Tell Your Trainer to Take Her Fad Diet and Shove It (nicely of course)

From time to time I will use a trainer.  It seems indulgent, but I enjoy the challenge; it encourages me to mix up my routine; and will rescue me if I have been a total slug.  For example, the holiday indulgences that seem to have been going on forever....we all splurge; it's a part of enjoying life, but it's time to get back on track.

But I digress, my trainer and I had words.  She sent out instructions to start juicing to get into the swing of getting back into shape.  She told me I needed to detox.  That it was going to make me lose weight quick and fast.  I told her to take her juicing philosophy and keep it to herself.  I don't believe in juicing as a diet.  First off, if I am going to drink my calories, it's going to be a glass of wine.  I don't drink soda, sweetened beverages, fancy coffee mixes, etc. for this very reason. I like to eat my calories.  Most drinks and juices are unnecessary sugars added to your diet that you don't need unless you are having a once in awhile indulgence.  Second, I like to EAT my calories (did I mention this before).  I must be part cow.  I need to masticate to be satisfied.  Juicing doesn't do it for me.  And if I am not satisfied by my meal, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will cheat.  My body needs food, and it needs real food; yours does too.  Take all those fruits and veggies you stuffed in that juicer and chow your way through a salad.  I guarantee you will feel FULL.



There is a whole philosophy behind juicing.  If that's your thing, knock yourself out.  It isn't like it is unhealthy per se, but if I am going to turn a bunch of fruits and veggies into a drink (I'd rather eat them anyway....did I mention I like to EAT?), I will turn them into a smoothie.  I think juicing is inherently wasteful of the food God gave us--there is SOOOO much waste of food to get a tiny old glass of juice. Plus, you get rid of all the good fiber when you juice that makes you feel full and helps with regulation (you know, going to the bathroom.....).  The fiber God put into fruits and vegetables is REALLY important.

The other issue with this whole approach to juicing to "detox" and create a lifelong diet for yourself, is that it doesn't work for most people. Most people like me, like food.  They want to eat.  Juicing isn't going to be a magic bullet to your food issues.  You may lose weight juicing in a short fix diet, but it will do nothing to help you maintain a long term weight loss and establish a healthy diet that you can live with.  Juicing sets up this mind set that you need to eat a certain way, focus on an elimination diet of things you can't have, and then when you have done all that, then you'll be skinny. 

Well that's the complete wrong approach and it makes me mad that trainers set up clients for this failure.  You know how to lose weight?  Quit trying to be skinny. Quit thinking there is a one size fits all to your body.  God created you wonderfully, fearfully, awesomely made as you are. You need to love yourself.  Not everyone is going to be stick thin.  You want to lose weight?  Fix your issues with food.  Then, eat real food that God gave you, in moderation, WHEN YOU ARE HUNGRY (God save me from another trainer that tells me I need to eat every two hours.  I'm not HUNGRY every two hours).  If you are hungry every two hours, that might be a different story, but any which way you look at dieting there are two facts:  No two people are made the same way, and no one diet is going to fit every single person.  THERE IS NO MAGIC BULLET TO WEIGHT LOSS.  It takes discipline, eating a variety of healthy foods, moderation, listening to your body, eating real foods, exercising, and getting back on track when you slip off the wagon, and learning to love yourself at whatever size God has made you.  I could be a heck of a lot skinnier than I am, but I'd also be a heck of a lot unhappier.  I'm healthy as I am, I'm tough, I'm a fighter, and I am REALLY, really happy that God made me as I am (broken bits and all).

It's one thing if you don't know HOW to eat healthy, but I actually do, and I really resent this bill of goods that the fitness industry tries to sell us every January that there are magic bullets to get us fit and healthy and well.  It isn't true.  LIFELONG FITNESS TAKES establishing a routine of HABITS that you repeat OVER and OVER and OVER until they are a part of your life.  Juicing for ten days isn't going to establish a habit. It takes MONTHS to establish a habit.  MONTHS.  And it is sooooooo worth it.  Kick, the crap out of your kitchen--the processed foods, the excessive sugar.  Focus on food from God's good earth.  Make these nutrients a habit.

Forming good habits is hard work.  Try brushing your teeth with the other hand for a week.  Does it become natural?  No.  It could take up to six months to make that habit switch in your brain.  Try eating with your non-dominant hand, or writing with your other one.  You've formed a habit with these behaviors and it takes a lot of focus and determination to change those habits.  Our habits are rooted in what we've been taught, how we were raised, what we were instructed about food, what we were given as a diet growing up, how we sleep, how we exercise, how we've used food and negative thoughts to cope, or how we have developed addictions.  Until you address the root of your issues, and learn that YOU HAVE VALUE, then a lot of your behaviors are not going to change.  This is why so many new year's resolution's fail, because the individual hasn't addressed the issue at the heart of what they want to change.

If you cannot change your habit for yourself, consider changing it for your health, your family, and for God.  Dedicate your new year to loving yourself as the temple of Christ in this world around you.  Dedicate your body to mind, body and spiritual wellness. For forty days, thinking about changing the way you think about yourself, your exercise, your body and your food.  Maybe then change will begin to happen.  You are worth it.  You have a purpose here and being healthy is a part of that journey.

But for the love of God, don't think that juicing for ten days is going to do that for you.


****Some people really love fresh juice.  Good for them.  There is a ton of healthy vitamins and minerals in a good juice.  It's just not my thing.  And yes, I've done that.  I had a juicer and I swapped it with my pal Sara for a couch.  That's kind of the relationship I had with my juicer.  :)  If it is your thing, own it, but own it for the right reasons.

Love y'all--love all of y'all and how you are made.
~Anna

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On the 1st Day of Christmas....

....It was time to get in shape. What?  Are we really going to talk about fitness and health on the Lord's birthday?

Yep. 

If there is one thing I know about, it's getting back into shape after a hiatus for health reasons. As I've written about in my book "Christ Walk" sometimes fitness and health are where you are in your life at that moment. It may not always be in the fighting shape you want, but we can still have goals and we can still get back to our fitness levels when we are able to so so again. Fitness is not a static moment in time.  Fitness is not a status quo moment. Fitness comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and skills at varying points in your life. 

But for me this Christmas, I've decided to take a very literal view of Jesus' birth and look at my own body and life that need to be transformed as I head into this season of waiting. 

I could wait on my butt and feel sorry for myself as we wait to see what the cancer does, or I can look at Christmas as the beginning of a new me and a new chapter of my life. Now that we are settled (mostly) and my body has healed from the surgeries (mostly) and life is returning to some sort of norm (sort of), I'm ready to focus on getting back into shape and making this body a lean, mean, cancer-fighting machine. In cancer-ville, they call this the "wait and watch" treatment. Well, "wait and watch" and see what I can do with me and my body over the next couple of months. It's watch and see me transform time. 

That means daily walks with God, goals of 10K steps or more, healing fruits and vegetables from God's earth, building back my push up strength one push up at a time.  It's learning to run again. It's learning to do burpees again and it's learning to zen again.   It's a time of rebuilding and this does not happen over night. 

It's a slow and often frustrating journey to look at what you need to do in your life to be healthy again, but it's worth it. It's often frustrating to look back and see where I was versus where I am now. But my goal and your goal should be to be in the now on the path you are on. Look ahead to where you can be in the future and not living in the past. Being stuck in where you were in the past really keeps you from moving forward in your journey. Physically turn yourself around and look to a new direction of where you want to be and take that step towards it. 

For Christmas, give yourself the gift of health one step at a time. 

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Day 32: Making Bad Good

Today I had the opportunity to go back and serve at an outreach opportunity that I have been involved at my church. Once a month, we host a free community meal. I have been understandably absent the last two months and I have missed my kitchen peeps. Cooking in the kitchen for this meal is truly one of the highlights of my service to God. It is a physical expression of everything I believe. It was so good to be back in the kitchen. 

And my kitchen peeps told me they missed me. My salty humor and all. And I missed them. It was a bittersweet day because a) I didn't have the energy to stay there all day and b) it was my last time serving before we move. 

I've found that in the midst of the chaos of my life; the grief, the anger, and the pain, there are two things that make me feel real and normal again: 

1) Serving others. Everyone has sorrow going on in their lives. Yeah--I've got a doozy of crap on my shoulders right now, but looking outside of myself keeps me from wallowing in self pity. I'm human people--I can make this all about me with the best of them. Serving others reminds me that I am not the only person in pain, with tragedy or with frustrations. We are all in this human condition together. 

2) Exercise. Physically--after cooking all morning--I had to come home and take a nap. I've found my cancer makes me tired. I either take a nap or go to bed really early. It is what it is. Today I got a nap and a second wind and headed out for a walk. I miss running and weight lifting, but this is my Christ Walk now. And I know when I have not been able to walk. My mood is down. I feel physically drained and I don't cope as well with my anxiety and fear. My walk keeps me off my personal roller coaster. And it makes me feel normal and alive. As long as I walk, my cancer may be my personal parasite, but it's not owning me. I own it. And when I walk, I am able to pray. I am able to pray in some really deep ways that I am unable to do alone in my room or as I lay down for bed at night. I am able to cry behind my sunglasses and tell God how much I would really like to just put my head on his shoulder and rest. I am able to say that I really just don't want to die. I know I'll have my place in heaven, but I have so much more to do here. I am comforted on my walks that God is with me and I am free to be me. Tears, anger, frustrations and fears and all. And I always come back feeling better. 

So I think the two things I've learned to cope with this, no matter how things progress is that to continue to serve others and to walk with God and pray and cry will get me through my bad days. 

Cause as everyone asks "How are you?" My honest answer is there are bad days and good days and I think that continue no matter what. 

For today, I give thanks because

Today was a good day. 

Where have I been???

Lord have mercy!  It has been almost two months since I have posted a blog.  I am hanging my head in shame.  WHERE have I been?  I have been asking myself that question a lot lately.  Where is the time going? Where did the month of July go?  Where did the month of August go?  School?  School is starting?  Where did summer go?  We are talking about moving again????

Without fail, life happens.  It is one of my phrases to describe my life.  It just happens some days.  I do not have to do much these days but watch as it unfolds since I have my hands in the thick of so many activities.  Without fail, I usually over-extend myself and my head begins to spin.  I am much like any other mother out there. Sometimes we need a mother of our own to keep up with what we have managed to get ourselves involved in.

So what is new?  I ran my race:

We traveled like crazy people (but we got to hike, exercise, see the God's amazing world and do burpees along the way!)

(I did this burpee challenge this summer to keep myself committed to exercise during the craziness of my schedule.  You can ready more about the 100 day burpee challenge here.  I don't advise it.  This is the second time I've done it and I'm really not sure why I did it again.  I'm a glutton for punishment.




I then traveled for work. And then spent the next couple of weeks trying to resolve some health issues.  Just when you think you have your body in shape and in control, it has other ideas.  The body is WEIRD.


Then I celebrated my 16th anniversary to my love:


Somehow, we got the kids ready for school:

And I completely redesigned my blog, my facebook page and my twitter account in anticipation of the new book release (so excited!  Fist pump!)

You can pre-order it here.


This is kind of how I feel now:


But it has been an amazing summer and I am getting back in the swing of things and ready to share my thoughts, feelings and teachings on a healthy, Christ-centered life: mind, body and spirit.

If there is anything this summer has taught me is that it is a balance of mind, body and spiritual health that gets me through the craziness of life happening.  This way, it's more than just a ride, It's an expression of all that I am.