A Healthy U Conference

Hi friends!  Hope you had a fabulous weekend!  I had a stellar weekend!  My Saturday started off bright and early meeting up with some of my favorite bloggers for the first ever A Healthy U Conference.

A Healthy U was created by Kimberly from Manifest Yourself, Nellie from Brooklyn Active Mama and Cassandre from Losing in the City.  I already knew that these ladies were amazing bloggers but I was absolutely floored by the conference they put together.  The event was completely sold out and the energy in the room was amazing!

The day started out with an intro from Nellie.  She got the crowd excited with her announcement of the panels, sponsors and giiiiiivveawaaaaays!  She had this amazing giveaway voice that made me want whatever she was giving away! 

The first panel of the day was called It’s All Connected and was about the mind, body and soul connection when it comes to getting fit.  The panel was moderated by Kimberly and consisted of:

• Nadia Murdock, Author & Fitness Coach
• Matthew Matheson, Personal Trainer/Body Builder
• Don Sinkfield, Licensed Mental Health Coach

This panel had some great insight on how the mind/body connection affects your commitment to a healthy lifestyle.  Some great tips:

• You need to have the mental drive to achieve your goals.
• Set small goals and work up to them.
• Exercise discipline.
• Eat palm sized meals (my palm is so darn small!).
• Some great fitness crazes: HIIT, dance classes (!) like 305 Fitness, team training like at Swerve Fitness
• Fitness crazes to stay away from: CrossFit- handle with care because if you are starting out you might not get the form corrections you need to be lifting the heavy weights plus it is a competitive environment, naked yoga.

The second panel was called Eat Healthy Today, which had tools, tips and tricks to help you on your healthy eating journey.   This panel was moderated by Cassandre and made up of:

• Dr. Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH
• Dara Cooper, Director of NYC Food & Fitness partnership
• Melissa Burton, RD, CDE
• Valentina Rice, Founder of Many Kitchens

I was super exited for this panel because I am always interested in learning more about nutrition since I think there is often a lot of misinformation out there. There were some great takeaways from this panel including:

• Don’t eat something just because you think it is healthy and you have to.  There is healthy food for everyone.
• You don’t have to do all or nothing.  Small steps are  a great start.  
• Frozen fruits and vegetables are good for you and are sometimes fresher than fresh produce because they are frozen at their peak of ripeness.  Stay away from canned veggies (except for beans), which have a lot of sodium.  Dried fruit and juice is ok, just realize you are getting less nutrients than eating a regular piece of fruit.
• If the food didn’t exist 100 years ago, don’t eat it.
• You don’t eat bad food and you are not bad because you ate something less than healthy.  At the next meal you have an opportunity to make a healthy decision.
• 5 healthy eating stapes: lean protein, fruits, veggies, whole grains, calcium-rich foods.
• Stop eating when you are no longer hungry, not when you are full.

After the panels the groups split up for yoga or Zumba and then lunch.  I had to leave a little early to make it to another event I had signed up for (more on that later!), but I hear that the classes and lunch were crazy awesome! I wish I could have stayed!

Oh an my favorite part of the day?  Seeing these lovely ladies!

Bloggers are the best people ever.  I honestly have never met a group of more supportive, nice and generally awesome group of women.  Plus, all these mommas let me prattle on forever about my big news and were more than happy to offer me useful advice and encouragement.  It meant a lot to me since the first baby is an exciting and scary journey all at the same time.

Thank you so much to Nellie, Kimberly and Cassandre for hosting such an awesome event!  It was so much fun and I learned so much!

Readers, what fitness trends do you think everyone should get on board with or avoid?  What’s your best nutrition tip?  Zumba or yoga?