Unfortunately, life is rarely predictable. Even if your sleep, nutrition, and exercise are on point, you might get sick at some point during the Whole Life Challenge.

This doesn’t mean you have to give up!…

The post How to Play the Whole Life Challenge When You’re Sick appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

The Super Food That Wasn’t

POM Wonderful, the company, was founded in 2002 by the billionaire couple Stewart and Linda Rae Resnick.…

The post The Importance of “Whole” in Your Whole Life (Challenge) appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

He was talking about having kids. Someone asked him if it was fun having kids. He paused, thought for a minute and then said, “No, it’s not fun. It’s better than fun.”

Fun describes things like watching a movie, going to dinner with friends, or jumping on a trampoline.…

The post Better Than Fun: Why You Should Always Do the “Hard” Things appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

If I can’t bear the thought of making yet another salad, or I really, really don’t want to clean the guinea pig’s cage, I set a stopwatch and time how long it actually takes me to complete the task I’ve been avoiding for an hour.

In the case of making a salad, the answer is less than five minutes

“Well, that wasn’t so bad,” I think when I’m done.…

The post Too Busy for Healthy Habits? Here Are 4 Easy and Fun Solutions appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

“Stop spending all day obsessing, cursing, perfecting your body like it’s all you’ve got to offer the world,” Glennon Doyle Melton wrote in the piece. “Your body is not your offering. It’s just a really amazing instrument, which you can use to create your offering each day.…

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Then reality would set in.

I’d follow the diet perfectly for a week, but boredom and hunger would always cause the wheels to come off after about two weeks of this routine.…

The post The Best 3 Habits I Ever Started + 1 Bad Habit I’ll Never Quit appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

“What are you doing?” asked a woman sitting next to me, the mother of one of my son’s teammates.…

The post 20-Minute Meal Planning for People Who Hate Meal Planning appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

Our house is filled with giant collections of comics. I’ve tried over the years, but each time I pick up a comic book, I get distracted by the art and can’t figure out how to read the panels. My husband — a massive comic book fan — tried to get me to read comics over the length of our almost twenty-year marriage, but he’s finally accepted my disinterest, comforted that at least our children share his love of superheroes.…

The post How to Get Your Partner to Play the WLC (Without Nagging) appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

“What do you do when you meditate?” asked my eight-year-old son. “Is it like this?” He put his thumb on top of his middle finger, palms up, and started chanting, “Ommmmmm, ommmm,” and then collapsed into giggles.…

The post How Learning to Meditate Can Help You Lose Weight appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

I made time for my husband, my family, and my friends, but I was mostly able to do what I wanted, when I wanted.…

The post Why You Need to Put Yourself First and How to Do It appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

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Taking our time, we’d stroll in and out of the shops, holding up our finds:

“A fleece jacket for your dad?”…

The post How to Reduce Holiday Spending and Love the Season More appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

I’d eat as little as possible all day until the drinks and appetizers appeared, saving myself for the big meal. Dizzy with hunger, I’d talk and sip wine and start in on the appetizers, munching mindlessly until the meal was ready.

Then, because it was Thanksgiving, I’d load my plate up with every single item, even things I didn’t particularly like.…

The post How to Have a Healthy Thanksgiving (and Still Have Room for Pie) appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

When the official Challenge ends, another one begins: can you maintain these healthy habits without the structure of the Whole Life Challenge?

This is the Holy Grail of health — creating healthy habits that last.…

The post 4 Tips for a Successful Post Whole Life Challenge Transition appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

I had a suspicion about these bars. They advertise simple, natural ingredients, and they are delicious and sweet—a little too sweet. I selected my favorite flavor and looked at the sugar content: eighteen grams.

I find “grams” hard to visualize and without a lot of meaning, so to give myself some context I divided eighteen by four—this is how you convert grams to teaspoons, which is a measurement I can get my head around.…

The post How to Read a Nutrition Facts Label—and Make Better Food Choices appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

Planning ahead is the key to a successful Whole Life Challenge experience. Even those of us with the best intentions run into trouble if we don’t think ahead and plan our meals, exercise, and sleep. Preparation is the glue that bonds the 7 Daily Habits, and beyond the Challenge, it’s crucial for a healthy life.…

The post How to Have Your Best Whole Life Challenge (7 Tips from Veterans) appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

Then, about two years ago, Taylor switched his focus to other creative outlets. He worked more on filmmaking and photography and wasn’t dancing as much.…

The post How Taylor James Found Hope Through the Whole Life Challenge appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

Scott already exercised regularly at CrossFit 714 near his home in Orange County, California. He always felt he followed a good diet, he never smoked, and he doesn’t drink alcohol. Scott only had one real weakness: a love of sugary sweets.…

The post How the Whole Life Challenge Gave This Man a Whole New Perspective appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

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The 44-year-old participated in the very first Whole Life Challenge in 2011, back when founders Michael Stanwyck and Andy Petranek offered the Challenge — then eight weeks long — as a way for members of their gym, CrossFit Los Angeles, to improve their health and fitness.

Courtney signed up for the Challenge and it changed her life.…

The post The WLC Lessons This Player Learned After 10 Challenges and 7 Years appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

The post The Surprising Way the Whole Life Challenge Changed a Woman’s Life appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

These daily workouts cut into my workday and make my afternoons more rushed, but I make them a priority, often shoving other things to the bottom of my long to-do list in order to fit in this hour for myself.…

The post How to Take Care of You (And Why You Need to For Your Family) appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

A tall, fit man appeared over the rise, descending from the summit.…

The post How the Whole Life Challenge Prepared Me to Hike a 14er appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

The post How to Stop Worrying and Actually Have a Relaxing Vacation appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

If your eyes fall on clothes piled on the couch, papers on the dining room table, and dishes in the sink, the mess in your home could be a hidden source of stress, fatigue, or depression.

A 2010 study found that women who described their homes as “cluttered” were more likely to be depressed or fatigued than woman who felt their homes were “restful.”…

The post How Clutter Drags You Down (Plus 3 Ways to Fix It) appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

Maybe it’s because I rarely get sick, but when illness or injury descends, I lose all my stoicism. This is especially true if I perceive that the illness is something out of the norm, difficult to explain, or lasts longer than a few days.…

The post How to Be Mentally Healthy While You’re Sick appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

The days are getting longer and the temperature is rising. This means you’ll soon see articles about how to get ready for summer. Usually with titles like 5 Ways to Get Summer-Body Ready or Get Bikini Ready Now.

The premise of these articles is that there’s something “wrong” with your body and you’d better change quickly if you’re going to walk around in something other than long pants and a jacket.…

The post How to Get Ready for Summer (and Learn to Love Yourself in the Process) appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

Then adulthood hits, and with it work and family responsibilities.

At some point you realize friendship takes work, and overwhelmed with just getting through the day, you wonder: is it all worthwhile?…

The post Friendship: How to Make and Keep Friends (and Boost Your Health) appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

My friend would repeat this phrase to me any time I said I was too tired to go out, and it usually convinced me to reconsider and head out the door.…

The post 4 Better Sleep Solutions (That Don’t Come in a Bottle) appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

Next, name three things that aren’t going well.

Which was easier?

If you’re like most people, coming up with negative examples was much easier. It probably wasn’t difficult to think of more than three things that are causing you stress or worry.

The reason for this is something called “negativity bias.”…

The post 4 Tools to Overcome Negativity Bias (and Learn to See the Positive) appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

Add in work stress, family obligations, and the constant presence of unhealthy food, and staying accountable becomes extremely difficult.

But if you want to have a long, healthy life, then sooner or later, you’ve got to figure out how to hold yourself accountable, even when (or, perhaps, especially when) life gets complicated.…

The post 4 “Secrets” to Accountability That Aren’t Really Secrets at All appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

Recommendations change. Studies conflict each other. A food is a super food, and then it’s to be avoided. A new exercise is the only way to health, and then it’s dangerous.

I’ve come to realize it’s not exactly which diet or exercise you choose, just that you commit wholeheartedly to something.…

The post How to Not Fall Off the Health and Fitness Wagon appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

Okay, but what does that mean? What is moderation?

While it would be nice to spell it out in portion sizes and workout prescriptions, moderation is more challenging than that in practice.

Here is the challenge — moderation is relative.…

The post What Is Moderation? How to Define It for Yourself appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

Self-assessments are an important part of the Whole Life Challenge. Measurements at the beginning let you know what kind of progress you’ve made, and provide an objective picture of your health.

The Whole Life Challenge includes three assessment phases.

…

The post The Purpose of the Phase 3 Assessments: Blood Lipids and Blood Glucose appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

I’d read about how dark chocolate can reduce inflammation, lower blood pressure, and raise HDL, or “good” cholesterol, so I began ending the night with a few squares of 85% cacao dark chocolate.

It was good, but not very sweet, so I usually stopped after a few squares. It’s easy to avoid overdoing chocolate with so little sugar.…

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I approached the window.

“I’d like an ahi poke salad, no wonton chips please. Also, can you tell me what’s in the dressing?”…

The post Nobody Wants to Hear About Your Lunch: How to Talk About the Whole Life Challenge appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

Many factors can upset the ideal balance of good gut bacteria.…

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Home Fermentation: Sauerkraut appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.

I have one recurring appointment in my schedule that’s not like the others. It doesn’t make me any money, it’s not something I have to do, it’s mostly pointless, and it’s almost entirely for my own benefit.…

The post The Most Important Appointment You’re Missing Every Week appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.