I started this blog because...

A few months ago, I was sick of feeling sick. My energy was sapped, I was getting sick all the time, my joints hurt, I was losing hair, I had insomnia, suffered from anxiety, the list went on...  I was 167 lbs and fat for my petite 5'2" frame. I was outside of the healthy BMI range. I felt like complete and total crap. I had been 138 lbs at 9 months pregnant when I delivered my children. Up until 2 years ago, my heaviest non-pregnant weight was 132. So, what happened? I'll tell you. I went through a stressful time in my life and packed on the weight. Then, I met my husband and he made me amazing breakfasts in bed and took me out to many dinners. Really, there is no excuse. Bottom line, I ate too much and excercised too little, and I ate all the wrong foods. It all added up and my weight quickly got out of control. Yes, I'll probably be one of the only women who will ever put my weight out there for the world to see, but I'm not going to be embarrassed over it. I'm human. I had a weight problem. I knew I needed to fix it. Instead of whining about it, I did something about it. You shouldn't feel bad about it either, because YOU can change it. I am now 134 lbs, but still on my journey. I'm hoping this might give you some inspiration.

Well, it was just before the holidays, a week before Thanksgiving as a matter of fact, and I decided there would never be a good time to diet and I started right then and there. People thought it was crazy. Who diets on Thanksgiving or at Christmas time after all, right? Well, thankfully my husband was looking for a lifestyle change as well and jumped on the health bandwagon with me. A blood pressure level of 140/90 mmHg or higher is considered high. His blood pressure was hovering around 190/120. He was a heart attack or stroke waiting to happen and I wasn't going to let them happen. We just got married in August and I wasn't about to be widowed over something that we, yes WE, had control over. I told myself that we would find a way to get healthy again, and so we began the journey to a healthier lifestyle. The journey to helping our kids stay healthier and lead great lives free from the childhood obesity that is growing out of control in this country. God gave me three beautiful, amazing children and it is my job to take care of them in the best way possible. Feeding them lots of processed or fast foods increased their risk of becoming diabetic, getting different types of cancer, and a host of other problems. How could I be a good mother if I was putting my children at risk because processed and fast foods were easier? I couldn't and I'd been feeding them wrong for way too long. What I know now is that we all have the ability to feel better, to reduce the medications that we're on, lower our blood pressure (my husband's is now 145/90),to sleep better, have more energy, but it does take work. You have to want it and know why you're doing it. If you're ready to take that step, you're ready to get healthy, then I'd love to help you and be a part of your support system along the way. We feel amazing now and the kids really love the way we all eat. If you offer my 6 year old son cookies, he's likely to ask you for carrots instead, and not because we tell him to. It's because he craves that healthy food that his body has become so accustomed to. Still, I make sure my family has sugar-free or low sugar desserts available for whenever they feel the need to indulge because "Eating Healthy Shouldn't Be Hard".

I actually started with a pretty drastic diet, but once the weight was gone, I wanted to make sure it stayed off and that my health problems wouldn't return. I didn't want to have to "diet" again. It was miserable and full of strict guidelines and sacrifing foods I loved. I wanted to find a way for my entire family to eat that we could stick with and still feel like we weren't sacrificing to be healthy. I spent countless hours daily reading article after article on nutrition, studying different diets, and everyone had something different to say. The way that we eat as a family may not work for everyone, but it's certainly the closest way to eating the types of foods that most Americans love, but with little or no guilt. Follow this blog for tips, health facts, recipes, encouragement in your journey to health, and more. If there's something that you feel would be of benefit to you, a food you love and don't want to give up, then let me know. Maybe I can find a "smarter" way for you to have it. You just never know.

Here is a short list of our family's basics when it comes to the way we eat. We are not actively trying to lose weight, but to now maintain. If you even start with this, it will make a HUGE difference in the way that you feel...

BASICS: No more than 15 grams of sugar daily, no more than 6 servings of carbs (1- 20 grams of carbs = 1 serving / 21-40 equals 2 servings, you need to be exact. If it has 21 grams, it still counts as 2 servings - VERY IMPORTANT), eating low glycemic fruits and foods, eating nothing with added sugar, using Stevia in place of sugar, avoiding artificial sweeteners as much as possible, drinking 6 - 8 glasses of water daily, drinking green tea daily, eating 3 protein rich meals daily and at least 1 healthy snack in between meals, always have dessert if we want it so that we aren't letting our cravings get out of hand, and get 6 - 8 hours of sleep minimum a night. Yes, we eat pizza, hamburgers, cheesecake, chocolate, the same things you love. We just eat smarter now.

We are also very big fans of the following:

http://www.jorgecruise.com/ - How I learned to eat right and get my family on the right path - He's my inspiration!

http://www.traderjoes.com/
*The finest quality, natural ingredients. This means:

NO artificial flavors, colors or preservatives

NO genetically modified ingredients

NO MSG

NO added Trans Fats

http://www.preventioniskey.com/ - Juice Plus ~ The next best thing to fruits and vegetables.

http://www.slenderwine.com/ - No sugar, diabetic wine, shipped straight to your door from http://www.empirewine.com/

http://www.miraclenoodles.com/ - Watch the video on the site. These can be purchased on Amazon.com

http://www.cookschampagne.com/ - No sugar & No carbs.