Cold, Flu and Allergy Care

So today I set out on some DIY health recipes (From Pinterest of course!) So I stumbled upon a couple of keepers, "Vick's" inspired shower steamers and ginger/lemon syrup for colds/allergies/sore throat. I'm ON it!

"Vick's" shower steamers:

Got the Idea from here

I took the original post and changed it to fit what I had at home. I used

1 cup Baking Soda

1 cup corn starch

15 drops peppermint oil

20 drops eucalyptus oil

 enough water to make a thick paste

Super easy: Add all ingredients mix well and pour into paper cupcake liners. I baked mine so they'd be done faster it took 1 hour in a 200 degree oven. Let cool for 1 hour and pop out of liners into a storage container. Tada! Done!

Ginger/Lemon Syrup:

 So Ginger is a natural pain reducer and anti-inflammatory while lemons are rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. Great combo right?? Right! So off I went to the pantry to fix up this little gem that I saw on anther great blog. I made a half recipe because I only had a little chunk of ginger left.

1 cup  water

2 large lemons, juice and grated zest

1 stalk grated ginger

1 cup sugar

 Bring the water to a boil. Add the sugar, ginger and grated lemon zest.

Cook for 15 minutes and stir constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the juice of 2 lemons then strain through a fine sieve, pressing on the guts to get all the yummy goodness! 

Keep in the fridge and add 1-2 tablespoons per 8oz water serve hot or cold! I made this for me and a half dose of the syrup with a dropper of children's echinacea and ice to a sippy cup for my Sam! He drank it happily! :) It's tasty, and hopefully will help my family feel better quickly!

Hope this spring find your family healthy and happy! But if you have the sniffles, I hope you try these and tell me what you think! :) Enjoy!

DIY Bodywash

Can you tell I'm on a little DIY Beauty kick??? :) So I found This post about homemade body wash and since I am out (Been using cheep shampoo for over a month now...) I knew it was time. My dry skin is practically BEGGING for a drink! So time to whip out another DIY recipe and I was so happy that I already had the ingredients on hand! Yippee!

The original post says you can use it as a shampoo too-- but with the oil in it, I don't think it's a good idea. Unless you for some reason like to rock the greasy look. (Circa-- Grease Lightening....perhaps??)

What you'll need:

1 bar of you fave soap (I'm using my fave all natural... see my post of laundry detergent)

1/2 cup hot water(depends on your soap, you need enough to make your soap a "pudding-y" texture)

1/4 cup olive oil

Grate your soap:

Put your soap into you handy-dandy magic bullet or blender

add enough water to make "pudding-y"

add in oil

Blend till smooth

Pour into an old shampoo bottle and take a shower! Since I don't like to have to search for recipes I write my recipe on the back of the bottle to save me some time when I need to make more.

That was so easy! Total cost to me today?? Free-- I had everything in my cupboard! :) YES! I love it when that happens! :)

So besides the joy of making your family their own products and saving yourself some MULA, what's your favorite part of DIY cleaners and beauty products?? Me?? Well, clean up is so easy! Really, you just rinse and your done!

Cheers and Health Friends! 

Brown Sugar Body Scrub

15.00$ for 8oz of this sugar scrub OR you could make your own for....... Oh, about  $0.75!!!! Yup, you read that right! So, why have I been wasting money on beauty products that I could be making at home!?  I know that you want to know how to do this so here we go!

Three ingredients:

Brown sugar

A Lemon

And a bit of olive oil

 Mix 1 about a cup of brown sugar with the juice and grated peel of one lemon, add just enough olive oil to make a nice paste consistency. I used about a tablespoon of oil. Stir and place in a container and enjoy in your next shower! :) Seriously, that's it! You probably even have the ingredients in your cupboard! So what are you waiting for! Go make some!!! :)



Beyond Baby Blues

Let's get serious today. I want to take a second to talk to you about post partum depression and depression in general, the symptoms of it and some natural ways to help you cope with depression. If you feel you are depressed, even if you don't think your feelings are justified, please talk to your doctor about how you are feeling. If you know someone who is depressed, please, help them by talking to them, validating their feelings and assisting them in getting help that they need. People who suffer from depression often cannot help themselves and it falls to us who love them to take the lead and find them the help they deserve.

Baby blues- I hate that term. As a mom who has suffered from severe post partum depression I find this term laughable! Depression looks different on everyone, but the main symptom of depression are universal- a feeling of hope lost.

The following is the list of depression symptoms as described by the mayo clinic:

Feelings of sadness or unhappiness

Irritability or frustration, even over small matters

Loss of interest or pleasure in normal activities

Reduced sex drive

Insomnia or excessive sleeping

Changes in appetite — depression often causes decreased appetite and weight loss, but in some people it causes increased cravings for food and weight gain

Agitation or restlessness — for example, pacing, hand-wringing or an inability to sit still

Irritability or angry outbursts

Slowed thinking, speaking or body movements

Indecisiveness, distractibility and decreased concentration

Fatigue, tiredness and loss of energy — even small tasks may seem to require a lot of effort

Feelings of worthlessness or guilt, fixating on past failures or blaming yourself when things aren't going right

Trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions and remembering things

Frequent thoughts of death, dying or suicide

Crying spells for no apparent reason

Unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches

For me depression over-takes me, like the world is moving in high speed and I cannot focus on any one thing. I can be in a crowded room full of friends and family and feel utterly alone and secluded. Hormones play a major role in  postpartum depression, as well as sleep deprivation,  the stress of a new baby and poor diet.

The poor diet is what I want to talk about today. You just had a baby, your exhausted all the time, you don't sleep well, your up late at night and if you're breast feeding you may be extremely hungry and may even be experiencing strong food cravings. This is the fact of life right now and I promise you-- things will eventually calm down and you will get back to yourself, but right now it may be tough to just get a shower and pee during the days home with your little one, let alone make nutritious meals for you and your family. And honestly in a perfect world, your spouse, friends or family should be taking over many of those chores. But reality is- the help never last long enough and your left with the responsibility. Don't stress, do your best to eat healthy foods, like lean proteins, whole grains (unless your gluten free like me- then brown rice is a good option) , plenty of fruits and veggies and WATER! In order to help keep the normal stress of having a new baby turn into full blown depression I highly suggest continuing with your pre-natal vitamins and adding a b-12 complex to your diet. According to the mayo clinic, "Vitamin B-12 and other B vitamins play a role in producing brain chemicals that affect mood and other brain functions" and personally I have found that taking a B-12 supplement has greatly helped to ease the symptoms of depression. (always check with your Dr before adding any supplements or over the counter drugs when breastfeeding.)

Remember to give yourself a break, be kind to yourself and allow yourself the time needed to get healthy. Don't stress about weight loss after pregnancy, a lot of women find it hard to lose a great deal of weight while breastfeeding, largely due to the chemical response breastfeeding has on our fat stores. This is OK! YOU are OK! Right now your job is to take care of that baby, his first year of life is a vitally important time of development and bonding with you. You will have plenty of time to get your body back after baby! I hope that you will find this information on depression to be helpful and encouraging. I'd love to hear your feedback! Feel free to e-mail me at Fitmomma4@gmail.com or leave a message here on the blog.

Cheers and Health my Friends! 

Lavender All Purpose Cleaner

My everything cleaner came about when researching health and cleaning properties of essential oils. Turns out Lavender is useful for a lot more then just relaxing! Lavender oil has an antiseptic properties as well as anti-fungal. Crazy! Who knew! If you want to learn more about lavender there are a TON of sites talking about all it's uses from cleaning to health and beauty. Anyways, as I started to search for recipes for lavender, I came across a bunch of recipes mixing lavender oil with vinegar, bleaches, and harsher cleaning aids. I just wanted something easy and safe for using around the places we eat like my babies high chair tray and our kitchen table and counters. I finally found a recipe on Pinterest that was almost to good to be true! The Blog I found recommended a basic all purpose anti-bacterial spray with just water and lavender oil.

Lavender Anti-Bacterial Spray

1 spray bottle

1 cup water

10 drops pure essential lavender oil

Combine, spray and enjoy!

I must say, I didn't expect much from this cleaner, but I already had the supplies so I thought I had nothing to lose! I LOVE this cleaner! It cleans up sticky messes from the kids as good, if not better then, my old cleaner and I love that it's so safe! I don't have to worry about chemicals where my babies eat, it smells great and I use it to clean almost every surface in my kitchen. It even gets the greasy splatter from around the burners of the stove! I cannot tell you how impressed I am with this stuff, I can honestly say I'll never go back to a commercial all purpose cleaner!

I picked up my bottle of Lavender oil from a local health food store. It cost me 8.75 and this bottle has lasted me well over 6 months and is less than 1/4 gone. I use this stuff for so much!

*** As always, this is my opinion on this cleaner. Always follow instructions, do your homework and make informed choices regarding the health and safety of your family!***

Fit Momma's Frugal Finds

Part of building healthy family's, in my opinion, is by teaching kids that money doesn't grow on trees and to cut family costs where you can. I started my journey in frugal living by necessity when I became pregnant with my 4th child. One more mouth to feed, person to clothe and laundry to do! I've dabbled in DIY cleaners ( Lavender All Purpose Cleaner) but laundry detergent has been to intimidating for me to make at home. Most DIY laundry detergent are in liquid form and usually include cooking in a big pot and storing in giant containers. I just couldn't bring myself to go through all that without even knowing if I'd even LIKE the end product! Until I came upon this great blog: one good thing by jillee. Where she made the liquid version and then talked about a POWDERED detergent! "Huh, powdered...." I thought, "I could do that." So off I went to Fred Meyer to buy some ingredients, and one short stop at a store and 10 Min's of prep and my homemade detergent was ready for it's first load of laundry!

Powdered Laundry Soap:2 cups finely grated soap (Ivory, Fels Naptha, Zote, homemade, or a combination)
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda

Mix and store in a coffee can or what have you. Use 1-2 T per load.

Since I like all thing natural I choose  1 bar of Tom's natural soap in sage and 1 bar of Tom's natural Lavender milled soap. I learned that the finer the grate the better, I ended up grating the bar of soap (1 bar of soap makes just over 2 cups, I threw in the extras and just used heaping cups of the Borax and Washing Soda.) and then going through the soap with my fingers crushing it even finer. This mixture is VERY concentrated so you really only need the 2 tablespoons/ load of wash!

 I spent less then $6.00 for all the ingredients and purchased the glass container for $5.99

This is how much a double batch made, I am super happy with this! It smells great, my clothes came out clean and fresh! Enjoy Fit Mommas, and Happy Laundering!

****SAFTY NOTE****
***Borax can be extreemly dangerous if not used correctly! Please follow all safety precautions listed on your box of borax. Please keep this product away from children and rinse hands after handling. Also keep in mind this product is DIY and FRUGAL and is not nessessarity "green" in nature. Use as directed and at your own risk.***

I Choose the Chocolate

Day 3

Started my day by making a nice bowl of steal cut oatmeal topped with dried blueberries and almonds, too bad that I didn't get to eat it while it was hot, but alas 'tis the life of a mom. Anyways, made it through my morning on a high note- got to lunch and made myself chicken topped with roasted red peppers and mozzarella.

Chicken and Fire Roasted Peppers

2 frozen chicken tenders

2 slices of roasted red peppers (I got mine from Trader Joe's)

1 light string cheese

1/4 cup spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce

water

olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Thaw chicken for a minute or two in the microwave, while a drizzle of olive oil heats in a med skillet. Add chicken to pan and season however you want (today I used pepper and some seasoning salt) brown on one side and flip to brown on the other and add pepper slices to the pan to warm, once the chicken is browned turn heat to medium/low and add 1/4 cup spaghetti or pizza sauce and water to cover the bottom of pan and top chicken with pepper slices and shredded string cheese. Cover with lid and steam for 8-10 mins or until chicken is cooked through and cheese is melted. I served it with 8 tortilla chips and my tasty treat for the week.... DIET ginger ale! My fav!

Little Stinker discovered what cassette tapes are while I was busy making myself lunch.

Mmmmm.... I LOVE ginger ale, but I don't indulge often,  so this is a special treat for me this week!

Somewhere between lunch and dinner something happened, I crashed. I crashed right into a pile of chocolate. I couldn't stop eating them! Then the guilt kicked in and the old familiar thoughts of "screw it, you already messed up your day, why bother eating healthy now-- might as well just eat ice cream......" floating around in my head. Thoughts like that make you feel like a loser, they are not the thoughts of  success. So, being a personal trainer, I put on my trainer hat and made myself stop my self defeating attitude and think positively! I tell my clients all the time that you are only ever 3 hours away from making a new choice, there are no failures in getting healthy only choices. Today I choose the chocolate, BUT today I also choose the oatmeal and the chicken, and I didn't give up and for dinner I made a choice to eat healthy again. So I hope I encouraged you to not give up on yourself!

See you tomorrow Fit Mommas!

Monday, Monday!

Happy Monday Fit Mommas!

Day 3!

This morning I actually woke up and got in the shower! Yahoo!!! That's a major accomplishment in my world! The morning was off to a great start and I managed to feed, bathe and dress all my children before hurrying my little chicks to the car for school and a hundred errands. Sadly, I forgot to feed myself. So, as I'm running out the door, I grab a dove chocolate from my secret stash, and I pop it in my mouth and reach for 3 more for the road when suddenly I remember "Crap, I'm going to have to blog this.....Put the chocolate down and walk away!" (It worked I actually stepped away from the chocolate!!!!) Accomplishment #2!!!! YES! I returned to the kitchen and grabbed a low fat string cheese and a small handful of raw almonds.

Off  to run errands with the little kids and then home to make some lunch for them. I realized that I tend to not eat and then when I'm staving I eat junk food, so while I'm waiting for water to boil I cut up some apple and celery and peanut butter for myself to munch while the kids eat. Today I also blended up a carrot orange smoothie (recipe to follow). I am happy to announce that I managed to make it through the kids lunch and I only had two bites of mac and cheese (Hey, stop judging me! I had to be sure it wasn't poisoned! )

For dinner tonight, chicken tortilla soup served with chips and salsa! (I choose to save my daily calories for a family dinner)

Orange Carrot Smoothie

Hardware: Magic Bullet type blender

4 oz Carrot Juice ( I get mine from Trader Joe's)

2 Tablespoons Orange Juice Concentrate

3 pieces of Ice

water to "Top Off"

Blend till ice is crushed, add straw and be impressed that your drinking veggies! If you want to add a banana it adds a bit of a creaminess to the drink. This recipe is a knock off of my favorite Jamba Juice smoothie. Enjoy!

Fast Food Fight

Day Two:

Today the family planned on taking a drive to see some friends in the valley, about a 2 hour drive from home. So we set the alarms to get up early and hit the road! Unfortunately, the alarm didn't go off so we woke with a "Huh, wait... what??? HOLY CRAP GET UP WE'RE LATE!". So off we went without breakfast and with sleepy eyed kids in toe. Made it to town on time so the husband pulled into McDonald's and I had a choice to make. Sausage egg biscuit with cheese or egg McMuffin??? First fight of the day and I am happy to report that I ate my egg McMuffin with a smile on my face! SCORE ONE FOR THE WAISTLINE!

We had a great time at church and met with friends to get some lunch and decided to go to Burger King to let the kids (who already ate pizza at church) play while us grown- ups enjoy some not so adult conversations. So, once again we entered the 2nd fast food joint of the day. My growling stomach ached for a whopper with cheese, but in a decisive moment I conquered my  will and ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with no cheese and no mayo, I used the calories I saved to indulge in a small fry and fry sauce (Mmmmm......Fry Sauce......) and a couple bites of my friends brownie sundae! SCORE TWO FOR THE BUTT!

Although it was hard to stick with the program I finished the day at 1160 calories-- rounded out with an Cliff Bar in chocolate chip flavor.

Here's to NOT choosing to waste a days worth of Calories on a single meal!

(Meal above is a double whopper with cheese, medium fry, and medium coke)

Baby Fat

Sam is my baby, he's 11 months old, and he's my one and only son in this estrogen filled household. He's an angel, he is also making me fat. Well that's a lie, he's the excuse I use to allow myself to eat the food I want regardless of how I KNOW it will effect my waistline. Well, I'm done using him as my buffer, bottom line is I've been slacking and cheating and taking "short cuts" that have proven to do nothing more but provide instant gratification and a lot of "wish I hadn't had that" moments. But when your nursing a baby your hungry all the time! True- but I should be taking the time to eat a balanced meal and instead I've been doing a lot more  "HAND OVER THE CHOCOLATE AND NO ONE GETS HURT!" Yeah, I'm a fitness professional so all I ever crave is brown rice and steamed chicken right?? WRONG! I'm a transformed fat girl and all I want when stressed (Did I mention we just moved, switched jobs, left all our friends and I'm an entrepreneur of a new business...) is chocolate and carbs. Today I unpacked all my workout gear and got the office set up for my own personal use and maybe even a client or two. Sam played on my urban re-bounder (yeah, fancy name for a mini trampoline) and I actually worked out for the first time since we moved. Felt good to break a sweat even if it was short lived as duty called and a diaper change was called for but I did something today and progress is taking it one step at a time.

Today:

Step steps with Shoulder press

Bicep curl

Triceps (skull crushers)

Chest press

Push-up

Crunches

Frog crunches

What is Fit Mommas- Fit Families all about?

Fit Mommas- Fit Families is all about teaching and empowering mom's to make healthy changes in their lives. It's more then an exercise program or a diet, it's a change in mindset. Mom's are busy, we (as a group) are the sole "providers" of the family. Sure, we may not bring in the paycheck, but we are the provider of health and energy in our families everyday lives! The job is exhausting, time consuming and full of trials. It is, however, the most rewarding and important job we moms will ever know! As a side effect of this, we often find that we give ourselves away to our families day in and day out and there is often little time left for Mom. Although giving is part of the job, our children need moms who know how to care for ourselves. Fit Mommas empowers moms by teaching them how to have the best of both worlds, by giving them the tools they need to get healthy and teach their kids what true health looks like. I'm not about hype, crash diets and fad workouts, I know that your time and money is valuable and I honor that by giving you proven, science based facts about how to eat to be healthy, how to make healthy changes in your family's favorite foods as well as how to effectively exercise to transform into the most healthy version of you.

This blog is a chance to meet the real me: I'm a momma of four kids all under 6, a wife to a great husband and a woman who has seen the dark side of the bathroom scale. I've struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. I've dealt with bulimia, horrible self esteem and a life as an overweight teenager- turned wife- turned mom. But my story doesn't stop there, one day I woke up and realized that I needed to stop. That was the last day I felt like I couldn't, suddenly I knew I HAD to change for good. Thankfully, I had a personal trainer and friend that saw the fire in my belly and encouraged me, taught me and most importantly believed in me during the times I couldn't see past the slice of cake sitting between me and my dreams. I took control of my life, made some remarkable changes and pursued the same profession as my leader. Since then I went to school and learned all I could soak up about health and fitness and became a personal trainer and nutrition consultant, I also had another baby (#4 and my one and only boy!) In a lot of ways I feel as though I am starting over. Last night, as I was practicing the womanly art of shuffling through clothes in my over-flowing closet and lamenting that I have nothing to wear, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Who is that woman?? She looks too much like that one I left behind nearly 3 years ago, *GASP* I have to change! This is not who I was meant to be! So today marks the first day much like that day once before where I dare to see over the bowl of ice cream in my lap and into my dreams. So this blog will follow me as I take a stand once again for my own health and in doing so I hope that you will give me a chance to empower you to come along with me in your own journey to the healthier, happier you.

This is our year!