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Say YES to a Deep Breath

July 2, 2018 Lydia Buschenfeldt Leave a Comment

Here is some­thing else that you should say yes to: breath­ing. Accord­ing to Har­vard Med­ical School, deep breath­ing can help you call on a “relax­ation response,” which in turn helps you respond to stress more suc­cess­ful­ly and pre­vent stress-induced anx­i­ety and depres­sion. Despite the fact that we breathe very much on the reg­u­lar (I hope so any­way!), some­times we need to think a lit­tle more about our breath­ing in order to see stress-fight­ing benefits.

A great start­ing point is some­thing called “equal breath­ing,” which is exact­ly what its name sug­gests. Breath­ing only through your nose, inhale for a count of four, and then exhale for a count of four. This is a good tech­nique for begin­ners, and is a great way to help alle­vi­ate some stress and improve your focus.

Anoth­er breath­ing exer­cise that sounds decep­tive­ly sim­ple but is real­ly a form of med­i­ta­tion is breath count­ing. You count each exhale, but you nev­er count past 5. After 5, you restart at 1. If you reach 10 or 12 it means you are not pay­ing atten­tion to your breath. This is a great tech­nique to use when you want to clear your mind or take a minute as a mini-meditation.

One of the most pop­u­lar breath­ing exer­cis­es out there is the 4−7−8 breath. This breath is bro­ken into three stages: the inhale, the hold, and the exhale. You start by inhal­ing to a count of four. Then hold your breath for a count of sev­en. Final­ly, exhale over a count of eight. The ratio is the impor­tant thing in this breath­ing exer­cise, since you can count as quick­ly or as slow­ly as you would like. What is impor­tant is that you are count­ing con­sis­tent­ly across all three phas­es. You don’t want a long count of four for the inhale and a rushed count of eight on the exhale. This is a great tech­nique to help you fall asleep or to use while sit­ting in traf­fic or in a tough meet­ing. It’s easy, effec­tive, and requires noth­ing at all — except air! Hatch Health and Hap­pi­ness has handy 4−7−8 breath­ing cards in stock that you can scat­ter around your house, car, and/or office. Email lydia@hatchhealthhappiness.com to receive a card in the mail!

Here is the link to the Har­vard Med­ical School study

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Based in Fairfax, Virginia, Hatch Health and Happiness offers full-service face-to-face health coaching in Northern Virginia and virtually around the globe!
lydia@hatchhealthhappiness.com
610-220-7036

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Healthy Living — Great Recipes and Ideas!

Trail Mix

Bulk Bin Trail Mix

September 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

Sure, it’s tempt­ing­ly easy to grab a bag of pre-made trail mix –col­or­ful, effort­less, and with such fun names to boot! But have you ever stopped to glance at the nutri­tion facts of that bag of seem­ing­ly healthy options? More specif­i­cal­ly, check out the sug­ar con­tent. Some com­mer­cial brands of trail mix have as much sug­ar as a 16 oz bot­tle of soda! The main cul­prit is sweet­ened dried fruit, and some brands add can­dy as well. If that deli­cious mouth­ful of sweet and salty is your taste­buds’ desire, don’t despair. There are plen­ty of ways to make a deli­cious AND nutri­tious trail mix, all with ingre­di­ents from your gro­cery store bulk bin! [Read More…]

Product Reviews — NEW!

Purely Elizabeth Superfood Oat Cups with Granola Topping — Cranberry Pumpkin Seed

More Great Recipes and Ideas!

Meal Planning

Meal Planning

July 31, 2018 Leave a Comment

One of the trick­i­est parts of most people’s healthy rou­tines is the meal plan­ning com­po­nent. Luck­i­ly for you, we have that cov­ered with the lat­est install­ment in our Hatch Video series! More…

Bloat Buster Smoothie

Bloat Buster Smoothie

June 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

Now that we are head­ing into the warmer months of the year, you may find your­self want­i­ng to spend less time in front of the hot stove top or oven. For­tu­nate­ly, smooth­ies are a great way to pack a lot of nutri­tion in one place. Check out the video below for one of my favorite smooth­ies — the bloat buster!

Pan roasted plantains

Pan-Roasted Plantains

May 1, 2018 Leave a Comment

Pan roasted plantains with mashed avocadoDespite the fact that plan­tains close­ly resem­ble a banana, they have a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent fla­vor and are def­i­nite­ly not to be con­sumed raw (you’ll only make that mis­take once!). Plan­tains are actu­al­ly a veg­etable, chock full of fiber, cal­ci­um and vit­a­min C. Pan-roast­ing the plan­tains allows them to caramelize, keep­ing the out­side a lit­tle bit crispy and the inside nice and soft. Cin­na­mon, gin­ger and turmer­ic add a tri­fec­ta of anti-inflam­ma­to­ry good­ness and a lit­tle sprin­kle of sea salt makes these plan­tains absolute­ly irre­sistible. Enjoy as is, or my favorite way –- with mashed avo­ca­do! More…

Energy bites

Energy Balls

April 2, 2018 Leave a Comment

Gluten, Grain, Dairy, Soy-Free and Vegan

Seeds need ener­gy in order to grow, and cul­ti­vat­ing your own healthy habits can take a lot of ener­gy too! Ener­gy bars and ener­gy balls are every­where we look these days. They are super easy to whip up your­self, but many peo­ple are intim­i­dat­ed by the thought. More…

More Great Recipes!

About Lydia and Hatch Health

Lydia Buschenfeldt

I was a happy, healthy, newlywed 4th grade teacher when a random virus paralyzed my GI system, along with parts of my … More...

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Client Testimonials

Rainbow

See what Lydia’s clients have to say…

I’d say Lydia Buschen­feldt has changed my life, but that would­n’t be exact­ly true. What she does is even more pow­er­ful. Any­one can tell some­one else what changes they ‘need’ to make to live a health­i­er life. It takes some­one spe­cial to enable and empow­er you to change your own life. Lydia is that some­one spe­cial. Dur­ing every ses­sion, at every twist and turn and bump in the road, Lydia meets me where I am with an incred­i­ble amount of knowl­edge and patience, and helps me iden­ti­fy one or two steps for­ward to accom­plish the goals I have for myself. She knows that each jour­ney is dif­fer­ent, and cus­tomizes our ses­sions so our dis­cus­sions are tai­lored toward what I need in that moment to help me build the health, future and hap­pi­ness that I deserve.
— L.S.
Man­as­sas, VA More…

healthy choices

quoteWe do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing. — Anonymous

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Contact Lydia

Based in Fair­fax, Vir­ginia, Hatch Health and Hap­pi­ness offers full-ser­vice face-to-face health coach­ing in North­ern Vir­ginia and vir­tu­al­ly around the globe!
lydia@hatchhealthhappiness.com
610−220−7036

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