Friday, April 29, 2011

Back to it

Well, I am very close to the 6 week mark after my surgery. Happy to say I'm doing GREAT and am so glad to be getting back to working out again. I can tell you that when they say exercise is good for depression that is 100% true. I have suffered with depression for a while now and the exercise was really helping. Thing is - you don't realize how much until you STOP doing it!!

I have started slowly. Can't do any real high intensity cardio just yet but it's in the near future I'm sure!! I have started running again and realize how much I do miss that. I even tried barefoot running for about 1+ miles. What a difference!! I am doing 2-1/4 miles right now and I wore my sneakers for 1/2 then took them off and went barefoot. I got 2 blisters but honestly it was worth it. In comparing the 2 ways I can say that wearing the sneakers made me feel clumsy and a little weighed down. Going barefoot you aren't heel striking as much so there isn't as much impact on all my joints. I just felt great and look forward to doing it again. If you are interested in reading more about barefoot running click here.





The weather right now is perfect. In the morning it's still a bit cool (for Florida) and the perfect time to get out and run.

What have you done lately for yourself? Get those endorphines going and feel better!!

Be Blessed & Healthy!!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter

Christ not only died FOR you.....He died INSTEAD of you.

Christ is RISEN!! He has RISEN INDEED!! Hallelujah!!



Saturday, April 16, 2011





Have some time? I'm sure you might have a little that you can go check out Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. He is doing some seriously good stuff (or trying to) to get better foods in our kids schools. Why are the head honchos in schools scared of him? Really?

In his most recent episode of "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" (you can watch it here) he went to an independent fast food restaurant. The man there said he would NOT let his children drink the milkshakes he makes at his restaurant. He said he wouldn't give them that "syrup". Interesting that he would let us and our children have it huh?

Ugh, really frustrates me. Hope it does you too! Pass it on. We CAN make a difference here. We just need to do it together!!

Be Blessed & Healthy!!

Friday, April 15, 2011

My Water Cup


Ok, so on the heels of my last post about dehydration I had some problems with my beloved 64 ounce cup (seen above with sticker remnants from my little girl) I have pretty much had with me every day for a very long time. Well over a year but just can't remember past that. I would get made fun of most of the time about the size of it. 64 ounces & never had anything but water & ice in it. Yes I would drink atleast one a day and in most cases more than that.

The other day while taking one of my boys to church he very nicely asked for a sip of my water. Of course I passed it back to him and just had him keep it back there. Well, not sure what happened but when he opened the door to the car to get out somehow the cup hit the pavement first. This is what happened:



The lid cracked - bad. I had to take a deep breath and tell him it's ok. It's just a cup really. Of course, a cup that I just can't find anywhere else now. I have wanted to bless people with them and just can't seem to find them anywhere!!

So now I'm on the hunt for a good, large, durable cup that can help me get my water in all day long especially since I'm OUT of my house more than I'm in it(not sure why they call it "home"school). I'm a water-snob too. I love the water from my house!! Nothing else really tastes the same. This is what I carried around today.



They don't hold as much and really don't keep the water cool enough but they served their purpose I suppose.

Do you have something that helps you through the day that when you forget it at home or it breaks you just don't know what you will do without it? Let me know!!

Be Blessed & Healthy!!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Dehydration - Do you know the signs?

60 - 70% (estimated) of the body is made up of water.
I have read that 75 - 90% of the brain is made up of water.

If that is the case. We should really be drinking more water right?


As the tempatures start rising (I think we missed Spring here in Florida - 90+ today!) we need to really be thinking about keeping ourselves hydrated. A good way to figure out how much water you should be drinking is take your weight & divide it in half. That is the number of ounces of water you should be drinking per day (atleast).

Some of the signs of mild dehydration are: muscle & joint pain, lower back pain, headaches, constipation. Also, your urine shoudln't be bright yellow. If you are drinking enough water it will be pale. Also, the obvious symptom would be thirst. By this time though you are already very dehyrated. Weakness, dizziness, inability to sweat.

Many say they just don't like water. There are many things you can do like adding lemon or lime to it.


Herbal teas are another way to get the water but having a taste to it. It's natural too and there are SO many yummy flavors out there now and very few need sweeteners.

Just a few things to keep in mind during these warm months. Try to carry a bottle of water around with you and just keep sipping at it. Getting your water intake during the day really isn't as hard as it seems. Yes you will be making more trips to the bathroom but really you are essentially cleaning yourself out!

Here are some other benefits of drinking more water: Weight loss, clearer complexion, our blood, bones, brain, organs (including skin) all consist of water! Do you want to deprive ANY of those from their main ingredient?

So, cut out that soda & other high sugar/calorie drinks & try this one that God put here just for us. I bet you'll be happy you did!!

Be Blessed & Healthy!!

PS - I realized going "cold turkey" from some drinks may cause headaches, etc. Try it little by little and pretty soon you will realize you are drinking more water all day long and feeling so much better for it!!


http://nutrition.about.com/od/hydrationwater/a/waterarticle.htm

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/dehydration-adults

Friday, April 8, 2011

Things that make you go HMMMMM....

My sister passed this on. She took this outside a medical building.
Click on the picture to make it bigger. let me know what YOU think!!


Wednesday, April 6, 2011

A Lesson (for me)

As I have mentioned a couple posts ago I recently had some minor surgery. While the surgery was minor the recovery (to me) is the worst part and is taking forever. I knew this before going in for the surgery. One of the last things I asked my Dr was "when can I run again????". Yeah, She just looked at me and said "4-6 weeks, just like we talked about". She didn't say the part "just like we talked about EVERY TIME YOU HAVE COME IN MY OFFICE LATELY". She was very sweet.

Anyway, I LOVE to exercise. I haven't been like that all my life. I really got the bug about 5 years ago and when it hit I was ready and took full advantage. I have increased my workouts and have been called an addict about it too. Hey I figure if I am going to be addicted to something, this is a good thing to be addicted to right?

What I never saw coming was my lesson in humility. God is so good even when I'm not really thinking that way.

Humility: the quality or condition of being humble.
Humble: not proud or arrogant




Ok, I didn't think I was proud or arrogant. I didn't! (ok I just yelled that at that little voice in my head) I would get up every morning and work out for atleast an hour. Anything less was too little. And that didn't include if I went out for a run too. Usually dragging my middle son with me following me on his bike. The way every 12 year old wants to spend his mornings right? Guess what? I can't do that right now. I'm 2-1/2 weeks into my recovery process. It has taken me this long to cry out to God and ask Him what He wants me to be learning during this time. Why did it take this long? I'm not really sure. One thing is for sure. I'm learning alot about Him. I guess if that is the only thing I learn about during this process it's good right? I'm learning that God made this body and I do need to take care of it whether or not I'm exercising. I have friends that can't or don't exercise and are still concerned about their health. During this time for me I can still eat healthy and continue to feel better about myself. I can witness through my life just as God wants me to. I learned that I want to be a person that God can glorify Himself! I want to be that person that people look at and see something they know they want.

I believe God is teaching me that my addiction needs to be in Him. Now THAT is something to be addicted to!!






Be Blessed & Healthy!!

PS - I AM doing great from my surgery. All is well and nothing to worry about.xo

"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." Proverbs 11:4

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Sugar

Yes, sugar. When I found out a few of these facts I was floored. Now don't get me wrong. If you have the choice between sugar & the fake, chemical sweeteners they are using now -- choose sugar! Otherwise there are natural things you can use or even no sweetener at all.

So, here we go.

Did you know:

4 grams of sugar = 1tsp sugar

1 12fl oz can of Pepsi has 41grams of sugar so that is 10tsp! (by the way - 1 serving is 8fl oz but with the guidelines they have they don't have to say 2 servings unless it's a 16fl oz bottle/can)

Gatorade/Powerade both have 14grams of sugar = 3.5 tsp (by the way - this is a bottle that is 32fl oz. If you read the lable servings per bottle - 4 )

Monster Energy Drink: 8 fl oz (this is 2 servings) 27grams of sugar = almost 7 tsp sugar.

These are just a few drinks that I know are somewhat popular. This information is REALLY easy to get. This isn't even getting into the processed foods that have sugar in them.

There are some really good healthy alternatives if you just need that sweetener. Stevia is a natural sweetener. My mother even grows this!! It comes in a liquid or powder form. I have also tried the liquid form with different flavors like Chocolate Raspberry & Orange. These are great in coffee too!!

There is also another one out there called Truvia.

There is one statistic that I found that says "the average American consumes 2-3lbs of sugar each week". It is said that "we have increased sugar comsumption in the U.S from 26lbs to 135lbs of sugar per person per year". Yikes! That is alot. That increase has been in the last 20 years. I also found on another site "the average American 20 teaspoons of added sugar each day. This is not including the sugar naturally found in milk & fruit. This is double the USDA's recommendation that the average person eat no more than 10 teaspoons of added sugar a day".

Ok, I realize this is alot of information. It's information that was really easily found! I'm not a professional. I am not putting down any of these products at all. I am saying we need to be really proactive in reading the labels on the products we are wanting to purchase.

I read a great book called "Body By God" by Dr Ben Lerner that says the closer the food is to the way God created it, the better. Yes, there are natural sugars in the food God has created for us to eat. We just need to remember that our bodies are made so perfectly in His design that we should really be taking good care of them.

Check it out yourself. Don't go just buying things blindly anymore. Look at the labels. Research some of the ingredients that you can't pronounce. Don't feed your family things that you can't even tell them exactly what's in it. You love them right? Don't you want to make sure you are taking care of them and yourself?

Think about it.

Be blessed & healthy!!

Some facts above were found at: http://www.pepsiproductfacts.com/ http://www.gatorade.com/ http://www.powerade.com/ http://www.digitalnatropath.com/ http://www.healingdaily.com/