What's up with 'Clean Eating"???

Clean eating? What the heck is that suppose to mean? And what's it mean if you don't eat clean? Do you eat dirty?? You've probably heard the term on the cover of a magazine, or your gym-rat friends are always saying how they 'eat clean' but what the heck are they talking about? 

Clean eating is a hot new diet buzz word, simply stated, it means that you eat whole, un-processed foods. If it comes from a box it's not clean eating. The style of eating is not new, but the marketing term 'clean eating' is. Human bodies are designed to eat natural foods, but industries have taken back road efforts to give us food that tastes good at the cheapest price and with the greatest shelf life. But in order to extend food that way, they've taken most of the food out of it and replaced it with chemicals and fillers. Historically speaking, our ancestors used salt, fermentation and drying, as well as smoking and cooking methods. For more on the history of food processing go here. And for a great article on what is all that processed food and what it can do to you, go here . Bottom line is this, the more processed a food is, the less it resembles food to your body. When your body doesn't recognize it as food, then your body tries to fight it as a foreign toxin. Your body has to work extra hard (expel extra energy) to break down and get rid of chemicals and then has less energy to use for it's normal function. If your trying to get healthy, eating real food is the way to go. 

Of course, there are many benefits of eating 'clean', or as I like to call it, eating food. Your body can digest real food, so your body can use the food you eat to breakdown for energy, and it is better able to absorb the nutrients that are in your food. (called micro-nutrients). This frees up your extra energy stores to use for, hey get this, energy! You'll feel better, you will most likely lose weight- as it's harder to overeat on real food, your immune system will be stronger- keeping you healthy during the cold and flu season, your skin, hair and nails will be stronger and less prone to breakage. You may find that any auto-immune diseases you have may lessen in intensity as you stop using your energy store to fight your food and are better able to heal. 

Great right? Right! So what's the downside? Could there be one? Well not really, but eating real food does take more effort. You'll need to plan ahead, shop smart, and as much as possible eat local and organically. You'll also need to learn to cook. 

What can you eat if you go 'clean'? 

Meats

Veggies

Fruit

nuts and seeds

whole unprocessed grains

hormone free dairy 

The best way to eat clean is to get to know where your food comes from, visit local farms and get to talking to farmers. Find out where they buy their foods, most farmers love to share information and enjoy teaching about how food gets to the table. 

For more info on clean eating check out this site for eating clean for dummies. 

Got a question?? Post it for me! It may be featured in an upcoming post! :) 

Cheers and Health! 

Erin

 

Amazing Oils!

Cold and Flu season is upon us! But this year I'm fighting back! A couple days ago I woke up feeling fine, but sometime after dinner it hit me like a freight train, "I don't feel good...." I whined as I plopped down on the couch. "what's wrong?" My husband asked me, I hadn't pin pointed it yet, but my head hurt and my ears hurt and I felt sick.  "I'm going to bed....." But before my head hit my pillow for the night I remembered all those pretty little bottles of essential oils I have sitting in my bathroom. I swear the hardest part of using oils, it to REMEMBER to use them! So I drug myself to my glorious collection of mis-matched oils. And started to ponder. My head hurt, so I grabbed the lavender oil. My chest felt heavy so I grabbed some peppermint and eucalyptus oils. Armed with my tiny bottles, a bottle of sweet almond oil and a toasty (The name my children gave to our numerous lavender and rice filled heat packs) I shuffled off to bed. I mixed a couple drops of lavender equal drops oils and applied it to my temples, neck and outside of my ears, and mixed the peppermint and eucalyptus oils with equal drops oil and applied to my chest. Tossed a toasty over my eyes and fell asleep----hard. And I woke up magically healed! No, not quiet. Actually, in my experience essential oils speed up healing, often by making your sickness come to it's ugly rearing head faster, but less severely. This is how I woke up the next day, my head still hurt and my body still felt sick-ish. So I got the kids to school and started 'operation: kill a cold' and it started with a large glass of water, then a mug full of warm broth (homemade chicken bone broth- seriously SO easy! Recipe at the bottom of the page) then the big guns. Oregano oil--- lots of Oregano oil. I had purchased Oregano oil capsules a while back because I had kept hearing all about how great Oregano oil is, "the natural antibiotic" I'd read. So I picked some up at my local hippy market (health food store)  I took a capsule every couple hours and drank LOTS of fluids. I also mixed up a essential oil shot-- I used peppermint, 4 thieves, and lemon 2 drops of each mixed in a shot glass with hot water. I plugged my nose and drank up... then I realized I may have made a small error. MORE WATER! Ahhhh....that's better. (That 4 thieves stuff is STRONG! *please note unless your oils say food grade-- do not ingest them. just use them topically, which after my gag experience with drinking them I think I'll stick to topical next time regardless.* Well, within 3 hours of waking up I felt less sick. "That's a fluke," I thought, but I kid you not, I'm not sick anymore! All day long I felt normal, maybe a small lingering head ache at the most. And today I woke up feeling completely fine! Essential oils for the WIN! :)

Bone broth (chicken)

Next time you want a chicken for dinner throw a chicken in your crock pot and let it cook. Toss in whatever you want to season it with. I usually use onion, celery, maybe a carrot, I've also used fennel. Salt and pepper, and let it cook.  Pull your meat off and toss all your bones back into your crock pot with your cooking juices and veggies, add a table spoon of apple cider vinegar, or juice a bit of lemon, you just need to add some acidic juices to pull the nutrients out of the bones. Fill your pot with as much water as it can hold and cook.......cook......keep cooking. I let mine go on low for a whole OTHER day! My broth cooked for nearly 30 hours, strain and save in containers. I used mason jars and kept mine in the fridge, I drink a cup everyday to help heal my gut from my food allergies. But you can freeze and use later for soup, freeze in ice cube trays for sauces, etc. get creative! I serve mine re-heated and add just a pinch of sea salt. Don't skim the fat! You want that! And don't be surprised if your broth gels as it cools, that's all that lovely healing gelatin that is doing that! When you warm it up it'll all mix in again and make a lovely, rich broth. Great for next time your sick and need some nutrients! 

Cheers and Health! 

Erin

Food Allergies

It's been a while, how's it going blog peeps? I want to talk to you guys about something I've been spending my last year learning all about: Food Allergies.

"You too??" you may be thinking. Seems everyone is talking about food allergies lately, gluten free, soy free, dairy free, no peanuts, eggs or yeast.... blah blah blah. By this time, your head is spinning and you can't think of a single thing you can actually eat. This is exactly where I stood about a year ago, I got home from my doctors visit and my mind was spinning. I literally couldn't think of a single meal I could make that wouldn't include something I was allergic too. My list was extensive: the gist of it was this, if it tastes creamy, rich or delicious it was off my menu. I stood in the kitchen and cried, my husband tried to console me, "But what will I eat?" I sobbed. He had no clue. "Salad?" He said, I cried harder. Fast forward a year and I've come a long way from that sad woman in the kitchen, I don't eat a ton of salad, but I do eat more vegetables. I want to write today about food allergies in hope that you may have a better understanding of what it is, and how you can offer your allergen sensitive friends good food.And if you're like me, recently diagnosed with a food allergy, I hope this post help you feel less alone and helps you see you really can still eat good food. 

What is a food allergy? "I'm lactose intolerant, that's allergic to milk right?" my husband asks. Well not quite, lactose intolerant is that your body has a hard time digesting and breaking down and metabolizing the milk product you eat. An allergy, is that your body doesn't even recognize your food as food, but as an antigen ( foreign substance) that needs attacked, so instead of your body spending energy digesting your food, it spends energy attacking your food. This produces and inflammatory response, flooding your body with histamine and causing systemic inflammation. Okay, that was a lot of words, whats is all mean? Continuing exposure to allergens over a long period of time will not only make you feel sick, it will also set you up for a LONG list of health issues including the biggies: high blood pressure, heart disease, cholesterol issues, fibromyalgia, lupus, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, to name a few. Chronic inflammation equals bad. Got it? Great. So what can you eat, if like me your allergic to a bunch of stuff, or maybe your thinking you may be allergic to something and you want to eliminate common allergens and do a little home testing to help diagnose potential issues. I would recommend eating a diet consisting of all sorts of fruits and veggies, lean proteins (chicken - but no eggs--, fish, grass fed beef, turkey), rice (try to limit it to one meal a day and about 1/2 cup a day) raw seeds and nuts (minus peanuts, if your cutting out allergens) So what could you eat?

Salad?? Well yes, you can eat salad but wouldn't you rather have some yummy stir fry?? Or how about a nice big beef (or better yet Bison) burger?? Topped with avocado, tomatoes, grilled onions, and served bun-less with a big side of grilled seasoned zucchini! Potatoes?? Sure! Roast them up with some olive oil and salt and pepper till crispy and delicious, eat 'em up with a great piece of steak, chicken or fish. 

For breakfast, juice your fruits and veggies or toss 'em in a magic bullet type blender and make some smoothies. 

I like a green monster:

1 kiwi

1 orange, peeled and segmented

1/2 cup spinach

1 banana

 blend it all together with some ice and serve in two tall glasses. 

The key to eating well with allergies is to stop thinking about all the things I can't have and start thinking about all the things I can eat, when I start to think positively about my food then the creativity starts to flow. 

If you know what you are allergic too (either by working with a doctor with an elimination test or by getting a allergy marker test done), then you can start to add back in more and more foods. The great thing about stores today, is that more and more are jumping on the allergen conscious band wagon. You can find gluten free mixes and products that are good quality and easier on the budget too. 

So, if you love someone with food allergies, give 'em a hug and feed them something great. And if you suffer from food allergies, begin to try to think positively about your food choices. Get creative and start experimenting in the kitchen! You may fail, once or twice, but sometime you WIN and those are the moments that make you think, "Okay, I can do this." Find some great resources, pinterest is one of my favorite resources, I often find a recipe there that I can easily swap this for that on and create something wonderful! Make friends with others in your allergen free boat, find blogs, message boards and get talking about your allergies. Lets help each other THRIVE with food allergies not just survive! 

Cheers and Health Friends!

Erin

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!