Here are 3 healthy living tips, 2 book recommendations (one self-improvement and one fun), and 1 journal prompt to ponder this week! 

*TBJ = Tips, Books, Journal Prompt

☀️ Saving calories or pushing out your hunger (🚩) is an out-of-control-eat waiting to happen. You don't need to ‘save' calories, and you don't need to push it out. Tell yourself, ‘I am not doing that today' on repeat!! 

• If you have brunch at 10, but you are hungry at 8 – EAT SOMETHING.
• If you have lunch at 1, but you are hungry at 12 – EAT SOMETHING.
• If you have dinner plans at 6, but you are hungry at 5 – EAT SOMETHING.

☀️If you feel like you can’t have foods like chips, without losing control, try… 

• Adding the chips to something (like to popcorn or nuts) 
• Having the chips alongside something (like a sandwich, salad, or burger) 
• Having the chips with something (like cheese and grapes) 

Watch this if you like visuals!

☀️A helpful response if someone comments on your food / weight: I know you are trying to help, but comments like that don’t help. If you want to help me, you can… (insert ways they can support you here).

Raw, vulnerable, and REAL. What a beautiful and powerful memoir. This is one of those books that makes you think about so many different things, especially when it comes to food, body, and how you are showing up in your life! 

Amazon Synopsis: Coming of age in a culture that demands women be as small, quiet, and compliant as possible — like a porcelain dove that will also have sex with you — writer and humorist Lindy West quickly discovered that she was anything but.

From a painfully shy childhood in which she tried, unsuccessfully, to hide her big body and even bigger opinions; to her public war with stand-up comedians over rape jokes; to her struggle to convince herself, and then the world, that fat people have value; to her accidental activism and never-ending battle royale with Internet trolls, Lindy narrates her life with a blend of humor and pathos that manages to make a trip to the abortion clinic funny and wring tears out of a story about diarrhea.

With inimitable good humor, vulnerability, and boundless charm, Lindy boldly shares how to survive in a world where not all stories are created equal and not all bodies are treated with equal respect, and how to weather hatred, loneliness, harassment, and loss, and walk away laughing. Shrill provocatively dissects what it means to become self-aware the hard way, to go from wanting to be silent and invisible to earning a living defending the silenced in all caps.

FOR FUN

Indigo Ridge by Devney Perry

A romance and a slight thriller – say no more! I could not put this book down AND this is a part of a series, which is also amazing. Extremely engaging, with a plot twist I was not expecting.

Quick Synopsis (from Amazon): Winslow Covington believes in life, liberty and the letter of the law. As Quincy, Montana’s new chief of police, she’s determined to prove herself to the community and show them she didn’t earn her position because her grandfather is the mayor. According to her pops, all she has to do is earn favor with the Edens. But winning over the town’s founding family might have been easier if not for her one-night stand with their oldest son. In her defense, it was her first night in town and she didn’t realize that the rugged and charming man who wooed her into bed was Quincy royalty.

Sleeping with Griffin Eden was a huge mistake, one she’s trying to forget. He’s insufferable, arrogant and keeps reminding everyone that she’s an outsider. Winslow does her best to avoid Griffin, but when a woman is found dead on Eden property, the two of them have no choice but to cross paths. As clues to the murderer lead to one of Quincy’s own, Griffin realizes Winslow is more than he gave her credit for. Beautiful and intelligent, she proves hard to resist. For him. And the killer.

⚠️ Click HERE for Indigo Ridge Trigger Warnings

✏️ What are my priorities in life? Am I currently making those a priority?

If yes, what has helped me make those a priority? If not, what needs to change to make these a priority?

I hope you have a great week!