Back before I had my daughter, during my early struggles with infertility, I found myself searching for ways to nourish and “center” myself.
I knew that the stress of dealing with infertility was impacting my mental and physical well-being. Always an athlete, I found the recommendation to “ease-up” on exercise in hopes of maximizing my fertility, a challenging prescription. How else can I manage my stress if I can’t RUN? Then, I found yoga. It was amazing and I loved how relaxed I felt after my practice. It brought peace in a time when peace often eluded me.
My life now is crazy, but in a good way. I’ve been blessed with an amazing toddler who is full of life and inspires me every day. As a stay-at-home mom, I spend my days running after her, cooking with her and playing and coloring and doing all of the awesome stuff I loved to do when I was a kid. But the days are CRAZY and that sense of peace and balance often eludes me.
Then, I saw that a talented colleague of mine, Kara Lydon, had published an e-book titled “Nourish Your Namaste.” Well, that sounded intriguing to me and of course I reached out to Kara. She happily shared her ebook and asked for honest feedback. And here it is…
Nourish
I love this word, because as dietitians, this is what we’re all about! We live our lives trying to inspire YOU to eat the foods that your nourish your body, mind and soul. You can tell Kara feels this way too as she guides you through the foods that help nourish you for relaxation, digestion, energy and immunity. These nutrition tidbits are super helpful and I love the recipes that accompany each section.
Your
Nutrition is personal. My nutritional needs are different from yours and everyone else’s. Our nutrition “stories” are each unique to us. Kara opens this book with such an amazingly honest and truthful preface. Her ability to share her journey as she struggled with disordered eating and anxiety provides clarity as to why nutrition and yoga are both so important to her. I love this about her book and reading that preface made me view yoga in a whole new light.
Namaste
Now, back to that yoga. I love that word Namaste. It means, “I bow to you.” Remember how I mentioned that I USED to practice yoga? Over the past several years, I gave up on yoga. My excuse – I didn’t have the time. But here’s the deal, reading this book made me realize I need to MAKE the time! Just reviewing the poses Kara includes in the book was enough to inspire me and remind me how much I loved yoga. Thank you Kara for that!
Nourish Your Namaste is a wonderful read that I found both inspiring and informative. Whether or not you’re a yogi, a former yogi or a practicing yogi, you’ll definitely love this book. And my guess is, you’ll refer back to often for the practical tips on nutrition and yoga! Head on over to Kara’s site, The Foodie Dietitian, to pick up her book and to see what amazing-ness she’s been creating in the kitchen!
