Archive for January, 2010
Beautiful!
Posted by admin in Faith and Family Thursday, 28 January 2010 03:00 No Comments
I don’t know if you’ve heard the song “More Beautiful You” by Jonny Diaz, but I’m going to encourage you to check it out as it speaks right to the heart of some of the struggles that many of us as women have faced…the desire to look like a supermodel despite the fact that genetically that’s not even remotely possible, the feeling that we’re just not pretty enough, the regrets of past mistakes made when men want to be with you because of what you do, not who you are…Anyway, after hearing it again it reminded me of something I wrote a while back and I wanted to share it with you again as a reminder that YOU are beautiful – that God created you the way he did for a reason, for a specific purpose – and just as the song says, there really can never be a more beautiful you than the way he created you to be.
A Beautiful Creation
Do you believe that the Grand Canyon is a majestic place? What comes to mind when you see the depth of beauty reflected in the tropical seas? Or when the leaves turn in autumn, are you just amazed at the brilliance and intensity of the colors? There are so many things that simply take our breath away when we try to take in the beauty of creation, yet we often forget that we are no less majestic or less beautiful as reflections of God’s specific design. We are told outright that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” so that same awe and reverence that many of us feel when we’re in nature should also be directed toward our bodies, yet many of us see nothing but failure and disappointment when we look upon our reflections.
I know that if you’re a mom and you’ve got on your old sweatshirt that happens to have spill stains and Nutrigrain bar fragments stuck to it that “majestic” and “beautiful” might not be the words that come to mind. In fact, you may feel the complete opposite. But that’s not how God wants us to feel! You are beautiful! You are a Devine creation! God loves YOU despite the sweatpants and the housework that you haven’t gotten to yet – and He always will! Savor that fact that you are part of His creation – and honor it by making choices supporting a healthy life.
Take some time today to DECIDE to make a healthy choice. Maybe you can get outside to play with the kids for awhile, maybe it’s replacing a soda with a glass of plain old wonderful water…. it’s deciding step-by-step to make the right choices that gives you the power to step into health living. And moms, don’t forget that little eyes are watching you and that kids pick up on how you feel about yourself. Are you tearing down God’s creation daily or celebrating the fact that you are made in his imgage?? One of my goals of parenting is for Gracie and Wilson both to see that they are beautiful creations when they’re living just how God designed them to be – in his perfect love…
Let me know about the steps you’re taking toward a healthy life – and don’t forget that the most awesome Creator of all made you to know and love Him!
steph
The Buzz on Bands
Posted by admin in Beginner Tips, Fitness Tuesday, 26 January 2010 07:38 1 Comment
As many of you have read, I kind of fell into training with bands by accident but immediately felt (and saw!) the changes they were making to my body. I’m certainly not opposed to dumbbells, stability balls, medicine balls, trampolines, steps – you name it – I’m all for using various training methods, especially if it will keep you engaged and away from the boredom factor. However, if you’ve never tried training with bands, I’m going to ask you to consider it. In fact, in case you missed it, there are articles about bands popping up all over the fitness world as they’re becoming more and more a standard training tool.
Just this month in Shape Magazine Janet Lee explains one of the best benefits of band training like this: “The unique things about bands is that the tension increases as you stretch them, so the exercise gets harder as you move through the range of motion, challenging your muscles in a different way than weights do.” (page 104, Feb. 2010). I couldn’t have said it any better. If you’re already a PowerFit user, you should check out this article in Shape as you’ll see some great ways to add some new moves to the training you’re already doing.
And of course, throw in the fact that they’re easy to carry, they don’t make noise (which is VERY important if you’re trying to avoid waking up little ones from their nap), they’re extremely affordable, and I think you’ll see why it’s easy to become a fan. In fact, next time you’re standing at the magazine aisle, take a peak at some of the behind-the-scenes shots of competitions in the body building magazines. You’ll almost always see people getting ready for the stage using bands. Of course, many of these competitors spent hours and hours using incredibly heavy weights to prepare, but they certainly wouldn’t bother with bands pre-show if they didn’t do anything and make their muscles look as defined as possible on stage.
My point is simply this. Give bands a chance if you haven’t already. Mix them up with your dumbbell training to recruit muscles in a slightly different way. Give your body a break from routines that feel like you’re putting yourself through the ringer, only to make you feel completely exhausted for the rest of the day. You may just find that you have a new favorite training tool!
I’ll see you next Wednesday, February 3rd on QVC and PowerFit will be offered for that day without any shipping and handling charges (5 DVDs, meal plan and the band). I’ll be on-air 2:30-3:00AM (yes…..AM…anybody going to be up???), during the Morning Show for a short appearance sometime between 7-9AM, and then 1:00-1:30PM. (All times ET). I hope you’ll tune in and if you have any special requests for questions you’d like answered or for moves you’d like demonstrated, just shoot me an email and I’ll be happy to help.
Hope you’re having a great week!
God bless!
steph
Shake up your Protein Drink recipes!
Posted by admin in Diet and Nutrition Sunday, 10 January 2010 08:32 5 Comments
I should have been drinking a shake!
Maybe you’ve started off the New Year sticking to a healthy eating program that includes protein shakes and after a week or so into it you’re bored out of your mind with drinking powders. Believe me, I know how you feel as I’ve been using powders since 1998! It’s easy to get tired of eating the same things again and again, but powders really are an efficient and effective way to get this important component into your diet. So let’s talk about some ways to make them so irresistible you’ll eagerly look forward to opening up that jug of powder sitting on your kitchen shelf! (And for all of these recipes, add water and ice to each one in addition to the ingredients listed to make the shake thicker or thinner depending on what you prefer. I also sometimes use a packet of artificial sweetener in place of the honey.)
Berry Chocolate Shake
Blend one serving of chocolate, vanilla or strawberry protein powder depending on which flavor you’d like to bring out the most with ½ cup of frozen strawberries, ½ cup of skim milk and then add 1 square of dark chocolate. I like to melt the chocolate a little in the microwave first. You need to blend this one extra long to get the dark chocolate to blend all the way, but it’s worth the wait!
Blueberry Shake
Blend one serving of vanilla protein powder with ½ cup of frozen blueberries, ½ cup of milk, add one tsp of honey and 2 TBSP of light cool whip.
Orange Cream Shake
Blend one serving of vanilla protein powder with ½ cup of orange juice, ½ cup of skim milk, 1 tsp of honey and 1 tsp of vanilla extract.
So give these a try and feel free to share your own creative recipes with protein powders and of course, there are also plenty of ideas in the meal plan that comes along with PowerFit. I hope you’re off to a wonderful start this week and I’ll see you on QVC February 3rd!
steph
Capturing your motivation to last the whole year!
Are you a resolution creator? Even if you’re not, you can’t help but get pulled into the new energy that seems to infuse all of us with the turn of the year on the calendar. There’s just something about knowing that you’ve got an entire year before you full of potential and promise that can make taking on new challenges seem just a little bit easier.
With that in mind, I’d like to suggest some ways for you to essentially “bottle up” your motivation so that by let’s say…March? maybe July? maybe next week? …. if you’ve lost your enthusiasm, you’ll have your own personal pep rally ready to go to keep you working toward your goals.
Let’s get started!
1. Make it public. Tell a friend or two on Facebook. Tell the people in your blog. (Okay – while I’m at it- Run a 10K, ride on more challenging trails on the 4-wheeler and read the entire Bible are my three biggies. I’m not really a runner, I’m getting a little better at riding trails but I’d like to go faster and take tighter turns and I tend to skip over parts of the Old Testament when they list name after name after name….)
2. Establish benchmarks for the year ahead with firm dates for completion. (I hope to start running regularly when it warms up a little with a goal of a 5K by May…And I’m printing off a reading guide for the Bible that I’ve started using and I’ll do my best to stay right on target with it.) Put some of these dates in your calendar and/or your Blackberry or Iphone. When you successfully hit these benchmarks, CELEBRATE!!
3. Post reminders where you can see them. This means posting a little note where you’ll see it regularly that lists your goals and your personal motivational quotes (more about that one in a sceond…). Maybe it’s in your make-up drawer or your jewelry box. Maybe it’s on the top shelf of the refrigerator or on the sun shade of your car. Just stick it somewhere that will make it impossible to miss as you go about daily living.
4. Choose motivational quotes and/or scriptures to reinforce your commitment to reaching your goals. I’ve posted my index card with 2 Timothy 1:7 on my dashboard again as a reminder that power, love and self-discipline are in my spiritual DNA and that it’s my job as a mother to pass that on to my kids. My goal during 2010 is to bring that to life more for them. And I’m a huge fan of sports quotes so I’m still trying to narrow down which one should go on my yearly reminder card… If you’ve got a favorite verse of quote, I’d love to hear about it!
5. Celebrate how far you’ve come already. Even if you’ve not quite reached the goals you’ve established or if you recognize that perhaps you were a little too ambitious in your resolutions, there’s always something to celebrate. Let’s say you want to workout again and it’s been a while – maybe a LONG while! Just getting your workout area set up and ready to go along with fresh DVDs and equipment is actually a major success!! Every step toward a goal is one more than what you had before – so be proud and harness that motivation! Celebrate those steps throughout the year to keep you engaged in what you want to achieve.
Here’s to a healthy and happy 2010!!
God Bless-
steph
