The Days of Boring Lunches are Gone!

August 20, 2017 in Nourished Home, Nourished Recipes

It is full-on back to school season for many of you: buying supplies, checking out class schedules, planning curriculum... it's a busy season! We know full well how peace and rest can seem nonexistent during these times. Living Wellness is committed to giving you encouragement and strategies for maintaining balance during busy, and may we say stressful times, such as this season. Check out this post on rest and stayed tune for an upcoming post on peace during these seasonal transitions.

Does your back-to-school prep include planning lunches? For those of you who are not in the back-to-school whirlwind, keep reading! Lunch prep tips are valuable to anyone who, well, eats lunch!! In today's post we're giving you tips for lunch time content and what contains that tasty lunch. Happy lunch-ing!!

Need A Little More Spice in Your Life?

August 14, 2017 in Nourished Home, Nourished Recipes

If you were to walk into my kitchen and ask me what my favorite thing was in it, can you guess what it is? Drum roll please.....my spice rack. In the midst of Marc and I wielding our scanner guns around Macy's, I paused and saw this beautiful stainless steel swivel spice rack. I lined up my scanner gun, hit the button, and added that beauty to the list! Five years later, our spice rack is still holding up well; however, the contents of that spice rack have changed dramatically.

A few years ago it donned on me that I had no idea what quality of spices lie in my spice rack. How long have those herbs been sitting on the Macy's shelf before I bought them? Are they organic? Where are those herbs from?

My first impulse was the dump out off the herbs, but thankfully my husband reminded me replacing all of those herbs would be pricey, So one by one over the next year or so, we replaced the herbs with freshly dried, organic herbs. As we did so, we also realized there were herbs in there we never used and ones that were not in there that we used frequently. Here enters the wonder of a label maker to change that spice jar from nutmeg to chives :)

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Sunday Morning Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe

August 05, 2017 in Nourished Body, Nourished Recipes

One of my favorite memories of Sunday mornings as a kid was waking up and seeing my dad walk into the kitchen with a box of delicious pastries from the bakery for us to eat before church. He'd slowly open the lid to reveal the delectable, flaky goodness. He always remembered to get my favorite...a chocolate croissant. Mmmmmmm.

Now that I have a family of my own, I want to carry on some of the traditions I cherished in childhood. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a bakery that serves delicious treats that are safe with my new food allergies, but that hasn't stopped me from trying to recreate some my childhood memories.

My toddler son loves bread-y products (apple didn't fall far from the tree!) and I was determined to find/create a recipe we could all enjoy that would remind me of those Sunday morning treats. Prior to changing my diet to gluten free for medical reasons, I was quite the banana bread connoisseur, so when I found a gluten-free banana chocolate chip recipe I was thrilled!

Quote_ Rest & self care are so important. Whenever you have time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel._.png

More of Me

July 30, 2017 in Nourished Body, Nourished Mind, Nourished Soul

Well friends, tomorrow marks the last day of our #LWGG30Day Challenge. Thank you for sharing this journey with me and supporting me as I challenged myself with my wellness goals.

My hope is that over this past month, you found our wellness challenge posts to be inspiring. Inspiring you to nourish your body with different types of exercise. Inspiring you to choose your body with foods that not only satisfy your hunger but nourish your body with the building blocks it needs for health. Inspiring you to take time for yourself. And inspiring you to put nourishing your body, mind, and spirit at the forefront of your mind in order to worship God, honor God, and serve God more fully.

Two weeks ago, I shared with you in this post my progress with the Living Wellness 30 Day Challenge, what exercises I found I enjoyed, and a few take-aways that I learned from this challenge.

Today, I'd like to share with you one final take-away.

This nutritional yeast package in my pantry already has the new FDA food label!

Cracking the Code: Reading Food Labels

July 23, 2017 in Nourished Body, Nourished Home

While grocery shopping lately, I picked up a can of soup I frequently ate as a kid. I could feel my mouth starting to salivate just looking at the well crafted marketing until I realized, "gah! it's just the flavor enhancers in here that my taste buds are seeking!" I turned the can over and was mortified by the ingredients listed on the back. Five or so years ago, I would have had no idea how to decode the cryptic ingredients listed on many packaged foods, but now cracking the ingredient code has become a second language to me:

Each of these ingredients put up red flags in my mind. My general and not-very-scientific rule is: if I can't pronounce it or don't know what it is, I need to research it before it's going in my mouth. Needless to say, I put that can back on the shelf and quickly walked away. Now, I'm definitely not slamming all packaged foods. They serve many purposes and you'll definitely find some in my pantry; however, I've come to inspect the foods we place in our pantry and fridge through the lens of the information below. Live informed, not in fear, of the foods you eat!

Progress Note

July 15, 2017 in Nourished Mind, Nourished Body

I was stressed about getting a paper done for my 9th grade English class. It was late in the day and I was tired, but the assignment was not finished...being type A that I am, I want every task I start to be "finished" and finished well. But, this particular evening, my brain felt it had hit a road block.

My mom suggested "set your alarm for 5am and finish your paper then. It will be very quiet in the house at that time and your brain will have had time to rest and reset." I thought she was crazy (as many high-schoolers often feel about their parents!), but I didn't know what else to do. Little did I know that this simple event would be a defining moment for me.

I woke up the next morning groggy but determined to finish my paper. I read over where I had left off and went to work. My fingers flew across the keys and paragraph by paragraph I finished my paper before the rest of the house was up.

Now what's the point of this story? Looking back, it wasn't until that early fall morning that I realized how awake and alive I felt in the morning. Over the years since, these early morning times of quiet have served to be such a blessing--from times of productive studying and finishing assignments to devotions and sweet snuggle time with my toddler. I'm surprised though that I never considered until this #LWGG30Day Wellness Challenge that this would be a great time for a workout.

Summer Camping Adventures

July 09, 2017 in Nourished Home, Nourished Mind

If family camping is a memory from your childhood, you know what it is like to prepare for an outdoor family event. Packing your favorite outdoor toys and games was something to look forward to. Games like Frisbee, bean bag toss or lawn darts were fun events for my family!

One of my favorite memories is when we would travel to my grandparents house and camp out on their lawn in our camper. We enjoyed each day with the games that we had brought, spending time together as a family, and our time boating on the lake. Our evenings would wrap up with a game of hide and seek and then a bonfire with our favorite treat, a smore, and sometimes watch fireworks!

Do you have memories from your youth about camping that you can reflect on? How can you include them in your camping adventures this summer? If you've never been camping and this post inspires you to take your first family camping trip, let me share a few ideas for packing fun summer games and activities. Grab a pen and paper and let's build your packing list!

Getting Back on Track

July 01, 2017 in Nourished Body, Nourished Mind

Friends, I have another confession to make: I have fallen off the exercise bandwagon. Like, that wagon is so far beyond my gaze that I may need a telescope....or two.

Back in March, I wrote about starting a new chapter in my own wellness journey. For years I've been diligently working on my nutrition while allowing the fitness part of my health to fly under the radar. In March, I was all set to get a regular fitness routine established not because I felt that I had to or "should," but because I realized that this was one area of my life that I was ignoring. I wasn't nourishing my body with the exercise it needs to stay healthy and strong. I had moved through the Stages of Change (listed on page 18 of Living Wellness for Growth Groups) from pre-ontemplation all the way to action.

But then, you know what happened? Ready for the really big confession?

This week I looked back at my Living Wellness Journal and my Living Wellness for Growth Groups book after wiping some dust off of them. Want to know where the writing stopped? Week 1. I completed a week of journal entries and the first chapter of questions, and then...I got too comfortable....too busy....top confident that I would be able to keep up this new routine on my own. Many of us have heard that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit. No wonder my new fitness routine flopped after just 7!

Pizza for a Lifetime

June 24, 2017 in Nourished Recipes

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life what would it be?

I was recently asked this question and had to laugh at my response. Pizza. Pizza is truly my favorite food. The doughy crust, melted cheese, endless toppings...what's not to love! Well, as I've shared before, that doughy crust does not love me. It's been two years now since I needed to remove gluten from my diet for medical reasons (please see disclaimer at end of post regarding diet changes). As I shared in this post, these past two years have been really challenging but also very rewarding. I've had to re-learn how to cook, grieve the loss of favorite foods and often eating at many restaurants due to my inability to eat foods that have been cross-contaminated with gluten, but I've also had the amazing opportunity to share my story and recipes with others. This has been such as blessing.

Over the past two years, I have been searching far and wide for an amazing gluten-free and nutritious gluten-free pizza. Time and time again, I've tried new recipes thinking that this is going to be "the one." Let me save you a little heart-ache...I have not found a pizza crust to match the amazing doughy texture of gluten, but I have found some pretty great alternatives.

Your Foundation

June 18, 2017 in Nourished Body, Nourished Mind

To conclude the sermon on the mount, where Jesus gives instructions on how to live an abundant life, he tells a parable about two people: one who built a house on sand and one who built a house on rock. When turbulent weather came, the house with the firm foundation was
the only one left standing.

Your foundation, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, determines your ability to weather life when it gets rough.

With almost 30 million people, approximately 10% of the US population, struggling with high glucose and 86 million struggling with prediabetes (Centers for Disease Control), it's time to get to all of our why's? Why are we eating enriched flour, bleached flour, white flour products, puffed grain products, factory-made modern soy? How do we break the cycle? Do we have the knowledge to do so?

Removing processed carbs from our diet is one of the secret weapons to reducing sugar cravings once and for all.

What would happen if we all started to eat to nourish our bodies, rather than to stuff them and satisfy every craving? What would happen if we made our food choices based on what we needed in a given day rather than what was handed to us through a window?

Eating Healthy On a Budget: Part 3

June 11, 2017 in Nourished Home, Nourished Body

This is our final segment in our series on how to eat healthy on a budget. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 for more healthy eating tips!

Now that we have defined “Healthy” foods in last week's post, what should our plate look like for meals and snacks?

At Living Wellness we follow the recommendations of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, and researcher Westin A Price. They considered the government’s MyPlate model and took it a step further to create a plate that takes one’s whole body and nutritional needs into account. To nourish all the cells and systems of your body, you need macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat), micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), water, and healthy bacteria to maintain proper gut balance. The sample plates below are guidelines on how to properly nourish the body.

Eating Healthy on a Budget: Part 2

June 03, 2017 in Nourished Home, Nourished Body

Ever come home from the grocery store and look between the receipt and your bags of groceries wondering, “I must have left a bag in the car. Did I really spend this much and only get a couple bags of food?!”

We at Living Wellness love to eat tasty and nourishing food while also not breaking the bank. That is why we are continuing our series “Eating Healthy on a Budget.” In today’s blog post, we're sharing part one of Living Wellness team member Julie Frandsen’s presentation from Bridging the Gap’s Single Mom’s Retreat which wrapped up this weekend! What a wonderful time of encouragement and blessing.

Today we are going to talk about one of my favorite topics: Food!!! I love to cook and provide good tasting, mouth watering, nourishing meals and snacks for my family. If am I honest…sometimes I am successful at doing this, and other times not so much. My hope is that you will learn some practical tips of how to save money at the grocery store while also not compromising the quality of the foods that you buy.

First things first. In order to talk about healthy eating on budget, we first need to know how to eat healthy!

Mindful Eating

May 27, 2017 in Nourished Body, Nourished Mind

In today’s post, I want to give you a sneak peek at one of the activities we complete during a Living Wellness Growth Group: Mindful Eating. It’s one of my favorites! We’re revisiting this topic because the benefits you can gain from being more mindful of what and how you are eating are just too good not to share!

Before I share the Mindful Eating exercise, let me give you a little context about our Growth Groups, what mindfulness is, and how this topic of Mindful Eating became part of Living Wellness.

What is a Living Wellness Growth Group?

Living Wellness Growth Groups are 8-week long nutrition/fitness/spiritual book studies, where a group of participants come together one a week to learn about & practice healthy living. Each week we practice a different component of healthy living—from exercise to grocery store tours and fermented foods demonstration to mindful eating. Living Wellness Growth Groups are wonderful places to be and become the healthy individuals we desire to be.

Mindfulness & The Benefits

Mindfulness is a really popular concept right now, and its popularity is showing up in all types of circles—fitness, nutrition, healthcare, even kindergartens!

When we discuss mindfulness, we are talking about the concept of becoming more aware and in-tune with the both the external (what you are doing/interacting with) and the internal (what you are feeling, tasting, experiencing).

Rest

May 21, 2017 in Nourished Mind, Nourished Soul

Rest.

Do you feel like you have enough rest? Would you consider yourself “well-rested”? If I’m honest, I’m not sure that I even know what “well-rested” looks like…or feels like.

If rest is something that seems to allude you, something that is either just outside your reach or maybe well beyond your reach, consider this: are you allowing yourself rest? Or do you feel this constant ache to achieve, accomplish, complete, check off the list, finish so much so that you cannot allow yourself to rest?

I was reminded of a scripture verse this week that has always captured my attention and my heart. This verse quiets that track in my head that nags at me to achieve, accomplish, finish and instead reminds me to rest: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Jesus was speaking to a crowd of people that were weary and burdened by the religious rules and legalism of his day. He invited them to come, follow him, and find rest—a rest that they could not find outside of him, a true eternal rest.

In the verse from the book of Matthew, Jesus invites us to come to him to find rest, but did you also know that God commands us to rest? In Exodus 34:21, God spoke to Moses and said, “six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.”

I often find myself too busy to rest. Ever feel that way?

Momma's Roasted Chicken

May 14, 2017 in Nourished Recipes, Nourished Home

Today I want to celebrate mothers everywhere. As my son would say, "it's momma's day!"

I want to celebrate the mommas that have many children and those who have few. Those who have alive children and those with angel children. And I want to celebrate those women with a strong momma heart but for one reason or another do not have children, your momma heart deserves celebration.

You are all beautiful and beloved.

You are all captivating.

My Wake-Up Call

May 07, 2017 in Nourished Body, Nourished Mind

As I sit here, staring down at my four fingers with four Band-Aids on them, I realize my failed glucose test was a not so rude awakening.

Let's rewind a week to that first glucose test.

I have been healthy my whole pregnancy, way more healthy than I was with my last pregnancy, 10 years ago. I have been choosing to nourish my body by eating more vegetables and exercising a couple times a week. So when I failed that glucose test, I got a bit teary behind the eyes. My healthy pregnancy suddenly felt all turn around and upside down (a little like the picture above). The thing that made my eyes gush open was when the doctor said, "eight pounds gained in one month, that's a little much for this stage of your pregnancy." I cried all the way home from that appointment.

What's clouding your lens?

April 30, 2017 in Nourished Mind, Nourished Soul

My toddler son is currently in a phase where he loves to be a helper. I love this phase, but it can get messy at times. I was getting ready for bed when I heard my husband say, "bring those right to mommy!" A few moments later, I hear little feet walking toward me. My son came in the room holding my phone in one hand and gripping my glasses with the other. He very carefully handed them to me and looked at me with an anticipatory grin waiting for my praise. I thanked him for being such a good helper while also grimacing a bit. See my son doesn't know the best way to hold glasses. He held them securely yet gently, but he held them by grasping just the lenses with his sweet, little, sweaty hands. I looked at my lenses and they were completely smudged--though nothing a little soap and water couldn't take care of.

You may be wondering what I'm getting at with this--Just give me a moment and I'll explain.

Eating Healthy on a Budget: Tools for Your Success Part 1

April 22, 2017 in Nourished Home, Nourished Body

One of the most frequently asked questions we get when people start changing their diet is "how do I eat healthy and not pay a fortune?" In Week 2 of Living Wellness for Growth Groups (LWGG), Ashley discusses the perception that eating healthily is really expensive (p. 100). There is research to suggest that eating whole foods can actually be less expensive in the short-term and the long-term (LWGG, p. 100)!

One area though that you can see an increase in price is if you are wanting to replace your favorite packaged food with another, healthier packaged food. "Healthy" packaged foods can be more expensive because you're not only paying for higher quality ingredients, but you're also paying for someone to make, package, and market them. Now, I will be the first to admit that I love a good bag of organic Kettle brand chips, Simple Mills crackers, Tolerant lentil pasta, or Orgain shake; however, I recognize that if I want to eat foods that nourish my body while also staying within budget, I need to monitor my consumption of foods that come in a package or wrapper.

I want to share a few basic strategies for managing grocery costs, and then I'll let you in on a super-secret-special way I shop online for pantry and household basics....okay it's not a secret, but many of you may not know about it.

Day Three Changed Everything

April 15, 2017 in Nourished Soul, Nourished Mind

Can you imagine what it would have been like to be an early follower of Jesus during those three days after his death?

I imagine that day one must have been full of shock--"this Jesus we've been following and listening to is gone." The second day, I imagine that panic and doubt would have started to set in--"I thought He was supposed to be the Savior...Could the Savior truly have been killed?...What do we do now." All of those moments of amazement after viewing miracle after miracle slowly start fading as the thoughts of doubt start creeping in--"did those miracles really happen? Did Jesus really heal those people. Did Jesus really say...?" Day three, I imagine my thoughts start turning to what others may start thinking about me or saying to me--"didn't you follow that Jesus? Where is He now? Guess He wasn't all that He said He was." Oh how quickly we forget the truth and how easily we slip into believing the lies.

Today we remember and we celebrate that day three did not end like a normal day. It didn't end like days one or two. No, day three was the day that changed everything. Jesus did the impossible. Jesus fulfilled Scriptures that were written hundreds and hundreds of years before (such as Deuteronomy 18:18). On day three, Jesus, who was dead, rose from the grave fully alive! Jesus, who was present and active in the creation of the world, died a horrible death to be a ransom for the sins of the world. He died that horrible death and rose again for you.

"Cheesy" Lentil Macaroni

April 08, 2017 in Nourished Recipes, Nourished Body

Have you ever needed to remove a food from your diet for a season or forever? If you have, I'm guessing you went through a process similar to me: initially you felt overwhelmed & the diet change felt all-consuming, then you started to get your groove with some days that were easy/some were hard. At some point, this change started to become your new norm, but every now and then (or sometimes every day) you miss the food(s) that you no longer could eat. Sound familiar?

Yesterday marks two years since I needed to remove gluten from my diet as a result of a diagnosis of an auto-immune disease. I remember that meal planning felt all-consuming to me those first few days/weeks/months that I started the gluten-free diet. It was hard to imagine at that time that I would ever figure out this diet change. Fast-forward two years and eating gluten-free is no longer stressful or consuming; instead, I'm celebrating that it feels normal. I'm celebrating that eating gluten-free no longer feels like something has been ripped away from me and left stress in its place.

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