Today is the last day of the Indian Summer we have been having. I will be spending it outside with my children. I love the Fall with the changing leaves and crisp cool air. It is always such a welcome relief from the heat of the summer. The next three months are filled with the best holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

There will be no worrying about diets and body issues today. Just having a great day with my family is all that's important.

I hope you have a great day with your family too!

Blessings,

Christy

Day 1-Success

Well, Day 1 went better than expected. I weighed in at 133.5 (I'm 5'5"). I started the day with two big glasses of water. I had about 24 oz green juice at 11:00 then worked out at the gym. I did have a salad this evening, so no juice fast for me this time. :( I do feel lighter and will have some herbal tea soon. I will probably make the tea with nettles and dandelion and maybe some chamomile. Yum!

As far as organizing goes, well, not so much today. I did stay up late last night getting my kitchen organized and super clean so I will work on something else tonight.

This isn't easy, especially when you have other responsibilities. Being a mom can be demanding but we need to love ourselves and take care of ourselves so that we have something to give to our family. Our children want parents that are happy and healthy. That's always my goal.

Blessings,
Christy

Getting With The Program........

Okay. I"m not happy. Don't get me wrong. I 'm grateful for all that I have. A great husband, amazing children, a nice home with a fantastic view............What I'm talking about is my ass. I don't like it. It's Too big or better yet it's not in the shape I would like it to be. Why? I ask myself.

I'm realistic about this butt thing. I mean, I'm 38, have FIVE kids, and have limited time to myself.  I eat 80% raw, sometimes more. It's what I eat the other percentage of time that's getting me. Lots of sugar, too many calories, and not enough cardio lately.

I would like to lose about 7 pounds and get the backside a little tighter  (okay, a lot tighter). I also want to feel lighter and more energetic. I need some accountability though. So that's where you Mr. blog comes in. I am officially (starting tomorrow) gettin with the program! I need to detoxify, clean up my food choices and move my  bee-hind a whole lot more. Maybe even start running again (definitely some kick-your-ass spin classes). I have to do this. I will do this. I'M DOING IT!!!

I am going to weigh in at the gym tomorrow and post it here along with my food intake. I may start with a 3 day juice fast to get me going strong. I'm considering a picture too, although the idea kind of freaks me out. That probably means I should really do it. Face your fears, right?

Another thing that I wanted to mention was the ElixirCraft Mastery Course by Daniel Vitalis that I recently completed. I learned so much from the course. It was fantastic and highly recommended! But the thing that has really stuck in my mind is what he said about having a clean organized area for food prep, only having things that you like ( that mean somthing to you) and how making food and elixirs is his art. I want it to be my art. I need so bad to get rid of stuff. My home is making me a nervous wreck right now. We just downsized homes and I see that we have too much. Too much of everything. I know this is holding me back in my healthiness also. I used to be a neat freak, close to obssessive but lately with our move and homeschool and the stuff, well, I'm almost paralyzed. It's totally over-whelming. Does anyone know what I'm saying?

This all ties together with my wanting to get back on track. I'm waayyyy off track. I'm an emotional eater, so all this stress lately has led me to make poor food choices and it just snowballs, ya know? Well, the snowball has hit a wall. I'm truly ready to make some much needed changes. While I'm detoxing my body, I'm detoxing my home too. I really believe your environment is crucial to your success for being on a path to health.  This isn't going to be easy, but I'm going to do it.

I'll be back tomorrow for my first day report.

Blessings,
Christy

Have a Hug and a Smile!

We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need twelve hugs a day for growth. -Virginia Satir


I was submitting a couple of articles today for rawmom.com and therawdivas.com. I send them to an awesome lady named Aran. I've never met her in person but we correspond through cyberspace. Aran is in charge of getting all the articles sorted out for Tera. She is the kind of person that always seems kind, caring and positive. All of her emails include her signature *hug*.

Today, after she received my articles she asked how I was doing. Well, you know how sometimes you say "I'm  fine" even when your not?  We don't like to burden people with our problems do we? I felt compelled to email  her back and tell her about my week of sick kids and no sleep. She emailed me right back with some warm words and many *hugs*. I know it's only in an email, but I really felt it. I needed it. Thank you Aran!

I thought about how important it is to give and receive hugs. We are definitely a hug deficient world, aren't we? There is a video on youtube that came out a few years ago about a guy named Juan Mann who made a sign that said FREE HUGS. He stood out on a busy street and was ready to give FREE HUGS to all that consented. It is painful to watch at first because so many people just pass him by. Finally, a little old lady stops and he gets down on his knees and they hug. It makes you smile. It's what the world needs, Less fighting and more hugging.


Now go hug someone!

*HUGS*
Christy

Enjoy the FREE HUG video!

There are hundreds of paths up a mountain,

all leading in the same direction,

so it doesn't matter which path you take.

The only one wasting time is the one

who runs around and around the mountain,

telling everyone that his or her path is wrong.

-Hindu Teaching

MONKEY MIKE's Raw Food Kitchen

The Raw Moms have done it again! They have come out with a fantastic Un-Cookbook for kids. The amazing Tera Warner graciously sent me a copy and my children and I have been pouring over it all weekend.

If you have kids (I have 5!), you need this book! I'm telling you, your kids will absolutely love it. It's full of colorful pictures and step by step directions that are easy for just about any kid to follow. If you've been having a hard time getting your children to eat a lot of raw foods, this is perfect. Or if you need something to make raw food more exciting, this is the answer. I mean, I'm not even a kid and it got me excited!

The recipes are simple and they don't require 20 ingredients each(my pet peeve). They're nutritious (of course!) and fun!

You can get it here. What are you waiting for? Get to Un-Cooking with those Kids!


Smiles and Hugs!

Christy

Contaminated Drinking Water in Schools- My Rant...

I just finished reading a shocking article about the state of the water in our public schools. You can read it here. There are many schools here in our country that are violating EPA standards. The most being in California, followed by Ohio, Indiana, Connecticut, and others. Apparently, there are high levels of lead, copper, pesticides, and other ugly toxins. Our children are drinking this stuff. And it's okay? Really? That's the message the government sends when it says that to fix the problem, it would be too expensive.

Tell me, how does the government have cash for clunkers and billions for bank bailouts but it's too expensive to ensure that our children have safe drinking water?

I'm lucky to live in area where the water is safe and I homeschool but it infuriates me that others don't have the same. If your children are in public school then please check with the state and find out about the safety of the water. High levels of lead and other toxins can lead to learning disabilities, illness, fatigue, and who knows what else.

This is even more shocking to me since I've been listening to Daniel Vitalis and his information on water. Look for him on YOUTUBE.He has some great information about the benefits of spring water and the downfalls of tap and bottled water. After learning this information, I went on http://www.findaspring.com/ and found that there is a spring only 1 hour from my home. You can go on there too and see if you can find a spring close to you. It is continually updated. My family and I are going to venture out to the spring this weekend to bottle our own spring water. I'm pretty excited about that. I'm going to video our adventure, so stay tuned.

I'm doing Daniel's ElixirCraft Mastery Course which I will tell you all about as soon as I complete it. I've done the first part which is about.....you guessed it, WATER!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Christy