Low Fat No Fat Made Me Fat!

As child of the 80's, there is no diet that I haven't tried. Okay, except for the Grapefruit Diet because I despise grapefruits! Low fat, no fat, only green foods, no meat, no sweets, diet pills (so not proud of that) and everything else under the sun. I was never really fat fat, but I was chubby.

A little background on how I got that way. First, let me just say that I adore my parents. They are the best and ALWAYS tried to do what was best for me. That being said, I learned a lot of bad habits from them. My mom has a serious sweet tooth and she could live off bread and butter for the rest of her life and be perfectly happy. This, she passed on to me. Thanks mom:(
My dad was gone a lot because of his business and, since it was just me and mom at home, we ate out. A lot. Like more often than not. There was a diner close to our house that we ate at a lot. Of course there were the usual fast food restaurants too.

My dad was, and still is, a very picky eater. He only likes a limited variety of foods so, when he was home, we would have hot dogs, mac and cheese and meatloaf on a regular basis. He only liked corn and peas so that was our only vegetable. So you can probably guess that for the longest time, I was also a very picky eater.

Both of my parents worked so I was home alone after school. It was nothing for me to go through a bag of doritoes in a day or two. Ice cream was always readily available so I ate a lot of that while I waited for someone to come home. My eating habits as a kid, teenager and young adult were awful! I wasn't terribly active but I ate like all my athlete friends did. Pizza joints and McDonalds were our favorite hangouts.

The point of telling you all this is just to show what an influence parents have on their children even when they don't think they are paying attention. My parents never made me eat veggies and fruit because they weren't eating a lot of them. I was never taught about whole foods or nutrition. Our family gatherings always centered around food. Large amounts of heavy or decadent foods. No one told me to stop. No one told me to exercise. No one taught me that what I put into my body matters.

It was last year when I really made the connection that food fuels my body and if I fill it up on cheap fuel, it is going to run bad. But just knowing that fact doesn't necessarily make it easy to change. Change is hard, no matter who you are. After a year of change, I still find myself going through a drive thru when I am pressed for time. Thankfully, those times are getting further apart.

I don't think good health is a destination. I think it is making better choices as much as possible and forgiving yourself when you choose unwisely. You will eat that 2nd piece of cake at times. You will polish off everything on your plate when you should have split it with someone else. You just have to be aware when those things are happening so you can take bigger steps to prevent them next time.

Health-One Family's Trip Down the Road to Health

My family has been on a journey for about the last year or so. After years of not taking very good care of ourselves, we decided to just stop. Stop poisoning ourselves, stop abusing our bodies and then expecting them to just recover, stop setting such a bad example for our kids.

The catalyst for this was actually our parents. They all have their health woes but instead of really trying to get at the core of their ills, they just kind of ignore it (my parents) or do whatever the doctors say even though it makes them worse (hubby's parents). Because we were on the outside looking in, we had a different perspective. We decided that we did NOT want to end up like our parents. We wanted something more. Something better.

So, a little over a year ago, I started really researching what we should be doing. Can I just say WOW!!! There are BILLIONS and BILLIONS of opinions out there from experts and non experts and pretty much anyone with with half a brain. It was overwhelming to say the least! As I read one thing and could see the logic in it, I would read something else that completely contradicts it. So what is the answer? Well, I didn't exactly find the answer. What I did find was that there are different things that work for different people so I needed to find what worked for us.

Really, it would have been a whole lot easier if there was just ONE right answer!

Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to talk a little more in depth about those answers that worked for us. Please note that this is our journey and it isn't going to look like anyone else's. I just hope that it inspires you to start your own journey or at least intrigues you enough to do your own research and really think about the health of your family.

Happy Memorial Day

Just a quick note to wish everyone a very happy, SAFE Memorial Day. Please remember while you are grilling out or swimming (both of which we will be doing today!)the reason behind this day off of work, the sacrifice of many, many men and women. The ultimate sacrifice. No matter what your thoughts are on wars, our military is very much needed in order for us to continue to live as free people. Without them, our lives would look so much different-and NOT in a good way!

I currently have a cousin in the Marines. As a matter of fact, she and her mom will be visiting us today. My prayer is that my family never has to "remember" her on this day. Sounds selfish, I know. I am so proud of her and what she is doing (as I am with all those serving and retired) but I want her to come home safe and sound when her military time is up. I want our family to be one of the "lucky" ones. There are so many families that never got that chance and today is a day for us to take a moment and really think about what their sacrifice means to us.

May God bless all of us with a time of peace.

Finally! A post!

Bet you thought I fell off the face of the earth, didn't you???

Sometimes, it feels like I did.

So much has gone on in the last few months, not sure where to start. I started 2 new jobs, we thought my mom had cancer...Ok, I'll start with that one.

My mom had a persistent cough for a looooong time. She always thought it was just allergies or a lingering cold but then she started to retain water. Lots of it. She went to the emergency room and long story short, they thought she may have lung cancer. She saw specialists. They all said the same thing. 99% sure it is cancer. The woman has never smoked a cigarette in her life but her parents smoked when she was growing up. (They both stopped later) We all had ourselves prepared for the worst. Then...it wasn't cancer. It was some kind of infection in her lung that they are still trying to narrow down. But it's NOT cancer! YAY!!

Now for those 2 jobs. I already told you about one of them. I am a jeweler for Premier Designs Jewelry. Let me tell you, I LOVE it. I have done about a dozen home jewelry shows and I have been having such a good time at them. They say that if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. It's true. I look forward to the nights when I have a show because they are so much fun. And a bit profitable too:)

Job #2 isn't really a job. I became an Independent Product Consultant for doTerra Essential Oils. I have been loving the quality of the oils and I have been learning so much in the last few weeks about how to use them. I don't really do this job for money, it's strictly for the discounted price on the oils. I love to save me some money.

So I will be trying to get back on a more predictable posting schedule. I have had my fun with my little break but I miss this forum here. I miss talking with you and hearing what you think. Well, at least most of what you think. There have been a few stinkers that try to ruin it for everyone. I found a great way to deal with them, though. I press <delete>!