of deficit they had been in.


CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO for more and then reach out to me if you have any questions. I'm here and I'd love to help. you. :-)



Happy Tuesday,
Tara

20 Healthy Quarantine Recipes

20 Healthy Quarantine Recipes

Ok, so I know most of us are technically *not* in quarantine anymore (phew!), but I wanted to (re)share this free recipe e-book in case you missed it last time.


I find around this time of year, many people are home from vacations, getting ready for a new schedule in September, and excited about cooking again (maybe just a little?).


This recipe book is unique in that it focuses on pantry-friendly ingredients that you may normally have on hand or maybe you stocked up on when groceries were a bit tricky to get your hands on.


Regardless, there's lots of great meal and snack ideas and all happen to be gluten and dairy free.

>>GRAB YOUR COPY HERE<<

If you make any of these and post them on social, be sure to tag me so I can check it out!


Happy Tuesday,
Tara

4 years to your dream body?!

Did you go to college or do you know someone who has?

You know that thing you - or they - did where they committed to 4 years or more knowing there would be no tangible results until graduation? 


There was no gradual payout system where you'd start making a little bit of your desired salary while still in school.


There was no money given back if you didn't succeed by your own hard work and consistency.


You were expected to show up and keep showing up.


Now let's think about your health and body goals...


Do you want to start seeing or feeling results shortly into a new program, diet, fitness routine? You'll only continue on if you are getting results on the timeline you want, right? So if you have to work hard for a month or two and are not getting immediate and rapid results....you, what... throw in the towel?


Image you did that in college? By month 1 or 2 you didn't have your degree yet, so you quit.



Our health and bodies are worth AT LEAST the amount of time, attention, money (all the things!) that you spent on college. Our health and bodies are worth showing up day after day even if the results aren't coming as fast as you want them to. Do you agree?


Come join me in my car as I discuss this a bit more. ;-)



XO,
Tara



P.S. You know what you get with me...and it's never a hard sell. I don't want to do that to you, but mostly, I don't want any clients who aren't motivated enough to seek me out. I don't want to convince anyone that they're ready for a change. If it takes convincing, it's not a good fit for my coaching style and program. Rather, someone who is ready to put in the work (EAGER even, albeit nervous) will soar in my program. Someone who has been thinking about working with me already, but keeps putting it off. Someone who is attracted to the slow and steady, work your butt off and feel like an absolute badass and role model at the same time vibe ... those are the ones that start coaching with me and optimize their entire lives, not just their health and bodies.


All that to say that I'm here. Even though I don't send you 42 sales emails a week. Even though I'm not tracking what pages on my website you visit so I can sneakily follow up by serving you an ad later on. ;-) If there's something about my emails, videos, or social media posts that resonate with you, it's probably because we feel similarly about how we want to rock this life of ours. I'll never be knocking on your door, but I will always leave mine open for you to walk through when you're ready. I'm UNBELIEVABLY passionate about helping you glow.


Here's more info on my 1-on-1 nutrition / fitness / health coaching program.


And book a free call right here if you've read through that and are ready to get started!

Calorie deficits... a misnomer?

Are calorie deficits a real thing?

Well, sort of. But also not really.




LET ME EXPLAIN.




Questions? Simply shoot an email to tara@taraallenhealth.com to get right into my personal inbox!




XO,
Tara

Track THIS!

Heyyyyy there! I know it's tempting to want to tally calories or macros. You might like to track all the details of your workouts. Or maybe it's points you're used to adding up?

Some of those things can be helpful for certain people, but I'd like to share what I believe is helpful for EVERYONE on a health / body transformation journey and why it should be the first thing (and maybe only thing?) you track.

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO and get ready to implement this simple yet effective metric to track that has the potential to turn everything around for you!


XO,
Tara


P.S. Are we friends on social? If so, you may have seen me mention that I will be increasing my 1-on-1 coaching prices very soon. I've made lots of upgrades to the program and it's time to restructure the investment as well. That being said, I want to extend you the opportunity to jump on and be grandfathered (or grandmothered?) in at the lower rate as a thank you for hanging out with me here on my email list. 


Here are the details of the program.


For 2 more weeks I will be extending the lower rate if you simply mention this blog post. That's $30 off per month!


If you are ready to optimize your health, body, and finally feel amazing in your skin and in your life, let's do it! Schedule a free call so we can dive into details about your goals and set a start date. I can't wait to work with you!! :-)

Pleasure + Pain (and how to tap into their potential to change your habits)

Pleasure + Pain (nope, not a kinky email. Don't worry!)

Did you know that we are wired to seek out pleasure and avoid pain? That means some interesting things happen in the presence of either. IN THIS VIDEO I explain why this matters to anyone interested in optimizing their health and habits. More importantly, I tell you exactly how to start using this to your benefit! 



Do you plan to start utilizing this strategy? I'd love to hear your thoughts!



XO,
Tara

Will your results be sticking by your side, or.....?

Believe it or not, there's a question you can ask yourself that will give you a really good idea of whether the results you're working on will end up sticking around or will be fleeting like times in the past.



<<< CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO to learn what the question is and why it's so eye-opening! >>>



Do you have an instagram account yet? I'm not exactly an early adopter with social media, but I have been loving instagram for the way in which I can share so many things for FREE with everyone. FULL, daily workouts, lots of recipes and food prep ideas, fat loss tips, muscle-building tips, motherhood shenanigans, etc. And did you know there's a 'save' feature? Lots of people use this to save certain workout posts that they know they'll want to come back to in the future. It's like having your own little folder tucked away! Do I sound like an instagram ad yet? HAHA! Just my favorite way to share stuff with you guys lately since I don't want to pop into your inbox everyday. If you come visit me, make sure you say hello!



XO,
Tara

Does your reason matter when it comes to weight loss?

I had this client once, I'll call her "Mary". Mary was really excited to be starting fresh on her health journey after years of feeling out of control with food. She tried all the diets and they all ended the same way for her - with a week-long binge after all that restriction. Mary found my instagram page after seeing a comment of mine on a mutual friend's post. Funny how things work out, isn't it?



But anyway.... Mary told me more about her story on her initial phone consultation. She mentioned that she had a certain, specific weight loss goal in mind. In fact, she told me that she weighed herself every morning despite the fact that it usually ruined her day. When I dug in there a bit, we discovered that by focusing on the scale weight, even normal day-to-day fluctuations would derail her progress. If the scale hadn't moved (or went up), she often moped around for the rest of the day. She made very different food choices because of her frustration and lack of self-confidence for the rest of the day.


Thankfully Mary became a client and agreed to slowly shift her focus away from the scale and onto her bigger goals: feeling athletic again and having more energy to get her through the day. Why was that the thing that changed Mary's trajectory? Well, they had nothing to do with the scale. The scale could be up, down, the same, or in the garbage and as long as she was focused on "feeling like an athlete again" (her words) and taking actions that brought her better energy, then she had something to keep her going.



Is this something that might help you? CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO for more!



I'm here if you need me.



XO,
Tara

Your muscles or your life?

What's your choice -- strong, fit, healthy body and energy... or a long life?

I know. I don't wanna make that choice either! Luckily there are ways that science tells us we can achieve both, even though these goals can be considered at odds with one another, traditionally.


IN THIS VIDEO I chat about why they are at odds with one another and what I'm currently doing to chase both goals. I hope you'll learn something, but more importantly, I hope you'll find excitement in all the cutting edge research that's being done telling us -- in greater detail -- how we can take our health into our own hands.


The video happened live last week, but the offer still stands. Any questions? Anything you'd like to chat about? I'm a quick email away. Tara@TaraAllenHealth.com


Happy Monday!

XO,
Tara

Goodbye, curves!?

Bye bye, curves!? 

At least that's what she was afraid of when she asked me whether or not she's lose her shape as her fat loss journey continued.



Is there some truth to that? Yup! But there is also a bit that's in your control. CHECK OUT THIS QUICK (6 min.) VIDEO for all the curves + fat loss details.



Is this something you're concerned about as well? Let's chat about it so you feel more confident about your strategy. Shoot me an email - tara@taraallenhealth.com - to get right into my inbox. :-)



Happy day,
Tara

4 steps to optimize body recomposition

Sometimes it doesn't matter what order you do things in.

Curious... do you floss first and then brush or brush first and then floss? I always floss first because I feel like I can brush away the junk then at the end. But, a dentist did tell me once that the order doesn't actually matter for general oral hygiene purposes.


But when it comes to changing your body composition, the order does matter! Nothing bad will happen if you go out of order, but you certainly won't be optimizing your results. 


So what's the order? If any of your goals include fat loss / weight loss or muscle growth, CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO for the 4 steps.


Which one of these do you need the most help with? Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know. I'd be happy to create extra content around the area that the most of you need some guidance on. :-)


It's the last day of June! March felt like 4 months, April like 3, and May and June felt like a half a month combined. Just me? Regardless, a new month is always a great opportunity to reset and be intentional about some new habits. I'm here to help.


XO,
Tara

Just a cold, sweet treat today...

Keepin' it simple today...

...with a delicious recipe. If you want to catch up with the workouts and health and fat loss tips of the week, come visit me on instagram. Be sure to check stories ... I post there everyday!

Chia Seed Breakfast Popsicles

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup Plain Yogurt (coconut, Greek... whatever you'd like)

• 1/2 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk

• 2 tbsps Raw Honey

• 1 tbsp Chia Seeds

• 1/3 cup Strawberries (sliced into small pieces)

• 1 Peach (sliced into small pieces)

• 1/3 cup Pineapple (sliced into small pieces)

• 1/2 cup Granola (buy, make... your call)

  
  
  Directions:

1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, almond milk, honey, and chia seeds. Mix well.

2. Fill popsicle moulds about 1/4 of the way with the yogurt mixture then drop in the fruit. Spoon more of the yogurt mixture in to cover the fruit. To burst any air-pockets in your popsicles, press down on the mixture with a spoon.

3. Sprinkle the granola into the moulds to cover the yogurt and fruit, and press down with a spoon so that it gets incorporated with the yogurt mixture.

4. Freeze for at least 5 hours. When you're ready to eat, leave on the counter for 10 minutes before removing from moulds, so they will slide out effortlessly. Enjoy!

XO,
Tara

Hunger: Friend or Foe

Hunger: Friend or Foe?

Is hunger inherently bad? Does it mean we're in 'starvation mode'? Is it an emergency? Does it play a role in fat loss or longevity?



CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO where I chatted live all about hunger and how it might apply to your various health goals.



Questions? Feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you soon. :-)



XO,
Tara