Choosing Wellness: What are you Drinking?

I grew up with a mom that was a firm believer in drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day.  If I poured some milk to drink, she was right there...

"How much water have you  drank today?"

I just rolled my eyes and drank my milk.

When I was nursing my first baby the nurse and still at the hospital, the nurse told me that I had to drink a lot of water to keep my milk supply up. I figured that water and Dr.Pepper was pretty similar so I drank both.  Not true!

What we drink and how much is really important. Keeping our bodies properly hydrated is not hard, yet the majority of Americans are dehydrated and don't even realize it.  If you are thirsty you are already dehydrated. If your lips are dry, chances are you are dehydrated. If you have a headache, you could be dehydrated.

I like this article by Dr. Mercola about dehydration. Take a moment to read it completely.

One of the first things I did when we became intentional about getting healthy was return to drinking mostly water. I am not good at measuring it, so I can't tell you if I am getting the right amount. An easy formula to tell you how much water you need is to take your weight & divide that by 2. That number is the amount of ounces of water you need a day. It's not an exact number, but a good place to start.

I get tired of just drinking water, so I like to add some citrus essential oils to my water. The citrus oils have some really important health benefits as well, so I'm not only flavoring my water, but maintaining my health as well.
My favorites are:
Lemon
Grapefruit 
Tangerine
 I get my oils here and do not recommend using any other brand internally as I cannot attest to the purity of them as I can to Young Living's EO's.


Herbal teas are ok, but be careful of the brands. Some have caffeine in them and others are not worth the trouble. If it won't benefit my health, then I'd rather just drink a Dr.Pepper. I still like them & I still want to drink them even though I choose not to...most of the time. At the time of this writing I am going on 14 days with no DP.

Back to the tea. One of the things we had to become very intentional about was reading labels and avoiding chemicals. We find chemicals in things we never dreamed...like herbal teas!

Here is a great blog post by the Food Babe concerning what is in our tea.

If you need to remove something you are drinking that is not healthy, make sure you replace it with something healthy.

I need to stop drinking coffee, but am not there yet. This is a process and I'm not ready to ditch my morning mug of Java yet.  Scott went cold turkey on the coffee. He replaced his morning cup of coffee with fresh juice! He is the rock star!!

We drink fresh juiced fruit & veggies through out the day. He juices carrots, beets, cilantro, spinach, celery, apples & oranges and so much more. I joke that if I don't use up the produce fast enough he will juice it. I have gone to the refrigerator many times to get veggies to make for dinner only to find that he juiced them already. The struggle is real! We need a frig just for our juicing produce!  We have a Jack LaLanne juicer and really like it. We have had it for almost 10 yrs.

But there is no way we could eat that many fruits & veggies in one day that we are getting in our juice.

In addition to that, we drink Ningxia Red by Young Living! This juice is an even bigger boost to our health than the juice we juice ourselves. This juice is very high in antioxidants and supports every body system. We have seen big improvements in our health since making this a part of our daily regimen.  Our immune systems are strong, I sleep better at night and Scott only needs one short power nap during the day instead of several like before.

So what are you drinking?

Are you hydrated well?

Is what you are drinking, giving your body what it needs to function and way God created it to?

Don't forget...if you remove an unhealthy beverage, make sure you replace it with a healthy one.

Choosing Wellness: What are You Thinking?

Do you realize how powerful your thoughts are?

Please don't mistake this post as a feel good- just think happy thoughts - kind of post.  That is not what this is. One of the biggest things that had to happen before we could begin to experience a healthier life was we had to start believing it was important. We had to start thinking we were worth the effort. We had to start thinking that we really could make a difference.

How you think about yourself really does matter!

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”—Albert Einstein 

I learned a long time ago that our imagination is more than pretending. It is simply creating a picture in your mind of what you want to accomplish.  It is actually a very powerful tool when it comes to making changes. Our mind is the most powerful organ in our body. And what we allow ourselves to think is equally as powerful. Scripture tells us what we should think about. 

Remember the "Whatever" verse in Philippians?

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8

What we think matters! It sets the tone for how we live, how we communicate, how we dream.

Zig Ziglar said, "Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will."

I love that, because it is so true. If all I say to myself is, "I will always be fat, I will always be sick." how I can I expect anything to be different. We always accomplish more when we are focusing on the positive.

Ok, so what in the world does this have to do with choosing wellness? It has a lot to do with it. 

First I had to decide I was tired of the cycle of bad habits I had created for myself. I had to believe that I was worth the change and that I could change. I had to know that I needed to change for the sake of my health & the health of my family. It had to be very important to ME. 

I made a short list of a few things I wanted to change. It was short, because I still wasn't totally convinced I would accomplish any positive changes.

Then I began to make simple changes that helped me get closer to those goals. Drink more water. Walk 2 miles a day. Put down my phone & close my laptop to spend time with my God & my family.

My thought process and habits were at times all that kept me from falling away because I didn't see a difference very quickly. If I told myself that it wasn't working or it didn't matter I would have quit.  But I had to keep the Lord's promises in front of me as a reminder that even though it is hard, it is important.

Find 5 verses that inspire you to press on. Write them down. Print them out. Post them where you will see them everyday. Quotes are good, but nothing keeps me going better than the Word of God.

The secret to your success lies in your ability to control your thoughts. I don't know about you, but I need a lot of help with this and the Lord has always been faithful.

Today is a new day, a new month, a new year! There is no better time than today to begin making changes that you have thought about making for so long. We are spiritually new in Christ because of his sacrifice for us! But, by his grace we are also given new days, new opportunities.  What are you going to do with them?