Living Hollis Style – 30 Days of Health 2

The first Health Challenge was such a success that I had lots of people asking me to do another in the New Year. So…here we go again! With 32 awesome women committed I am a busy girl, managing, motivating and making sure to follow the challenge myself! We started on January 4th and it be has been so fun to meet some new fantastic ladies and reunite with friends from the last challenge. These women are keen and I can already tell they are going to be super successful in committing to their health.

Here are the beautiful women challengers

I love jumping into the New Year with goals of feeling healthy and doing good things for my body. I have to say, I wasn’t really looking forward to this challenge because it is hard and I have to give up sugar again. However, after eating a zillion of my homemade sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles over the Christmas Holiday, I feel totally in a sugar fog, so I am happy to be back at it.

The Living Hollis Style 30 Days of Heath Challenge  2

If you want to follow along, this is what the challenge means for us  – cutting refined sugar, exercise every day (at least 30 minutes), increasing our greens with a daily salad and a weekly challenge picture posted to Facebook or Instagram with a good thought. I added the good thought because I want everyone in the challenge to take some time to spread some positive energy. Appreciating, supporting and loving others is the best medicine for your health.

The Challenge

So sugar…natural sugar is fine and actually I hope with the challenge I increase my fruit intake. Think about eating real food and nothing packaged. Read labels, if you see organic cane sugar that is refined sugar, so avoid it. I am also going to stay away from artificial sweeteners like aspartame and this is so difficult for me because there is nothing better than an icy Diet Coke. You can use honey or maple syrup as sweeteners as they are natural. However, these substitutes still give that sugar taste and can make it harder when trying to stop sugar cravings. In all the information I have read, it suggests avoiding them, especially in the beginning. Many condiments like ketchup have tons of sugar so just remember to be mindful of hidden sugars. My favourite yogurt has organic cane sugar so I can’t have it. 😟

For exercise, you can do whatever motivates you but you have to do at least 30 minutes a day and make it count. As for the greens, you have to have 1 salad a day. I know adding a salad daily will help me make interesting greens and for sure will increase my vegetable intake. I loved seeing all the different salad creations so beautiful and yummy from the first challenge.

Committing to this challenge also means 3 pictures every day to me for 30 days. 1 of your sugarless choices, 1 of your exercise and 1 of your salad. The pictures can be of the scenery of your exercise, your sneakers after a workout or your sugar free coffee as examples. You don’t have to be in the picture if you don’t want to be.

We will have one cheat night for a 3 hour period, can’t be in the first week but can use it any other time in your 30 days. This is because most of us have at least one event that it may be hard to change the menu. There is also no wine in this challenge. I will have the odd gin or vodka soda when I want to be social.

So now that you know what the challenge entails, follow along side our journey and challenge yourself. It’s always important to push the reset button in the New Year and this is a great way to do it. The women were so successful in the last challenge, I can’t wait to see the result of this 30 Days of Health 2.

Good thing this team is already sweet enough because sugar is off the menu 🙂

Jody Hollis

I have also been lucky to have the talented Pamela Sylvan write from her perspective what the challenge has meant to her. I loved every word! A little about Pamela http://pamelasylvan.com/about/ and check out what she has coming up…GLOW 2016!

Her Professional Outline:

Professor, Post Graduate Public Relations Studies
Entrepreneur, Publicist
Newspaper Columnist
Magazine Editor
Radio Host – Mojo Talk Radio
Speaker

The Art Of Challenging Your ‘Can’t-Do Health’ Belief

Challenge. It’s the latest buzzword when tied to how we can handle our personal behaviours and is a powerful spark when willing and aptly applied.

In my resolve not to set new year resolutions, I was left with the issue of what to do about my ‘on-again, off again’ approach to self-care. It astounded me that my ability to step up in other areas of my life occurred without thought, yet when it came to the finer points of healthy living, I somehow missed the mark.

During an outing with a group of ladies, it came to my attention that a health challenge was making the rounds. Being the curious type, I edged in to inquire what this entailed and how I could possibly make it work to combat my self-care dilemma.

This is what I found out:

The length of the challenge was 30 days.

During the 30 days no refined sugar.

No wine.

A salad was to be consumed every day for the length of the challenge.

30 minutes minimum of daily exercise.

And the most important piece, photos of your sugar-free substitute, exercise and salad had to be forwarded to the group leader, Jody Hollis of LivingHollisStyle.com, every day before midnight.

Jackpot! It was precisely the accountability I needed to kick-start my self-care journey.

As I near the halfway mark of the challenge, it has dawned on me that I’m easily meeting the daily requirements without objection. Regardless of the time of day or night, weather conditions, or thoughts of mutiny, the exercise gets done.
The next thing noticed was my lack of hunger. I’m uncertain if this is a natural by-product of reduced sugar consumption. Whatever the cause, I’m pleased, only because my unconscious overeating has been curbed.

I don’t miss the occasional glass of wine and eating salad every day hasn’t turned out to be the horror I had initially envisioned.

I dreaded the salad component because my believed inability to create variety to soothe my palate, haunted me. After lettuce, tomato and cucumber, thoughts of additional ingredients evaded me. That’s when I discovered the beauty of this particular team challenge, is the team itself.

These women are on fire. The social media spaces created for the team provide an almost sacred space for information, recipes and encouragement to flourish and flow all day long. Ideas, suggestions and answers are easily and promptly provided, so although you are working the challenge as an individual you are not alone. Support, inspiration and beautiful, healthy foodie images are abundantly available at your fingertips.

I imagine this concept is not an original one, but the leader definitely has made her mark. Jody Hollis has in essence created a movement that has greatly surpassed the boundaries of Victoria and Vancouver Island itself. Participants have popped up in various provinces and the interest continues to grow. What started out as a few friends supporting each other has taken on a life of its own and will take on huge momentum on the next go around.

Like anything in life, it’s about energy, attitude and love applied in healthy doses. All three have been beautifully applied to this challenge and this is why it works.

The halfway dinner approaches and is set for January 19. It’s an opportunity for these beautiful, courageous and determined women to share their experiences and celebrate each other. I looked forward to witnessing the energy flowing throughout the group that evening.

This challenge is not really challenging at all. The real challenge will be keeping the friendships and camaraderie going after day 30.

You know what, I don’t think it will be an issue at all.

Pamela Sylvan
30 Day Health Challenge Participant
www.PamelaSylvan.com
#Glow2016

A shout out to Janelle Simpson Finnegan for managing a group of 6 who are doing the Living Hollis Style 30 Day Health Challenge in New Brunswick along our challenge! So inspiring!