How to reset
Happy week after Labor Day, back to school and pumpkin spice season to those who also celebrate (we’ll be making this and this on repeat until further notice - zero shame). Fall vibes are in the air, and this is the time of year (along with New Years and Pre-Summer) that we get an influx of new clients looking to hit the reset button.
In our recent travel issue, we mentioned that travel and summer socializing doesn’t have to completely derail you, and provided tons of strategies for how to feel our best when we’re out of our typical routine. The high level takeaway - it involves letting go of perfection, and embracing the do-able, middle ground set of habits that we can stick with when we’re out of our element (this of course is MUCH easier said than done, and often takes practice, strategies and reframing - ask any of our clients, we work on this a lot!).
But even that middle ground can find a way to wear on us at some point, and we find that this time of year, most people are craving a return to routine that helps them feel more aligned mentally and physically. We always welcome an opportunity for a fresh start, and love that boost of energy and motivation that comes with the changing of seasons.
To help you leverage that back to school energy, this week’s issue is filled with our favorite strategies to reset. As always, if you’re craving more accountability, guidance and/or personalized support, we’d love to chat!
How to reset
If you’re looking for a true reset - check out our MELA resets. While our resets are not weight loss programs, these comprehensive plans will leave you feeling amazing, and many clients experience weight loss after following the plan. Our resets use seasonal recipes and ingredients, and are filled with tons of takeaway tips, tools and recipes that you can use forever to feel great, resetting or not. Note: though we typically associate September with Fall, late summer produce is still at its height, so we suggest the summer reset this time of year to take advantage of what’s currently in season - the summer reset also includes some of our year-round favorite recipes.
If you aren’t looking to invest as much time and/or effort, there are still tons of options to help you get back into a groove and reset. Here are some of our favorite tips to help you get started:
Get back on your hydration train. This tip might not feel like the sexiest starting point, but one of the first things we can do to feel better is to hit our daily water goals. You’d be shocked at what a difference it can make in terms of energy, digestion, skin, managing hunger and more. Although exact levels of hydration can vary (based on gender, activity level, etc.) most of us can benefit from trying to drink around 2-3L of water per day.
Get moving! We all know why movement is important, but when we need a reset, we love how it supports digestion, mood, energy levels, and it often serves as a daily accountability checkpoint and reminder that we’re prioritizing our health. You get to define what recommitting to movement looks like here, and we highly recommend starting with something that feels doable (like 15 minutes) - you can always work your way up from there. We often find that once we’ve shown up (to a walk, our mat, the bike, a class), most days, we want to stay for more.
Map out your week. Going into the week with a rough food plan makes a huge difference in your ability to make more mindful choices. You don’t need to spend hours meal prepping or planning to get yourself organized - just the act of visualizing what the week has in store, factoring in meals out vs. in, and getting yourself organized with a list/shop for the week ahead goes a long way. If doing this feels overwhelming, keep meals and recipes super simple (we’re talking breakfast tacos for dinner) and repeat any of your easy go-tos as much as you need. If you want a meal plan laid out for you, our reset is a great option, or if you want to DIY, we have lots of meal inspo on our website and in our journal archive to get you started.
Get back in the kitchen. We won’t sugar coat it: the more you can cook, the better you’re going to feel. You don’t need to bail on all socializing, but if you’re craving a real reset, one of the best things you can do is prioritize more meals at home. When we eat out, we’re less mindful and more likely to eat things we don’t usually eat; also, restaurant foods are generally higher in many of the ingredients that don’t serve us. You don’t need to spend hours in the kitchen if it’s not your thing - commit to something doable (maybe some light prep at the beginning of the week, choosing recipes that take 20 minutes or less, or even doing a hybrid of cooking and “assembling” pre-cooked items like frozen veggie burgers or rotisserie chicken). Another tip - try putting on a show or podcast while you cook to make it “you time”, you’ll love it!
Restock your kitchen with your favorite healthy staples. Simple, but important - if you don’t have the ingredients to make meals and snacks at home, you’ll be more inclined to default to takeout. We’ll be covering some of our favorite fridge and pantry staples in our next issue, but here are some things we love to have on hand so we can pull together healthy meals in a pinch: freshly cut vegetables, spinach (for smoothies) and pre-washed salad greens, hummus, seed crackers and grain-free tortilla chips, nuts, frozen fruits and vegetables, eggs and other proteins, canned/jarred chickpeas and white beans, frozen veggie burgers and proteins, and almond milk.
Sleep. Sleep directly impacts our hormones, which not only impacts our general energy but also our hunger levels and fullness cues. We know it's not always possible to get the general recommendation of 7-9 hrs of sleep (we see you new mamas), but if you’re in a season of life where it’s doable, make sleep hygiene a priority. If you’re looking for somewhere to get started: try a nightly wind-down routine that involves a screen cut-off time, commit to getting in bed earlier than usual, and/or consider some beneficial and non-habit forming sleep supplements like magnesium glycinate (per usual, check with your MD first!). See A Few More Things (below) for our favorite podcast/resource for sleep tips!
Consider what’s not serving you. A final tip to leave you with - check in with yourself and be honest about the foods and habits where you might be overdoing it, but aren’t necessarily serving you (i.e. alcohol, sweets, processed/convenience foods). Come up with a reasonable boundary for some period of time (could be cold turkey, or lowering the amount you’re consuming). We’re definitely not saying you should swear off any of these items forever (this will often backfire - see consistency over extremes), but it might be helpful to consider a breather to reset your relationship. Sugar, for example, often becomes less addicting when we spend time away from it for a period, making it easier to redefine our relationship with it when we bring it back.
A few more things
Where we share all the things we’re loving, reading, listening to, cooking, discussing and purchasing as of late.
We can’t get enough of this roasted ratatouille recipe from Alexandra Cooks to take advantage of all the late summer produce. It takes a while (~3 hours of oven time) but it makes a ton and is almost entirely hands off except for the chopping and a quick stir every hour (a good activity for a football sunday at home!). It’s so delicious and can be used/repurposed in so many ways (as a side to chicken or fish, mixed into lentil pasta for a plant-based main, stirred into cottage cheese for a snack…). Bonus: it freezes really well and our toddlers were equally obsessed!
Some fall cooking inspo. Or, if you’re itching to cook all the fall things, here are some reset-friendly recipes we can’t wait to make with the changing season: our pumpkin pie chia pudding, go-to fall salad (delicious with cooked chicken - rotisserie makes it really easy!), lemon & thyme roast chicken, maple chili delicata squash, tahini brussels with pomegranate and herbs, curried winter squash soup, carrot ginger soup, and the miso sweet potatoes from this recipe. We also love Giada’s California turkey chili, and Cookie & Kate’s butternut squash chipotle chili.
Sleep support! For those looking to improve/optimize their sleep, Dr. Andrew Huberman is your guy. Huberman is a Stanford neurobiology professor and his podcast, the Huberman Lab, is focused on leveraging neuroscience to optimize performance and habits. He is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to evidence-based tools to optimize and support better sleep. This episode, in particular, is an amazing resource if you’re looking for somewhere to get started. He does make supplement recommendations, and as always, we do suggest running anything new by your MD!
[Lauren] If you’re in the market for a cozy fall read, I’m half-way through Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake and I’m savoring every single word. On the surface, it’s a book about a mother telling her three 20-something daughters about a chapter in her life while they’re living at home during the pandemic. I’m not quite finished yet, so rather than writing a half-baked review, I’ll link to the book description, which is perfect, and the fact that the Harvard Crimson described it as “a warm hug” and the “the first pandemic novel that anyone actually likes.” Also, if you prefer to listen on audible, Merrill Streep is the narrator!
Something we didn’t touch on above but are focusing on with our personal fall resets: easing back into a more mindful morning routine. The whole morning routine thing can feel really daunting and preachy, so we’re all about starting small here and really defining what works for you. We have found journaling and a daily gratitude practice to be incredibly impactful in our own lives (they’re both heavily supported by research as well), and The 5-Minute Journal makes it so easy. We always find ourselves returning to it when we need something to ground us, shift our perspective and negative thought patterns, and be more present and focused in our day to day. If you’re familiar with the 5 minute journal and looking to go deeper, we just tried their newest mindfulness focused journal, Notes to Mindfulness, and are really enjoying the prompts and how quick and easy it is to fit into our morning.
[Merrill] I admittedly have a shopping problem when it comes to baby clothes, but they’re just so cute and I cannot resist. I’m always on the hunt for cute, timeless and classic childrenswear and feel so lucky to have Ellie B. Children’s Boutique close by in Tampa. It was founded by two lifelong best friends and moms with the best taste. If you’re local I highly recommend a visit, and if not, their website is the best (they currently have so many cute fall things!).
It’s always candle season in our homes, but we’re swapping out our summer ones for our favorite cozy fall scents. Here are some we love: Diptique’s Feu de Bois, Linnea & Co's Harvest Pumpkin and Flamingo Estate’s Douglas Fir and Vetivier. We also love Hudson and Grace’s Original Candle year round.