The power of LOVE - Part One

What do I mean by this? Not the love that you think.  Not passionate love with another person. Yes. That is wonderful and having it makes life even more amazing.  But, what I am talking about loving yourself. This is something I recently understood as actually being the foundation in this journey to health and fitness.  Self esteem. Integrity. Self love.  I now BELIEVE this is essential to living a remarkable life – one filled with love, health, fitness, spirituality, and all the things that make life worth living. I had been so focused, especially in the beginning of my quest, on what I ate - counting calories or counting points, or counting carbs, getting protein in my diet (I’m not a big protein lover), staying away from sweets, taking my vitamins, taking my supplements, (no love there) and of course exercising. And, I mean intense exercise. I spent many hours working out, lifting weights, doing cardio machines at the gym, walking up Euclid, doing the Mud Run at Camp Pendleton, going to The Biggest Loser Resort (three weeks worth), doing Pilates, Yoga, running, jogging, and on and on and on.  And, all of these activities are wonderful and great for the body - don't get me wrong.  But, not inspiring self loving when every time you do something you never think it is good enough, long enough, hard enough. Where is the love there?  Yep, that is what I realized I was missing - one key element from a place deep in my heart.  LOVE!  Loving myself just the way I am right now.  The way I am. I am good enough now. That is the key.  I am still working on this. But, I am making vast progress.  How many of you can truly say that you love yourself just the way you are no matter what?  This is humbling for me because I never really thought I didn’t love myself.   I always thought I did love myself, but now I realize I didn’t really love myself totally unconditionally. Now I am working on not being so hard on myself, but at the same time having Integrity.  Doing what I say I will do.  Eating healthy foods.  Loving, nurturing and nourishing my mind, body and soul.  It may sound corny, but I finally figured out that LOVE is the key.  More on love next post – love of food (Yes. Love of food. It is not the enemy!) and love of humanity.

I'm back!

I'm back! I've been on a writing/blogging and fitness/health hiatus for quite awhile now, but I realize that it is time for me to start writing about all the crazy wonderful things going on in my life and the Universe. Yes. That's right - crazy and wonderful, and not necessarily at the same time.   And, I KNOW it is time for me to revitalize my stalled fitness/health journey.  And, I am ready! 

Today I was reminded of something that I always say, but don't always do. And, I was actually challenged a bit in cyberspace on my words. Yes - my words.  As some of you know I always say that our thoughts become the things and events of our lives.  And, that thinking positive loving thoughts will bring positive loving results, and on the flip side thinking crappy, negative thoughts will bring about all the things you don't want in your life. Yes.  I say this, BUT do I do this? I can say I do some of the time, but definitely not all the time.  I preach this amazing universal law to everyone, but I realized recently that I don't always practice what I preach.  In pondering this I recognized that therein lies a major growth opportunity for me.  And, what I BELIEVE will be the unveiling of something extraordinarily profound and amazing! I have so much to share - so much to write about.  But, I am going to spread out my thoughts and muses as I begin to blog again.  So, stay tuned for more of my reflections on life, love, fitness and health.

As far as the law of attraction is concerned there is only one person in the world – YOU! For the law of attraction the other person is you, and that other person is you, and those other people are you, because whatever you think and feel about anyone else, you bring to YOU. From the book The Power, Rhonda Byrne

Progress not Perfection

I let out a sigh of relief just thinking about this saying. I am back now, in the pursuit of progress toward my goals and desires -  not perfection. I have taken a bit of a hiatus from writing this blog and pursing my dreams and goals, but no more. Look forward to more of my tales and progress soon!

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches....and Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful 4th of July holiday. I decided to bake peach pie today - how American is that? I picked peaches- a lot of them - from my peach tree this morning and baked pies all day today.

 Peaches and Swiss Chard

 A lot more peaches and a couple of nectarines.

Pies! Yummy!!!! Nothing like a home made pie made from scratch with peaches grown in your own backyard.

Fast Complete and a Healthy Fried Rice recipe

Well I made it 4.75 days on my juice fast. I released 8 pounds and I felt great after the fast was done. I decided that trying to fast through the 4th of July probably wasn't the best idea. LOL! So, yesterday afternoon I broke my fast. Last night I made the best Healthy Fried Rice (recipe below) and even my husband loved it. It was interesting not eating solid food - really made me think about how food obsessed we are. It seemed that every commercial on television was about some sort of food that was unhealthy. Here is the Healthy Fried Rice recipe.

Health Fried Rice
6 oz. of Tofu (firm or extra firm) or you could use chicken (cut into 1/4 inch squares)
1/2 cup shredded or finely chopped carrots
3 cups chopped broccoli (a head)
4 scallions chopped
3 cloves of garlic (or more if you like)
1 T. minced ginger
1 cup beansprouts
2 eggs
2 T. Sesame Oil
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
2 T. Fish Sauce
3 T. Soy Sauce
1 cup uncooked brown rice

Cook the brown rice per the instructions on the package. I always use a rice cooker - I find the rice comes out better cooked that way. Marinate Tofu in 2 T. Soy Sauce and  red pepper flakes. Saute garlic, ginger in 2 T. Seseame Oil for a minute, then add in tofu cooking for about two more minutes, then add in scallions, carrots, broccoli, and bean sprouts. Stir fry for about 5 minutes until vegetables are cooked. Take mixture out of the pan, and add two eggs to the pan and stir fry until cooked. Then add in cooked rice, 1 T. Sesame Oil, Fish Sauce and remaining soy sauce, and the Tofu vegetable mixture. Stir all together and serve! Super yummy!!!

I think of my body as a side effect of my mind. ~Carrie Fisher

Hmmmmm....Isn't that what I have been saying? My fast is going okay. I juiced some carrot, beet, cucumber, ginger, apple juice this morning and drank that today, along with a lot of water. I am already thinking five days might be too long. But, we will see if I can do it. I know it will really reset my hunger and cravings so that will be an awesome thing. But, if I really feel like I have to eat some REAL food - like veggies or fruit - I will.

Benefits of Juice Fasting

Today is the first day of what I plan to be a 5-10 day juice fast. I did a fast at the end of last year, which I blogged about on my former blog fitbyfiftysuzannesfitnessjourney  I believe I lost 11 pounds in five days on that fast. But, the best thing was the way I felt after releasing all those toxins in my body. I have been extremely out of control on my eating, so I thought it was a good time to do another juice fast. I went to Whole Foods the afternoon to buy all my organic fruits and veggies for juicing - apples, kale, cucumbers, celery, carrots, ginger, beets,green peppers, and more. Today I had some Naked Juice and some green juice from Whole Foods with Wheat Grass in it to get me started - and it kicked my butt! I felt so nauseous and headachy. Then I looked up the effects of Wheat Grass on a toxic body (which mine totally is now!)- and I had all the effects. I am feeling a little better now - after a little nap. Tomorrow I will start juicing my own juice using a variety of recipes. One of the first juices I will be concocting is Apple, Beet, Cucumber, Ginger.

Here are some of the benefits of juice fasting:

In addition to promoting the excretion of toxins and decreasing congestive symptoms, juice fasts are believed to have the following benefits:

• Eliminates most food allergies and sensitivities.
• Enhances mental, physical, and spiritual well-being
• Mental clarity
• Glowing skin
• Prevents chronic diseases caused by poor diet and lifestyle
• Clears mucus discharge
• Weight loss
  

Additionally, juice is full of live enzymes, which is wonderful for your body. You can consumer more vegetables drinking freshly squeezed juice then you can by eating them normally. Drinking fresh vegetable juice helps you eat as many if not more vegetables as you would like.

Fasting also gives your digestive system a rest. Fresh fruit and vegetable juices require little digestion, and are quickly assimilated into your body. Since most of the energy normally involved in your assimilation, digestion, and elimination is freed up, you feel a sense of renewed energy after a juice fast.

Juice fasting helps break down toxic elements such as pesticides, drugs and other chemicals from stored fat, and releases diseased tissues and their cellular products into the circulation for elimination. Also, new cell growth during fasting is stimulated and accelerated, as the required proteins are re-synthesized from decomposed cells. Your blood-protein level remains constant and normal throughout your fast, as your body will use protein and other stored nutrients where needed. 
I know this juice fast will reset my body and my mind for the second half of 2011, which starts on Friday. Can you believe 2011 is half over already? More tomorrow on the fast. I am hoping tomorrow is better. I know it will be. The end result is going to be awesome!

How is your Energy today?

The more books I read and the more seminars I attend, and the more people I speak with I am even more convinced of the power of our minds and our energy. I see on the days when I am feeling great - when life is good and pleasurable - how things go right for me and people respond well too me. And, I also see that when I am down - feeling sorry for my self or angry at someone - that I feel awful and my day goes badly. I was watching the last episode of Oprah this weekend - TIVO'd it - and she was talking about energy and we are all responsible for our energy and that our energy not only affects us but radiates out into the Universe affecting those around us. I knew that was a truth - a Universal Law. It makes sense! Have you every been around someone who is just a bummer and their life is a mess or the angry person that is mad about everything - how do you feel when you are around that person? Not good, right? And, then on the other end of the spectrum there is that person whose energy is so joyous and pure you just want to be around them all the time. Since we are responsible for our own energy - how can we improve our energy? I made a list awhile ago of things that I could do to improve my energy and get to a higher vibration. Maybe some of these things might work for you too. Give one a try!

• walk in nature or just take a walk around the block and really look around
• get plenty of sleep (wake up by at least 6:30 and enjoy the morning)
• walk at the beach  
• garden
• read for pleasure - especially outdoors
•  play with my dog/walk my dog 
•  light candles in the evening or even in the day! 
•  take a hot bath
•  meditate
•  afternoon nap
• exercise and get those endorphins going!
•  go to the movies (a funny or upbeat one)
• do something with my sweetie
• paint 
• Yoga
• just doing nothing and not feeling guilty
• write in my journal
• do my gratitude journal
• spend time with a friend 
• go to Meditation Class
• Pilates 
• make a nice meal and eat with my sweetie in the dining room with candles
• sit in the courtyard and listen to the fountain in my backyard
• listening to the birds in the yard
•  call a friend to chat about positive things
•  try something new 
• eat a healthy lunch outdoors 

I think I am going to take Cleo for a walk now and then enjoy a healthy lunch outside in my courtyard patio! How about you?

Be Still and Know

Meditation seems to be the key to achieving a state of joy. I don't mean monk like meditation where you meditate all day - don't worry. But, just 15-30 minutes a day make a world of difference in my mood, how my day goes, and my state of BEing. Interestingly enough though, I often say I don't have time to meditate. What is that all about? I am thinking that it is my resistance to feeling worthy to be happy, to be thin, to be successful. Here are some steps on how to start meditating:

Meditation is a mental discipline by which one attempts to get beyond the conditioned, "thinking" mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness. There are many different meditation methods.
At the core of meditation is the goal to focus and eventually quiet your mind. As you progress, you will find that you can meditate anywhere and at any time, accessing an inner calm no matter what's going on around you. You will also find that you can better control your reactions to things as you become increasingly aware of your thoughts (letting go of anger, for example). But first, you have to learn to tame your mind.

1. Sit with a straight back. Don’t try to meditate lying down because you are likely to fall asleep. I do lie down sometimes though. Meditation brings relaxation and peace but at the same time this is a dynamic peace. Meditation is quite different than the relaxation of sleep. When we really meditate, we are fully alert and conscious. Our sense of awareness is heightened. Afterwards you’ll have a positive feeling for the world and a renewed sense of dynamism.
2. Don’t eat before meditating. After a heavy meal your body will be lethargic with digestion.
3. It is not necessary to mediate in the lotus posture. It is fine to meditate in a chair, as long as the back is straight.
4. It is helpful to take a shower before meditating.
5. Burning incense and having a candle are not necessary, but they can add a little extra inspiration.
6. It is good to meditate early in the morning. It is said the best time is 3am, although, I feel it is more important to be awake and not sleepy, I try to meditate at 6.30am.

So, if you aren't already meditating - try it. You just might like it!

The Real Cause of Inner Emptiness (And What to Do About It)

Here is an article by Margaret Paul, Ph.D. that I recently read. It goes right in line with the concept of Primary Foods and BEing in alignment with your source energy. Pretty Interesting!

Do you often feel empty inside? Do you believe that others should be filling you up? Discover the real cause of inner emptiness and what to do about it.
If you feel empty, you are not alone in feeling this way.
Many people feel empty inside, and most people who feel empty have some deep, false beliefs regarding why they feel empty. Below are some of these false beliefs.
I feel empty because:

• My partner is not giving me enough love and attention.
• I don't have a partner.
• I'm bored because my partner doesn't provide me with enough stimulation.
• My work is unsatisfying.
• I'm not successful enough.
• I don't have enough money.
• I have no one to play with on weekends.
• Nothing excites me. Life is boring.
• I don't get enough love, attention and approval from friends and relatives.
• I don't get enough sex.

None of these situations is a real cause of inner emptiness.
What do you usually do to try to fill the inner emptiness? Do you try to fill up with:

• Substances, such as food, sugar, alcohol, drugs or cigarettes?
• Processes and activities, such as TV, Internet, sex, computer games, work, shopping, spending, gambling, telephone or email?
• Attempting to get others' attention or approval with niceness, caretaking, over-talking, story-telling, anger or blame?

There are many substances, processes, behaviors and activities that people use addictively to try to fill the emptiness. These may work for the moment, but not for long. Soon, the emptiness is back and you are looking for someone or something to temporarily fill up the black hole.
The problem with all these behaviors is that they only address the symptom of inner emptiness -- not the cause.
The Cause Of Inner Emptiness
There is only one thing that truly fills the emptiness. Love. There is only one cause of inner emptiness: a lack of love.
But it is not a lack of someone else's love that causes your emptiness. Inner emptiness is caused by self-abandonment -- by not loving yourself.
Inner emptiness comes from a lack of connection with your spiritual source of love -- from not opening to the love-that-is-God and bringing that love to yourself through true thought and loving action in your own behalf.

When you abandon yourself by judging yourself, ignoring your feelings by staying in your head, numbing your feelings through substance and process addictions and making others responsible for your feelings and for loving you, you will feel empty. You are causing your own emptiness by your self-abandonment.
Your ego-wounded self is filled with false beliefs regarding who you are. Your wounded self may see you as inadequate, unlovable, not good enough, not important, selfish, bad, wrong. Your wounded self operates from core shame -- that you are intrinsically flawed.
These are programmed beliefs that have no basis in truth, but they may be running your life. When you believe that you are not good enough, then you turn to others and to addictions to try to feel okay -- to fill the emptiness that you are causing with your self-judgment/self-abandonment.
Filling Your Inner Emptiness: Learning To Love Yourself
The truth of who you are comes only from your personal source of spiritual guidance -- whatever that is for you. When you open to learning with a source of higher guidance about the truth of who you are, and about what is loving action toward yourself and others, you open to the love-that-is-God coming into your heart and filling your inner emptiness.
This occurs when you shift your attention -- from protecting against pain and avoiding responsibility for your feelings through your addictive and controlling behaviors -- to learning, with your higher guidance, about what is loving to yourself and others.
Today, choose the intent to learn with your higher guidance about truth and about loving yourself -- even if you don't believe that anything is there to answer you -- and see what happens. You might start to feel full of love inside!

The Law of Attraction and BElieving

That may sound like a lofty topic for a blog about getting healthy to be discussing, but this principle is the key to success in weight loss, and in everything else in life. You may say, "Sure, but why haven't you been able to lose weight over the last year while you have been on your journey?" And, the key is simple. My beliefs. Some of you may know me and know me to be a positive up beat person - most of the time anyway! But, it is the thoughts that go on in my head (mostly when I am alone) that have prevented me from achieving my goals. But, no more.! I will be ever so slightly tweaking my thoughts to be more positive in order to achieve  my desires - first the weight loss - then who knows the sky is the limit!  You see it doesn't matter what you are thinking about in a negative manner - it could have nothing to do with your desire, but if you are sad, or angry, guilty, discouraged, worried, disappointed, jealous, fearful or depressed (or whatever negative emotion) your desires won't come true. Simple because you are not in alignment with your source energy - your positive energy. With the way the world is today and the media's constant broadcasting of bad news about the economy, the wars, the Swine Flu, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, the predicted end of the world on May 21, 2011 blah, blah, blah it can be hard to stay in a state of joy - or even anything close to that. Especially for someone who is very intuitive and empathetic like me. I have the tendency to take on the vibe or energy of the people I am around - not good when dealing with energetically negative people. This is something I recently figured out and will be working on not being affected by the energy of those around me or the news, etc.- unless of course those around me are positive energetically. After focusing my efforts on what I ate, and how much exercise I did for the last year, I know now that the reality is that that doesn't matter. Not that you can eat 10,000 calories a day and not exercise and lose weight, but that you need to believe you can lose weight, and be in a positive state of mind. Because no matter how much you eat or exercise you won't lose weight unless you believe you can and you think you can, and for the most part think positive motivating, upbeat thoughts about everything in your life. So, no more negative energy for me!  Less pounds and more joy for me!  The good news is that all the students I have met in my Holistic Health Coaching program have been so positive, upbeat, caring and loving.  Plus, I have my Friday Ladies group - who are always a great source of positive energy and love. Just writing this I feel filled with joy! Awesome!

Happy Memorial Day!

I just returned from Las Vegas, where I really indulged - need I say more. I am now excited to eat some healthy foods and get back into my "physical activity" routine. We had house guests for the last  month - so needless to say I wasn't really in the healthy mode for the last month. But, now I am ready to rock and roll!

Concept of "Crowding Out " and a Kale Chip Recipe

One of the concepts that the Institute for Integrative Nutrition teaches is the theory of "crowding out," as an effective way to overcome habitual consumption of unhealthy food. The principal of crowding out suggests that you add more to your diet, instead of taking away. By adding healthy, whole foods such as fruits, vegetables and grains, you will crowd out the unhealthy foods. The body can only take so much food. If you fill the body with healthy, nutrient-dense food, it is only natural that cravings for unhealthy foods will lessen substantially. The key to the crowding out theory is to drink lots of water and eat nutrient-rich food early in the day, to crowd out cravings later in the day. 

So, today I will be adding Kale Chips to my diet to crowd out some other unhealthy foods I might crave. Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 bunch kale 1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

Directions:

1.	Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2.	With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.
3.	Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.

Primary Food

All that we consider today as nutrition is really just a secondary source of energy.

Think back to a time when you were passionately in love. Everything was exciting. Colors were vivid. You were floating on air, gazing into your lover’s eyes. Your lover's touch and your shared feelings of exhilaration were enough to sustain you. You forgot about food and were high on life.

Remember a time when you were deeply involved in an exciting project. You believed in what you were doing and felt confident and stimulated. Time seemed to stop. The outside world faded away. You didn't feel the need to eat. Someone had to come by and remind you.

Imagine children playing outside with friends. At dinnertime the mother reminds the children, "Time to come in and eat." "No mommy, I'm not hungry yet," they respond. At the dinner table, the mother feels that her role is to enforce the rules of good nutrition and instructs the children to eat their food. Eventually, the children force down a minimally acceptable amount of food and rush out again to play. At the end of the day, the kids return, exhausted, and go to sleep without thinking about food at all.

As children, we all lived on primary food. The same as when deeply in love, or working passionately on a project. The fun, excitement and love of daily life have the power to feed us so that food becomes secondary.

Now think of a time when you were depressed, or your self-esteem was low; you were starving for primary food. No amount of secondary food would do. You ate as much as you wanted, but you never felt satisfied. Even in good times when we come home at night, we often look into the refrigerator for something to eat, when all we really want is a hug or someone to talk to.

Primary foods feed us, but they don't come on a plate. Elements such as a meaningful spiritual practice, an inspiring career, regular and enjoyable physical activity and honest and open relationships that feed your soul and your hunger for living all constitute primary food.

The more primary food we receive, the less we depend upon secondary foods. The opposite is also true. The more we fill ourselves with secondary foods, the less we are able to receive the primary foods of life.

Every spiritual tradition encourages people to fast during the year so that individuals have time to reduce secondary foods, thus allowing for a greater awareness of primary food.

From Institute of Integrative Nutrition

BElieve

What do I mean by BElieve? Let's look at the definition of Believe and  BE.

Believe -

1. To accept as true or real

2. To credit with veracity (reality)

3. To expect or suppose; think

BE -

1. To exist in actuality; have life or reality: I think, therefore I am.

2. To take place; occur

After years of searching and trying to lose weight, I have come to the conclusion that the reason I have not yet reached my goal is not because I don't know how to prepare, cook and eat nutritious healthy foods, or that I don't know know how to exercise (I really know how to do that!), but  the fact that I never really believed I could lose weight or lived in actuality. Over the last year of so I have read numerous books, listened to many CD sets, attended many lectures, and study groups that all point to the fact that what we think (BElieve) in life is what we get in life. As I look back on my life is see this to be very true - I never doubted that I would graduate from college and graduate school, I never doubted I would live in exactly the house that I live in complete with the snow capped mountain in the background, I never doubted that I would be successful in marketing, or that I would become a college professor. But, I did doubt in other areas of my life - some came true and some didn't (That's another story for another time). I doubted and never really believed I would lose weight. I'm not sure why this particular area of my life is filled with such turmoil (Probably some emotional eating involved, but that is another story I will talk about later too.), but I believe I have now found the solution. I need to believe I can do it, and then it will BE so. I think part of the problem in the past has been that I was always going for the big loss - the big picture, but that was off my radar so I never believed it would happen. It was too much of a stretch for my imagination. Now I am going for smaller goals. I BElieve I will lose 10 pounds by June10th. There I said it. I really do BElieve now that when I am done with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition Health Coaching program I will be at my ideal weight.

Welcome to BElieve, Eat, Move

I am so excited to be starting this new blog that will chronicle my journey toward being a Health Coach. I will be posting about my experiences along the way in my ten month program with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. I will also be sharing what I learn while in the program, and at some point actually be offering Health Coaching sessions utilizing what I have learned from the program, combined with what I have learned so far in my health and fitness journey.  This blog will also encompass what I think are the three components of successful weight loss, weight management and a happy, healthy life - Believing, eating, and moving. (I will explain in detail along the way.) So, enjoy and I look forward to hearing all your comments, suggestions and thoughts as you travel with my on my inspiring adventure.