John Aaron Wellness

One of the most significant things I learned from my studies with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition is the notion of “primary food” and that the food we eat is actually a secondary source of energy. Yes, consumable foods are important to our survival, but equally important are Primary foods. These are the non-food sources of nourishment, and they are what really fuel us. Some call it a thirst for life, others might associate it with a 'full' life; either way, we have all experienced Primary Foods without even taking notice of their importance to our lives. Lovers find themselves lost in their bliss and entrepreneurs are fueled by the passion for their work. Primary foods are what fill our lives with excitement and forward momentum which can feed us more completely than any food. Before the digital age I can remember playing outside with friends and being called home for dinnertime. My response would almost always be, “But mom, I'm not hungry yet!" Without g...

A lot of people want to change for the better. We've all been there. We take a vow to lose weight, exercise more or spend more time with our family. We start the year with great intentions, but then we quickly relapse into old habits. Well, no more! Here are some ways you can grow stronger as a person and make your positive intentions a concrete reality: 1. Write down your intentions and keep them in a visible place, like taped to your bedroom mirror or the dashboard of your car. 2. Get to the source of whatever is keeping you in a rut. Are you in a stressful relationship that causes you to eat a pint of Ben & Jerry’s every night? Are you stressed at your job and feel too tired to exercise after work? If you don’t tackle the root of the behavior, it will be much harder to accomplish your goal. 3. Be clear about what your life would look like once you achieve your goal. If you resolve to go to the gym more, how will this benefit you? Get connected to the result of yo...

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” This is a quote by Paulo Coelho in; The Alchemist. Love can be many things, but one of the things I find most important is that it can be an inspiration, the impetus needed to achieve greatness. However, the interesting thing about inspiration is that it is not eternal. Inspiration is a temporary thing. Unlike love,  a constant, an eternal principle; inspiration is fleeting. Think of inspiration as a glass of milk or fresh fruit. If left out too long, it becomes unpalatable and eventually - useless. So, it amazes me to meet clients with personal goals of losing weight, getting in better shape, gaining control of their health or their career, and then wanting to do it all starting next week or next month . My question is always, “Why not start now?” If you are inspired to start eating more healthily on a Friday evening, why wa...

Ever swear that you would start eating better and then find yourself sitting with an empty pizza box wondering “how did I manage to eat the whole thing?!?!” I have! True confessions here; I love pizza! While eating a whole pizza is not the healthiest choice, I’m not gonna beat myself up over it. It’s a done deal. Gone! What I can do is try to figure out why I chose that behavior, what can I do to prevent future over indulgence, and minimize the damage of my emotionally destructive self-talk. Emotionally destructive self-talk is that little voice you hear in your head that feeds you lies and tells you you’re a failure. You’re a failure because you had one, albeit overly indulgent, meal? I don’t think so!!! Listening to that inner voice that says "you’ll never lose the weight" is as good as telling yourself to just give up. “I can’t stop eating - losing weight is too hard,” are other lies your little voice might tell you. But, it doesn't have to be this way. I’m de...

In yesterday's post I presented the first steps to ridding yourself of a toxic person in your life and understanding that not being able to change their perspective is most definitely not your fault! Don’t be bound by your own feelings of guilt for someone else’s life decisions because no one stands to gain anything by it. This person will continue to take your energy and give nothing positive (to you or the world) in return. I repeat: NO ONE benefits, and if left unchecked, there will be one more negative person in the world - you. Believe me, I've been there. I know that coming to the realization that you can’t change a toxic person AND that you must walk away from them is an especially hard step to take. In these cases, I remind myself to let go of control. Let that person 'be' and continue on my own life journey. If confronted, always remain as calm as you’re capable of being. Reacting to a toxic person will not only bring you down to the same energetic level,...