Mamavation Monday ~~~~ Working on getting out of my head

I am my own worst enemy when it come to dealing with that little voice in my head. You know the one. 

"You can't do this"

                              "It's too hard"

 "You'll always be a size 10 or higher"

                                              "You have no willpower"

I know it is all in my head. I know I can conquer this. I also know that I might need some help. It is a hard thing to admit for some.  Now with my weight-loss goals on hold, I just need to keep the gain in check. Which means continuing exercise and watching the intake of food. I need to not let the cravings and lack of desire to eat to not take over.

I know I create most of my failure. I'm scared to get out of my comfort zone. I am afraid to succeed at things sometimes because then next time I will have to do even better. I have a view in my head and it is someone who is not me. It's not even my body type which makes my goals often completely unrealistic. 

I also wonder what the point really is in this time of my life. What is the point of killing myself to lose weight when it will all come back once I get pregnant again? Well there is a point and I know it , I need to be healthy. not skinny, healthy! But knowing and doing is very different. 

I need to keep working, I need to keep moving forward. I need to get out of my head.

Raising them up

I saw this on Facebook today and it made me think

Who are our children becoming? Are we concerned about the children and the stewards they are going to be? I know I am but are you?

Now a days we can't seem to do anything right as a parent. It sucks.  There are how to books for you to learn how to be a better parent. There is the older generations who have their ideas and they just aren't allowed any more. 

"Yes Grandma I know you were spanks and switched and you learned your lesson, but if I even thought about it for too long Little Timmy would be taken away and put into foster care."

Now I'm not supporting spanking or violence but things are different then they were back then.  So often the older generations idea would end up getting us into a lot of trouble for even considering it, never mind actually acting on it. With the abuse rates so high and getting higher hitting is not something to be joked about. There are times though where I have either had my child or seen another child and thought " Man that kid need a swift kick in the butt." 

So with Grandma and Grandpa's parenting techniques nixed, on to the self help books. THERE ARE SO MANY! Once again they cover a range from forcing children to cry and become independent to completely coddling or letting the child run wild with freedom.  There seems to be no base line and any kook can write a parenting book and get published these days it seems. 

So what do you do. well I think you need to figure out what you want for your child and go from there. Do you want someone who is scared of you and will always do your biddings? Do you want a child who is rude and demanding and treat others like crap? Do you want want some one who is kind?

Who you want to see your child as is who you need to parent them to be. If you see that your child is going in the opposite direction of the behaviour and attitude you want then maybe you need to change your parenting. You can still be a loving and kind parent with rules and boundaires. You don't have to hit your child because they are wayward. You do though have to think about who you are leaving in this world. It is our job as parents to rasie respectable human beings and honestly there are a lot of us failing. We as parents need to step up and think about it a bit further.

We have children to raise them. We can raise them up to be good people or we can not. It really is up to our parenting to whom we leave this world to when we are gone.

Cuca-apple Salad

Cuca-apple  Salad

This is a nice quick salad. Easy to throw together and different from you normal.

6 Mini Cucumbers
1 cup of diced Tomatoes (fresh)
2 rings of Pineapple ( fresh is best)
1 handful of Mint (fresh)
1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp Chia seeds





Chop up the fruit and veggies and place them in a bowl. Dice up the mint and add it to the bowl. Top with balsimic vinegar and chia seeds. toss. Place in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour to let all the flavour mingle. Toss again and serve.

Servings for approximatley 3 people

Check out

So I hope by now it is pretty apparent that we are all a little different. Now two people are exactly the same. Also no two parents deal with their children the same way. Everyone has their little grievances that grate their nerves a bit more. But that is okay!

As long as your child is happy and thriving, people should support you, right!?!?!?! WRONG

People judge, they are all Judgey McJudgersons. It's true, it a fact. The internet is full of them the blogging world is full of them. You can't do much with out some one judging you. You can't look at your phone at the park. You can't just take a "me" day and let the kids watch TV and eat junk all day. You even can't be the most doting parent who preps every meal in cute shapes and spends every waking moment playing and engaging with their child.

I have been judged for a lot of things. Sometimes things I do or don't do. The nature of it is it sucks. In this world sometimes I feel like I'll never be enough. I can't do it all. I don't even want to do it all. I love my kids but yes some days I'll lock myself in the bathroom to have a moments peace. That doesn't even work because they on right on the other side of the door. Some days my hubby gets home and all I can think about is leaving the house with out the tiny beasts. Does it make me love them any less? No, it quite simply means I know my limits. I don't spend every waking moment with my best friend for days on end without needing a me break. With out phasing out and checking my phone to see what is going on or if I have e-mail. Some times we just need space.

So I would love to say stop judging me, but you wont. Honestly I'll judge you too! If you know I see you doing something that I think is totally awful and horrible. Like totally helicoptering over your poor child who just wants to play. But hey we are all human, at least I think we all all, unless you are a cyborg. If you are that is cool too! Can we just show a little bit of love.

While  yes it would be awesome to be able to do something without being climbed over, but you know what my kids love me and they know I am hear for them so if it takes, you know, an hour to write a small post. It happens. Yes I get annoyed sometimes and completely pissed off other days. I'm a mom who spends many of her waking hours with small  people  who can be very demanding and in my face ALL THE TIME. They are only young for a bit and some day I thank God for that. Other days I wish they would stay little for a bit longer because they are growing up too fast.

I love my kids and some days  in order to love them better. I need to check out!

Do you check out? You know you do, it's okay to admit it!

Wordless Wednesday ~~~~~ Offering Healthy choices

Mamavation Monday~~~~~~ For the love of the run

Today the world was once again shocked but the actions of others. Today there was an attack on the Boston Marathon. It is easy to say that it shook the world. Even non runners know about this marathon, it is the holy grail for most runners to even be able to qualify for it.

Today was scary for everyone but especially for many runners, who aspire to run in high profile races. I hope in the days to come we can get some answers for this. 

I will still continue to run on my own but right now high profile races are off my radar. I know everyday there are risks and some I just choose not to take. While in Canada the levels of bombings are much lower, taking the risk still feels too scary today. 

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

So yummy and so good for you. There are times when you are changing your diet and things get hard. You don't know what to do or how to stay on track.

Trying to find good easy healthy things to make can be a challenge. Enter Spaghetti Squash. I really like it for it's versatility, an awesome sub for pasta as well. With this recipe it was quite simple and you can change it for what is in your fridge.

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

1 Spaghetti Squash 

1/2 beet grated

1 carrot

1 avocado

1 cup artichoke pieces

1/4 onion

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Take the squash and cut it n half and scoop out the seeds and goop.Pleace them on a baking sheet, insides up. Lay the beet around the inside of the squash. Take the rest of the vegetables and lightly saute them. Then place them evenly in each squash half. Place in oven and cook for approximately 30 minutes, or till squash is soft and pokeable.

Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. scoop out and serve. Top with hemp hearts for added protein :)

stuffed squash with kale chips and walnut"meat"

Calorie- smalorie

Who hate counting calories? I know I do. So what do I do about, well I simply don't count.

I know it's crazy right. How can you possibly be trying to lose that last bit of baby weight and get into shape if you don't count calories or points. How to I work towards my desired weight? Well I make smart choices. I eat whole real food. I'll be honest I tried to count calories for or about 6 days. Drove me crazy. I don't eat much for pre packaged food so I would have to input my entire recipes with quantities , ugh and figure out servings and all the stuff. I like cooking, not figuring stuff like that out. So I stopped, really was sucking the joy out of cooking for me.

I don't have anything agaisnt people who do calorie count. It is something that I just can't figure out.


Now I do fully acknowledge calories on processed foods. I can see the calories on the package, that I understand. When I go out or have a packaged snack I keep in check those calories. Mainly because I do not have full control of what is in the products. I like to know what is in my food and because I can't dissect everything and ingredient lists don't always appear fully forth coming with big fancy words that hide different things.

I also don't fully understand how you get your calories burned unless you are on a tread mill and have it monitoring for you. I understand that you need to record your heart rate and all that but another fancy tool that I just don't have the time or the money for.

I prefer really to keep it simple. what what I eat, keep it whole food high in nutritional value. keep processed foods low. And keep your body moving, find exercise in everything thing you can do. Keep pushing and keep moving.

Do you count your calories? If you do how do you do it?

Mamavation Monday ~~~~~ Travelling & Eating Healthy

We just had a wonderful family vacation

Las Vegas and Disneyland! It was a wonderful vacation, full of lots of walking, most days ended up with 8-12 + hours of walking). So we got our exercise in, and I was carrying Lil Squish most of the time in the carrier. Where we didn't do as good was our diet.  With our place in Las Vegas we were n a condo with a full kitchen, wonderful we were able to cook our meals, money savings and much healthier foods. Once in Buena Park CA our hotel had a "kitchenette" which equates to a microwave and a bar fridge. Not quite what I was expecting but we made it work.

Breakfast usually was just cereal. It is quick and easy. I am not a morning person. We packed snack for the kids , natural granola bars, oranges for the kiddos to eat. Lunch we would go back to the room, and have what Bobo likes to call a snack lunch, Veggies, fruit and a sandwich. Dinners we another thing some days. Often we were going out, looking cheaper options too to keep the budget friendly Unfortunately when you are going for cheaper it is hard to get quality. I tried my best but some days I just felt like I couldn't win. 

I accept it though, travelling and things will slip. I did what I could with the resources I had at the time. Plus side I didn't gain weight on vacation like I often do, so I guess we can all have a little win. 

A little Vegan Sex in a Dish

The other day I was poking around on some blogs and I found this little gem. Vegan Sex sounds super yummy to me so I figured I had noting to lose with trying it. Due to the fact that following recipes is not really my forte I took a few liberties. This is the second go at it. We tried the lemon first and it was too strong and because I was out of lemon but had a lime we used that and OMG!

Ingredients

1-2 roasted sweet potato/ yam ( depending on where you are they are called different things, the orange one!)
1 lime juiced
1/2 cup quinoa
10 cherry tomatoes
1 cucumber
1 avocado
Salt & pepper


Preheat the oven to 425 and place the pierced sweet potato/yam on a baking sheet. ( trust me on this on I just put it on the rake and it oozed and burnt and smelled like burnt marshmellows)
Cook the half a cup of quinoa according to package ( usually a 2:1, so full cup of water for this) Chop up the cucumbers and tomatoes into bite sized pieces and set aside. Take the avocado  lime juice and slat and pepper and blend together to make a nice creamy bunch of deliciousness  :) Once the sweet potato / yam is roasted.,about an hour or so depending on the size. ( we had a giant one on steroids ) Remove the skin and mash it up, feel free to add butter if you you feel the need but we didn't. Take cooked quinoa and add the cucumber and tomatoes and mix. Next put some sweet potato/ yam on a plate top with the quinoa salad and then the avocado dressing. Pair with a yummy salada and there you go. Enjoy!

Serving ~ 4-5 people

What is real health

Health is really a holistic thing, it is not about just doing one thing. You, all of you, body, soul and mind all need to be going towards a common goal of health.

For most people the place they tend to start is the idea of getting healthy is working out hard and getting skinny. Big thing right there. SKINNY DOES NOT EQUAL HEALTH. I want that permanently etched in to your brain. Yes healthy people tend to be leaner and their body portions tend to proper. Though just because some is skinny does not mean they are healthy.  The same can go the other way, just because you aren't skinny doesn't mean you aren't healthy. We all have different shaped bodies, there is no mold everyone is a bit different.

Your Body: You need movement it is a need without you will waste away. You know the saying " use it or lose it". This couldn't be more true. Stretching, lifting walking moving your body in many different ways is best for your health. Also getting checked by people who special in bodily health ( massage therapists & Chiropractors) is really good for the things you can't do yourself.

Your Mind: You thoughts even fleeting ones can shape you. If you have regular toxic thoughts in your mind, the toxicity will be in your life. You need to be thinking healthy to move towards being being healthy. Are you think that it is hard and something you could never do? Then it will be hard and something you will never do! Your thoughts are amazingly powerful, let them have the power to help you

Your Soul: Whether you believe in any sort of divinity or not is irrelevant. You have something about you that controls and centers you. Many people work on focus with yoga, meditation and prayer. yours needs to be positive and believe in you. Before others can believe that you will make the change you have to believe that you will make the change.


Think about you as a whole not just the parts that make you whole!