mental health | Healthy as Heck

Tag: mental health

Do I have an Eating Disorder? Common Warning Signs and Resources for Help

Posted on February 28, 2019April 9, 2019 by kristinheck

This week is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week and it’s something that’s so near and dear to my heart that I wanted to make sure to get a post out to you all on this topic. I’ve been blessed to have had a very full professional life and pursue multiple passions over the years. In the world of psychology, I was an eating disorder recovery therapist for about 10 years and in the health, fitness, and dance world, I have worked with a surprising amount of women and men who have struggled with disordered eating and negative body image.

Even beyond the people I interact with professionally, it’s increasingly common for me to run across women and men having difficulty finding the right balance in regards to eating, exercise, and their mindset. It doesn’t take much for things to shift from healthy to disordered. If I’m candid, that line can even be a hard one for me…

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Tips for Adopting an Attitude of Gratitude

Posted on February 20, 2019February 27, 2020 by kristinheck

4 Ways to Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude

I had a completely different post typed up and ready to go for today but then I had a moment that struck me yesterday so I decided I wanted to circle back to gratefulness this week (if you missed my first post, Everyday Gratitude, click over and read that now!) The moment that refocused me was a reminder that gratitude can be hard, fleeting, and difficult to maintain. When I hear people talk about gratefulness, I rarely hear them discuss this part of the equation. Unfortunately, I think these tough realities are why people often give up when trying to develop a grateful mindset. It’s not being grateful that’s challenging, it’s maintaining it.

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Beyond the Physical: The Non-scale Benefits of Exercise

Posted on February 7, 2019April 9, 2019 by kristinheck

Stay motivated for your workout by focusing on 5 non-scale benefits of exercise

In the barre class I taught this past week, I closed with a quote on calmness to remind my class of the psychological benefits of exercise. Of course, I now can’t find that exact quote for the life of me, but I did find this one that is as close as I can get:

“You can’t calm the storm, so stop trying. What you can do, is calm yourself. The storm will pass.”
Timber Hawkeye

After I shared it, I talked a little about how each person in that class had taken a step towards achieving mastery of mental calmness by getting through class that day. I decided to share that both with them and here, because it’s something that people don’t often think about when they think of exercising. People get wrapped up in the number on the scale, the size of their pants, and the number of calories burned on their fitness tracker, and they forget that some of the greatest benefits of exercise happen in the mind.

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3 Reasons Losing Weight is a Bad Goal

Posted on January 16, 2019January 17, 2019 by kristinheck

Bet I made you read that title twice, didn’t I?

This may be an unpopular post topic, but I’m writing it anyway, because I think it’s a perspective worth considering.

Now is the time of year when gyms fill to capacity, people set resolutions, and everyone believes this shiny new year will be better than all those that came before it (if you want to read about my thoughts about new year goals, click here or here). So, I thought it was a perfect time to talk about why setting the goal of losing weight is not the best game plan.

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My Fav Finds for a Healthy and Happy New Year

Posted on January 9, 2019March 10, 2020 by kristinheck

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Last week, I talked about how to set goals for the new year that you can actually achieve. This week, I want to share with you a few products that I am incorporating into my life to ensure a healthy and happy new year!

Before I get to the good stuff, I do want to clarify… If you read my last post, you’ll see a section where I said that I think the whole “resolution” idea is driven by those who want to sell us more stuff. I still stand by that. At the same time, I also love products that actually help you work towards being a better, healthier, saner you. I think our goal as consumers should be to remain focused on whether our purchases add value to our lives. And if they do, then I think you should go for it. So, there ya go.

Now, on to the good stuff! My first two faves are for the mental wellness side of things:

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Lessons Learned from Hiking the Red Rocks

Posted on December 20, 2018February 2, 2019 by kristinheck

If you follow my social media accounts (links below), you know by now that my husband and I took a short vacation to Sedona, AZ last week. It was, easily, one of the most amazing trips we’ve ever taken (more on that in a future post), but as we come into the holiday and new year season, I wanted to share a few lessons that I learned scaling the beautiful red rock mountains. Some of these aren’t new. You’ll hear echoes from my previous lessons learned series or my fear series, but my experience hiking through the beautiful Arizona landscape drove home a few points that I couldn’t help but repeat…

The Comparison Game

Posted on December 5, 2018January 17, 2019 by kristinheck

I was looking at my Christmas Tree today and realized something… If you look at it, you’ll notice my tree looks pretty good until you get to the star at the top. That poor little guy is lopsided and half falling off. And that, my friends, is a perfect metaphor for my life. Mostly put together, with a little dose of sideways and upside down to keep it interesting.

I could have fixed that star and THEN posted the picture, but I thought… nahhh (For the record, it will probably never get fixed!). I think we need more pictures and images of life’s imperfect, sideways, and upside-down moments. So, here it is, in all its oddly positioned glory…

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Everyday Gratitude

Posted on November 29, 2018March 5, 2019 by kristinheck

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This past week marked my very first time flying First-class thanks to my sweet hubby!
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This experience got me thinking about how Thanksgiving shouldn’t be the only day we should remember to be thankful.
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When my husband and I first got married, we couldn’t have imagined the opportunities that were ahead for us.

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Political Opinions: How to Manage Them and Still Have Friends

Posted on November 9, 2018June 5, 2020 by kristinheck

My original plan for today’s post was to give you some of my favorite fall recipes…

But as I watched election results the other night, I decided to change course (I mean, cookies and food are always important… so they will come in the next post, I promise!)

I don’t talk politics very much (and it is likely my husband won’t be thrilled I decided to write about it today either… sorry honey!). That’s not because I don’t care, it’s because I think we have entered an era where everybody does way too much talking and not enough listening. And when I say listening, I mean listening to a range of opinions. Not just the ones that you already agree with.

This week has been one of those weeks that drove home that point with a sledgehammer. I have a healthy mix of viewpoints on my news feeds. Here’s a small example of the things that jumped out at me yesterday:

1. Videos depicting why a person would never vote for a Democrat
2. Posts about how Republicans are racist
3. Multiple posts making fun of the appearance of female Democratic candidates
4. An insane amount of posts that include derogatory, racist, hateful speech, as well as name-calling

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Newborn Books – The Good and The Bad

Posted on October 29, 2018January 17, 2019 by kristinheck

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I recently had a long talk with one of my closest friends who just had her third baby. She and I have both struggled with newborns who were/are intolerant to certain foods and know all too well the mayhem that creates. I don’t envy my friend – trying to juggle a newborn along with two other beautiful but rambunctious little ones running around the house. It’s a lot.

She’s a Rockstar mom. Like, seriously, she’s an amazing Momma who seems to have all this parenting stuff down pat.

So, I was surprised when our convo turned to feeling stressed because she wasn’t following the newborn book script to a T. And then I remembered feeling that way when my little lady was new too. In fact, I believe I called her and tearfully had almost the same discussion with her, but roles were reversed. In fact, I’ve had this conversation with multiple moms and I have come to realize that newborn books can be great, but they can also be detrimental for new mom mental health if they aren’t put in the proper perspective.

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