Books

An Old Journal

Posted on May 29, 2019 by The Healthy Habit Lady

Recently, as I was packing up boxes of books for my upcoming move, I found several of my old handwritten journals.  My teenage son was fascinated to see so many books in my handwriting.  So, just for fun, I picked a random page to read … the picture below is where I landed.   At this time of this entry, I was very overweight and working as a Training Director in Richmond, VA.  ~ in the midst of hiring new staff. Meanwhile; I often wrote about wanting to lose weight and changing my habits or how I simply MUST exercise.  I would get motivated, but it was fleeting.  I would start and stop, over and over again.  I often became paralyzed by analysis paralysis in my overly eager desire to plan every detail, to ‘get ready’ to make a change.   Yet change never happened, and if it did, it did not last.  Simply put, I failed dozens of ways before I ever achieved success in weight loss.

So what changed?  My mindset.  My focus.  Instead of trying to change my whole life on the proverbial ‘Monday’ that never comes, I focused on just changing one bad habit, just one thing.  Once I replaced a bad habit with a better habit, I moved on to the next challenge.  The very first thing I did was give up Mt. Dew because I was drinking it like water and I knew it was terrible for my body.   I didn’t worry about my nutrition or my exercise routine, counting calories or any of that, I just focused on giving up Mt. Dew and drinking water.

I often tell people I lost 175 pounds 5 pounds at a time.  Seriously, I only focused on five pound goals.  Now I am in maintenance mode and have been for over five years.  Are my habits perfect?  Of course not.  Do I have room for improvement?  Always.  Do I have saggy skin and stretch marks in places?  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t.   To God be the glory for this marvelous mess of a temple that I enjoy.

Now while I’ve been a bit stressed and in transition, preparing for the move and selling my home, shifting my career, etc. ~ I think it is important to recognize when the good Lord sends us love notes of light.  Even when those notes are in your very own handwriting.

As always, make champion choices,
The Healthy Habit Lady

OldHandwrittenJournal

 

Categories: Books, Christianity, Fitness | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Lessons From a Baby

Posted on January 17, 2016 by The Healthy Habit Lady

Granted my ‘baby’ is now seven years old, he started out as a newborn/infant/toddler … you get the idea.  Thanks to the Facebook ‘memories’ feature, I found something I wrote back when he was a baby.  I thought I’d share it here.  Still applies, indeed.

JamesPiano

Lessons to be learned from my baby:

1. He only eats when he is hungry.
2. He stops eating when he is full.
3. He is willing to try new foods.
4. He takes naps 🙂
5. If he can’t get thru one way, he finds another way.
6. If he falls down, he gets up.
7. He’s not afraid to get messy.
8. He walked before he ran.
9. He loves to laugh.
10. He loves adventure.

So maybe you can apply these lessons to your present every-day ADULT life.  Or not, your call.

As always, make champion choices,
The Healthy Habit Lady

PS:  This is baby James, present day, age seven.

JamesBooks4Backpack

 

Categories: Books, Family, Fitness | Tags: , | 2 Comments

Books That Changed My Life

Posted on January 13, 2015 by The Healthy Habit Lady
My Son Reading The Bible

My Son Reading The Bible

So, you’re not a reader.  Well  – – read a book anyway.  Make the time.  Sometimes ya just gotta do it.  I have several that earn that phrase ‘changed my life’.  I’m not an avid book reader in that I have piles and piles laying around to step over; but I do like to read.  I like non-fiction as well as fiction.  I like real books as well as my Kindle.  I do own entire too many books that sit on my shelves; despite the hundreds I just recently gave away and donated.  Yes – – we own a lot of books.

But nonetheless; here is my list of books that I read at different times in my life, for different reasons, and they each affected me in great ways.  I inhaled them all word by word.  So, thus, they are highly recommended by little ole me.  They are not in any particular order, although I will confess that I read the Spark Book first.  Well; actually I read the Bible first; but I’m not included that in this list.  But let’s just say the Bible obviously changed my life far before any other book ever did, can’t forget my little Jesus plug, now can I? 🙂

SparkBookEatCleanDietFamKidsBook DanielPlanBookTheHungerFixBook MadeToCraveBook DesignatedFatGirlBook PUSHBookImage CompoundEffectBook

Meanwhile; I am working on writing a book this year; or finishing one rather.  I have many titles and manuscripts rolling around in my head, but first and foremost look for a title to be published this year by The Healthy Habit Lady; and maybe, just maybe, someone will put ME on their list of books that helped them change their habits.

Picture taken April 2007

And while I’m on the subject of books, I feel I should mention that I happen to have a handwritten copy of a cookbook my mother kept.  Really, it’s just a spiral notebook of sorts, but she was an artist and talented in oh so many areas; so this book is mighty precious to me.  I cling to it, as you can imagine.  Since I lost my mom at 17 years of age; it’s not like I can call her up for advice, so it’s kind of sweet to have her handwritten words on paper and some of her tips on cooking.  So yeah, that book kinda changed my life too; but sorry, you can’t order it from Amazon. This photo was taken in April of 2007 when I was having way too much fun with my daughter in the kitchen and we were playing with some flour.

Blogs/websites that I highly recommend are:

http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/

What Is ARFID?

http://madetocrave.org/

http://danielplan.com/

http://www.sparkpeople.com/

As always, make champion choices,
The Healthy Habit Lady

Categories: Books, Christianity | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

Evertaster

Posted on July 23, 2014 by The Healthy Habit Lady

 

Check it out, I just got this book in the mail and I am quite excited to read it with my boys… It is called ‘Evertaster‘ by Adam Sidwell. It is a children’s novel for about age 9 and up and can be found on Amazon.  In the story, 11 year old Guster is an “Evertaster”! He can eat a single bite of carrot and tell where it was grown and what the weather was like at the time. Guster could drink a single drop of milk and tell you whether the cow was fed grain or grass and whether the cow was well treated or whether the cow was sad. Needless to say Guster was a very picky eater because every time he ate he was so overcome by thoughts and feelings about the food and it’s history that there is very little on earth that he is able to eat. His mother, in a quest to find something for her son to eat, learns of the mysterious secret recipe for the “one true food” which is so pure it will solve all his (and the world’s) problems. Guster, mom and baby sis set off on an around the world quest to find it, facing danger from evil chefs who would appropriate the recipe to bad ends.

So those of you who understand SED and Supertasters, and those of you who know me at all, can probably understand why I’m giddy excited to read this. 🙂

Click here to order the book
And guess what else?  Adam Sidwell is making it into a series.  There is now a #2 book that I have ordered and should come in later this week.  The 2nd book is called “The Buttersmith’s Gold”and can be ordered by clicking here.  Right now the Kindle price is only .99 – – and that is a good deal my friends.  Meanwhile, you can Say hello to Adam (The Author) HERE.


As always, make champion choices,

The Healthy Habit Lady
July 23, 2014
Categories: Books, Family | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Fiction, Take Me Away!

Posted on December 19, 2012 by The Healthy Habit Lady

zBooks

Lord knows, this mama loves books … I have entirely too many books.  I think I probably need to gather some up and donate to Good Will or try to sell them at Half Price Books here locally.  Some people suggest selling them on the internet, but honestly – that’s more work than I care to get into at the moment, especially during the Christmas holiday season.

One thing I have asked for as a ‘gift’ this holiday season is a KindleFire.  I don’t know if I am going to get it or not, but I am pretty convinced it would be a fun toy.   I have no intention to abandon the good old fashioned book that you can hold in your hand and write in the margins, but there are plenty of things I imagine would do well in an electronic format.  What about you?  Have you gone over the fence to electronic reading, or do you still have piles and piles of books in your home like I do?  Granted, most of mine are on shelves, but I do have piles here and there as well.   This picture above is just a small sampling of my inventory, not nearly everything I own.

But it occurred to me – – I never read fiction anymore.  I seemed to be consumed with health and fitness and motivation, and nutrition and things like that.  I am studying to become a certified personal trainer, and so everything I read – seems to be along those lines.  I think I need a good old fashioned romance novel or adventure story.  Not sure what I need – but I think I am longing for an enchanting story to take me away to far off islands or something.   I need suggestions.  GO!  What fiction books do you suggest?  And don’t say ’50 Shades of Grey’.

As always, make champion choices,
The Healthy Habit Lady

December 19, 2012

Categories: Books | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

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