Summer Day 1

Workout - Check

Yes, I did get out of bed. The workout was great. A little lonely since I don't have a partner but the birds were in full song this morning which made it just fine. I did 45 sec repetitions of 12 different exercises on the TRX. My heart rate average was 128 bpm. By the end my hamstrings and triceps were on fire. A good start. I am doing the 30 minute full body express workout. I think I will do this workout for a couple of weeks. The only down point was that my heart rate was only in my zone of 120bpm-140bpm for 10 minutes. I am trying to keep my heart rate in that zone for 25 min. so I will have to work on my transitions to keep my heart rate up. What did you do today?

Swimming Lessons - Check, Check , Flop

1st day of Summer break! Of course we started it off with a splash. Yes swimming lessons started today. Petunia and Peanut were back to pool with their fins on.

Farmer on the other hand really took me by surprise. He wanted nothing to do with the swimming lessons. He got in the pool right away but took a minute to evaluate what was going on and quickly changed his mind. I saw him start to rub his eyes and was soon adding tear drops to the pool. He spent the rest of his class wrapped in a towel sitting on the chair next to me. How could this be? My little fish has turned into a sand crab. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.?.

Science Experiment - Check - hopefully not a flop.

Mondays is our science experiment day. We are going to do some kind of science project every Monday. We started off making rock candy. Hopefully it works out. If not it is pretty anyways. Rock candy is made by boiling water and adding sugar then you tie a cotton string onto a pencil and put in the sugar water. We colored ours to make it pretty. This has to set for 3-10 days while crystals form on the string. What a great thing to make with sugar.

Sugar is not one of my favorite things in the world so it is great to use as a science project. We are trying really hard in our family to limit our consumption of white sugar. I just recently finished the book "Sweet Death" by Dr. Hugo Rodier. I learned a lot about sugar and how our bodies react to the white stuff. Not Good. In our society it is almost impossible to get away from it. You don't even have to buy candy. Candy is always given out freely at the store, bank, library, school, piano, church and from old people. Grandparents used to say, " Eat your vegetables." Now they say, "Do you want a sucker?" Our Grandparents have definitely gotten better at this since some of their grand kids don't eat candy.

Nellie's kids have not been eating candy for 1 1/2 years. Amazing. Her kids have been a great example to many of their friends and teachers. Our kids have decided to take the challenge. We have decided to give them a dollar every Sunday if they have not eaten any candy during the week. At the end of the month we double their money. Nellie has been doing this but doubles their money at the end of the year. Forced savings. Smart.

Petunia and Peanut have not been eating candy for over 1 month now. I am so proud of them. The girls have given away their candy or have asked for stickers or pencils instead. Petunia got a Rubik's cube from her piano teacher instead of candy. I think she came out ahead. This was a hard month as it was the end of school and there were many parties with lots of candy. One of Petunia's friends came over today and gave her two flower clips for her hair because he gave everyone in their class candy on the last day but Petunia.

We are not depriving our kids. This is a decision they have made. They can choose to have candy whenever they wish. What am I going to choose to give up for a dollar? hmmm. What are you going to choose?

The Foolish Man

What made the foolish man foolish? Was he foolish because he knew building on the sand would make his home unstable and eventually washes away but decided to build on the sand anyways because it was easier and cheaper? Or was he foolish because he didn’t know? Did he not do his research and find out the best way and place to build a home? Any way you look at it he is foolish.

This is what knowledge can do to you. Either you will be the foolish man or become the wise man. The past 3 years I have been studying about alternative health and nutrition. I have read many books and I have learned much. I have acquired knowledge. No, I don’t believe everything I read or hear. But when something rings true in my heart, I have pangs of anxiety that come along with my new found knowledge. What I choose to do with that new knowledge will make me the foolish man or the wise man.

Sometimes I wish I hadn’t learned something because I don’t want to change my life or alter some life long habit. But now that I have learned better, if I don’t change I am the foolish man. If I hadn’t researched and acquired the new knowledge then I am also the foolish man.

Changing life long nutritional habits can be very difficult. When I hear something that makes me question my eating habits, I decide to research. The more I research and learn the more likely I am going to want to change my old ways. True knowledge can be a powerful motivator. It can help you do things that you never thought was possible. When you get correct information most likely you will decide to be the wise man and change your life.

The other powerful motivator is my family. When I learn something, I want to share it with them. I want them to live long and healthy lives. But at that end, I cannot tell them to change their lives unless I am willing to do it myself. The following story illustrates my point perfectly.

A mother took her child to Ghandi, to help her child stop eating refined sugar. Ghandi thought for a moment: “Bring your child back, tomorrow.” The puzzled mother did so, at which time Ghandi said to the child: “Stop eating candy.” The mother then asked: “Why didn’t you tell him that yesterday?” Ghandi replied: “Yesterday, I was eating candy myself.”

I hope I can be the wise man. I hope I can gain enough self respect, control and determination to be the wise man.

I am a Flexitarian

I have had the most liberating idea come to me. This new found concept has brought loads of freedom into my so called healthy lifestyle. I came upon this fascinating word yesterday as I was reading one of my favorite blogs. It really made me laugh as I pondered it's meaning. I also have said I don't like to have a label put on me but this one fits me perfectly and it makes me feel so wonderful. Please don't take me too seriously.



According to Wikipedia:



Flexitarianism -is a semi-vegetarian diet focusing on vegetarian food with occasional meat consumption. A self-described flexitarian seeks to decrease meat consumption without eliminating it entirely from his or her diet. There are no guidelines for how much or how little meat one must eat before being classified a flexitarian. [1]


Mr. Smiley and I started changing our diets about 3 years ago. We have slowly made changes for the good and to make a long story short, we even tried tofu this past week and it wasn't bad. Changing the way we eat hasn't been a painful road for us. A word of warning though, I must tell you that once you decide to take this path in life, food as you know it will never be the same.



We now love to eat really good "real food". We try to eat whole grains, veggies, fruits, and a little meat. We try to limit our consumption of white flour, white sugar, food colorings, nitrates, nitrites, pork and many other unmentionables. Eating out and finding really good food at a restaurant is getting more difficult and we increasingly find ourselves enjoying our own food at home.



Sunday night on our long drive home we decided that we would try to eat meat less than what we have been and see how that would go. Then I came upon this great word - flexitarianism- What a relief. With no guidelines to how much or how little meat I must eat to be classified as a flexitarian, I believe I can always be classified as such and never disappoint or not fit into this category.



In fact, in 2003, the American Dialect Society voted flexitarian as the year's most useful word and defined it as "a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat".[2]

I think that a flexitarian can also eat as much or as little white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, trans or saturated fats and any other of those nasty chemicals we decide to put into our bodies and call food. I think flexitarianism covers most of the basics.



When you decide to try to be healthy or eat healthier than you have before, you get all sorts of misconceptions generated by others on your behalf. I once had a visiting teacher bring me brownies to the door and tell me she knew I would never eat them but that I could give them to my kids to enjoy. Not to mention brownies are the most wonderful food ever invented. Now, I don't have to fake it anymore. I will simply reply, "I am a flexitarian." and go on ahead and eat those brownies and not feel one bit of guilt.



I have given numerous nutrition seminars and people get this total false idea about me. I have never mentioned that I am a vegetarian or even pretended as such but I have had many ladies ask me how I survive on eating salads. No, I am not the sugar Nazi as some have suggested. I actually have no will power, which is why I rarely buy candy, cookies, or even make them very often because all I would do all day is eat them. We just try to eat healthy and once in a while we do eat pork, white sugar and french fries.. "I am a flexitarian!"



I try my best to feed my kids nutritious foods. I try to take my vitamins everyday. I try to drink filtered water and try not to use the microwave everyday. But, I am human. I am a mom. I have kids that don't like carrots and squash all of the time. "I am a FLEXITARIAN!!!"