Hello my beautiful friends! I hope you are all well and happy. 🙂

I have a few deep thoughts to share today.

As you all know, I enjoy striving to live a healthy lifestyle. Yes, it’s tough. It takes a lot of hard work, time and mental brain power. However, I know how much it enriches my life, makes me happy, makes me a better, stronger person and just motivates me to do better in all aspects of my life!

Sooooo, I keep on pluggin’ along and just do the best I can!

If you read my blog, you also know that I struggle all the time! I will always love crappy food and I’m sure I’ll always be trying to find that balance between eating ALL THE FOOD and still being somewhat responsible and disciplined.

Over the years I’ve had a lot of people ask me about health and fitness. How do I find the time to workout? How do I stay motivated? What foods to eat? How to stay consistent? Etc. etc. etc.

Well, here’s what I have to say about that!

If you’ve never felt what it feels like to be in pretty good shape physically, it’s really hard to believe that you ever will be! It’s hard to want to work out consistently when you’ve never felt or seen the benefits!

Simple as that.

For example, every time after I’ve had a baby I’m always extremely humbled and discouraged when I try to get back into shape and it’s just so darn hard!

My body feels stiff, heavy and just tired. My motivation is lacking. I feel overweight and don’t love the way I look or feel. Everything just feels so daunting and it’s hard to believe that my body will ever look or feel any differently!

However, since there have been times in my life when I’ve been in good physical condition and have had a strong able body…..I have faith I can get there again. Soooooo, I just keep on trying and working.

It’s always so rewarding to see and feel my body adjust, strengthen, lose weight and just become more capable again!

Since I know very well what it feels like to be out of shape and I also know very well what it feels like to be in very good shape….I’ve learned to keep striving and head in the “get and stay in shape” direction.

Exercise is HARD WORK and if you can’t really see or feel the benefits (because as you know it takes a lot of hard work, time and consistency before you’ll ever see a lot of benefit!) it’s hard to keep doing it.

***********************

Eating well consistently is also very similar. Most of us out there eat the SAD (Standard American Diet) diet, which isn’t a healthy one. We eat a lot of fast, convenient, processed, fake junk food….day after day after day.

Most of us don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables and most of us don’t get the nutrition our bodies need! Consequently, when we consistently overfeed our bodies AND feed our bodies a bunch of crap, our bodies learn to crave and need it!

Our appetites go way up and tell our body we need a lot more food than we actually do! We crave sugar, fat, salt and ALL THE “GOOD,” CRAPPY FOOD! Our energy level stays low, we may have mood swings, we may feel excess stress….and we cope with it all by eating more cruddy food!

When our bodies are in this state (used to eating junk all the time), it is SO HARD to eat well! When we first try to cut out the junk and eat better, our bodies fight us. Our appetites and cravings go way up. We may get headaches and/or actually feel sick (a form of withdrawal.) Our bodies will actually fight against our efforts because it’s addicted to that quick energy, simple sugar and junk food.

Soooo, when our bodies are fighting us, it’s sooooo hard to fight back and keep cutting out the junk and keep loading up on the good stuff.

I will say that I’ve felt what it feels like to be addicted to sugar and junk food many, many, many (to infinity!) times in my life. I’ve also felt what it feels like when I’ve consistently fed my body well and steered clear of the junk.

It is a night and day difference folks! HUGE!

Whenever I’ve been eating junk for a while, it’s hard to remember what it feels like to have my body working for me. It’s hard to remember what it feels like to not crave sugar all the time. It’s hard to remember what it feels like to have a lot of energy and have a body that just feels good.

It’s hard to find that motivation to cut the junk and feed my body well! It’s hard to believe that my body will shift and it will get easier. Even though I’ve felt both sides of this spectrum many times, it’s hard to have that faith and believe my body will change and adapt like I want it to!

So, if you’re a sugar addict, junk addict, overeater, etc. and you’ve never felt what it feels like to be free of (or less controlled) by that addiction, it’s hard to find the motivation necessary to change it!

************************

So, with all this being said, when people ask me how I stay motivated, how I consistently workout or eat well or why I just keep trying and never quit……it’s because I’ve felt what it feels like to be on both sides or the spectrum and I know my body, spirit and life are just so much better when I consciously and consistently take care of it!

I’m not perfect at it, but I don’t like to stay in a rut for too long!

I consistently workout 3-6 times a week. I either go to classes at the gym, run, lift weights or do HIIT type workouts. I also enjoy hiking and just running around with my kiddos

I have many very simple meals and food ideas that I fix and eat on a regular basis. I do not do gourmet stuff. I don’t do complicated recipes. I keep it simple and I don’t overthink it.

This was dinner tonight….

Leftover salad and White Chicken Chili. We had a very busy night tonight and this chili recipe is sooooooo simple, easy, yummy and healthy! I love it! I used a rotisserie chicken, so the whole thing probably took me like 15 minutes to prepare.

Click here for the White Chicken Chili recipe if you so desire.

Easy, peasy.

I make myself a protein shake/green smoothie almost every day! I love them so much! I don’t crave them and I don’t love the taste (they’re not bad, but they’re usually not super yummy either), but I LOVE how simple and easy it is to get so much nutrition in the body. I also love that I can take them with me on the go so easily too!

I have a bunch of protein shake recipes in my recipe section or you can read this post all about my protein shakes if you want to!

More often then not I just dump in a liquid (unsweetened cashew milk, water or kefir are my typicals), some protein powder, either some flax or chia seeds, some greens powder, some greens (spinach, chard, kale, lettuce), ice and whatever else I might want to throw in there (fruit, nuts, nut butter, other vegetables, etc.) and call it good!

Again, I don’t overthink it. I just whip one up, drink it up and call it good!

I also eat things like protein pancakes, eggs, leftovers and oatmeal on the regular too.

This was just some oatmeal I cooked up, mixed with some protein powder, cocoa, stevia, flaxseed and cooked cauliflower rice (I know it sounds weird, but you can’t really taste it!) I dumped the whole thing into an almost empty peanut butter jar and ate it up.

Easy, simple, yummy.

************************

Soooo, in summary, living a healthy lifestyle does take a lot of work, time and commitment, but it doesn’t have to be hard! It can actually be enjoyable! It’s definitely much easier when you just slowly make healthy habits over time. Those healthy habits can then just become your way of life!

Then, over time when you realize how much better you feel living that way, you’ll never want to go back to living a sedentary, junk food eating life again! You may enjoy junk and taking a break once in a while, but you won’t want to stay there because the difference is so huge….for better or worse!

Soooo, my friends….take that leap of faith, dive in with both feet, find ways you can improve your health, create some awesome habits and don’t quit!

You’ll be glad you did! I hope you all have a wonderful night! xoxo