From Health and Wellness Guest blogger
Cori-Ann Canuel
Freelance Sales + Marketing Consultant
Wellness Enthusiast. Creator of the Well + Worthy Squad
Follow me on Instagram: @coricanuel

My experience and expertise in health and wellness:

As someone who has lived with a chronic illness (Type 1 Diabetes) since the age of four, I’ve always had a heightened awareness of the importance of taking care of my health and wellness. Part of managing Type 1 is seeing an education team that includes an endocrinologist, dieticians/nutritionists and mental health professionals. I learned about balanced meals, exercise and managing stress from a young age. Obviously, this does not make me an expert nor does it mean I am perfect at managing it. In fact, in my teens and college years I was quite the opposite and rebelled against all things health and wellness.  It wasn’t until my mid-20’s that that I started learning more about holistic wellness and slowly over time, I found my way back.

My expertise comes from my own experience and research. I definitely have over 10,000 hours of experience, but I am not certified in anyway. If anyone asks me though, I am happy to share  any resources and things that I have found beneficial in my own life. But, we are all different and what works for one person, won’t always work for another so I think the best advice for anyone is to keep seeking until you find what works for you.

Mindset is such a big part of living a healthy life.  I have been studying mindset and personal growth for over 12 years and feel that it’s important to invest in ourselves. So often we invest in the skills and training we need to be successful in our careers, but we fail to invest in our bodies and our mind. My health and wellness mentor Anna, is also a certified High Performance Coach through Brendon Burchard’s program, so when I saw that she was offering a 12 week High Performance Coaching program that culminated at a retreat in San Diego that included  Brendon’s four day High Performance Academy, I didn’t think twice about it. I was in a transition in my career and from everything I had learned already from Brendon’s podcasts and books, I knew I would walk away from that experience more fulfilled and enriched than before.

What is high performance? Succeeding beyond standard norms, consistently over the long term.

How will health and wellness help individuals achieve their goals?

We all know exactly how health and wellness will help us achieve our individual goals and help us serve our organizations. Unless we have been living under a rock for the past 20 years.

The problem is that we think we will get to it one day. We think we are different. We think we won’t be affected by not taking care of our health. When we are younger we can get away with that thinking, but as we get older we start to feel it. And that’s when people often think, well it’s too late for me to change now.

But it’s not! The first thing to do is get connected to your WHY. Before you get the app, the membership, the fancy outfit… ask yourself, why?

In his latest book, High Performance Habits, Brendon Burchard says, “Achievement is not your problem – alignment is. “ 

Get aligned with how you want to feel. Get aligned with the energy you want to have, the example you want to set for others in your life, like your children or your staff.

Our health is the highest value asset we have.

How can busy #EventProfs incorporate health and wellness into their life especially when on the road, or during a program?”

“So if the demands of your job or life require you to learn fast, deal with stress, be alert, pay attention, remember important things, and keep a positive mood, then you must take exercise more seriously.”  Brendon Burchard

Sounds a lot like what being a meeting planner requires doesn’t it?

Just do it!

Start small and keep it simple.

Get 8 hours of sleep.  Research shows higher cognitive scores , less stress, higher life satisfaction, better health, more productivity, more profitability, less conflict, psychiatric disorders, obesity, coronary heart disease, stroke– when you get eight hours of sleep a night on a regular basis.

When you’re rested you’ll have more energy to work out.  Make it happen. Start with a goal of three times per week. It doesn’t have to be hard core, start with a walk, a 15 minute living room workout and stretching, then work your way up to more. If you can do more, do more, you know yourself best.

Get up and move. Set a timer on your phone for every hour. Climb the stairs in your office. Do a few laps around the building and if you work from home, do some jacks or have a dance party.

On the road/program: Online workouts can be done in your hotel room or in the hotel gym. And you can always lace up and go for a walk! If you’re on a program, you are probably logging more activity than normal and may want to opt for a more restorative practice to start and end your day.  Stretching, yoga and meditation will all help with mental and physical stamina.  You can also try ‘legs up the wall’ pose for sore, achy feet and cold showers to help reduce inflammation in your body and increase alertness!

Nutrition – Keep it simple.  Find what works for you. What we fuel our body with is key to our overall health and wellness. I personally like the 80/20 nutrition guideline. Eat clean, real food 80 percent of the time and indulge 20 per cent of the time.
On the road/program: pack healthy snacks. Nuts, fruit, nutrition shakes, instant oatmeal, hard boiled eggs. Just don’t try anything that you aren’t used to in case you have a bad reaction to it.

Hydration – experts say that we should be drinking half our body weight in ounces of water each day. This is another simple step to staying healthy that so many people struggle with. Our body and mind does not function properly when we are dehydrated.

Limit alcohol. It will dehydrate you, make your brain foggy and derail your goals. Especially on the road or during a program; this is a stressful time. Adding alcohol probably won’t make you feel or perform better.

Apps/systems for helping with health goals:

1. Accountability groups. Find some friends or family that want to get consistent with their health goals and start an accountability group with each other. Just make sure to choose people who will actually hold you accountable. If you can’t find anyone, look online, there is a lot of inspiration and motivation out there!
2. Get a little calendar and keep track of your workouts. I can’t believe how well this simple tip works.
3. Fitness apps:
   – Active by PopSugar. Workouts for all levels, and durations (free)
   – Beachbody on Demand – Hundreds of workout programs for every level and style, meal plans, recipes ($8.25/month)
   – VFit Studio. Live stream fitness classes where you see your instructor and they see you. Super convenient, provides accountability and takes your living workout up a notch! (free 7 day class pass)
   – Yoga with Adriene on YouTube. Yoga classes for all levels and durations (free)
4. Meditation apps like Calm, Headspace and Insight Timer are all excellent. As well as Oprah and Deepak’s 21 day meditation challenges

Social Media Health and Wellness Gurus to follow:

Anna Renderer and Brendon Burchard. Both also have podcasts which I find are really helpful for keeping my brain in the game. Brendon’s books High Performance Habits is also available on itunes podcast.

Get Lively with Jan Taylor, find her on facebook, Instagram, she also has a great podcast. Great for body positivity, mindfulness and treating ourselves better.

Book: The Sharp Solution, a brain based approach for optimal performance by Heidi Hanna.  The books offers practical ways to improve well-being and performance. The focus is on building resilience through mindfulness, meditation, balanced nutrition, and dedicated relaxation time.

I also really enjoy Well + Good and Mind, Body, Green, to stay up to date on the latest trends.

At the end of the day, find what resonates with you and your values and start with baby steps. You are worth it.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao Tzu

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