1-219-765-8600

carol@inkwellcoaching.com

Crown Point, IN

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May 25, 2023

Raw Honey is Good

I’m with Winnie the Pooh when it comes to honey. Although, I don’t recommend eating pawfuls of it from a honey pot. To get honey’s natural healt

May 17, 2023

Savor the Season

Here in the Midwest, it’s finally safe to plant flowers and vegetables without fear of frost. We hope. I’m going to risk it. The daffodils and tul

May 11, 2023

A Simple Morning Ritual

If you’ve watched television recently, perhaps you’ve noticed that not a commercial segment passes without the mention of a prescription drug. Or

May 4, 2023

Baby Angelos Turns Two!

For those of you who have been following my blog for the past 2 ½ years, you may recall my weekly posts about the size of my friend’s baby in utero

April 27, 2023

Tomatoes and Acidity

This week I was asked, “My young son gets some red irritation around his mouth when he eats lots of tomatoes. Why does this happen?” The answer: a

April 20, 2023

Better than a Chia Pet

Lately I’ve been honoring my addiction to chia pudding. While not everyone is a fan, you may like to give it a try if you: like pudding don’t have

April 20, 2023

No longer limited to ‘the pottery that grows,’ chia seeds add fiber, antioxidant oomph to your diet

(The following article was written for the March 2022 issue of Get Healthy magazine, a publication of The Northwest Indiana Times.) Chia seeds have be

April 13, 2023

The Scoop on Avocados

The avocado can sometimes be a heartbreaker. If you’re a fan, you know what I’m referring to. You buy what appears to be a beautiful avocado. You

April 6, 2023

Time for a Reset

Spring. The time of year when we think of new life, cleaning, outdoors, daffodils—and rain. Lots of rain. Winter was mild here in the Region. Thankf

March 30, 2023

Foods for Healthy Skin

Here’s a big surprise (not): your diet influences the health of your skin. Besides the natural aging process, other factors that affect our skin inc

Fall Frittata

8 ounces organic uncured turkey bacon, diced (I like Applegate brand)     
2 green onions, including much of the green, diced
1 bunch asparagus, chopped into similar size pieces
8 large eggs
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon paprika
1 avocado, sliced

Preheat oven to 350°. Cook the bacon over medium-high heat until lightly browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add onions and asparagus and cook another 2-3 minutes or until onions are translucent. Remove from heat. Whisk eggs in a bowl. Slowly add bacon mixture to eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture into a prepared pie pan that has been lightly oiled with coconut oil. Bake for 25-35 minutes until browned and cooked through. Let cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with paprika and garnish with avocado slices. Makes 4 servings.

You may substitute another vegetable if you can’t find fresh asparagus. Consider broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, or whatever looks good in the produce department.

Embracing the Uncomfortable

Today’s topic hit me like a brick when I was doing just that–embracing the uncomfortable.

Why would anyone do such a crazy thing? It hardly makes sense.

Or does it?

Our nature as human beings is to try to better ourselves in some way. Perhaps we’d like a better job, better relationships, better living conditions, better health.

Getting better at ANYTHING doesn’t happen unless we take some type of action. Sitting quietly and wishing it so is not effective.

Hence, embracing the uncomfortable.

In order for personal growth to occur, we must push past our comfort level and take on new challenges.

Pushing through the fear in one arena of life helps propel us in others. We gain the confidence that we are capable of doing something we’ve never done before.

For instance, consider those athletes who have been training months for a marathon and finally get past the finish line on race day. I’d bet that the experience was rather uncomfortable—miles of training, eating right, saying “no” to some fun in order to get proper rest, overcoming injuries, dealing with unfavorable weather conditions.

Yet, they did it. Knowing they accomplished such a feat brings about an inner strength that did not exist prior.

The good news is that you don’t need to run a marathon to experience similar results. Do something that challenges or scares you, just a little. Then go do something else that challenges or scares you. Keep repeating the process. It’s a good habit to develop.

Getting comfortable in your day-to-day life may lead to complacency. Yawn.

Today I took a class at the gym that I’d never done before. It challenged me. It pushed me to a place of uncomfortable. And I’m still here to talk about it.

Try a new class, take those piano lessons you’ve always talked about, cook a vegetable you’ve never tried, search for the job you’ll really love, read a book of a different genre.

It’s good to mix things up.

What would you like to do or change, that feels a bit out of your reach? If you’re stuck, I’m here to help you figure it out.

“We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are.”–Max DePree

Farewell, Flag Pants

“You’re getting a little wide in the beam, aren’t you kid?”

Those words literally kicked me into the basement of reality and sadness, all at the same time. They are the words I heard from my dad when he picked me up after my first year of college.

Yes, I had gained a good amount of weight (and several sizes) during my freshman year of pharmacy school.

I felt horrible and didn’t even recognize myself in the mirror.

The stress eating had taken its toll.

Fast forward to the summer of 2018.

I was going through my closet and was actually AFRAID to try on my “flag pants.” The navy capri pants with tiny American flags on them had me recalling that time when I had outgrown my clothes AND lost my identity.

Trying them on took a bit of courage.

I held my breath, stretched and tugged, and lo and behold, buttoned them.

It was at that point I realized that they don’t reflect the present day me. I’ve outgrown the “flag pants” in lots of ways, even though I could physically still wear them—barely!

Do you hit the rewind button and play an old, unflattering story when you go to try on your version of “flag pants?”

Many people do. It’s not who you are today.

I understand how scary it can be to even pull those “flag pants” out from the closet depths, let alone try them on.

I’d like to help.     

If this kind of thinking has been a challenge for you, hit “reply” to email me and we’ll set up a time to get on a call together.

I currently have space to take on 3 clients before the holidays are upon us. Could one of them be you?

If you are nervous and feel a bit of resistance, that is OK! We’ll talk about that too.

I want to see you thrive! I want you to have the choice of whether to dump your “flag pants” or wear them– IF they make you feel AMAZING!

“When people shine a little light on their monster, we find out how similar most of our monsters are.” ― Anne Lamott, “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”

Share the Love

Today, give some positive encouragement to another human being. This person may be a workout buddy, neighbor, co-worker, friend, family member, stranger, etc.

It matters not who you encourage. It only matters that you do.

In order to stay healthy, and happy, it’s important to help others.   

Scientists who study genetics and molecular biology of cancer and other chronic diseases have recently made some interesting discoveries:

* Loneliness and feeling alienated from other people triggers our cells to produce inflammation and suppress our immune system.

* Social connections do the opposite. Strong relationships and helping other people strengthens our bodies.

In a nutshell, helping others and feeling like you’re making a positive impact for the greater good contributes to overall health and well-being.

Fitness, strength, and health are a shared goal.

Some ideas to help you become a lean, healthy, and happy machine:

  • When your co-worker makes the claim that she needs to eat healthier, encourage her to eat an extra helping of vegetables each day.
  • That buddy of yours who is going to start working out on Monday… make a plan to meet him at the gym and do something together, today.
  • The next time your friend says she’s going to stop drinking those sugar-filled sodas and you meet for lunch, order water for BOTH of you, and let her know that you are also trying to do better.

We all know that staying on the healthy lifestyle track has its challenges. When we encourage others, we do better ourselves. How cool is that?

Many of you in my Inkwell community have been practicing powerful habits for quite a long time. When you consider how you may have felt a couple years ago compared to now, you know that the choices you make today DO matter.

I am with you every step of the way. Some days go better than others. However it goes, I know that we are doing our best TOGETHER!

If you’re reading this and feel as though you’re struggling all by your lonesome, send me an email. I’m here to help. My health depends on it too.

“Make a lean body a ‘side effect’ of your life in three ways: Understand who you are and what is truly, deeply important to you; Honour your body with meaningful choices; Focus on the quality of the journey.”—Ryan Andrews