In this Navigating Nourishment Podcast, Debbie and Wendy discuss the essential elements for a nourishing summer. They emphasize the importance of connecting with nature, practicing mindfulness, and prioritizing self-care through activities like napping, movement, and socializing. Debbie highlights the natural cravings for sweets during the summer and suggests replacing them with fresh fruits from local farmers markets. Wendy stresses the significance of sleep in the longer days and shorter nights and provides a practical tip for improving sleep quality.

Transcript

Debbie  0:06  

We are health and wellness coaches and we wanted to kick off this podcast, saying that coaches are a little bit different than, say, your doctor, or nutritionist who tells you what to do - we offer prescriptive. 

Wendy: 0:23 

We work hand in hand with you, and really sit down and look at your entire life and see where you could make mini tweaks to get to feeling better. Because we want to live a really long life. And we want the vitality to go along with it!

Debbie  0:42  

Definitely. And one of the biggest things we do as coaches is: we're your accountability coaches. And that's where people really have struggles, because everybody knows what to do for the most part, and they know they need new habits or to get rid of old habits. Having someone that you have as an accountability person is wonderful. How do we do it!? We use our Five Foundations of Health. And today, we're going to be talking about Summer Tips paired with our Five Foundations. 

Wendy  1:20  

At the time of this recording, we have just celebrated the summer solstice - the longest day of the year. And so we wanted to frame this podcast around very specific tips for the summer. Nutrition and Sweet CravingsDebbie  1:37  

Our first foundation is Nutrition. We want to talk about your sweet cravings in the summer. 

Wendy  1:45  

I know I have them and it's natural to have them. 

Debbie  2:06  

We often go towards things like iced coffees with a lot of stuff in them. Or ice cream, for example. And it's not that we don't eat those ourselves. We love them.

Wendy  2:07  

And there are tons of fruits now that are just popping like crazy. We just got through strawberry season and now we are in blueberry season - and we're headed into stone fruit season soon.

Debbie  2:20  

The whole reason we crave sweets is because we need energy. And we need our most energy in the summertime because we're so active, and there's so many things to do. And our days are long, and we need extra energy to get through these long days to be productive. So we crave sweets a lot in the summertime. Fruits are essentially what we crave. So we want you to think about that the next time ice cream pops into your mind. Maybe you can grab a handful of blueberries and see how that makes you feel. 

Wendy  2:55  

Play around. Get curious. 

Debbie  2:59  

And check out your farmer’s markets because they're going to have the most local and the most fresh fruits available. Oh, I'm so excited for this ongoing fruit season in the summer. It's like it's almost too much!NJ Farmer’s Market Guide Wendy  3:12  

It is! We have a family tradition to go blueberry picking and we go really early in the morning. You're out there with all the birds and everything. And every now and then one pops in your mouth while you're out there.

Debbie  3:30  

Yeah, definitely. Here is our local, favorite blueberry picking place: Emery’s Farm https://emerysfarm.com/

Wendy  3:37  

Our second foundation of the Five Foundations of Health is Sleep.

 Sleep - mask up

Debbie  3:42  

Yes. Sleep. It's ever elusive to so many people. 

Wendy  3:47  

Yes it is. And like all of our Foundations, we want to bring awareness. For this particular one, we wanted to give a very specific and practical tip.