Rant

Every blogger is entitled to go on a bit of a rampage from time to time. Right? I promise this is not what will feed these pages for posts to come, but I also have promised to let you know what is on my mind throughout this healthy lifestyle journey of mine. And this is it for now:

It bothers me when people take for granted or utterly do not recognize the hard-work individuals put forth to live by the healthiest means possible.

For instance:
I am what I am because I choose to be so. You are what you eat right? It's a glorious cycle. I'm healthy and appear to be so because of how I treat my body. I make healthy choices and therefore I am healthy. I wasn't just born a health-nut. To most peoples' amazement, I work hard for my own and my families health.

I wake up every morning at 6:30 (give or take a couple days) and work out or run. I eat several small meals a day (no meat, healthy whole grains, fruits, veggies, and sweets-yes we all get treats if we work for them. Oh and I virtually exclusively drink water and skim milk). And low and behold! My family has the same diet because The One who shops makes the menu.

What if I didn't do this? What if I woke up (at noon), had a pot of coffee, fast food for lunch and dinner, did nothing productive all day, and then topped it all off with a long night of drinking and no quality sleep -- only to be followed up OF COURSE with complaining about looking like crap and feeling worse than crap? Would I have the energy to work out? Would my skin be clear? Would I have a slender figure? Would I want to eat healthy meals? WOULD I HAVE THE DESIRE TO OBTAIN ANY OF THIS? No. (trust me, I know, I've tried it that way. All of the above is me in a different, previous life of sorts :) This is how it works:

You train your mind and body to crave the health and you get the Healthy Thoughts. It doesn't come naturally to any of us that I'm aware of, but we FAKE IT UNTIL WE MAKE IT-as The Wise have told me. You just go through the motions and low and behold it happens. The Healthy Thoughts, Healthy Choices and Healthy Mind and Body follow.

Remember: Some of what we get is God-given but MOST of it we work for.

Now, NO FEAR the next post will be full of good information to go feed your families with -- I owe you that much for putting up with this. Stay tuned! =]

Blog-lift!

Thank you!!

To 81SIKC aka SodaGraphics

For the face-lift!

Soda provided us with this luscious photography, and we cannot wait to take even more enticing food-fotos!

Soda is NO Pop-Star

I have been hearing a lot about soda-pop in the news lately. I had a pretty controversial post on the FB page about it as well. What do you think? How do you feel about soda?  You know I can tell you my Healthy Thoughts:

It's a no-brainer -- put down the can!

It's a proven fact that sodas of all sorts are filled with artificial sweeteners (BAD), cancer causing carcinogens (DUH), a ton of phosphorous (stripping your bones of calcium), and more problems I could go on and on about... One of the major things that bothers me about soda is that it's addicting like any other sugary substance. When ingested too much, your body craves it instead of the healthy NATURAL sugars we are so freely given by this earth.

Suggestions? Start by cutting back your consumption! DO NOT allow your children to have soda; imagine what you are setting them up for in the future by beginning the cycle so early...

And as always I'd love to hear your feedback =]

He was eating an APPLE!

So I walk into the house last evening and see The Fiance EATING AN APPLE. I love it. And then when he was finished he said, "That was good." Seriously. This wasn't the first time either. Since I started buying them more and more he finally tried them again, for possibly the first time since he was a child, and realized he LOVES them.

I hear people say it all the time, or maybe I just hear myself say it over and over, "I don't buy CRAP because if I do I'll eat it all!" It's the absolute truth. If there were a box of Cheez-Its or a package of store bought cookies in the pantry, it would be gone in a day, no joke. Sound familiar? So don't buy them! (That's what grandma's house is for! ;)

Maybe everyone doesn't indulge like I do, maybe you can have a cookie a day and walk away...

In any case, if you'd rather your family have healthy snacks, subsequently eat healthier in general, and FEEL BETTER, buy the good stuff! Buy the fruit. Buy the yogurt. Buy the applesauce. Buy the ingredients to whip up a batch of HEALTHIER cookies than are available in your store's processed/chemicalized food isle!

As we've seen in The Case of The Fiance, it can be done with even the unhealthiest eaters at heart.

Accomplished =]

Can't get your kid off the 'Helper??

I had a dear friend tell me the other day she wished I could put a 'healthy spin' on Hamburger Helper.
My mind lit up like fireworks.

I too used to eat this nasty, nasty stuff. Cringe. Not only did I eat it, I fed it to my child and even served it to guests! Wow. Not proud to say that but there it is. I'm glad I now know better and know there are so many better options:

1) There are healthier boxed meals in the Health Market of your local grocer. (Annie's and Back to Nature are the two that come to the top of my mind.)

2) (and better yet) Make your own!! Grab some whole wheat pasta, a meat of your choice (ground turkey or tuna preferably), add some fresh or frozen veggies and top it all off with a sauce of your choice!

Don't make it too difficult on yourself! It's really just as easy as the box and BETTER! Have fun with your food!

I thought it to be such a chore for the longest time to cook with my daughter because that would take patience, and this mommy does not come by patience naturally. But when I let her pick some ingredients and she gets to help put them together she is much more apt to try the finished product! And it is FUN! We're getting pretty good at it if, I may say so. =]

Still not convinced? Try this on for size, and I'm sure it's not the only of its kind:
Hamburger Helper is Killing Me (and You)

The Beginning

I was about to talk about my Super Bowl wins and losses, recipes that is, until I realized I had never told anyone who I am or why I'm here happy you're read this.

I am a busy soccer mom-fiance-student-office manager-independent consultant that donates her free time to the Lion's Club International, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and to running marathons among other various activities. I'm like every other busy mother, parent and/or student out there looking for something quick to feed myself and my family for dinner on a hectic week night.

I'm studying Entrepreneurship at The Henry W. Bloch School of Management (the business school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.) With the aid of top Entrepreneurial Scholars from across the world and the best of Kansas City's business community supporting me, I have decided to delve into the local health food scene, dissect it piece by piece and serve it up deliciously simple on a platter -- so to speak.

Through Healthy Thoughts on Healthy Foods' top notch community interaction, I hope to get to the bottom of what is stopping us from feeding our children the healthiest meals possible. Is there no time? Are we unaware of the resources at our disposal? Do our children simply refuse to eat nutritional meals? Or maybe you're the parent that has it all figured out. I want to talk to you too. I want to talk to all of you. I want to speak with the local farmers in the community, the health food enthusiasts, the parent that doesn't understand what's wrong with typical fast food meals, and everyone in between.

So in short, that's why I'm here. I hope you've realized you'd like to stick around too and see what this is really all about and most of all leave your input, as community feedback is what I need the most.

It hurts

My head that is. My head hurts.

I wanted to wait and write this tomorrow when I felt better, when I could compose a well thought out and intelligent piece of work. But then I thought maybe it would be better to do it now -- just get it out when it will be its most heartfelt, when the agonizing pain is actually occurring. So here goes:

I've had a headache for a couple days now and I just couldn't figure out what it was. I wasn't feeling anything near superior earlier today and now it's pounding.

My head.

And it occurs to me. How much junk have you indulged on in the past couple of days? Cheap Valentine's candy. A couple of take-out dinners with either no nutritional value or a vast amount of nutrition and twice as much sodium, trust me, it's all I could taste.

Then, my head. It hurt. And I thought maybe I need sugar, withdraws from the sugar so obviously I need more! Two days of unhealthy eating and I'm already falsifying a cure. My mind has coerced itself into these ridiculous patterns. I'm nearly addicted to the sugar, already.

That's all it takes. Two days and I'm miserable.

Lessons learned? It's not worth it. Usually when I need a sweet fix, I get out my dark chocolate bar I've picked up at my local organic market and break a piece off. I need to stick to that. Just because it's the weekend, I don't get to eat out 3 times a day and make myself a wreck.

I hope I don't wake up with a headache. I hope I don't eat more cheap chocolate.