healthy and beautiful

Babies use nutrients to build and develop a healthy body. They have a built in alarm clock every two to three hours that cries out to be fed. They will also stop eating when they feel full eliminating the need to count calories. Babies eat to live naturally. As adults, we can learn much from our precious infants. The nutrients they consume are usually quality coming straight from Mom’s milk, or formulas containing everything a growing body needs to be healthy. If we could only implement this nutritional strategy , we would be on our way to adopting a healthy lifestyle. Sadly, the majority of eating is no longer about growing a strong healthy body . Quality nutrients have been replaced with processed fake food linked to obesity and disease. We don't pay attention to our full barometer and consume too large of portions. We also fill our stomachs with foods that lack in nutritional value. Eating processed foods lacking in nutrients promotes inflammation in our blood stream, the root ...

How simple that sounds but it really is a choice.  The weekend is upon us and all the excitement of what that means to each of us: a break from work, social drinking, parties, indulgence in unhealthy foods, and plain slacking off from our goals of living a healthy lifestyle.  It is almost as if the weekend turns us into different people ... the "Jekyll and Hyde" of fitness and health exposed. I admit to letting my hair down a bit on the weekend, and especially a little more this Sunday and Monday to celebrate Mother's Day and my Fabulous 51 Birthday.  However, I do not agree with plunging completely into the dark side of forgetfulness of living a healthy life, and not being able to exemplify what that means not only to me but those I teach and motivate on the daily. Moderation is knowing how to moderate.  A treat day does not need to turn into a cheat weekend because I guarantee that guilt and feeling like crap will come knocking at the door. It is really OK to enjoy...

I love being healthy, eating healthy and how I feel as a healthy woman.  I have been living this lifestyle most of my life and at 51 have a healthy handle of what being healthy means.  I teach health and fitness as my occupation and since it is my passion really do not consider it work.  There is something to be said about the existence of living a healthy lifestyle.  My clients know that I don't teach perfection, but progress and it is not a lifestyle of complete restriction, but a healthy balance of eating right 80 to 90 percent of the time and regular exercise. I do not believe in taking things to extremes and making health feel like a burden for me or anyone else.  My mental game is what I want to address here and keeping health in perspective.  I am all about eating organic, non-GMO, and cooking at home to be in control of what I am eating 80 to 90 percent of the time.  I am human and will indulge in occasional adult beverages and will no...

When it comes to getting a healthy fit body, it is not about making it complicated, extreme, and it is far from a science project.  There are so many confusing messages hitting us square in the face about the “right” diet and the “right” fitness fad exercise program to create what we so long to become.  Even further, people rush in droves overspending on pills, powders, gimmicks, videos, extreme fitness programs, and anything that promises a smoking hot body in two weeks or less.  Sadder still, there is no consideration of the negative effects on the body when such choices are made.  It is the dive blind and hope for the best philosophy and that would scare the crap out of me. Think about the word health and what that means to you personally. I live a life of health and fitness and teach it as a lifestyle of quality that includes eating healthy foods, exercise and stretch on a regular basis.  It is also important to reduce pain in our bodies, and stress in our l...

Simple is Healthy! Simple is Healthy ~ Food, Part 1 YES…I have lots to say about keeping it simple and being such a chatter box, and trying not to jump too hard on the soap box, I knew this was going to become a series of SIMPLE.   I came across a quote that struck me “90% of people avoided obesity and diabetes long before anyone knew what a calorie was let alone counted them…let’s make “healthy” healthy again” and it ended with the word…SIMPLE. WOW, I thought on that and realized just how dynamic and powerful this statement was to me and how true it is for my life.   As a child, my parents modeled living from the land in our back yard and boy do I ever remember how my weekends were spent…pulling weeds from the garden.   Talk about a bitter sweet chore as a child…dirty hands, dirty knees, blisters…and the smell of tomato leaves so strong it could choke you…anyone relate?   Fruit trees adorned our backyard, and my Dad was a master grafter trying to create the perfect...

It does not matter how much I exercise, if I do not put healthy foods in my body, I will not be healthy.   It is really that simple.   Outside of my workouts, I maintain my body mostly with healthy food intake.   An hour of exercise at least five days per week is sufficient for me, and allows for great recovery and rest for my body.   How I feed my body is the maintenance work that takes place all day long, until I hit the sheets for sleep.   Even then, it is important to eat healthy food that promotes sleep as well.   Yes, I build my body in the gym and prior to that ensure that my body is ready to go with the proper fuel to get me through my workout.   I purposely create a space on my client calendar where I am the client for a workout.   I give myself one hour of bodywork time and that is enough.   If my hunger bell rings just before my scheduled time, I will slam an apple or a few pieces of watermelon, and if over the top hunger hits, th...