Looking after your whole self with a self-care routine has been clinically proven to improve our quality of life. If you are looking to eliminate anxiety and depression, reduce stress, improve concentration and improve your overall energy this blog is for you.

Looking for effective ways to protect your mind and your body? This article covers the simple yet effective strategies you won’t want to forget.

Have you ever wondered what’s in our gym bag?

Likely it’s not a whole lot different from what’s in yours, but we’re going to tell you all about it anyways.

This week you can find out what we pack inside these lovely little bags on our way to our next session at the gym. Also, find out what used to be in our gym bags and what we’re hoping to find in them in the near future!

Whats your go-to items when you’re hitting the gym?

Are you or someone you know affected by the “I just don’t love exercise” mentality?

Don’t worry - others feel that too, and it’s totally okay!!

There are many many many reasons why you might feel this way. However, there are many many many reasons why you might want to do it, even if you don’t really like it.

Regular exercise has a lot of benefits, and even if you don’t enjoy doing it, there are ways to fit it into your days and your weeks!

We’ve got you covered with some great tips this week.

Do you ever catch yourself being extremely judgemental even if you pride yourself on being a non-judgemental person?

Because thats exactly where I found myself this week.

Judging frozen vegetables and sort of judging the people who choose frozen over fresh.

This week I dive deep into this judgment and I think it’s important that I share that with you - because there’s no pretending I’m perfect. I’m flawed, messy, and apparently a tad judgemental.

But, I’m working on it just as much as I continue to work on my health and fitness - and I’m really proud of myself for that.

Are there things you’re judging right now? I challenge you to dig deep and sit with those judgments - and maybe, like me, you’ll make some changes and even find yourself with a freezer full of frozen vegetables this week!

Sometimes, more often than not, it is okay to simply just exist at a slower pace.

Sometimes, more often than not, it is okay to have accomplished one or two big things off your to-do list instead of running yourself into the ground trying to accomplish everything.

Sometimes, more often than not, it is okay to have less, because guess what - less is more!

Instead of trying to accomplish everything at once and thinking that the only way to succeed at anything is by doing more, we’re encouraging our community to slow it down a bit. Pick one thing a day that you want to accomplish, and then feel proud of yourself for accomplishing it.

When you consume high protein meals, you’re going to feel full, your metabolism will kick into gear, and - surprise surprise - your body will be way better at building and maintaining muscle.

So yeah, high-protein meals are sort of a big deal.

And lucky for you, we’ve laid out some of our favorites for you to try so that you can go to bed feeling satisfied and wake up feeling excited!

Summer smoothies are basically smoothies that taste better because its summer, am I right? Summer is a great time time to utilize smoothies as a way to fuel your body. During this season we’re all likely taking advantage of the weather and the longer days, so being prepared and fueled is extremely important. We believe that smoothies are a great way to make sure you’re giving your body what it needs as it takes you on all your adventures, whether they’re up and down a mountain, with friends and family at the lake, or at the park with your kids until all hours of the evening!

Summer also is a time when produce is in abundance! There are tons of fruits and vegetables available, and if you can get your hands on them when it’s available, you’re off to a good start.

Let’s get blending!

Should is one of those words that we could get rid of, don’t you think? It brings up so many different feelings for everyone, in so many different scenarios, especially around fitness and even more so when it comes to exercising on holidays.

Instead, what if you asked whether or not you want to work out while camping (or on some sort of adventurous summer get-away that you’ve been looking forward to for months)?

If your answer is a genuine ‘yes’ then we have a few ideas to throw your way because let’s face it - you don’t need a gym, you don’t need equipment, you don’t need internet, you won’t lose momentum if things look different, your family will survive, and yes, you will be totally OK when you get back and head back into the routine that you’re currently loving.

The adrenal fatigue theory is simply that - a theory! It states that prolonged stress has a dramatic impact on your adrenal glands, causing them to work less efficiently, leading you to feel tired, experience poor sleep, be subject to intense food cravings, and unfortunately have a harder time recovering from injury and stress.

However, we’re going to dive a bit deeper and find out if science can back up this theory!

Guilt, restricting, secrets, and more!

It’s important to know that just like any other relationship, building a healthy relationship with food will be a lot of work. Developing and maintaining a good relationship with food will take time, energy, practice (and then more time, more energy, and more practice), and patience. Resetting your relationship with food is possible, but not easy!

It is no secret that Dunnebells is not an apparel company. However, it's also no secret that here at Dunnebells, we love to rise to a challenge and push ourselves outside our comfort zones.

Every so often we get this grand idea that we should launch some sort of apparel but our apparel has never been what's exciting about us.

With all that being said, we also love to try new things, expand ourselves, and give back in ways that are important to us.

This is why we've been consuming ourselves for the last handful of months with our new apparel, which will be available to you as of Friday June 24, with a portion of proceeds going to MENTAL HEALTH.

As a baby, you naturally knew to cry if you were hungry as well as push away food when you were full. No one ever told you to do it, it's just something that you did on your own.

Intuitive eating is, in its most basic form, exactly that - reconnecting with your body in relation to food. Intuitive eating is when you eat based on what your body needs. It’s eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full. It’s about enjoying the whole experience of eating and leaving the meal (or snack) feeling completely content.

In sickness, and in health, I will be here for my wife. Snot and all, I will forever do what I need to do to see her at her best.

And one of the things I know how to do when people need it the most is taking care of people. My grandmother taught me well that when you’re sick, you need soup, water, a bath, and a night of good sleep.

I’m sharing with you in this blog a recipe that was just recently shared with me - that I’m now coining THE SOUP YOU EAT WHEN YOU’RE SICK - so that if you’re ever in the situation that we’ve been in now for the last month, you’re prepared.

My hope is that you don’t NEED it for a while, but if you want to try it before it’s needed, I highly suggest you do.

Last week, in case you missed it, we outlined WHAT macronutrients are, WHY macronutrients are important (in our opinion), and some of our tips on how to track your macros, once you’ve calculated your macros.

If you’ve decided that you’re going to try tracking macros, this week is for you! We have some helpful tips for things you can implement today to really help you step up your game when it comes to counting your macros.

This week is all about making this journey a bit easier for you because we genuinely believe that counting macros (if you’re keen on it) is an important step to learning all about the food you eat and the effect it has on your body!

If you’re interested in tracking macros then please know that aiming for perfection is going to drive you bloody nuts, I promise you. We’re not here for perfection at all, and that's why I like to think of counting macros as a short-term thing; an educational period.

Getting close to your protein goal is a win.

Getting close to your fat goal is a win.

Going over your carbohydrate goal by less than 40g is a win.

Doing better than you did yesterday is a win.


Want to know what the heck I’m even talking about - GREAT! I’ll tell you…

My point is this - burnout is real. Your burnout may look different than mine, but they’re both real.

My point is that asking for help is an act of courage, nothing else.

My point is that you’re a wonderful person in the world who doesn’t deserve to carry the weight of it all solely on your own shoulders.

I also have hopefully made the point that the people you are asking to help you, are happy to help you. We’re not judging you. We’re not mad at you. We’re not ashamed of you. We don’t think that you’ve failed or have reached rock bottom.

I encourage you to share with others - your thoughts, your feelings, and your to-do list.

It’s my belief that when you start to do that, you inevitably open up space and capacity within yourself for things that actually excite you.

And isn’t that what life is about? Playing to your strengths?

As someone who suffered, and eventually overcomes a binge eating disorder, it is obvious to Lucy that Intermittent Fasting could be a massive trigger to disordered eating. Even researching IF can cause a trigger for some people because the whole thing is based upon GOOD and BAD times to eat. Strict calculations of time between meals, counting down minutes until you can finally eat something, and making sure you eat one last time before you head into a fast because you know you’re going to be going a long time without food - are all behaviors that can be triggering to people who have an eating disorder, have had an eating disorder, and even people who have not.

If you really want to learn about food, how food can fuel you, how to develop a good relationship with food, and how to not abuse food - then Intermittent Fasting doesn’t seem like a great place to begin. Its whole existence sits on the idea of a structure and schedule that is extremely unnatural to most folks.

While some people can really benefit from Intermittent Fasting it can actually be quite harmful for others.

Read more to find out how!

You don’t have to LOVE it, but the truth of the matter is this - you have a body, and if you’re heading to the beach, then you also have a beach body.

Your body is heading to the beach, and that's all that matters.

Your body is heading to the pool, and that's all that matters.

Your body is heading out to a picnic in the dead of summer, and all that matters is that YOU are comfortable and that YOU show up in a way that makes it possible for you to really enjoy yourself.

What you look like on the outside really has nothing to do with who you are and it sure as sh*t isn’t the reason that people love you.

It's spring for most of you, over there in North America and from my own experience, I know that this time of year holds so much excitement and hope.

Things are melting, wildlife is appearing, and the sun is out for longer than what seems like a few hours.

I believe that this is a great time to make some small, but mighty changes to your eating habits!

What I mean by ‘Spring Cleaning Your Eating Habits’ is this - saying goodbye (for now, anyway, if that makes you feel better) to your eating habits that ultimately aren’t making you feel the best. There's nothing wrong with your eating habits, but there's always a way to be a little bit better.

As always, we're never striving for perfection (this is hard for me to wrap my head around too, but I'm learning) we're simply striving to be better to ourselves in any way possible.