~*Song Of The Day*~

~*Happy Memorial Day*~

 

Have a happy, fun, and safe one!



~*How I Became a Health Nut Part 2*~

Part 2

I was still really addicted to drinking pop. I couldn't seem to get away from the sugar and caffeine. There were lots of days I would try to not drink any but I would crave it like crazy and when I didn't drink any I would feel really sleepy and had no energy at all. It was really hard not to have any especially when I worked at the hospital because it was a very high energy job. I would work for hours sometimes without a break. While working at the hospital if I wasn't drinking a bottle of Pepsi from the vending machine... The nurses would get together and do a run for Starbucks. I would always order a Venti(Large) caramel frappuccino...That was my favorite.
I would be so wired from drinking one of those that it made the caffeine in my pop seem like nothing. When I met my husband he kept trying to get me to quit drinking pop and he would always tell me how bad it was for me. He never really drank pop and always thought it was kind of bad for you. I would always say I was going to quit but I knew somehow that I wasn't able to... because I just craved it so much. While dating Scott he became very sick and started having all kinds of problems. I can't even begin to explain how bad things were for him. Nobody could seem to tell us or figure out what was going on in his body. He was going to this terrible whack job of a Dr who didn't know what he was doing and had him on literally 50 different pills all at once and tried to kill him.
The side effects from each pill was doing terrible things to Scott. The Dr just kept giving
him more and more medication telling him to take them and lets see what this does. What was he just a rat to run tests on or something? As a Dr he should have known what it did before he gave it to him and whether it would help. Not just guess and throw him any pill to shut him up. I told Scott that he wasn't going back to that guy and that we would find someone different who knew what they were doing. He was losing alot of weight, barely sleeping, and he was in alot of pain all the time. I was so worried about him. At one point I thought I was going to lose him. Finally we found a better Dr who actually discovered that he had a bowel problem. They said it was caused from a bad diet and stress. Which he was under alot of stress from work at the time. So those 2 things caught up to him at an early age and was causing some damage inside. He ended up having a foot of his bowel cut out plus a few other things were removed. After the surgery he never took another pill and he started eating better and really got on a health kick. He was very careful about what he ate and he started exercising. He got me to go walking everyday atleast twice a day with him. Shortly after all this we got married and about 5 months after that or so I became pregnant. I became very sick and could hardly get up and do anything. I had a terrible case of morning sickness for atleast 3 or 4 months. During that time I couldn't hardly eat or drink anything. I couldn't stand to drink pop or anything other then water. Anything else made me feel really sick. It was the first time in my life I wanted nothing but water. The bad part was because I had to go cold turkey from the caffeine and sugar I started having big time withdrawls on top of the morning sickness. I started having really bad headaches that turned into migraines. I couldn't stand light, sounds, or even blinking.
It was the worest feeling ever. I got to thinking if just something like drinking pop or Starbucks can make me feel like this then what is other things I am eating and drinking doing to my body I don't know about. I started doing all kinds of research on what was in food and reading labels.

When I found out about the effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup, Hydrogenated oils, GMO's, and what it does to your body I started avoiding all of those things. I refused to eat or buy anything with those things in them. I also learned about the things they put in pop and other drinks that mite as well be a cocktail for death. Eating fast food and drinking what I did all the time was only hurting my body. It did not have any nutrition in it at all. I didn't realize what I was doing to myself. I was starving my body of what it needed and it would have been only a matter of time before I to became sick and things broke down inside and stopped functioning right. Since I went through the withdrawals from the pop... I seemed to no longer crave it or want it at all. I did try to drink alittle bit after I had Nathan and I ended up spitting it out. I couldn't stand the taste or smell and it made me feel weird and sick. I have not had pop in 3 years now and I don't miss it one bit.
I am happy we woke up and realized the choices were making were not good early on. Some people don't realize what they have done to there bodies until it is almost to late and the damage is done. I do not want to become one of those people that live on pills with all kinds of problems all the time like most of the people walking around today. So I slowly cleaned up everything we were doing. Our lives have changed alot since all the things that happened to us with our health and having Nathan. I have learned alot about health, food, and nutrition and how important it is. Everyday I am always learning something new and trying to change and improve things for the better.


Click Here for Part 1







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~*How I Became A Health Nut*~

I grew up in a family that did not have very much money and we were kinda on the poor side. We almost never went out to eat and we hardly ever got junk food like sweets and things. My mom cooked at home everyday. She made things like spaghetti, home made pizza, chili, and soups.

 We didn't have any money for junky snacks like pop, chips, cookies or ice cream. That stuff was a luxury to us. This nice old man who lived next door to us used to go out once in a while and buy us a bottle of root beer and a giant plastic bucket of ice cream. I remember we would make root beer floats with it and I would drink until I was almost sick to my stomach. We never got it much so I guess I wanted to take advantage of it as much as I could.

It was like this until I was about 12 years old. Then my parents sold our farm and we moved. I turned 13 shortly after that and for my birthday we ordered pizza and had it delivered to our new house. It was the first time in my life I had ever ordered pizza and had it delivered.

I was so excited! 

 I liked it so much I convinced my parents that every Friday was pizza night. So we started ordering it every Friday night.
But of course what is pizza without some pop right?

So of course we ordered a big 2 liter right along with it. This is where my pop addiction started.

Pizza & Pepsi became my favorite food and drink for years.

As a teenager I started eating fast food pretty much everyday. When I wasn't going through the drive thru I was at home eating and snacking on  junk food.
Socializing even became a reason to eat junk food. I would go out with friends and we would eat junky mall food or fast food together. If we went to the movies we would get salty greasy buttery popcorn with candy and of course to wash it down a big cup of pop.

I never took vitamins even though my parents were always trying to make me. I hated vitamins and would have absolutely nothing to do with them.

I became a popholic you could say.

I never drank water only if I had no choice. My favorite excuse was that I couldn't stand the taste or just drinking plain water. I drank probably about a liter or 2 a day of pop.

The surprising thing is that I somehow was always thin as a a teenager.

I continued my diet this way until I was about 21.

Eating bad and not doing things the way I was supposed to eventually did start catching up with me. I found myself starting to gain weight and not feeling so good all the time. I was always tired and my skin was looking terrible and breaking out like crazy alot.
I knew I needed to start changing what I was doing. But I also knew it was going to be hard. The food thing seemed to be easier to change for me then the pop drinking problem.
I started eating more salads and grilled meats and less greasy burgers and fries. I cut way down on pizza to the point of almost not eating it at all. I have always been kind of active growing up and excersing was something I loved doing. So I started going to a gym and working out every morning. I started getting alittle more energy and feeling better about myself. But I would still have fast food here and there as a reward. I would tell myself the lie it's ok because I workout. Oh the lies we tell ourselves to justify what we are doing.

To Be Continued..... Click Here for Part 2

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~*What POP Does To You*~

Is it really worth it?

In my opinion no... I like my health far more.

Since your health is something you have to live with... Shouldn't it be important?

Drink water it helps your body fuction so much better on the inside.
It also helps keep you looking younger longer. To much sugar makes you age faster and look older then you should and before you should. Plus it can lower your immune system and make it hard to fight off sickness.

Please don't neglect your health. It may not bother you now but eventually it will catch up with you and by then it could be to late with irreversible damage.

So do your research and love your body and take care of it!

Live healthy & you'll feel & live happier.

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Have a Great Day Everyone!

~*Being a Mother*~

With Mother's Day around the corner I started thinking about being a mother. This will be my 3rd year being a mother and the time for me just seems to be going by so fast. Time will never go faster then when you have kids. They grow and learn so quickly. Nathan being a new born seems like a faint memory to me now. If it wasn't for the pictures.. It just seems so hard to believe that he was that little at one time. I thought things like that would always stick in my mind forever. But truthfully they slowly leave you because of how much you focus on them and how they are now. That is why I am thankful for camera's to capture as many memories as I can. So that I can always have them and remember what a blessing I have.

When I first started being a mom it took me alittle while to get into the groove of things. Taking a shower, getting clothes washed, and most anything seemed hard to get done. I was so tired from the sleepless nights that most days I said screw it and didn't care. There were times I didn't know if I was going to make it feeling as crazy as I was. But then I would hold my sweet little boy and see his smiling little face and somehow I knew that I was going to make it and I could do this. It is not easy being a mother but it is so worth it. There are alot of hard times that get you to those awesome little moments that you wouldn't trade for anything in the world. I have learned alot about myself from being a mother. I learned about my strengths and weaknesses. I am alot more patient then I ever thought I was and to be a mom it is almost required to be so. Everyday I am learning something new in my walk as a Mommy. While there are alot of crazy moments... To me they are all worth going through for the sweet little face I wake up and see everyday. I Love My Life As a Mommy and I wouldn't want it any other way.

It has been a Stressful, Sleepless, Happy, Funny, Crazy time and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Nathan and I

41 weeks

I was getting ready to go in and have him.

2 hours after birth.

7 pounds 11 ounces 18 inches

The day we brought him home.

1 week 

I hadn't slept most of the night or all day.

1 Month

1 Year

1 year and half

Nathan's first hair cut

 

 

 2 and half years old