Hello beautiful people! I’m heading out of town for a long weekend to meet my beautiful twin nieces!! They’ll be 1 month old on Saturday! And of course, to visit my adorable nephew, as well! I’ll post about it when I’m back…you know, the joys of traveling, eating healthy on the road, and sleeping somewhere that isn’t my bed!! All while staying (relatively) healthy, of course!!

I hope you have a beautiful weekend!! See you in June!!

With love and wellness,

Whitney

As a Health Coach and an avid CrossFitter, I’d like to tell you that I *always* eat healthy and *never* have any issues with my diet, my body, my digestive tract, my sugar cravings, etc., etc. But that is so far from the truth, especially when life does what it does best…surprise you with big life changes you weren’t expecting!

If you’re anything like me, you probably think anyone working in the health industry is this “perfect” being who eats healthy, exercises the “perfect” number of hours a week, and lives this amazingly “perfect” life. But guess what? They…WE…are humans too! We have issues and we have setbacks and we eat things we aren’t supposed to, even knowing how we’ll react to them!! I know?! Isn’t that crazy?!

Let me share with you how I know this to be true! These past couple months, my life drastically changed when I wasn’t expecting it to (you can read about that here, if you’re interested). And I started *occasionally* indulging in little sweet treats here and there. Except that didn’t stay so occasional.

Let’s be clear about how NOT occasional it became…this past weekend alone, I made pancakes (mind you, they were gluten-free, but still full of sugar) with blueberries and blackberries along with maple syrup.  Not just once, but TWICE!! I also bought two packages of Justin’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups. I ate one on Sunday, and I’m pretty sure I ate the second on Monday or Tuesday. Let’s just say these had become staples for me at my weekly grocery store trips. Oh, and don’t even get me started on Larabars. I was having at least one a day, if not two! My sugar cravings were insane!!

I’ve also over-indulged on dairy, which I know doesn’t agree with me. I’ve had pizza more times than I care to admit over the past several weeks, I’ve been eating more greek yogurt, and my omelets and burgers (when eating out) have been smothered in cheese. In my mind, these have all been *occasional*.  Mind you, when viewed all together, I was actually overloading my system with copious amounts of sugar and dairy! And let’s just say neither agree with my system.

It wasn’t until this morning that I had a huge wake-up call that something wasn’t right. Yes, I am stubborn because I’ve had *several* wake-up calls before today, but I didn’t actually see it until today. Let’s see…where to begin. I haven’t been sleeping very well lately, getting in bed and tossing and turning, plus waking up completely exhausted, no matter how much sleep I actually get. I’ve been completely drained throughout the day and struggle through many of my work-outs. My face has been breaking out and I’ve been fighting some sort of sickness. My knees (and other joints) have been bothering me a lot more than normal. I have a weird rash/bumps on both my elbows/arms.

But here’s the big one…the one that you’d think would have been an “aha” moment for me. On Monday during my Crossfit workout, I had a major asthma attack…as in, my coach told me my lips were blue asthma attack. I haven’t had one in YEARS!! I don’t even carry an inhaler anymore because I have it under control. But let’s be straight with each other…that wasn’t enough for me!! I thought nothing of it, other than it was humid and that’s what caused my attack.

Enter my workout this morning. It was humid, but didn’t think anything of it. I started out pretty strong…and then came the burpees. And out went my breath. I finished the workout, but struggled with catching my breath. Afterwards, I asked my coach (the same amazing one from Monday) if my time was “slow” for an Rx workout, to which he immediately responded, “Yes.” He clarified what he meant and we talked about what could be causing my breathing issues this year since I had no problems last summer.

Let’s just say when I left the gym, I started doing some hard soul-searching. I was really trying to pinpoint why I was having these issues, because I felt like a complete failure at the gym. I needed that harsh truth this morning. Because only then did it finally hit me like a ton of bricks…it was my diet. Duh. Like, serious smack myself in the head duh.

We all have slip-ups…that once in awhile little treat or dessert or dairy (or whatever food triggers you may have). But when those once in awhile treats become an every day or every other day thing, it creeps up on you. I know it crept up on me. My body had been trying to tell me for weeks…I just wasn’t listening. Truthfully, I don’t think I wanted to listen.

So I’m here to ask you all to help hold me accountable. I am going to get back on track and hopefully kick my asthma’s butt (for the second time around)! I’m cutting out dairy and sugar, which may not be very pretty. I have a feeling my withdrawal symptoms aren’t going to be very fun!

Have any of you had these “aha” moments recently? Or been ignoring the things your body is telling you? Let’s go on this journey together! Because, let’s face it, it’s more fun (and easier) to do these things with someone else! Let me know in the comments what you’ve been struggling with…sugar cravings? Pizza addiction (who isn’t addicted to pizza?!)? A love for all things breaded?

I can’t wait to go on this journey with you! And I can’t wait to share my results of cutting out sugar and dairy…even more importantly, I can’t wait to get my breathing back on track so I can get back to kicking butt during my workouts!!!

With love and wellness,

Whitney

So I completed my ten days of meditation a couple days ago….it definitely became a habit!  I’ve kept it up and plan on continuing to do it every night before bed (or as needed).  I’ll admit, it was tougher than I thought to add in meditation every night…there were many late nights, especially while I was traveling, where all I wanted to do was crawl in bed and pass out.  But I still did my meditation…every night.  Even if it was only a 3 minute meditation, I still managed to get them in!  So if I can do it at midnight (when I had to wake up in a few short hours), then anyone can do it!!

I’ve noticed a few positive changes since adding it into my routine.  First, and the most obvious, is that I’ve been sleeping better.  I fall asleep faster because my mind isn’t racing with millions of thoughts, and I sleep through the night.  I wake up with a clear mind and my thoughts are much more positive throughout the day, as well!  That may not mean much to some people, but it’s amazing for me.  I have so many things to be positive for, but it’s often difficult to maintain that positive outlook all day, every day.  Meditation has helped me maintain that focus.

Another positive change I’ve noticed is that I’m much calmer…my anxiety is not quite as crazy as it can be.  I have a bad habit of overthinking things and going over everything in my mind again and again.  It. Drives. Me. Crazy.  Meditation has helped calm that down.  Another side effect is that my thoughts are much clearer.  They aren’t all jumbled up and all over the place.  I can’t tell you how amazing that is!  I seem to make decisions much easier, and I don’t go back and forth over what I should do, or worse, trying to figure out what is “expected” of me.

I’m so happy to get back into meditation and to have these amazing results, just in a few short days.  I know this is something I will continue doing and continue seeing great results!

I traveled to Charleston, SC last week, my home town.  It seemed to fly by!  I had so much fun and visited with a lot of friends I hadn’t seen in awhile.  I also got to see my family, which is always a plus!  And yes, I kept up with my meditation while I was there.  My aunt even asked me about it!  I hope she gets into it and sees the same great results I have!

It’s been nice to be home and get back into my routine.  I missed my kitchen and cooking and eating healthy.  Like I said above, I had a few late nights so I wasn’t getting my sleep and I was eating out every meal (obviously), so I know I didn’t always make the best choices.  Needless to say, I’ve had a few breakouts as a result.  But I know they’ll clear up now that I’m getting home and getting back into my normal eating habits!  The real takeaway is that I had an awesome week and enjoyed my time away!  Because in the end, we only live once!  So we may as well live it up :)

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend, and are getting some much needed rest and relaxation!

With love and wellness,

Whitney

PS – I had to throw this picture in because I think it’s hilarious. Meditation will help keep you calm…dating a crossfit chick helps too :P

Happy Mother’s Day to all you beautiful, amazing mothers!  This is a day that’s meant to honor and celebrate you being a mother.  But in reality, every day should be spent doing that!  The sacrifices mothers make for their children is, in and of itself, one thing every mother needs to be celebrated for on a daily basis!

Truthfully, the same goes for you dads!  And yes, I know there’s a day celebrating dads too! But let’s change it up a bit and celebrate all the parents, grandparents, god parents, step-parents, pseudo-parents!  Because everyone in a child’s life deserves to be celebrated!

I hope you all enjoy your day and get spoiled beyond belief!  Rest, relax, and rejuvenate as I know you deserve it!!

With love and wellness,
Whitney

Let’s talk about meditation. I know, I know…I heard an audible groan across the internet. If you’re anything like me, the thought of sitting down for any period of time without moving or doing or thinking anything is unheard of. I can’t even get my thoughts to calm down for a meeting at work, let alone NOT think anything for several minutes in a row!!!

That was my initial perception of meditation. I thought it was sitting around, forcing your mind to be calm and not thinking about anything. So I always avoided it, even though I’d heard great things about it. I knew that calming my mind would be extremely beneficial, because my mind is *always* going a million miles a minute (and it’s not always a good thing!).

It wasn’t until a couple years ago when I started working with another health coach that I really learned what meditation was all about and how to go about doing it. I started with ten minutes a day…yes, that’s it! I used an app on my iPhone called HeadSpace. It’s initially free, but then you have to pay for it after the first 10 days (I believe, because I ended up not paying for it after the free trial was over). So I did it for 10 days, 10 minutes a day.

It was super easy!! Yes, you find a nice, quiet place to sit down and do it, but the guy from HeadSpace, who has a super sexy accent, speaks to you and guides you through the whole thing! All you have to do is listen to what he says and follow instructions. I mean, it’s that simple!!

After 10 days, I felt calmer, more relaxed, and able to make decisions quicker and easier. I was also sleeping better! I hadn’t done anything else but add in my 10 minutes a day of meditation! It was awesome!

I then found several other apps for my phone (that were free, of course) to continue on my quest for daily meditation. The one I like the most is called Guided Mind. They have several different meditations for various things in your life, such as insomnia, relaxation, grounding, affirmations, etc. They have several that are free, while others that you have to upgrade the app and pay for. But I’ve found the free ones have been extremely beneficial for me.

I wish I could say that I am diligent about meditating and I do it every day, but I don’t. I go through periods where I do it just about every day, and then I go through periods where it’s the last thing on my mind because I’m so busy. But I can tell you those are the times I need it most! There’s something about meditating that allows me to calm my mind, relax my overthinking and anxiety, and help make everything so much clearer. If you’re struggling with something, meditation may be your answer! I know when I need an open mind, meditation helps me open up and see everything without all the fog and other junk in the way. It also helps me sleep so much better!!!

I like to meditate at the end of the day, kind of as a way to show my body it’s time to calm down and get ready for bed. It also helps me clear my head so I don’t have a jumble of thoughts going on as I try to wind down and climb in bed. But for others, it’s helpful to meditate first thing in the morning to start the day with a clear head. There’s no right or wrong time to meditate, just as there’s no right or wrong way to meditate. Find the time that works best for you and add it into your routine…find a nice quiet place that you can relax…turn off all your electronics and really be in the moment. Allow yourself to be fully present and relaxed as you listen to the soothing voice in the app (yes, I know it’s on your phone, but there’s a way to play it without getting incoming calls and texts! I do it all the time!!).

I highly suggest you download one of the apps and see what all the hype is about. See how you react to it, how you feel after a few days of adding it into your routine. Are you more relaxed? More clear headed? Able to make those tough decisions a little easier?

I have an even better idea! Let’s do it together! Let’s meditate for the next ten days! You can do anything for ten days, right?!?! I’m going to start tonight as Day 1!! I hope you join me over the next ten days and see where we end up!

I look forward to hearing about your experiences in the comments!

With love and wellness,
Whitney