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Fit U has moved!
Hi friends!
I wanted to thank you for following Fit U & let you know that I have moved! You can now find the blog here. From this point on, you can find all the fit tips, healthy recipes, and positive vibes at the new spot. Thanks again and have a fantastic day!
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. – John Ruskin
A snowy night calls for homemade soup.
This recipe was inspired by Tara Stile’s Veggie Detox Soup…mine just has a bit of a kick!
-1/2 onion chopped
-2 cloves of garlic
-Handful of Kale
-Handful of Spinach
-Celery
-Shredded cabbage
-Carrots
-4 cups no salt added chicken/veggie stock
-1 cup water
-1.5 cup almond milk
-Juice of 1 lime
-Italian seasoning, salt & cayenne pepper to taste
Directions:
Brown garlic and onions in pot. Add stock, water, almond milk and let boil. Add in all veggies and seasonings. Cover and let simmer on low heat for 25-30 minutes, or until veggies are tender. Enjoy and watch the snow fall. Store the excess in a container for the rest of the week!
Grab a pen n’ paper for highlights n’ goals!
Instead of making resolutions at the beginning of every year, I make a list of my highlights from the past year and goals for the upcoming year. It’s fun listing highlights because it forces you to remember some things you might have forgotten. I like looking back on my goals every year…I find that I always complete all but a few. 2013 was a great year and I have big plans to make 2014 even better!
What were your 2013 highlights? What are your 2014 goals?
Take some time to clear your mind.
For whatever reason, I’ve felt kind of down this week. Very unusual for me since I’m normally so happy that I’m bouncing off the walls. I was feeling unhappy, angry, sad, and stressed. There was a huge knot in my stomach and chest. Why? I’m not exactly sure. Sometimes we have these feelings and we cannot explain them. That’s ok. The important thing is not to push these feelings away and to acknowledge them instead. I knew I was having these feelings and knew I needed to do something to help myself. I got out of the house, went to run an errand and and on my way, realized that I would be passing Houghton’s Pond – one of my favorite places outside of the city. It is so peaceful and beautiful there. I decided to stop.
Take some time to clear your mind.
I kid you not, even as I just thought about going, some stress lifted off of me. Once I got there, I sat by the pond and did some meditating. Then I said aloud 3 things I was grateful for, 3 highlights of my last week, and 3 things I’m looking forward to this week. We often get so tied up in our emotions that we forget to take a step back and recognize the good in our lives. Stating these few things made me feel 1000x better almost immediately. So next time you’re feeling down, I encourage you to find your Houghton’s Pond, your happy place. Embrace your emotions. Cry or scream if you need to but then think about the good. I’d bet it outweighs the bad.
Relax, renew, rejoice.
What are 3 things you’re grateful for? 3 things you are looking forward to this week? 3 highlights of your past week?
Ignoring the bigger issue
In a recent Huffington Post article, the writer discusses how “Jennifer Lawrence body-shames you more than you realize.” She writes how J-Law can get away with bashing diets because she is already slender while Melissa McCarthy, an overweight actress, could not.
When Jennifer Lawrence says it’s “dumb” to go hungry to make other people happy, she’s saying it with the carefree attitude of a woman who probably will never have to make that choice to conform. Yes, she’ll be asked to diet for a role, and she feels the same pressure to meet cultural expectations as everyone else. But a woman who looks like Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t have to shop for her clothes in online stores because no physical storefronts carry her size. A woman who looks like Jennifer Lawrence probably isn’t going to have a stranger try to stage an impromptu intervention in a Pizza Hut because they’re so, so concerned for her “health.”
Click to read the full article
Here is my response:
While I do agree the double standard that Jennifer Lawrence gets praised for eating McDonald’s while Melissa McCarthy would get shamed is wrong, I think there is a bigger issue here. The issue is that we are ignoring the problem of health. Of course all women are real women whether they have curves or no curves, boobs or flat chested, short or tall, wide or slim. But by ignoring the issue of being overweight or obese, we are encouraging extreme health problems. That issue cannot be ignored, it must be addressed.
One thing that someone told me when I began to lose weight was “you might be a little hungry at times.” A little hunger is okay as long as you’re not starving yourself. You shouldn’t be starving yourself to lose weight, you should be adjusting your food intake and adding exercise to your daily routine.
I do agree that all women are beautiful in their own way and it is very important to recognize all body types as beautiful. However, it is also very important to recognize that if you need to shop for clothes online because they are not available in store, some changes should probably be made to achieve weight loss. Being that overweight will lead to health problems if you do not already have them.
Everybody is built differently and is beautiful in their own way. The important thing to focus on is not how one looks but on their health.
Fit University 