Gain important tips from the guides and staff at Mountain Trek. Improve your health, wellness and increase weight loss with these helpful tips and ideas.

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Recover From New Years’ Resolution Setbacks

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image of dice spelling old habits

How are your New Year’s Resolutions going? Still on track, or are you mired in self-defeat? If it’s the latter then we’re here to help. Setbacks are just part of the process when we make big changes. Perhaps you vowed you’d eat breakfast every morning and then fell back into the routine of consuming only three coffees before lunch. Or maybe you said you’d exercise three days a week and have only managed to go once or twice. Not to worry–you are not failing! You’re doing everything right by just deciding to make a positive change in the first place.

Here are six tips to encourage you and help keep your goals on track:

Remember, it can take upwards of three months to create a healthy habit. Continue to stick with your goals and you’ll be increasing your overall vitality in no time!

  1. Firstly, if you’ve suffered a setback the key is don’t beat yourself up over it. Just acknowledge it, try to discern why you slipped, and then immediately get back on track again.
  2. If you find yourself continually encountering setbacks, maybe the change you’re trying to implement is too big? Is it possible to make a smaller change that will lead to a healthier path? For example, if you wanted to hit the gym three times a week but are struggling to make it there even once, then edit your goal. Resolve to go to the gym once a week to start, and work your way up from there. 
  3. If you keep lapsing into a bad habit, such as snacking on potato chips throughout your workday, then swap out the context of the bad habit. Instead of potato chips, snack on baked kale chips instead. 
  4. Get outside! There’s no better tonic than a walk through nature in the fresh air. If you find yourself lapsing into self-judgment and despair, just take a step outside and breath deeply. It seems like such a simple solution but you’ll be shocked at how it clears your mind and puts you in a better mood.
  5. Phone a friend! You are not in this alone. Engage a family member or friend and tell them about where you’re having difficulty. You’ll be amazed at how just talking about it to a good listener will help put you back on track.
  6. Travel! Nothing helps you break a bad habit faster than completely changing your environment. It’s so much easier to reinvent yourself when you’re not surrounded by the same-old, same-old. The trip doesn’t have to be an epic cross-country adventure – you could simply book a room at a local hotel, take a good book, and relax away from the stresses of your regular life. 

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

How To Balance Work And Play

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woman in a business suit without shoes playing in a fountain

About 50 years ago, many of us moved from work that involved standing and moving to desk jobs that require more sitting. Not only that, but work hours have increased since then. For some, two-thirds of our day is spent connected to our job in some capacity. This can make for an incredibly stressful lifestyle.

By spending all of our time either working or sleeping poorly, it damages our mental and physical health. After all, our system is designed to run after gazelles on the African savannah. It doesn’t feel good when we sit in front of a computer for 14 hours a day. 

The good news is there are some easy things that you can do in order to better balance your work and play. In our opinion, the latter doesn’t get emphasized enough in our current work-obsessed society. Having fun is just as important, if not more so, for personal health and happiness.

Inch by inch is a cinch, but yard by yard is hard.

The key to a good balance is not biting off more than you can chew at first. The first thing you want to do is make a list of things that you consider fun and make you happy – even if the list is only one activity long. 

Perhaps you haven’t found the time to get outside as much as you’d like. The key is to start small and set a SMART goal. Don’t expect yourself to go for an hour-long walk every afternoon right off the bat. But you can get outside, even if it’s just walking from your car to your office. For the first few days, park farther away than you normally would, and as you’re striding along, take deep breaths and remember what it was like to run freely through nature. Before entering your office, look up at the sky for 30 seconds and just enjoy the view. 

When you’re at your desk, follow these five steps:

  1. Take 10 minutes out of your workday and relax and just clear your mind. 
  2. Drink lots of water. Not only will it cleanse your system but it will force you to get up and move when you need bathroom breaks. It will also allow you to step out of your work mode for a few moments to give you time to think of other activities.
  3. Occasionally get up from your desk and stretch in a doorway or stare out the window at the sky. While you’re doing that, think about what makes you happy.
  4. The next time you’re perusing Facebook or on some other social media site, stop what you’re doing and instead Google classes, courses, groups, or apps that are related to the activity you love. Bookmark relevant sites. Even if you don’t sign up right then and there, it will be beneficial to have your mind dwell on it.
  5. Mention to a friend or co-worker about your desire for better work/play balance and the activity you would like to get involved in. By putting it out there, you’ll enlist the help of acquaintances and it will become “real” as opposed to a “wish” that only exists in your mind.

Try and do the above things every day and eventually you’ll find yourself setting aside more and more time for the activity you love. Learn more ways you can pamper yourself.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

What is Intermittent Fasting and How to Do it Right

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looking at wrist watch in nature

At Mountain Trek, we hear a lot of guests say they’re “intermittent fasting.” To some, this means skipping breakfast; to others, this means eating just dinner. Which is right? Which is wrong? Mountain Trek also practices intermittent fasting (IF) and has developed a specific method over the past 20 years proven to help guests ignite their metabolism. Here, our Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Jenn Keirstead, gives us the scoop on Mountain Trek’s approach to IF:

Jennifer-Keirstead-Nutritionist

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent Fasting has become the latest health fad that allegedly assists with weight loss. It has even ranked as the “trendiest” weight loss search of 2019. The dietary term is used to describe the cycle between periods of fasting and eating.

Experts say: it’s not all hype. In fact, many agree that the diet can be helpful in boosting longevity, maintaining blood sugar levels, and reaching a healthy weight.

Popular Methods of Intermittent Fasting

Not surprisingly, given the popularity, several different types or methods of IF have been established. Being popular doesn’t mean they are healthy, however. Explained below, are a few of the most popular methods:

Time-restricted eating: Fast for 16+ hours each day

This method involves fasting every day 16+ hours and restricting your daily “eating window” to 8 hours. For example, if you finish your last meal at 8 p.m. and don’t eat until noon the next day, you’re technically fasting for 16 hours.

The 5:2 diet: Eat for 5 days, Fast for 2 days per week

For one to two nonconsecutive days per week, you consume just water plus 500 calories, (200 of which are protein), either in one meal or spread out over the day. The other five or six days a week, you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want.

Alternate-day fasting: Fast every other day

For the first 24 hours, you consume just water plus 500 calories, (200 of which are protein), either in one meal or spread out over the day. For the second 24 hours, you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want. Repeat the cycle every two days.

After reading about a trend, I always like to ask myself: is this diet restrictive in any way, and is it sustainable long term? These are always good points to ponder before you find yourself in yet another diet + binge cycle.

Also, a word of caution from Dr. Frank Hu, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. Hu explains: “It’s human nature for people to want to reward themselves after doing very hard work, such as exercise or fasting for a long period of time; so there is a danger of indulging in unhealthy dietary habits on non-fasting days. In addition, there’s a strong biological push to overeat following fasting periods. Your appetite hormones and hunger center in your brain go into overdrive when you are deprived of food. He also comments, “Part of the fascination with IF arises from research with animals showing that fasting may reduce cancer risk and slow aging. One hypothesis is that fasting can activate cellular mechanisms that help boost immune function and reduce inflammation associated with chronic disease.”

How to do Intermittent Fasting correctly

Here at Mountain Trek, we too have our opinions about the structured fasting and eating cycles. Program Director, Kirkland Shave, describes our version as a, “12 on, 12 off.” He explains how, “The Mountain Trek program, where we take a 12-hour break without food (glucose) at night, aids in deeper sleep, less calorie storage, less LDL cholesterol production, and lowering the potential for Insulin Resistance (precursor to type 2 diabetes).” We also believe that fasting is beneficial in supporting the anti-inflammatory response of cellular autophagy (self-eating). According to Priya Khorana, PhD, in nutrition education from Columbia University, this is the body’s way of, “Cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells.” Autophagy occurs when sleeping—another reason to fast at night.

The idea of eating during the day makes sense to us. This is because you’re eating when your body and brain are most active. This way you consume your calories when your body needs them the most. You are literally fueling your metabolic engine as it needs energy, rather than operating on a full tank all the time. When done correctly, with proper portions and timing, this means your engine will be running as clean and efficient as possible. No build-up, no excess.

We support a daily 12-hour fast, for our reasons above—we’ve just restructured the guidelines, to encourage a more healthful, sustainable, and practical approach.

Fast for at least 12 hours overnight

This might feel challenging at first, as many of us are accustomed to late-night eating and snacking. Many people find themselves mindlessly eating late at night, even when they aren’t hungry. But eating late into the night means our metabolism is still revved up when it’s time to slow things down and rest. Continuing to digest through the night disrupts sleep’s natural healing processes, and prevents autophagy, when our cells “clean themselves”. Ideally, leave at least 3-4 hours to digest before going to sleep. You will notice your sleep improves as you’ll get to truly rest, instead of digest. Learn more about our sleep program.

One thing to consider is that nighttime eating may be the result of an overly restricted daytime food intake, leading to ravenous hunger at night. You may find that more consistent eating throughout the day helps curb the out-of-control feeling around food in the evening.

Daytime fasting has become popular, but it deprives our bodies and brains of energy when we need it the most, often leading to energy and mood fluctuations. Plus, it’s much easier to do a full 12 hour fast when you’re sleeping for (ideally) 8 of the hours!

Another bonus of IF and eating dinner earlier: after 12 hours food-free, you’re actually hungry when you wake up! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for fueling our brain and body, but it’s hard to bring ourselves to eat it when we’re still full from last night’s dinner. Think back—when was the last time you woke up to a hungry stomach?

Break your fast first thing in the morning

Consume your first calories within 30 minutes of rising—think of breakfast truly as “breaking the fast.” Real food first please, though, not coffee!

There are options here. If you’re the exercise-before-work type, you can grab a quick snack consisting of a fruit/veggie, with a protein. Some examples include: apple + seeds, carrots + nut butter, or 5 oz of our Energizing Morning Smoothie made from frozen berries, spinach, banana + hemp hearts. This amount of nutrition is enough to boost your anabolic metabolism by supporting the steroids that stimulate protein synthesis, muscle growth, and insulin production.

You can also break your fast with actual breakfast. Fantastic examples include: a veggie omelet with sprouted, whole grain bread, or a bowl of oatmeal with berries and seeds. Here are some other wonderful breakfast recipes:

Homemade Granola Yogurt & Berry Bowl

Shakshuka with Sprouted Bread

Yam Pancake with Poached Egg & Avocado Salsa

Warm Buckwheat Bowl with Fruit & Nut Butter

Eat every 2-3 hours for 12 hours

The primary goal of eating during the day is to efficiently fuel your energy requirements. Efficiently means we’re not under or overeating. Undereating leads to blood sugar drops and energy crashes. Overeating leads to a surplus of calories, a blood sugar spike (hyperglycemia), and subsequent issues like diabetes and obesity. Eating smaller portions more frequently during the 12-hour eating window balances your cravings as well as your energy and blood sugar levels. The result is higher, more consistent energy levels, reduced bloating and inflammation, and balanced hormones.

After your breakfast, we suggest that you continue on throughout your day with both lunch and dinner, including 1 snack in between each meal. This means you’re eating every 2-3 hours during the waking hours, leaving you more satiated and energized.

If you intend to adhere to the 12-hour fasting window, dinner is required to be an earlier meal. This may take the most planning. To enjoy dinner at a more reasonable hour, you may want to try batch cooking on the weekends, a crock-pot meal, or one of the many convenient, health-supporting apps, in which you can pre-order food right to your door. Do whatever it takes to make having an earlier dinner easier!

Advanced Tip: Eat 2/3 of your calories in the first 9 hours. Eat a higher calorie breakfast and then taper off throughout the day. Your dinner should be the smallest meal of your day. This will accelerate the benefits of intermittent fasting.

Learn more about our nutrition program or read more of our articles to continue reading about how to live a healthy, balanced life. Or join us for a week-long health-immersion at our retreat! More below.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

How to prevent coronavirus when traveling

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Woman traveller looking at plane

With the spread of the coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, travel can be a bit scary right now. Many people are smartly reconsidering their plans to highly infected areas like China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, Spain and France but does this mean you should cancel your trip to other countries? We have assessed the situation, getting numerous opinions from doctors and virologists and while the fear of catching the virus when traveling to your destination is justified—afterall, the coronavirus is on a path to becoming a pandemic and should be taken very seriously—we feel that you can still travel safely and prevent being infected with coronavirus, if you follow our tips.

What is coronavirus and how do I get infected?

First, let’s do our best to understand the virus.

This virus is spread in large droplets by an infected person coughing or sneezing. This virus only has cell receptors for lung cells so a healthy person needs to get these droplets into their respiratory system via the nose or mouth to get infected. These large droplets do not suspend in air, which means that the air around us is not infectious, but rather, all the surfaces where these droplets land and sit for about a week on average. You will not be infected by the air you breath unless your unprotected face is directly coughed or sneezed on. Airplanes use high-quality filters when recirculating air that catches these large droplets, so it really is the surfaces we touch and the subsequent contact with our nose and mouth that is the issue.

How to prevent coronavirus when traveling

  • Most importantly, avoid touching your nose and mouth. This is easier said than done—we touch our face on average 90x/day. Wear a mask to prevent yourself from touching your face. The mask will not prevent the virus from getting into your nose or mouth if someone sneezes or coughs on you—it is only to keep you from touching your nose or mouth.
  • Disinfect all potentially contaminated areas with alcohol based wipes (at least 60% alcohol) before use. For extra precaution, use latex or nitrile disposable gloves when disinfecting and then dispose properly. Disinfect airplane armrests, tray tables, entertainment systems, and seatbelts when taking your seat.
  • Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer after touching anything public; door handles, faucets, luggage carts, and counters.
  • Avoid close contact with people who are coughing or noticeably sick.
  • Use your hands as little as possible, giving fistbumps instead of handshakes, using only your knuckle to touch light switches and buttons, and using your hip or closed fist to open doors.
  • Carry zinc lozenges. These lozenges have been proven to be effective in blocking coronavirus (and most other viruses) from multiplying in our throat and nasopharynx. Use as directed several times each day when you begin to feel ANY “cold-like” symptoms beginning. It is best to lie down and let the lozenge dissolve in the back of your throat and nasopharynx. Cold-Eeze lozenges is one brand available, but there are other brands.

Remain vigilant when at your destination

If you follow the steps above, you should be able to travel to your destination safely. However, coronavirus prevention shouldn’t stop there—remain vigilant after arriving. Wash your hands as frequently as possible and use hand sanitizer when soap and water are not available. Do your best to not touch your face, especially your nose and mouth. Sanitize the door knobs, switches, and remote controls in your hotel room, and continue to avoid close contact with people who are coughing or noticable sick.

Before traveling, ensure you have medical insurance coverage either through your current insurance provider or a 3rd party travel insurance provider. If you do become ill while traveling, seek medical care immediately.

How to stop the spread of coronavirus

To prevent the spread, please do your part. If possible, cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue and discard. Use your elbow only if you have to. The clothing on your elbow will contain the infectious virus and can be passed on for up to a week or more.

We are hosting two Adventure Treks, where we blend health, hiking, and culture into one unforgettable vacation, to New Zealand and Bhutan in March and April, and we have shared the above with our guests on how to travel safely. We hope it helps you as well.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and overworking. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

If You Own A Smartphone, You Need A Mental Health Retreat ASAP

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a woman Relaxing, sitting overlooking a lake and mountains

Mental health is a trending topic and for good reason. 1 in every 13 humans worldwide suffers from anxiety, a rate that is even higher in the US (1 in every 5 people). Depression rates have increased 18.4% between 2005 and 2015. Somewhere in the world, a person dies by suicide every 40 seconds. Studies show that for every death by suicide, there are approximately 20 other attempts. 

Seeing a therapist has become as common as going to the dentist, and a study by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America found that around 40 million adults in the United States admit to having anxiety. For perspective, that’s basically everyone living in California, or more than the entire population of Canada. These figures don’t even include those who don’t realize they are suffering from depression, stress, or anxiety, meaning the percentage is actually higher. 

It’s a scary time for mental health. But finally, society is opening a dialogue about why everyone feels as if they are falling apart, and what can be done to help. Mental health is losing its taboo-ness.

Smartphone Use Leads To Pessimism

Let’s get to the bottom of what’s tampering with our wellbeing. What has led us to our current mental health situation? Why are depression and anxiety increasing? There is certainly a lot of depressing news about the coronavirus, toxic air, deforestation, global warming, garbage-filled oceans, hunger, racism, sexism, bigotry, and the list drags on. But that’s not what’s causing our depression. Genocide, natural disasters, and epidemics have always occurred. The difference today is our awareness. Thanks to our smartphones, we are constantly connected. And while having easy access to information 24/7 has its perks, it comes with seriously consequential downsides.

Hearing about all the bad things happening worldwide every time you open your phone creates a “sky is falling” mentality. You start to focus on disheartening events, and the weight of the world’s problems weighs on your mind ‘round the clock. The result isn’t just that you trend pessimistic, it’s that pessimism compromises your stress-management capabilities.

First, pessimists naturally dwell on stressful or negative events longer than optimists. This means your stress hormone—cortisol—levels are elevated for longer. Over-exposure to cortisol has been linked to anxiety, depression, metabolic issues, heart disease, poor sleep, and weight gain, as well as memory and concentration impairment.

Second, optimistic people have been proven to be more active, eat more healthfully, and they don’t typically turn to excessive alcohol or drug use to get their kicks.

This doesn’t mean you should be like an ostrich, burying your head in the sand, believing unseen danger is no danger at all; rather, it’s important to learn healthy ways to cope with life’s stressors.

The positive thinking that usually comes with optimism is a key part of effective stress management.Mayo Clinic

Social Media Increases Our Anxiety

Beyond the exhausting stream of negative news, social media is proving to be a menacing opponent to our mental health. It’s the perfect landscape for our insecurities and self-criticism to proliferate. Whenever we log into social media we see “perfect” people who make us doubt our self-worth. I need to be as skinny, or as muscular; I should make more money; I need to find a way to afford expensive, trendy clothes; my job isn’t good enough; I’m not as adventurous; I ought to travel more; I must experience more; I need to be more.

Incessantly comparing ourselves to a seemingly fabricated reality quickly takes a toll on our wellbeing. We spend more time worrying about what we are not, rather than becoming who we should be, and our anxiety spikes.

The depressing news we receive daily combined with our need to succeed and the constant comparison game we play on social media is a recipe for anxiety. Phones keep us always “on,” prohibiting us from truly breaking away as we constantly search for the instant gratification technology brings, instead of slowing down and relaxing. We are attached to technology instead of to ourselves and our surroundings, and that allows physical and mental toxicity to thrive.

We Need To Regain Balance In Our Mental Health

So what about today’s environment makes it so toxic? In short, we’re out of balance. Everyone is hyper-focused on career and personal success. We’ve stopped treating our mind, body, and spirit respectfully. 

Popular belief these days is that you have to be the hardest worker, dedicating every spare moment to your work in order to be successful. Taking the time to eat a wholesome meal or get a full night’s sleep somehow equates to not working hard enough. Pushing your body to breaking point has become like a badge of honor. Just read interviews with high-profile business people or celebrities. Chances are they’ll boast about their long work hours, lack of time to eat or sleep, and how they prioritize their career and image above all else.

But failing to give yourself time to rest and recharge isn’t something to brag about, because really you’re functioning at a small percentage of your full potential. Crazy as this may sound, by allowing yourself to properly sleep and eat healthfully, you’ll be able to get more done. How? It all comes down to having more energy and being more alert. And that’s not all, once you stop comparing yourself to other people, you’ll be able to focus on reconnecting with yourself instead.

Forget “Likes”. Be Real.

Do you remember what it was like before social media and smartphones? Back then, mornings started out by getting ready for your day. Nowadays, the first thing most of us do when the alarm sounds is to check our phone and tap into social media. Essentially, we’re comparing ourselves to others–and consequently feeling inadequate–before we even have a chance to put our slippers on. 

Instagram’s test in removing “likes” is a step in the right direction. In a recent press conference, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri stated, “The idea is to try and depressurize Instagram, to make it less of a competition, and give people more space to focus on connecting with the people they love and the things that inspire them.”

The hope is that removing “likes” will help users stop comparing themselves to others, thus removing the stress of being “good enough” or as liked as everyone else. This comparison game is causing many people to feel as if their anxiety is spinning out of control, but few people actually stop long enough to address the cause of the decline in their mental health and wellbeing.

Put Down The Phone

The good news is it’s not hopeless. Just because the odds seem stacked against us doesn’t mean we are helpless. We can do many things on our own to help break the trance of our phones (read our recent article on how to do a digital detox). For instance:

  • Immerse in nature (aka “Forest bathing”). Even just spending 20 minutes a day in nature has been proven to help lower stress and anxiety, decrease blood pressure, lower your heart rate, and decrease your chances of developing a psychiatric disorder.
  • Read a novel. Find a comfy chair and put your phone on silent. You might find you can go more than two paragraphs without getting distracted when it’s just you and a good story.
  • Learn a new hobby. The practice of learning something new is extremely beneficial for our brain health.
  • Take a bath. Alone, without your phone. Light candles and watch them dance instead.
  • Exercise
  • Do yoga
  • Eat healthful foods. Pay attention to the flavors as they hit different parts of your tongue.
  • Connect with other humans
  • Volunteer
  • Pet an animal
  • Take a vacation
  • Visit a spa
  • Meditate. The use of meditation apps in adults in the US has increased from 4.1% in 2012 to 14.2% in 2018. Are you part of that statistic?

…this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Don’t Do It Alone. Try A Health Retreat.

If you are feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, or perhaps don’t have the time or energy to get things back on track yourself, check out a wellness retreat that incorporates mental health practices.

Mental health retreats are a great place to start—you’ll be surrounded by people who are in the same boat as you and having support from a team of professionals will ensure you stay on track.

Health retreats will actually help you break toxic habits and provide you with long term solutions for living a balanced life, but in case you are thinking they just aren’t for you, I’m here to tell you they are. Why? Because they aren’t one-size-fits-all.

There are many different types of mental health retreats available to suit various needs and interests. Some retreats focus on eastern healing practices, like yoga and meditation, while others focus purely on self-care (think spa: mud baths, steam rooms, massage, etc.). Some are open to everyone while others are gender-specific. Others are centered around particular activities, such as farming, clean-eating, creativity, or hiking. Many retreats emphasize connecting with nature, but for all the indoors-personalities, others don’t. 

And while the word “retreat” might make it sound like something only possible for wealthy people with unlimited days off from work, there are actually retreats available at any budget, for any length of time, and for any lifestyle choice. Finding a place to unplug and reset is more attainable than it seems.

Mental Health Retreats Are About More Than Just Relaxing

While visiting any mental health or wellness retreat will do wonders for your wellbeing, starting off with one that combines many aspects of your health might be the best choice. Such retreats, like Mountain Trek, are holistic health retreats that focus on five areas of health in harmony: fitness, nutrition, stress management, sleep, and detoxification. Combining these five areas has a profound effect on your health and wellbeing, laying the groundwork to reduce social anxiety, decrease depression, and relieve stress in your life back at home.

Instead of focusing on just one area of your life, these types of holistic health retreats address each of these key areas in equal turn. After all, each one plays a role in our wellbeing and are all equally affected by the toxicity of modern society. 

For example, fixing your diet is a great place to start and will make you feel better, but if your stress levels are still sky-high your life will still feel toxic and unbalanced. This is why a wellness retreat like Mountain Trek is an ideal choice to get you started on your journey to a detoxified life. Every detail of your stay there is planned and prepared for you–all you have to do is focus on being present in the moment. It takes the guesswork out of trying to learn how to detox on your own.

A visit to a mental health retreat is about more than just relaxing–it’s about changing your life and giving you the tools you need so you can continue to reap the benefits long after you’ve returned home.

Prevent Burnout. Invest In Longevity.

You can only push yourself so hard before burning out. Between the go go go attitude of modern society, the negativity surrounding us worldwide, and the constant need to compare ourselves to each other, it’s no wonder our mental health is in a state of decline.

Our way of life isn’t sustainable; we need to reset our bodies and minds, beginning with purging toxic thoughts and habits. Taking time for yourself shouldn’t be viewed as a treat, but rather as a necessity. We need to take care of our bodies and souls if we want to be able to function at our best without breaking down. We only get one body, after all. Show yourself some respect and tackle the issue before it gets worse!

Visiting a mental health retreat will teach you the skills you need in order to reset and recharge by helping you cultivate valuable practices you can continue back at home. It’ll jumpstart the process and be the catalyst for changing your life and living a healthier lifestyle, both mentally and physically. There’s never been a better time than now to unplug and reconnect!

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

 

9 Ways To Digital Detox

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I’ve recently become a parent, and because of that, I feel justified in employing scare tactics to warn you of the dangers out there in the world. I’m not talking about the man in the van who looks like a clown. I’m talking about something that Albert Einstein saw coming 70 years ago when he said, “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction, the world will have a generation of idiots.” 

HP, the company that promises, “With our technology, you’ll reinvent your world,” just surveyed over 7,500 people in North America to learn about our relationship with technology, specifically our smartphone screens. 

What HP found in a recent study:

63% think our digital lives and real lives are out of balance.

50% of couples have used their phones to ignore each other.

65% think it’s ok to check their phone during dinner.

58% think it’s ok to check their phone on a date.

40% admit they use their phones in public to avoid talking to others.

63% believe relationships were closer in the past, and the same percentage believe relationships were more meaningful before social media.

60% wish they could return to a time before social media.

91% would rather have 1 real friend than 100 online friends.

I could shake these stats off and pretend they don’t apply to me. But HP also found that parenting has gone digital and that 1 in 3 parents spend over 5 hours daily on their phone. A stat that requires just too many exclamation points to bother entering them.

Digital Use is Leading To Addiction, Depression, Suicide

I’m worried that if the day Einstein feared isn’t already here, it’s fast approaching. Selfies are up, relationships are down. Every day it seems like there is more connection, but less connecting. Engaging with the *actual* world is becoming overwhelmingly intimidating. And while this certainly might lead to a generation of idiots, we’re now realizing that the staggering amount of time we spend staring at a screen is also leading to a generation of anxious, depressed, and lonely souls. Einstein had no idea the extent of what this technology dependence would do to our psyche. How could he? Who could have predicted that global depression rates would increase 18.4% between 2005 and 2015 and suicide rates in the US would rise 24% between 1999 and 2014? And that governments would have to step in and impose curfews on gaming for minors to prevent addiction?

Our digital habits aren’t just wreaking psychological havoc – they’re physically harmful too. Sitting 10+ hours a day in front of screens leads to chronic inflammation, which has been proven to be the cause of many serious ailments and diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and dementia. Cell phones distract drivers from red lights, stop signs, children running across the road, and ultimately cause 1.6 million car accidents in the US every year. That’s one every 20 seconds. By the time you get to the end of this paragraph, there’s a chance someone just died texting and driving. That’s not okay.

If Einstein were to see the amount of time we spend glued to our screens would he really be that shocked? Or would he just say we are all now those “idiots” he theorized we’d become? By scrolling through an endless stream of emails and social feeds, inevitably comparing our lives to the highlights of everyone else’s, obviously deteriorates us physically and spikes our social anxiety. As a new mother, I feel it’s my duty to try and change our current course so that my daughter does not fulfill Einstein’s prophecy.

Be aware of your current usage

Just like a dietary detox, the first step in digitally detoxing is awareness. For instance, if you want to lose weight you have to look at what you’re putting into your body. Garbage in = garbage out. The same goes for your relationship with your devices. 

Look at how you’re interacting with your devices by building a digital diet sheet. Record how much, how often, and when you’re on your phone, laptop, game console, or TV. Seeing those numbers will do half the detoxing work.

Tip: start with your smartphone and enable Screen Time on iOS and Digital Wellbeing on Android. These two stock features will give you a snapshot of how you currently use your smartphone. I personally like the stat about how many notifications you get each day. Each notification breaks your concentration on what you were doing, be it driving, chatting with a colleague, or playing with your child.

Most spend upwards of hours on social media weekly, let alone daily. Larry Rosen, psychology professor and author of The Distracted Mind, says “most people check their phones every 15 minutes or less, even if they have no alerts or notifications.” Don’t judge yourself. Don’t judge your numbers. Simply be aware.

Technology isn’t to be demonized by any means. It helped put a man on the moon and sequence the entire human genome. But the way it’s used today tends to keep people inside a bubble. Instead of simply inspiring or enabling us, it’s creating anxiety and tension. It needs to be rebalanced. Here are nine ways you can reprogram your relationship with technology.

Nine Ways To Digitally Detox:

 

Build “No Phone Zones” in your home

This could be the kitchen or the bedroom, places primed for human interaction and bond-building. Place baskets at the perimeters of these zones so you can physically leave your phone behind.

Set “No Technology Times” in your home

If you’re a culprit of looking at your phone before falling asleep or before your feet even touch the floor in the morning, leave it in the hallway when you go to sleep. Mountain Trek suggests stopping device-time at least one hour before bedtime to reduce blue light consumption, which is similar to the wavelength emitted by the sun and triggers our “rise and shine” cortisol stress hormone.

Let your friends and family know you’re taking a break from your phone

This way, you won’t feel anxious about people contacting you.

Turn off notifications

Notifications are the digital version of that person always bothering you. Mostly, they actually fuel potential symptoms of addiction by causing your heart rate to increase. Notifications let your phone control you, as opposed to how it should be, the other way around.

Turn on grayscale

By making your phone less desirable to look at, you’ll be less tempted to tap around on it. Here are tutorials for iOS and Android

Take distracting apps off your home screen

This way, you’ll have to intentionally seek out an app to use it, and, in doing so, you’ll cut down on the “accidental” time-sucks that happen when you mindlessly hold your phone.

Put a learning app like Duolingo or Elevate next to your social media apps, increasing your chance of skipping out on an hour-long social media binge. Learning is one of the best ways to satiate our mental needs.

Play phone Jenga

When you go to a dinner party, or at least host your own, encourage the guests to stack their phones. This way, everyone will be less inclined to look at them; you don’t want to be the one who removes your device and makes the whole stack tumble down.

Set out parameters

Don’t go all or nothing, because when you starve yourself of anything, your mind wants to go to the other extreme. Instead of deleting all your apps at the same time, try deleting Facebook first, then Instagram, and the list goes on. One habit for one day, then one week, then one month. The idea is to make your change a big priority and a small step.

The most delicious things in the world don’t taste so great after a few too many bites, and the same goes for digital consumption. But it’s hard to shake ourselves out of a stupor. It’s hard to “awake” once our brains have been habituated to scrolling on devices and apps literally engineered for addiction. Breaking the trance will be hard, but you don’t have to go at it alone. In fact, we suggest getting a friend or family member bought in on the idea as well. 

For a full digital detox, come visit us in the lush mountains of British Columbia for a week of unplugging and resetting, physically, emotionally, and digitally! 

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Engaging Your Core For Fitness

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Engaging your Core

As the name suggests, our core is integral to every movement we make. It’s a complex series of muscles that extend well beyond your abs and include everything except for your arms and legs.

In this article, and in the video below, Mountain Trek’s fitness director Cathy Grierson talks about how to engage your core for whatever it is you’re doing, whether you’re walking, working out at the gym, or even just sitting at your office desk.

Related Article: How to Engage and Strengthen Your Core 

However, before we begin, let’s look at what exactly the core muscles are. Most of us believe they’re the six-pack abs you’ll find on male underwear models but that’s the case at all. Your core extends far beyond your abdomen and includes two types of muscles: stabilizers and movers. This muscle group is incredibly important as our stabilizer and mover core muscles play a role in almost every movement we make! Many of the muscles that make up our core are hidden beneath the exterior musculature of our bodies. Some of our core muscles include the multifidus, transverse abdominals, diaphragm, and pelvic floor.

In this video, Cathy explains how to engage your core, our stabilizer muscles no matter what activity you’re involved in by using a sequence called “The Wave.”

Whether you’re an athlete or someone who’s interested in getting back in shape and engaging those core muscles again, we recommend you book Mountain Trek and enjoy Cathy’s fitness direction in person as well as all the amenities our all-inclusive resort offers: complimentary massages, delicious boutique spa cuisine, natural hot springs, infrared sauna, outdoor hot tub and cold plunge pool, plus a luxurious lodge in a natural setting far away from urban stressors.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Bedtime Yoga | Best Restorative Poses to Promote Sleep

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Bedtime Yoga

One of the reasons we have difficulty sleeping at night is because we are over stimulated. Our brains are wired to process all incoming information from our five senses to predict the appropriate state for our body’s systems. “Should I be ready? Or should I rest?” These two autonomic nervous system states are called the sympathetic (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic (rest and digest).

Staring at screens and/or hearing loud noises automatically puts us into a state of readiness. This is why it’s so important to shut off our digital devices at least 30 minutes before bed and to follow the other “insomnia busters” we’ve detailed in previous posts. Another way to calm your mind and prepare your body for sleep is to use such tools as relaxation breathing or restorative yoga to promote our parasympathetic system, the state we need to obtain in order to sleep deeply.

Here are the four poses Katya recommends to do in order to prepare your body and mind for a perfect night’s sleep.

Legs up the wall

Legs up the wall pose

Begin by sitting on the floor or the bed with one hip against the wall. Swing both of your legs up the wall as you lay down on your back; your body should form a 90-degree angle with the wall. For increased benefits, slide a firm pillow or yoga bolster beneath your hips. Relax and belly breathe for several minutes.

Supported forward twist

Supported Forward Twist

Sit on the floor and have a firm pillow or bolster nearby. Bend both knees and swing your feet to the left side of your body. Place the bolster to the outside of your right hip extending away from you. Lengthen your spine and twist to the right. Lay your torso along the bolster, resting on one cheek. Breath into the sides of your body for 10 deep breaths. Repeat rotating the opposite way.

Supported child’s pose

Supported Child's Pose

Get onto all fours. Sit back on your heels, separating your knees so that they’re about shoulder-width apart. Place a firm pillow or bolster between your legs extending away from you. Fold forward from the hips, lengthening the belly along the bolster. Rest deeply as you breathe into the back of your body for one minute.

Reclined butterfly pose

Supported-Forward-Twist

Sit on the ground or the bed with several firm pillows or a bolster propped up behind you. Bring the soles of your feet together, allowing the knees to fall outwards. Support the knees if you like with pillows. Lay back on the pillows so that you are at a 45-degree angle. Place a folded towel beneath your neck for support. Place an eye bag over your eyes if you’d like and belly breath for several minutes.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

How to Reduce Stress With Meditation

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Mountain Trek’s program director Kirkland Shave says more often he’s meeting guests at the lodge who are struggling with stress. Whether it’s their work, family life, or personal troubles, he says that many people come to the lodge to escape their daily stresses, immerse themselves in nature, get a good night’s sleep, and, ultimately relax. However, when their stay at the lodge nears its end, their stress levels begin amping up again as they consider returning to their regular day-to-day.

As part of the educational component of the program, Kirkland spends time sharing various tips for how to reduce stress. For example, in this video below, he discusses the causes of stressors and what you can do to alleviate them and relax, and, ultimately enjoy a more fulfilling life free of chronic worry.

Kirkland also recommends meditation as a great form of relaxation. It used to be that meditation was viewed as something only “old hippies” did. But now its benefits are being touted by the likes of Oprah, Hugh Jackman, and Arianna Huffington.

Related Article: The Rise of Forest Bathing

There is so much new research available since brain imaging equipment came into existence 20 years ago that its benefits are proving it can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and slow Alzheimer’s. Also, in a recent study by John Hopkins University, it was proven that mindfulness meditation can be just as effective as antidepressants for treating anxiety symptoms. It also boosts our feel-good hormones (serotonin, dopamine), lowers our stress hormone (cortisol), lowers our blood pressure, alleviates pain and inflammation and it invokes our parasympathetic nervous system to help balance our digestive and elimination systems.

If you’re considering trying meditation for the first time, my recommendation would be to start simple.

Steps to Begin Your Meditation Practice:

  • Find a quiet space and remove all devices such as your smartphone
  • Sit comfortably with a straight spine
  • Breathe slowly and fully while concentrating on a candle flame, or the sound of ocean waves, or the sensations of your breath as it passes through your nostrils
  • Notice how your concentration gets interrupted by your thoughts. Don’t worry though as this is the normal function of our mind to generate thoughts.
  • Gently (and without judgment of the content) come back to concentrating on your focus of attention.
  • Practice increases the power of concentration so start with just 5 minutes a day and then build from there.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below: