Empowered Food Choices with Tess Masters

“When you decide from a place of self-love about anything in your life, that's when your choices start to stick.”–Tess MastersCan you eat Oreos and be healthy? Tess Masters, author of The Blender Girl and creator of SK60® health programs says yes. It’s all about balance — and not judging ourselves.Obsessing about food and letting food choices rule the rest of your life isn’t healthy. What if instead, you felt really empowered about your food choices? What if you stayed present and enjoyed the eating experience? What if you noticed how you felt after eating different foods and used that to make decisions? What if you started from a place of self-love?Food is not just food. Tess reminds us that a lot of clarity comes when you are nourishing your body in a really strategic, efficient way with beautiful foods that help your body to function the way it's supposed to. What’s murky that might be clear if you nurtured your body?We talk about: How to actually be kind to yourself when it comes to food and why we eat things that may not be the healthiest choicesThe power of the pause as a way to distract yourself from a food that might not make you feel great and the difference between really wanting something vs. a habitThe connection between stress sugar and dis-easeKnowing your superpowers or what’s working and using that as an anchorThe power of gratitude and noticing both what’s good and badBeing healthy, having energy, and looking and feeling amazing in perimenopause and menopauseABOUT TESSTess Masters is a lifestyle personality and author of The Blender Girl, The Blender Girl Smoothies, and The Perfect Blend published by Penguin Random House. She is also the creator of The Decadent Detox® cleanses and SK60® health programs. You can find hundreds of easy recipes at theblendergirl.com.Tess and her delicious healthy food have been featured in the L.A Times, Washington Post, InStyle, Real Simple, Prevention, Cosmopolitan, Shape, Glamour, Clean Eating, Yoga Journal, Vegetarian Times, Yahoo Living, the Today show, Fox, Home & Family, WGN, and many others.In high demand as a spokesperson, presenter, and recipe developer, Tess has collaborated with Vitamix, KitchenAid, Williams-Sonoma, Four Seasons, Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, Silk, So Delicious, Driscoll’s, Earthbound Farm, Vegetarian Times, and many others.Away from the blender, Tess enjoys a diverse performance career. She has toured internationally with acclaimed theater productions, worked in film and TV, and lent her voice to commercial campaigns, audiobooks, and popular video game characters.She lives in Melbourne, Australia.LINKS:Website: https://www.theblendergirl.com/SIGN UP FOR THE FREE WORKSHOP: https://my.demio.com/ref/R38ebY78gtJdn6P2Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblendergirl/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblendergirl/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/theblendergirl/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/theblendergirlInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblendergirl/Tess on PlanSimple:Eat to Thrive with Tess MastersThe Skinny with Tess MastersBlend It with Tess MastersDOABLE CHANGESAt the end of every episode, we share three doable changes, so you can take what you've heard and put it into action. Change comes from action. Sometimes action gets a bad rap. You can be kind to yourself. You can practice being AND doing, but for change to happen you have to take steps. The way we take care of ourselves is making the steps doable and focusing on one thing at a time. We take time to integrate the change and then move on to the next one. Pick a Doable Change that resonates with you the most to start from. Here are three Doable changes that we chose from this conversation. NOTICE HOW YOU FEEL. Notice how you feel after you eat different foods. Don’t judge yourself, just notice. Do you have more or less energy? Do you feel great, then suddenly terrible? Do you feel bloated? Tired? Moody? Pay attention.TRY PAUSING. Next time you want a sugary food or a fried one or a processed one or one you know doesn’t make you feel great, pause. Get a drink of water. Call a friend. Take a walk. Or simply set a timer for 60–90 seconds and sit with the discomfort.BREAK A HABIT. When do you eat mindlessly, just because you usually do? Snacking while watching TV? A coffee and pastry after lunch? Next time you get to that time or activity, ask: Do I really want this or is it a habit? If you really want it, eat it and enjoy it, but if you are just following a habit, you can choose not to eat that food. Remember not to beat yourself up if you fall into the habit. You get a new chance to choose at every opportunity.