The Smoothie Vegetarians

I'm a pretty slim person and have been for the last decade or so. For much of my childhood, however, I was overweight and was bullied because of it, like so many children are. I lost weight in my teens (not in a good way) and then gained, and so the yo-yo life began. I gained just over one hundred pounds with my first pregnancy (people who didn't know me then never believe this, but it's absolutely true) and it took me years to lose it, and then I gained just over eighty pounds with the second pregnancy and lost it again. Gained and lost, gained and lost, repeat. Too many of us know what this is like, and too many of us judge our self worth by this. It's ridiculous, and it's sad, but it's unfortunately the truth. I'm guilty of this as well, I think a lot of women are. About ten years ago I went back to work after staying home with my children for years. My new job was very physical and the weight dropped off and stayed off. I wasn't vegan t...

Meditation is something we have discussed many times before, it has also been one of the most helpful tools to help manage my anxiety. Click here to read  Why I Meditate and Tips for Better Meditation  and  Buddhism and Yoga Meditation ! Meditation is a great tool to help you calm down and get back to thinking clearly when you’re feeling particularly anxious. It can instantly calm down the overexcited nervous system and have you feeling more centered and ready to face whatever live throws at you. As helpful as it is in reducing anxiety on demand, it’s even more powerful when it comes to prevention. There are two components of anxiety that relate to the brain. The first is those random thoughts and worries that keep running through your head, and making you feel anxious. The second part is that as a person that worries and gets anxious a lot, you are using the amygdala, the part of your brain that’s associated with regulating emotions a lot. This particular ar...

1) Meditate At Least 3 Times Per Week Number One has to be meditating more. I finally gave meditation a chance a couple months ago and it seemed to really be making a difference in my life. It is difficult for me to slow down in life; I have a need to feel busy and productive during every moment. Meditation is a chance to give myself a break and observe what is really going on in my life. I do not like to sit by myself, so I chose to do guided meditations from YouTube and iTunes. Though I could not consider myself “good” at it by any means, even just observing my breath for 10 minutes and being in the present moment was incredible! However, life got in the way I guess and I stopped. My goal for the new year is to take things slow and just aim for three times a week. This way I will not look at it as a “chore” or something to dread. 2) Read Five Books From My Bucket List  Number Two is reading the five books I have on my bucket list! The books are The F...

  I tend to be obsessive compulsive by nature, and food has been no exception. I've stood on the edge of the cliff that is eating disorders (and a close family member jumped off that cliff into full blown anorexia, so I've had some experience). I'm in no way diminishing the horror of eating disorders; I know that horror all too well. For me, though, it's been more about rigidity; which is a form of control I suppose. I was fortunate that it never went beyond that, and this is my personal experience. In my teens I tried some diets that were downright dangerous; 500 calories a day for weeks at a time. I counted those calories carefully. In my twenties I went the low fat route. I lost a lot of weight and I felt pretty good. I was, however, constantly figuring out fat percentages – nothing more than ten percent was my hard and fast rule. I was an avid exerciser during this time. I ran, which is something I've done on and off for many years. ...

So last week I made a blog post about essential oil wellness ( click here if you would like to read it ) and I had planned to make a post today about ways to use those essential oils. Sadly the entire post I had written up somehow got deleted from my computer so, out of frustration, I turned to my crystals and decided that sharing my go-to stones for self-love was the way to go this week! Below I have listed five stones I adore when it comes to different forms of self-love. I hope they can help you on your journey of self-love as well! Amethyst This crystal has so many amazing properties, but among them, it is said to bring not only emotional stability but also inner strength. With that comes a more positive self-image and building of one's self-confidence. Rose Quartz This crystal is one of unconditional love of every form, which is one of the most beautiful things about this crystal. It helps in purifying the heart and helps ...

I was hesitant to type this up because my reason for adopting this lifestyle began from a vain place. However, I feel it is important to be honest with you, and maybe some of you are currently in a similar situation. Sometime around October 2015, I was struggling with body-confidence and I spent hours every day searching the internet for ways to lose weight. To be fair, this did lead to me adopting some healthier behaviors such as eating less junk food and finding my love for exercise. I was losing some weight and gaining some confidence! The problem was, once I started seeing these results, I wanted more and I wanted them immediately. All of the weight loss blogs I would read were about calories, calories, calories. These websites insisted that I just needed to start counting my calories and keep them below a certain number. So, I followed their advice and restricted my caloric intake. I was obsessed with tracking everything I ate and knowing exactly how many calories wer...

Hey, guys, I know I haven't been posting as much and I'm sorry about that; I'm just tired. I am so tired! Being a grown up is one of the hardest things I have ever done. Oh, how I miss being a kid! My mom did everything for me I wanted for nothing. Now looking back I don't know how she did it. I am attempting (and failing at) to work a full tim job, pay my bills, take care of my fur babies, give my marriage the attention it deserves, maintain long distant friendships, and being the daughter and sister my family deserves. Somewhere in that list of things I have forgotten the most important part of life is taking care of yourself. In order to accomplish everything I need to accomplish I have manage to place myself on the back burner. In order to have more time for all my other responsibilities I have cut out my personal time that I had been using to practice my spirituality. I am one overwhelmed, vaguely human shaped, mess that's just trying to adult...