Why I do all of this.

Many people think that I eat clean and exercise because I want to lose weight.  I certainly do not want to GAIN weight and I always think in the back of my mind that I want to lose 10 pounds, but I don't eat or workout for this reason.   I eat clean and I workout because I want to be healthy.

When I am 60 I want to still be able to run, do burpees, star jumps, pullups, pushups, swing a 30 pound kettlebell, and climb a hill on my road bike.

When I started eating clean, I figured out pretty quickly that if I kept eating what I was eating and working out how I was working out, I would never change.  I would just stay the same, age would kick in and I would gain weight and overtime lose fitness that I had worked so hard to acquire.

I started eating clean and I stopped running as my only form of exercise.  Now I like to change up my exercise often. The body needs to be shocked if you want to change it.  When I was running everyday, I never saw my body change.

When I started to add weights, I quickly began to see definition that I had never seen before.  I used to hate lunges and squats, but now that I do them 3-5 days a week.  I have a thigh muscle that, to be honest, I am very proud of.  No amount of running or walking would have ever given me that type of definition.

I started drinking Shakeology because I was at the end of my rope.  I had made all the changes with my diet that I needed to, I was no longer drinking pop but I still had major stomach issues.  I had worked as an RN for Gastroenterologists for 9 years and still no one could figure out why I had these problems.

 I decided that I might as well just see what Shakeology could do for me.  I jumped into it without doing much research because I was just going to try it.  Within 2 days I was finally able to sleep through the night without waking up with stomach cramps.  By 7 days, I noticed that I didn't feel like a wet rag by 3:00 pm.  By 10 days, I no longer had a "food baby belly" in the evening.  Within a month almost all of my stomach issues were eliminated.

I don't know if it's because my diet was missing some vital nutrient that Shakeology replaced.  It might just be that I'm not trying to fit super foods, pre-biotics, pro-biotics, antioxidants, and digestive enzymes that are important to good health into my meals each day.  Instead, I'm eating a well balanced diet and drinking Shakeology to make up for the rest.

One serving of Shakology contains the nutrition of 3 cups romaine lettuce, 4 cups raw mushrooms, 1 shot wheat grass, 1 bowl of exotic fruit, 3 raw onions, 7 raw carrots, 4 cups nonfat yogurt, 4 cups red radishes, 4 cups raw broccoli, 1 cup peas, and 10 cups raw cauliflower.   I would never eat all of that in one day.  Many people say that they eat healthy, but in reality they are just eating the same foods over and over.  Maybe they eat the right number of fruits and vegetables, but they most likely aren't getting all the nutrients that they need.

Whatever your reasons for improving your health may be, it's the journey getting there that is important.  Setting goals and gaining the knowledge will guide you on your path.  I have learned so much and I have made even more mistakes.

I have had to pick myself up from a sugar coma that lasted several months and made my pants become way too tight, brush myself off and start over again.  I learn more about myself everyday and I still have a long way to go before I figure this whole thing out.

I just want to be the healthiest,  happiest, most fit version of myself that I can possibly be so that I can have the kind of future that I desire.