Cinnamon, Scarves & Uggs

„Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile“ – William Cullen Bryant

The transition from summer days to cooler and shorter autumn days is followed by the need to pay more attention to your health.  It’s the time when you have to put your summer clothes beside and make place for warmer garments.

Depending on your Self, either you like the wet cold weather or you don’t.

Me personally, I LOVE IT! I live for Autumn!

By paying attention to our feelings, to nature and its phases, we are able to live a well-adjusted, excited and healthy life.  When the weather changes suddenly, our body is going through a lot of ups and downs. 

Some small guidelines will help you to prepare your body to a smoother transition from summer to autumn.

EATING HABITS:

When moving from one season to another, we have to be careful what we are empowering our bodies with. Autumn is the perfect season for some light, warm and healthy foods such as vegetables, soups or quinoa. Light and warm eating will help you to get rid of the toxins accumulated in your body and to strengthen your immune system. Choose spices such as fennel, cumin, ginger and coriander.

TIME-OUTS:

The best Time-Out partner you can have <3
my fluffy-ball Rocco

Spending time alone or with your family or dog will help you to prepare yourself for a long dusky winter. Be grateful and thankful for the energy and the positive thinking! Windy autumn can be unpredictable, hectic and hasty so it is up to you to free yourself from the negative influences around you. Rest, meditate and relax your body, mind and soul.

PURIFY YOURSELF:

A physical and mental imbalance can slow down the body’s natural detoxification process. This can lead to skin irritations and damages in the nervous and immune system. Clean your body with a good hot ginger-lemon tea with honey. Give your body the opportunity to purify itself.

Nature, Wood, red-brown leaves and happiness!

MOVEMENT:

The best way to find out what your body needs is to practice yoga, to workout or to go for a run.  By moving, twisting and turning around we extract a lot of toxins, eliminate blockages and are able to build a healthy well-being. So do more yoga and cherish every movement.

SLEEP:

Take longer naps and allow your body to revitalize. Sleep helps your body to recover from the cold and rainy weather. Try to sleep at least 8 hours per night!

FASHION:

I love my vintage scarf and red lipstick (Chanel)
perfect for autumn days!

Autumn’s color tones are grey, navy, brown, orange, black and burgundy. My favorite accessories for this autumn are wrap-around scarves, leather gloves, hoodies, bonnets, hats, high knee boots, statement necklaces and of course my lovely UGG BOOTS!! I simply love them, and I could wear them every single day, no matter where I’m going! It’s pure coziness!!

I love wearing beanies! 

Love love LOVE ugg boots! Coziness overload!!

I wish you a wonderful and cozy season!

xoxo

MATI

Pocrescophobia

„Anorexia is a parasite, and not your friend“ – Sally Hayward-Young

Pocrescophobia is the fear of gaining weight!

Having an eating disorder is a serious medical problem.

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any other mental illness.

Nowadays there are more girls suffering from an eating disorder than 5 years before, due to a tsunami of modified body images (social media).

It describes an unhealthy relation between you body-perception and the consumption of food, and this negative relation has a huge impact on your everyday life.

95% of all patients are girls!!!

Eating disorders like Anorexia or Bulimia cause twelve times more deaths that any other illness among young girls aged 14 to 25.

Approximately 10 million women and 1 million men suffer from an eating disorder.

50% of teenage girls and 33% of teenage boys have an unhealthy weight control behavior (fasting, vomiting…).

There are 3 major eating disorders:

Anorexia Nervosa: obsessed with the fear of gaining weight, excessive weight loss, infertility,

Heart, bones and brain damage, multi-organ failure

Binge Eating: episodes of impulsive and uncontrolled eating until the feeling of discomfort overwhelms you. Obese people with this disorder have a higher risk for cardiovascular diseases and blood pressure.

Bulimia Nervosa: repeated rotation of binge eating followed by purging, overeating followed by forced vomiting, excessive workout periods and abuse of diuretics, fear of weight gain, dehydration, intestinal problems, throat and tooth damage (due to stomach acids), electrolyte imbalance (can lead to heart attacks)

Here are some differences between bulimia and anorexia (effects):

	Anorexia	Bulimia
Body Image	·      Beliefs of being fat ·      In reality: underweight ·      Obsession of weight and appearance	·      Obsession of weight and appearance
Physical Symptoms	·      Extreme weight loss ·      Heart problems ·      Low blood pressure ·      Hair loss ·      Kidney problems ·      Fatigue & weakness ·      amenorrhea (Interruption of menstruation)	·      sore throat and mouth ·      Dehydration ·      Dental problems ·      Fatigue & Weakness
Emotional symptoms	·      Depression/Anxiety ·      Denial ·      Anosognosia (denial of the illness) ·      Fear of weight gain ·      OCD	·      Depression/Anxiety ·      Feelings of guilt ·      Destructive behaviour
Weight	·      Underweight ·      BMI > 17	·      Usually normal or overweight
Eating	·      Small quantity of calories ·      Food rituals	·      Binge eating ·      Vomiting ·      Pills abuse

How to overcome such an illness?
There is no official treatment; it depends on the person itself.
But every treatment has common goals and methods:
-       Maintain a healthy weight
-       Reduce thoughts and behaviors that lead to disordered eating

Treatments:
-       Individual, groups, psychotherapy
-       Cognitive behavioral therapy
-    Nutritional counseling
-    Medications
-    Medical monitoring

If you might think that you have an eating disorder: GET HELP!!

If you think that someone close has an eating disorder, pay attention to the following signs:

• -       Going to the bathroom instantly after a meal
• -       Constant weight changes
• -       Constant dieting
• -       Eating alone/in secret
• -       Excuses to avoid eating
• -       Extreme concerns about weight

You have to realize that you are worth living, and that you don’t have to starve yourself to death because social media wants you to be skinny.  Experience true happiness and carry about yourself. You have to overcome your own demons and validate your worth.

YOUR DISORDER DOESN’T DEFINE YOU!

HOW YOU OVERCOME IT DEFINES YOU!

Accept yourself as you are, if you want to
change you appearance do it in a healthy way

Boost Yourself

Hi guys :)

As I noticed that a lot of people are concerned about their physical appearance, today's post will be all about this topic! 
Let me ask you one question...

Are you satisfied with your actual self? A lot of people think that you can change your body by doing a simple diet, but they forget that exercising is the most important thing if you want to TRANSFORM.

I know…easy said…

A lot of people feel tired and sometimes it’s hard to find enough motivation to begin with your exercising, but there are many reasons why you actually should and why it’s good for you (especially if you want to lose fat):

Positives effects of Exercising:

• Lifts your mood and keeps your brain and body fit
• Reduces stress, makes you feel happier and boosts productivity
• Boosts your immune system and has anti-aging effects
• Improves your skin tone, your sleeping patterns and your eating habits
• Gives you more strength and improves your body image
• Strengthens your bones and heart
• Reduces the feeling of depression and sadness
• Increases energy, pain resistance and performance
• Boosts your concentration, imagination and self-control
• Decreases fatigue

In other words: exercising improves your quality of life.

So what can you do to improve your metabolism-functions?

Your metabolism is the system that transforms "what you eat and drink" into energy. This procedure can speed up or slow down at every moment.

        Eat healthy fats

There is nothing better than a good
intense workout

There is a difference between good and bad fats.

Bad fats increase your cholesterol level and the risk of several diseases, while good fats boost your health. Healthy fats as for example olive oil, salmon and avocado will help you lose fat. Healthy fats are rich in omega-3 fats, which are fundamental for a physical, psychological, emotional and cognitive health.

       Eat every 3 to 4 hours

Eating small meals every 3 to 4 hours is essential if you want to lose fat, which means that you have to eat 4 to 5 times a day. I know this sounds a little paradoxical but it WORKS.

„Eating small and balanced meals every 3 hours will boost your body’s fat-burning potential” - Fitness expert Jorge Cruise

If we don’t eat often enough, our body will go into a “starvation protection mode”. It will burn muscle instead of fat to produce energy. If you eat every 3 to 4 hours your metabolism will continually change so it can burn fat all day long.

 Sleep at least 6 hours per day

Enough sleep will help your body to perform at its best. Sleep deprivation will signal your metabolism to slow down and to use less energy.

Drink enough water

Drinking enough water a day is the easiest effort you can include into your weight loss plan, because

1. It fills you up. Did you know that sometimes when you think you feel hungry you actually are thirsty! We confuse hunger with thirst, which lead to a wrong decision: we eat instead of drinking! So for the next time, first drink a glass of water and then if you still feel hungry, be free to eat something.

2. It boosts your metabolism

3. It keeps you healthy

One thing I noticed is that a lot of people do not really know what to eat before or after their workout? So here is a small list:

Pre-Workout High in Carbs	Post-Workout High in Proteins
Dried fruits Quinoa Fruit smoothie Apple slices (fresh or roasted) Rice cakes Almond butter Popcorn (unsalted) Hummus	Protein bars Chocolate milk Hard boiled eggs Cottage cheese Rice cakes Tomatoes Greek yoghurt Almond or soy milk

I wish you a very happy sunny day

Xoxo

Mati :)

my results:

after 1,5 month of clean eating and intense
exercising, these were my results (till august)

I lost 3,7 cm till today
(this picture is 1 month old)

Mental Health Drill

“Indeed, there is no health without mental health” – World Health Organization, 2010

First of all, you need to know that you are not alone with your problem. A lot of people are unaware of the power of negative thoughts, they just feel that something isn’t all right but they can’t explain the source of these negative influences. They do not know why they often feel irritated, have a lack of energy or continuously feel under pressure.

Identifying and naming negative emotions and thoughts can be very scary but it is essential for the conversion-procedure to happiness. You need to find out how to control those negative thoughts before they totally control you!

So what can you do to improve your (mental) health?

• Positive Self-Talk:

Why? It helps you to get rid of negative thoughts.

Ask yourself 3 Questions:

1.     Do you often feel tired?

2.     Do insignificant things easily irritate you?

3.     Are you regularly stressed?

So what now?

1. Firstly you have to identify the problem! 
2. Slow down, don’t let your instincts reign over your actions. Start analyzing your thoughts and try to find solutions that probably will help you more than an emotional overreaction. Think about the problem. Write them down if needed.
3. Have patience and try it as many times as needed. Become a happy person. A person without the feeling of guilt, bad mood and self-doubts.

Remember, transformations are seldom comfortable.

But what needs to be done has to be done!

•  Eat to beat

a good cup of tea is a mood-booster and helps
to improve your well-being.

• Whole Grains like beans, oats, quinoa or brown rice are complex carbs. Those carbs release glucose slowly and help to maintain a solid source of energy for the body and brain. By the way, it also releases serotonin, which is a mood-booster!
• Fish like herring, tuna and salmon are high in omega-3 fat acids. Omega-3 helps to reduce depression, schizophrenia and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Furthermore, omega-3 supports learning capacity and memory.
• Milk and cheese are rich in vitamin D, whey protein and calcium. It helps to reduce fatigue, supports self-comfort and stabilize your temper.
• Sometimes we do not consume enough multi-vitamins from food. Supplements can improve the level of essential nutrients such as vitamin D, calcium and potassium. 
• Dark Chocolate consumed in small quantities can improve the intensity of endorphins in your brain, which causes the feeling of self-comfort and happiness.

•  Exercise

Exercising 3 to 4 times a week has a positive impact on your body and mind:

•         Reducing stress
•         Relaxation
•       Boost your memory
•        Increases productivity
•        Intensifies brain functions
•        Boost your happiness
•        Improves self-confidence  
•         Reduces anxiety

So as you could see, mental health is the most important supplement for a healthy and happy life. Learn how to detach yourself from negative thoughts by doing a physical activity you enjoy.

I wish you a very happy day, enjoy the sun and have fun whatever you are doing.

Xoxo

       Mati :)

This is my little fluffy Munchkin Rocco :)
he is my escape of negative thoughts and emotions.