THREE THINGS TO DO NOW THAT SUMMER IS WINDING DOWN.

• THREE SIMPLE THINGS TO DO TO TAKE CARE OF YOU now that summer is winding down.

I love a shift in the seasons. The sun is getting lower in the horizon. The kids are going back to school. The traffic is lightening up. Tearful college drop offs are in the rearview mirror. Summer travel is wrapping up and your house guests have headed home. Fall is all about getting back into a routine and picking up the habits you may have put down for the summer. It’s time to embrace a schedule and maybe enjoy a little more consistency.

Here are three Simple Things you can do to take care of YOU as we head towards fall. 

SIMPLE THING #1 – PURGE AND RESTOCK: It’s time to (re)establish some order in the kitchen. Think about switching your home base from "summer mode" to "supportive mode". Here’s what I recommend: Throw out all the unsupportive stuff that has accumulated over the summer. Your house guest wanted Grandma Sycamore bread and Cinnamon Life cereal on hand, but is that supportive fuel for you going forward? You have ½ a bag of sticky marshmallows from the beach bonfire, but will you need them any time soon? You have a 6 pack of coke left over from your road trip, Cheez Its, Mac and Cheese and Pop Tarts left over from the grandkids...are those things you want to make decisions about every day until they are gone? Let’s get rid of the unsupportive things that will beckon to you. Throw away treats and non-food items with no apologies. These are not food/fuel. My “guidelines” for purging include tossing or setting aside processed, packaged food and snacks, sugary treats, processed carbohydrates, unsupportive grains and highly processed seed and vegetable oils. Once you’ve cleared the decks you can stock up on supportive HUMAN food. Fill your freezer with lean proteins of all kinds, meat, poultry, fish. Stock your fridge with yogurt, eggs, full fat dairy, veggies, greens of all varieties and fruit in season. Include in your pantry healthy oils like avocado, olive and coconut, maybe a few nuts, and a variety of spices. SIMPLE THING #2 – MAKE A “ME” PLAN: At first glance this may sound selfish but hear me out. Every human needs three things EVERY DARN DAY:

• NOURISHMENT

• MOVEMENT 

• REST

You may have been so busy enjoying summer, shuttling others around, getting kids ready for college, entertaining friends, hosting house guests or traveling that these basic elements of human-ness have gotten pushed to the back burner. It’s time to bring them front and center. I hereby invite you to include on your daily list of things to do these three BASIC human behaviors. Write it out like this:

• My plan for nourishing myself is___________________.

• My plan for moving my body is____________________.

• My plan to get enough rest is_____________________.

 SIMPLE THING #3 – SET A YEAR END GOAL: As I’m writing this there are 135 days left in 2024. That’s almost half a year. It is the PERFECT time to decide on something you want to accomplish physically before 2025. What will help you stretch and grow? What have you always wanted to try? What are you dying to learn that will help you move more? Is there a hike you’ve always wanted to take, an exercise class you want to sign up for, or sport you want to play, is there a race or event you want to participate in? Maybe it’s as simple as a weekly walking goal or getting to the gym twice a week for the rest of the year. Mull it over and come up with something to work towards for the remainder of the 2024. I can promise you if you reach for a goal now in 135 days or so you’ll enter 2025 with new energy and enthusiasm!