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Just Found a Cool Article on "Life in the 1800's" and Some Thoughts....

Just found a cool article on "Life in the 1800's" and I was particularly interested in what they ATE back then. Here is what it said:

"Food: Because these innovations in transportation were still in their infancy in 1815, however, most Americans ate what they grew or hunted locally. Corn and beans were common, along with pork. In the north, cows provided milk, butter, and beef, while in the south, where cattle were less common, venison and other game provided meat. Preserving food in 1815, before the era of refrigeration, required smoking, drying, or salting meat. Vegetables were kept in a root cellar or pickled.For those who had to purchase their food, one record notes the following retail prices in 1818 in Washington, D.C.: beef cost 6 to 8 cents a pound, potatoes cost 56 cents a bushel, milk was 32 cents a gallon, tea 75 cents to $2.25 a pound. Shoes ran $2.50 a pair. Clothing expenses for a family of six cost $148 a year, though the record does not indicate the quality of the clothes."
We have come a long way with innovation and food production since then, and not all changes have been good! However, it really struck me how hard everyone had to work for their food.
My hubby and son recently finished the book "The Long Winter" as told by Laura Ingalls Wilder, of the Little House on the Prairie series, and listening to my husband read the book was eye-opening too!
Back then they ate what they grew. What they couldn't grow they bought at a small General Store in town, but during the blizzards and cold winters sometimes the journey into town was perilous so many of the families would move in to town or risk death by freezing or starvation. Even then, town resources dwindled, and they would pray for a thaw so they could get more wheat in the ground.
It struck me how beautifully God designed our bodies, to store fat in times of plenty and use it in times of need, or famine. This design has not changed, so with the abundance of food at our fingertips our bodies keep preparing and preparing and preparing for a famine that never comes! This is why our program is so effective, because it gives our bodies a REASON to use that stored energy. If you take the emotions and the shame or guilt out of the equation, our bodies are simply following the instructions we are giving them! We simply keep telling our bodies that this is a time of plenty (by the way we eat) and so our bodies keep saying "well, OK then, I'll just tuck this energy away for later, in case I need it!"

The solution is really to let our bodies embark on a "planned fast" so to speak, a CONTROLLED fast-like scenario which the weight loss portion of our Take Shape For Life Program does BEAUTIFULLY, in a clinically-proven effective and SAFE way.
Our bodies then RESPOND to these new instructions, and if we can get over ourselves and simply follow the plan (not easy, but "simple") amidst the constant barrage of calories our culture exposes us to ever day, we can attain a healthy weight!
Sometimes we disparage the process (I know I can!), and fall into a deprivation mindset, feel like victims of our program, and feel sorry for ourselves. I am vowing to myself that WHEN I do this, I remind myself of how our ancestors got by with such limited choices during those cold, hard winters. Pickled vegetables (if they had access to them), jerky-type meats (if they had access to them), some cornbread and butter (if they had access to them) and WOW talk about lack of variety! I have it SO EASY compared to them. I am going to consider myself a "Pioneer in my Health" and simply get down to the business of doing the plan, and doing the work. How about you? What are your hopes and dreams for yourself? Let's do this together!

Message me TODAY to get your Healthy 2016 Transformation going! Or e-mail me at: mycoachstacy@gmail.com

Got questions? I can answer them, and if I can't I can find someone who CAN!

http://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/2015/04/29/what-was-life-like-200-years-ago/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_term=1534128&o_xid=65604&o_lid=65604&o_sch=Content+Marketing

January 1st AGAIN!

Friday, January 1, 2016

January 1st! Again!

Well, January 1st has done it again!  
It has arrived!  2016! 

So what am I going to DO with it?  A whole new YEAR with a whole new set of POSSIBILITIES!  

As I ponder this blank slate that time has provided me, I really do get excited, and a little bit retrospective on the previous year, 2015.  Although I didn't accomplish all I wanted to accomplish in 2015, the wonderful thing is that I can simply move forward, set my goals, and continue growing.

The questions I ask myself for the previous year are these:
What happened?
What did I miss?
What's next?

I do this NOT to beat myself up over the last year by going to to that place in my head which fosters piles of recrimination or regret.  No, it is merely to say "OK, so what can I START doing that I WASN'T doing in 2015?  

I've come up with an AWESOME list for myself, one that gets me jazzed, makes me feel hopeful, and one that stretches me in awesome ways.

1.  Focus TODAY, just TODAY, on my Healthy Habits.  
2.  Tomorrow, Rinse and Repeat.

What ARE these Habits of Health that I know WORK to create optimal health in myself?

It's not hard, and I don't have to go far to find them.  In fact, I've been familiarizing myself with them and practicing them to various degrees for 5 years now!  Some days, weeks, months, years I practice them more consistently than others.  This last year (2015) I got OUT of the habit of practicing my healthy habits.  THIS year I am focusing on practicing those healthy habits once again and firmly entrenching them in my day-to-day and hour-to-hour choices.

How I organize my day when I am practicing my Habits of Health is the following:

1.  I Wake up (always beneficial and highly recommended).
2.  Have breakfast, consisting of 1 Portion-Controlled Meal Replacement and 1 cup of coffee with 2 TBSP (real) half and half and 1 packet of splenda.
3.  While having breakfast I have my quiet time and read a few pages of Dr. A's Habits of Health Book.
4.  Do my morning correspondence (e-mails, facebook) while drinking 36 ounces of water with 1 Calorie-Burn Flavor infuser mixed in.
5.  Write a Journal or write a blog-entry, work on personal development, which can include Bible Study outside the home, Chamber of Commerce meetings, online courses in areas of interest to me (presently I am listening to podcasts on "Storytelling" and "Uncluttering your Life and Soul").
6.  Have my second Portion-Controlled Meal Replacement and shower and dress for the day. 
7.  Get my shoes on and get out the door for some walking, hiking, or running, followed by a 30 minute far-infrared sauna.
8.  Have my second Portion-Controlled Meal Replacement and shower and dress for the day.
9.  Go to the grocery store for the "daily veg".
10.  Prepare and eat a healthy "Lean and Green" lunch consisting of a fixed amount of protein and vegetables, while consuming 36 more ounces of water.
11. The afternoon consists of appointments, errands, housework, schoolwork, playing with my son, talking with my husband.
12. Portion-Controlled Meal Replacement at 3:00 pm.
13. Portion-Controlled Meal Replacement at 6:00 pm, and drink 36 more ounces of water.
14. Unplug from my computer & turn off the TV at 8:30 pm
15. Portion-Controlled Meal Replacement at 9:00 pm.
16. Bedtime, 9:30 pm.

This, in a nutshell, is my day if anyone was wondering.

I log my food, I wear my fitbit, I keep my goals clear in my head.   

Is It a Closet? Or is it a Mirror?

It's on.  Today I sized up my closet, and my closet sized up me.  Neither of us were extremely pleased with what we saw.  But that is about to CHANGE.  WHEN  you ask?  As soon as I finish typing this blog!

Today I had an epiphany.  An "Ah-Ha" moment.  When those moments of clarity break through into my brain I stop.  And I listen.  Here is what my clarity-moment made me realize:

My Closet is a Window into my Brain.  A Mirror of sorts.

Let me explain.

When I am not feeling great about my health, or when I feel like things are slipping with my healthy habits, I avoid my closet.  And when I say "avoid" I mean AVOID.  Clothes pile up on the floor instead of being hung up or folded and neatly placed on a shelf.  Shoes get thrown in (usually one at a time once I've located them in various places around the house).  My closet is, in a word, MAYHEM.

This last year, 2015, I have slipped in my healthy habits.  So you can imagine what a year of neglect looks like.  Just look at my closet.  Clutter.  Disorganization.  Recrimination.  Judgment.  Regret.......

OK maybe not all that other stuff, but it sure feels like all of that when I open the closet door.  That is IF I can clear off enough space on the other side of the floor near the door to actually fully OPEN the door.

Clothes that you can't fit into can do that, can't they?  We give them power over us, over our psyche, and they hang there unworn, or lay there on the floor when you last wore them months and months ago, and even LOOKING at something you can't fit in to sends electric jolts of despair and regret and shame coursing through your body.  Well, if it doesn't do that to you, it sure does it to me!

On the other hand, when I'm regularly practicing healthy habits, I LOVE my closet!  It is neat, tidy, orderly, and USED frequently.  The clothes hang there, as if smiling at me, saying "Choose me!  Choose me!  I fit!  I fit!", and it is a joy to select what I want to wear that day.

Now maybe I'm making too much of the whole closet as a window to my brain thing, but I don't think I am.  I believe our external environment is an extension of ourselves.  If I am cluttered in my brain, and if I am not taking care of myself or my health, that extends beyond the boundary of my epidermal layer of "me" (my skin).  When I am not nurturing myself, loving myself, and doing the things necessary to take care of myself and my health then everything and everyone around me suffers.  I lack the emotional energy to take care of my family, because I'm all-consumed with the roiling cluttered emotions of ME.  It is kind of self-centered in a NEGATIVE way.

Today I begin the process of getting back ME.  I'm on day three of my tune-up with my health, and today I can walk into my closet (figuratively...I think I will really need to start at the door and make a path first to really get IN the closet) with hope and joy, knowing that I AM taking care of myself.

My size 2-4 clothing which have been neglected for the past year will not stare me down in judgment, but if they could talk they would say "Hello!  Nice to see you!  Can't wait for you to wear me again, it will be SOON!"

And I'll smile, pick them up lovingly, and put them in their proper place.  By the end of the day TODAY, I WILL have a clean and beautiful closet again, which speaks hope and anticipation of the things to come.  Just like my mind.

Closet Before and After Pictures to come!

Now wish me luck....and focus...and determination....and perseverance....I'm going IN, with a little vintage "Collective Soul" playing on my new CD Player..."It's Simple"!

Rinse and Repeat!