Announcements
*Remember to use your Monthly Event Planner to PLAN AHEAD for Thanksgiving and all of your holiday events in the month ahead
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Calendar Review
Thanksgiving is this week, meaning it may take some extra planning to make sure you keep your dates with yourself for health and self care. If you can’t make it to your normal workout class, how will you get meaningful movement and exercise in? Look at the week ahead and MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Still time to join us at Yorba Regional Park on the Santa Ana River Trail for the 11th annual Plymouth rock and run 5K or 10 K lots of options for walkers, crawlers and even a fun run with your pets! Register here: https://www.plymouthrun.com/
Meal Plan
We all know this is going to be a less-than-normal week for eating. Those of you with guests coming over are getting your house ready and planning for a all the cooking about to be done. Others are travelling and preparing dishes to contribute to potlucks. And even those of you who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving have some added days off without the typical work structure. So let’s all take a breath, acknowledge that this week may look a little different than others and PLAN for health success! Here are some of Megan’s favorite ready-to-eat products to make healthy meal planning a little bit easier this week. The key with these items is to remember that they are still processed foods and are not meant to replace simple, whole foods on a regular basis, but instead to act as backup plans for days when our options seem to be this or the drive-thru.
- Starbucks Protein Boxes (we recommend taking the bread out of these and leaning more on the chicken or lentil bowls)
- Starbucks Breakfast: sous vide egg bites, spinach-egg white-feta wrap, or oatmeal without the brown sugar pack
- Green Giant Harvest Protein Bowls (great find of REACH participant Cindy Lopez!)
- Five Star Mini Meals (Costco)
- Trader Joe’s items: Cauliflower Bowl, Salad Palettes, frozen veggie blends, Chicken Shawarma, Falafel Mix
- Flamebroiler Chicken or Tofu & Veggie Bowl: extra veggies, no or ½ rice, sauce on the side
- As always, Amy’s canned soups or approved protein shakes: Orgain, Iconic or Koia brands
And don’t worry, I didn’t forget about your requests for more holiday ideas! Here are a few more recipes for some last minute Thanksgiving table planning!
- Delicata Squash & Cranberries
- Walnut Cranberry Sauce
- Charred Harvest Salad
- Brussels Sprouts Slaw & Coconut Tempeh Bacon
- White Bean & Kale Salad
- Tomato Veg Bean Soup
- Vegan Zucchini Gratin
EXERCISE : Goal is to move your body a minimum of 30 minutes to safety raise your heart rate on Thanksgiving.
Recharge Mental Health & Self Care
Hosting, attending thanksgiving, event planning, cooking, dealing with difficult people, family, expectations etc. can be extremely draining! A helpful practice is to set up an after care plan for these events. What will you do to recharge and be your best self this next week ? This year we have challenged you to get to know yourself and the things that are life giving -so here’s where that homework will come in handy ! Letting your family know what you might need is also helpful for seamless self care implementation J
Intention
I have been thinking about thanksgiving a lot this week and I realized that far too often I wait for thankfulness to spontaneously appear, or I wait until I’m “absolutely inspired” to allow gratefulness to saturate me. I wasn’t always like that- I used to walk in it freely and often prior to career, and the demands of life took center stage . So my ( Heather’s) intention this week is “ rather than sporadically or momentarily I will cultivate a spirit of thankfulness that carries me into 2019.”
As you pause to reflect this week, what would cultivating a spirit of thanksgiving look like for you?
We want you to know that we are extremely thankful for each of you and all that you bring to us, your families and your community. Megan and I feel privileged to be able to work with such an amazing group of people.
Have a safe and beautiful Thanksgiving !
