Suffering from Seasonal Allergies?

Did you know Omega 3's are a natural way to fight against seasonal allergies?

It's true! If you suffer from seasonal allergies (like I am currently dealing with), up your dose of Omega 3's as a natural way of upping your body's defense. In addition to taking your Core Omega 3's (which you can get from me or your Beachbody coach), great food sources of Omega 3's include: raw nuts, cold water fish, flaxseeds, and grass-fed beef.

 

 

 

 

 

How to Pack a Healthy Lunch

It's that time of year again – teachers and students are heading back to school, fall is in the air, and we’re gearing up for some of our all-time favorite holidays! That also means that our days are getting shorter and we are BUSY – scrambling to get ready each day! While it may be easier to eat out at lunch or hand the kids lunch money, it’s not the best option for your health (or your wallet)!

Adequate nutrition is important at every stage in life, but it is essential to a child’s development. What you and your child eat for lunch sets the tone for how well you can think, perform, and feel as well as the energy you have throughout the day.

Keep it Balanced
Experts recommend including some lean protein along with carbohydrates to keep your body fueled throughout the day. When shopping at the grocery store for lunch items, purchase processed foods and prepackaged products sparingly. Those items are the easiest way to overload on carbohydrates, preservatives, sugar and sodium. Instead, try these options:

1. Lean Protein
Lean turkey meat, white chicken meat, and tuna are all great sources of lean protein. Vegetarian options include nuts and natural nut butters. Just be careful with portion control, as these tend to be higher in calories and fat, and avoid pairing them with sugar-filled jams and jellies.

2. Complex Carbohydrates
Complex carbohydrates keep your blood sugar at a stable level because they take longer to digest, which means that your energy levels won’t spike and drop. Skip the white bread and stick to whole grain or multi-grain breads and wraps.

3. Skip the Dessert – Pack Fruit!
Fruits contain natural fiber, which keeps your belly fuller longer (and an added bonus – they are sweet!) Instead of dessert, try packing a piece of whole fruit (for older children and adults) or sliced fruit for smaller children. Grapes, berries, kiwis, apples, bananas, oranges, cherries, peaches, and mangos are all great options. (Note: when toting whole fruits like oranges, I like to seal them in a small air-tight container so that the flavors of the fruits don’t permeate the rest of the items in my bag).

4. Need a Crunch? Replace Chips with Veggies
Vegetables not only add color to your lunchbox, they also add tons of vitamins and minerals! Easy go-to options are sliced carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, cauliflower, grape tomatoes, and broccoli. Instead of ranch dressing, add hummus for dipping.

5. Drink Water
Skip the vending machine – most of these beverages are high in processed sugar, calories, and artificial ingredients (yes, even diet soda is bad for you!) Stick to plain water to hydrate. For additional flavor, try adding fruit such as sliced strawberries, kiwis, oranges, lemons, limes, or blueberries. You can even freeze them in ice cube trays for fun, frozen, colorful drinks!

If you HAVE to have juice, try and purchase 100 percent fruit juice boxes (anything less than 100% means the rest is sugar!) Pop them in the freezer the night before and not only will they stay cold, but they’ll double as a way to keep the other items in your lunch bag cold until lunchtime.

6. Snack Time
Snacks are so important for those times between meals and when hunger strikes in the afternoon. Instead of hitting the vending machine or office snack drawer, pack an extra snack or two to get through the day. Some of my favorite snacks include mixed nuts, apple slices with natural nut butter, organic yogurt, grapes, and healthy snack bars (such as Larabars, which only have a few all-natural ingredients, Quest Bars, or P90X Protein Bars)

One Last Trick
When packing a salad, I place the salad in a larger container and the dressing in a smaller container. At lunchtime, I pour the dressing into the larger container, seal tightly, and shake. This keeps my salad from getting soggy and evenly distributes the dressing!

Bible Verse of the Week

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

Don't give into the cliché saying of "just follow your heart, go wherever your heart leads you." YOU must instruct your heart and inform it with TRUTH... God's truth! Don't let an uninformed or misunderstood heart guide you... it'll lead you to sin most every time!

Why Your Scale Won't Budge

 

I often get this question: "Rachel - I workout every day, I'm eating healthy, why haven't I lost a single pound?" My first response... "how are your measurements?"

You've probably heard that muscle weighs more than fat, but I think that a picture speaks volumes. This is a picture of muscle compared to fat - see how much tighter, smaller, and leaner the muscle is?


 

The same works with your body! That's why measurements are a much better indicator of where you are getting with your fitness - they help make sure that you are losing inches, getting smaller, and getting tighter.  So the scale is fine, it can be part of how you track your progress, but you've GOT to be measuring those inches as well!

If your scale isn't budging AND your measurements aren't changing, then here are a few things to check.

#1 - You're Eating Too Many Bad Calories.
Not all calories are created equal. Yes, there is some truth to calories in, calories out, but the TYPE of calories you eat also matters. 150 calories of ice cream is going to affect your body very differently than 150 calories of salad. It's just the truth.

Did you know diet foods can also be bad for you? I know it's tempting to fall into the trap of purchasing foods that claim to help dieters, but many of these 'diet' foods have been highly processed and contain potentially harmful chemicals and artificial sweeteners that can actually confuse your hormones and promote fat storage. Processed carbs do not belong in a fat loss diet. Blood sugar and insulin levels respond the same way to all processed carbs, whether you're eating Special K or a Twinkie!

The best diet strategy is to stick with real, fresh, whole foods and steer clear of anything fake or processed.

#2 - You're Not Getting Enough Sleep
Sleep patterns have a significant impact on  your hormone levels, and hormones are a big factor when it comes to losing fat. Be sure to get a full eight hours of sleep at night to boost your fitness results.

#3 - You're Doing Too Much Cardio
Yes, cardio is good. Yes, you need to be doing it. But, if you're doing hours of steady-state cardio, it's going to end up working against your fat-loss efforts. Too much cardio promotes the release of stress hormones in your body, which counteracts your ability to lose fat. Contact me about designing your ideal exercise routine for maximum fat loss.

#4 - You're Not Eating Enough Calories
Be careful with this one, as it only happens in cases of severe calorie restriction. When you're trying to drop a few pounds by eating next to nothing, it actually counteracts your efforts. There is a base number of calories that your body needs to function, and when it doesn't get these calories, it can actually begin storing the food you are eating as fat! If you are restricting your calories and aren't seeing results, check with your doctor or nutritionist to make sure you are eating enough.

#5 - You Have an Undiagnosed Medical Condition
If you are eating like a saint (you've checked your portions) and are working out like a champ (your heart rate is up) and you still aren't seeing any results, you may have an undiagnosed medical condition (such as hypothyroidism, Cushing's syndrome, PCOS, etc).  Some medications can also cause weight gain. If you know you're doing everything you possibly can and you still aren't seeing results, it's probably time to schedule an appointment with a medical professional.

No matter where you are in your fitness journey, I'm here to help you reach your fitness and fat loss goals. Email me today to get started on a fitness program that will quickly and permanently transform your body.

Don't wait another week, another day, or even another hour to take action. I'm here now, and I'm ready and excited to see you through your goals. Let's do this!

Bible Verse of the Week

Jeremiah 29:11 "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

In this verse, Jeremiah is writing to a group of people in captivity to let them know that although they’re not where they would have expected and not where they would have asked God to place them, God has not forgotten them. He still has a plan for their lives. Even though He may not remove you from an uncomfortable situation immediately, He has a perfect plan! Trusting His plan this week.

5 Rules for Reading Food Labels

Reading the labels on foods today can be confusing! Not only is there information about serving sizes, calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins, but then many labels come with a host of other ingredients (half of which there’s a good chance that you can’t even pronounce)!

So how are you supposed to know what is a healthy choice and what isn't when there are over 50 different names for MSG (Monosodium Glutamate, i.e. artificial flavoring) alone!  Reading ingredient labels can begin to discourage a person who is trying to make a healthy change, so I'm going to make it easy for you!
 
#1 - Focus on food WITHOUT labels.
Think produce! Clean eating means that the majority of the food you consume should not even have a label. If you are filling up a majority of your plate each meal with protein, veggies, and fruits, then there shouldn’t be much room for other ingredients! This will give you a peace of mind knowing that you have given your body the nutrients it needs in their most original and complete form.

Have you heard of Local Harvest? It's a website that lists local farmer's markets all over the country!  You can enter your zipcode to find the one closest to you. If you don't have anything local, Bountiful Baskets is a program that is in most states where you can purchase a basket full of local produce for just $15/week! 
 
#2 - When it comes to ingredients, less is more
More ingredients = More JUNK.
 
And, if the first ingredient is sugar...WALK AWAY! (Note: there are TONS of names for added sugars on food labels – corn syrup, lactose, maltose, nectars, sucrose, dextrose, fructose, and HFCS are just a few…)

There are a TON of food additives that are unrecognizable by our bodies. Check out this extensive list of food additives that you will see on food labels. If you don't recognize ingredients you can check this list to see if it is a food additive and what purpose it serves.
Food Additive List

#3 - Steer clear of gimmicks... "FREE" is not always better!
In general, avoid anything that has a health claim on the packaging. It's bad news!  I recommend staying away from anything that says "fat free", "sugar free", "gluten free" - these labels mean that something artificial has been added to replace that ingredient. "Fat free" usually means it is higher in sugar, while "sugar free" usually means it is higher in fat. Get the picture? These labels don't make the food healthier! Additionally, did you know that claims such as “natural”, “pure” and “additive-free” are not required to be approved by the FDA?

#4 - You're not getting the whole truth.
Recognize that the FDA doesn't require food corporations to be 100% accurate on their labels. This means that manufacturers can change around the serving size so that they can omit certain things. (For example, while one serving might contain <0.5g Trans Fat, this the label would say 0 Trans Fats, 10 servings might really contain 4g of Trans Fats.)  So, you never actually know what is in the food you are eating or what they have added without adding it to the label. And yes, this probably means that it has more calories than what it says - yikes! This is why it is best to buy foods without a label, such as fruits, vegetables, and meats.

#5 - Serving size matters
There are plenty of small bags (and even small bottles of soda) that contain multiple servings. If you're getting double the calories than what you think you are getting, they WILL add up quickly and you may be left wondering where the extra pounds came from.

Bell's Palsy A Blessing?

The Monday after our daughter’s birth was supposed to be a happy day. She was finally going to be released from the hospital. My husband’s mom and sister would be staying with us for a week, and we were going to start learning our new normal as a family of three.

We were released from the hospital that morning, and as soon as we got home, I made a Shakeology drink and headed to the living room to eat and chat with his mom while my husband went into work for the afternoon. While I was drinking my shake, I noticed that my tongue was kind of numb and I was having difficulty speaking. I assumed it was because of how cold the shake was, and just kept sipping away.

A few hours later, my contacts were feeling really dry. When I walked into the bathroom to take them out, I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t blink my right eye. In fact, the entire right side of my face was paralyzed. It was just after 4:30 pm, and I immediately called my doctor. I thought I might be having a reaction to the pain medicine they had given me. The doctor sent me to the emergency room… I called my husband and told him to meet us there.

As we were driving to the emergency room, I had a million things going through my head… the most important being what to do with my daughter. At 5 days old, there was no way I was going to bring her into the hospital and expose her to who-knows-what kind of disease! My mother-in-law and sister-in-law decided to wait in the car with the baby while we went in.

The emergency room was awful. Literally, the worst experience of my entire life. For the next five hours, I was separated from my nursing infant. They wouldn’t let me leave to go nurse her and told me to just bring her in – um, no!

I was fortunate to not have to wait in the waiting room – they led me to my room pretty quickly. They put a bunch of stickers on my chest and connected me to a heart monitor. The doctor came in and told me that he thought I had Bell’s Palsy, and that they wanted to do a scan of my head. A few minutes later, a couple of VERY young-looking staff came in to try and hook me up to an IV and draw my blood.  NOT A CHANCE, I told them… NOT A CHANCE. They looked at me, completely bewildered, and left the room. (Remember I’m 5-days post-partum with LOTS of hormones!)

Around that time, we realized that both of our cell phones were dying, so my husband ran and grabbed his sister’s phone and plugged his into the car. The waiting was excruciating, because each minute of waiting meant a minute away from my daughter, and I knew she was getting hungry with nothing to eat. We decided to call our family doctor. He was SO helpful! He told us we could just go home and come see him tomorrow if we needed to get out of there.

Right as we were about to leave, they came to get me for the scan. My husband and his mom decided to take our daughter home, while his sister waited with me. When we got to the scanning area, the nurse wheeled my bed into a line of 8 or 9 people. I called my husband and updated him, and he said “just leave”. So I got up, out of the bed, and began walking down the hall. I saw a nurse and asked her what I needed to do to leave – that I needed to get home to my infant and didn’t have time to wait around for the scan. She thought I was nuts and moved me to the front of the line!

After the scan, I headed back to the original room and waited for the results. 30 minutes later, it was confirmed that I had Bell’s Palsy (and not a stroke)! The doctor wrote out a prescription and told me that he wasn’t sure I would be able to nurse while taking it. We again called our family friend and he said “don’t do anything – just come in to see me tomorrow. I will work with your OB, and we will find a solution that works so that you can continue to nurse your baby.” Those words were music to my ears!

My husband’s sister drove me home, where I immediately scrubbed down, changed into some fresh clothes, and nursed my daughter!

The next day, we went to our family doctor and found a prescription that would allow me to continue nursing. For the first 10 days, I would have to wait 4 hours after taking the medication to nurse, so I pumped in the morning, then took the medicine and gave her a bottle while I pumped and dumped. It was exhausting, but SO worth it!

While the Bell’s Palsy was something I wouldn’t wish on anyone (I couldn’t blink my eye, so I had to fill it with drops every 20-minutes. I couldn’t smile, so there are no pictures of me with my daughter that month. I couldn’t drink with a cup, because it spilled out the right side of my mouth. I had to hold my mouth closed to brush my teeth and use mouthwash), it actually drew me SO close to the LORD.

I remember sitting in my daughter’s room most nights during those four weeks and just bawling, calling on the Lord to please heal me… asking him to make me strong, and to lift this burden. I know my burden was light compared to most people’s, but I was exhausted and defeated. But here’s the cool part. I depended completely on God, and He drew me so close to Him. I could literally feel him comforting me while I would cry and cry and weep. I knew that He would take away my pain. And while I didn’t know when or if He would heal me (it can take 3 weeks or 3 months or 3 years or never to heal from Bell’s Palsy – they don’t know exactly what causes it and every case is different) – I just trusted that whatever the reason I was going through this, I would glorify Him.

I can’t tell you how many people reached out to me during that time to let me know that they had experienced the same thing, or that they knew someone who had. Everyone was SO generous with us, and we are so very grateful to all of our friends and family, as well as to the doctors.

And while I dramatize and complain about how awful my hospital experience was, I am so very thankful to the doctors who did their best to get me out of there quickly, and to the nurse who helped move me up the line, and to God, the Great Physician, for giving them wisdom to know what to do.  And I’m also SO very thankful for an amazing mother-in-law and sister-in-law who loved on us and held our baby and ministered to us during a very difficult season! I honestly don’t know what we would have done without them!

Bible Verse of the Week

1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV) "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

We were designed for a greater purpose - to glorify God in all that we do - with our work, with our free time, with our speech, with our thoughts, with our bodies, with everything!

Baby Girl's Birth Story... The Hospital

The night before the appointment, my parents arrived in town. I was really excited to have them here. The instructions were this: wash my body with some sort of icky-smelling soap stuff, and nothing to eat or drink after midnight. For someone who was getting up a few times a night, that was a tall order – I drink a LOT of water!

That night, I stayed up until midnight – getting ready, and guzzling water. I woke up the next morning at 4:00 am (we had to be at the hospital by 5:00 am for my 7:00 am surgery) and again bathed with the icky soap and headed to the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital, we found out that a woman with twins had gone into labor and was also going to need a c-section… she was going to be put before me and we were going to have to wait until 9 am to have our baby. I was SO sad… and VERY thirsty! They went ahead and led me back to my room to start the IV.

I should mention here that my two biggest fears about having a c-section had nothing to do with the actual surgery – they were getting the IV and getting a cathedar. I’d never had either of those before and had always heard nightmares. And now I’ll take a minute and sing the praises of the hospital nurse. Those two things could not have gone more smoothly. And they had me take an alka-seltzer before the surgery. Again, something I’ve never had, but I was so thirsty that the little Dixie cup of water they handed me couldn’t have been more refreshing!

Well, I ended up getting to go ahead with the surgery at 7am as planned, so they went ahead and wheeled me back. The spinal was also not the most fun part, especially because they had to do mine twice (I have scoliosis and the original time didn’t take!)

The surgery itself was really short – within minutes, they had pulled my baby girl out and were starting to stitch me up. I don’t remember a whole lot about it, other than that my husband was holding my hand, and I could fell a LOT of pressure when they were pulling her out. My husband kept wanting to stand up and take pictures of it, and I kept telling him that if he did, and he passed out, I would never forgive him! He actually ended up taking a few pictures of it on his cell phone, and while they are gross and disturbing, I’m actually kind of glad he did!

My most precious memory of that morning was when they pulled her out. For those of you who know me – I am not a crier. I didn’t cry in Bambi, I didn’t cry in the Notebook, and I don’t really cry much at home. Well, hearing my beautiful baby girl for the first time, and having my husband bring her over and let me kiss her on the forehead was probably one of the sweetest moments I have ever experienced. And I was weepy!

Since I didn’t get to have the birth experience I had always hoped for, nursing became a critical focus of mine. I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of skin-to-skin time with my baby and wanted to be with her immediately!

I was so blessed that I was able to do that – after they closed me up, I went into recovery for a little while, and then was able to spend some sweet time with my baby girl.

The rest of the morning was a complete blur. I was in-and-out of sleep from the medicine they gave me, and don’t remember much at all. My father-in-law was there and between he and my mom, we have more pictures than anyone could ever need!

A few funny things that happened that morning were:

-         My husband got to meet the husband of the woman who was having the twins. They had decided on such unique names for their children that he couldn’t remember how to spell them and had to look it up in his cell phone!

-         My husband decided to take a picture of one of the twins and send it to his cousin, pretending it was our baby (the twins were black babies). His cousin didn’t realize the joke and forwarded the picture on to the family!

-          When we got to the room, my mom was looking out the window to see what kind of view we had. She saw that there were some trees and a black bench. Apparently, I said “I’ve ALWAYS wanted a room with a black bench”… yeah, that was the meds talking!

-          Another time, my mom said that she was talking to my dad and my father-in-law about something, and in a completely unrelated fit, I yelled out “her name is E--- G--- – E--- G---!” Um, yeah, no idea what that was about!

Our first family photo!

 

Baby Girl's Birth Story... Before the Birth

First, let me apologize for being MIA for a while... for those of you who don't already know - we had our baby girl!!!

 

It’s taken me a long time to sit down and actually write out my birth story. At first, it was out of embarrassment… my birth plan did NOT go as expected. Then it was out of exhaustion (who knew that life with a newborn really WAS difficult work), and then, I just got busy. But now, it’s 4:00 am, I can’t sleep, and I’ve got all the time in the world to write… so here goes…

Our baby girl was due on July 1, and I just knew that I was going to have an all-natural birth. No epidural unless it was absolutely necessary… I’d wait at home until the contractions were just too close together and then head to the hospital. I’d practice my breathing and do whatever it took. Ha.

At my 36-week appointment, we did a final ultra-sound and my doctor said that our baby girl was already estimating to weigh over 8 pounds. He said that because of my size and because of the history of required cesarean in my family, there was a good chance that I would end up needing to have a c-section. He asked if I wanted to go ahead and schedule it. My thoughts: NOT A CHANCE. My amniotic fluid levels were also very high… just 0.5 units away from what is considered too high, so the doctor asked me to come back in one week to check on them.

At the next appointment, my amniotic fluid levels were still holding high, and the baby was weighing even more, with no signs of getting close to labor (the baby hadn’t dropped, I wasn’t dilated, nothing)… the doctor again said that he would be more than happy to help me try and have a natural birth, but that it wasn’t going to be likely. I listened as he explained that while he could help me dilate and prepare my body as much as possible to push out a baby, it was going to be up to me to push the baby through the birth canal – and that the bigger the baby got, the more difficult that would become.

My husband and I went home and started praying about it. I had always had my perfect plan of what my perfect delivery situation would be. That did NOT include surgery! We prayed for wisdom for both us and for the doctor… we read the statistics of c-sections in our state (they are one of the highest of any state), and we read the benefits and dangers of the procedure. We asked God to show us the right thing to do… and then we went ahead and set a date. This date was the date that we would have surgery IF our baby didn’t arrive before then. If the concern had just been a baby that was too big, I probably wouldn’t have set the date, but because of the high amniotic fluid levels and because of the history of required c-section in family, we did.

Originally, I considered being induced.  But after reading the statistics on inductions that occur prior to the body showing any signs of preparedness for labor, I opted against it. The absolute worst childbirth scenario is laboring for hours to end up in an emergency c-section. It’s really hard on the body and on the baby.

So for the days leading up to the final appointment, I did everything I could to have that baby – I ate every food known to induce labor – the spicy foods, the salty foods, the unusual foods. I walked. I tried massage therapy. Nothing worked.  That Tuesday, I went back in for a final appointment before the surgery. The baby was measuring just over 9 pounds. I thought to myself “ok – If I have the surgery and the baby weighs more than 9 pounds, then I’ll know I did the right thing, but if the baby weighs less than 9 pounds, I’ll always wonder.

So at exactly 38 weeks, we went to the hospital and delivered our beautiful and healthy baby girl… all 9 pounds, 3 ounces of her!

 

This picture was taken the night before she was born!