We’re eating ourselves into a grave!

Today I am going to give a little tough love! I know that starting a healthy path is rough, I have been there. I know how it feels to look one way in my mind, but see a photograph that looks completely different (My before picture). It is HARD. However, one day I got fed up. I looked unhealthy and felt terrible. If you are battling health or weight you have to reach that breaking point of being “sick and tired of being sick and tired”. The first question once you commit to beginning a healthy life style should not be “Well, can I still eat this?” You’re setting yourself up for failure; that question reveals that you are not ready to change.

The secret is simple; it all starts with the FOOD. What we put into the machine determines what comes out. Yes my friends you can throw away all your diet books, tips, tapes, DVD’s and complete low-carb library because that is the basis of all you need to know. It is the food. It’s the food that makes us thrive or kills us, it’s the food that is giving us energy or drains us and it is the food that adds nutrients or depletes them.

Today in America we are literally killing ourselves with food, and I don’t just mean by being overweight. We are killing our bodies with foreign man-made chemicals, mutated cellular organisms and toxic filler. Our bodies were never designed to eat, digest and use the radical ingredients that are found in our food supply today. The crazy thing is all this death is wrapped up in a cute little cupcake, catchy slogan or hilarious commercial that will bust your gut - literally. Even so called marketed "healthy food" is running around as X-Men mutants of the real thing. 

How have we as a society allowed this extreme dissociation between what we eat and where is comes from? Have we become so distracted by iphones, TV shows, careers and social media to realize that the killer we fear is not outside but in our refrigerator? How many loved ones have to pass away from lifestyle induced diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes to make us realize that something is wrong? How does it ever become normal that at the age of 40 doctors in America begin to start people on blood thinners, statins and pharmaceutical cocktails that make us customers forever? Will it ever stop?

I am not coming from a place of judgment because this very well could have been me today, but my hope is that people wake up and THINK. It boils down to the daily seemingly insignificant choices we make to fuel our bodies; to eat a bagel over eating fruit, to forgo vegetables for a pizza, to continually feed our sugar addictions. It has nothing to do with being overweight or thin because thin people are dying of the very same diseases. It is about our health. Think long and hard about what you want for your life. Do you want to battle diseases and prescriptions for the second half of your life or do you want to LIVE?

Start today by educating yourself. Some of my favorite food documentaries are Forks over Knives, Ingrediants, Vegucated and Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. It is so important to find out where your food comes from. My rule of thumb on everything I eat is: How close is this food to its natural state?  If there are too many steps in the process then I usually don’t eat it. Nutrition doesn’t have to be so complex. Eat life! Most of our diets should be food that is grown and has been in the sun. Give your body a period to detoxify and rid itself from old habits and toxins (detox video).

You deserve to be healthy! You deserve a good life! Give yourself that chance. Share your thoughts comments and questions below. 

Squash & Potato Medley

Change Hurts, But Hold On!

As a woman of faith I often find myself having very candid conversations with God. In the beginning they were more like one sided arguments and pity parties. However, the more I found out about the nature of God the more our conversations progressed. Little by little I started to notice small changes in my life. God pointing me to do this and telling me to stay away from that; walking as he patiently guided my footsteps. I almost never have suddenly moments with God he has always brings me through. People talk about overnight miracles well that most definitely is not me. Sometimes I get really frustrated with that; seeing so many people in my life get blessed with things I have been praying for, for years. It gets really rough, but tonight God reminded me that change hurts.

In almost every uncomfortable situation I have been in, I have always grown. Looking back I always prayed for God to deliver me from the hard stuff immediately but he chose to bring me through. I had to be in those moments to become myself. I had to go through the hurt of losing someone to make me compassionate to those people going through the same. I had to be broke and penny less in order to understand how to invest and save. I had to be sick and unhealthy in order to value my life and the temple in which I dwell. I had to die in order to really live; and more importantly to teach and inspire others around me to do the same.

Life happens in the ugly, hard and tearful moments. Times when we think we can’t take it another day; that is when life happens. We change and grow through the ugliness and hurt; that faith we carry through the hard times becomes the foundation of our joy. We not only see ourselves for who we truly are but we see God for who he truly is.

 I think often of the things I could do to speed up the process of waiting on God and to hurry the change. I am sure people wonder why I have not made it to certain milestones in my life. For instance so many people have been reminding me of my singleness lately, even people I would have never expected. “You’re so pretty and smart, did you ever think of dating (insert random guy’s name)?” It is hard to explain to people the concept of waiting on God and patience it takes when God is really ordering your life. It’s hard not to cave into the culture we live in and the demands of family and friends but there is a better way.

I’ve already lived the life of trying to satisfy the world’s expectations, and it is not a fun existence. I did it for many years chasing after this job, following after this man, holding on to false ideologies and at the end of it all I was left more hopeless and depressed than when I started. Yes now my steps are ordered by God but I wake up every day with an extra pep in my step, I genuinely have so much love in my heart it hurts, the peace I have is indescribable and I glow with the love of God.

I know that times get hard but HOLD ON! Be encouraged. There is a reason that you are there. Embrace being molded and broken right now. God loves you. Become a student of your life, take in the lessons that the hard times bring and think daily about what God is trying to teach you through your circumstances.

Are you going through a hard time? Is it hard to follow God’s lead for your life? Have you successfully made it to another mountain top? Share your success, trial and encouragement. 

Free Yourself from Calories!

I remember being over 200 pounds and desperate. I had tried everything and nothing was working. So one day feeling very low I humbly joined a weight loss club. I was so excited! I remember buying all of the books, weighing in at the meetings and joining my group members weekly to discuss our weight loss issues. My instructor often brought us free “weight loss club” snacks that were very low in calories but very delicious. I signed the dotted line and thought I had found my people! It was comforting to be able to discuss my late night binges, or the really BAD weekends of throwing caution to the wind; those people understood. There was an unsaid “Eating-fat -while-trying-to-be-skinny” mentality that existed in my club. Weekly we shared our low calories food finds. For example; “ABC Company makes this delicious dessert that is only 10 calories” or “XYZ brands makes this yummy cheese spread that is only 15 calories.” I remember one night eating 5 of those 100 calories snack pack cookies and thinking; this can’t be healthy, but at least it was only 500 calories. I finally came to the end of my 6 month weight loss club membership only having lost 7 pounds; I knew then there had to be a better way.

The problem was the weight loss club’s reasoning for my future weight loss success was based on a math equation (factoring in no variables). They told me I could still eat the horrible bad food that got me overweight BUT they were just going to replace it with a lower calorie, chemically altered, extra processed replacement; instead of teaching me how to reprogram my relationship with unhealthy food. Yes for some this works for a while. We eat the lower calorie cookie instead of the really bad cookie or we eat the extra thin pizza instead of the doughy pizza; thinking all the while this will last. Well the process is doomed from the start. The focus is on what we can’t have instead of what we can. We are constantly reminded of the really good versions of the stuff that makes us obese, and before long we are back to buying the same foods that made us overweight in the first place. It is a vicious cycle.

But there is a better way! The process I went through to lose weight was all about retraining my taste buds and focusing nutrition. Most yummy horrible foods today are packed with flavor but low on nutrition; this is why you can still feel hungry after eating a big Mac with fries. I used to go into a deep depression after eating 3 slices of pizza and still having room for dessert, but it was all about the nutrition. I learned to like highly nutritious foods. The process of learning I went through was juice fasting (My juicing video), during this time my body was flushed of all toxins and my cravings for bad foods disappeared. While I fasted I researched nutritious foods that I planned on eating like: Kale, lentils, quinoa, squash and many more. The cool thing about fasting is it also makes you appreciate food, and so when I began eating healthy it was easy!

I encourage you to free yourself from calorie counting! Don’t get caught up in hype of calories in and calories out. While it is important to watch portions; the real focus should be on the nutritional content of the food you eat. Retrain your taste buds, get rid of the junk and become the healthy person you always wanted to be!

How was your experience in a weight loss club? How have you learned to eat healthy? Share your thoughts comments and questions below. 

My Resolve Manifesto

This year...

I resolve to work earnestly toward my dream .I resolve to not care what people think about who I am or the choices I make. I resolve to not answer the question “What do you do for a living” because if I said what I am doing they would not understand. I resolve to answer the question “Why are you single?” with a blank stare. I resolve to do more of what I love and less of what other people would love for me to do. I resolve to change the world by the way that I live and not by what I say.

This year...

I resolve to LOVE people regardless of whether I know them or not, but love them just because we are here on earth together. I resolve to dance more often with or without music. I resolve to get away more, build more tents and gaze at more views.

This year...

I resolve that I am different, I don't fit in, no one truly gets me and I think God made it that way so I would learn to solely trust in him. I resolve to not engage false company, life is too short. I resolve not to jump into a box full of labels just to make someone feel comfortable with who I am. I resolve to not diminish myself; YES I am as great as they think and NO I will not apologize for it.

This year...

I resolve to be even more awesome then I was last year so if I wasn't liked then, BRACE yourself! I resolve not to apologize for my love of Jesus, it is through him that I am so amazing and his love that has helped me overcome, if that makes someone feel uncomfortable maybe they should stick around this site a little longer and find out why. I resolve to shake off all the self-inflicted expectations of this this world, people and society and just LIVE.

This year I resolve to be GREAT.