Category: Happiness

5 Days of Holiday Gifts…Gift 4: Smelling of Dirt

Gift #4: 100% natural soy wax candles from Rosy Rings

This may be kind of an odd one, but this candle just makes my senses come alive. I was raised as a country girl, but grew into a city girl who loves the outdoors. The smell of this candle instantly brings me back home. It just makes me feel happy. And it smells like dirt…soil…a garden…the Earth. It is called “Tilled Earth,” and it is a candle scent like no other.

This candle is created by a company called Rosy Rings (www.rosyrings.com), is 100% natural soy wax, and hand-poured in Denver, CO. They have other amazing flavors such as Antique Clove, Basil Sweet Orange, Flannel Flower, Honey Tobacco, Moss & Mint, and Tomato Vine. I do not like strong scents or perfume smells, and these candles are are subtle and refreshing compared to most. In fact, they bring me back to a simpler time, when scents like these were compounded by innocence.  When running outside barefoot and carefree allowed me to actually absorb the scents of the world around me.  Maybe one day, the peace of those days will come back to me. Until then, these candles definitely give me hope.

Strong mind. Strong heart. Strong body.

Val

Holiday Sangria (with some of my added favorites)

I cringe a little at the thought of all the sugar in cocktails, along with the lack of nutritional value in each and every sip (not to mention the possible hangover in the morning…which thanks to living at 6,000 feet, happens pretty easily for me). However, there is something to say about holding that beautiful drink in your hand, and laughing and enjoying time with the ones you love.  Therefore, when I know I need to let go of my worries and just indulge, I look for recipes that provide some nutritional value.

I like this recipe because it is not only pretty to look at, this cocktail also includes some of my favorite ingredients. With the added apple cider vinegar (detox, digestion, antibacterial), and Kombucha (probiotic, detox), in a way you are helping your body detox while getting a little intox…icated. I took a sangria recipe, and motified it to make it slightly more healthy…

Spiced Apple Cranberry Kombucha Sangria

  • 1 bottle of white wine
  • 3-4 apples, sliced or chopped (any variety)
  • 2 oranges, sliced into thick rounds
  • whole cloves
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
  • 1/2 cup pure cranberry juice with no added sugar (I also like to use tart cherry juice)
  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup brandy
  • 1/4 cup raw honey
  • 1-2 bottles of kombucha or sparkling water/soda

Combine all of the ingredients (minus the kombucha/sparking water) in a larger pitcher. Stir until the honey is dissolved. Allow it to sit several hours or overnight in the refigerator to allow the flavors to come together.

Serve in large glasses, adding some of the fruit to each glass. Top each with a generous pour of kombucha or sparkling water, and gentley mix. If you would like, garnish with an orange wedge.  Enjoy!

Wishing you a very joyful holiday season!!! Cheers to lots of health, happiness, and treating yourself well!! Now go spend time with people you love, and laugh…A LOT!!

Strong mind. Strong heart. Strong body.

Val

Scheduling selfishness…

Surviving each day, week, month is difficult because there is this thing that is really hard for me…it is called constant responsibility.  As a teenager, I spent my days sitting on someone’s dock in a Minnesota lake, with my feet in the cool water, trying to figure out how I was going to spend the rest of my day. Or during really “difficult” times, you could find me driving by someone’s house to see if they were home and as bored as I was. I loved that if there was a mess or some clothes I needed washed…it was miraculously taken care of if I just left it long enough.  Fast foward to present day, and that mess cleaner, and boredom inducer of children…is me. Every minute can be filled with other people’s needs if I allow it to be. And if there happens to be a small window of the day that I try to have a few seconds to myself, someone always finds me…

I recently had my first ever girl’s weekend since becoming a mom. It was a weekend filled with zero productivity and instead, pure selfishness…or should I say, self awareness. I did nothing useful with my time, and instead did something that I haven’t done in so long…I took time to think about myself. One important facet of health, is not only eating right and exercising, it is about taking care of your mental and emotional health.  This is something that can often be forgotten in our daily lives.  We over-work, over-schedule, and “free time” is looking at what other people are doing on social media.

I chose to spend my time away from responsibility by spending a day at the spa, shopping, eating at great restaurants, and drinking far more glasses of champagne than I would like to admit.  I spent the weekend not thinking about anything but my happiness. Is that selfish?!? I don’t think so.  I think it is a way to slow down and think about how grateful I am for a chance to really LIVE, experience new foods, and most of all, I could really remember that deep down, I was still that same girl with her feet in the lake. I just haven’t had time to think about her in a loooong time.

Another important facet of this trip was the fact that I learned to make my days and weekends of “selfishness,” days to indulge on my health.  When people generally use vacations to over eat and make poor choices, I use trips away to find ways to be healthy in new and unique ways…I actually get excited by this.  I find restaurants that offer fresh and local ingredients. In fact, there is so much more emphasis on making healthy “fast food,” it has allowed some costs to stay down, and quality ingredients are no longer only found with a huge price tag (Some of my favorites are Modern Market, Larkburger, and Grabbagreen. One tip…if you search out gluten free or vegetarian in a respective city, it will lead you to great places.  If they have to pay attention to what is going into their foods, they are generally more conscience overall.) I also look for hikes and exercise classes offered through the places I stay. Staying active and moving your body while in new locations will create some excitement in your work out. Not to mention, food or a cold beer never tastes better than after an amazing workout (Yes. I said beer. Remember, it is about learning to make health fun by creating a happy and positive feeling around it).  And in regard to all of those glasses of champagne…I think my laughter and relaxation increased before I even had the first sip.

Health is about doing what is right for your total body. Find joy in creating a life that allows you to be full of energy, having a heart that can help you climb a mountain, and a mind that will be at peace after a weekend spent laughing with a girlfriend.  There are no right choices, there is a desire for a better life. Find joy in wanting that for yourself. And don’t forget to pass the champagne…

Strong mind. Strong heart. Strong body.

Val

Never stop living, but understand your body may be hurting

One of the most important parts of health, is to understand how your body functions.  As you go through your day, your heart never stops pumping blood throughout your body, your lungs fill that blood with oxygen, your gut is digesting and absorbing nutrients to give you energy, your liver clears the body of harmful substances, and your kidneys are constantly working to remove waste…and so on…With all of this in mind, it is not my belief that you should stop living and enjoying things you love, but to understand that if you treat your body poorly, it may be struggling to fix the damage. You body is amazing, and it works extremely hard to keep you healthy even when you treat it badly.  It is not realistic to make constant sacrifices and miss out on important events which are indulgent (such as all of the upcoming holidays!), therefore just remember to treat your body extra well surrounding these big events, and think about how you can help it recover.

With holiday events and parties comes constant desserts, candies, cocktails, and various other treats. With every piece of candy, dessert, or festive alcoholic beverage, there is going to be a rapid blood sugar spike (and eventual crash), which causes your body to release insulin.  Your body also needs to digest and excrete these unnatural colors, flavors, and substances, which takes work from your gut, liver and kidneys. Once again, I am not saying this to create negativity or guilt when you have one too many candy corn or Christmas cookies, I am explaining that your body may need a little more TLC.  My approach before a night out or a holiday party is to amp up on a few different things, so my body can function at the highest level possible.

  1. Drink lots of water.  Water is the holy grail of your body’s overall functioning.  Basically every part of you needs it and cannot do it’s job without it. It is also essential to continue flushing, detoxing, and excreting toxins. Especially with drinking any type of alcohol. I highly suggest prior to an “unhealthy” day or few hours, push fluids. Then continue to drink water throughout, and of course, following. Your body will need it.
  2. The party is over, and now you hungover in more ways than one.  Whether consuming sugar or alcohol, there will be spikes in blood sugar, and your body is going to go a little crazy. In fact, once you put these things in your body, you will only crave it more. They are both addictive. The following hours or days, your body is going to trick you into thinking you want more. You are going to feel hungover. This is my tip…don’t listen.  Stop treating yourself like crap. It is only instant gratification, and the pleasure goes away pretty quickly.  You have to live with your body forever.
  3. Always load up on healthy foods and probiotics, but especially on the indulgent days. If you have read any of my blogs, your know how much I love the gut.  It is linked to mental health, immunity, life altering health conditions, etc.  If you are consuming foods with little nutrient content, which are basically “fake” and unrecognizable to your body, your gut is going to be struggling to digest, excrete, and remove these types of toxins.  My approach is to load up on fruits and vegetables to make sure things are still able to move along (This is why it is your poop chute; that crap wasn’t meant to sit in there!), and help populate the “good” bugs. Then load up on any type of probiotic foods or supplements, so that when those unknown substances cause an environment where the “bad” bugs thrive, some outside sources may still give your gut a fighting chance.
  4. Give your liver and kidney a vacation for a few days.  All of the sugar from the desserts, candy, and alcohol are like a punch to your liver. Following a constant influx of the hard stuff, your liver is severely taxed, and this essential organ can be overloaded. In addition, your kidneys are also working hard to remove wastes, balance electrolytes, and keep your fluid balance in check.  Once your body is not able to identify these unnatural foods and drinks, it is then turned into waste. The waste is sent to your blood (which of course circulates throughout the body), and the kidneys have the huge undertaking of removing these waste materials.  If the body is always full of terrible stuff, the kidneys are overworked, and cannot efficiently remove waste from the blood. Therefore toxins build up and continue to cause damage throughout your body. Basically, if bad stuff keeps coming in, your body will continue to lessen its ability to get it out…and you can imagine how you are going to feel.
  5. How to fix it?  As terrifying as this all sounds, when I push for people to live a healthy lifestyle, I would never suggest taking away from holidays and things you love.  Live life, and enjoy these moments! They are filled with happiness and so many memories. However, I do highly suggest you think about how hard your body is working, therefore do everything you can to take care of it.  Indulgences happen, but days were not meant to be filled with them.  Eat your cookie, and move on.  Fill the rest of the day with taking care of yourself so you can FEEL good. Believe me, when you see how amazing you feel living a life full of energy, those days or hours filled with instant gratification will be quickly followed with trying to get back to living a healthy life.
  6. My favorite products for detox. I would never suggest products that I don’t personally use. I can attest that I use these two products every singe day, and I cannot speak more highly of them. The first is Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar.  Apple cider vinegar is known to be antimicrobial, which helps break down bad bacteria, and aids with keeping a balanced digestive system.  It has also been discovered to prevent blood sugar spikes and interferes with carbohydrate absorption, therefore frequently studied and utilized in the diabetic population.  Additionally, it has been found to aide in the removal and flushing of toxins, and has links to decreasing inflammation, especially in arthritic patients. My suggestion is to start slow to get used to the taste. My husband and I have been drinking it daily for 5 years, and in the beginning, it was hard to get used to. But stick to it, I promise it will get better! I make it every night before bed (so it is cold, and I have no excuse not to do it since it is waiting for me). I mix 2-3 teaspoons with 1 tablespoon of Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate (full of antioxidants, an anti-inflammatory, links to reducing heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and gout).  Then I fill the glass with water, and chill in the refrigerator overnight.  I drink it throughout the day with meals.  The second product is Republic of Tea’s detox tea “Get Clean.” It claims to stimulate the liver, therefore assisting in the removal of toxins, and “gets things flowing.” There are also ingredients to encourage healthy digestion, and helps keeps the kidneys flushed. The tea also contains Indian sarsaparilla and red clover, which are known to be purifiers and tonics.  With the added vanilla and almond flavors, it really tastes great. I drink a cup every night before bed (sometimes two cups if I have had a little too much that day).  With fair warning, this is an herbal tea, therefore do not drink before speaking with your healthcare provider, especially if you are pregnant or lactating.

Please, enjoy these special moments. These holidays should be full of happiness, love, and all of the indulgences that come with it. Remember, happiness is a HUGE part of health. Do not hold on to regrets or feel guilty, and don’t spend a single moment worrying about the choices you made.  However, spend the minutes, hours, days around these moments, with finding joy in taking care of your body, and therefore your health. Find a love of taking care of yourself by learning that the sugar and alcohol “high” is so short and will never last.  But if you find a “high” off of healthy living, that will never end.

Strong heart. Strong mind. Strong body.

Val