Toned vs Skinny - Why you should Tone It Up for your Health!

I liked this article about getting toned and healthy versus skinny, which has been

the overwhelming goal for so many. Let me know what you think.

A lot of you tell us you work so hard to be healthy, but we've begun to notice that when we open our favorite magazines, all we see is skinny; when we turn on the television, all we see is skinny; when we go out for our holiday shopping, all we see is skinny marketing, everywhere! What gives then? Why would we ever want to be anything but skinny?! Simply Put, Skinny doesn’t necessarily mean healthy; and in most cases, if you are ‘skinny’ you may not be healthy at all! A lot of us focus way too much effort on the number below our feet.. That’s right, the scale. This number may be important in the grand scheme of things, but there is a number that is much more accurate than this at providing a measurement of health…

Body Fat Percentage, three little words that can change your entire attitude towards wellness. Your BF% is a number that provides you with the amount of stored fatty tissue compared to the amount of lean tissue (bones, muscle, organs etc..) in/on/and around your body. This number can be high or low; regardless if you are skinny, fat, or anywhere in between. Just because you have FINALLY dropped below 120 lbs, your BF% may still be above 25, which can create a lot of problems in the long term, especially if you have to cut out a lot of calories to keep yourself at what has been marketed as a ‘healthy weight’. Even the term ‘Healthy Weight’ needs to be updated, it should always be referred to as ‘Healthy BF%’, which can be found as defined by below:

From the American Council on Exercise

As you can see, if you are 140lbs, and at 18% BF you are still considered healthy! This means that you may be technically heavier than what you would like, but what you ‘like’ is based on an error in education! We want you to be as educated as possible, and this means understanding why a ‘healthy BF%’ is so much more accurate of a goal than a ‘healthy weight’.

One~ Body Fat isn’t just on the outside, it’s on the inside too. Visceral Fat is the tissue found inside the body, between the organs; and if it builds up it can restrict the heart from beating properly when stressed, it can prevent the lungs from fully expanding to provide oxygen, and it requires more blood which takes away from the nutrient delivery to organs that require energy to operate! Having a Toned Body means your organs are able to operate freely without being cramped for space.

Two~ Restricting Calories to Lessen Body Weight will diminish the body’s ability to fight illness and disease! Having a Toned body means you are fueling it properly, and each of the body’s processes are operating to their maximum ability.

Three~ Working on being ‘Skinny’ requires a sever deficit of calories, and Bone Density will begin to diminish right away; which if left over time can create issues with Osteoporosis – a condition where your bones are left brittle and easily breakable, and since you aren’t able to combat illness or disease as well, your chances of a full recovery are slighted. Having a Toned Body means your bone density will remain in the healthy zone, which will be resistant to breaks during most falls or collisions.

Four~ With less lean muscle-tone, your metabolism is going to be moving much slower, and since your metabolism slows naturally as we age, each day your body will be more prone to easily put on weight, and less able to take it off. Having a Toned Body means the added muscle-tone provides for an increased metabolism 24/7, and it means that more of the foods you eat are used as fuel, while the extra is passed and not stored! Also, continuing to exercise will aid in keeping your metabolism boosted so that you continue to feel younger, and look your best; Remember that we love Family & Friends, and that they are usually accompanied by copious amounts of great food & drink! Being Toned also means you are able to bounce back quicker from a weekend full of your Aunts Famous lasagna, or your Dad's award winning Burgers!

Five~ With all of the above considered, you must understand that your chances of becoming Obese (which is a medical classification, not a judgmental adjective) are much higher when you only focus on being ‘skinny’; where when you work on Toning, you will continue to ward off obesity, and all the diseases associated with it!

Now this isn’t meant to say that we don’t think people shouldn’t lose weight.. If you look at the obesity epidemic in the US, you’ll see that weight loss is as important as ever, but we need to be cautious about how we approach that goal. Cutting calories, Diet Pills, and ‘weekend juice cleanses’ aren’t the right answer; the right answer is a life of fitness – daily activities, a Nutrition Program rich in natural & healthy food choices, proper amounts of hydration.. all these things add up quickly to provide for a proper picture of wellness in the long term! And that’s what Tone It Up is all about, proper wellness for the long-term

Check out more of the Tone It Up Girls on Toneitup.com!

(this article:http://toneitup.com/blog.php?Toned-vs-Skinny---Why-you-should-Tone-It-Up-for-your-Health-5303)

Insanity!!!!!

Adding some Insanity to my Wellness Program...
Stay tuned to hear how it goes!

20 Tips for Optimal Health...

according to Naturopathic Physician DR. SANDRA OLIC (and I whole heartedly agree)

1. Eat as close to nature as possible, focusing mostly on organic plant based foods, but not too much.

2. Drink 8 glasses of pure water daily.

3. Sleep 7-8 hours every night.

4. Take a good quality multi-vitamin and mineral supplement.

5. Move your body regularly and practice yoga.

6. Breathe. Meditate. Calm your mind.

7. Be present. Let go of the past and don’t worry about the future.

8. When you have a negative thought, replace it with a positive one. Optimism is healing and pessimism will make you sick.

9. Practice gratitude. What you focus on grows.

10. Do what you love as often as you can. Travel, dance, write, paint, play music.

11. Surround yourself with awesome people and spend more time with those you love. Love is the best medicine.

12. Express your love.

13. Express yourself.

14. Let go of anger, regret, guilt or any other emotion that isn’t serving you. These lead to diseases of the mind and body.

15. Help others, especially when you are down. This will uplift you too.

16. Live a non-toxic lifestyle. This includes avoiding unnecessary drugs and chemicals, as well as people, relationships and jobs that bring you down. Your time is valuable; don’t waste it on anyone or anything that doesn’t deserve it.

17. Spend time in nature.

18. Leave your to-do list undone, re-charge, take vacations and don’t work too much. In the end, no one says they wish they had spent more time at the office.

19. Create goals so you know where you’re going and have things to look forward to, but be open to detours.

20. And believe in yourself.

I love it!

Newest Wellness Program

Remember Get In Shape Girl? LOVED IT! How could I not with it being he original source of my love for leg warmers and side ponytails! My favorite was the Gymnast one with the Lyrical Gymnast Ribbon. Do kids even have toys that encourage them to move around and feel good? I know I'm always singing the Get In Shape Girl song when I'm doing my push-ups. Thank you GISG for being my inspiration 3 decades later!!!

I have been asked by a few people to post my Wellness Program so here it is. The latest and greatest!

This is the Newest Wellness Program I am doing.

5:00am - Prayer/Devotion/Meditation/

6:30 am- Official Rise & Shine

7:00-7:30 am - Cardio (ex. jog, jump rope, swim)

7:30-8:15 am - Mini Workout/Challenge (I have monthly challenges I give myself, example below)

8:15-9:00 am - Yoga

See? It's simple and eliminates the whole "I have no time" excuse. With this program I was hoping to be able to do it at LEAST 3x a week if not everyday because it's short and simple and I get it out of the way early! I am trying to create a habit more than get any dramatic results.


**After some weeks of doing this, I only sometimes wake up at 5:00 am. To make sure I get my Me time, I will either push the schedule back, or take do it in the evenings. The reason why 6:30 is the official Rise & Shine is because I knew I wouldn't be getting up at 5:00 everyday.

**The Challenges are little things I want to work on to keep myself motivated and not get bored. Like this month my Challenge was to do 100 push-ups and 500 sit ups. I was doing a good job for 2 weeks, then I went on vacation so I need to get back on it. I might need to create a new Challenge for every week or every 2 weeks, because I get SO bored SO easily.

Other future challenges I anticipate is Cardio Crunch (more so basically all cardio for the whole hour), Yoga Challenge (lots and lots of Yoga), Weights (the thing that bores me the most!). The Mini workouts are little things I have written down that are several reps of things like jumping jacks, leg lifts & lunges. I'll take a picture of my spiral and post that one of these days.


** My Yoga sessions are NOT lasting 45 minutes. I need more sequences. I love my sun salutation and I have a few sequences that I add on, but I really end up doing Yoga for about 25 minutes. Anyone have tips on where to get some good Yoga Sequences?

Now I'm intrigued at what other people's fitness programs are. Share if you feel so obliged!

New Wellness Program

4:00 am ~Rise and Shine

4:00 am - 5:00 am ~ Meditation (Guided, with Music, Silent, Vipassana)

5:00 am- 6:30 am ~ Yoga (Sun Salutations + Featured Asanas)

6:30 am-7:30 am ~ Cardio

Then it's Raw Breakfast (i.e. Green Smoothie) and on with the production of my day!


This is the schedule I laid out for myself. What has been happening is the early rise happens every other day. I am being compassionate with myself and allowing it to be and knowing that I'm pretty cool for waking up at 4:00 am when I'm a late sleeper naturally. The hard hour time sets are more fluid but everything does seem to conclude around 7/7:30. More like 7 because I have yet to do an hour of cardio. It's usually more like 30 min. Again, I feel rad about it so it's all good :)

I must say it's really rewarding getting up early, being surrounded by silence and as the clock ticks on the world slowly comes alive and the sun greets me as a do my Sun Salutations. When it's 7:00, I have already taken several hours just for Myself and my Wellness and I'm able to give of myself the rest of the day to my projects and other people and I don't feel robbed of my ME time, because I took care of that first thing in the am.

Give it a try for a week. I know everyone is thinking Four AM are you crazy!! But it's been TRULY rewarding. Suerte!!

Namaste :)

That’s So Yesterday

Now that we have kicked off a new year, people are inspired to reinvent themselves, do better, improve on things they didn’t like from the year before. The new year brings about new energy and the winds of change. However, have you ever found that when you are trying to improve or change something about yourself, you receive negative feedback from the people that surround you? A lot of times it’s your family or friends, the people closest to you.

They hold you to the “old” you. The You from the past. “Oh now you’re too good to eat meat?”, “You didn’t get up in the mornings and exercise before, why are you trying to do that now?, “You used to hate to read, trying to act smarter than you are or something?”. I had a friend that had lost weight in a healthy way by trading in her processed junk food habit for a whole foods way of eating. She had also started running in the morning and wow what a difference a year makes! When she was going home for the holidays to see her family that she hadn’t seen in a year she was all too excited to show off her new physique and healthy lifestyle. She came to my house in sad and discouraged state after seeing them and she told me that they had nothing but negative things to say to her. Instead of embracing and supporting her healthier lifestyle they accused her of forgetting where she came from and that she thought she was better than everyone else. Wow, talk about hurtful. It’s shocking coming from those that love you!

And it’s not like change is easy. I’m trying to create a new schedule for myself, a workout plan, a healthy eating agenda a business layout etc. Holding myself accountable daily is hard enough, but then encountering one of these naysayers is enough to make anyone want to quit their schedule and say “you’re right, what’s the point, what you see is what you get, I’ll be the same today as I was yesterday”.

Please do me and yourself a favor and reach for the stars anyway! Do not let the negative voices (whether in real life or inside of your head) affect your progress and journey to self improvement. Yes, that’s who you were, but that’s not who you ARE, NOW. If last year you had no ambitions and lacked direction, that doesn’t have to be your current reality. You can choose a new start every moment of everyday. If you fall of the wagon, don’t say to yourself “yep, I knew it and my naysayers knew it too, I just can’t do this, I’m not capable” . We all have set backs, but it’s those who persevere that see results. There is a Japanese Proverb that says “Fall 7 times, get up 8” because that is the formula for success.

What I’ve started saying to myself, and maybe this will help you too, when the negative record player starts playing it’s age old tune in my head or when the negative people (or haters as some people refer to them as) start imposing their negative opinions on you, I say your response is “That was so Yesterday”. You don’t have to say it aloud, just to yourself to let yourself know that maybe you smoked yesterday, but today you are a non-smoker, maybe you used to gossip and that’s what your circle of friends are accustomed to, but “that was so yesterday” and today you don’t. Or maybe you’re a work–a-holic or a “yes” person, but today, you are taking time for You. When you start catching the heat from people, just smile to yourself and think “That was so Yesterday”. They do not define you. You define You and through prayer, meditation or whatever you use to connect to Your Inner Voice and Spirit you will get to know more about Who You Are.

Try this through your journey we call life and let me know if you have success with this!

Love, Light & Hugs

Green Machine(s)

Green Smoothie Recipes I'm trying....


Green and Yellow
1 banana
2 cups chopped Chard
soy milk (of soy apply juice!)
1 tablespoon flax seeds

Sweet Pea
1 banana
1 cup grapes
6 oz tub vanilla yogurt
1/2 apple
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach leaves or Chard

Island Green Breeze
1 frozen banana
2 cups chopped kale
1 tablespoon flax seed meal (optional)
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup orange juice

Green Tease
2 cups Chard
2 cups frozen strawberries
1 banana
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup ice

World AIDS DAY

World AIDS Day
Over 90,000 people are living with HIV in the UK and new infections continue every year. World AIDS Day 2010 is all about raising awareness to tackle HIV prejudice and help stop the spread of HIV.

Create a workshop, attend a lecture, tell a friend! Spread the word and spring into action. This is something that effects all of us. For more information visit the website and start spreading the word!

Sabores that Get Along

I've found in my Smoothie adventures that some flavors like each other and will save your smoothie every time... Taste I reckon is like beauty...but give it a whirl can't hurt...


Carrots + Ginger

Beets + Cinnamon

Bananas + Peanut Butter


that's all I can think of now.... I'll write more if I can think of more. Share your combos with me as well!

Smoothie Recipes #1

As Promised Some Smoothie Recipies

Some Recipes I found with Ingredients I can use, maybe they’ll be useful to you too. The only one I have made so far is the Avocado, Carrot and Ginger smoothie and it was Surprisingly delicious. I found this recipe when looking to see how to use Vegetable Glycerin ** as a sweetner. Worked like a charm.

The Original Recipe:
Carrot, lemon and ginger avocado smoothie
1 tsp almond butter or tahini
1 large glass of water
1 tsp FOS/Stevia mix
1 small avocado (or half a large one)
1 small carrot (or part of a larger one), grated
½ - 1 tsp grated fresh ginger OR ½ tsp ground ginger
½ - 1 tsp lemon flavouring
1 scoop flaxseed meal
2 tsp vegetable glycerine

My Delicious Substituted “Use What You Got” Version:
(p.s. don’t have measuring spoons so I just used a soup spoon for “Tablespoon” and the spoon I use for coffee and tea as..well…”teaspoon”...still came out great)

ACCG (as I affectionately call it)

1 Half Avocado
1 Half Carrot Grated
1 tsp Ginger Grated
1 Whole Lìmon (i.e lime) squeezed (they are small like key limes)
2 tsp Vegetable Glycerin
8 oz of Water
1 tsp Panela
*I added a large Chard leaf (hence the second "C" and it didn't alter the taste at all...and made the color more appealing..looked less like baby food and more like a super hardcore healthy green shake, yeeaaahhhh) Oh and it doesn't separate so the last time I tried it I doubled the recipe and stored half for later. That's going to be great for mornings I'm short on time...

*****

Update

I have since tried some more that I like. Hooo Wee Talk about Trial and Error! It's fun though. It would be nice if I had a food processor or a REAL blender. BUt I make do with a plastic blender situation and a cheese grater...I use it for everything as the blender cannot handle chunks of anything. So know that pretty much any thing I can use on that grater. Ginger, Beets, etc...Ice would probably make some of these even better, so if you have a good blender try adding ice.

Fruity CoCo

Banana
other fruit (some kind of berry, peaches etc...I used strawberries)
6-8 oz of fruit juice
2-3 Tblspn of CoCo Oil

For my fruit juice I used soy Apple Juice. Since it's so hot here my Coco Oil was a liquid but up against my frozen strawberries it turned to a solid at the bottom of the blender and I didn't realize it until I was washing it out. I got a hint of Coco flava but it could have been better. Still a great smoothie.

BVC Smoothie Original
Coconut (milk and meat)
Kale
Cinnamon
Banana
Agave

My take on the same smoothie...

BVC Ecuador Remix

Banana
Coconut Oil
Chard
Cinnamon
Panela

This did NOT blend or go down well...So then I added water. Mistake! a swampy frothy mess!
So I saved it with...

1/2 Beet

It saved the day and was delicious...whew... I'll have to perfect it or just consider the Beet addition the official remix :)

Moon ABC

Apple
Beet
Carrot
Ginger
*Tasty w/soy apple juice

The most recent and surprisingly delicious smoothie is the...

Chardtastic Smoothie! it was born from the Chard I bought starting to wither. I would throw in a leaf here and there...but could chard play a leading role in a smoothie? We were going to have to see. I thought I had used up all my smoothie good luck as I have been able to save and make all of them delish....

Ladies and Gents...

Chardtastic

4-6 (or whatever is left) leaves of Chard
1 (or what's left) carrot(s)
2/3 index finger of ginger
2 bananas (best if frozen)
Tblspn Honey
Tblspn Peanut Butter
2 oz soy apple juice (or fruit juice of your choice)
2 oz Water

Mmmm Mmmm

Already my Energy has been through the roof! I thought I was going to feel faint after a weekend of smoothies but it was a great start to my Wellness Plan. By Sunday I did feel hungry though every few hours, but as my friend explained, my body isn't using energy to get energy from the food I'm eating, so it burns faster. When I'm off of the initial fast I'm going to carry peanuts around to satiate myself in between meals. Plus when I start up with beans and such, I'm sure I'll be fine. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to incorporate your daily doses of fruits and veggies into your diet!

Dream Routine

So as I’ve stressed I’m not expert, but in support of a friend and in support of Wellness and bettering my health, I’m trying a stab at a WAY more nutritious way of living.

Now the inspiration is the Gerson Method, however, where I live there are limited resources and I have to work with what I have. Meaning: I got my hands on a blender and that’s as far as I got…no cheese cloth, no juicer.

While I’m not able to do the juice method, I am starting off with Smoothies to get all of my fruits and veggies in. The idea of the Gerson Method is feeding it in such away that it has exactly what it needs to fight off all the “attacks” it encounters in this environment we have created.

Since I’m in Ecuador in a program, a big part of what we do is Integrate. It’s really our whole point of being here. So while I was a Pescatarian before coming here. I now have chicken feet and cow hooves in my soup daily. Cuisine is a big part of getting to know a culture so I try not to make a fuss. The ladies I work with know that I don’t like to eat the “cuerpos de los animales” (the body of animals) and I don’t eat “carne” (meat…but in Spanish that just covers Beef..not chicken, pork etc…). They know I don’t want “oink oink” (hey I forgot how to say “cancho” pig in Spanish!)…but we meet somewhere in the middle…and by that I mean…I STILL have to beg for no chicken feet in my soup ☺ You see it’s the best part, and since the ladies I work with are nothing but love, they can’t resist but to offer it to me first!

So that’s another disclaimer. When I’m in my neighborhood, working with the ladies I eat what they eat. For the most part any meat that they would make is technically free range. I usually known the chicken whose foot or head I’m offered later. I usually can get away with eating around things taking it “to go” and then giving it to fellow volunteers to eat. The whole point is, juicing and smoothies and all of the limits aren’t being practiced while I’m at work.

My answer to this though is while I’m in control of what I’m eating I have to be pretty hardcore with it! My dream routine would be a start my day with a fruit and/or veggie smoothie, if I am on my own for lunch, some kind of bean, lentil with salad arrangement and then salad or steamed veggies for dinner.

My friend who is doing the Gerson Method all the way, is also doing no dairy, no gluten and no sugar! So I thought wheat bread was going to be my back up for when I needed to feel satiated, but I guess not. I thought I was going to get away with a satisfying bowl of milk and cereal here and there, but that’s out too. I’m hoping after a couple of weeks my crazy active sweet tooth will simmer down.

I was looking up some things online, but I don’t know if I can find everything I need in Ecuador…and did I mention I don’t cook? That’s going to be a problem. Hopefully this will be an opportunity to learn. I say that every time I live by myself..and it hasn’t happened yet. Here’s hoping!

UPDATE
*******************************************************************************************************************************
My plan was to brave the market for the first time but I got nevous because it was getting dark and it can be a little unsafe. So I ended up going to the super market with a pen and pad and wrote down everything I bought and their prices. So I can remember what I have in stock…so I could report it to you readers…and to later compare prices to see how much better the market is if at all (but I’m more about supporting the market than the big super market in the future…)

What I ended up buying (p.s. this cost a big chunk of my living allowance I feel…I wonder if this is going to be an expensive endeavor…vamos a ver…)

Avacodo
Apples
Bananas
Strawberries

Carrots
Chard (wasn’t sure if I was gonna find that here! Could this be a Bok Choy Substitute?)
Spinach
Beets (score! Wasn’t sure...)
Squash
Red Cabbage
Onion

Ginger
Basil

Quinoa
Panela (not sure if this is legal saw it appear in some recipes)
Lentils
Black Beans

Vanilla Extract
Soy Apple Jugo (not even sure what that is, but I thought it was cool they had it!)


Since I had pretty much nothing in my fridge, this is what I’ll be using to feed myself for the next week (and after what I spent) hopefully week and a half to two weeks. Only time will tell!!

A Story That Has Inspired Me To Move Closer To Wellness

"Planting a garden could save your life.

30 year-old Mioyo Shujaa certainly thinks so. When she was diagnosed with uterine fibroid tumors in 2009, the doctor told her surgery was the only hope. Two months later, Shujaa left her job and health insurance behind, “For me, the diagnosis was a wake-up call. I felt that years of poor nutrition, stress at work and never feeling like my time was my own were wreaking havoc on me – physically, mentally and spiritually. ”

Shujaa and her partner, Burt Vera Cruz, became determined to not only shrink Shujaa’s tumors, but to transition into a life that they loved loving. For Vera Cruz, establishing a more organic lifestyle was all but critical, “Having the ability to nurture yourself and feed yourself natural, organic food s that are free of chemicals eliminates your reliance on a system that is increasingly dependent on fossil fuels and creating more pollutants.”

The couple began growing heirloom vegetables in paper cups in their Los Angeles apartment in the fall of 2009. Several harvests later Shujaa reports an increase in her overall health and a decrease in the symptoms and size of her fibroid tumors, “I don’t plan to go to another hospital again for the rest of my life. I believe that the human body is naturally capable of maintaining health and warding off diseases when free of toxins and unnecessary stress.”

Unfortunately, chronic diseases appear to be on the rise-especially in the United States.

According to a 2007 study conducted by the National Cancer Institute, 1 in 2 Americans will suffer from some form of cancer in their lifetime.

50 years ago the occurrence of cancer in the US was 1 in 300.

In 1928 the late German researcher and physician, Dr. Max Gerson, believed he’d found the cure for not only all cancers, but for most chronic and degenerative diseases – organic vegetables.

Before his death, Dr. Gerson claimed to have cured hundreds of patients through an herbal detoxifying regiment and nutrient-rich organic vegetable juices.

Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, cofounder of the Center for Integrative Medicine, concurs that 5 or more servings of organic vegetables per day is an essential part of the anti-cancer diet.

The NCI estimates that the numbers of new cases of cancer will more than double by 2050. The key to avoiding this fate, it seems, could be homegrown."

For more amazing stories and interesting (life saving) facts you're gonna have to go Underground and dig up the Truth yourself...

World Health Day - April 7, 2010

Today April 7th Is World Health Day!

This year's theme is "1000 cities, 1000 lives". Events will be being held throughout the weekend.

The global goals of the campaign are:

1000 cities: to open up public spaces to health, whether it be activities in parks, town hall meetings, clean-up campaigns, or closing off portions of streets to motorized vehicles.

1000 lives: to collect 1000 stories of urban health champions who have taken action and had a significant impact on health in their cities.

as stated on the website

Hopefully a city near you is having an event. Of even better you can be a trailblazer and make something happen in your community. Bring movement, awareness and assistance to those disproportionately suffer from poor health care. A fair chance to live a full, happy, healthy life is not a privilege, but a human right.

Let's come together today and continue on persevering toward health and medical attention to ANYone and EVERYone who needs it!

Paz.

My New Wellness Program

I will just start off saying I'm a junk food junkie...at least I used to be...

I love cookies, grilled cheese, I I used to die over a bacon cheddar cheese burger (yep two dead animals one meal..yeesh), chips, juice, soda, cheezits, the list goes on. If I had it my way (especialy back in the day) I would only snack and never eat meals...oh and if you were something green that grows out of the ground, I was definitely not having it!

Now that I'm older, I know better...
I enjoy eating whole foods and living foods. When I was living in California I had cut meat out and only was eating seafood. However, now that I'm in Ecuador things are different.

Right now I'm in a situation where I'm at the mercy of other people as to what I eat as a way or integration, being polite and well not speaking the language well enough to explain that I don't want pork, chicken or beef to appear on my plate!

Normally, I would follow a "pescaterian" (fish, seafood) diet.

So my Wellness Program nutritionwise needs to be focused on the meals that I can prepare myself.

Therefore, when I am preparing my own food it is strictly pescaterian.

The Goal:
Have the majority of what I eat when preparing my own meals be fruits and vegetables
Beans and Tuna for protein (did I mention I don't cook? Yeah that makes all of this a challenge)
Drink PLENTY of Water (I usally have problems with this...)

Exercise:
Run at least 3x a week. I usually am anti-running, but I have found myself a running partner in a safe area so I'm going with it. I know nothing can whip you into shape like running...

Yoga/Prayer/Meditation. Every DAY! I am implementing a BTN Program (as Rev. Michael Beckwith once said) That is a "Better Than Nothing" Program. I may not get my 30 minutes of Yoga poses and stretches, but I am going to take at least 5 minutes everyday to be quiet, still and reflective.

Since these are all pretty significant changes in how I normally live, that's all I have for now. Wish me luck and getting these items to become habits so that I may stack on more good stuff and deepen my wellness progression!

Wellness Wednesdays

Part of creating our Peace on Earth is finding Peace within. On select Wednesdays we will bring you features about how to live heathy, prosperous and abundant lives. When we feel happy and healthy we send out a positive vibration that fills our Earth with Peace.