And it was GOOD!!!

So today for lunch I eat Salmon and it was the best fish ever, I think it was only because I haven't had meat in almost a month!! I went to Cotton Patch for lunch and anyone who has ate there knows they bring out hot fresh rolls with lots of butter...anyways I asked the waiter for one roll only and that was for my daughter Kylie!! I had enough self control to not eat any of the bread and in fact I didn't even want any of the bread so crazy! I brought my own sun-dried tomato with olive oil dressing from home because I knew I would want a salad and I only like Ranch dressing when I eat out! Here is what I had: Grilled Salmon with "skinny" veggies meaning no butter and a salad with no croutons, cheese or bacon and extra cucumber and tomato!! This was so good and I ate most the salad, all my veggies and maybe half the fish oh and I had water!! Eating out is possible but you have to really be careful while ordering your food, don't be afraid to tell them no butter on your veggies or meat order how you want it because you are paying for it!! I know the waiter gets annoyed when I order food with so many request, but if places offered healthy options that were actually healthy than I wouldn't have to be such a pain. However until that day I will make the healthier choices and if that means taking 5 minutes to order oh well this is my body I choice what goes in!!

It is Friday which most the time I am like I want to eat, eat and eat again because it's the weekend. However this weekend is different I have not thought once of eating something unhealthy, not even pizza or Mexican food which is my fave!! I started to think about why it's different for me and I realized because my 10 day juicing fast had retrained my brain to want the healthier foods! This has been like total REVELATION for me, I am so thankful the Lord allowed me to see I had to step out of my comfort zone and be uncomfortable in order to move forward. I was doing some math which is rare for me I dislike math with a passion...anyways it was 3 years in the middle of June that I started my journey to lose weight!! Though it has been a very hard and long process I have lost a total of 89 lbs to date, I realize it could be more but we are not perfect and slip up at times!! Now I feel after some really hard times I am finally back on track, but the difference is I am not striving for one thing to just lose weight. I now know I needed to be striving for balance in life and I am putting God first and not worrying if I make it to the gym that day because I don't want to miss out on life! Please do not take me wrong I feel exercising is an important part of being healthy, but it is not everything for me!! So I did make it to the gym yesterday and today which I already feel sore in my legs and my upper back and arms are sore from yesterdays workout. I know that over the weekend I wont't be able to go, but I am ok with that because there is always Monday :)

I want to encourage those who don't believe they have the ability to accomplish losing weight, do not sell yourself short God has made you stronger than you may know!! Seek God through your journey whatever it maybe and He will guide you, strengthen you and pick you back up if you fall along the way. Hope everyone had a blessed weekend and enjoy life because we are not promised tomorrow!!

Smoothie Recipe it's really good!!

So as I said in my earlier post I will be posting recipes on my blog and may I say do not read what is in it and shoot it down at least try it and if it's not something you like at least you tried!! I was like I don't know about those things together, but I tried it and to my surprise really liked it!

Great Green Fruit Blend

2 cups Beet Greens, Red Swiss Chard, Kale, Spinach or a combination, roughly chopped and into a measuring cup.

1 Banana

1 Golden Delicious Apple ( I don't always use this type I have used granny smith and gala apples)

1/2 Comice Pear

10 Strawberries, green tops cut off

1 cup Coconut Water

Make sure to set the blender on the liquefy setting for this recipe.

It didn't call for ice cubes, but if you want it really cold and icy drop about a handful in. Please don't look at the things in it and think those will be hard to find, but if you live around Kroger, HEB or Central Market ( of course health food type stores) they have all these things. I don't know about Wal-mart they don't always have good produce.

Now of course organic is the best way to go, but it isn't very cheap so I just compare and sometimes the organic is cheaper and I opt for that, however for most part I just buy non organic!!

So I hope you will give this a try and see how you like it, I do it for breakfast but you can have it for any meal!!

When life is crazy can you still be healthy???

I am sorry I haven't posted in a while being a stay at home Mom doesn't mean you will have a lot of free time. I have been going and going, dealing with some sick children and some other things that have put a stress on me. I know this is life all these things happen to every one in our lives, and every one deals with it differently (the stress that is).

So my question is "Can you still be healthy while life is speeding up and almost out of control? I don't know how you may handle stress, but for me it's 1. Worrying all day about whatever the problem is and 2. EATING and not because I am hungry but because it's easier to just grab junk food when my mind is focused on my problem. Now how do I stop this cycle that I always turn to when I am stressing? Well this time I turned to the One I should always run to when I have problems and let Him handle things because I just can't and pretty much make a bigger mess of things. God has brought me through some difficult times, but I struggled with letting Him have complete control over my issues even during those times. I am realizing the little saying "Do what you can and God will do what you cannot" really means. I can be in control of what I eat and how much I eat that I can do, but I can't control every day life. So I am choosing to not let life issues and/or problems dictate whither or not I am going to eat healthy and exercise. Trust me it would just be easier to go to the drive thru and grab some fried, unhealthy greasy burger loaded down with processed cheese, bacon and whatever else they can throw on there, but that short moment that I feel satisfied makes me feel well like crap you are what you eat!! This week has been by far my craziest week and I made the choice to stick with the healthy eating. Though it would have made it easier to eat junk and less work for me, I know that anything worth having is going to take work!!

Helpful Tips: When you know you are going out like shopping at the mall bring something to snack on while out like: organic or all natural peanut butter or almond butter with some raw honey mixed in and put it on celery!! Dry roasted Edamame (soybeans) these are high in protein so they fill you up and have some fruit like an apple or orange. Keep a lunch box or small ice chest in the car and you can keep anything you bring cold. I also bring some juice that I have  in the fridge from the night before juicing and put it in a thermos. This is just common sense stuff you know there are not healthy options for people who are trying to eat healthy so why not take it with you?

I haven't lost any weight since I started this new way of eating, but I have lost 12 lbs while juicing and I also haven't been able to exercise since starting the healthy eating! I know once I can get my exercising started with the healthy eating I will be able to lose more, but like I said before it's not just about losing weight it's about being a healthier me!! That is where I am at right now and I will be posting soon some recipes I enjoy from smoothies, juicing, and food recipes. So as I continue on my life journey of a healthier me I will need prayers for the moments that I feel tempted to give up and just fall back to the old ways. I hope others will read this and see with God we can do anything, He is where our strength comes from. I will sign off with some verses that have encouraged me to not give up or give in to temptation. I read these verses and realized the reward is far greater than the few moments of pleasure that falling prey to my temptation would bring!!

12) Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

13) Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

14) But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.

15) Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

16) Do not err, my beloved brethern.

James 1:12-16 KJV

Day 10 already?

Day 10 already really that went by faster than I thought it would, and though I am ready for food I don't know if I am prepared to eat!

I have found myself craving salads, vegetable soup, pinto beans well really any bean, hummus, and all these new things I have never tried before!! I have to say I am excited about this new phase in my journey!

So here recap of my 10 days of juicing only, days 1-2 I had headaches, stomach aches and I was tired. Day 3-4 slight headache and very tired I didn't want to do anything. Days 5-10 no headaches and my energy was out standing I have never had so much energy well that was healthy. Most of my energy prior to this was what I call "fake energy" that you get from caffeine, energy drinks or diet pills and they leave you drained for the most part. So my house is finally getting organized and it feels great to accomplish things that have been on my to do list way to long.

I am so thankful that the Lord allowed me to watch the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead", if I hadn't seen that I would still be trying to figure out what I am doing wrong and why I can't lose weight, have energy and not get sick so much. I am not going to take credit for doing my 10 day fast because it was only through Christ that I was successful in this. God gave me strength to press on and reminded me why it was important to finish this, and start making healthier choices in life.

Now that I am moving on to a different phase I will still blog I feel for me it helps me to keep on track and to see my progress. I will be posting some recipes that I will be trying that I may or may not like, but will still post them incase someone dares to try them. I hope all who reads this really understands my goal here, it's not to diet this is a life style change, because diets are temporary and this is for life. So I am signing off I need to finish my grocery list since I can eat now:)

That's right day 8...

Day 8 is coming to an end I know there are still some hours left in the day but I need to post now so I can go to bed early!! So today was good I made it to the gym this morning and did 35 mins of cardio and some abs. I had such a busy day Kylie and I were gone from the time we took Chloe to school till we picked her up. I was prepared though I juiced last night for the day I made enough to last all day, then I put it in a thermos this morning before we headed out and that worked out great.

I am nearing the end of my juice fast and can add some beans, nuts, fruits and veggies. I am wondering how my body will react to eating again and I am a little nervous about it hoping it goes well. I am craving some vegetable soup of course there are others things I want as well and they are actually healthy foods and I love that! I have to say this has been the best thing for me to have done, I have learned so much about myself and the self control I can have if I use it! The Lord has been my strength and any time I would feel tempted to just give in, then God reminded me why I was making such big changes in my life!! When I started this it was really to learn to practice self control and really examine this creation of a body God made me, but as time went on I realized I did this for my Husband and girls too. They are effected by my choices it doesn't matter what it is whither it be food or other things. I want to be able to teach my girls to enjoy eating and it not be the things that are toxic to them and for them to know when you're full to stop eating. I realized they will benefit from this as well as I have and my prayer is to break the cycle.

Here is how I view my eating habits and lack of exercise through out my life. I was lazy there is no denying that and my eating was out of control. I look back and I don't have to look back very far, but all the junk I ate and drank plus the amount of what I consumed was like I just didn't care about myself!! I guess the reason I would eat like that was because I didn't like who I was and the way I looked. I realized food is not a substitute for all the things I missed or the pain I felt, it's like that stupid movie Austin Powers (not sure which one) the really fat guy on there he said it best " I eat because I am fat, and I am fat because I eat." Guess I ate because I was depressed about how uncomfortable I was in my own skin! I am now on the right track and I know I will slip along the way, but as long as I get back on track and keep going and not punish myself for being human I will have success in the changes in my life!!

So thanks again for the prayers and reading my blog I pray it can encourage others to step out and make some changes in their life. Also to see how amazing our bodies are and how awesome they can function when fueled with the right foods and drinks. 

Day 7 and going strong

Well I made it through the weekend thank you Lord, I didn't know if I would make and it was easier than I thought it would be. I am now ending Day 7 of my juicing and there is only 3 more to go. I am not hungry or tired from just doing juice, but I just want to chew some food. I have lost as of this morning 10 lbs and though I wasn't doing this for the weight loss it is a plus. So my next step is adding some real food to actually eat like beans, nuts and of course fruits and veggies. I admit I am a little nervous about adding food, my fear is I will be back in the over eating mode. However I know that if I can with self control sit by someone eating a burger and just drink my juice that I can control how much and what I am eating.

So I now have to face a new challenge, that is my Husband being on his 4 days off which since I am a social eater and that is what we tend to do when he is home makes me a little worried! Also we are going to the movies to see The Lion King in 3D on Saturday and I have yet to figure out what I will snack on while everyone else eats buttery popcorn, yummy nachos and drinks cherry coke!!

Back to Day 7....I have had plenty of energy the past 3 days and I decided to go to the gym, and since last week I was helping my Mom pack and take stuff to storage for her that was my exercise. So today went well at the gym I did 35 mins of cardio and then did some weights chest/back and some abs. I didn't want to over do it since I am not actually eating just getting my nutrients through my juice, but I was surprised that I had energy to workout and not feel like passing out so weird. So I will post again soon if not tomorrow and keep praying for me as I continue on and to those who are struggling to lose/maintain weight or just trying to live a healthier life get in God's Word that is the best encouragement you could find.

26) But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Matthew 19:25

Side note: To those who leave me comments I have yet to figure this thing out and for some reason I can not comment back I have no idea what I am doing wrong! 

To Juice or Not to Juice??

Rebooting is used for many things, you can reboot your computer   maybe to add some programs to make it run better! You can also reboot your phone (if you have a smart phone), because it is running very slow and in hopes it will stop working on a snail pace you reboot! Rebooting something can improve it's function, to make it's performance better.

So why can't we reboot our bodies and make it perform at it's best, the way God created it? Well that is what my juicing journey is about rebooting my body to get the most from what God has given me, after all I was made in His image and my body is a temple I shouldn't be so careless as to what goes in whether food, drink, things I watch or listen to!

²⁶And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

²⁷So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Gensis 1:26-27

¹⁹What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19

We are His creation and out of all the wonderful things He created, we are by far the best thing our bodies work in such a way that I find so interesting. Just think about a woman who is blessed with carrying a child inside her belly, and how the baby gets all their nutrients from what we consume it's just amazes me! If our bodies are important enough that God would allow women (I know not all women get this blessing) to carry another human life and trust us enough to fill ourselves with good nutritious foods to help this baby grow then why don't we treat it important? I think of all the bad things I stuffed into my mouth with the excuse of "the baby wants to eat it," it really just makes me say to myself hello who is in control here your cravings or you!

This is what the enemy does to us, he uses the things that we are the weakest in and for a lot of people that happens to be food and we will include sodas and any thing else that is chemically made or altered!

We don't consume nearly enough fresh fruits and veggies on a daily and in fact a lot people don't eat any at all and because of this we live very unhealthy lives our immune system has no nutrient to help fight off diease and sickness. What is crazy to me the fact that we may even know we are sick and that changing our eating habits could result in healing our bodies, yet we don't change our habits. God made our bodies with it's own antibodies white blood cells they fight off infections but when they have no nutrients they are weakened. One of the many ways they are weakened is poor diet and all the processed foods and drinks even fruits juices they are so processed that there is no nutritional value  left in it. I don't think we realize all the toxicans we put in our bodies when we consume all the junk food we eat and drink.

Our bodies in normal function, produce toxins. This is fine, as long as our body's ability to eliminate these toxins is operating normally. All toxins created by the body or put into the body must be eliminated in order for us to be healthy. Our bodies normally eliminate toxins through the kidneys, liver, stomach, small intestines, and the skin (perspiration).

When toxins are allowed to accumulate, they cause the immune system to be suppressed, and the body becomes acidic. Accumulated toxins that have not been flushed out or eliminated allow the body to create an environment where illness and disease can flourish.  

If we are clogging up our system it can't function the way God made it too, it is why Americans are sick, over weight and dying. People may not agree with me on this but we have become lazy and careless of our bodies. We are slowly killing ourselves and passing on our bad habits to our children and in return will bring on a more obese, sick and unhealthy genration than we  have now.

This is why I have started my juicing of the the fresh fruits and veggies and drinking only water, I want to cleanse/detox my body of all the hamburgers, pizzas, cakes and sodas that I have ingested over my life span of 28 years. I couldn't tell how many of the above items I have consumed in just the last year other than A LOT but I could tell you my fruit and veggie intake was probably not even a 1/3 of what I needed. This is common for most Americans in fact a Gallup poll released Friday found that 55.9 percent of Americans reported eating five or more serving of fruits or vegetables at least four days in a week in May of this year. That number was 57.8 percent in May 2010.

Produce consumption is down the most among Hispanics, young adults, seniors, and women this year compared with 2010, the poll found. That is what we need in a day actually we need 3-5 servings of veggies and 2-4 servings daily with that being said juicing is a great way to consume the amount needed daily.

 I have been doing nothing but the fresh juices and I am on day 5 of my day 10 challenge, and days 1-2 went great I just had some headaches and little sick to my stomach, days 3-4 I was very tired and didn't want to do anything. Now I am on day 5 which has been great I have had energy to get some cleaning and washing done and I don't feel tird or sick. I challenge everyone to try the reboot program it is not easy but as it says in the Bible we have self control, often we just don't practice it. If you would like to see what the reboot program is google Joe Cross and you can read up on it and you can sign up for a program fit for you! Doing this doesn't mean I can never again eat something that I want, but I am doing this for a healthy life style change, it's not logical to say I will never again eat a slice of pizza or enjoy a piece of cake again that just won't happen. What  I am saying is that I can retrain my brain to make better choices, and to enjoy this amazing creation God has created and allow it to perform at it's best by putting in the best fuel (foods) for it to run off of!! So thank you for taking the time to read this and I ask that you please be in prayer for me as a continue on this journey I feel God wants me to travel in order to appeciate the body He has given me!!

 ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23