social icons

Facebook Twitter Youtube Pinterest Blogger Email Rss

Search

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Taking Time to Be a Healthier Me


The week has flown by so quickly. I've been making a few changes this week. I've been writing more this week. I've also been eating more veggies and fruit and less carbs. I sure missed my sweets but after a few days the cravings went away. Surprisingly because I thought I would have a Krispy Kreme doughnut meltdown. I don't eat a lot of meat, so I didn't have to change that part of my diet. And I joined Weight Watchers. So keeping my fingers crossed that I get svelt, sexy and delicious real soon. I made a promise to myself to be super duper fine by 40, so that gives me one year to get that accomplished. So I've started my own Operation Get it Right, Get it Tight program.

I'm a spiritual person and I pray often for guidance and assurance in my daily life and decisions. But when it comes to dieting, I am weak against the temptation for food. So a friend suggested two books, Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food. And the second book, Craving God: A 21 Day Devotional Challenge. I can say both have been really good in assisting me so far on my eating healthier journey. I bought them on Kindle. The 21 Devotional is Free on Kindle. But I'm thinking of buying them both in paperback so I can write in them. They have helped me alot so far. I've cut out a lot of sugar and I'm learning to say no to things that are not healthy for my body and spirit. I'm not saying these books are for you and I don't know everyone's beliefs, but if you're a spiritual or religious person, these books are great if you want to lose weight.

I also got a new smoothie book called Smoothie Heaven, which I have been using to make smoothies everyday. I also found some good smoothie recipes online for health and healing. Some taste wonderful, some need some tweaking. But I will start posting some great ones throughout the week for anyone that might want to try one.

Here are two smoothie recipes that were pretty good.

Grape-Strawberry Smoothie


I add a scoop of protein powder to all my smoothies and add an extra 1/3 cup of liquid. But this is the original recipe below.

2/3 cup fresh raspberries
1 cup grape juice
2 scoops of frozen raspberry yogurt
2 tsp of honey or agave syrup (I use raw honey from a local bee farm)
few drops of vanilla extract

Blend and process until smooth. Sift through a strainer into a glass. (Here, I would add my powder and extra juice after sifting and re-blend and pour into glass. Add more liquid if necessary.


Mocha Muscle Builder

1 cup soy milk or any milk you prefer
1/3 cup brewed coffee
1 tbsp all natural peanut butter
1 small banana ripe
1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
Ice Cubes
Place all ingredients in the blender and process until smooth.


Thought for the day from Craving God:

"We were made for more! More than this failure...More than this cycle...more than being ruled by our taste buds, body image, rationalizations, and guilt."

Have a wonderful Thursday. Cheers to being healthier!

What are some tips and advice you have for being healthier?

==================================================

Don't forget to enter the Read Banned Books Week Giveaway and Hop. I am giving away six (6) gifts to six (6) winners. More more info about my giveaway click the photo below.  Or scroll down through the previous posts. Good Luck!


Blessings!

10 comments:

  1. You know i'm going to make that smoothie first thing after my workout. thanks for sharing. Have a wonderful weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the Operation Get it Right, Get it Tight program idea. And from your pics I think you are beautiful. So anything you accomplish this year will just be refining the beauty.

    And I have no advice. With the kidney disease its a real struggle for to even want to eat. I'm doing good if I manage to eat two small meals a day. I wish I had my old appetite.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful blog, Lena! Can't wait to see pictures after you reach your goal!

    I make and drink smoothies, too. I freeze the fresh fruit: strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, and bananas (yes, bananas freeze well), orange juice and frozen vanilla yogurt. Yum! I'll check out the protein powder.

    Thanks for the recipes!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Sidne. Hope you have a great weekend as well. Smoothies are great after a workout aren't they. :-)

    Thanks so very much for the generous compliment. I want to be healthier, especially since the years seems to be zooming by. It has become more important and more of a priority. I can't imagine what your days feel like, here it is I want the craving and hunger to dissipate and you have struggle to have an appetite. It's amazing how people are so unique, yet we are still human with human issues. I do pray that your health gets better as well, adding you to my prayer list. :-)

    Thank you Lineofserenity. I freeze fruit too. Especially bananas because they don't last long. I love that Dole has frozen mangos now in the freezer section, cause I would buy them and forget to freeze them. I love mangos.

    My favorite protein is called BSN Lean Dessert. It comes in so many different delicious flavors.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Lena,

    I love your blog it's beautiful! And thank you for participating in Banned Books Week, it's wonderful to see so many people joining in. I love this post on being healthier. That's something I'm working on right now!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lena

    Good luck with your drive to live/eat more healthily - glad it's working well so far.

    Your giveaways are always so generous, too.

    Have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That smoothie looks delicious! I froze a bunch of strawberries after I picked them in the summer for the winter smoothies.

    I have such a terrible sweet tooth so I find it hard to say no to chocolate. I've taken up running this past year. I was doing well and then stopped. When I wanted to run again, I found it was hard to get motivated. I'm trying hard to keep it up this time. It's so easy to give in and stay in bed or on the couch.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks everyone for your encouraging words. @Heather, thank you. I enjoyed your blog as well. I'm taking it one day at a time, just hoping to stay the course. :-D

    @Helen, thank you. I need all the encouragement I can get.

    @Chrisbookarama...I love strawberries too. I want to run more, but I find it so difficult, so I'm just going to start with walking and hopefully work up to walking fast, then really fast, then running. :-) I am a chocoholic. I love chocolate covered strawberries, they are my fav. I have found it easy to sit and be idle then to get up and be active. It's a habit I definitely have to and need to break. Good luck on your healthy journey as well. Keep me posted.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love smoothies!! Thanks for the recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Suppose you are a woman trying to build muscle and lose weight. In that case, the best tasting protein powder for women available today is a protein powder without sugar or anything else that might cause unwanted taste.

    What is the Best Tasting Protein Powder For Women?

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Lena's Ramblings

My photo
I am a writer, filmmaker, wife and a mom of five beautiful, intelligent, quirky kids. This blog is for writers, aspiring writers, filmmakers and movie lovers. Bringing you my favorite books, films and photos, as well as giveaways and updates on my journey. I'm currently in the process of producing my first short film from my collection of short stories titled, If I Had My Way. The first story to be filmed will be Tandarin Drive. My award winning book, If I Had My Way, is available now. You can purchase a copy at Amazon.com and BN.com. You may contact me via email at: blog@lenasledge.com

Join My Other Fantabulous Followers!

If I Had My Way

If I Had My Way
Available Now! Please Get Your Copy Today!

Popular Posts

Blogs I Love and Frequently Read