TRAVEL BLOG

Stress is the ugly part of our life package deal with no opting out button. Some individuals manage stress in a healthy way without impacting the quality of life. On the other hand, it can become a chronic problem with negative physical and emotional side effects. Studies indicate stress can increase our risk of hypertension, heart disease, and weight gain. Many of us live in a constant state of stress caused by our jobs, personal life, or financial strain for example. Sadly, it's becoming an acceptable and normal way of life. We walk around with shoulders to our ears, adrenal glands working over time, and our body suffering the consequences. Stress breaks down the  body  by elevating our cortisol levels causing increased blood pressure and waistlines. If you're wondering why weight loss has been so difficult , you may want to evaluate your stress. It can adversely affect our fitness and health. In order to reduce stress, it' s important to implement healthy  st...

I have had the opportunity to research and prepare an article on Orthorexia Nervosa, an undiagnosed eating disorder where healthy eating is taken to an unhealthy extreme. Have you ever wondered if clean eating can become obsessive or unhealthy? Unfortunately, it can and not because it's a food issue but a psychological condition where an unrealistic view of food is adopted. After sharing the article on Facebook , I received an outpouring of emails from people struggling with the disorder or tendencies to the behavior. I was deeply moved with the many thanks for addressing the issue and providing awareness of the Orthorexia condition. There was also quite a bit of backlash and reference to Orthorexia being 'bullshit' and just another money making for the doctors. Many came to the defense of clean eating as if this lifestyle was receiving a bad rap. I consider myself a clean eater but there's a difference in healthy eating and healthy obsessive eating. When our eating fo...

Fitness includes so much more than weight loss or achieving a personal best lift at the gym. Being a fit person involves discipline for each day, creates awareness, and instills conscious living. It means being mindful of how we treat our body, how we think, and feel. Fitness is a lifestyle and goes way beyond the physical. Living this way starts in our minds and pushes us to live a quality life. It's not just a desire but daily actions we choose moving us closer to being healthy people. When our focus remains on health, we can truly say we are living a healthy life with our whole being.    We put so much pressure on ourselves to squeeze into skinny jeans or tank shirts and tend to forget how being fit is supposed to feel. A fit and healthy body should feel good but instead many of us accept and accommodate pain on a daily basis. In this case, the focus isn't on health and often with a temporary goal based on outward appearance. Healthy lifestyles are meant to be enjoyed for ...

Face it, we're all responsible for our health and fitness. I'm not talking about medical illness out of our control, but the everyday individual who has the ability to get healthy. This is the majority of us, right? In this world of comparison, it appears many of us want someone else's body instead of our own. Why is that? It really is a projection of what we want for our own life but not willing to put in the effort. That may have hit hard, but let's get down to the honest truth about our health and lifestyle . You may be tired of hearing 'what's your excuse' but the question is somewhat relevant.   Instead of owning the behaviors creating an unhealthy body, we tend to place blame where it doesn't belong. We blame our spouses, friends, and even media personalities for spouting unrealistic goals. Are they unrealistic or just our way of justifying the state of our health? What it comes down to is no one but you and I can make health happen. It's an in...

I was reading my daily devotion today on the subject of intentions. I was immediately drawn to the title and felt it was speaking to me personally. Can you relate? We all have good intentions, dream about fulfilling them, but somehow they get pushed aside and forgotten. Well, not really forgotten, because they continue to dance across the pages of our thoughts. At least this is the case for me. Are you guilty of not following through on good intentions to make something happen? Starting that fitness program or promise to eat healthier ? As I read further, I understood the importance of  writing down the intentions, to begin a plan and follow through with action. Moving from intention to action takes a plan. This applies in most everything in life from painting the house, spending more time with family, to adopting a healthy lifestyle . It's really staying true to taking care of the important things in life. What has helped me is setting up challenge systems where I complete three g...

What do I mean by looking like myself?   Well, I have certain genetics and a lifestyle contributing to what I look like. I'm not supposed to look like anyone else including other fitness women in magazines. Back in my competitive days, I do admit to more than admiring fitness competitors and felt I needed to look like them to win. I struggled with my body not responding the same way as another competitor. It was an unrealistic way of thinking . The girls in the magazines don't even look like the girls in the magazine. Straight up the fitness truth. I'm so happy to have learned through that insecure journey. I have come full circle with knowledge, age, and wisdom.   I embrace who I am and what I look like. I strive to be my best me and not anyone else.   It would be such a stressful life to constantly compare myself to all the beautiful women out there. Life is too short to think unrealistic thoughts or goals. Did you know all images in magazines are photoshopped?...

Keeping a food journal can be your best friend and accountability partner when learning how to implement a healthy nutrition program.  It can also feel like a burden depending on your commitment level.  I have heard it all when it comes to food journals and the love/hate relationship caused when keeping track of every morsel. The problem is really not the food journal, but the issue of not wanting to be honest with ourselves.  W hen life is going great and our program is on track, we gladly write down every healthy bite and proudly share eating habits producing positive results.   On the other side of the spectrum is feeling guilty eating off track and not wanting to write it down. We even convince ourselves somehow not writing it down means it didn't really happen. We tend to have moments of forgetfulness when we stop being mindful of our eating behavior.  The truth is regardless of what we want to include in our food journal, our body keeps an accurate reco...

Have you ever had a severe sinus infection? I have experienced a couple and they can really put me down for a few days. I couldn't believe how horrible the symptoms were and I sympathize with anyone who has suffered through it. Bad sinus infections can take a while to recover from similar to any severe illness. For those of us who rarely get sick, this is quite a humbling experience. Symptoms can include a severe headache and I would say more like entire face pain. Also, the inability to breathe and high fever are typical signs of a sinus infection. Sleeping can feel impossible and eating is often limited as our appetite decreases. Sinus mucus coming out yellow, green or even brown are obvious infection markers. Fitness is pretty much out the window when an illness of this magnitude comes calling. This is the time to focus our energy on getting better. Illness can happen and does and it's okay to relax with your fitness program. In fact, your body will recover faster if ...

We may all differ in our fitness levels but all share the same goals ... health improvement. Getting fit takes changing our life and daily habits to become healthier people. This choice is inspiring and motivating to me . I respect everyone trying to get fit.  The decision to get in shape can feel overwhelming for some of us and even vulnerable. Being over fat can come with a negative stigma and society can make people feel bad about themselves. The same goes for muscular women and skinny men. Body shaming has no place in our fitness journey. Making the choice to become our best healthy self is a great decision regardless of the stares or opinions of others.  We don't need to be told we're too fat, too skinny, too muscular or not muscular enough. We all know the condition of our health and body without negative lip service. What we all need is positive support and motivation on our journey to achieve fitness goals. Part of achieving fitness goals is accepting where we are rig...

Living a healthy lifestyle is not about restriction but allowing for moderation. It's not realistic to eliminate a favorite food forever from our diet. I consider my occasional splurges as treats and not even cheats. Because eating them in moderation is an enjoyable experience. It's called living a balanced healthy life. I don't believe having a fresh baked brownie now and then is cheating on my fitness program. I follow a 90/10 rule consuming a wide variety of good carbs , lean proteins, and healthy fats 90% of the time. I allow for 10% indulgence like a glass of wine or dark  chocolate . These small treats won't derail my efforts as many of us are taught to believe. It's what we do consistently that defines what our body looks like. I will even apply the 80/20 rule eating healthy foods 80% of the time and allowing 20% for indulgence. This comes in handy when on vacation or during the holidays. I will not turn down a piece of my Mom's home-baked pie or biscu...

How many times do we justify unhealthy choices using the 'it's only' intro? Whether it’s only five pounds more, a small bag of chips, or one missed workout, it's easy to keep going once we start.  These two little words can be the start of losing our fitness. The occasional treat turns into daily choices leading us in the opposite direction of our fitness goals. The five pound gain turns into ten, two cookies are suddenly five, and several workouts somehow get missed. Two innocent words have suddenly derailed all our hard work.  The ' it’s only ' dilemma can happen at any time but appears to creep back into the picture once fitness results are achieved . What we thought wouldn't make a difference in our fitness has taken us back to an unhealthy lifestyle and body. These two words are not as innocent as one might believe. Saying 'it's only' is only for those with a strong mental game who really mean it for one time. Let’s look at the time it t...

We have all experienced frustration and it's actually normal during our fitness journey. Nothing goes perfectly and results can take longer than we thought. When results are slower than expected, frustration can feel overwhelming. Staying motivated can be difficult during this time. Our feelings can move past frustration straight into pissed off and angry.  Frustration causes many of us to consider giving up. We doubt our efforts and think nothing will work. We may even return to old unhealthy habits. Before the negative mental game  stops you completely, consider fighting frustration with motivation . The truth is we're all working toward the same fitness goal but at differing rates of progress. Health is a process of small steps taken over time that provide big results. Just know each positive step to improve our health is working.  Our bodies know something good is happening, even when we're unable to see it. It's during times of the unseen we must have faith in ...

Being healthy is many things but I feel the biggest player in life is how we respond to it. We all face daily situations in our personal lives and even the workplace. How we respond to these circumstances can create a healthier, happier, and stronger person. Being healthy includes more than the physical and nutritional. It also includes our emotional and spiritual health. If anything in our life is out of place, health is just not complete. When a problem arises, we can choose to mishandle the situation or solve it in a healthy way. Many times issues are out of our control. The truth is the only thing fixable or controllable is yourself. We're not responsible for the actions or behavior of others, but what we do have is the actions and behaviors of ourselves. Life can be made to feel complicated and depressing or carefree and happier simply by how we respond to situations. The same principle should be applied to how we take care of our body. Do we nourish it wel l , exercise it e...

Life is not meant to be easy peasy and all wrapped in a pretty bow all the time. The truth about life is it can suck and be filled with very difficult emotional and even physical hardships.  Emotional junk can weigh down our brains and bodies and cause us to retreat into a shell of self-defeat. When we're struggling with emotional upset from any life situation, it's important not to give up on you. During these times we tend to not take care of our health and fitness . We really can become our own worst enemy. Emotional upset can happen at any given time and we can choose to handle it in a healthy or unhealthy way. It really comes down to us being responsible for our own physical and emotional health. This also includes maintaining our fitness and happiness .  Emotional upset seeming to be the most painful occurs in close personal relationships with spouses, significant others, dearest friends, and family. It's also the most difficult to navigate feelings that...