Mind to Table: Making New Year’s Resolutions Stick
It is no surprise that the most common New Year’s resolution, on which all other resolutions depend, is to become healthier. Unfortunately, New Year’s resolutions have very low success rates, which has less to do with the resolution than it does with the path used to achieve it.
If the goal is to become healthier, losing weight should be a by-product of the goal rather than the goal itself. Therefore, instead of dieting and using a “quick-fix” approach to achieving a goal, the road to better health should include making positive lifestyle changes and incorporating a mindful approach to eating and food.
We asked local entrepreneurs who are raising the bar on traditional health practices like juicing and plant-based meal programs for advice on how people can integrate their resolutions and how certain menu items and packages, including juice cleanses, can help.
Food as Medicine
Lisa Odenweller, founder of Beaming Café, stands by the idea that “food is medicine” and hopes to translate that concept into an experience for her clients. Odenweller started Beaming in 2011 after being inspired by preventative health and wellness warrior Kris Carr. Carr, a cancer survivor and author of New York Times bestseller Crazy Sexy Kitchen, relayed a clear message: “We all have a responsibility to take control of our health, and it starts with what we eat, drink and think.”
Odenweller realized some of the choices she was making for herself and her family weren’t as healthy as she had thought, and decided that she had a responsibility to share what she learned with others.
Beaming was started in 2011 with superfood cleanses that Odenweller made at home and delivered locally in San Diego. It has expanded to six cafés between San Diego and Los Angeles that feature an array of organic, wholesome and unprocessed plant-based foods.
When asked how her café can help people who want to get started on a healthier path but aren’t sure how, Odenweller explains: “We put together this beautiful menu of high-vitality foods to simplify the process for people and meet them at their own pace. Resolutions often fail because people think they need to deprive themselves or starve themselves for a certain amount of days and then they can go back to eating pizza and drinking beer. At Beaming we believe it isn’t about starving the body, it’s about nourishing it.”
Unlike many detox programs that restrict eating altogether, the goal of a Beaming cleanse is to nourish the body rather than starve it. When detoxing, your body requires more nutrients, not less, than usual. Vitamins, minerals and essential amino acids (proteins) are required in the body’s detoxification phases, so it’s important to choose a cleanse that provides those.
Beaming offers three signature cleanses: the lifestyle cleanse, the lean cleanse and the active cleanse. All of them include eating 1,000 to 1,900 calories per day. Odenweller recommends cleansing for at least four days to see and feel the benefits and says she cares more about what happens after the cleanse than during the cleanse itself.
“You want to hold on to the feeling you get after you’ve eliminated some of the things that wreak havoc on your body. Beaming gives you the tools you need, such as superfood elixirs, energy bars and soups that taste good and are easy to work into your everyday lifestyle long after the cleanse is complete.”
Mind-Body Connection
Hanna Gregor, nutritionist, chef and founder of OH! Juice, believes juice cleanses can help clients get a jump start on achieving their health goals. “An OH! Juice cleanse will yield noticeable results and that helps motivate people to stick with their plan and make better food choices,” Gregor says.
Customer Kathy Tarr signed up for the lifestyle program, which includes getting her choice of six juices delivered to her door each week. “I feel a mental clarity and focus that I didn’t before,” she says.
OH! Juice is 100% organic, cold-pressed, raw and bottled in glass. Nothing is done during or after the bottling process to extend the shelf life. Gregor believes this process is one of the things that differentiates her company from other juice bars. “We don’t cut any corners. We make juice the way our clients would want to at home,” says Gregor.
Gregor and her business partner, Taryn McCracken, constantly strive to create the best flavor profiles for their juices. That’s why they recently introduced a tasting bar so customers can come in and sample different options. “It’s a way to guarantee customers are getting what they want. My business partner and I came from a background in bartending—we love the entertaining, engaging, socializing and educational part of the bar,” Gregor says. “OH! Juice is a reflection of our creativity that has been guided by our clients. If they didn’t like what we presented all along, we wouldn’t be where we are.”
Mindfulness Leads to Long-Term Results
Achieving a healthier body begins with how you think about food, and that is the first step toward meeting your health or fitness goals for the New Year. Being mindful of daily choices will lead to better habits and those good habits will eventually lead to a daily routine. So, this year, cross dieting off your resolution list and replace it with mindful eating because a true mind-body connection will yield long-term results that last a lifetime.
