Free Nutrition Book!!

by Shelley Haiken on November 10, 2011

I’m very excited to share this offer from the school where I received my health coach training, the Institute for Integrative Nutrition!!  Doctors treat you when you are sick.  Health coaches teach you how to stay healthy through diet and lifestyle.

This fantastic book explains what I do as a health coach, as well as provides excellent information about primary and secondary foods.

Click on the banner to download the book and please feel free to share the link! I’d love to see more people turn to health coaching to change their lives!!


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Which Would You Rather be – A Mermaid or a Whale?

by Shelley Haiken on October 5, 2011

The following was posted by Delphine Fieberg on Facebook the other day.  I was so blown away by it, I wanted to share it with all of you.

A while back, at the entrance of a gym, there was a picture of a very thin and beautiful woman. The caption was “This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?”

The story goes, a woman (of clothing size unknown) answered the following way:

Dear people, whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, seals, curious humans), they are sexually active and raise their children with great tenderness.  They entertain like crazy with dolphins and eat lots of prawns. They swim all day and travel to fantastic places like Patagonia, the Barents Sea or the coral reefs of Polynesia.  They sing incredibly well and sometimes even are on cds. They are impressive and dearly loved animals, which everyone defend and admires.

Mermaids do not exist.

But if they existed, they would line up to see a psychologist because of a problem of split personality: woman or fish?  They would have no sex life and could not bear children.  Yes, they would be lovely, but lonely and sad.  And, who wants a girl that smells like fish by his side?

Without a doubt, I’d rather be a whale.

At a time when the media tells us that only thin is beautiful, I prefer to eat ice cream with my kids, to have dinner with my husband, to eat and drink and have fun with my friends.

A beautiful womanWe women, we gain weight because we accumulate so much wisdom and knowledge that there isn’t enough space in our heads, and it spreads all over our bodies.  We are not fat, we are greatly cultivated.

Every time I see my curves in the mirror, I tell myself: “How amazing am I ?! “

(The girl on the picture is French model Tara Lynn)

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Why Would you Eat if you are not Hungry?

September 25, 2011

I was asked this question last week.  By someone who is an intuitive eater.  I travelled on the bus with a fellow health coach last week to attend the Institute of Integrative Nutrition’s Fall IINto Action conference in New York City.  As we were chatting, I was telling her my story – I talked about [...]

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Mindful Movement

September 14, 2011

As part of my quest to be a mindful eater, I am also challenging myself to add mindful movement into my day.  For the past several years, I’ve experienced some physical challenges that have contributed to significantly reducing the amount of movement I do on a daily basis.  For those who have been reading this [...]

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My Own Personal Hurricane

August 30, 2011

I spent the last four days at Dr. Michelle May’s Am I Hungry? Mindful Eating retreat in southern Arizona.  Being on a remote ranch in the low desert, I was away from the devastation of Hurricane Irene on the east coast.  I live in New Jersey and felt very disconnected while my husband went through [...]

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Calm Eating

April 24, 2011

In my path of learning to be an intuitive eater, I’ve committed to not eat anything until I take a few deep breaths in order to put myself into a relaxed state.  And once I start eating, I slow down, chew my food fully and be conscious and mindful of every bite.  By doing this [...]

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Can Your Thoughts Help Your Weight Loss Efforts?

April 3, 2011

So many people eat without thinking.  They eat mindlessly.  Sit down with a meal or a bowl of ice cream or M&Ms or chips in front of the TV or while reading a book or in some way occupying yourself and the food is gone before you realize you’ve even eaten it.  How does a [...]

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Eating With Your Eyes

February 19, 2011

I’m sure everyone has heard that you get full satisfaction from food when you use all of your senses, rather than only taste – you also need to use sight, smell, touch and sound.  If you take the time to appreciate the food in front of you with all of your senses, not only will [...]

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Margaret Cho’s F*&% It Diet

January 9, 2011

I was recently made aware of a blog post written by Margaret Cho in 2003. The name of the post is The F*&% it Diet. She talks about how she was sick and tired of dieting and working out, buying clothes that were too small so she could “thin” into them, and thinking about food [...]

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Happy New Year!!

December 31, 2010

I want to start off this post by wishing everyone a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous New Year. Another year has come and gone. We are now into the second decade of the 21st century. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that time goes so quickly. So we must savor all of those moments because we [...]

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