Welcome to mind and body education and mastery!

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Want to learn about why you may be at risk for diabetes, why you store extra weight, why you crave certain foods, or why you overeat or over drink? Learn about your mind and body in an entertaining, practical and easily-understandable format by browsing the collections below.

What are insulin resistance and diabetes, and how do you reverse them?

How and why do you store body fat, and how do you decrease how much fat you store?

What are urges, cravings and habits and how do you stop them?

What is emotional eating, and how do you stop doing it?

How does sugar and alcohol addiction happen, and how do you get over it?

Scroll through the posts to see what catches your eye!

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All, Weight Loss, Emotional Eating, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Weight Loss, Emotional Eating, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

Be the Watcher

How do you become the watcher of your own thoughts? Why does that even matter? How do you learn to do it?

No matter how you describe your perceived difficulty staying away from certain highly palatable food (usually combinations of flour and sugar, or just flour, or just sugar, or sugar and fat, or fat and salt – did I peg yours in there? I’ll bet I did), the “reason” you can’t stop eating them is actually very simple: you have “train tracks” built that lead you to those foods.

And you can become the watcher of those train tracks, and by watching you gain awareness, and by gaining awareness you can then harness the ability to change your actions.

Want to read more?

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Survival by FAT!!

Survival by FAT! This answers those confusing questions about why we gain weight so incredibly easily! And how to reverse that scenario!

How do humans, just like bears, turn on the emergency fat storage systems?

And why are most humans in the US always in this emergency mode when bears are not?

Prepare to have your mind blown when you read all about it.

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All, Weight Loss, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Emotional Eating, Sugar, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Weight Loss, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Emotional Eating, Sugar, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

Are you the lucky one?

Have you ever felt that if you were “scared straight” you could quit all kinds of habits?

One of my clients recently said he “wished he would have a heart attack” so he would finally take his health seriously. He wanted to be “scared straight.”

Does this approach work?

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All, Weight Loss, Insulin Resistance and Diabetes, Intermittent Fasting, Sugar, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Weight Loss, Insulin Resistance and Diabetes, Intermittent Fasting, Sugar, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

Mitigating Risk

Your lifestyle choices account for almost half of how healthy you are! That means you have LOTS of control, not only on whether you develop diseases, but also how well your body functions and feels right now. Want to learn more?

The statistics vary on how much control you have over your own health through lifestyle behaviors, but we do know for sure that you have at least 40% ownership over the state of your health.

Your lifestyle choices account for almost half of how healthy you are! That means you have LOTS of control, not only on whether you develop diseases, but also how well your body functions and feels right now.

Want to learn more?

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All, Weight Loss, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Sugar, Emotional Eating, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Weight Loss, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Sugar, Emotional Eating, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

Forgetfulness….wait, what?

Forget remembering, it’s forgetting that is powerful when it comes to lifestyle change!

We are forgetful. And that’s a good thing!

As the era of Covid moves from “pandemic” to “endemic,” just as influenza has done in the past, we will all notice our memories of these difficult years will fade. Just lately I have dealt with some very difficult times in my own life, apart from the pandemic, and it comforts me to remember that forgetting is a normal and necessary part of our mental health, and that my memories will become less acute over time, exactly as mother nature intended.

I will wait patiently.

So what does this have to do with lifestyle change? Quite a lot, actually!

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All, Weight Loss, Sugar, Insulin Resistance and Diabetes, Intermittent Fasting, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Weight Loss, Sugar, Insulin Resistance and Diabetes, Intermittent Fasting, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

Inflammation! It makes me hurt just thinking about it!

Inflammation! It can cause body pain, fatigue, memory loss, as well as contribute to cancers and heart disease. But there are things you can do about it! Learn what causes it, what to avoid, and what to try. You can feel better!

Last night, I had a terrible time trying to sleep - I hurt all over!

I could tell my body was suffering from widespread inflammation. So, of course, I had to examine what I did during the day that might have contributed to my pain. And boy oh boy, did I find some things!

Want to read all about it? Including what can cause inflammation, the dangers of inflammation, and what you could do to decrease it?

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All, Weight Loss, Emotional Eating, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Weight Loss, Emotional Eating, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

Let’s Commiserate!

Commiserating with friends is the best way to get the support you need! Or is it? It might just be keeping you stuck!

Our friends are there for us when we need them.

They listen to us kvetch about this and that, they empathize and sympathize and agree that so and so should never have done that and such and such should never have happened, and it is just terrible how we were treated and what we are up against. They buy in to our story and they support what we are believing about it.  

That’s what friends are for, right?

It they didn’t do that, we would probably drop them as friends! They wouldn’t seem that “friendly.”

Commiserating has its place, and we do need friends to fill that role for us.

But when commiserating is a habitual practice, (and perhaps the only way in which you share your experiences), you may be setting yourself up to remain stuck.

Want to learn more?

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All, Weight Loss, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Emotional Eating, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Weight Loss, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Emotional Eating, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

The Blame Changer

Why do you drop out of a program, or stop striving for a goal? What reasons do you hear yourself using?

Have you ever given up on a goal? If so, when you think about why you gave up, what are the reasons that came immediately to mind?

“I was under tremendous stress.” “The time was just not right to focus.” “My wife kept bringing home junk food, so it was impossible.” “The weather was too terrible to keep exercising.”

Do you notice a pattern? Blame. But you know what is really going on? Simple connected neurons in your brain! Nothing to feel ashamed about or defensive about, but something that is empowering to learn and master!

Want to read more?

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All, Weight Loss, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Emotional Eating, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Weight Loss, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Emotional Eating, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

Factory Reset

You were born a perfect human. If you feel anything other than today, it’s time for a factory reset!

When you were born, you were a perfect specimen straight out of the Mommy and Daddy factory, born exactly the human you were always meant to be.

Every part of you worked exactly as it should right out of the box!

You were perfect.

If you feel anything other than perfect today, it is time for a factory reset!

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All, Weight Loss, Overdrinking, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Emotional Eating, Sugar Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Weight Loss, Overdrinking, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Emotional Eating, Sugar Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

Time for Problem Solving!

Three little questions can change your whole game.

Lately I have been loving and using the following phrases with myself:

Does this solve a problem I do not have?

Does this fill a void that does not exist?

Does this fill a need that is not there?

These three little phrases have been a Game Changer for me! Want to find out why?

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All, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Intermittent Fasting, Emotional Eating, Sugar, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Intermittent Fasting, Emotional Eating, Sugar, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

Welcome that BURN!

Are you wondering what bodybuilding has to do with you? You might be surprised by what you learn!

I have a couple of clients right now who are competitive body builders, and it has gotten me to thinking about what it takes to build that “holy-cow-that’s-amazing” kind of muscle.

Are you asking right now what this has to do with you and me, the average Joe with the average muscles and no desire to make them bigger???  Read on!

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All, Weight Loss, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Emotional Eating, Sugar, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Weight Loss, Urges & Cravings & Habits, Emotional Eating, Sugar, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

Abdicating Responsibility

How does it feel to avoid taking responsibility for your own decisions? It’s easy to do, but does it help?

Have you ever thought something like: “If I had a personal chef who did the grocery shopping and cooked everything for me, always had healthy food prepared and fresh chopped vegies in the frig, then I would be able to stick to my eating plan.” 

Or maybe this: “If I had a trainer who would come over to my house every day, then I'd exercise regularly.”

That does sound like it would be helpful. You think that if someone else took over for you and just made it happen for you, then you would be successful.

Yeah, not so much.

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All, Weight Loss, Insulin Resistance and Diabetes, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Weight Loss, Insulin Resistance and Diabetes, Overdrinking Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

Sleep!

Inadequate sleep and obesity are linked. What can you do about it?

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Did you know that inadequate sleep is associated with obesity and insulin resistance?

Do you struggle with insomnia? Do you fail to allow enough hours in your day to get adequate sleep? Are there other reasons why you may not be getting enough sleep? Are you worrying about your sleep for nothing? What can you do to improve your sleep?

Why does it even matter?

If you’d like to read more, I am happy to oblige.

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All, Overdrinking, Emotional Eating, Urges & Cravings & Habits Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC All, Overdrinking, Emotional Eating, Urges & Cravings & Habits Sarah Aitken, RN, MS, WHNP/FNP, NBC-HWC

Over drinking

Want to know more about why we over drink? And why it is so difficult to stop over drinking? Learn what is happening with brain chemicals and psychology!

What happens in the brain when we regularly over drink alcohol?

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First let me clarify: I am not against alcohol! I really enjoy a beautifully distilled high quality single malt scotch, with just a touch of fresh water added for re-hydration. I am of Scottish descent, so this is part of my genetic heritage. 😊

But it is very interesting to learn what is happening in the brain, particularly if you notice you are over-drinking, or you have friends or family members who do so.

 Understanding is everything!

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