Tag Archives: Weightloss

Summer Shape Up

Summer Shape Up starts today!

It is 30 days, are you up for a challenge?

I’m very excited to learn some new recipes, meet new friends, and getting healthy one simple change at a time. I have been getting my smoothie recipes lined up, and planning some healthy simple tweaks to my life.

A few of the goals I have during the challenge and I will add more as I go on this journey:

Drink more water and add lemon essential oil to each glass.
Drink a complete whole food smoothie once a day.
Eat a salad once a day.
Take my fruit, veggie, and berry capsules once a day.
Take my superfood supplements once a day.
Use essential oils everyday to help detox, cooking, detox my body, cleaning, etc.
Menu Plan each week to help me stay on track to reach my goals.
Walk or be active at least 30 minutes each day.
Get at least 20 minutes of sunshine each day.
Pray and read my bible every morning.

I hope you will join me.

Please share.

Black Bean Quinoa Pilaf

Leave a reply

This dish smells amazing! It is fast, simple, and nutritious! I am putting one foot in front of the other as I make wise choices to eat healthy. Healthy doesn’t have to mean you spend hours in the kitchen. Healthy meals can come together fast and easy.

Talk about fast, this meal comes together in 5 minutes by premaking some ingredients once a week and storing them in the fridge or freezer until you are ready to use them. I make a big batch of several healthy foods like quinoa use them for several dishes throughout the week.

I use my premade quinoa, and fresh salsa from the fridge to make this quick lunch. But if you don’t have those on hand, allow yourself an extra 15 minutes or so to cook your quinoa (dry quinoa and water and heat for 15 minutes), and to chop your fresh salsa veggies.

Black Bean Quinoa Pilaf

1 can Black Beans, drained

1/2 to 1 cup fresh salsa

1 cup pre-cooked quinoa, (or use 1/2 cup dry quinoa plus 1 cup water )

1/4 tsp chili powder (optional)

1/4 tsp cumin (optional)

1/4 tsp sea salt

Heat everything in a sauce pan over medium heat about 5 minutes if using premade quinoa. You will need to cook for 15 minutes with a lid on if using dry uncooked quinoa and add the extra water. Don’t cook too long or you might over cook your quinoa. If you like your beans softer, heat them on the stove first until they become the texture you like. Then add your quinoa after that.

Use this dish as the main meal, or as a side dish. For the main meal, you can serve it with a side salad and fresh cucumbers, or use it as a filling for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, stuff it into peppers or potatoes or zucchini or serve it like a taco salad, or blend it smooth into a dip and serve with veggies or tortilla chips for dipping. You can also put this in the blender and cream it with water, broth, or milk of your choice to make a smooth protein packed soup and serve with tortilla chips or warm bread.

My personal preference is to make my quinoa ahead and add it with raw salsa both right at the end so this dish stays nice and fresh tasting. I keep a double batch of quinoa so I have this ready to go in my fridge and another batch in my freezer to use for super quick nutritious meals. It’s all good!!!

Please share.

Getting In More Fruits and Vegetables

Leave a reply

I’ve been making healthy changes in my life. I’m 45 and I realize I haven’t always made the best food choices. There are things about my health I can improve. One of those is to consume more healthy fruits and vegetables.

It is recommended that we eat at least 9 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Those are minimum numbers for basic nutrients. You will want to eat a lot more to stay healthy and fight disease, and also if you do athletic activities.

4 Ways To Get In More Fruits And Vegetables.

Here are 4 ways to include more fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet:
1. Make fruit bowls, fruit or fruit and veggie kabobs, and smoothies at breakfast.
2. Include vegetables on your sandwich, in a salad, or as a fresh crunchy side dish for lunch.
3. Set out vegetable trays, or make your own “???” (salad, taco, loaded potatoes, veggies and dip, etc) for supper, and offer bowls and plates filled with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to choose from. The more exposure your kids (and husband) has to seeing and sampling these, the more likely they will be to develop a desire to eat them.
4. Take Juice Plus+ Capsules or Juice Plus+ Chewables.

The Next Best Thing

I know I don’t eat enough servings of fruits and vegetables in a day. Over time this creates a gap in my nutrition and health. I am thankful for the option to eat additional whole food nutrients in a simple way, dried and encapsulated. It is the next best thing to fresh fruits and vegetables and supplies a full spectrum of nutrients, enzymes, probiotics, and the synergy of the live food my body needs.

I am bridging the gap with these 6 capsules. I am eating the nourishment of 30+ fruits, veggies, berries, and grains. All the nourishment is in tact, just like when I use my juicer and dehydrator to preserve my garden harvest. It is still whole food and all of the nutrients are there including vitamins, minerals, enzymes, prebiotics, probiotics, antioxidants, cartenoids, phytonutrients, chlorophyll, anthocyanosides, polyphenols, immune boosting and histamine lowering herbs, and so much more. I wish I had known about this years ago, but it’s never to late to make a positive change.

KIDS

And I don’t have to worry about my kid’s diet missing out on vital whole food nutrients. Juice Plus+ offers the same whole food nutrition in gummy chews that kids love.

My kids love these amazing chewy fruity gems of nutrition.

On average most kids in the USA get less than 5 servings a day of fruits and veggies. That is far less than the 9-13 servings that are recommended. Let’s face it, kids don’t always have big appetites for fruits and veggies. They prefer cookies, junkfood, hotdogs, and chicken nuggets. So what is a parent to do?

Keep trying. Keep introducing fruits and veggies at each meal and snack times. And then do the next best thing to be sure you have covered all the bases.

But with Juice Plus+ Chewables, parents can have the confidence that they are bridging the gap in their child’s nutrition too. And Juice Plus+ offers the chewables to children for free with the parents purchase of adult capsules or adult chewables.

Let me know if you would like more information about how Juice Plus+ can help you and your family with bridging the gap in your healthy lifestyle.

Be blessed!

Please share.

Keep Trying!

Leave a reply

I fail.

I try,

and try,

and keep trying.

Sometimes I succeed.

I have a lot of dreams.

I have made a lot of mistakes.

I have a lot of hope for the future.

One of my biggest struggles is my health. One of my biggest accomplishments is also my health. I am 45 years old, and I am trying to get healthy after challenging health issues of infertility, thyroid issues, adrenal fatigue, 9 pregnancies between ages 30 to 45, surgery, anemia, weight gain, allergies, and auto-immune issues. WHEW! It has been a challenge! Learning about my body, and what works and doesn’t work for me has been a lifelong journey.

It’s not easy.

For a long time, I kept falling further behind. Even though I tried, I wasn’t going forward to reach a better level of health. But there are successes and I do go forward, even if I also take a step back or sideways from time to time. I will get there, I will reach my goals.

Sometimes I don’t even know where to begin.

So I pray.

What else can I do?

God has the answers and solutions to my situation.

He has the answers for yours too.

I’m on a journey.

I am getting better.

I am healing.

I am working toward a healthier me.

I keep trying.

I saw this video today. I was inspired to go further as I watched these two women encourage each other to keep trying.

I hope you will keep trying too!

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 1:2

Please share.

Week 4 Update On The 90 Day Challenge

1 Reply

I can hardly believe four weeks have passed since I started this challenge. I am happy to report that I am making progress with my goals and I am down 14 pounds!

No dieting, well unless you believe what Hailey Pomroy says that diet stands for Did I Eat Today? In that case then YES I am eating and eating and eating! There is so much food on this meal planning strategy to rev up the metabolism that I can’t hardly eat it all. I’m always stuffed! How can I loose 3.5 lbs a week, or about .5 lbs a day on average, when I am eating so much food?

This strategy is about eating 5 times a day, including lean proteins at each meal, and separating carbs and fats in different meals. That is it in a nut shell! I can find all the ingredients to create delicious meals in my local grocery store that fit right with my budget. What I choose to eat is up to me, as long as it is on the list. The list is divided up into three phases.

I keep meals focussed on either:
Phase 1: protein and carbs (high glycemic fruits and veggies and grains),
Phase 2: protein and low glycemic veggies,
Phase 3: protein and fats with low glycemic fruits and veggies, and grains and nuts.

Hailey Pomroy, a clinical nutritionist, has designed this strategy called FMD (Fast Metabolism Diet) to help rev up the metabolism and help the body focus on one fuel source at a time. The THM strategy (Trim Healthy Mama) works the same way too. Both of the strategies are awesome!

When the body has an over abundance of fats and carbs at the same meal, it burns one fuel type and stores the other one. By feeding the body one fuel source, it burns up that source and this doesn’t lead to weight gain, but effectively helps balance out to a healthy weight. If you are over weight, then this strategy efficiently helps the weight come down to a normal level creating a balance in the body. If you are at goal weight, then this strategy will help your metabolism to stay efficient and healthy and maintain your weight.

A few tips that have helped me get this far:
I posted my food list on the fridge, and it shows me what foods and ingredients to combine on what days. That has helped me overcome any last minute confusion about what foods to reach for.

I posted my goals on the wall in front of my computer too so I can look at them often.

I fill up a quart jar with liquids to drink through out the day. Sometimes it is filled with water, other times a fancy lemonade, and sometimes a fun fruity smoothie or a delicious homemade dairyfree sugarfree shake.

I am eating a huge variety of awesome foods made right at home! For the past 10 years or so, I have taken some food based supplements like kelp, spirulina, vitamin C, vitamin D3, probiotics, enzymes, etc. to naturally help my body get all the nutrients it needs. I use a green food powder a couple times a week in a morning Green Berry Smoothie too.

I set small goals for myself to progressively reach the bigger goals.

I am really pleased with my progress so far, and I can’t wait to see my outcome after the next four weeks. I am so excited about challenging my self at the beginning of this year so that I can attain to a healthier version of me this year. Lord willing, this new me at a healthy weight by making healthy choices is going to happen!

This post will be linked up with
Raising Homemakers

Please share.

Tuna Pepper Boats

Leave a reply

This is a delicious lunch. It foocuses on lean protein and lots of low glycemic vegetables. This meal is a lot of food, and it is bursting with fresh flavors. Though it seems like a meal for lunch, I really enjoy this for breakfast too. I find filling up on a great salad and lean protein at breakfast or lunch helps to curb hunger pains. If you find you are still hungry with this meal, try adding some chicken, steak, or turkey bacon to the side salad. I often use this salad as a base in my meals on Phase 2 and then add meats to make a whole meal. But today I wanted to pair it with egg whites and tuna so I came up with these fun little tuna pepper boats.

Tuna Pepper Boats
FMD Phase 2 (THM E-Meal)
2 servings
157 calories, 1 fat, 9 carbs, 2 fiber, 26 protein, 10% Vit A, 130% Vit C

1 bell pepper, seeded and cut into four wedges or “boats”
1 can tuna in water, drained
1 stalk of celery, chopped (I love using celery stalk loaded with leaves and chop it all)
2 Tablespoon red onion, chopped or sliced thin
2 boiled egg white, chopped small
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/16 tsp ground pepper
1/4 lemon, juiced

Mix all the ingredients (except the bell pepper) together. Stuff the tuna mixture inside the bell pepper wedges. Serve.

Side Salad
FMD Phase 2 (THM E-Meal)
2 servings
37 calories, 0 fat, 8 carbs, 3 fiber, 2 protein, 84% Vit A, 56% Vit C

1 cup baby spinach, chopped
2 cup romaine lettuce, chopped
1 cup cucumber slices, cut in half
1/2 cup radish slices
1/4 cup red onion chopped
1 lemon, juiced, or serve the lemon wedges so folks can squeeze on their own dressing.
sea salt and pepper to taste

Toss it all together and serve.

Life is what you make of it. Be blessed and enjoy the journey!

This post will be linked up with:
Raising Homemakers
Raising Memories

Please share.

Meal Planning for 90 Day Challenge

4 Replies

I have listed my 15 Goals for 2015. I am doing a 90 Day Challenge to help me jumpstart reaching my goals this year. One of those goals is to eat healthy nutrient dense foods to live. I will be posting my meal plans / food journals during my 90 Day Challenge for better health and wellness to give you an idea of what I am eating and where I am at on my journey. Sometimes I will include nutritional data if I have had time to calculate it, and I will post some of the delicious recipes I use too.

I am using recipes from several different “camps”. Some are common recipes I will re-make into a healthier version. Nearly all recipes will comply with the Weston A Price Foundation and Nourishing Traditions foods, FMD, and THM. Some recipes are gluten-free, sugar-free, some are grain-free, dairy-free free, some are low histamine, and many are found in the FMD, THM, Lowcarb, Paleo, Raw Food, etc. strategy camps that go along well together. My main focus will be a merged FMD and THM strategy.

I have learned a lot about healthy foods and natural remedies over the years. But even though I ate healthy, and avoided many of the common cultural pitfalls of medications and used natural methods, the pounds still continued to add on each year. Though I was generally healthy, I could not stop gaining weight. I didn’t know there was a strategy to seperate fuels in meals to promote a healthy weight. But over the past two years, I learned from both the FMD and THM camps that I don’t have to deprive nutrients to get achieve weight-loss, I just have to know what foods to combine and when to use them. This knowledge is completely liberating. There is the light at the end of a long tunnel, it is a hope for a better tomorrow, and a basic truth that everyone can achieve a healthier version of themself if they have and apply this knowledge.

How FMD and THM diets are similar:
Both of the Fast Metabolism Diet (FMD) and THM diets encourage eating a lot of food. You are not eating small portions. You are reving up your metabolism by eating a lot of healthy foods, and burning the fuels. Both stratgies recommend gluten-free meals, soy free meals, sugar-free meals, and promote eating healthy meals and snacks throughout the day. Both diets encourage eating and discourage focussing on calorie counting. Both also encourage protein at each meal. Finally, both programs encourage you to either focus on protein and carbs, or protein and fats for each meal, and to eat meals at least 3 hours apart to be sure your digestive tract has emptied of the previous meal, and helps to keep the body’s focus on using one type of fuel at a time. Otherwise, when consuming a high amount of both carbs and fats together in the same meals, your body will use one fuel and store the other fuel creating a vicious cycle of weight gain. Both programs also encourage you to consume half your body weight number in ounces of fluid to stay hydrated and promote detoxification, healing, and weight loss. Both programs encourage mild exercise, every other day with days of rest built-in, but also state that exercise is not a requirement to weight-loss and that you can cause a stall in your weight-loss if you exercise too much every day.

THM suggests alternating between different meals and snacks (S, E, and F) every 3 hours:
S Meals (protein and fats)
E Meals (protein and carbs)
Fuel Pull Meals (low carb and low-fat).
There are also some crossover meal options for maintenance.

FMD suggests alternating meals and snacks (in phases 1, 2, 3) every 3 to 4 hours:
Phase 1 2 days a week (Monday and Tuesday)
High Carb-Lean Protein (grains / legumes, lean proteins, veggies, high and low glycemic fruits);
Phase 2– 2 days a week (Wednesday and Thursday)
Low Carb/Low Fat-Lean Protein (lean proteins, non starchy veggies);
Phase 3 3 days a week (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday)
Medium Carb/Healthy Fat/ Protein (grains / legumes, proteins, veggies, low glycemic fruits, and fats including nuts, oils, avocados, fatty proteins and fatty cuts of meat, etc).

How FMD and THM diets are different:
FMD focusses on switching fuels from Carbs to Low-Carb/low-fat to Fats every two to three days. It also eliminates all dairy, caffeine, and alcohol. THM focusses on switching fuels any day or any meal you want to as long as you have had a 3 hour break in-between each meal. So you don’t have to wait days and days to get your fats or your carbs, as long as you have spaced them out, you could have them both in the same day. Ahhh…that is so much more refreshing to me than waiting 5 days to get in my fats for 3 days on rotation. I really struggled with this before, and I feel it is a little bit too strict for me. THM allows certain dairy products like yogurt, kefir, real cream, butter, cheese, and allows coffee, etc. too. They both use different low-carb / low-fat / high-carb / high-fat versions of foods to comply with their specific meal type S,E, or F and Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3. So, for this dairy loving gal, I enjoyed many of the recipes in THM and felt much more emotionally satisfied with my meals after eating the THM way.

THM was developed by two very smart sisters who have self trained themselves in the science of food, health, and wellbeing. Through their collaborative efforts and years of experimenting and studying the work of various doctors and specialists, they developed a strategy of seperating carbs from fats, and a long list of recipes that clearly made a difference in helping themselves and their friends be at a healthy vibrant weight while carrying for the needs of their families. Since they published their book, they have successfully helped thousands of women loose weight and acheive a level of health they could not reach on their own. But there are clear advantages to following FMD too. FMD is more restrictive than THM by excluding dairy and caffeine, but it works quicker, and it is a proven healthy lifestyle that was developed by a certified clinical nutritionist who specializes in healing the thyroid especially, and also include healing adrenal glands, the heart, and brain while getting to a healthy weight. The author of FMD has had tremendous success in her long career with four nutritional clinics, a long long list of lives that have been changed, as a practitioner of healing the body through nutritional foods.

Most of the foods I plan to choose for the next 90 days will comply with the 3 meal types and phases of both the Fast Metabolism Diet (FMD) and the Trim Healthy Mama (THM) programs of eating 3 to 4 hours apart, eating within a half hour of waking, separating carbs and fats in my meals, etc. However, looking ahead, I do plan to cheat from the FMD program occasionally by using some of the dairy recipes from the THM deserts which may contain dairy or peanut flour (not allowed on FMD), but are still sugar-free and gluten-free, and highly nutritious. I hope to work one or two of these delicious treats a week during Phase 1 when higher carbs are allowed, and during Phase 3 when higher fats are allowed. I think it is better to start out acknowledging a plan for healthy treats / cheats built-in.

For example, I love THM (S) shakes and THM (E and F) GGMS (Good Girl Moon Shine: glorified ginger lemonade recipes that change based on what fruit you add or leave out).

The GGMS has made a huge difference in my ability to stay hydrated as I do not like the taste of plain tap or well water.

The THM style (S) Shakes taste just like the real milk shakes I grew up with, but they are a much healthier version. They are high in protein, and moderate in healthy fats, and sugar-free.

I also enjoy coffee with cream or bulletproof coffee with butter and coconut oil, so I may work in at least one, and maybe a few of these coffee treats a week. Coffee is not conducive to healing the adrenal glands, that is why FMD has removed it from the diet, so it needs to be used wisely. But I read recently an article in the Weston A Price Foundation that said one cup a day or even a few cups of bulletproof style coffee a week can be a healthy choice if not used as a breakfast replacement and also if paired with a protein. That is good news, as I love a creamy frothy coffee and could drink it all day long, but that would be a bad idea. But I am not ready to give up dairy and coffee completely because I believe there is great health to be acheived in using them correctly. So even though FMD does not encourage use of dairy, or coffee, I plan to use them from time to time in the similar appropriate phase (fats). I do not want to sabotage my progress, so I will have to re-evaluate this plan as I go along and be careful not to over indulge, and be sure that I am achieving the results I am hoping for.

I have tried both of these strategies in the past, and I am confident they both work.
On the FMD program, I was able to achieve a weight loss of about 18 lbs a month, or about 4.5l bs a week, or about .6 lb a day. That is incredible! I slept well too. I started FMD in April and by mid May I saw a huge change in myself. I felt energized and I was truly excited about this way of eating Friday through Tuesday, but felt out of energy by the evening of Wednesday and all of Thursday I was completely exhausted. I do not do well on two days of low-carb/low-fat eating. It was devastating to me to give up my farm fresh milk, kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese and butter I loved. We moved across country the end of May 2013 and I was not able to successfully repeat the program in our new location. When we first moved, I didn’t have a stove or dishes until mid July (about 6 weeks). Then my husband was without work for several months and I could not afford the ingredients. So I felt defeated. By December 2013 I had gained back the weight I lost on FMD. A supportive friend kept telling me about her success with THM and that it was more affordable. She suggested I give it a try. I found out I was pregnant in January and I started THM in February 2014. I miscarried the baby in April 2014, but kept going with the THM diet. With the THM program, I was able to enjoy my dairy, and achieve a weight loss of about 22 lbs in four months which equals about 5.5 lbs a month, 1.4 lbs a week, or .18 pounds a day. However, by the third month on THM, my weight loss had slowed to .8 lb a week and then stalled for many weeks on end before losing the next .8 lb and during that struggle to get it moving again, I lost my desire to continue after following it successfully for four months. I felt desperate to find a way to jump-start my weight-loss again, even though I loved and continued many of the recipes, and I then switched to a low-carb focus, and lost a few more pounds and then maintained the weight I lost for three months, but again I seen maintaining as a long stall, and then went off dieting altogether. I should have jumped right back on either THM or FMD when that jump start happened, but I didn’t have the foresight to see it. Over time, I slowly re-gained the weight and was back to where I started by December. So from February of 2014 to December 2014 I lost 22 lbs, lost an additional 3 lbs, and then gained it all back by the year-end. Talk about a yo-yo, HOW AWEFUL!

Why Try Again?
I had my 45th birthday in December 2014. I had decided once again that I don’t want to be this heavy and I must do something about it. I want to be a healthier version of me for 2015. I am tired of the constant ups and downs of my weight. The only way I know to achieve this healthier me, is to implement the FMD and THM strategies again, with some much-needed modifications to keep my energy and my desire to persevere while on them. If you take away all the joy of my creamy shakes and treats, or the hydrating wonder power of GGMS, or my love to enjoy the whole egg, not just the whites, then I would not make it long on FMD. But I still want to use the FMD plan to organize my days, and see a quicker results for my efforts.

Both programs are great, but in my opinion, the FMD helps the weight come off faster and focusses on healing the thyroid, which for most of us, especially me, is so important on our journey to better health. I definitely feel my thyroid needs healing. THM is great too, and helps address the needs of the adrenal glands and is calming because it provides lots of comfort foods, deserts, and emotional and spiritual support in your Christian faith, support in your duties as a wife and mother, and helps to heal the emotional side of why people over eat and are malnourished. THM even has a an awesome Trim Healthy Mama Pregnant and Nursing support group to help you along your journey. I wish someone would combine both of these amazing programs, FMD and THM, in a proven weight-loss strategy, because they are both great and both seem to contain an amazing key of wisdom to helping people lose weight. But I don’t know of any combined approach out there. So I am going to experiment with somewhat merging these programs for 90 Days, and see if I can achieve a healthy well nourished body that includes weight loss, healthier skin, healthier hair, more energy, and a more normal size for my 5’2″ frame.

For 90 days I am following a merged plan of both the FMD and THM strategies, and using great recipes from both. You can follow my pictures on Instagram for the most current photos of my meals. It is easier for me to wrap my brain around the FMD method, with my days organized with the same phase meals, but I love the freedom in eating desserts and treats that are allowed on the THM too. So I will evaluate some of the THM recipes and fit them into the FMD plan on the appropriate phases as much as I can. I will also be supplementing my diet with a few herbs, superfood supplements, and essential oils which I will post in my food journal.

My daily food intake goal is to eat 3 nourishing meals and 2 nourishing snacks, 3 to 4 hours apart:
Phase 1 (FMD) and E (THM) Meals: Monday and Tuesday
Phase 2 (FMD) and F (THM) Meals: Wednesday and Thursday (if I can last the full two days)
Phase 3 (FMD) and S (THM) Meals: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

I will start posting my meal plans and food journal soon, and keep you informed of my progress on this journey to health and wellness during the 90 Day Challenge.

I realize my plan to combine these approaches may offend the purists, those who only believe THM works, or those who believe only FMD works, or those who believe on Paleo or LowCarb diets work. I have known many of these folks who can only believe in the one diet that has benefitted them, and I don’t have any desire to convince anyone to choose one over the other, or to even try this combined approach. Not everything works 100% for every person, as I found out when I did these different programs by themselves. I realize why all of these programs work, and why each of these programs have shortcomings for people with various different needs. My journey is different from someone else’s journey. I am on a journey to find out what works best for me. I hope my readers, and everyone desiring a better healthier 2015 can find what works for them too.

Be blessed!

I pray that God, who gives peace, will make you completely holy. And may your spirit, soul, and body be kept healthy and faultless until our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 1 Thessalonians 5:23

This post will be linked up with:
Raising Homemakers
Raising Memories

Please share.

Goals For The New Year

2 Replies

Time goes so fast!

I can’t believe it is another year already. I am not sorry to see 2014 leave, but I am sorry I didn’t get more of the things that are important to me done last year. I don’t want that to happen this year. As the landscape around me is frozen in snow, I have time to contemplate plans for the coming year. Time isn’t froze, and like the flowing water under the snow, time is a driving force that breaks free from our grip and quickly slips away.

I don’t want to let any opportunity to accomplish my priorities get away from me this year. I don’t want regrets. I don’t want to be distracted by unimportant things, things that take away from my faith and family and my focus on the Kingdom of heaven. I don’t want to regret that time got away from me. I know what it is to regret passing up an opportunity because I was weighted down with trivial things. I want to live this year with no regrets. The older I get, the more important some things become and less important other things become. I want to live this year flowing in sync with time and God’s will for my life.

Since I have too many things I want to accomplish, and my list would be really really long, and I could easily get weighted down by it, I tried to pair my focus down to 15 main goals for 2015.

My 15 Goals For 2015
1. Read my bible and pray daily.
2. Sing a song everyday.
3. Eat healthy nutrient dense foods to live.
4. Exercise on purpose each week.
5. Rest on purpose each week.
6. Grow a garden year around: inside year around/outside during growing season.
7. Learn all I can about essential oils.
8. Learn all I can about herbs and natural remedies.
9. Spend time loving and teaching my children each day.
10. Help the children attend and acheive their 4H projects and attend the 4H fair.
11. Spend time loving my husband and building my marriage each day.
12. Teach Bible Study Classes.
13. Teach Essential Oils Classes.
14. Teach Homestead Classes: gardening, baking, remedies, canning, cheese making, soap making, etc.
15. Teach Kids STEM Community Classes: Engineering, Lego and Robotics, Science Experiements.

In a future post I will post my sub-goals, reasons, and my strategy plan for accomplishing each of these goals this year. I started a 90 Day Health and Wellness Challenge and I can’t wait to share my progress with you.

What about you?

What are your goals for the new year?

What do you want to acheive for the whole year?

What do you want to acheive for each month?

Please leave your list in the comments below. I would love to know what you are working on and encourage you too.

Be blessed!

This post will be linked with
Raising Homemakers
Raising Memories

Please share.

Healthy Challenge

Leave a reply

Health is an ongoing CHALLENGE!
Can I Get An AMEN !?!

It is a daily goal to live at my best!

Living at my best involves my physical and my spiritual life in the many roles I have as wife, mom, teacher, friend, and more.

What are your goals? Do you desire to loose weight? Do you desire to serve nourishing foods to your family? Do you want to become fit? I know how challenging it can be to reach these goals.

Join me on a quest for living a healthy life.

Be sure to check out these healthy lifestyle challenges:

Walk and Talk Wednesday

90 Day Healthy Choices Low Carb Challenge
Change 3 Challenge

You can also check out my recipes and menu plans for a healthy life:
Nutrition-Food-Recipes
Menu Plans

Please share.

Mommy Metabolism Workshop

7 Replies

I was so excited when I was selected by Mommy Parties to host a product review for Random House of Haylie Pomroy’s newest book The Fast Metabolism Diet. Haylie Pomroy is a respected expert on metabolism, wholistic nutrition, and natural food science. She has helped thousands of people heal their bodies with healthy foods. She has four clinics across the country and is well known and respected in her field.

I was sent several copies of the book, coupons (Applegate Farms, Celestial Seasonings Teas, Artisana), a $20 Target gift card, and a MyTime Digital Crockpot to assist with The Fast Metabolism Diet “Make and Take” Mommy Party.

Iwas definitely interested to host this review party and learn what Haylie Pomroy had to say in her book about healing my body. I put my thinking cap on . . . and my kids and I talked about how we could bless our local community with all this great stuff that came for this review. . . and from there we set up a Mommy Metabolism Workshop with local moms to talk about our metabolism, learn about foods that help rev up a slow metabolism, and heal the body’s glands and organs.

The Set Up:

I received a copy of the book to review, and 10 copies to give away to local moms and spread the word about this wonderful book. If you know me, you know I take every opportunity to love on families and build them up every chance I get. Mom’s are always the last to have their own needs met. This book review was the perfect opportunity to pamper local moms, and build them up in their quest to be healthy while providing for the needs of their families.

I sent out an invitation on the local mommy loops I am apart of for moms to join me. About 500 moms/families in our local area (Hendersonville, NC / Asheville, NC / and Greenville, SC) received the email detailing the book and diet highlights, and details about the workshop. I was able to accept 10 mom’s for the workshop and asked them to RSVP. I wish I had 100 books to give away for the workshop and could have invited 100 moms to come, but I only had 10 of these wonderful books.

The only expense the moms had in attending the workshop was to bring a recipe from the book. After they secured their seat, I sent them the recipe from the book. We doubled the recipes so there was enough to eat at the workshop, and extra for moms to take servings of each dish home with them to freeze and use to kick off the first week of their new diet from the book. Each mom brought containers, and I provided extra zip lock bags so moms could take home some of everything. The workshop was kind of like a cookie swap, but it was a “metabolism diet” swap! HOORAY!!!

My kids and I went shopping for decorations, tableware and supplies, and ingredients for three of the recipes (pepperocini pork roast, watermelon smoothie, and stevia sweetened lemonade), several bags of ice, and two cases of bottled waters. I also bought several fresh fruits and vegetables, nut butters, coconut water, and coconut milk to use in my table display and talk on nutrition. My daughter had a great idea to go with a Pink Flamingo theme. She loves Pink Flamingos! We found pink flamingo cups, plates, napkins, pink silverware, yellow table cloths, and fun decorations that all coordinated beautifully and it was a hit! We set out fresh flowers too. Our color scheme was pink, yellow, blue, and silver.

I also found cute bags to hold each mom’s The Fast Metabolism Diet book, 4 tea bag samples of Celestial Seasonings Peppermint Tea, coupons for $$ off Applegate Farms organic meats, a button pin from Applegate Farms, several recipe cards, a “Pink Flamingo” silly ball (good for squeezing out “mommy stress”!), and a feathery “Pink Flamingo” ink pen for keeping a food journal or taking notes in their books.

We had lots of interests to fill our spots for the workshop, and then a few last minute cancelations, and ended up with 6 moms and 20 kids at the workshop. Even though we did not fill all ten spots, I still thought this was a great turnout. I have also had several emails from moms wanting to know more. Plus during the workshop, two more moms who were not “officially” at the workshop, sat at nearby tables and listened in. Then after the workshop they came forward to talk with me one on one about all they had seen and heard us talk about. They were very excited to learn more. So the exposure of information for moms on this just seemed to keep expanding and growing.
We set up the workshop at the local park picnic shelter. Mom’s could bring all their kids and let them play on the playground while we had our meeting, so it was a win win for mom’s and they did not have to find child care. Some of the teens sat in and listened to the workshop too. We could easily monitor the children on the playground from our vantage point, yet they could play and we could talk. Oh, thank God for parks and playgrounds!

The Workshop:

Our discussion centered around nutrition, the three phases of The Fast Metabolism Diet, physical activities in our weekly routine, and we had a personal sharing time. Each mom shared her personal testimony about why she was struggling with her health, her metabolism, or weight issues. Each mom was welcome to take a walk around the paved path at the park, hulla hoop, or join the kids for a game of kickball after the workshop too. Every mom had a precious story to tell during our sharing time and I was truly blessed by their experiences.

I need this information as much as anyone. My own metabolism has slowed to a snail’s pace and I have gained a lot of weight over the past few years. It seems that no matter how hard I try, or how active I am, nothing changes. I seldom share pictures of myself because I am so discouraged about my weight. I have been looking for answers, keeping a food and activity journal, posting progress stories in Walk and Talk Wednesday posts, and more. But I actually have seen very little progress in in changing my metabolism and very little weight loss. I am going to implement the strategy in this book and do this diet for 28 days. The science makes sense to me and I believe this will jump start my metabolism. This workshop was such a refreshing time of learning and sharing. I truly enjoyed researching this book and hosting this workshop. Be sure to read my review of the book and my 28 day experience when I get it posted.

A few highlights from our discussion about the book:
D. I. E. T. stands for Did I Eat Today? This is a big deal. How many times does mom skip eating during the week? Though I am over weight, I miss a lot of meals. I am so busy with my kids, that I often neglect myself. When we don’t eat, our body slows down the metabolism and stores more food as future fuel in the form of fat. Not eating doesn’t help us loose weight, it sets us up for becoming over weight.

Keys:
Eat within 30 minutes of waking up in the morning.
Eat every 3 to 4 hours (Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack, Supper, then rest).

Science principles behind the diet:
http://www.fastmetabolismdiet.com/diet/science-behind-the-diet/

3 Phases of the diet involve both eating and exercise and are divided up during the 7 days of the week and repeated for four weeks for a total of 28 days. Why 28 days? Because the natural rhythm of the body is on a 28 day cycle. You can adjust the days so that your “day 1 of phase 1” begins on a different day of the week if desired. Well rounded food choices (diet) come from approved foods for each phase listed in the Master Food Guide in the book.

Phase 1 UNWIND is on Monday and Tuesday
Well rounded diet with focus on carbs.
Cardio activity for 30 minutes on day 1, then rest on day 2.
Goal is to unwind from stress and calm the adrenal glands.

Phase 2 UNLOCK is on Wednesday and Thursday
Well rounded diet with focus on lean protein.
Strength activity on day 3, then rest on day 4.
Goal is to unlock stored fats and build muscle.

Phase 3 UNLEASH is on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Well rounded diet with focus on healthy fats.
Stretching activity on day 5. Rest on days 6 and 7.
Goal is to unleash the burning of stored fats for fuel, balancing
hormones, and strengthening the heart.

Haylie’s Rules:
These are recommendations (10 do’s and 10 don’ts) for success that the author suggests to make the diet successful for each person.
All of the mom’s were eager to learn, and had lots of questions. They brought the foods they had prepared and set them up on the tables and plugged in their crockpots to keep the hot foods hot while we had our discussion about the book. They sat at picnic tables and relaxed and took it all in. They were so much fun to talk to. The workshop was very interactive with these lively moms. It was fun to do this workshop with them.

Each mom took home a a book and goodie bag. The book is a hands on resource to help them be successful in reaching their personal goals.

Menu:
To help mom’s see how easy and delicious the diet from the book is, we made four recipes for lunch / supper, three recipes for snacks, and two beverage recipes for our workshop, plus we had all the ice cold water we could drink. I did not include any breakfast recipes, but I would have enjoyed doing these too.

All of the recipes in the book are delicious. The book contains 50 recipes, and a huge Master Food Guide to use to create your own recipes from. The book also has a sample eating schedules to show you a great way to plan your eating times through out the day for several body types. There is also several sample menu plans for each phase. Each of the 50 recipes in the book can be divided into 4, and some into 6, portions or servings. So you can make them one week, eat a serving and freeze the additional portions. Now you have ready made meals in the freezer (and snacks in the fridge) to use through out the 28 days of the program.

Phase 1

Turkey Chili, page 187

Fruit Snacks Tray from Phase 1
Blueberries, Cantaloupe, Oranges, Mangos, Strawberries, Cherries (or watermelon), Blackberries (planned, but due to a cancelation this tray was absent. I didn’t have time to prepare another one but I wish I had so moms could see and taste delicious fruits used in the diet). There are many more options and we just chose a few to show the variety.

Vegetable Snacks Tray from Phase 1
Bell Peppers, Broccoli, Carrots, Celery, Tomatoes, Jicama. There are many more options we just chose a few to show some of the variety. We served samples of cashew butter with celery and jicama as a snack option too.

Watermelon Smoothie, page 194
We made this drink during the workshop. I brought a blender, frozen watermelon chunks, stevia, ice, and peppermint tea (the recipe recommended mint extract, but I did not have this). It was a cool minty icy sweet PINK sensation in the mouth! Many moms said they really enjoyed this smoothie. If left to sit a bit, and the frothy pink ice melts, this turns this drink into a beautiful purple color.

Phase 2
Stuffed Mushrooms, page 213

Pepporocini Pork Roast, page 210
We used a boneless pork loin roast. There are herbs (dry mustard, oregano, rosemary), sea salt, and chopped pickled banana peppers (found in the pickle isle in the grocery store) in this dish, though you can’t see them in this photo because they have fallen into the broth. But once the roast is pulled from the crockpot, they are stuck to the other side. I just flipped the roast over on a plate and the chopped peppers looked very pretty on the meat and taste delicious in this recipe. My 10 year old son helped make this recipe and he did a great job. I will post another story about making this roast in the crockpot and show you step by step with lots of photos.

Phase 3
Coconut Curry Chicken, page 224
This delicious flavorful dish is served with quinoa, a delicious nutrient dense grain.

White Bean Hummus with Cucumbers, page 231

Sweet Potato Hummus with Cucumbers, page 232

Other:
Lemonade (made with stevia).
Recipe not in the book, but this beverage is suggested for occasional use during the diet. We made this on site during the workshop. This makes 1 gallon. Fruit Juices (when juice is separated from the fruit fiber) are not allowed on the diet because of the high rate of sugar delivery to the blood stream. However, an occasional glass of lemonade is allowed as long as you are drinking plenty of water through out the day. Several whole fruits are used in phases 1 and 3, but not in phase 2. However, lemons and limes are the only approved fruit (fruit juice) in all 3 phases so you could enjoy this beverage during the diet as long as no sugar (or sweeteners that be
come sugar in the body) is added.

For 1 gallon of Lemonade: use 12 lemons (or limes for limeade), cut three or four lemons in thin slices and place in the bottom of pitcher. Pound for a few minutes to release the juice and oils. Squeeze out the juice of the remaining lemons and ad to the pitcher. Stir in 4 teaspoons of liquid stevia (ad more stevia if you want it sweeter). Fill with filtered water and ice. If you only want to make a quart of lemonade, then reduce the size by using 3 lemons or limes, 1 tsp stevia, ice and filtered water to fill a quart jar). Enjoy delicious and naturally sugar free lemonade! Everyone said this was delicious and refreshing.

Feasting and Fellowship:
Here is a picture with a sampling of the food on one plate together. There are four entrees (chicken and quinoa, stuffed mushroom, chili, and roast), and snacks (raw vegetables, and two hummus dips), and the watermelon smoothie.

Mom’s enjoyed a meal of all the foods brought today. I think every mom was pleased with the food.

They also took home additional meals from each of the recipes to put in their fridge or freezer and have ready to begin their diet. All of the moms encouraged their children to try out the foods. This way of eating isn’t just for mom. You can feed the whole family with these delicious recipes. The kids loved the food! I heard so many kids say their favorite thing they ate was the Turkey Chili. The kids also helped make the lemonade, and it seemed to instantly disappear as they came back for more and more.

I have told all the moms who participated at the workshop that I would be glad to be a continuing support person and offered to host a “28 Days” support group to encourage each one on the journey. If they want to write about the experience, I told them I would be glad to publish their stories right here on Weiser Academy and share their journey with the world. This offer is extended to my readers too, if you use this book and would like to share your journey using the diet, I would be glad to post your journey here for others to read.

Many moms feel guilty spending money on themselves when they have families that need the grocery money. It is expensive taking care of a family, and there usually is no money left over each month for moms to take care of themselves. The recipes they know and have budgeted for are foods their kids will eat. It is expensive to add on additional meals, especially if the kids or dad might not like them. If we could put a budget together for these healthy meals, I think that would help moms be able to locate the resources in their monthly grocery budgets. They would know what it would cost to feed one person, two persons, four persons, eight persons etc. on this diet. Part of the reason mom’s metabolisms are slowing down is because of “cheap” food choices to feed their families. They are forced into a lifestyle of eating high carbs, high sugar, poor nutrient quality foods because their monthly food budget is limited, their knowledge of other options is limited, and they are already having a hard time making ends meet for their families. They don’t know, or think they can’t afford, a better way.

I would love to help moms get a whole months worth of delicious entrees in the freezer to help them rev up their metabolism using The Fast Metabolism Diet principals. If we had another workshop with 28 moms and each prepared a lunch entree and a supper entree, we could get 28 lunches, and 28 suppers in the freezer for each mom. Then all they would need then to add in is their fresh ingredients, snacks, and easy breakfast meals to complete their 28 days on the program. I would love to help moms figure out a budget to complete the 28 days on the program too and put their plan into action.

I would love to host this same workshop again, and again! What a great way to love on moms and help them be the best for their families and help them reach their personal health goals. It was absolutely fun! I absolutely believe providing this kind of workshop or “kick off” helps moms make this transition successful. These are nutrition skills and organization skills that can lead to a healthy life change. I know for a fact they have had and will continue to have a positive impact on me and my family.

After the workshop, many moms joined their kids for a rousing game of kickball on the playground. It was a great day!

Please share.

Summer Shape Up starts today!

Black Bean Quinoa Pilaf

4 Ways To Get In More Fruits And Vegetables.

The Next Best Thing

KIDS

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 1:2

Health is an ongoing CHALLENGE! Can I Get An AMEN !?!

Join me on a quest for living a healthy life.

Health is an ongoing CHALLENGE!
Can I Get An AMEN !?!