Tips & Advice

Get Tips and Advice from the guides at Mountain Trek. Nutrition, Hiking, Sleep, Detox and Fitness are just some of the topics we cover.

The Key To Self-Care: Deservedness

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In conversations about wellness, you may have seen “self-care” pop up. We believe self-care is crucial to whole-self wellness and lifelong vitality — but what we don’t talk about when we talk about self-care is the underlying value that makes it possible.

First Things First: What Is Self-Care?

Self-care is anything you do deliberately to feed your own personal mental, emotional and physical well-being. For example, self-care could be anything from a yoga class, a 10-minute meditation, an hour spent reading alone in a cozy spot, a massage, and much, much more. We do so many things for others: working, parenting, and being a good partner, friend and child. Self-care is meant to refuel and replenish your body, mind and spirit. If you don’t take enough care of yourself, you won’t be able to take care of anyone else.

The Foundation of Self-Care: Deservedness

The concept of deservedness is the underlying principle that powers self-care. In order to take care of yourself, you must first know and believe that you deserve attention from yourself and that you deserve to invest in yourself. It’s the idea that self-care is not something you earn by being productive or successful — it’s something each and every human inherently deserves.

Related Article: Positive Psychology

In terms of self-care, deservedness is a tool that will help you create healthy, sustainable boundaries. Recognizing and respecting your limits will help you be a better person, parent, friend, coworker, manager, decision-maker and much, much more. Burning yourself out or allowing yourself to become overworked doesn’t help anyone — despite the messages about productivity “doing it all” that we’re sent from media and culture.

At Mountain Trek, we believe deservedness is one of the core tenets of lifelong vitality — no health care program or protocol will truly work in the longterm without it. Ready to invest in yourself and unlearn unhealthy habits? Begin your trek to lifelong vitality with a week at Mountain Trek in our gorgeous British Columbia lodge.

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:

4 Reasons Why Fad Diets Fail

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At Mountain Trek, we’re used to hearing all about fad diets that people have experimented with — the Keto diet, the Mediterranean diet, paleo diet, military diet— and we don’t recommend any of them. The very definition of the verb “to diet” tells you exactly why this approach to achieve vitality fails: “to restrict oneself to small amounts of special kinds of food in order to lose weight.”

Dieting is often unsustainable, and fails for these 4 reasons:


Fad diets focus on one measure of health — weight.

Weight is an excellent indicator of health but is not the only one! This laser-focus on weight is a product of a culture that largely results in an unhelpful pattern of guilt and shame and isn’t focused on real wellness. Our take? Weight loss is a byproduct of a return to natural health — a lifestyle change featuring whole fruits, vegetables, and nutritious protein sources.

Fad diets erroneously focus on “miracle ingredients” or “Superfoods”.

These are simply marketing gimmicks. Humans were perfectly capable of whole health before diets that heavily feature reishi mushrooms, matcha, ashwagandha, and other trendy ingredients and supplements came on the scene! Rather than focus on one Superfood, focus on creating a “Super plate” that incorporates balance and a wide variety of seasonal ingredients.

Diets are often too restrictive, and unrealistic for long-term adoption.

Anything you can’t keep doing isn’t worth doing. That’s why we recommend a 5:2 system: Five days of a commitment to eating well, and two days to let yourself enjoy in moderation — whether it’s a scoop of your favorite ice cream or a drink (or two) of delicious, indulgent wine.

Diets often mimic famine.

Go too long without food, or with too little food, and the body stores calories because it doesn’t know when the next meal is. Smart snacking is important for the body’s metabolism! Small, nutrient-packed snacks keep your body burning energy.

A Better Approach to Nutrition

Long-term health and wellness are achievable, however, when you take a life-long, sustainable approach. Find a wellness approach you can commit to, if not for life, for the foreseeable future. Learn more about our approach to balanced nutrition.

 

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 and featuring daily sunrise yoga and night-time restorative yoga, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress, anxiety, 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:

The Real Commitment That Will Turn Your Health Around

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As a culture, we’re obsessed with quick fixes: the newest workout class craze, the buzziest new “superfood” ingredient, the shiny new supplements — we’re incredibly seduced by the idea that health and wellness is just one consumer decision away. The truth is, there is no pill for vitality. It’s not easy — as Kirk likes to say, “this is the warrior’s path.”

However, success is not a product of perfection. For the average busy, exhausted, overworked person, the first step to a lifestyle of health and wellness is getting used to prioritizing yourself.

No one “has” time: You have to make time

Our modern lifestyles demand much of us: time and energy are at a premium as we rush from workout to event, home to work and some quick shopping. For many people, the pressure causes them to deprioritize their own wellbeing. In order to maintain a healthful lifestyle that contributes to lifelong vitality, we have to create space for ourselves to exercise and eat nutritious foods, but we can’t do that if we are overextended. That’s why you must make time for yourself — to create and nurture the energy you need to make healthful decisions.

It’s in our nature — but not our own best interest — to put ourselves last

There’s a reason that airlines ask you to secure your own oxygen mask before helping anyone else with theirs: You can’t be useful or helpful to people if you don’t take care of yourself. Unfortunately, when prioritizing, too many people put themselves last. The effects of this can end up hurting your other priorities, however. Part of caring for others is caring for yourself.

Start small: Make plans with yourself — to relax

Get in the habit of rewarding your desire to be kind to yourself. Once per week, even just for 30 minutes, do something that relaxes you and makes you happy. Go for a walk in your favorite neighborhood, go catch a movie solo, treat yourself to a pedicure, cozy up and read a book by the fire — anything that makes you feel like your spoiling yourself.

Embrace deservedness for better health results

You deserve time, care, and energy you devote solely to yourself. Once you’ve allowed yourself this time, and gotten comfortable with the feeling of expending precious time and energy solely on yourself, making healthful decisions will come easier. At Mountain Trek, we delve into why this is, the behavioral science behind habit formation, and how to adjust your framework of time to optimize your health.

We promise that in the end, taking time for yourself will actually make you a better team member, parent, friend, and more. There’s no better way to jumpstart a resolution than commit a full week to yourself: come retrain your mind and nurture your spirit at Mountain Trek.

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:

Thriving During The Holidays

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How to stay healthy throughout the holidays.

How to stay healthy throughout the holidays.

The Key To Surviving The Holidays? Kindness.

The holidays can be a fraught time for health goals. With an influx of food, family, and oftentimes stress, many people feel overwhelmed and powerless to maintain a healthy balance.

At Mountain Trek’s fitness retreat and health spa, we spend all week detoxing from what the body, mind and spirit don’t need (caffeine, empty calories, technology, stressful environments), and instead spend all of our time feeding our souls: with hale and hearty meals, 4-5 hours of cleansing physical activity in the pristine mountain air, and deep, restful sleep.

This lifestyle isn’t realistic for many — and is especially difficult around the holiday season — and towards the end of the week at Mountain Trek’s health and wellness retreat, we discuss the journey of goal-setting and habit formation, and how to take elements of what we experience in the program and apply it to your busy daily lives. Our biggest piece of advice tends to surprise people: The only thing you must do every day to make a serious change: Practice self-kindness. Being compassionate and understanding with oneself is the cornerstone of success.

A treat now and then or missed week of exercise won’t kill you — but the quest for perfection might.

Perfect is a myth. Perfection is the enemy of progress. Aspire to live healthfully 5 days a week, and give yourself 2 days off. One thing we see time and time again: People (Americans, especially) focus on perfection: They want to exercise 7 days a week, to journal every single day, and to never have a drop of wine ever again! This is not the successful path to meaningful change — by setting yourself up for failure, you sabotage your goals.

Your ultimate obstruction isn’t calories or sedentarism: It’s negative self-talk.

Keeping your thoughts and actions self-supportive is crucial in any long-term health goal. Creating a daily practice of self-care is the cornerstone of success. Too often, one setback sets people into a tailspin of guilt and shame, and the memory of guilt and shame stops them from pursuing the initial goal. You must create space for yourself to fall off track. You must give yourself permission to be human.

Reward your intention to do your best — whether you fulfill the goals, or not.

Navigating our modern world — replete with foods bereft of nutrition, stressful city environments, at the total mercy of our devices — is the warrior’s path. It’s not easy, and there’s no button or quick solution. Kale isn’t the answer — neither is the newest workout fad or the most expensive blender money can buy. You must respect, love, and honor yourself before you can truly make everything we teach at Mountain Trek truly work.

If you’re ready to commit to change, ready to grow and deepen your relationship to yourself, your truth, and the breathtaking outdoors, click here to view rates and dates at Mountain Trek for 2018. Shepherding people back to their essential selves is our life’s work — come to our mountain lodge in Nelson, BC, and find out what the mountain has to offer.

Our Nutritionist’s Favorite Pre- and Post-Workout Snacks

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We know how critical what we eat is in energy management: Making sure to plan snacks well will make sure you’re properly fueling your body and optimizing your nutrient intake! One of the questions we most often hear is when and how to snack, especially before and after workouts. Our head of nutrition, Jennifer Keirstead, offers some tips below for making the most of your workouts with strategically timed snacking.

Related Article: Top 5 On The Go Snacks

Pre-Workout: Fruit + Protein Source

Says Jenn: “Pairing a piece of fruit with a protein source is a fantastic pre-work snack. The sugars in the fruits act as a quick energy source, and since protein digests a little slower, combining these two helps stabilize blood sugar levels — this supports longing lasting energy (for example, an apple with almonds). Or try a homemade Coconut Apricot Bliss Ball!

Do your best to consume a small snack within an hour pre-workout — this way you’ll be sure to have quick energy available to burn.”

Post-Workout: Fruit or Vegetable + Protein Source

“Post-workout snack is similar to the pre-work snack. Either a fruit or veggie, paired with a source of protein. An excellent example would be a sugar snap peas with a hard-boiled egg.

A smoothie is another great option for post-workout — try mixed berries with cashew butter. Eating every 3-4 hours will support energy not just for exercise, but for sustaining energy levels throughout the day.” Click here to learn more about our approach to nutrition.

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:

Mountain Trek Alumni Story: Sinead from Chicago

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Welcome to Mountain Trek Alumni Stories, our newest blog feature!

Each month, we’ll sit down with a Mountain Trek Alumni to find out what they love about the program, what it’s done for their lives, and what keeps them coming back. Mountain Trek is a truly special place — but don’t take it from us alone. We’re humbled to have developed many “Mountain Trek Alumni” — people who come on the trip once a year to every couple of years. In order to hear from the people who’ve found the most value in our program, we interviewed a couple of regular alumni to understand their personal experience and just what makes Mountain Trek so special for them.

This month, we spoke with Sinead, a strategy consultant from Chicago, Illinois who makes Mountain Trek a regular part of her lifestyle in order to attain balance!

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What made you come to Mountain Trek?

I am a strategy consultant and though I love my job, a few years ago I found that I was not taking enough time for me. I started by searching on Google, trying to find week-long retreats. I was looking for something active and outside, and that’s when I found Mountain Trek. For my first trip, I went by myself, looking for a bit of an adventure. I absolutely loved the experience — it completely took me out of my element! I’m a social person and usually love going out with my friends, but being alone and getting in touch with my body was exactly what I needed.

 

What was your initial goal in attending the Mountain Trek Program?

I was at a crossroads with my job when I first went to Mountain Trek, and I needed some time to step away and reflect. I went for the opportunity to gain clarity and decide what path I wanted to go down. I have been every year since then, four years in a row now.

What did you love most about how the program affected you even after you left?

Every year I go and every year I get something different and new out of my time. I take the advice from the instructors really seriously and always try to pick a few good habits and focus on them. I honestly think that over the course of the last four years, how I approach life, my diet and how I sleep has genuinely started to change. The last two times I have been to Mountain Trek, I have brought friends with me just to have someone sharing in what I was learning. For my most recent trip, I went with three work colleagues and now I have incredible support systems at home. My coworkers loved it and I think we will do it again. The way I describe it, Mountain Trek is exactly the opposite of our day to day lives, and sometimes that’s what we need.

Was there anything about that you got out of the program that really surprised you, or that you weren’t expecting?

It seems easy while you are at the lodge (and shortly after you have come back to focus on eating right and exercising) but one of the lessons I have really tapped into is around taking care of my own emotional and intellectual state, particularly thinking about the arts and how to keep my stress level low. Since my first visit to Mountain Trek, I have picked up the ukulele and now one of the ways I love to unwind is playing it on my porch. Mountain Trek was inspiring, encouraging me to find that side of life and value it.

If you could tell someone one thing about Mountain Trek, what would that be?

Regardless of what your goals are — whether health, a break, getting active or just love of hiking — there are so many things you can get out of your week. Sometimes you don’t even know what you need until you get there but, by the end of the week or two, you and your body will feel so good and you will be in a better place.

Lake Kootenay as captured in the film “Snow Falling on Cedars”

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Released in 1999, the Academy-Award nominated film “Snow Falling on Cedars” featured stunning exterior shots of what was supposed to be the fictional island, San Piedro Island, in the Puget Sound region of Washington state. Little did many know that the film’s shots on the water were captured at our very own Lake Kootenay. Take a look at how Lake Kootenay was dramatically represented in the film (left slide) compared to our daily view on the right.

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:

Dr. Josh on How To Eat Smarter & Lose Weight

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Mountain Trek offers Lifestyle Performance Coaching via clinical psychologist Dr. Joshua Klapow, who’s also an alum of our retreat. It seems the good doctor is also adept at explaining matters of nutrition as well given an article that has appeared on beachbody.com. In it, Dr. Josh is asked to explain how to eat smarter through “mindful eating” (also known as “intuitive eating”) and how it can influence your body shape.

In the article called “9 Mindfulness Tips For Losing Weight,” Dr. Josh compares mindful eating to mindful existence:

“It’s not unlike taking a minute to look at a flower or experience being in nature,” he says. “We can either rush through it with a passing appreciation, or we can spend several minutes and take the entire environment into our senses. Mindful eating is the exact same thing.” He goes on to explain that “By itself, mindful eating is not a weight-loss cure, but as part of an approach or tool it can catapult healthy eating and weight loss.

By being conscientious when you consume foods, you limit distractions, choose healthier options and become more in tune with your body. Here are some tips to make better decisions that will help you lose weight.

9 mindfulness tricks to help you eat smarter:

  1. Pause before you eat to ask yourself why you’re eating
  2. Chew each bite thoroughly and savor it
  3. Drink water before meals
  4. Eat vibrant, flavourful foods
  5. Eat without distractions
  6. Wait before getting seconds
  7. When you feel the urge to snack, make a cup of tea first
  8. Take note of your cravings
  9. Eat with joy, not judgment

All of these tips will help you take more pleasure in your food and to read more about Dr. Josh’s take on “mindful eating,” log on to beachbody.com.

For an even more well-rounded culinary experience, book a stay at Mountain Trek Fitness Retreat and Health Spa to enjoy the delicious spa cuisine. She’s renowned for creating healthy, farm-fresh food that you can’t help but savor.

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 and featuring daily sunrise yoga and night-time restorative yoga, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress, anxiety, 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: