Category: natural living

Continuing with my series on getting back to a state of whole-person health, I want to talk today about a huge chunk of that, which is physical. I’m going to start out by outlining my goals, and then discuss how I plan to address them. In the future I hope to give shorter updates of my progress.

Personally, my goals are:

1. To fit back into my pre-baby clothes and hopefully get back to my ideal weight (I’m about 10-15 pounds over right now).

2. To be in shape and feel strong. I would also love to see some muscle definition of which I currently have none.

3. To feel proud of the food that I’m putting in my body. I want it to be real and balanced but I don’t want to feel restricted.

4. To maintain healthy overall habits.

These goals are pretty broad, but I’ve broken the action steps down into three main categories.

Exercise

I know that weight loss doesn’t come primarily from exercise, but it’s the only way that I’m going to feel in shape and strong, plus it has lots of other benefits.

• Running – this is what I’m doing now. For the past 8-9 weeks I’ve been doing the Couch to 5k program and it’s been great. I run about three times a week and I’m signed up for a 5k this weekend. Running works for me because it’s basically free and I can do it right out my front door, and it really feels like a good workout. Running is also going to be tough to keep up with during the summer when it’s 90-100 degrees at 5pm, which is my only time slot to run.
• Gym – I am really excited about this option. A free one is opening up at work next month so I’ll be able to add in elliptical, spin, and weights.
• Yoga – Sometimes I do this at home on my off days. I really need to do more of it though.
• Taking the stairs – A few times a day at work I have to go up two floors (which is four flights of stairs) so I walk it instead of taking the elevator. It doesn’t sound like much but it’s actually not that easy!

Food

This is the area that I probably need the most help in. It’s what is really going to help me lose the weight I want to, and it also seems to be the hardest!

• Cut back on sweets and sugar in general – I was addicted to sweets, especially chocolate. I was having multiple desserts a day. A few weeks ago I instituted a two desserts per week policy, and although I haven’t kept to it completely, I have drastically cut back. Eventually I want to get to a point where I am not taking in much sugar at all.
• Calorie counting. I don’t mean for the rest of my life, but this is what works for me to actually lose weight. I just want to lose those last few pounds, and then go into maintenance mode.
• Learn to cook healthier recipes with more whole foods. It’s hard when you have a picky husband and toddler to deal with, but I’m determined to try.
• Smoothies! I’m very excited about incorporating these into our diet once I get a blender.
• Meatless. I want to eat less meat overall for financial, health, and environmental reasons.
• Water intake. I’m soooo bad about this. I’d love to do at least half my weight in ounces per day.

General Health Maintenance

• Flossing – my old nemesis. It’s so annoying to me and I can’t seem to stick with the habit!
• Vitamins. I don’t think everyone needs a multivitamin, but since I’m breastfeeding and it’s possible for me to get pregnant again eventually, a prenatal is probably a good idea.
• Regular doctor’s visits and screenings. Although I do have a primary care physician, right now I just do yearly exams with my OB. I am good about going to the dentist every six months, and recently added a dermatologist into the mix. I do need to remember to do my monthly breast exam.
• Use all natural products. I’ve been working on this transition for years and I am pretty much there, although I’m still searching for my favorite brands. I also want to start making my own cleaning products at home, and use my essential oils more.

Okay, so that’s a lot of stuff to tackle! I feel good about it though. Right now I’m just working on 1-3 items at a time instead of doing a huge overhaul, but that may need to change soon if I want to make some real progress.

Can you think of anything I’m missing? Where do you stand with your physical health? What would you say your goals are?

I consider myself a fairly healthy person overall, but some areas are definitely better than others. After having my second baby and changing jobs I really felt a change within myself. The extra time in my day and the lower-stress job I’m at now have made me feel like I have a whole new life. I really want to make the most of it. There are some habits that are very important to me that I haven’t been doing since before I had kids, and that needs to change because the kids aren’t going anywhere (I hope)!

Anyway, I’ve been making some adjustments in my life and have more planned to become a healthier, more whole person overall. I want to share with you my progress as I go, and hopefully some of you can relate. I’m going to focus on three key areas:

Spiritual – my relationship with God is the most important part of my life, but I have let it slip to the background.

Physical – I need to take care of this body, not only because it’s the only one I have, but because I want to feel good!

Emotional – this is a broad topic but for me the main issue is stress!

Thanks for listening as I work through these issues and get healthier! What are your problem areas? Have you made any changes lately or do you have any planned?

I am nowhere near an expert on this subject and am only just beginning to learn about it. But I’m a big fan of natural health products, it’s something that is very interesting to me, and a few people have asked me about it, so this is just some background and my limited experience.

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Last year I got together with my good friend Karlene who I hadn’t seen in awhile. She had been a teacher for many years, but she told me that she was planning on quitting her job at the end of the school year and building a business selling essential oils for Young Living. She in no way was trying to sell me anything, she was just updating me on her life.

But I had actually heard about using essential oils for health in the past from a trusted friend, so I was curious. I am always in favor of going the natural route first, but I had no experience in this area and no knowledge. I asked Karlene to keep me updated and invite me to any informational sessions she had.

Not long later she got a group together for this purpose. One of her mom’s friends led the session as she has been using essential oils for over fifteen years. For many years she and her family were missionaries overseas, without insurance or access to quality healthcare, and she used essential oils almost exclusively to keep her family healthy and to treat anything that came up. That was a pretty solid endorsement in my mind, so I decided to give it a try.

My approach is to use whatever natural means I have at my disposal to promote health and prevent illness, and I will try to treat minor problems and sicknesses this way as well. But of course if there is something serious or concerning wrong, I will consult a doctor.

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Essential oils are basically the immune system of the plant, and it makes sense to me that they would have many uses and benefits to us. One of the first things I learned was that there is a difference in quality between the kinds you can find at the health food store, which contain only a small percentage and are only really effective for fragrance purposes, and the 100% therapeutic grade essential oils that only a few companies worldwide sell. I am only familiar with Young Living (I think they are the largest company) but I have heard of a couple others.

As for how you use them, they can be applied directly to the skin (some may require dilution with another oil like olive oil but I haven’t needed to do that yet), you can inhale the fumes using a diffuser or by rubbing the oils in your hands and breathing from your cupped hands, or you can ingest them by dropping them into a capsule or putting them in food or drink. So far I have only tried the topical application and a little bit of inhalation. They are absorbed into the bloodstream very quickly through the feet so that is how I normally apply them unless I’m having a problem that requires direct application.

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When I got started I purchased a kit of 9 different types. Four are singles: frankincense, lemon, peppermint, and lavender. Five are blends (and these are Young Living’s names): Thieves, Purification, Peace & Calming, PanAway, and Valor.

Right now I only use a few of them every day. I put lavender on Meredith’s feet because she is prone to a runny nose and lavender is good for allergies. I put Valor on myself in the morning because it’s good for energy, and Peace & Calming on at night because it helps with anxiety and sleep.

I use others when needed: peppermint is great for headaches and digestion. Once I had a bad stomach bug and I thought the worst was over but then I had a recurrence of cramps; I put peppermint on my abdomen and they subsided. Purification is an odor reducer (I put it in the diffuser near the diaper pail) and I use it to treat mosquito bites. PanAway is for body aches and pains. Thieves is one of the best antibacterials and I use it when one of us is sick.

Recently I bought two more blends, R.C. and DiGize. They are specific for respiratory congestion and diarrhea, which is what Meredith’s two main problems tend to be. I am also trying out some of their personal care products, and I bought the book you can see in the first picture above, Gentle Babies by Debra Raybern. It is a helpful guide in how to use essential oils during pregnancy, breastfeeding, and for babies & children.

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Young Living is sold through individual representatives (kind of like Pampered Chef or Mary Kay), but there are no quotas to meet. In order to get started you just have to purchase a kit – there are several different choices there – and then you are eligible to buy the products at wholesale prices which is a huge discount. You can also purchase them as a client if you just want to try one.

I hope this has been helpful if you’re interested in using essential oils yourself or if you’ve been curious when I mentioned them before. Let me know if you have any more questions and I’ll answer them to the best of my ability! And if you are interested in getting started with them I can help you out there too.