April to me....

Hey guys, it has been  awhile since my last post, so I thought I would take time to focus on the month ahead by talking about what April means to me.  April is the 4th month of the year, and the significance of this number has been part of phone numbers, addresses, softball number, wedding anniversary, daughter/son's sports number, etc. My prediction is that April will also hold some significance for me each year.  Wonder what it will be this year??

 My father's 58th birthday would have been on April 4, and it seems unreal that he won't be here to celebrate it.  As with anything, he wasn't much on celebrating anything or making a fuss about holidays and birthdays. In fact, I remember last year, there was severe weather that prevented me from visiting him on the last birthday he would ever see. It didn't bother me at the time, but I wish I had been more insistent about coming to see him.  The picture on the right is one of the first visits with Ms. Emma when we brought her home from the hospital.  You can see by his expression how proud he was to hold her. 

Emma was born in the 4th month too, and the significance of her being born a Aries has proved to be true.  Emma was given the tenderness of her Mimi's heart, but her personality came from her Grandpa.  Both Aries, they tend to be very independent, confident people, also very STRONG WILLED.  For the most part, this is a good thing.  It is my job as her mom to teach her what to do with that strength and watch her excel at whatever it is that she wants to do.  I dedicated this month completely to my baby girl, because it has been such an incredible feeling to be her mom.  After all, my journey was inspired by being a daughter to an strong willed father, and this post was inspired by having such an extraordinary Emmers.

So, what do I plan on teaching her?  I read this quote from Brian Henson (Jim's son), and it summed it up better than I ever could. 

 I guess I learned everything from my father. There was guidance from him throughout. He taught me to identify a person's talent, nurture that talent, and encourage them to look to themselves for solutions. That's probably what he taught me more than anything - a mind-set, a work ethic. -Brian Henson

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Motivation...it hits like a ton of bricks sometime...

The HILL

Lately, I have been less than thrilled to go to the gym and workout.  Do you ever feel like that?  There have been many reasons excuses.  My long list of injuries/pains, the weather, or just simply wanting to have morning coffee on my patio.  The main reason I mention this is because , I forced myself to press on.  It has been beautiful yet unusal weather here in TN for March, but I am not complaining.  Even though I felt less than motivated, I decided to take my little man on an "adventure" to a nearby walking track by a nearby historic war site.  I threw his bike in the back of the car, and off we went.  I packed my ipod, so I could enjoy some tunes while I walked and sometimes jogged behind him.  The temp was about 82 degrees, and the wind was blowing.  We hit the pavement and WOW, I felt the urge to take him to see the "cannon".  It was atop a  beautiful, but HUGE grassy hill, so I was a bit nervous that he wouldn't make it up there. I said, Buddy, you sure you wanna try to make it all the way up there?"  He just smiled at me and said, "Momma, I will be fine, just fine." 

And there it was, M.O.T.I.V.A.T.I.O.N!!  I was fine, just fine.   

      I don't know about you, but do whatever it takes to get 

     you moving.  You never know when your motivation may

     find you.   

My Lil Motivator

War Cannon

Atop the Hill

         



Say What???

I don't know about you, but this whole organic vs. natural sure is confusing.  My rule of thumb (my opinion) is try to buy things with fewer ingredients.  It usually end up being the easiest way to make quick decisions at the grocery store.  I've read all kinds of blogs and articles that both have great points.  Today, I decided I would be brave and throw my "healhier" choices out to help others know what to look for.  Are they the best choices? Probably not, but I am still learning and I bet they will be better options than what some are choosing.  Therefore, take them or leave them, but I just want minimal ingredients with still a slight convenience factor.  It is about the journey for the rest of your life, and I'm practical and REALISTIC. 

 According to Wikipedia, "Natural foods" and "all natural foods" are widely used terms in food labeling and marketing with a variety of definitions, some of which are vague. The term is assumed to imply foods that are minimally processed and do not contain manufactured ingredients, but the lack of standards in some jurisdictions means that the term assures nothing. The term "organic" has similar implications and has an established legal definition in many countries and an international standard. In some places, the term "natural" is defined and enforced. In others, such as the United States, it has no meaning.

The fact is that we can get duped by “Natural” labels. They do not necessarily mean the product is healthy for you. If you want no growth hormones, antibiotics, and free pastured cows, but be prepared to pay for the more expensive organic products. Sometimes there may not be a reasonable organic options, so the next best thing may be "natural" . 

Simply Simple....

Last summer, one of my workout girlies  ask me to take her shopping and help skinny up her food choices in the pantry.  It gave me an idea about sharing Shaklee with my fitness family.  Therefore, I created an event on my SkinnyGreen Facebook page to see how much interest I would get.  It created a lot of excitement and new energy around food choices, so I was excited to host my first Shaklee event.  The main purpose was to share natural alternatives for items that we love in everyday life.

  The catch was going to be it create a format that was only 3 SIMPLE STEPS.  Most of my peeps know that I am passionate about Shaklee products, so some expected to hear more about how they had changed my life. Most importantly, I was able to land rockstar speaker, Jenni Oates, former Division I athlete, soccer coach, and creator of Burst Club to speak at our meeting.  Wait for it, wait for it, and they are:

3 Simple Solutions to "Skinny" Your Life

1. Swap Out Toxic Products
2. Simplify Shopping
3. Supplement

We discussed everything from women's health, grocery shopping, recipes, and even tips to clean up your pantry.  It was really informative, but most of all, it was easy to understand.  I served samples of Shaklee Meal Bars, Performance Drink, Cinch Protein Drinks, and just about anything that has become a staple in my pantry.  I even displayed all my clean eating foods from the store such as Whole Wheat Flour, Coconut Oil, Shaklee Cooking Protein, GreenTea, etc. 

The hardest part of the whole evening was trying to get all the awesome information to them in such a short amount of time. I think it went great, and I am proud to say that I am willing to come to you and your friends to share tips too! 

Just clicked one day...

For many years, I was waiting for things to click. I tried numerous things with diet and exercise, but never moved the needle on the scale. I am preparing for my first Shaklee event to promote healthy living, and I started thinking about the moment that things "clicked" for me.

Me & Jen

As you've read in previous posts, I met my personal trainer, Jen,  last summer. On my first day, she handed me a spiral notebook and gave me a website to track my food.  At first, I thought there is no way that I can want to do this, but as an effort to change my behavior, I began logging every morsel. It wasn't until after about two weeks that she said the most profound to me.  She was reading my food journal and she looked at me with a serious voice and said," you aren't eating enough!"  WHAT?!? She explained to me the most simple concept that I never thought of before.  If you burn 1000 calories per day, you need to replace them! I should mention that I was doing two workouts per day, so NO, I am not superwoman. I was starving my body! I was always told to burn as many calories as I could, but I had never been told to replenish the nutrients that my body lost! Who knew? Lightbulb! This was the beginning for me. The first time that it "clicked" for me, and so my nutritional journey began....

Before my workouts, I always eat some kind of protein.  It could be homemade Healthy Oates' protein bars, Special K w/ almonds and almond milk, or my favorite, Shaklee Cinch protein shake.

After workouts, I make sure that I eat something like a banana, apple, or a Performance Recovery Shake depending on how many calories I burned.

For the rest of the day, I just try to eat natural/non processed foods.  My first rule of thumb is if I can't pronounce the ingredients, I usually don't eat it.  Secondly, I try to limit the number of ingredients to 5. There are alot of recipes that are fantastic with the "less is more" mentality.  The last thing I will leave you with is be reasonable. It is not normal to give up everything you love in life, so if you know it is going to be a pizza night, you better workout twice as hard to enjoy it!

Light Bulb Moments:

Are you eating enough?

 What exactly are you eating?

Are you giving up your favorite foods? 

Skinny up Cleaning Routine!

Today, I revisited a blog that I found back in December, CleanMama.  I decided, since today was the first Monday in February, I would finally adhere to her suggested monthly cleaning schedule.  It seems to be attainable, and so easy.  It allows you to focus on certain rooms each day with a few extras to help things in order.  I have a short cleaning attention span, so the plan seems like it will work for me.  I may need to make adjustments as I go, but I am willing to give it a shot. 

CleanMama offers great tips and tricks to help with cleaning, but most importantly, she uses CLEAN products.  Since I became a distributor for Shaklee, I started replacing one toxic cleaner per month with a better green cleaner to cut back on the poisonous exposure in our home.  Since we started using these products in our home back in November, our children's health seems to be better.  As I was looking over her blog, I noticed that she too, uses Shaklee Get Clean products.  If you would like to skinny your wallet and your cabinet space, check out these clean products that are nontoxic, natural, doubly concentrated, and have biodegradable surfactants.  Check out the products here.  By getting myself on a regular cleaning schedule, I hope that our health will continue to improve. Happy Green Cleaning!

New month, New news....



As read in my previous post, I was quite shocked when my Dad passed so young.  Me, being proactive, decided to have some hereditary test done to see if I had any signs of these same issues.  The good news is that after a few test, I didn't have any symptoms present, but there was a  preliminary finding. A growth/nodule/cyst (however you classify it) growing right around my thyroid in my neck.  {insert my freak out} The good news was that they didn't see any "characteristics" that needed a further look, but I should do a routine checkup in 6 mos. 

Fast forward 6 mos, I went yesterday.  Today, I got the call that it had grown, so I needed to come in for an ultrasound biopsy.  {insert 2nd freak out}  Many emotions and thoughts come rushing into your head when you hear news like this.  The first thing I have to do is try to remain optimistic.  Yeah, I know, Mrs. Devil Advocate, how am I suppose to do that?  Well, it's a new month, new year, and hopefully, a new outlook.  For now, I will just do what they tell me and hurry up and wait........to be continued....