Just for moms (and grandmothers, stepmothers, aunts, sisters – and even dads!)
A new online class starts Monday, May 25 – THE NEW NORMAL!
We don’t advocate a “diet” here at Marilu.com. That word implies that you can return to your old habits once you’ve met your goal. Wrong. The key to success – for yourself, and for your family and children – is to redefine normal.
Create the habits that shape the healthy, vibrant, energetic life you want. Get started here with five days of THE NEW NORMAL.
…you got to make that meal time last… just
kickin’ down the cobblestones…
Oh wait – that’s not really the way Simon and Garfunkel wrote it.
But if they could see how fast we eat? Maybe they would have written those lyrics instead.
Eating too quickly is one of the leading causes of overeating. It takes twenty minutes for your stomach to register the food you eat and send the “I’m full” message to your brain. If you are wolfing down your meals in less time than that, you are probably eating more than is necessary to satisfy your hunger.
Force yourself to slow down. Good, healthy food is one of the true pleasures in our lives — savor and enjoy!
Maybe you need a few tricks to help you slow down.
If you’re right-handed, eat with your left hand, and vice versa.
Cut your food into small pieces, and eat your meal one morsel at a time.
Chew each bite 30-50 times. Saliva is the first step in digestion – give it a chance to work.
Put your silverware down between bites.
Take a sip of water between bites. Just a small sip.
If you slow it down, and listen to your body, you’ll find that don’t need that second helping.
Warm weather means more bugs. And more bugs often means more chemicals. We found a great article at SeventhGeneration.com with some tips for getting rid of bugs while keeping your home healthy, and protecting the beneficial insects like bees.
Prevention strategies:
Keep living areas free of food waste. To make your home less inviting to hungry insects, clean up crumbs and spills, do the dishes right after mealtime, store food in tightly sealed containers, and take the trash out before it accumulates.
Bugs are also thirsty, so remove water sources by fixing dripping faucets, clearing clogged drains, and repairing leaky pipes.
Keep your house clear of clutter. Insects seek hiding places, and if your home doesn’t have any, they’ll go elsewhere.
Don’t make it easy to get in. Repair broken screens, holes and cracks in foundations and eaves, and poorly sealed doors and windows.
Safe, natural solutions:
For ants, sprinkle boric acid or ground cloves along baseboards, in the back of cabinets, and other “edge” areas. Or spray a solution of two teaspoons of peppermint oil in two cups of water in the same areas.
Cockroaches can be kept away by a powder of one part natural pyrethrins (made from chrysanthemums) and two parts diatomaceous earth, which is algae. (Note: keep pyrethrins away from cats.)
Flies will avoid areas scented with basil, tansy, pine oil, or cloves. You can also make fly strips of kraft paper coated with a gooey mix of corn syrup and sugar. Fruit flies will avoid areas sprayed with a solution of basil oil and water.
Fight moths with oils of lavender, cloves, rosemary, camphor, or cedar. Make scented sachets with whole herbs or spray solutions of two teaspoons of oil in two cups of water in problem areas.
Termites can be chased away with boric acid, diatomaceous earth, and/or pyrethrin powder sprinkled in problem areas.
Ticks are repelled by essential oils of rose geranium or palmerosa. Make a solution of two teaspoons oil in two cups of water and spray. A half-and-half mix of rosemary and myrrh oils can also be used.
Fleas are repelled by herbs like lavender, rosemary, catmint, eucalyptus, and camphor. Citrus oils will also help. (Don’t use citrus oils and products around cats.) For dog and cat infestations combine one to two drops each of eucalyptus, citronella, tea tree and pennyroyal oils in 2 cups of witch hazel extract (omit citronella for cat use). Test on the animal first. If it’s tolerated, rub a teaspoon on the collar and a half teaspoon or so into the fur. Store the remainder.
Use traps for bees and wasps. Buy commercial traps and bait them with a protein (dog food, ham, fish and meat scraps, etc.) in the spring and sugars (corn syrup, spoiled fruit, jelly, etc.) in the summer and fall. Get rid of ground nests by covering their entrance with an upside down bowl.
If you have goals – for weight, for cholesterol levels, for blood sugar levels, for number of pushups, for amount of weight you can bench press, for how fast you can run a mile, for how many hours you sleep, for how happy you feel – you need some way to know you’re on the right track.
What signs or measures of progress should you be looking out for and what are the best ways to measure them?
The number on your bathroom scale every morning, the way your jeans fit, the tests you have done at the doctor’s office every 3 or 6 or 12 months, your fitness log, your sleep log, …
Wait. That’s a lot of “logs” … but really it’s just a simple journal in a small notebook, or in your PDA/phone, or a spreadsheet you use every day. Record the numbers for quantifiable goals, and record a “1-10″ score (10 is high/excellent) for the things that seem unquantifiable.
Possible unquantifiables – your energy level, your ability to focus/mental clarity, how rested you felt on waking, how motivated you are to eat healthy foods, how you handled the stress or crisis of the day.
Make a Top Ten list of the things you want to measure that will help you with your personal goals. Create your journal, and keep track every day for 30 days. Celebrate your successes and break down your challenges into smaller goals for the next month.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19, Marilu will be on Gab with the Gurus radio show at 3 pm eastern time (noon pacific). You can listen to Gab with the Gurus live (there’s even a call-in number!), or at their website.
Are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired?
Do you want more energy, more stamina, and more gusto?
Do you want to look great?
Are you ready to take action?
If today is your “I’ll start on Monday,” we have a great 30-day online class for you. It comes with recipes and menu plans, daily personal coaching and support from some of our best coaches, and daily tips to help you improve all areas of your life.
Inner peace is available to all of us. But most of us stay so busy that we don’t realize the peace and happiness we’re trying to create is within us. Take a moment today to just sit. Separate yourself from your thoughts, and just “be.”
So many of our thoughts are negative and judgmental. Letting go of that negativity brings peace. You can feel that sense of peace at any time, and ALL the time, because peace is always at your core.
I always put Melissa Etheridge’s “I Run for Life” at the beginning of my workout song list because it really pumps me up and gets me moving and reminds me of all the amazing important women who have shaped me.
The Engine 2 Diet The Texas Firefighter’s 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds
by Rip Esselstyn
Two things will catch your attention if you glance at the cover of this book. First, it’s red. Fire engine red. Appropriately enough, it turns out. Second, the author’s name is “Esselstyn” – could this guy be related to Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, the Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease guy? Why yes. This is his son’s book, and it’s based on the same theory – eating a plant-based diet is the healthiest diet for your body, and it will prevent and reverse heart disease, among other things.
Rip Esselstyn is a triathlete and Austin, TX firefighter (see? fire engine red). He’s in excellent physical condition. And he’s vegan. This is his 4-week program for changing your health, including an exercise plan and a diet plan with recipes. He makes it very easy. The stories are entertaining, and will appeal to men. (Not that they won’t appeal to women, but not every diet book is this macho.)
That’s the best part of the book – it’s accessible to men. If your man is skeptical about THM® then maybe he’d read about the E2 diet. It’s actually more “strict” because there is less animal protein (after the first two weeks, if you choose to ease into it) and less fat. You could certainly prepare these recipes as part of a THM® plan.
There’s a greater reliance on soy subs than in THM®, and less concern about chemicals. In general, the two programs are complimentary, and the recipes would work well for anyone following Marilu’s program. The information about correcting coronary heart disease with diet is really good, and completely in harmony with what we’ve learned from Marilu and other experts.
