Back On The Wagon--Again

So it's been...awhile..a long...long...*long* while. I could list the 1,000 reasons why I've not kept up with this blog or my fitness as I'd like. But then you would get bored and never come back! Haha!! My sweet friend Rachelle from For Blogness Sake has completely motivated me...

again. And I needed that. I needed to see someone else be successful and know that I can get back into this..this is not the end for me!

Truth is, I'm a real person. With real stress. And I sometimes let my stress get the best of me. I've been working out again for about a month. Eating clean and working on my fitness does help with my  stress levels, tremendously! If I had to say one thing that holds me back is my headaches. I don't know about you or if you've ever experienced a true migraine headache..but they are plum awful. I've dealt with this since I was 15 years old . When I was 15, I was involved in a major car accident. You can read more about that here.  So since then I've tried every medication, therapy, and magic pill that you could think of. This year my migraines took a turn. I not only suffered from migraines, but vertigo. I didn't even know that existed until it hit me. How awful. Another round of 8 or 9 pills a day, therapy, and still nothing. Nada. Zip. They told me not to drive, no exercising and essentially stay at home. I'm like great. Fantastic. So bottom line is one day my good friend was telling me about this "vitamin supplement" he sells with those crazy wrap things. I'm like yada yada yada..I'm not one to EVER buy into this kind of stuff! In an effort to help him out, I buy it. I spend the $33.00 bucks on it and think what's the worst it could do. 

So I try it. I mixed one scoop with 80% water and 20% diet cranberry juice everyday. For the first week, I started to feel better, like more energy and back to my old self. Still have the headaches though. 

*Week 2 CHANGED my life* 

Week 2- so I still drank my greens (that's what it's called) every day. First three days in the week, no headache. I'm not really getting excited yet, it's been three days. The week continues, no headache, and not ONE episode of vertigo. Not ONE. 

Week 3 and 4 are exactly the same. Not one episode or one headache. I go back to my doctor at the end of week 4 and they are excited, but want more information. So they ask me to bring the greens into them. They take a look and what they come up with blows. me. away. Remember, I eat a 98% clean diet. No processed junk. 

They tell me that my body, for some crazy reason, isn't absorbing nutrients like it should. The greens supplement are giving me the nutrients I need to prevent headaches. I'm confused at this point. Because I eat good food. I don't eat junk. Most of the time. The doctor puts into simple, dummy version terms. Bottom line, it's like juicing, when you juice the nutrients go straight to your bloodstream, not to the stomach. When you drink this stuff, it goes straight to your bloodstream. 

So why not juice? Well, I do occasionally, but what gets me is that it's very time consuming and most of all *expensive*. My grocery bill has already nearly tripled from eating clean and the juicing just adds to it. So I'm a gal that likes to have things quick and easy. This is not a "weight loss" supplement. 

So this stuff called "greens" really made me smile again. It made me feel better. It made me more energetic. It gave me the spark I needed to find myself again. God led me right to this and helped me get back up. You see friends, it didn't just help me stop having a little ole headache. The headaches owned me. They took my body over and sucked the life right out of me. So for me, it's more than just a headache relief. I have my life back. 

Fast Forward-- I've been headache and vertigo free for MONTHS! 

Funny story. I go out of town, husband calls, "Ash, where are the greens?" I'm like duh, with me. "WHY?"...he then proceeds to tell me he's been drinking it for weeks. I'm like why didn't you tell me Famous words of a man: "I didn't want to hear I told you so". HAHA

By the way, I am not on a single medication anymore.. Nothing. No Imitrex, nothing! Nada! <3

If you want to know more about the greens you can click here or email me benoitcreated@gmail.com.

So, what have I been doing in my workouts you might ask? 

Of course, lifting! And Running! I've also been doing the 21 day fix and LOVE IT! 

I have my first race..umm Color Run this weekend! Wish me luck. My family says I don't take any embarrassing photos--but this post proves other wise. Haha

Bottom line is, I know I have a long way to go. But I will put in the work. I will change again. Life can throw you curve balls, and the last 8 months have been some of the hardest in my life...but I'm a riser..I get back up and try again. 

Thanks for sticking with me through this journey! It's not over yet friends! 

<3 Ash<3 

Healthy Cooking and Living!

Hello there!  This is Nicole from Teaching With Style!

I live in beautiful Hawaii and my family spends most of our down time at the beach.  The kiddos LOVE to swim and surf the waves.  Hubby loves to paddle board and kayak, and we both recently got scuba certified.

You would think that by all this outdoor activity that we would be in great shape.  Well, we are not.  Between work and beach-going, I just get too tired to cook dinner and we end up with macaroni and hotdogs or hamburgers from the local diner.  It's bad.  I decided that this summer, I would challenge myself to make a change in the way my family eats!

I recently re-joined Weight Watchers.  I did it a couple years ago when my daughter was one.  It's a great motivation for me and I love the recipes.  I also bought some at-home work-out videos and Shakeology supplements from BeachBody.  This is the same company that does P90X, Insanity, and Brazilian Butt Lift.  I opted to go for Turbo Fire, because I like upbeat, dancey types of workouts.

So my plan: eat healthy and work out every day.  I'm not going to do my videos everyday, but switch it up with a hike once a week, swimming in the ocean or pool once a week, a local yoga class once a week, then Turbo Fire the other days.

I have a recipe Pinterest board where I will be pinning my weekly recipes.  I can pull up the recipe on my iPad as I'm cooking, making it a lot easier than printing them out and having to organize all the paper.  We are almost through with week 1, and it's going really well so far!

Do you have dinner ruts like me?  Join me in turning that around this summer!