healthy eating | St. Louis Corporate Yoga

6 Ways To Take Care Of Yourself Every Day

You know how important it is to take care of yourself. The question that always comes up is this: how to get it done during your busy workweek with so many other obligations filling up life?

There are 6 ways to practice self-care we suggest you try to integrate in your everyday life. Just pick one to start with as you don’t want self-care getting on your major stressors’ list!

Exercise

Have you found the form of exercise that you are actually willing to do regularly? If working out in the gym or at home does not excite you, then it is time to try other forms of exercising until you find something that you look forward to doing.
There are so many ways you can get active! Have you tried yoga, pilates, walking, swimming or bicycling? Even if you tried an activity years ago and didn’t really like it – give it a try again. We change so much during the years, maybe those activities are more fitting to your needs now.
Don’t forget about fun activities! Dancing can be a strenuous form of exercise!

Eat Healthy

Before you get on the next diet, start listening to your body as far as knowing what to eat. Over time, you will figure out what makes you feel good, what keeps you full between meals and what kinds of food gives you the energy you need to make it through busy days.

You can take the first step today towards making healthier choices! Please read our recent article on our Clayton Yoga site about how to move from junk to healthy food through substitution.

Make Your Health The Priority

If you want to practice good self-care, you will need to put your diet and exercising ahead of everything else. If might mean getting up 30 minutes earlier to get in a yoga workout before going to work. Or eating the healthy lunch you brought from home while your colleagues eat cafeteria food. You are worth it!

Get Enough Sleep

Sleep is one of the most underrated parts of taking care of ourselves. Getting enough sleep is paramount to your wellbeing!

While you are sleeping, your body is busy repairing itself. By getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night, you’ll be healthier, happier and fitter.

Be In The Company Of Likeminded People

It is just easier to keep your focus on taking care of you if you associate with others who have the same goals. Do your friends are constantly getting fast food, eating donuts and sitting on their couch watching TV? Invite them to yoga class or plan the next get together at a spa. Look for activities for healthy cooking or take organized bike rides.

Always Look For New Ways To Pamper Yourself!

Finding new ways to practice taking care of your self is very important because you can get into a self-care rut, too. A spa day, a wellness massage or simply walking in the part can be exciting additions to your routine.

Practice these six things and enjoy the perks of practicing extreme self-care! You will be happy you did!

Strawberry Times At The Office

Let’s think luscious red today! From time to time we love to mix up the topics we write about in this blog. Now that it is officially summertime, let’s talk about strawberries.

Do you get your daily 5 servings of veggies or fruit? For most of us this is clearly a challenge! Many times we just blame it on not having time or the energy for healthy eating. It is just so much easier to pick up some fast food or order in.

What if there are easy and quick ways to add some berries to your diet this summer? Fast food a’ la strawberries! Prepare these meals at home, take to the office and you never have to compromise for unhealthy fare – at least not during the berry season.

Strawberries – plain and simple

Clean 1-2 pounds of strawberries at home. No, you don’t need sugar on top! Enjoy the natural flavor of a strawberry, they are just heavenly! Cut them up or leave them whole – it is easy to transport those berries to the office. If you packed too much of the good thing… I am sure your co-workers will be happy to enjoy this summer treat with you!

Did you know that you can add vinegar to the water when you wash those berries? Let it sit for a few minutes to work its wonders. Vinegar will help get rid of dirt and fights harmful bacteria in the process. Rinse well afterwards!

Strawberry salad

Clean and thinly slice the strawberries. Sprinkle them with extra virgin olive oil, fresh grounded pepper and some pink salt! Yes, you will love this salad! Even if you feel that peppers and strawberries don’t go well together – they are a match made in heaven. Add a few leaves of green salad if you would like to create a full salad and you have lunch ready to go.

Strawberry Soup with Cinnamon Croutons

Craving a filling soup for lunch? Here is a heavenly recipe from www.TasteOfHome.com with a prep time of only 15 minutes!

Ingredients

1 quart strawberries, halved
2 cups apple juice
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1-1/2 cups half-and-half cream
3 tablespoons orange juice, optional
CINNAMON-SUGAR CROUTONS:
3 slices white bread, crusts removed and cubed
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon-sugar

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Place half of the mixture in a blender; cover and process until pureed. Transfer to a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining strawberry mixture.
Stir in cream and orange juice if desired. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Meanwhile, in a small skillet over medium heat, saute bread cubes in butter until golden brown. Remove from the heat. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar; toss to coat. Cool. Stir soup before serving; garnish with croutons. Yield: 6 servings.

This recipe is from TasteOfHome.com http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/smooth-strawberry-soup Check out the site for more awesome recipes from the best home cooks of the nation!

Strawberry in chocolate – perfect for those low-energy afternoons

Clean the strawberries as usual. For this lovely treat it is best to use large strawberries – don’t cut them up! The other ingredient you will need is a good quality dark chocolate bar. Break it up into small pieces and melt the chocolate slowly in a glass bowl over a hot-water bath. (Do you need tips on melting chocolate? You can find them here: http://candy.about.com/od/workingwithchocolate/a/meltchocolate.htm)

Dip the strawberries one by one into the melted chocolate. You don’t want to cover the whole strawberry with chocolate, though – this will save on some calories plus it makes it easier to eat the chocolate covered strawberries in the office.

Place the berries on a baking sheet and either wait until the chocolate gets firm or place it in the fridge/freezer to save some time. If there is any remaining… take them with you to the office!

Enjoy these strawberry treats for a healthy lunch or as a snack. They are even light enough to eat after your corporate yoga class!

We Really Are What We Eat. Try These Nutritious Food Ideas for 2014!

This time of the year, it is especially exciting to think about taking supreme care of our bodies. Did you know that one of the main reasons for our growing popularity of onsite yoga wellness classes is the additional support and tips we offer our clients to help them make better lifestyle changes? Our corporate yoga wellness onsite program include interesting research on many subjects including better nutritional support for your body.

Take a look below at this sample blogpost and discover new tips for an even healthier you! Here are Five Great Nutritional Tips to get us on the right road to great health.

TIP ONE

Portion Control. Avoid large dinners. After a long, hard day at the office, it is so very tempting to sit and have a big delicious meal. The problem is that your body will go to sleep soon and convert nutrition to fat. If possible, try to slow down in the middle of your workday and have a nice lunch. It will keep you from craving an enormous dinner. Whether you prefer small breakfasts or large dinners, it really does not matter nearly as much as the size of your meal. Eating small portions allow the food enzymes to get to work and help you to conserve that much needed energy throughout the day!

TIP TWO

Enjoy your healthy fats. We have been taught by many big money companies that the key to staying fit in today’s world is a having a fat free diet. Ingesting chemicals that do not belong in the body instead of enjoying natural healthy selection of fats is never a good idea. On a daily basis, enjoy olive oil, avocado, nuts, and other wonderful foods from nature.

TIP THREE

Diversity or mix up your diet. Eat crisp, fresh, diverse colors, like dark green vegetables, spinach, broccoli or edamame. Also radishes, celery, onions and try sprouts on your plate. Generally the less you cook your food, the more colorful, different and fresh will be the outcome. Try new, colorful and different types of vegetables and for new and added increase of energy, try some sprouts too.

TIP FOUR

Choose Sprouted Breads. You may or may not be allergic to gluten. Many people in today’s world do not agree with flour. Flour of any kind is like glue in the body. Great for hanging art on the wall, but not so wonderful for your digestion. If you do eat flour, look at the ingredients and make sure you have whole wheat for the ingredient, not wheat flour. If you have snack bars, make sure the ingredient is whole grain. When the digestive system is slowed down by too much flour, bacteria start to take over causing you to re-absorb toxins meant for elimination. Reestablish your internal nutritional system by adding wheat bran and looking at your ingredients to make sure it says, whole grain rice, whole grain oats, or whole wheat flour.

TIP FIVE

Keep your food fresh. Our bodies thrive on an alkaline diet. And our body naturally heals itself of illnesses when we eat fresher and we use less energy to digest the food. Processed or long shelf times produce higher acidity levels in the blood. Food with hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup are to be avoided completely. These ingredients contain sugar that is manufactured in a building, not grown in nature. This type of sugar enters the bloodstream before the body has a chance to process it. The best solution is use honey, or stevia. Stevia is a natural, pure sweetener that comes from the stevia plan and tastes great!

St. Louis Corporate Yoga offers 3, 6 month and 12 month corporate special packages!

We are just a phone call away to answer all your question around on-site yoga. Please call Michelle at 314-630-1677.

Let’s create the prefect yoga program for your organization!