So I really struggled with how/when/if I should write this one. Emotional eating is such a bad habit that so many people close to me have, and I have definitely had it worse than many. Through my many years modeling, I have learned how harmful emotional eating is for both your mind and body. Today I want to give you my honest perspective about my struggles with emotional eating, how I learned to stop, and explain further why it is a bad habit. This post is written in the spirit of encouraging you to be as happy and healthy as possible, and to maintain balance in your life. 🙂

This is about to get real… brace yourselves!! 😉

Emotional eating is what happens when you use food as a way to deal with your emotions. Typically, emotional eating happens when you are feeling stressed, sad, depressed, worried, angry, lonely or bored. Basically any strong emotion. And when you feel this emotion, your first response is to open the fridge and grab whatever is closest. This is never an apple. (Ever.) Usually it is crackers, chips, ice cream, pizza, candy, or pretty much any bad food you can think of. Essentially emotional eating is the act of using food to make yourself feel better. 

Emotional eating is the devil. It is actually the worst thing you can do for both your mind and body. Emotional eating totally makes you lose control. Which sucks, because I am a bittt of a control freak (that surprised a grand total of ZERO people lol.) 

It is a vicious cycle because you start eating a bunch of random foods in order to make yourself feel better. Then when the feeding frenzy is over, and you feel even worse than you did before. Because you stuffed yourself full of calories that you didn’t need, and there is a 99.99% chance that whatever you ate had no nutritional value whatsoever. Thus, emotional eating is a total downward spiral.

Okay I will stop pretending to be Dr. Phil now, and tell you how I stopped emotional eating. This habit for me, was bad. Like really bad. I rarely appreciated the food I hate, always ate things that were unhealthy, and hated the way I felt after eating because of my emotions. Food is amazing, and it should be appreciated like you would a first-born child. (Haha! You think I am kidding…) Anyways, my point is is that you should love and cherish the amazing things that you get it eat! Not just inhale it when you get stressed. 

Once I had decided that the habit needed to stop, I came up with a list of things to do when I was feeling stressed and wanted to eat a cake. (Anyone else ever feel like this??? Haha) Here was my “go-to” list of things to do when that emotional eating craving came on: 

1) Allow myself to have unlimited amounts of frozen fruit! Why? It is a sweet “treat” that tastes delicious and is healthy. Also, the fact that the fruit was frozen kind of forced me to take my time eating it and think about what was going on. And it tasted good. So yay. Also knowing that I could have that whenever I wanted was super comforting.

2) Get out and do something with friends. Friends are the best, I love my friends so so much. When you need an excuse to celebrate, cry, or anything really, they are the ones you should call! They always seem to know best anyways 🙂

3) Okay and maybe don’t listen to this one (probably a bad habit to form lol) but I started shopping more. I treat myself to nice clothing instead of crappy food. (Again I am admitting this isn’t the best tip for your wallet, but I like to shop and it worked for me so whatever.)

4) Take a bath! This is super comforting and relaxing to me, and helps me clear my mind. Baths are a great way to let yourself think through whatever is bothering you.

5) Do something you like to do! For me, this might be watching an episode of my favourite show, working out, going skiing, getting my nails done, or exploring the outdoors. Make yourself feel like the queen that you are. <3

If you feel physical hunger, it is so important to eat and nourish your body. That is your body’s way of telling you it needs nourishment! Physical hunger comes on gradually, whereas emotional hunger hits you suddenly. You will also crave better foods when you are physically hungry, instead of the instant gratification that junk food gives you.

I am by no means a doctor, and just wanted to share with you what works for me. This post came about because I have lots of friends who struggle with emotional eating, and I wanted to share what had helped me make sure I am making healthy choices. Please do your own research, and find out what works best for you. 

And remember, we only get one body… so treat it well! <3

x,

Today I was totally in the mood for a super sweet fruity juice! Normally I make my jucies mostly from vegetables, and just add enough fruit to sweeten them up. Learn more about the benefits of green juice by clicking here, and learn the basics of juicing by clicking here. Anyways, today I was feeling like a treat so this is what I made! So tasty, going to make this one again for sure.

What’s in it:

 – 2 apples

 – Handful blackerries

 – 1 large carrot

 – 1 orange (no peel)

 – 1/4 lemon (no peel)

 – Small slice of ginger

Put all those beautiful ingredients in your juicer and enjoy! Try and only drink fresh pressed juice when you can, it is so much better for you. 

I also wanted to let you know that I am starting to put together some more Skinny Belle workouts for you guys! It has been a while since I have shared my favourite workouts with you, so I really want to give you some more to do. If you check out the workouts I have already posted, I give you a pdf file that you can save to your phone. This way you can take Skinny Belle to the gym with you, and do the workout from anywhere! 

The main reason that I have not been sharing my personal workouts with you lately, is that it is ski season! During this time of year I really get most of my exercise from going skiing. That being said, the weather is getting warmer and it is almost time to be doing my Skinny Belle workouts again! Just wanted to keep ya’ll in the loop and let you know what is coming up.

Happy Wednesday friends! 

x,

… when you REALLY don’t want to. If We are all being honest with ourselves, there are just those days when the last thing on earth you want to do is get some exercise. Yup, the very last thing. When I am in one of those moods (happens more often than I would like to admit) I have a few ways that I motivate myself to get my butt off the couch and do something good for my body.

Without further adieu, here are my Top 10 Ways to Get Yourself to Workout:

1) Go look at Izabel Goulart’s Instagram account. Watch a few of her workout clips, and you will basically jump right up and do your own workout. (She is PHENOMENAL.)

2) Do something fun! Instead of going to the gym, do something a little bit different. For example, swimming, hiking, rollerblading, a Skinny Belle workout.

3) Call a friend. And not the friend who is going to tell you that you guys should order Dominos ASAP and watch Gossip Girl re-runs. Call your most motivated gym friend and do something together! The buddy system is crazy effective.

4) Think of this… the only workout anyone ever regrets is the one that they didn’t do. (<– real talk.)

5) Take a look at that pair of skinny jeans you bought last year a size too small as “motivation jeans.” Go out and get those skinny jeans, girl.

6) Just do an easy workout! If you really are not feeling it, it is always better to do something than nothing at all. I totally change my workout based on how I feel that day. If I have lots of energy, I will do a big workout! If not I do something light and relaxing.

7) Listen to some pump up music! I usually search “girl power” on 8tracks and that gets me all fired up and Beyonce-like. Haha, don’t judge. It works.

8) Plan what you will reward yourself with after your workout! Not with cake, leave the cake alone. Try an episode of your favourite show, or a nice hot bath!

9) Go watch this video of the Under Armour women’s campaign with Gisele. So so motivating. #iwillwhatiwant

10) Appreciate the fact that you have the privilege of a wonderful body that can do amazing things like run, jump, and feel the wind in your hair. Seriously, I am so thankful for my health. Just think, how lucky you are to be able to do these things! We only get one body, so be good to it and treat it well.

 This Top 10 list really does work for me. It is highly rewarding to be able to get yourself to do something that you don’t necessarily want to in that moment. Now I want to know… what is your favourite tip from this list?! Which are you going to use next time you are feeling like sitting on the couch and not getting outside?

x,

Okay so I have probably been the worst person ever at taking care of my nails over the past few months. For a while there I was really good about getting them done on a regular basis, but in the “nail world” I totally “let myself go”. Is that a thing? Let’s make it a thing.

Pretty nails make me happy. (Shocker, I know.) And if something makes you happy, you should do it! So I am going to make the effort to get my nails done on a regular basis now as part of my beauty routine. Might as well 🙂

Other than getting my nails did this weekend, I spent lots of time with family and friends. Had a birthday party, brunch, and some bestie time. There are lots of exciting things planned for the week ahead, and I can’t wait to share with you guys!

Alrighty team, time to watch the Oscars! So many beautiful dresses…. crying a little inside but I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me at all. 😉 Ok talk soon! <3

x,

This morning I was looking back at some old photos and stumbled across these, which were taken in Kelowna last summer. My blog is seeming so wintery lately, so I wanted to bring a little more “warmth” back into it with these throwback pics. 🙂

If I could turn back the clock right now and have this beautiful sun again, I would be the happiest girl on earth. Or just hop on a plane to Mexico, that would also help. Actually who am I kidding, beaches and beer are basically the cure for everything. 😉 hehe. Mexico trip anyone?!

I knowwww I just posted about how much I love skiing, and it is honestly my favourite sport! But today for whatever reason I am really craving shorts and a t-shirt, and some nice warm weather.

Considering I am a ginger and all (I am finally able to admit that I MIGHT not be blonde…. but don’t push it. I have hair-identity issues 😉 ) I have a serious love affair going on with the sun. It makes me feel good, it looks pretty, and it doesn’t say much. What else does a girl need?! Kiddingggggg……. 

Just wanted to say a quick hello for today! Hope you guys are having a good week. Love ya <3

x,