HI :)
I’m Amanda, the founder of Amanda’s Kitchen.
I'm a weight loss, intuitive eating, healthy habits, fitness coach that has spent the past 5 years helping myself and hundreds of others on our journey to a healthier and happier lifestyle.
The main force behind Amanda's Kitchen is a deep desire to help individuals achieve their long-term diet and nutrition goals. Whether you’re seeking help with weight loss, fitness improvement or nutrition, I can help.
I started sharing my creative recipes and wellness tips in 2015, and through that process Amanda’s kitchen was born. During this time, I developed a deeper love for working with others on their individual goals, coaching, learning about natural foods, balanced living, wellness and fitness!
You shouldn't deprive yourself of the foods you love in order to look and feel your best. One of the hardest things about trying eating "perfectly healthy" all time is the feeling of deprivation. On special occasions such as birthdays, holiday dinners, parties, etc you will be tempted. What I'm saying is that you can have that piece of cake, glass of champagne, or both! You can do this while feeling good about it because you are living by the 80/20 principle. In most cases, indulging from time to time is actually good to sticking to your overall healthy diet. If you never induldge or allow yourself to have what you’re truly craving, when you finally give in it will be hard to control yourself, you will also feel like you’re “cheating” your diet when you’re really “treating” yourself.
You should always eat to nourish yourself as well as for your own pleasure. You should find foods that share this balance between enjoyment and nourishment. Basically, I love waffles (who doesn't?) so I wouldn’t eat typical waffles that are filled with refined sugars and white flour, I would make nutritious ones sweetened with stevia and use ingredients like flaxseed, coconut flour, almond meal and oats to create the perfect fluffy waffle. That way it’s nutritious and delicious-that is how you keep up a healthy lifestyle.
Trust the messages it sends you. I really mean to focus on how you feel after eating certain foods. I believe in bio-individuality and that everyone's body is a little different. This means that foods are exercises that make me feel great, might not work for someone else. See what works for you through trail and error; and take your time.
Getting those 7-8 hours of sleep in will aid weight loss. Ghrelin is the ‘go’ hormone that tells you when to eat, and when you are sleep-deprived, you have more ghrelin,” Then, “Leptin is the hormone that tells you to stop eating, and when you are sleep deprived, you have less leptin.” So, its pretty self explanatory... When you don't get enough sleep, your body doesn't have a lot of energy. Where do get our energy from? calories…
I think it is extremely important to be mindful. Pay more attention to what you're eating and drinking. Read food labels, become familiar with lists of ingredients, and start to notice everything your put in your mouth! Stop eating mindlessly, putting food into your mouth and almost doing this unconsciously. Once you become more aware of what you're eating, you'll start to realize how you can improve your diet.
You’ve been good all week, you had a cookie, or two or three. STOP! Enjoy it. It’s not the end of the world. Think about this: If you were stuck in a snowstorm in the middle of a highway, deserted, and your tire had a flat…would you: a) take out a pocket knife and bash the other three tires (might as well since one broke down) b) would you try and come up with a solution, pump it and call someone to help? That’s what I thought. Don’t dig yourself deeper into a “bad situation”
Exercise + daily walks! I think that exercise is a huge part of a healthy lifestyle. You don’t necessarily need to have access to the gym to be active. It’s not excuse to not be active because you don’t have a gym membership or live anywhere near one. Take long walks, go for hikes, go biking, or just put on sneakers and run! If you don’t already exercise, start NOW, give it time and you will be addicted to your new routine. Don’t just do it to look a certain way, focus on how you feel DURING and AFTER your workout. Besides burning calories, put the focus on the other benefits like releasing dopamine in your brain, relieving stress, energizing, confidence boosting, anxiety easing, the list goes on!. The next time you’re feeling down, stressed or anxious, get off the couch and get some exercise instead. You’ll feel like a new person.