I’m a certified fitness trainer and plant-based health coach, everyday amateur athlete, and a passionate proponent of aging beautifully, slowly and healthfully through radical joyful self-care. I wrote the bestselling Bodyfueling when in was just in my 20s, in the 1990s, and now 20+ years later I’m writing NOURISHED: Radical Self-Care and a Sustainable Life—Made Joyful, Easy, Smart and Delicious (Field Notes from a Fit and Fearless Quarter-Century). I love food and love to eat. In the spirit of an explosion of Well + Good and MindBodyGreen “what I eat in a day” articles—usually featuring …
Basic swim workout for everyone—beat the summer heat!
I invented a pretty simple yet varied swim workout for myself and my clients. Here in Southern Arizona, it’s tricky to to get a daytime outdoor workout at this time of year without being in the water. If your summertime temps present the same challenge, you might like this adaptable routine. It can be done once through, or twice for a longer workout. And it can be done at whatever level of strenuousness is at your own edge. It does vary in intensity and you should always be a little bit out of breath, ideally …
When someone who read your book at age 19 writes to you at age 40
I will try to introduce this dialogue as briefly as possible. I wrote this book BodyFueling in the 1990s. It came out in 1994, sold over 150,000 copies published by Warner Books, was reprinted in five countries. Not millions of copies or a New York Times bestseller, but it made many regional bestseller lists and got some great reviews from major magazines and newspapers. Pretty good for a 25-year-old first-time author without an agent. I was quite young and so was the Internet, and there were no social platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and blogs …
Chocolate-Cherry-Reishi Immune-Boosting Smoothie
I invented this smoothie in the last week out of a craving for something cool, sweet (but not too sweet) and satisfying to nourish myself back to health after seven days of the worst bug I’d had in decades. I feel amazing after drinking it, and it’s yummy too, so I really wanted to share it right away! It’s so delicious, there’s no need to limit it to just a “medicinal” use. Now that the weather’s heated up here in my Southwest home, it’s a great daily treat even now that I’m feeling great again. …
16 Ways I’ve Kept My Belly Flat in my Late 40s+
Although I take pretty rigorous (and joyful!) care of myself and feel great (and feel like I look pretty good!) because of it, I admit I’ve had to work a little harder through my late 40s to fend off the creep of an expanding middle. One of the body issues women lament most in this decade and beyond is what is sometimes unappealingly dubbed “menopot.” The long slow decline in levels of estrogen and progesterone (and possibly other hormones)—sometimes beginning as early as the mid-thirties, and increasing through perimenopause—is believed to be at least partly …
A Simple, Heartfelt Mini-Manifesto for a Healthy Happy Fit Fueled New Year
Try THIS in 2016: Banish the meaningless, diversionary, tired and unappealing words “weight loss” “thin” “slim” and “slender” from your vocabulary. Steadfastly ignore them when New Year’s headlines dribble and spew them. Dispense with “regimens.” Forget “sticking to” anything. That includes any “diet.” Eradicate these words and ideas. Boldly, resolutely, ebulliently. Instead, focus on eating and moving your body to feel amazing and to gift yourself with care. And sure, why not, to look good as well (but accept that “looking good” is not “thin” and no special number on a scale ever ensures it—please! “Thin” …
What’s Weight Got to Do With It? Why “Weight Loss” is a Diversionary Goal
Watch your words—and stop conflating “lose weight” with “eating healthy.” It matters—in a whole bunch of ways. Updated and adapted from Bodyfueling by Robyn Landis; revised version due 2018 (https://igg.me/at/get-NOURISHED-the-book/9304232) Body weight is irrelevant. The pursuit of losing it, gaining it, maintaining it or otherwise manipulating or measuring it is utterly disconnected from a healthy, fit, nourished life. The non-thinking, mostly unchallenged idea that it’s connected is leading the vast majority astray. The use of weight to define, determine, and measure health and fitness is one piece of what I call “diet thinking.” I defined …
Pumpkin Chocolate-Chunk Cookies (Vegan)
These cookies were a huge hit at Thanksgiving—so much so that I am making them again for Xmas. And I also promised to get them on the blog real soon. So—voila. I worked extra hard on these—I made them several times (I know, tough job!), adapting from at least four different pumpkin spice cookie recipes, trying different combinations of flour types and quantities till I got the taste and texture I wanted. They’re extremely low-sugar, as are all my recipes—so as always, you can up the sugar either by adding more granulated (and adding more moisture to balance …
Extra-Spicy Baked Gingerbread Chai Donuts
I love gingerbread at the holidays. I”m sure that makes me exactly no different than most people. Actually, I love gingerbread all year long. Nothing like a gingerbread cake of any kind with a cup of tea. In playing with recipes to come up with the perfect gingerbread cake and gingerbread cookies, it occurred to me that a fun way to convert gingerbread spice cake (or the chai cake I was drooling over) into bite-sized servings would be to put the batter in my new mini donut pan. I mean, to me the only thing better than a …
Healthy Holiday Hacks: 18 Ways to Sail Through the Season Fit, Fueled, and Fulfilled
So we had Thanksgiving, and Christmas is right on its heels. The holiday season is in official full swing. And many people sense themselves about to descend (if they haven’t already!) into a haze of sugar, shopping, sleep deprivation and saturation—spending in every sense of the word. In spite of the potential for warmth, fun, giving, extra time with friends and family, and reflective celebration of the year nearing its end, too many people feel exhausted—by the extra demands on their time now, and the expectations surrounding gifts, food, and events. Even dedicated healthy-living buffs …
