The Healthy Home book

Last night I went to a book tour event for The Healthy Home.  I really enjoyed it and learned a lot of things.  The biggest being a new understanding of how our body works.  The author started out by explaining the human cell and how it works and what it is made up of  and needs in order to function properly.  With the periodic table he explain the elements that make up...us.  I remember learning the periodic table in school but I always thought of it out there - in the world.  Last night I became a little more a part of "the world", literally.

When you understand what our cells need it is hard to not give it to them.  Food isn't meant to stop the hunger pains it is meant to feed our body - our cells.  Our cells are so forgiving and with a few changes they can  and will be new again.  We are not punished for life for our choices but only to a point.  Health has a tipping scale and that is why people are living with ailments too much of the time.  Think of the people you know over the age of 55 or 60.  Are they on any medications?  Do we really just except this as normal?

The book goes far deeper than food.  That good smelling car, perfume, cleaner is probably filled with elements from the periodic table that conflict with the bodies elements - otherwise known as toxic.  It seems that word is so controversial but when looked at scientifically, it is the best word to describe what it does to our cells.

I like this book and the Authors because they keep a level head.  They give the information but understand life cannot change on a dime.  Learn the information and then make simple small changes, that is the recommendation.  And, when we do we feel like we have accomplished something - like we are making a difference and that is the emotion that I love to evoke.

Go the the website www.myhealthyhome.com and take a look around.  It is very well done.  And, buy the book.  It is only $13 and all the proceeds are donated to the Children's Hunger Fund ...yes ALL. 

Rock Bottom

There is one process, and maybe it is just me, that comes around again and again.  The cycle to and from rock bottom.  Rock bottoms don't need to be drastic crazy affairs, they are just the end of a cycle to where the we begin to rise again.  Sometimes, maybe most times, we don't know we are on the downward trend until we get that "aha" moment and life bounces up - easier and better. 

There have been many times that I am just not in balance.  I am going through the motions (or not) but I am not feelin' it.  Then one day something clicks and I "get it" all over again.  The motivation comes from out of nowhere.  Bless that nowhere.  I adore you.

Sometimes I know I am falling down, down, down.  I feel completely out of control and I hate it >(  I have learned, for sure, that if I start to panic or if I turn on myself and scold and shame I will be right back to my old weight again.  Keeping a positive mindset during these times (and these times WILL come) is ,by far, the hardest part of getting healthy.  If it were easy it would be easy...right?  Eating healthy and exercising is not hard when the motivation is high.  You have got to have a plan of action ready for when it is not.  I know that if we all can be kinder and cheer louder for ourselves during the slumps we will get through them.  The rock bottoms do come and a sunshiny rainbow is on the other side.  

     

When I plateau

In the beginning,  I found that when I plateaued I would start to panic and I would frantically step up my workout and decrease my calories - cursing myself along the way.  It didn't help.  I had to get back to my confident place before I could conquer it.  I learned when the scale lingered I had to first take a moment and decide if I was willing to move on or was this where I would stay.  If deep down I knew I wasn't up for the "fight" then I would have to be okay with where I was.  If I was ready to keep going I would analyze where I was.  If "stuff" was going on in my life I knew that is where I really needed to work.  If I was injured or ill then I knew that was the problem.  Sometimes convenience is an issue and has to be addressed.  Like I said, if I had hit my limit then that was it - I would name it, whatever it was.  I stopped shaming myself and took on the real issues.  It is those "real" issues that make saying "no" to your favorite food painful not the taste so much and not so much the feeling of being full.  Food doesn't cure all the ailments but it is a great band aid:)   

Now, the issue is not plateauing but the cure is the same.  When I put on a few pounds I go through the same list.  Sometimes the real issue is something totally within my control.  I again ask myself if this is the new normal or just a phase.  As of yet, they have all been phases and I either wait it out or find a new motivation.  For example, I might download some new music to help me look forward to working out.  The fix doesn't have to last forever.  It just has to get me over the hump.  This is a life long process and I am more okay at times with that than other times but I keep on keepin' on and that makes all the difference.