Paleo Schmaleo

Well, this past week I intended to try out the Paleo diet. Needless to say, I could not continue through the whole week sticking to a strict Paleo diet. Don't get me wrong, I love salads and can eat a salad every single day. What I found to be difficult was not eating whole grains and legumes. As I've said previously, I am vegetarian. Avoiding those things that provide protein in my diet was quite challenging. I gave it the good 'ole college try but I need to have my whole grains and beans. So what can I say....the Paleo lifestyle is not for everyone. Though I could not see myself becoming completely Paleo I can see adapting some aspects of this lifestyle into my everyday life. Have you tried the Paleo diet? If so, please tell me how things went for you.

Heres2ahealthyu!

Loving Kindness and Mental Workouts

My experience with the Loving Kindness exercise was pleasant. It was truly relaxing and I began to doze off while listening to it. I really enjoy the portion when we are supposed to aim our thoughts at someone else who is in a less than ideal situation. People can tend to be so self-absorbed that we forget there are so many more people in the world who are going through rough times. This exercise has actually encouraged me to not only think about others who are less fortunate than I am but to continue to do as much as I can for others. I do volunteer my time but I wouldn't mind volunteering a bit more. I would recommend this to others, especially others that seem to be extremely self-absorbed and only concerned with what is going on in their own lives. While this may not change them instantly, at least it will get them to think about someone else, if only for a few minutes.

 I believe a mental workout is when you focus on your mind and thoughts and concentrate on something specific as to stop the mind from running all over the place. I also look at a mental workout as doing something, anything that involves clear and focused thinking. Mental workouts can involve doing puzzles, brain teasers, meditation, visualization, etc. The benefits of a mental workout are making the connections between the psychological, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of our entire body and a better level of quality insight. Mental workouts make the mind stronger, thus creating stability within the entire body. Mental workouts will help me increase my own mental stability. I believe a strong mind makes it better for a person to withstand those things that are mentally challenging. I also believe with a strong mind comes will power and strength in enduring challenging situations involving others outside of yourself and allow you the capacity to not only help yourself, but help others as well.

Sherese

Self-Reflection

Well, if I had to rate myself on my physical well-being, my spiritual well-being, and my psychological well-being I would do so as the following:

My physical well-being would be about an 8. I say an 8 because there is always room for improvement. I've done some great things with my physical well-being but there is so much more I want to do and explore. I've played it safe so far, but I want so bad to try cross-fit. There is always something more one can do to improve their physical well-being.

My spiritual well-being would be about an 8. I say this because I am very spiritually grounded and when things seem to go bad, I always turn to prayer and my spiritual strength to pull me through whatever the situation is. I truly believe that there is a power out there greater than myself and though I can't see it, I can feel it around me at all times. I will say that I want to get more involved in church. I used to be one of those who watched church service from home every Sunday, especially while helping my mom take care of my grandmother but now I believe it is time I get back to going on a regular basis. My grandma would be so pleased.

My psychological well-being would be about a 7. I say this because at the age of 37 I believe I have surpassed those moments where I feel like I'm losing my mind over another person and what they are doing (or not doing). I believe I am in a place where I can do self-reflection and pinpoint those things that have brought me to a not so great space and bring myself out of it. I believe your psychological well-being has to be intact in order to be self-reflective. I have not yet reached a point where my career well-being is at a 10 because I am in the process of gaining my degree in the field that I want to work in for the rest of my life. The closer I get to reaching that goal, the higher I will rate my psychological well-being. I want to become a bit more social than I am right now. Since your social well-being is a part of your overall psychological well-being, getting out there in the world and becoming more social will only help me in my career goals in the health and wellness field.

The goals I have set for myself are as follows:
Physical well-being: Lose these last 10-15 pounds
Spiritual well-being: Becoming more familiar with The Bible
Psychological well-being: Becoming more socially comfortable for my career

The activities or exercises I can implement in my life to assist in moving towards each goal are as follows:
Physical well-being: Join cross fit
Spiritual well-being: Go to church every Sunday morning
Psychological well-being: Gaining my certification in personal training which would get me more comfortable with being more social

After listening to the relaxation exercise "Crime of the Century" I can say that my level of calm was no more than it was when I started the exercise. I say this because I was so focused on the name of the exercise that I had determined in my mind that there was going to be great excitement in this exercise, event though I knew it was a relaxation exercise. I thought, by chance, that due to the excitement I was expecting, there was going to be an exercise to bring the mind and body back down to calm. What I ended up doing instead was visualizing things that were spoken about in the exercise like seeing my heart pump blood and beat at a normal rate, the orange that I could see through that space that was right below my belly button. I imagined seeing the color orange and smelling an orange as well. This would probably serve as a way to give myself energy more than relax. Overall, I thought it was a decent exercise. The background music was very relaxing as well as the voice on the exercise.

Paleo, Anyone?

 I have been hearing so much about the Paleo way of eating and it has piqued my interest quite a bit. So, the first thing I had to do was some research into exactly what is involved in the Paleo lifestyle. I know there are so many books out there about the Paleo lifestyle but my research needed to be immediate. The first thing I noticed is that it has been reported to eliminate bloating, clear up acne, eradicate seasonal allergies, stop migraines, and last but certainly not the lease attractive benefit of them all, helps the body to shed a few pounds. Hunger hormone levels should become more stable and balanced and blood sugar should become balanced as well. Sounds good so far, right? Then comes the “ta-da” that I was not looking forward to seeing; no grains, legumes, dairy, and sugar. Here’s where I take a step back because I live on grains, legumes, and some dairy, not so much sugar. I am vegetarian so I do not eat any meat source of any kind. I do, however, love the vegetable, fruit, seafood, egg, nut, seeds, fats, and oils portion of the Paleo lifestyle. Ok, now I’m interested again. I don’t want to turn anyone against trying this diet, nor am I trying to convince anyone else to try it. I merely want to look at the pros and cons of trying it. The easiest way to start this lifestyle change is to rid your kitchen of all those foods the Paleo diet says you should rid your diet of completely. I’m more of an “ease my way into it” kind of person, so I will eliminate one food group per week until I have eliminated them all. Out goes the normal portions per plate of half veggies, one quarter each of protein and whole grains, in comes the palm-sized portion of protein, dollop of fat, and the rest of the plate choke full of veggies. I can live with this because I’m not a meat eater anyway. As far as the fat, I believe the foods I eat throughout the day would incorporate enough fat (avocado, nuts), plus, I have a teaspoon of coconut oil every morning. Meat eaters rejoice! Pasture-fed meats and poultry are great choices for the Paleo diet, but wild meats such as elk, boar, and bison are ideal choices. Fresh fruit can usually stifle a sugar craving for me.

Want to read the article, click http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/beginners-guide-paleo-diet-150900050.html

So with all of that being said, I will give the Paleo diet a try because it closely resembles the way I eat already. I just now have to eliminate the grains and legumes portions of my meals. So long to my oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, couscous, whole grain pasta, and my beloved black beans! Next time you hear from me I will be grain and legume free (at least for a few days) and hopefully feeling much more energetic. Wish me luck!

Journey On

Ok, so after listening to Journey On I really would like to just go to sleep. For me, the combination of the music, the voice, and even the white noise were all very relaxing to me. I could easily visualize the flow of blood moving from my core to the other parts of my body as instructed by the guide. This is why I encourage everyone to try guided meditation and visualization because if you are open and receptive to it, your level of relaxation in both the mind and body can increase as your stress decreases. I can't really say that I am more relaxed with a male guide versus a female guide because all of the guided meditation I've listened to has been equally relaxing for me. Quite honestly, I think if I used 15 minutes of my lunch time each day to listen to a guided meditation the second half of my day would be so much more relaxing. As I wipe the sleep out of my eyes and cover my yawns, I can definitely say that I am ready to journey on.......right to bed!

Hi everyone! My name is Sherese and I am all about health and wellness. I must say I have always been drawn to wellness and health but it was by chance I happened to turn on the television and right before my eyes was a small child (I believe he was just 2 years of age). I know there is nothing unusual about seeing a small child on a television program. In this case, this small child weighed 72 pounds and was morbidly obese and had asthma, diabetes, and high blood pressure. This happened to be on the Maury Povich show and the topic of discussion for the day was overweight kids. To say that I was shocked to the point of my jaw dropping is an understatement. I could not believe that this toddler weighed as much as he did and his mother was proud. She bragged about feeding him cakes, cookies, and candy whenever he wanted it. His typical dinner was something like 4 pieces of chicken, 4 pieces of bread, a bowl of macaroni and cheese, and a gallon of chocolate milk. It was at that very moment of hearing his mother brag about just how much this 2 year old could "put away" in one sitting that I decided that I wanted to help children who, like this toddler, had issues with medical conditions caused by obesity. In order for me to help others, I have to help myself as well. Through this blog, I will detail my challenges with weight issues as well as my progress. I believe in order to help others, I have to live my ultimate healthy life. Won't you join me?