Round Two of Healthy Living

Okay, folks.  Here I am for round two.  I fell off the healthy eating wagon HARD a while back.  It started with a trip to Texas followed by a cruise and that was pretty much the end of me.  Now, I'm the same hot mess I was BEFORE all that.  Sigh.  Well, that's not ENTIRELY true.  Caffeine is still not a part of my daily diet.  At least not in it's most obvious form:  I'm still primarily soda free.  YAY!  But, I'm heavier than I've ever been - pregnancies included (yikes) and my body has all KINDS of aches and pains.  Not to mention I have a vaca with the rugrats in VT this summer that will involve bathing suits.  As it stands, I'm dreading that idea so I figure that's as good a reason as any to get my butt back in gear.  I'm no longer a beach body coach (though I do still love the work outs) but I'm aiming for the same plan I had before:  More water.  (My skin would love me for that.) cleanER eating, work out 5 days a week.  I need to get my house in order for that last one (and I don't have beachbody on demand anymore which makes me wanna cry) but I will get there.  I think I wanna give the Fitness Marshall on Youtube a go.  I love him.  lol. Anyways, I hope that if I keep writing I might keep my motivation for this flowing and STAY ON THE FREAKIN WAGON.  Wish me luck and determination!

Butternut Squash

Hello, facebook! Today is lookin to be a great day. The String Bean is 10 years old! Got my bottles full for the day and I'm ready to go. Have a couple errands to run so it will be my 2nd day leaving the house while it's empty. I actually HATE doing that, go figure. Christmas Wreath hand off, keys at walmart (and maybe a little Christmas shopping while I'm there) I need to return some coats at target, and get a couple new ones (they lied when they said they were warm winter coats. I think the kids would FREEZE in those things right now. Downside to ordering online.) Then home for my workout. Yesterday was pretty good. I had to go to BJ's to get some drier sheets and while I was there I realized I managed to have a little extra $ in my bank this month (woohoo!) so I got some yummies - more kale for chips, granola for breakfast and snack, sweet potatoes because I'm determined to make my kids love them, 2 butternut squash and some yellow squash.  Got MOST of my water in last night. Stayed under my calories but they weren't all smart calories. I was good during the day but someone ordered pizza for dinner! AND was thoughtful enough to get me my very own...because i need my own pizza. lol. I appreciate the thought though. I LOVE pizza. So, I'll be having ONE slice of that a day for MANY days. lol. 

 Here's where I need a little help - Butternut Squash.  What's YOUR favorite way to make butternut squash?  I think I've only made it once before and I couldn't tell you what I did with it to save my life.  lol.  I'm VERY excited to be using it and I hope to make it a part of my regular purchases so I really want to make something the family will dig.  Anyways, heading into another great day. Hope you have a great one!

The compound effect.

I've started reading The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy (publisher of SUCCESS magazine.)  I'm only just starting chapter 2 but I'm loving it.  The idea behind the compound effect is almost self explanatory.  You make LITTLE changes in your life and you stick with them.  With time, these little changes add up and make a BIG difference.  It gave a number of examples - one using a penny, one using a set of friends.  That one was good.

3 friends - one does nothing to change his life, just keeps on keeping on and complains a bit about the things he doesn't like.  Another makes little changes daily - cuts out a teensy bit of calories each day (like, one cup of cereal less, one soda traded for seltzer water and/or using mustard instead of mayo), listens to inspirational audio tapes on his way to work, reading a couple pages in a good book each day and walking a little under a mile each day.  The last friend sort of goes the opposite route of the 2nd and also makes small changes but not necessarily the RIGHT small changes.  He wants to live it up a bit more so he starts drinking one alcoholic drink every day, watches the food channel and making LOTS of recipes from there (which, I completely understand because I LOVE the food channel.  But, most of the things on it need to fall into that treat/occasional category...), he got a big tv so he can more enjoy watching tv so he does that more often.  So, he's ingesting more calories and doing less to burn them off.  Not alot but enough.

Blah blah blah, I'm not going to write out the whole chapter but almost 3 years later, we wind up with friend A who hasn't changed ANYTHING about his life except that the things that bothered him 3 years ago bother him a little more and he's a little bit bitter that the "better my life" fairy didn't come down and make it happen for him.  Friend B has learned so much good stuff from all that inspiration and good booking AND put it to use so he went and earned himself a promotion.  Cutting back just a bit in calories, along with the walking (you know, those LITTLE differences that don't seem like they make much of a difference) after 3 years, he's lost himself a little over 30 lbs!  Just by replacing mayo with mustard and maybe one soda with seltzer water!  And he's so pleased with all his efforts and the good things that came with him that he's happier.  Happier people tend to spread that happiness so his wife, who he compliments often, thanks to his good mood, is happier with him, his marriage is strong, his job is great - he's going places.  And then there's that other friend.  The family loved his new recipes so he kept making them, dipping in a little alone the way, adding extra calories.  This makes him a bit sluggish so he uses that big tv more and more.  He starts to get grumpy, he notices a little weight gain, his mood plummets, he stops taking walks with his wife, she takes it personally and starts to spend more time with her friends, his marriage starts to suffer, his job starts to suffer...nothing good comes of this.  This gives you an idea of the ripple effect that you can get.  And that's the whole point behind the compound effect.  I can't wait to read more and more and find out all about what is involved.  Ch 2 is about choices.  I'm loving this book - it ties in nicely with things I already believe but helps me to understand the why a bit more.  Grab a copy, check it out.  It can help YOU change YOUR life.

I challenge YOU.

Today I started a group that focuses on the health and fitness part of my journey.  I want to help people get the ball rolling with things if they're interested but having a hard time motivating.  It's a laid back group.  No purchases required, just a place to check things out, get some info and a little kick in the but saying "you can do it, I know you can."  And it's completely online so there's no where to go or anything like that.  You should go check it out.  :) Are you ready to unleash YOUR life?  

In the group today, we talked a little about why you should exercise, drink water and all the evils of soda - I had a NASTY caffeine habit - Pepsi and Dr Pepper are my soda's of choice...I actually quit accidently which was HUGE since it's a VERY hard habit for me to kick and I know this because I've tried MANY MANY TIMES and I always seem to wind up right back where I started.  :(  I've currently been 99% soday free for 6 months now.  Yay me!  :) 

After having had all these chats, I tossed out a little challenge.  3 weeks - get some form of physical activity in lasting 30 minutes or more 3 times a week and replace one soda (or other drink) with water.  Do YOU accept the challenge?  If you accept the challenge, I will be there (online) by your side to help you get there.  I will check in on you, see how you're doing and will hold you accountable!  :) 

My Why

Okay, honesty time. I filled out a form for the 21 day fix challenge group I was in a ways back. It asked to really dig deep and be emotional and explain the deep down reason you want to do this. So I did. When I finished, she had said what I wrote was really inspiring so...maybe it's time to share my why. So, here goes.

 
Why do I want to do ALL this. The reason I've been on this journey -this whole journey, not just this health and fitness part - is two fold. Nearly 4 years ago, I lost my fiance to a heart attack. We were expecting our 3rd child. My relationship with him was very complex yet still sort of fantastic. A very once in a lifetime thing. We managed to push each other to grow in ways I didn't know were possible. He started me on my journey and I didn't even know it yet. And seeing him grow and change and conquer so many, many things was pretty amazing too. Now that he's gone, I want to do the very best to grow and change in the ways that he showed me are possible. I want to move mountains, I want to be the very best version of me that is possible and I want, more than anything else, to make him proud of me.  That's the first why. 


And then there's the second why - a couple years after he was gone, I realized what it was I specifically wanted. I missed so much from losing him. But one of the bigger things was the way I felt when he would remind me how much I inspired HIM. Some may think it's a selfless thing, inspiring others, but really what you get in return can make you so happy to be you that it's really not. lol. I MISS that feeling. I LOVED that feeling. I loved that someone knew they could count on me to love them unconditionally and support them in whatever way they needed - even if that was hard sometimes. And I realized that was sort of what I wanted to do, what I NEED to do - I"m sort of built for it. I care. THAT is what I'm good at. I still don't know 100% what that means, exactly, but what little I do understand seems to be working. lol. I think that's why I became a girl scout leader - which I love doing.  So, the two tidbits go hand in hand in forming my complete why. 
 

In regards to workouts and healthier eating, I want to show who ever wants to know that I can do this - they can do this - we can do this. I want to do it for me, I want to do it for my kids because they deserve a healthier me who will be here for a long time and I want to do this for him so he can see that I'm following through on the exercising that he had wanted us to do but wasn't here long enough to start. (he wanted to get p90x. For both of us. I was less than enthused at the time. lol.)

THAT is my why.  What's YOURS?

Things to do with the Fam.

I posted something today on facebook that lead to a rambling of thoughts.  I wound up with thinking of all the time I seem to waste where we could be doing awesome things together.  So, THAT needs to change.  It's saturday.  The morning insanity has ended.  I will say, now that the boy is so busy and had to cut back on karate a little, it's made saturdays a little LESS rushed so I even got to spend some time with the peanut at a local kids museum.  AWESOME.  We recently got a memebership there so we can just pop in whenever.  It['s going to be the best thing ever, I think.  The peanut had dance this morning followed by jump rope class.  These classes are nearly next door to each other compared with where we live in town so it seemed like such a waste to drive all the way home inbetween but it left us with an hour to kill.  So we went to the kids museum.  Awesome.  There are some things that I love to do with my rug rats one on one.  But what about those times when we're all home?  We're pretty broke too so it's not like we can just go out and do things, you know?  And even when we can - do remember, we have 5 kids in this house.   5.  So that simple little activity that's fairly inexpensive suddenly gets multiplied by 5 which usually makes it a big, expensive undertaking.  :(  And that sucks.  But we still don't want to waste away those rare weekends where we DON'T have a crap load of obligations.  So, what do we do?  THAT'S the answer I need to find.  


Now, when it's warm and sunny, that's pretty easy - we just go outside.  SOMETIMES we get brave and start a fire in the fire pit and even get some s'more's going.  We don't do that nearly as often as we should because, as I mentioned before, it's a little chaotic.  It's a simple thing but it somehow always becomes a BIG happening.  lol.  That's lots of kids and, you know, pointy sticks, fire and occasionally firey marshmellows begging to be unintentionally flung at each other.  As of yet, nothing has gone horribly wrong so we always forget and then do it again and once it's done and we're COMPLETELY exhausted, we go OH, that's right - THAT'S why it's been so long.  lol.  But, that's the joy in memory wipes.  lol.  Side note - this is how well MY memory protects me.  Even though I currently remember the insanity, I assure you, once it's warm again I'm going to resume wanting to have a giant s'more buffet at a picnic.  I can tell you now, I will want to do this even though at this moment I KNOW better.  Just you watch.  Anyways, so that's all good and stuff but it's now November.  IT'S FREAKIN COLD.  Even when it's warm it's cold.  I don't really want to go outside.  lol.  The kids will go out, don't go thinking that they become hermits like their mother.  But that brings us back to everyone doing whatever and oh, look, the day is done and we didn't do squat.  


There are TONS of lists of things to do at home with your family.  TONS.  But so many of them seem so daunting.  I need to get over myself and just get on with it and do some.   30 fun things to do at home, Fun at home with kids,   100 things to do during a money free weekend.
And there are certainly a TON of things I would pick off these lists.  But WHY does it have to be so easy to just in a minute, in a second myself into an entire day passing by with NOTHING happening?  I don't know but I MUST work on that.   A lot.   Really, what it comes down to is that I need to erase the phrase "just a minute" from my vocabulary.  I need to pay more attention to my priorities.  ESPECIALLY now that I have time with an empty house.  The house is perfectly happy with me focusing on it during THAT time.  I really need to use the REST of my "free" time more wisely.  So, THAT is my aim.  And, I suspect a good start would be shutting up and getting OFF my computer.  :)  With any luck, I'll have a better report tonight.  Have a great day and go do something!  :)  

Clean Eating v Healthy Eating

Clean eating generally refers to raw, whole foods and not any processed foods. Healthy foods can be raw, whole, or processed as healthy generally has more to do with the nutritional content of the food. But both clean and healthy are subjective terms.

Every clean eater has a different definition of what eating clean means to them, and healthy can depend on your individual goals and needs. To me, things like fruits and grains are healthy because they help me meet my my nutritional needs. To someone who is diabetic or has PCOS, those foods could be some of worst possible choices and lead to some decidedly unhealthy results. 

What I'M looking to do is get away from the processed crap that we've been accustomed to stocking our pantry and freezer with, minimize the chemical intake on my family.  A large part of that is I'm looking at how our eating habits have changed as a society and also how our health has been impacted and I can't help but think there MUST be a connection there.  lol.  So, I want to minimize the crap and get closer to the basics. (Be a cleanER eater)  Unfortunately for us, we were so reliant on the crap that it's going to take a LOT of baby steps to bring us closer to where I want us to be.  But, baby steps I'm taking.  lol.  For me, the first step is to get back to home made.  I'm not so worried about clean and I'm really not even worried about diet (I'm not programed to count and keep track of things like this)  I'm worried about non processed, well rounded meals.  I figure if I eat HEALTHIER and amp up my exercise I should be able to get where I want to be weight wise AND health wise AND make changes I can stick with more easily. 
 
My best advice is to figure out what is the best diet for you and your needs and not get hung up trying to label how you eat. No one has "ate clean" on their tombstone unless they were attacked by piranhas or flesh-eating bacteria.

Here is a WONDERFUL list of anything clean eating related that any beginner might need/want to know.   I plan to remember this page and visit it often. 

http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating/food-substitution-chart/?utm_content=buffer9a03e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

I'm especially fond of the food substitution chart for cooking/baking.  I'm SO not there yet but I'd like to be one day.  We'll see.  And again, I'm aiming to reduce, minimize - not eliminate.  If I aim to eliminate I think I'm setting myself up for failure.  But, minimize I can do.  And I can even maintain it.  Okay, that's my ramble about eating clean and eating healthy.  :)