Nutritious doesnt mean boring

I have been a bit distant lately due to my attention being on researching health, fitness, and nutrition.  I have many different aspects I am pursuing and very little time to pursue all this.  I want it to all happen now and I want to know everything there is to know about nutrition NOW! I wanted to share with you a few of the things of I have learned in the past week and half while I have been away that I think may help shed a light on this whole nutrition thing.

I have found several new websites/blogs that I am absolutely in love with and have really helped me in making sense of everything.

1. 101 Cookbooks is an amazing website which really helped me make sense of natural foods.  If you click on the natural foods link at the top of the page, there are five different links to cooking with natural foods.  She breaks down each ingredient and gives you the in’s and out’s of them.  Because of this info I was able to successfully shop for baking items and make sense of what I was buying.  Almost every week during my weekly shopping i spend at least 5 minutes just staring at the baking supplies in the natural foods section.  All I could see was a bunch of mumbo jumbo and now I am pleased to say I successfully shopped, bought, and replaced white sugar in my recipes.  I love to bake sweets but since I have switched to whole foods I have stopped making sweets because I knew the ingredients were a no-no.  Now I feel a whole lot safer about the ingredients I am putting in my sweets.  I don’t plan on making this a weekly habit but I can now incorporate it into my menu on a monthly basis.  I have been craving sweets terribly this week and this just hit the spot for me.  Here is a link to the recipe I made today found on this exact website, Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes, can you say YUMMY!

2. 100 Days of Real Food is a blog by a women whose family started a 100 day challenge of real food; meaning nothing boxed, canned, frozen, processed, you get it right? She was raised on practically Doritos and boxed Mac & Cheese.  Her story was posted on the Yahoo.com from page today, found here, and it caught my eye so I read into it, to find amazing, nutritious, delicious, whole food recipes.  She even offers four FREE 7-day meal plans on her Facebook page (if you like it) with grocery list included.  This is a very inspiring women who has done not only a huge sacrifice for her family but has opened up the eyes for the rest of us.  Now I know if she can do it we can too! Not to mention she is a wife and mother of two young children so she is very relatable.

3. The Fresh 20 is a site I found, thanks to the blog I just previously mentioned, that offers you five weekly dinner plans using only fresh ingredients that promote health and balance and are kid friendly too!  Woo hoo to that! I think Kid friendly means husband friendly too 🙂 They provide you with a weekly shopping list of all ingredients totalling around $75.  That is five Meals for $75 which breaks down to $3.75/meal. I want to make clear that the $75 is what you would spend at the store on ingredients.  They charge only $5/month for the meal plans or $49/year.  They even offer gluten-free and vegetarian meal plans.  I am seriously considering joining this for a while to mix up my meal making and get some good meals my family will like.  By the way, I in no way make any money off you joining this plan.  I just think it is really cool and an amazing solution for those wanting to eat healthy and nutritious but struggling to find their way.  This would definitely get you headed in the right direction!

4. Team Beachbody is where I have become an Independent Beachbody Coach because I love their products.  I have previewed Insanity, TurboFire, and P90X and have loved all of them.  I also drink Shakeology daily and this in itself has really helped in this entire process.  I could go on and on about Shakeology but will leave you to check out the attached video if you are interested.  All I can say is it right down the whole food, nutrition, and fitness path I am on and it is worth every darn penny I pay! Check it out here.  You can also check out my website at http://www.beachbodycoach.com/davis8089 to learn more about Team Beachbody and their products.  They offer amazing products for weight loss, sports recovery, supplements, nutrition, and so much more!  I stand by these products 100% because they work.  I don’t just say that because I work for them.

With that said I will leave you to check out these websites/blogs and venture into the world of nutrition.  It is full of flavor and fun and doesn’t have to be bland and boring.  There is a world awaiting you so have at it!

Finding your purpose in a field of dreams

I’m a mother of two children, a wife, I don’t have a college degree but I do have college debt, and I love to workout and eat healthy. This is my purpose in life!  It may not sound exciting to most, but to me it is the best darn thing and I couldn’t be happier (minus the debt). I am able to pursue life with my family through a healthy and fit lifestyle.  I wasnt always this way, in fact just a short 3 months ago, I was overweight, eating fast food almost daily, constantly craving everything that was unhealthy (cookies, ice cream, mocha, candy), and had no energy to get me through the day.  I had all the desire and dreams in the world to workout and eat healthy but I didn’t have the motivation or purpose to fulfill these dreams.  I was lost in a field of dreams!

One day I was given an opportunity, by a mother at my daughters preschool, to listen to a presentation given by Stacy Ellis, RN on “Feeding the Hungry Brain”.  I took this opportunity, invited a few friends and just soaked in what she had to tell me.  Some of the info I could tell was pretty basic, from the comments of my friends and everyone else around me, but for me it was all new and completely invigorating.  Things like leafy greens are the best, your brain is made of mostly water, read nutrition labels on foods before you buy them,  buying local produce, and so much more.  At the sake of sounding naive, I had never heard this stuff before or maybe I had heard it but it had never made sense until this day.  This was the start of my new journey and my newfound passion!  I didn’t know it was my new passion at this point in time but for the first time I was able to actually start making some improvements in the health department, like I had always dreamed about, and stop making the excuses of I don’t know how!

I went home and immediately began shopping in the natural section, buying more fruits and veggies, and shopping only the perimeter of the store, as I had learned from Body by Jess, on one of her posts.  Surprisingly this wasnt hard at all!  My husband tried to complain that I was spending extra money on the organic stuff but what I quickly explained was that the money I am saving, by not buying the processed junk food, is being used to spend on the slightly more expensive but healthier natural choices.  Therefore it cancels each other out!  The kicker to this is that I am also looking out for my families future at the same time by cooking them healthy nutritious meals.  It’s a win-win situation the way I see it! Health wins!!

So, I started to eat healthy but was still longing to go for a jog, or climb some stairs, or anything.  But it wasnt happening.  Possibly because I had a newborn, and it was rainy outside, and I don’t have a gym membership, and and and……..blah blah blah!  Just a bunch more excuses to keep me from reaching my goals.

Then, I ran into a former church friend who had lost an amazing amount of weight.  I began to dig into his story and learned that he just took himself out on the track one day, at a nearby school, and slowly started jogging.  This for him has now turned into a huge journey, which you should really take the time to check out on his blog.  Very inspiring!  Needless to say, this was the last and final push for me to get my booty on the move!  I contacted the local bootcamp, signed up, and have been going ever since.  I look forward to each and every workout even though they get tougher each day.  I run with my co-workers at work and we push each other each and every time.  I have found what my purpose is in life even when I was lost in a field of dreams.

As quoted in the movie Field of Dreams “If you build it, he will come”, came to me in an attempt to fall asleep the other night. I pondered on this quote over the past week to find its relevance in my life.  After reading the plot of the movie, as it has been almost two decades since I have seen this movie, I now understand how it relates to life.   Follow through on your dreams and your passions, pursue life with a positive outlook, attempt to re-discover yourself and your purpose in life! People, in general, tend to get stuck in slumps.  We forget who we are and what we want. We are too busy trying to satisfy everyone else and we aren’t satisfying ourselves.  Take care of yourself and your body and you will find that it takes little to no effort to satisfy others.  When your body is happy and healthy you naturally give off positive vibes to others.  You just can’t help it! Build yourself first then everything else will follow.

Needless to say, I am now on my way to an amazing life full of vigor and happiness! What once began as a dream is now my life every day of the week.  I eat healthy, workout 6 days a week, help others to find it within themselves to get healthy, and this all comes with no effort.  If me, a down on herself, frumpy, unfit mom can do it, then so can you!

While searching for answers to the Field of Dreams quote I ran across Tales from the motherland blog, which I found to be very fitting for this subject.  She talks about digging deeper and finding that inner strength.  Take a minute to read her post as well for some funny and inspiring thoughts.

Cheers to finding your purpose! It may not be anything grand or huge but it is very satisfying.

The coach within you

As I  have begun my Team Beachbody/Shakeology business, I am constantly sharing with people about being a coach and frequently hear “I couldn’t be a coach, I’m not coach material” or “I don’t look like a coach”. What it is with today’s society that has people thinking they have to look a certain way or be a certain type of person?  I certainly do not look like a coach or have the experience/education to be a coach but that’s not what being a coach means to me. Being a coach has nothing to do with looks, or education, or what you are made out of, for that matter! To me, being a coach is being a motivator and helping others become the person they want to be.  Sometimes people don’t have the tools, motivation, or self-esteem to succeed with their goals.  All it takes is someone who believes in them and encourages them to reach that goal.  It took just a few individuals (coaches), who unknowingly motivated me with their stories and their words.  They arent coaches in their everyday job, but they coached me to be where I am at today.  They motivated and inspired me with the changes they made in their lifestyles which in return pushed me to make that next move.

It also includes, for the coach themselves, to set goals and work towards meeting those goals. If we don’t set goals we have nothing to reach for! Bettering ourselves should never be an issue.  Dont settle for less than what you can be.  It is so easy to get set in our ways and hit that easy button but easy does not get you anywhere except in the same place you have already been.

So before you jump on the “I’m not coach material” bandwagon, take a deeper look into what a coach really is.  Dig into the meaning of what a coach is to YOU. Do you have it in you to be that coach for someone else? You never know who you may inspire by your story or the words you speak.  Take the time to inspire others and share your story.  It may be the final push that ONE person needed!

There is no magic diet pill

Weight loss and good health requires hard work and healthy habits.  Sorry to break it to you folks, but there is no magic diet pill!

I’m sure we have all, at some point in time, had the thought or dream that “if only I could just make this fat disappear”.  You CAN but not with a magic pill, liposuction, or surgery.  These pills and surgeries may work for a quick fix but after awhile their ‘magic’ disappears and you are back to where you started.

So how to do we make this fat disappear?  With hard work, consistency, and honesty.  Honesty? What does that have to do with losing weight? Well, being honest with yourself that you have a few extra pounds to lose is the first step. Being honest that it make take time and hard work is another. Being honest that you may have set backs but its okay because you can pick yourself up off the floor and continue forward, is another! Do you get my drift?  If we dont start with first admitting the truth about our health and fitness, then we will get no where with this journey we must go on.  And oh is it a journey with big peaks and low valleys!  But when you look at yourself in the end or even halfway through your journey, you will realize what an amazing journey it has been.  Imagine the stories you will have to share and the friends you will make along the way.  So do you want to have a temporary fix or do you want to embark on a journey and make it a life-long fix?  The easy road or the hard but lasting road?  I pick the latter one!

DESIRE……DETERMINATION…….MOTIVATION……INSPIRATION! 

1. What do you desire?

2. What are you determined to do/be?

3. What motivates you?

4. What inspires you?

In regards to your health and fitness, take a few minutes to jot down your answers to these questions. Use these answers to determine your WHY.  Why do you want to embark on this journey? Why do you want to live a long and healthy life? Why do you want to lose weight? Why do you deserve this? If you don’t determine your why you wont stick to the journey. You must hold yourself accountable to what you want to become!