Thoughts, Ideas and Info
I have been learning about mindsets and I believe it's beginning to unlock some things for me personally. I am still on my own health journey. I don't think we ever really "arrive". We may reach a goal and celebrate that and live into that for a while, but then things shift a little or we create a new goal or life throws us for a loop and we need to adjust.
Maybe it's fear of missing out. Maybe it's because the kids are in bed and I view the night as MY time. Maybe it's because I'm a light sleeper with lots of vivid dreams. It's probably all of these reasons that I avoid going to bed. Yet I am reading more and more how the best diet and exercise program can be undone by lack of sleep and stress. Darn it.
Brené Brown talks about the Reckoning, the Rumble, and the Revolution in her book Rising Strong. We need to know where we are before we can figure out where we need to go. It is good to periodically spend time reflecting on where we are at and where we would like to be and what gets in the way of getting there.
Maybe it's because it's summer (as I'm writing this) and my brain doesn't want to think...so this week's post comes from the founder of the Primal movement, Mark Sisson. His approach to working out and fitness helped bring joy back into my life. His approach along with one of Brené Brown's Guideposts to Wholehearted Living - Cultivating Play has gone a long way helping this sometimes much too serious woman to let go and have some fun. So here are his words:
My relationship with exercise used to be very much a love/hate relationship. And if I'm honest, most of the time it was hate. It was yet another thing in my overwhelmed life that I was supposed to be doing. There were times I would recommit to it and get to the gym nice and early and do the elliptical for 40-60 minutes. I would stick with it and then see some weight loss but it never gave me the energy all the experts promised. I would go back home (I was a stay-at-home mom.) and it would take everything in me not to fall back asleep at 10 am. Something else in life always seemed to happen and I wouldn't be able to get to the gym for awhile and the weight I had lost would find me again. It was a horrible, joyless cycle.
You made your commitment to start a new way of eating or exercise routine. You have the best intentions and your heart is in it. You really do want this! Then the excitement wears off. The day to day decision making hits. Will I do this? Can I do this? Is it even working? What if all this effort doesn't work and you begin to talk yourself out of it. You find your motivation quickly disappearing. I hear you! Oh the struggle is real!
We've all experienced this. We set out to make new habits. Maybe it's making healthy food choices. Maybe it's starting a new exercise routine. It could even be wanting to implement a new morning routine of meditation. We are doing well for the first week or so and then bam! we are sidelined with either getting sick, getting injured or life throws us a curve ball.
Don't you just love a good success story? I know I've spent a lot of time in the Success Stories on Mark Sisson's (author of The Primal Blueprint) website. What am I looking for? Hope. I am looking for someone's story that might be close to mine to find encouragement that maybe doing what they did will work for me too. We all need hope.
You know it's coming. You know you've recently made a commitment to yourself to nourish your body with healthy foods. Foods that serve you well. Yet, you know it's coming. The parties. The offerings. The friends. The family. The temptations. The explanations. The choices. How will you navigate through this so that when you reflect on the memories the focus is on the actual holidays and not the shame of over-indulgence?
These are simple to make, tasty, and filling. All-in-one meal too! Here's what I did:
Ingredients:
7-9 small Zucchini
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp Basil
Marinara sauce
4 cups Mozzarella
Small Pkg. of Pepperoni
Preheat oven to 425*F.
Slice zucchini in half lengthwise. Place on lined baking sheet. (I used a silicone liner.)
With spoon, slightly scrape out some of the zucchini to create a well for the cream cheese mixture.
Mix cream cheese and spices to spread on slightly hallowed out zucchini halves.
Top with marinara, shredded mozzarella and pepperoni. Bake at 425* for 18 min. Serves 8
