Women's Health - marykatekopec.com

Recipe: Nut & Seed Munch

Superfoods, Healthy Fats, & Yummy Tasting, … Oh My!

1-2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp hazelnuts
1 tbsp pecans
1 – 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp walnuts

Now you can put all of this in a chopper/processor to get a finer munch … I do, sometimes … it helps me not have to chew for a hundred years, lol, plus, it provides for a unified taste, which I love! Or you can keep the seeds and nuts whole, which I also do, sometimes. Your happy choice!

From here, I add:

3 tbsp of cacoa nibs
3 tbsp of coconuts chips
a heapful of freeze-dried strawberries and/or blueberries
sometimes I add freeze dried banana chips
sometimes I add dried apples rings
the possibilities are endless.

It’s worth noting I mix up the ingredients of choice all of the time, swapping in any variety of nuts and seeds I like: walnuts, sesame seeds, etc. Sometimes, I make efforts to cycle my seeds for improving hormone balance, but sometimes, I’m just happy to gobble.

Just in case you’re wondering, seed cycling means eating pumpkin seeds and ground flax seeds in the first half of your cycle to support estrogen production, and eating sunflower and ground sesame seeds in the second half for progesterone production. Feel free to web search this topic … it’s quite interesting … and I’m all about giving my body nutrients it needs to do all the hard work it is doing for me!!!

Also, my love muffin, Pauli, thinks this is “dry,” and he hates “dry” foods … so if you want to wet it up, consider yogurt, froyo, a lightly sweetened vanilla pudding, etc. I make my own vanilla pudding and have combined them … so good. So options for you!!! Although, having mentioned Pauli isn’t about “dry” foods, he has come to love his daily nut munch, and eagerly asks me to make some for him, too (admittedly, tho, he requests mini chocolate chips and raisins in his, instead of the berries) … but my honeybun is eating healthy goodness, and that’s WON-DER-FUL!!!

And of course, because gluten-free is essential for me, this is a gluten-free dish!

Oh, and just a quick side note for those of you who might be freeeeeeeeaking out about the “fat” in this dish … worried it’s gonna “fatten you up.” I can tell you this. I eat a big bowl of this practically everyday, along with my anti-inflammatory minded daily foods (and lots of them, cuz when you’re eat’n healthy, for nourishment and wellness, you get A LOT of room to eat LOTS of goodness, all while reaping the exciting benefits of achieving healthy weight. … Meaning, I eat this big ol’ bowl of “fat” along with a ton of other foods (Pauli marvels at how much I eat and calls me a bottomless pit), and my weight averages about 119 lbs for a 5’5″ person. (And I’m not over here doing hours of cardio to burn it all off, either. I do my daily yoga, meditation, 2 minutes of gentle rebounding, and about 15 minutes of gentle walking or dancing [spiced up walking] … remember, I suffer from fatigue issues, so I can’t be marathoning anything!) So … eat well, and don’t worry about “fattening up” … you’re body will heal and seek healthiness naturally. … I don’t know if this reassurance helps you not be afraid, but I can assure you this is a really nutrient dense bowl of goodness to eat. Love you so big!

Well, I sure hope you will give this a try, because, it is truly delicious and ridickerously good for you!

Sending you my biggest love and most gigantic hugs!

Introducing “My Body Is an Alien” (a women’s hormone health blog series)

My body is an alien. Hormone Health. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

Introducing “My body is an alien!” (women’s hormone health blog series)

Hello my beautiful bright souls! Thank you so much for being here! I’m so happy to be sharing this time with you!

What is all this “My body is an alien!” stuff about?

Lemme explain why I’m doing this blog series. It’s actually a long story of life and experiences, which I feel like we’ll uncover more of as we go, but let’s just hit the big picture:

I’ve been perimenopausing for a decade-ish now, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe, and it’s been my own kind of hellish challenge, robbing me of life, days, weeks, months. I’ve been to doctor after doctor. I’ve been reading like a champion. Always searching for what I can do to feel better and live healthier and happier again.

In all of this, I’ve learned A LOT! And I’ve done all of this learning within the context of my health science, research, healthcare-careers-coaching, and educational background.

And something I’ve learned is how appallingly deficient the informational and healthcare resources are out there for women.

So … me being a woman, perimenopausal, with many health challenges, educator, and being someone who is choosing to be a bright positive light to change the world around us into a happier, healthier place to be … I decided I needed to share what I’ve learned to:

help you feel better faster
to get positive, healing information to help and guide you and your choices toward improved wellness
to assure you, you are not alone
to remind you, our bodies changing is normal, but that doesn’t mean we understand or that it doesn’t scare us at time … so support is key
and, honestly, to help you see a reality about ourselves that can get lost (or until now, hasn’t been found). This reality is that although our bodies may feel alien to us at times (or all of the time), our bodies are nonetheless in this journey with us. As such, we need to become friends with our bodies and nurture our relationship and health together with respect for the codependent team we are. Me + My Body = Happiness and Healthiness!

So with all of that … What are we going to talk about?

We’re gonna talk about our bodies. Our health. Our happiness. Our lives and living more positively in wellness.

We’re gonna talk hormones. Those little beasties that rule our lives from a place deep inside that we can’t see without lots and lots of testing and blood work, … but … WE FEEL IT!

We’re gonna talk about how beautiful we are. How beautiful our bodies are. We’re gonna talk about finding and growing a peaceful, health-filled relationship with our bodies.

We’re gonna hit topics like (but not limited to, cuz there is so much I have to share, and I’ll keep posting goodness to help you as much as I can!):

All the stuff your mom didn’t tell you, cuz she didn’t know either (emerging women’s health knowledge)
Our bodies and what it takes to make them function well nutrition, hormone balance
Hormones (What are they how; How they affect you; Why you should care, … How come I feel so crappy, & what can I do about it?)
Hormone balance, imbalance and the cause/effect of each
When hormones go wonky … symptoms … and what you can do to help you feel better and well again.
Body image
Nutritional health … food as the best tasting medicine ever!
Wellness
Movement, as in get yo’ body moving, … movement as medicine!
The media is out to get us, lol, but for realz!
So much juicy wellness goodness informational and helpful stuff to help you … it’s gonna be crazy awesome!

Essentially, my goal is to share my own experiences as a 50 yr old, perimenopausal chick, and as my health aware self with all of my education and experiential background for additional highly informed insight!

MS in Human Genetics + additional considerate graduate studies in Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology … (but all this science boiled down into usable human speak)
20+ years pre-health career coaching, mentoring, and educating along with close relationships with medical and dental professionals
Scientist working in the pharmaceutical industry working on inflammation-based diseases (cardiovascular disease and diabetes, with distinguishing factors [hormones] for women)
Personally, I am a significant sufferer of hormone and health things gone wrong … for instance, how easy it is to think you are doing a good thing, but end up slowly depleting yourself (for lack of vital information, misinformation, misguidance, etc., especially from under-informed medical professionals)

Because you are important, and you make the world a brighter, better place!

I’m gonna bring my happiness, love, silliness, PINK, and fun into our chat … because, let’s be real, this stuff can be boring … or worse, scary at times. And my goal straight up is to help save your life and help you live happier, healthier, with ease and comfort and joy!

I’m gonna make you laugh. I’m gonna make you smile. I’m gonna make you feel loved. I’m gonna let you know you are NOT alone. You are not going crazy. Your body is an alien. And I’m gonna tell you how and why. And I’m gonna tell you what you can do about it. I’m gonna help you feel better and make the changes (nurturing and nourishing) you need to improve how you feel.

We’re going to grow you with positivity and AWESOMEness!!!

And that, my sweet pea is our introduction to My Body Is an Alien! Next chat, we’ll begin our wellness dive into some healthy, happy goodness with your body’s health and your mental and emotional wellness as our focus!

Change your moment, your day, … your life with meaningful prayerful intentioning!

Prayerful Intentioning!

WOW!!!! The goodness I feel from growing prayerful intentioning into my life is fundamentally shifting and AMAZING! I love it! And I owe it all to Yoga with Adriene.

Adriene Mishler of YWA is, for me, a positive angel on earth filled with peaceful, healing goodness that emanates in powerful waves of light from the very core of her delightful being! I’ve been doing yoga with Adriene daily (with very rare exception of feeling too unwell) for a year now (since my health went super blinky and freaked me out). She had helped me grow meaningful, healthy movement into my body I never thought possible before.

So when she offered a 30 days series, Breath, I was all in and ready for whatever new goodness she would be sharing with us. If you haven’t done the series and you love yoga, check it out!

Well, so, in one of our sessions, Adriene says to raise our prayer hands to our third eye, and think “insert meaningful intention”; now touch your lips, and say “insert meaningful intention”, and now touch your heart, and feel “insert meaningful intention.”

My light and energy blinky zinged instantly … I felt so alive with awareness and the simple, powerful beauty of this prayerful intentioning!

Now mind you, I have no idea what Adriene would call it. Or what it might actually be called … but for me it’s a moment to be mindful with a praying intention to guide my yoga practice, my moment, my day, and … my life.

I find myself doing this multiple times a day. I’ve been sharing this practice with friends for greetings and see-ya-next-times. We love it!

I use lots of intentions:

love
gratitude
kindness
peace
safety
calm
focus
and so many more, whatever I need in the moment

But my big go to is of course, LOVE! But also KINDNESS.

I love to set my daily intention using this prayerful intention. Today, I started with kindness and peacefulness. (I know … how rogue … doing 2 at a the same time!, but that’s me for you! lol)

But so, I prayerful intention with, Think kindness and peace, Speak kindness and peace, and Feel kindness and peace. And it’s amazing how simply powerful this mindful intentioning is … I find it guiding my moment and my whole day.

It’s helping me channel positivity in my living and be the PINK person I want to be! I love it!!! I love how it’s making me feel, and how I’m acting/behaving/being positively, even more, which is a good thing, because I want goodness to be the very essence of my existence!

(I’ll have moments of weakness where I think about a trouble I’m dealing with … like figuring out how to navigate a friendship that has grown toxic … and I’ll feel the sadness or frustration or hurt from a previous interaction, and I’ll feel low. But now I’m guiding myself to remember/focus on the good stuff, grow away from further connection, and simply think, speak, and feel love toward that person … from afar … and also for myself, to let go of the negativity and grow forward with gained wisdom and strength.)

And so, I’m sharing prayerful intentioning with you … hoping the goodness fills you up, lights you from within, and helps you glow with positivity and brightness!

So for this first part of my sharing with you today, I hope you will try Prayerful Intentioning and see how it makes you feel!

Just a teensy big below, I’ve created and shared a delightful, happy, peaceful video (it’s about a minute long) … just even watching it should help you smile, feel loved, and big hugged!

I also continue to give gracious, heartfelt gratitude for the expansive, growing-me light Yoga with Adriene has brought into my life! (Check her out if you haven’t and are looking to grow movement and body wellness into your life!)

Adriene Mishler and Benji of Yoga with Adriene (image credited to PeacefulDumpling.com).

Where there is Adriene of Yoga with Adriene shining so brightly, in my digi-doodling and digi-painting efforts, I went in search of ideas for a background to join my prayerful intentioning stick-peep, and I found a new brightly lit soul of vibrant goodness, and I just have to share her with you!

I saw a “POSitude” of hers with a tree and a vibrant background that is perfectly delightful, and I felt it would be a great inspiration for my video art for you. (see below)

So first, her name is Jennifer Wagner, and her inspiration webspot is Inspirivity, and she’s on various “art adoption sites” like RedBubble and Zazzle. You’ve truly got to check out her work! She is amazing!!! I’m link-heavening you here to lots of her amazing creations!

One of the things I love about digi-arting is growing myself with the tech to do creativity in a way new to me. And I can tell you this, Jennifer Wagner has an amazing eye and talent, and her heart is filled with delight and light! I hope her creations brighten your days!!!

In making the video for you here, I was inspired be Jennifer Wagner’s piece:

This vibrant light of love is created by Jennifer Wagner and her Inspirivity!

Isn’t this piece of Jennifer Wagner’s Inspirivity art so happy, AMAZINGLY VIBRANT, and delightful?!!!!! And I don’t even begin to know how she created the bubbly glass effect in her tree!!!! But I love it, and someday hope to grow that digi-arting skill into my capabilities.

But for now, with the love and happiness her tree inspired in me, I wanted to create and share a gentle scene for prayerful intentioning. I needed peaceful and calming, and for my digi-doodling, something that would be theme consistent to my stick-peep. And so, I give you my loving, inspired, and gratitude-giving version of Jennifer’s glorious heart in my new Prayerful Intentioning video!

I have been inspired by Adriene and Jennifer as I continue growing myself forward into the happy, healthy wellness I seek through positive living, and I give so much heartfelt gratitude for their light in this world!

It’s ladies like these that brighten our days, and we are fortunate to have them with us!

If each and every one of us shows up with our own bright lights and shine as brightly as we can, we will make a difference! We will make our world a brighter place! We will make our lives and time shared so much more amazing and delightful!

So shine brightly my peeps! Love Big and Hug the Biggest!

Be loving. Be kind. Live in gratitude. And feel the goodness in your heart and let it shine!

I very much hope this writing has helped you feel happy, well, inspired, and … open to giving Prayerful Intentioning a try!

Like Adriene and Jennifer, Prayerful Intentioning and Inspiration are SO BRIGHT!!!

Loving you SO BIG and Hugging you the biggest!!!

Is There a Golden Key for Unlocking Happiness?

A fellow wellness blogger and friend of mine, Dylan, were having a conversation the other day. We were talking about (trying to figure out why) people seem to ignore or avoid happiness inspiring images and or content (well, beyond that of adorable cute animals doing adorable, cute things).

And my brain blitzed.

And my blitz’n reaction is: Do you really have to sort out all the background shiz, first? Life is more layered than that. We can be more. I know, because I am.

People look at me and all my pink and see bubbly happiness and think how lucky I am, or how easy I’ve got it. … Beggin’ your pardon, but LOL!

My therapist says I suffer multiple-trauma, anxiety, and OCD from all the shiz I’ve had happen in my life. And I’m working on it all the time … but it doesn’t keep me from living as much as I can in happiness.

Cuz basically, it’s like this. I’ve had a lot of bad happen. (Lots of people have, and you may be one of them.) But I ask myself, do I want to wake up everyday feeling like shiz? Or do I want to wake up each day with hope, love, happiness, laughter, and smiles? (Take a guess which one I pick.)

And that’s the golden key … right there. CHOICE.

I CHOOSE to blossom and grow happiness in my life each day, even if it has to be on top of all the background emotional noise. (Hell, I’ll squash all that noise with happiness if I can!)

So lemme first talk about the damage … I have a visual/real life analogy I think will help a lot. And then I’m going to share with you actual, real actions and things you can choose to do to blossom and grow happiness into your life, too! Like for, free, yo! I’m just going to give you the golden key for free! Cuz … loves … we have to share the love and help each other, peeps! We have the AWESOME POWER to blossom and grow so much goodness into our lives and into the world … we can make our time here on earth a better place to be, and even enjoy it, BIG TIME!

Okay … So Damage.

Firstly know, we CAN BE HAPPY even while still having damage and hurt.

Here’s my analogy:

Getting hurt in life emotionally is like a bad cut on your skin (or whatever degree of bodily damage you’d like to associate to your emotional hurt … I share the imagery with you here in whatever way works best for you! <Big LOVE>). OK. So bad cut. Something sliced you open. It hurt. It sucked, and likely still does … cuz no one feels great about getting shizzy stuff happening in their life. … But the cut (or appropriately sized wound) will heal enough to go on.

And depending on how you treat it, it may heal super great (like almost no scarring evidence remains) or pretty descent (yucky scar). But either way, you’re very likely gonna have a scar.

I feel this holds true for emotional shiz and scars. For instance, I’ve had some really bad shiz happen to me. It hurt. It sucked. And my brain/emotions/heart have healed … enough to go on.

Is there a scar? You betcher buttercups!!! My brain/emotions/heart are covered in scars. But I go on. My shiz doesn’t go away, but with time and care (therapy and positive living), I heal a little bit better each day, more and more, all of the time, each and every day.

And that’s the point. I’m not fully healed. My damage doesn’t disappear just cuz I’m bouncing around in happiness. It’s back there. All those scars. And the damage.

But I choose NOT to let all of that (the what happened in the past) keep me from making today a better, happier day (just because I’m not fully healed).

And that’s the golden key: CHOICE!

I choose NOT to let all of that (the what happened in the past) keep me from making today a better, happier day. I choose to NOT let it keep me from feeling love now. To laugh and feel delight. To bounce and engage. To enjoy.

And this isn’t to say that when I’m in a full blown panic attack, or my OCD is raging that my happiness isn’t impacted. Hellz ya, I suffer. I cry. I freak the fiddoodles out.

And that’s what my therapy is for. To help me understand me. Understand how I cope. Understand my struggles. Understand how I can make the best beyond what happened. And to know that no matter how much I might want to wish it away at times, the shiz happened … it was real … it sucked … and the damage it caused sucks, but that I am more than the bad moments of my life.

Therapy is there for me to learn and grow coping mechanisms and skills and to have support on shizzy, sucky days/moments.

And then, peeps, I gotta say … the exact moment I can … I bounce back all over my happiness … I get that goodness lit back up. I stoke my lil spark and desire to smile again with every tool I’ve got in my tool kit! I go big, because the bottom line for me is … suffering and feeling like downed, depressed, sad shiz sucks, and I hate that feeling enough to do something about it.

I hate that feeling bad enough to CHOOSE happiness!

So with that little pep talk, which I actually hope has helped you and even inspired you … let’s talk steps and actions! Let’s talk about what you can do to blossom and grow happiness into your life!

Enough Pep Talking … Let’s Talk What You Can Do to Blossom and Grow This Happiness Stuff Into Your Life!

Believe you can be happy. Cuz you can be. You have to choose it. You have to blossom it. You have to grow it!
Practice POSitude … which means to think, focus, & act on positive thoughts. (Stop focusing on all the hurt and damage … it’s there, but it doesn’t need to rob you of the rest of your life. Let it be there, and heal it as you grow.)
Practice Reaffirmations … Tell yourself nice things about you … Like how precious and beautiful and rare you are … and how much we need you to light up this world with your goodness!
Practice Gratitude … What is something you can be grateful for today? Think about that and focus on it. It will help you feel better!!!
Uh, this one’s going to sound too easy, but it’s for real and proven … So … SMILE, BIG & BRIGHT. Just do it. Like, even, right now. Just smile and think a happy thought … and ohmigoodness … it will release happy chemicals in your brain and actually help you feel happier right this moment!!!
Laugh out Loud! Go watch something funny. Tell yourself jokes. Hell, just like smiling, just start laughing out loud … cuz it, uh, works!!!
Cut the shizzy people outta yo life! Or at least reduce their presence as much as you can. Their toxicity is eating you … and you are worth more and better … you deserve NOT to have them treat you like crap. So adios toxicos!
And on the note of #7, instead, surround yourself with Love & Support! People who want to be blossom and grow happiness like you. Like minded people with similar goals are much better at supporting one another.
Connect with, love, & hug someone special today … even if it’s “only” you. You are amazing and wonderful … and you are the person you will spend the most time with in your life … so find someone or find you … and connect, love, & hug, big time!!!!
This last one is really a summary quickie of a bunch of wellness steps that help you feel better overall, so use at will: eat something nutritious, hydrate, rest/sleep well, get movement into your body, take a calming and intentional breath, journal, create or color something, be kind to you, … breathe!

15 habits for happy healthiness. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs

Does it take a little bit of work? Sure. But so does holding onto all that anger. All that hurt. All that frustration.

You will put effort into whatever you do … so you get to choose. Will you put your effort into blossoming and growing happiness?

I hope so! Because I truly believe you are beautiful! You are special and unique. And we’ll never have the gift of your bright light again! So I really hope I can help you feel better and feel happiness and wellness! Because I love you!

The Month of Love!

Be Love. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs.

For me, February is the month of love!!! I know I’m not joined in this sentiment by all, and I remember my younger days of singleness, lacking a date for “the big day.” And I remember the sad, aloneness I felt.

I hated feeling that way, and so many, many, many, many years back, I decided to change my focus. To reframe the day. To value it for something more than just a date holiday. To see it for the goodness buried within, super deep, and super AWESOME!

So now, I use the month of February to celebrate love of every kind … to celebrate the brightness we can bring into our own lives and the lives of others! And I invite you to join me! … In doing so, we can make the world a better place!!!

We have the power to be love, for ourselves, and for those around us!

And so, I made this itty bitty short video with a BIG, Heart-Pinking message in … just for you! Love and Big Hugs Mary Kate

We are Complementary Beauties!

We are complementary beauties!

But for all the world, you wouldn’t know it. Not with how media, culture, our employment, and even our friendships pit us against one another.

I find myself having this conversation with every single one of my beautiful coaching souls. My friends. And I’ve had this conversation with my therapist. All of us are women … chicks of big hearts, open minds, … and feeling the negativity waged against us.

Seems like we’re never quite pretty enough, smart enough, do enough, help enough, give enough, go go go enough.

In the media we are told we need to drink more coffee, work out more, squeeze in more time to be better moms, wives, girlfriends, friends … cook more, clean more, get to work faster. It seems like our clothes are never nice enough. Our houses are never big enough. Our kids will only be happy if we get and buy them everything they want. So … of course, we’re going to need more money …

If only we would buy that cologne we could all smell sexy and be as beautiful as Charlize Theron, cuz without it, we’re just not as good.

You get the idea … the judgement negativity is everywhere, with the bottom line being, we’re never quite good enough if we don’t … do whatever it is they want us to do.

We lose our self-esteem, self-respect, self-love, self-worth. We learn to hate ourselves and the other lovely ladies around us, especially the ones who seem to be doing a better job at being Perfect.

Maybe she’s thinner. Maybe her hair is more lustrous. Maybe she seems to be able to do it all. And we loathe her for it.

You are glorious!!! You are beautiful!!! You have gifts, the likes we’ll never see again on this earth!!! You are unique and special!!! You are amazing!!!

You bring to us magic! And delight! And wisdom! Lessons learned. Experiences. Strength. Even in your moments of unstrength, your gifts are there, shining through, helping you cope in ways best suited to you. And we learn from you. We grow and flourish in your light. In your unique perspective. In how you see the world and brighten it. And for all that you do for us, we do it for you, too!

For we are strong and beautiful, and together, with our love shining so very brightly, our gifts complement each other making our lives and this world a brighter, more beautiful place to be!

Together, no longer judging … no longer criticizing, no longer stuck in the negativity structures forced upon us, together in love, kindness, compassion, caring, gratitude-giving … we see the goodness, the beauty in each other, and we know the truth:

Your beauty does not diminish my beauty, as my beauty doesn’t not diminish your beauty. Together, with love, our gifts complement each other making our lives and this world a brighter, more beautiful place to be!

PS: If you and your heart are moved by the loveliness of this digi-painting and you would love a copy for yourself, click here.