According to Forbes Magazine I'm not behaving like a successful person. In an article recently, 5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8 AM they rattled on about the things you should do in the mornings before work that could lead to a successful and healthy lifestyle. I'm just going to list them 5 things below but they go into more detail in the article.

1-Exercise

2-Map Out Your Day

3-Eat A Healthy Breakfast

4-Visualization

5-Make Your Day Top Heavy

The first problem I have with this whole thing is the fact that I barely get up in time to make it to work by 9am. I am a night owl have always been a night owl and love being a night owl. The only reason why being a night owl is an issue for me is because I've always had freaking DAY jobs! ugh! I set my clock 20 minutes before I'm supposed to get up because my intentions are to spend that time praying and become alert. Well let's just say I haven't stuck to that routine in over a year. I do have to admit that when I was following that routine I felt much better starting my day.

I don't exercise at all asides from walking daily. In New York, you can do a lot of walking without even trying to. I love to walk. Absolutely....in nice walking weather of course. I actually have a walking exercise DVD that I should start back using. I plan to but I know it won't be before 8 AM during the week!

I barely eat breakfast because I normally wait until I get to work. Sometimes as soon as I walk in the door my boss has me running around fetching stuff for him that by the time I'm able to think straight it's already 10 or 11am. I normally eat fruit sometimes I may grab a muffin sometimes it's nothing sometimes it's junkfood....for awhile I was doing green smoothies but I realized that they should be drunk at home vs. traveling with it 40 minutes after making it to drink at work. The flavor wasn't the greatest by then so I 86'd that idea. I love green smoothies though but I would either have to drink them before coming to work or drink them when I get home from work.

I don't map out my day because let's face it...my day is so routine I really don't need to map it out. Get up, go to work, run errands, go home. Rinse and repeat Monday through Friday.

Visualization...I normally do this at night before bed or during my commute to work, or while I'm walking from the train to work, or while I'm at work when I'm just sitting in my boss' office while he's sorting through papers on his desk. LOL I love to pretend that I'm somewhere other than where I am. Sometimes when I'm walking to work I pretend that I'm only up that early because I have a business meeting with Tyler Perry to discuss turning one of my books into a movie. LOL hey faith it til you make it, right? :-)

Number 5 doesn't apply to me. 

If you are a morning person more power to you...if you are a night owl like me...and you want to do the things listed in that article in hopes of being more productive and successful then I'm sure you can train your body to be a morning person. We can train our minds and bodies to do just about anything we want by creating those habits. I for one would much rather create the work environment that corresponds to my body's natural way of being. And naturally my body loves sleeping in without an alarm clock so...what does that tell you...I need to create a work environment where I get up on my own schedule and allow my body to get up organically. THAT my friend will help me to be more productive and successful because I'm not being forced to behave in a way that my body naturally disagrees with. IMO.

Go read the article: 

5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8 AM

Stay Blessed....Stay Tuned!

Whole30 Challenge

Not happy with this Whole30 thing. I started it last week. I had minor slip ups due to lack of preparation. But I'm ALREADY losing weight. I can't lose weight so not sure how I'm going to handle this situation.

I've been slim my whole life and over the past few years I've been thickening up and carrying it very well I might add LOL but getting smaller is not my goal.

I don't eat a lot as it is so increasing my food intake won't be easy since one I already hate cooking and two I work outside my home so I'm not lugging around tons of food to the office. 

I don't eat nuts right now. Although I have to admit I did break down and had a bag of cashews because I was so freaking hungry! I'm sure my face will pay for that moment of weakness later....lol

Anyhoo....in order to keep my weight up I may have to add potatoes back into my diet especially since I can't have sugar so I won't be doing the Whole30 100%....I just can't afford to weight wise.

Most of these "diets" or healthy eating habits that restrict a lot of foods are very beneficial for those with extreme health issues or that want to lose weight....thank God I don't fall into either one of those categories.

I do think I break out due to a high sugar intake. I wasn't really consuming dairy unless I was eating sweets. And I wasn't consuming grains unless I was eating white rice from takeout or restaurants which wasn't often or when I was eating corn which I love so I ate it a lot.

Processed foods was a major issue i.e. condiments I'm a ketchup girl...love the stuff and my store bought salad dressings with the soybean oil and artificial ingredients.........condiments I can work around. So I'm not really hurting by giving those up. It was just the potatoes and sweets!

My coworker looked at me today and told me I've lost weight. I don't look like I've lost weight in my face, to me....but I'm sure that I have since I haven't been eating much and I lose weight extremely easy.

So I'm revamping my whole plan with the Whole30 and putting potatoes back into my diet. Lord I beg you, please please please don't let me have an issue with potatoes!!! Geez!!!! :-D

A work in progress...........

Whole30 Challenge!!!

Hey Peeps!!

So today I'm starting the Whole30 Challenge.

If you are not familiar with it, its basically like the Paleo Diet but with somewhat stricter guidelines for the 30 days. I am doing this to get a handle, hopefully, on what is causing my breakouts.

If you would like to read more about the Whole30 Diet then you can find information in this PDF http://whole9life.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/the-official-whole30-program-whole9life.com.pdf

You can also visit the website of the creators, Melissa and Dallas Hartwig at http://whole9life.com/about-us/

They created the program to help change your life in 30 days through nutrition, basically. "Think of it as a short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, calm systemic inflammation and put an end to unhealthy cravings, habits, and relationships with food."-Whole9


It won't be easy because I have to try to keep my weight ON while cutting out sugar and potatoes!!

The gluten/grains, not a big deal I cut that down tremendously over the last two years or so. It's the sugar and potatoes that I LOVE!!!

Here's to Clear Skin! I'm documenting my progress with pics....not on here, but just for personal use...so I can see what will happen.

I'm not eating any nuts though and I'm going to eat nightshades on a limited basis as well as eggs and coconut milk.

If I don't clear up like I want to after my 30day trial then I'll eliminate one of the three (nightshades, eggs, coconut milk) to see if that helps!

Stay Blessed and Stay Tuned!

4 Month Health Challenge

pic courtesy of funfitchic.com

Hey People!!!


Long time no hear!! 


So I'm putting myself on a 4 month challenge to better health & clearer skin!! I've always had a minor skin issue, so my face has never been clear of bumps (from what I can remember) maybe it would be classified as a mild case of acne. I have extremely oily skin which is an advantage (I age more gracefully) and a disadvantage (get too shiney) and all these years I was thinking my face is extremely sensitive to commercial products. Well now for the past few months I've been researching more about the link between nutrition and acne. Especially since I don't use anything but natural products on my face & still get the breakouts here & there. I've been trying to start this "clean" eating habit (I won't use the word diet) for a few months but I keep putting it off for one reason or another.


The guideline to this "clean" eating challenge is inspired by the Paleo Diet


For my challenge:


No Dairy (non whatsoever I think, actually sorta know, this is a culprit...its hard to accept because I LOVE CHEESE)
No Soy (I have a few bottles of my favorite salad dressing that has soybean oil in that expires in Dec. so I'll be using that up before going completely soy free)
No Grains (I love me some rice but for this challenge, which is not that hard to give up actually, I won't be eating it, along with other grains including another favorite of mine CORN! So little to no high fructose corn syrup which is in EVERYTHING)
No Nuts (its one of the top food sensitivities and I'm not sure if I'm sensitive but thought I would cover all the bases, I just got into coconut based products but as of yesterday, I will be cutting that down too. I read online that people who are sensitive/allergic to nuts may have a reaction to coconuts as well)
No Legumes/Beans (so there goes my love for peanut butter! I may sneak in some baked beans here & there if there is no high fructose corn syrup in them & field peas here & there)
Little to no processed/refined/ fried foods
Little to no high sugar foods (not a lot of fruit juice, or table sugar, so most of the things I consume will be labeled "no sugar added")
Little to no sodium (I hardly ever had table salt to my food, and I now purchase "no salt added" veggies if I buy in the can)


So this may seem like A LOT of restrictions but it is necessary for me to figure out what is triggering my breakouts. Note: FOOD DOES NOT CAUSE ACNE BUT IF YOU ARE ACNE PRONE IT CAN TRIGGER A REACTION


At the end of the challenge I will slowly re-introduce foods/ingredients back into my diet one at a time to see how I react that way I will know EXACTLY what my "trigger" food is!! I will post weekly updates of my progress!!


Side Note: I'm currently working on my health & wellness business. I'll keep you posted about that....I'm still in the development stages so there's nothing to really discuss yet :-)


Stay Blessed!

Spring Cleaning!!

Hey people!! I know it has been a minute since my last post!


I've been doing a little spring cleaning, organizing and re-organizing!!! 


Today I went through my Google Reader and unsubscribed to a LOT of blogs. I just haven't found the time to read them like a I want to. I need to keep my mind & spirit nourished so I am still subscribed to a few blogs. I'm sure the bloggers won't notice I'm no longer commenting ha!!


The blogs that I remained subscribed to are the ones that are mainly about health, natural hair, God, and my career! Right now those things are the most important things that I'm focused on. 


I've revamped my diet!! I'm on the path to a healthier me and flawless skin (I don't have bad skin but it could be better)....so I'm doing some much need elimination, addition and substitution!! (I'll post about my changes in the future)


I plan to go through my meetup groups and see which ones I'm most interested in participating in and remove myself from the others!


I plan to organize my hundreds of friends on my Facebook page into categories to make it easier for correspondence in the future!


I have to put myself on a LEARNING schedule. I'm teaching myself a few editing programs so I need to act as if I'm actually going to a class so that I can get the training done. 


I have to learn more about the different skills/jobs that I want to take on so that I can be one of the best at it!!


I'm on the path to GREATNESS and although it can be unclear, overwhelming, and rocky.....I'm extremely excited because by the grace of God I will make it to the finish line!!! I know what awaits me is nothing but the ABSOLUTE BEST OF THE BEST!!


THANK YOU LORD, IN JESUS NAME, AMEN!


STAY BLESSED LOVELIES....'TIL NEXT TIME!!

Diet Soda Linked To Higher Risk Of Heart Attacks & Stroke!

photo from nick-wilson.com 

I'm not a diet soda drinker....I hardly drink soda...but if I do...darn sho don't pick up the diet ones....hate the way it taste. My mom is a soda drinker....she has switched to diet soda...so when I heard them talking about this on the news...I was paying close attention.


Studies suggest that diet soda could cause heart disease and/or stroke in those that drink it on a regular basis, i.e. everyday. 


Columbia Univ. and the Univ. of Miami did a study in which Dr. Mitchell Elkind was one of the lead researchers of the study.

“What our study shows is that drinking diet soda may be associated with an increased risk of vascular events, by which we mean strokes, heart attacks, and other causes of death that can be due to vascular disease,” Dr. Elkind said.

The nine-year study involved more than 2,500 people of different ethnicities in northern Manhattan. The study found that those who drank diet soda every day had a 61 percent higher risk of crippling diseases like stroke or heart disease. (info from CBS News New York)

To read more about the study and the risks please visit CBS News New York.

My mom drinks this stuff every day...maybe two or three a day....they suggest that diet soda may be more dangerous than regular soda....

SO ladies and gents, you may wnat to cut back on your soda intake and try to increase your water intake. Even though I don't really drink soda...I still need to work on increasing my water intake. I can sit around for hours and not drink a drop of ANYTHING....sometimes I have to consciously make myself drink water...

We have to do better y'all...Our health depends on it!!

Stay Blessed!!

Cranberries Good For Gingivitis!

So I was looking at Doctor Oz the other day and he was talking about a good way to fight and/or prevent gingivitis and he mentioned that unsweetened cranberry juice and/or cranberry dental floss is great to use!

I've never heard of Cranberry Dental Floss but I just purchased some!

I got the Radius Anti-bacterial Cranberry Floss * All Natural * Waxed

I got mine from alice.com for $2.79!

Happy Flossing!!

**update: I tried the floss and I don't like that fact that it gets stuck between my teeth. It's suppose to be waxed to slide easy but not for me! so after I use up my 2 then I will just go with the unsweetened cranberry juice or with my aloe vera juice (most likely aloe vera since I already have that in the house and I could use it as a mouth rinse)

***Cranberry juice: cranberry juice is considered to keep the bacteria from sticking to the teeth and gums. So, drink cranberry juice without sugar. Also make sure you rinse your teeth with water to avoid as cranberry juice can stain the teeth

****Aloe vera. Aloe Vera is very beneficial in removing plaque and resolving the symptoms of Gingivitis.

Read more at http://www.mamaherb.com/gingivitis-home-remedy-using-aloe-vera?ktrack=kcplink

Aloe vera can help in controlling the bleeding due to gingivitis. You can either rub aloe vera pulp over your gums or drink aloe vera juice

One Of The Top Ways To Burn Calories: Walking Vigorously

Walking vigorously Burns 170 calories in 30 minutes

I was reading an article about the 7 best fat blasters and walking vigorously was # 7...and I thought to myself...."Self, you are onto a great start with this walking program!!"

Btw I was suppose to start exercising last night....but I didn't....Saturday I will for sure!! :-D 


I also love the jump roping idea...I used to do this 10 minute jump rope routine a few times a week. I built up my calf muscles for sure! You don't even need a jump rope to participate....you can just do the motions as if you had a rope and still get the same benefits without having to worry about tripping over the rope! Here's the video!!





HAPPY WALKING!!

Journey To A Healthier Me, Part 2

In my last post I spoke about taking care of myself better inside and out. By exercising and eating healthy is a good start. But there are three components to being healthy: you need a healthy mind, body, and soul. 

So this post I will focus on my mind and soul. Get healthy emotionally and spiritually is very important in having a healthy lifestyle. 

I have to keep my mind positive and keep speaking life into my situations as well as over other people’s situation. I have to laugh more, spend time with my friends more who always keep me in a good mood when we’re together, and to stay focused on God’s word and his goodness. Surround myself with positive things & people. If they are not about nothing then I don’t need them in my life because I’m about SOMETHING!! I’ve also started back reading just to escape the mundane and to keep my mind entertained. I love watching movies for that very same reason.

I think that my emotional well being is very much tied into my spiritually well being. I am a very sensitive and emotional person so keeping my mind on the positive things in life and on God will continue to help me stay grounded emotionally. Writing in my gratitude journal daily to remind myself of the blessings I’ve received and am receiving. Deciding to always do what’s best for me and my well-being meaning not getting involved in relationships and/or situations that are draining or destructive and that applies to all types of relationships (lovers, friends, family, colleagues etc)! You have to know your worth and not tolerate the things and/or people that rob you emotionally. It’s devastating and unhealthy!

Here are 10 Tips to stay emotionally healthy

Here are 10 Tips to stay mentally healthy

So let’s turn this around and begin our journey to a more “Healthy You”!!!

Stay Blessed and Stay Healthy!

Journey To A Healthier Me, Part 1

Ok so I’m on my “healthy” kick again…..for the uptenth time! Trying to get healthier inside and out! 

Physically:

Exercising at home! I’m not trying to lose weight just trying to maintain my sexy! :-D 

I have gained a little weight the over the past three years..tummy not as flat as I’m used to. You know how your belly sticks out after you eat..well these days I have that “I just ate” look going on all day...everyday….not cute!

So I have to do something about it before it becomes a REAL issue. I don’t believe in paying for a gym membership..that would be a waste of money for me. I’m so off and on, more off than on, when it comes to exercising but this time I’m going to stick to it! 

I’m a slim chick as it is so I plan to only work out maybe 2 times per week no more than hour each time. I was thinking I should start with an easy exercise routine so that I can get into the habit of exercising. So Saturday I was looking at the Exercise TV channel on On Demand just to try to get an idea of certain exercises that I could incorporate into my own workout routine. As I was flipping through the list of videos, they had a section dedicated to walking.

I checked it out and it’s a walking at home program. I found two that I like and that I will do twice a week. The first one is Walking At Home with Leslie Sansone. The one that I will be doing is the 3 mile walk. It’s a 45min workout routine, which is perfect! No equipment is necessary, and she actually worked up a good sweat! Leslie has many other videos that I think are cool! You can visit her site at http://www.walkathome.com/ I plan to get the 5 Day Slim Down DVD for my mom and I. You can choose to do 1 mile a day or the whole 5 mile workout at once. 

 

The other one I liked was by Chris Freytag, its Walking Cardio Shape Up so she adds weights into her routine for the sculpting sessions. It’s 45 minutes as well so I plan to do that one. I bought a resistance band so instead of using the weights I may just substitute the resistance band, we’ll see how that works! You can preview or download Freytag’s workout video at Exercisetv.tv. 

 

I noticed that these workout routines actually incorporate the exercise moves that I was planning to put into my own routine…just helps for me to create my own routine because sometimes I just find it difficult to follow these instructors but these walking routines are actually easy to follow. Easy, yet effective, and especially good for your heart health. I have to set aside the days that I plan to work out. I think Wed and Sat will be good days.

Now as far as food, I don’t eat a lot of unhealthy stuff. I’m a salad lover even though I’m not sure if my salads are still healthy after I add all the things I like to eat in my salads as well as the dressing. Junk food is my weakness! So cutting back on my sweets and chips are necessary. I found a new love, Nutella, so that will be my life saver when I have a chocolate craving. I don’t eat chips a lot but sometimes I go on a chip binge..ha!! I won’t totally stop indulging in cookies, cakes, chips, or my favorite, Reese Peanut Butter cups….but I will do it in moderation. I’m trying not to add sugar to my cereal even though I use raw cane sugar. I tried adding cherry flavored craisins to my frosted flakes and it gives me that extra sweetness that I crave. I need to try that with my honey nut cheerios to see if that works the same!

I have switched to eating vegetable pasta by Ronzoni. It’s very tasty! Me love it! :-D 

I cook only brown rice at home, but when I go out or when I order take out I get white rice. The restaurants and fast food joints use short grain brown rice and I prefer long grain. I don’t really fry food at home but I’m in love with fries! LOVE’EM!! I eat more veggies then meat…love my sautéed squash with peppers & onions either with brown rice or over some veggie noodles w’italian dressing. I am totally watching my sodium intake. Some veggies like green beans and corn I can’t eat the frozen kind (unless it’s corn on the cob) so I still buy those in the can, but now I get the ones with no salt added. I don’t use table salt on my food unless I cut up some cucumbers and tomatoes to eat with a meal and I season them with salt/pepper but that’s not that often. You have to start small and work your way up to getting totally healthy…eating healthy ain’t cheap so do as well as you can with the budget you have.

Stay Blessed....Stay Healthy!