Today I have the exciting opportunity to have a guest blogger come and share their journey into healthy happy living. Sheena (from The Wholistic Life) has started her training to be a health coach and is going to share with us some awesome wisdom as well as a great smoothie recipe. (Feel free to still take part in the Green Smoothie Challenge, there is a week left so plenty of time to get energised!) Welcome Sheena!

I have been following a course* that will hopefully not only lead to a new career in nutrition but also in my own journey into health and wellness.

One of the core concepts I have been learning about in the course which is helping me in my journey into health and wellness is the concept of ‘crowding out’. I totally love this concept as it’s changing the way I think and approach healthy eating. Instead of focusing on what to cut out from my diet I am now more focused on what heathy whole foods I can start adding to my current diet and most importantly I don’t feel deprived.

The idea behind this is; rather than cut back on the unhealthy foods that you enjoy you gradually keep adding more of the healthy whole foods such as fruits, vegetables and grains to your current diet and the more of the good stuff you keep adding the more you will crowd out the unhealthy foods and experience a larger shift in your current diet without much effort. Now as with everything, the change will not happen overnight but over a period of time you will start noticing that you are able to naturally crowd out those unhealthy foods. Here are 3 simple things that I started doing that are helping me in crowding out some of those unhealthy foods.

1. Drinking a green juice or smoothie once a day. Notice I said ‘green’ juice. For me this has been by far the quickest and most easiest way (and having a nutribullet does make things easy but any blender will do) to feeling great and having boundless energy… After 4 to 5 days of consistently drinking this green concoction I started to feel the difference in my energy levels. It might be different for you but I advice you to take note to how you feel before doing this so you can judge for yourself what this does for your body.

2. Drinking half my body weight of water every day. If you are like me and find drinking water boring then try adding some fresh fruit and herbs to flavour your water but here’s how you work out how much water you ought to be drinking; divide your weight in pounds by half and that will give you the minimum number of water in ounces that you need to drink each day.

3. Organize and prepare your healthy foods in advance so that they are easily available especially for those busy tiring days or for when you feel like snacking so you don’t go reaching for those unhealthy foods. It is much easier to reach for unhealthy foods than to cook or prepare a healthy alternative so always be prepared! Consistency and preparation are the keys you will need to help you in implementing the concept of crowding out in your life.

Here is a Recipe for a great green smoothie

Kale, kiwi and banana smoothie

12 oz water

1 small ripe banana

2 slices of cucumber

1/4 peeled lemon

2 handfuls of kale, washed and stalks removed

2 ripe kiwi fruit, peeled

and sliced 1 apple, peeled and sliced

DIRECTIONS: Put all ingredients in the tallest nutribullet cup or any blender will do. Blend all ingredients until smooth. Serve and drink immediately for optimal nutrition! Or you can keep in the fridge for up to 24hrs.

* I have been studying, since February 2014 with one of the largest nutrition schools in the world; The Institute for Intergrative Nutrition also called IIN for short. The health coach training program is a year long online based course where you are taught a wide variety of skills in nutrition, coaching, business, and lifestyle choices. To find out more click here.

Thanks Sheena ! I LOVE the idea of crowding out:) Interested in doing a guest blog for the site? Then email info@supernaturally healthy.org .