I miss my doggie!

Ten years ago, I decided I wanted to bring a puppy into my life. I saw an advertisement in the newspaper where a lady was selling Chihuahua puppies. I quickly called, made an appointment to see them, and went the next day. As I walked up to the box, I saw about six of them. They were TINY! haha, I loved it! They were only seven weeks old. While five of them were wrestling, one was just laying there. I picked her up and placed her in the palm of one hand. As I held her, she looked up at me and I said to myself, "this is the one!" I took her home that same day and took care of her as if she was my newborn baby. I watched her to make sure she was safe, clean, and well fed. At night she would cry because she was hungry, so I would get up to warm goats milk for her. As she drank it, her stomach would fill up and she looked like a little fur ball. I continued this until she was old enough to eat dog food. 

Once she got older we became BFFs, we were inseparable! Even though she was so small, she made me feel protected. At times, I would stop to think, "one day she will pass, so I need to cherish these moments." I did... I cherished every moment with her.

About two years ago, our time together got cut short and I made the decision to give her up. It was part of something I had to do in order to improve another part of my life. I had to move, which meant I had to let her go. I couldn't keep her! : ( 

There was a very nice family that ended up taking her. I talked to the lady the next day and told her it was very hard for me to let her go and if she ever decided she couldn't keep her to please let me know. She was very nice and told me she understood. She told me she was adjusting well and woke up to find her husband cuddling with her. I was also told she made a new friend with her other dog. They were in the backyard running around playing. After talking to her, it helped me in letting her go. My last thought of her is knowing that she is happy, so that made me feel better. She was a dog, but she was everything to me. It's hard for me to think about her, but I will never forget her. 

This whole experience has taught me that I can let go of something or someone special and survive through it. Once I let her go another door opened for me and now I am able to focus on myself. Like the quote above says, "it rewarded me with a new hello."

Juicing and Blending

I started blending and juicing soon after I began experiencing Chronic pain, due to Fibromyalgia. I have found that it has helped reduce the pain significantly, along with eating a healthy diet. I believe it helps give the body the nutrients it needs to begin in aiding the healing process. My pain has not completely gone away, but I do feel healthier than before.

Benefits of Juicing:

• Nutrients can be consumed at a high density
• Great for detoxing 
• It contains healing properties
• Easy to digest, due to lack of fiber
• Vitamins and Nutrients can be absorbed quickly (more so on an empty stomach)
• Can give a boost of energy

Benefits of Blending

• High in Fiber, due to the pulp (in return you will feel fuller longer)
• The Fiber helps stabilize blood sugar levels
• You can add things such as flax seeds, hemp hearts, peanut butter...
• Can be substituted for a complete meal, since it is packed full of fiber and nutrients 
• The fiber helps clean out the digestive system

I would really recommend juicing, blending or even both! What I like to do is juice things such as apples and pears, then add it as a base while blending. I blend a variety of greens such as spinach, kale, parsley, collards, mustard greens, etc. When adding the juice it overpowers the taste of the greens and tastes really good! When I first started blending I tried following recipes, but overtime I have found that a mixture of different fruits and vegetables can be added based on what vitamins, minerals and nutrients I am in need of. It's all about experimenting to see what works best.

It is important to drink juices and smoothies right away. After 15 minutes, light and air will destroy some of the nutrients. If not consumed right away, another option would be to store it in a dark airtight container.

Music

"Music is what feelings sound like"

-unknown

Ever since I was younger my parents would play music and I loved it! I can't remember the first time I heard it, but I imagine it something like this... I looked up, took a moment to listen, my foot started tapping (even though I was a baby), my legs started bending repeatedly, then my arms took over and the next thing I knew I was knocking everything over with my FRESH dance moves. Haha... It was great! ; ) I have always loved music, it speaks what cannot be expressed. I listen to it for fun, when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm exercising... I have also noticed that if I'm feeling sad, once I play upbeat music it completely transforms my mood. It's like eating, I will never get tired of it! 

Some apps/websites that I use are...

http://www.pandora.com

https://www.spotify.com (my favorite right now)

             

Living a happy life

Life can be stressful. Some people stress more than others. I have always been one to stress out about everything. "I need to pay the bills on time, can't be late to work, should I buy that, do I have enough money, I want to exercise, will I have time, have to finish my paper work!" There were more thoughts where that came from, but that's just an example of some things that I would worry about. My life was go go go... Then one day I realized that I wasn't happy, so I made a change. Change is challenging, I know... I've been there. I had to make the biggest decision of my life to get where I am today.


Then I started experiencing chronic fibromyalgia pain. It took me awhile to accept that I will be living with this for the rest of my life, but once I did, I created a new path to happiness. I discovered that this life shouldn't be about worrying all the time. I want it to be about making myself happy and taking time out of the day to do that. That's how life should be.. It should be about enjoying the time we have here, doing things that we love doing, and taking time out to do those things. So STOP and ask yourself, "am I happy?" If you are, keep doing what your doing. If your not, try to make a change so that you are... even small changes count. Your happiness should be one of your top priorities... then we can get to all that other stuff later...

My health/fitness journey

Hello, I wanted to share a story with you today about my fitness/health journey. "Warning" long story. I will try to make it as short as possible. 

I want to start off by saying, throughout my life, fitness has always been a good friend to me. It is very therapeutic and helps boost my mood. For that, I will continue to do it until I am physically unable to anymore. I'm not addicted, I'm passionate and proud of it! : )

I started off being physically active at a very young age. Growing up, I received my black belt in Karate. I was so dedicated to fitness that I would run in place in my small room, along with other random exercises I would come up with at the time. I had no idea what I was doing, but HEY I tried. When that became too repetitive I started to run circles in the backyard (still repetitive). When I got a little older, I upgraded to running in parks and beaches (ahhh much better). Then played basketball in high school. In college I took classes such as women's conditioning, kickboxing, weight training, weight training, weight training... well you get the idea. I took so many P.E. classes that I hit my limit and wasn't able to take anymore. It was fun, while it lasted! After college I started to exercise on my own again, but for some reason it was getting harder and harder for me. I would go through times where I would exercise a lot, then stop, then exercise, then stop. I think anxiety/stress got the best of me. I got to a point in my life where I stopped exercising for years and gained weight. I was on a strict fast food diet... breakfast, lunch, and dinner with no exceptions! (not really it just happened to turn out that way) I ended up gaining 40 pounds! It might not be that much, but it definitely effected my mood and health. I became really depressed.

Then one day it hit me... I thought to myself, "I am going to make a change!" I wanted to do it for no one other then myself. I went to my boyfriend (at the time) and said, "I'm going to try to get in shape, can you support me by not encouraging really yummy unhealthy foods?" He said, "ok" and I said "ok lets do this!" I started off by cutting down my daily calorie/fat/sugar intake, such as fast food, candy, soda, juice, chips, cookies... (you know all that good stuff) and started to exercise daily. I would allow one day where I would eat whatever I wanted, then go back to being strict for the rest of the week. It really worked! I ended up losing 40 lbs. and got back down to my original weight. It was NOT easy and took a lot of self-motivation, but I did it and I felt A LOT better. Exercising gives me self-confidence, energy, and happiness. 

Years went by and I continued to keep my weight at a healthy level. I was able to achieve this, even without regular exercise, by being extra careful with the foods I was consuming on a daily basis. 

Several years later, I got back into my exercise routine. Then, suddenly, I was struck with full blown fibromyalgia. I was in the most pain I have ever been in my life! It was crippling and I felt like I was dying! (for full story check out the my journey tab above) I was depressed and in soooooo much pain, from the time I woke up to the time I fell asleep. This scared me, so I completely changed my lifestyle in hoping that I would instantly get better. I started off by eating unprocessed foods (for the most part), cutting out gluten, drinking a lot of water, and incorporated green smoothies on daily basis. I went through chronic pain for about 6 months because I was too stubborn to consistently stay on any of the medications I was being prescribed. It got to the point where I told myself, "I can't live like this anymore, I NEED TO TAKE THE MEDICATION!" I gave in and took medication for about 5-6 months along with physical therapy. The medication helped me by covering up most of my pain, which allowed me to exercise again. That was all fine, but I felt as if I wasn't getting anywhere. The Dr. was prescribing me medication over and over. It became a routine and I was unhappy with the progress. I decided to take control! I started off by slowly stopping the medication, while continuing to stretch and exercise. At this point, it was challenging because I was able to feel some of the pain again in my muscles, joints, and nerves. I felt 30 years older, than I actually was. Yet, I was determined and pushed through it. I starting really slow and wasn't going to give up! 

My next step was to began reading articles on fibromyalgia and holistic healing. In researching, I found that fibromyalgia symptoms can improve by treating it from the source. I started to catch on and found that I was experiencing lactic acid and nerve pain. I feel as if, I would have never discovered this if I would have continued taking the medication. On the other hand, the medication was the first step in the healing process. It helped by relaxing my muscles and lowering my inflammation, so for that I am thankful. I then, researched natural remedies. Out of nowhere, (online) I discovered natural calm plus calcium. I have been taking that for about a month now and have felt a big improvement. A couple of days ago, I was able to run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I didn't expect to do that again, but I did and in return I felt so happy and energized!

Now, I want to switch to using hemp seeds in my smoothies and see how that works out for me. Hemp seeds seem to be what I am looking for right now. It consists of magnesium, calcium, protein, iron (to fight my anemia) and some other good stuff that I cant remember at the moment.

In conclusion, I am now pretty stable. I still have my moments where I am in pain, but I can tell that I am, in fact, getting better. I am able to consistently exercise five days a week. I stretch, walk on the treadmill, and follow workout videos on YouTube. I am slowly experiencing times where I feel "normal" without pain.  It is such a great feeling to feel like an improved version of my old self. I feel much happier and healthier.

This experience has inspired me to get into the holistic nutrition field. I want to help people that are going through the same thing or any other health related issues that they want to overcome. I will be starting that journey very soon.  

If your experiencing something similar, I encourage you to continue fighting. Things can get better. It takes a lot of time, patience and energy, but overtime you might find strategies that work best for you. Try to start slow and build up your strength from there. If you need any help along the way you can message me and I would be more than happy to help.

Note: I am not a professional. All of the information comes from my own personal experience. 

Positive Thinking

I have always tried to stay positive for others. Meaning when talking to someone I would try to look on the brighter side of everything for them.... I would say something like the example above. I guess I would do that in front of them, but inside I have always been hard on myself. Sometimes the negative thoughts seem to creep in more often then I would like them to.

I have such a great boyfriend that is very supportive of me. With him, I feel as if I am being guided in a new direction and am now starting to view life differently. I now see life as a place to have fun and find inner happiness for my own well-being.

Yes I do have physical pain, but I am learning to cope. I do this by trying different techniques that help manage my pain. Once I started experiencing chronic pain, I was determined to get better! The only one that can help me is myself, so I started doing research on fibromyalgia and on the different techniques used to manage the pain. Not everything is going to work for everyone the same, but in trying these things it gives me a sense of hope.


Some of the things I do are...
1. Stopped drinking coffee
2. Exercise regularly (started really slow, I mean really REALLY slow, and built some of my strength back)
3. Drink a lot of water
4. Drink green smoothies daily
5. Kicked gluten to the curb 
6. Stay away from processed food
7. Stretch before and after exercising
8. Use a heating pad
9. Take supplements (natural calm plus calcium)
10. Try to stay positive (I know... easier said then done, but I'm working on it)

What I do to try to stay positive...
1. Listen to happy and fun music
2. Look on the brighter side of things
3. Read inspirational/funny quotes on Pinterest and tumblr
4. Communicate my feelings more (growing up I never talked about "feelings"...what is that? If a situation came up where I needed to I would feel AWK-WARD! They were too mushy-mushy. Now that I'm older, I find it really helps to communicate and I'm ok with it...shhhh don't tell anyone).
5. Exercise regularly and eat healthier options (fitness and nutrition really play a BIG role in the way I feel).
6. Set goals
7. Try to accept things and move on
I'm still working on myself, but things are definitely getting better... 

Info on the three amigos... fibromyalgia, lupus, and anemia.

I was researching information on fibromyalgia, lupus, and anemia to learn more about them. I came across a helpful site that I want to share with you. On the website there is also a search box that you can use to search any health concerns that you might have for yourself.


When some people hear the word anemia they might automatically jump into to thinking, "he/she isn't eating enough".... That is not always the case, there may be an underlying issue taking place in the body that a person isn't aware of...

If you are interested in learning more click on the links below...
Anemia: http://womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/anemia.html#a
Lupus: http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/lupus.html#a
Fibromyalgia: http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/fibromyalgia.html

Wah!

I've been to so many Drs and haven't really felt like they were doing as much as they could to help me with my chronic pain and mysterious illness. I understand that it is challenging to diagnose someone when all the tests are coming out negative, but the pain is real and sometimes even scary. Some Drs mentioned autoimmune disease, fibromyalgia, connective tissue disorder, lupus, etc. Just recently I switched to a different Dr for the 4th time. At this point I am tired... my body is tired, my mind is tired, and I am exhausted from telling the same things over and over again to Drs only to find it gets me nowhere. Anyways, this new Dr seems to be interested in helping me. Whew.... finally I feel like I am getting somewhere. About two weeks ago I had a blood test done and got my results.... everything was normal, except I tested positive for a lupus screening and it showed I am anemic. There wasn't too much information there, but the Dr is referring me to a rheumatologist to further investigate. I am so thankful for this Dr because he sits down and thoroughly explains everything to me, than takes the time to answer my questions. So if you are going through something similar, try not to give up! There has to be someone out there that can help. It might be frustrating, take time, patience, strength, energy and a lot of research, but in the end it will all be worth it once you find the right Dr...

Thankful

Awwww...