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carol@inkwellcoaching.com

Crown Point, IN

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August 28, 2025

7 Late Summer Wellness Tips

The nights and days are cooler. Darkness comes earlier. The sky looks like fall. I even saw some leaves in Michigan that had turned brilliant red. How

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Blog
August 21, 2025

What to Do with All That Zucchini

Yesterday, my friend Lisa presented me with a zucchini that looked as though it had taken growth hormones. It was gigantic! She told me that she grate

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Food, Fun, Health
August 14, 2025

Echoes of Summer

Can you feel the shift? The days are steamy–yet the calendar is getting a bit crowded with commitments that pair better with the cooler days of

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Food, Fun, Health
August 7, 2025

August Anxiety. Sunscreen vs. School Bells

This time of year, I feel a mixture of emotions. On the one hand, summer is in full swing. The flowers are thriving, temperatures still soar, and ther

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Family, Health, Personal Development
July 30, 2025

Recharging After Your Vacation

Have you ever returned home from a vacation and thought to yourself, “Gee, I could use a vacation.”? I know I have. It seems wrong. We have such a

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Food, Health
July 20, 2025

Traveler’s Guide to Food and Fitness

Summer vacations. I’ve always been a big fan of vacations any time of year. They are SO FUN, and people are usually very nice to you when you’re a

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Food, Fun, Health
July 16, 2025

The Peach vs. Nectarine Debate

I love them both. Lately I’ve been wondering about their slight differences, which sent me down the rabbit hole of looking into their unique charact

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Food, Health
July 9, 2025

The Dog Days of Summer

How often I’ve heard this phrase, yet never knew that Dog Days were official. Turns out, the Dog Days of Summer run from July 3 to August 11. This t

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Food, Fun, Health
July 3, 2025

Can Bananas Ruin Your Berry Smoothie?

This past week I received an email with this question: “I recently read an article about bananas reducing the nutrition of the berries in a smoothie

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Food, Health
June 26, 2025

Hot Weather, Cool Tips

Lots of ideas swirling around in my head today—to which Mr. Non-Compliant would say, “Uh Oh!” Since I couldn’t decide on one topic, thought I&

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Food, Health

Applause for Your Consistency

September 26, 2019
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Food, Health

Today, I acknowledge and applaud you for your commitment to consistency.

Whether you consistently make a conscious effort to consume more vegetables for dinner, walk everyday for 10 minutes, or drink your water, you are AWESOME!

I know you are committed, because you share your stories with me–on my Inkwell Healthy Lifestyles Facebook page, via email, or 1:1 conversation. You are making changes that improve your health, well-being, and happiness!

Congratulations!

I know it’s not easy. The road to wellness takes patience, perseverance, and a deep desire to make changes that feel really hard some days.

And we are always learning.  

Last week I attended a class at Mrs. Dornberg’s Culinary Experience in Highland, IN. The title of the class was “Eating for Awesome Energy.” The topic presented was not new for me, yet I learned LOTS of new information to help me on my health journey. Oh, and some very yummy recipes!

For example, do you know how to choose the very best vegetables?

Say you have two heads of cauliflower. (I know, not my favorite. I keep on trying…) One may be larger than the other and both look similar in appearance. Choose the heavier one. Why? It contains more water, which makes for a tastier head of cauliflower. This is true for all vegetables, since they are made up mostly of water. Lighter ones contain less water, and will not be as tasty. Same rule applies for melons, etc.

The moral of the story: by taking ANY of Mrs. Dornberg’s classes, you will learn things that are new. One of the best ways to improve the health of you and your family is to get into the habit of cooking more meals. Learning from Mrs. Dornberg is a great way to go.   

I don’t mean to rush time, however we are only 3 months out from Christmas. If you are already dreading the “holiday five, ten, or fifteen” pounds that seem to appear by the New Year, I can help.

Email me and we’ll have a conversation to set up a plan to keep you on track. It is very possible to enjoy the holiday season without feeling bad. It’s simply a matter of understanding what works best for you, along with committed consistency.

Together, we can do this!

Much love,
Carol

“Every bite you eat will either promote health or promote disease.”—Cheryl Dornberg

No Time? Quick Meal Ideas

September 19, 2019
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Food, Health

No time. Can you relate? I’ve been feeling the crunch of more scheduled evening events—and I no longer have kids going back to school!

As I sat looking at what happened to my calendar in the last week, I realized that many of my extracurricular activities were on summer sabbatical. They are all back with a vengeance.

EVERYTHING started up at the same time.  

The Challenge: My brain is still stuck in summer mode. Workouts feel hard, I can’t deal with buying more than 15 items from the grocery at a time, and I can barely find the cherry tomatoes in my garden because of the weeds.

Then there’s the little detail of making dinner really fast, so that I can be at my evening functions. Can you believe Mr. Non-Compliant gets hungry and wants more than M&M’s?

He does.

I thought it might be helpful for you to have some REALLY QUICK meal ideas, in case you’re finding yourself in a similar end-of-summer situation.

Here are my last four days of dinner menus, and all took less than 30 minutes to prepare: (Please don’t judge.)

Sunday: Hamburgers, angel hair pasta (for Mr. NC), tossed salad

Monday: Sautéed scallops, sautéed zucchini and onions, brown rice  

Tuesday: Beyond Meat Hot (not really) Italian Sausage sliced and sautéed with broccoli florets, orange bell pepper, and canned mushrooms, leftover brown rice for me and leftover pasta for Mr. NC

Wednesday: Rotisserie chicken (from the grocery) and tossed salad, which neither of us were home to eat—oh well

 

Quick Tips

  • I cook a surplus of pasta and brown (or white) rice so that they are ready to reheat as an accompaniment to the protein of choice. This saves time AND dirty pans, especially since I don’t eat gluten-filled pasta and Mr. NC is not so fond of brown rice. I love my Instant Pot for cooking rice.
  • Keep ground beef/turkey/pork, chicken, sausage—any of your favorite proteins—in the freezer so you don’t have to run to the store. Add a few vegetables (which could also be frozen) and you have a stir-fry. Really easy when you have your rice already cooked.
  • A tossed green or spinach salad goes well with everything and gives you another serving or more of vegetables.
  • Fresh fruit is a good choice for dessert if you don’t have to dash out the door as soon as you set down your fork.

We really DO have time to do the things that matter most, once we get our mindset right. If you’re struggling, I’d like to help. Let me hear from you! Clarity is a wonderful thing, yet it is sometimes tricky to find on our own.

Cheers to fall,
Carol

“Don’t be so easily moved by things that do not benefit the well-being of your soul. Time waits for no one, and you’re going to wish you invested more of yourself into the things that sparked your heart.”

The Biggest Nutritional Challenge

September 12, 2019
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Health

When it comes to losing weight and improving nutrition, what is the #1 challenge? Go ahead, take a guess.

If your answer is, “I don’t know what I should eat,” you’d be kicked off the game show. In fact, that challenge doesn’t even make the top 10.

The #1 nutritional challenge is (drumroll please): Emotional and stress eating.

If that was your guess, congratulations! Although, if that WAS your guess, is it because that is YOUR struggle?

You are obviously not alone. Who doesn’t have “stuff?”    

Let’s face it. Most folks know that eating a side of grilled vegetables is preferable over a side of fried onion rings. Even Mr. Non-Compliant!

Trouble happens when you are upset about (work, a relationship, the weather, etc.) and go for the entire carton of ice cream. Yep, I’ve been there…

There are lots of situations that lead us down the road of stress eating.

In most instances, what keeps people from hitting their health and weight goals has to do with behavior patterns that keep recurring. When we don’t deal with the behavior, nothing changes—long term, anyway.

It is necessary to determine what’s pushing those emotional and stress eating buttons, if you truly want to experience success.

To my point, “It’s always about more than the food.”

Today, I challenge you: If you’re stuck, what’s going to move you in the right direction?

The bad news is that there are many facets that go into the weight loss equation: meal planning, sweet tooth, eating out, cravings—to name a few.  

The good news is that it’s possible to solve these in a way that won’t make you—or your family–crazy.

If it’s time for you to get past whatever it is that’s preventing you from moving ahead with your health and life goals, let me know. Together, we’ll explore what’s working and what’s not and uncover obstacles that are keeping you from achieving your most optimal state of health and wellness.

Send me an email and we’ll set up a time for your complimentary coaching session.

NOW is the time to feel the excitement of knowing EXACTLY what to do next to create the health you truly desire.

Blessings and love,
Carol

“Now is the time to fix the next ten years.”—Jim Rohn

Mr. Non-Compliant Ate Gross Greens

September 5, 2019
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Family, Food, Health, Hope

Miracles do happen and life is full of surprises.

If your loved one is not keen on eating as healthy as you’d like, keep the faith. I offer you a story of hope.

The other day, Mr. Non-Compliant (aka my husband), and I, were having dinner. I’d ordered sea bass served on a bed of boiled greens. He ordered rack of lamb.

I carefully removed the skin and bones, and the fish literally melted in my mouth. It was amazing.

After several bites, I tried the greens. They resembled spinach–sort of—and provided a bed for the fish. (See photo)  

One bite sent me into a nasty face and a verbal “BLAGH.” This had to be the most bitter, vile, vegetable I’d ever tasted. I like cauliflower better—and most of you know where THAT vegetable rates.

I applied a liberal amount of lemon juice, salt, and pepper, then gave it one more shot. NO WAY was I going to eat anymore. I continued to enjoy the fish.

Mr. NC then decided to take a bite of the gross greens, expressing his disbelief that they could be that bad. He finished them off, making me a member of the “Clean Plater’s Club.”

As I looked at him in the most horrified way, he smiled back and replied most innocently, “What?”

I shook my head. As we left the restaurant, I wondered when the aliens would return my M&M, donut-loving husband to me.

Still waiting….

 

Mr. NC offers the rest of the story:

So the Health and Wellness Coach didn’t like her veggies. When she told me she was writing about this, I said the story could probably use balance, so here I am, back from the alien convention.

As I’m sure you know, I have a reputation for going off the rails as it relates to Coach Carol’s dietary beliefs. But as she says, “Eat it if it’s amazing.” I just believe that M&M’s and donuts are amazing!

Anyway, vegetables were always boiled when I was a kid—a bit bland. Carol however, broils or sautés them with seasoning so that they’re actually a terrific compliment to the meal. (Be sure to check out her vegetable recipes on her website.)

So I was obviously surprised when she recoiled over the vegetables being too strong – since they were served with a very mild fish that needed something with a punch!  

The one vegetable that I’ve always liked is spinach and this was very similar but stronger, and nicely seasoned too. I don’t understand what the issue was. It was a perfect compliment. But then I wouldn’t be Mr. NC if I didn’t go off the rails.

By the way, if you see me eating something that I shouldn’t, no need to tell me you won’t tell Carol. I need you to be sure to tell her. After all, I have a reputation to maintain!

Much love,
Carol and Mr. NC

“Only eat it if it’s amazing!”—Health Coach Carol

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