healthy habits Archives - Curves Cardio And Cupcakes

June 4, 2018 by cardioandcupcakes

Meal Planning For Weight Loss–Free Printable Meal Planner

Meal Planning For Weight Loss

If you’re having trouble sticking to your weight loss plan, it may be because you aren’t planning your meals and snacks. If you find yourself grabbing foods that aren’t on your diet or going out to eat because you don’t want to have to figure out what’s for dinner, you’re going to want to get my free printable meal planner for weight loss and keep reading so I can show you how simple it is to plan your weekly meals and snacks so you don’t find yourself cheating on your diet.

You might think that meal planning for the week sounds like a lot of work, but it’s so simple you’re not even going to believe it! The other great things are that it will save you time and money too. It keeps you from throwing a bunch of random stuff in your cart at the grocery store. Plus the printable grocery list will help keep you organized at the grocery store so you can grab everything from each section and not have to run back because you forgot something.

4 Easy Steps To Meal Planning For Weight Loss

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Figure out what healthy meals and snacks you want to eat for the week. I usually find a lot of healthy recipes on Pinterest that I add to my meal plan for the week. You can check out my Healthy Recipes Pinterest Board for some ideas. Don’t forget to consider what you want for lunch and snacks. If you’re not into searching for your own recipes or this whole meal planning thing, $5 Meal Plan is the coolest meal planning service EVER! I wrote all about how it works here. They have vegetarian and Paleo plans available and their recipes are freaking delicious and easy to make. They send you a complete meal plan with recipes and a grocery list for $5 a month! These keto meal plans are done for you and sent to your email every week to take the guesswork and stress out of eating healthy.
Once you have your recipes picked out, write them on your printable meal planner. Be sure to write in any days you are going to have leftovers. I usually plan 3 or 4 meals a week and we eat leftovers the other days. Slow cooker meals and casseroles are great for leftover nights.
Keep it simple in the beginning. You don’t have to make recipes with tons of ingredients. Meal planning is about staying organized and making your life easier so you can stick to your diet and lose weight as well as save time and money. You can look online for recipes with 3 ingredients to keep it really simple. Also, be sure to include any meals that you plan to go out to eat.
Now that you have your meals written on your meal planner, add the ingredients you need to your grocery list. Be sure to write down any seasonings you need that you don’t already have. When you go grocery shopping, try to stick to your list so you don’t buy things that are not going to help with your weight loss efforts and cause you to spend more money. Check each item off of your list as you go through the store.

That’s it! You’ve created your own meal plan for weight loss! I told you it was going to be simple. Don’t forget to grab your free printable meal planner for weight loss so you can do this every week and keep reaching your goals.

Bonus Tip: You can put your meal planner in a dollar store picture frame and use a dry erase marker to write your meals in each week to save paper and ink. Hang it on the wall and it will always be handy so you can see what you have planned for the week.

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The Best Natural Appetite Suppressants That Work

Is your appetite completely out of control? Are you trying to stick to your diet, but you keep failing because you’re just so darn hungry? Below I have for you the best natural appetite suppressants that work! Keep reading to find out how easy it will be to kick your hunger to the curb with these tips.

I used to have an uncontrollable appetite. I would finish a meal and be thinking about what snack I could eat. I had crazy intense cravings that I just couldn’t get to go away no matter what I did. I had tried all the pills that people claim will suppress your appetite, I took prescription appetite suppressants, and I can tell you that they did me no good. Losing weight is hard enough without having to tame a beast of an appetite. These are tried and true natural appetite suppressants that work and have worked for me personally.

This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure here.

The Best Natural Appetite Suppressants That Actually Work

Ketogenic Diet-For many people following a keto diet is a natural appetite suppressant. Carbohydrates and sugary, craving-causing foods are eliminated and so is the appetite that comes along with them. If you’re following a keto diet and still have cravings and an uncontrollable appetite, the next tips should help. I followed a keto diet for a long time and my appetite was suppressed. I got away from it for a while and when I tried going back to it, it did not suppress my appetite anymore. I later discovered that was because my gut was imbalanced. I used the following 4 natural ways to suppress my appetite and really start losing weight.
Apple Cider Vinegar-Apple cider vinegar reduces your blood sugar response to a meal thereby causing less cravings and decreasing your appetite. Be sure when you buy it to get the raw unfiltered one that has the mother in it. Raw unfiltered ACV contains protein, enzymes and friendly bacteria that can help your gut. Put a tablespoon of ACV in a few ounces of water and take it before meals to help digestion and naturally suppress your appetite. If you can’t handle drinking apple cider vinegar, you can get it in pill form here.
Cistus Tea–Cistus tea is my favorite supplement EVER. I can’t even tell you how much this stuff has changed my body! Once I started drinking it I was able to kick my sugar cravings and my appetite reduced so much that I sometimes forget to eat. It helps break up biofilms in the body created by unfriendly bacteria, yeasts, and parasites. I know that sounds weird probably, but a few days after I started drinking it, my body felt lighter and my appetite and cravings were practically non-existent. You can read about my experience here if you want to know more.
Whole Food Diet-If a keto diet to suppress your appetite isn’t for you, then a whole food diet could be the answer to curb your appetite. Focus on lots of colorful vegetables, lean proteins, fruits, and healthy fats. Once I implemented a whole food diet, added the fermented and probiotic foods that are below and started drinking cistus tea every day, everything changed for me. I have no cravings, I’m not hungry unless I’m really actually hungry and I don’t obsess about food anymore.
Fermented Foods-Fermented foods are great for helping get your gut in balance by adding beneficial bacteria to your body. These good bacteria help push out the bad guys. Once your gut is healthy, your ravenous appetite and cravings will be no more. You can buy fermented vegetables at the health food store or make your own. There are lots of options of vegetables that can be fermented. The ones you’ll usually find in a store are kimchi, saurkraut, and pickles. I’m not talking about regular pickles and saurkraut from the regular grocery store. These would be in the health food store in a refrigerated area to preserve the probiotics that are in them. Kombucha is a tea that is fermented and it is delicious! Yogurt and kefir also have beneficial bacteria. If you’re interested in learning how to eat a whole food diet with fermented foods, read this post.

I really hope you try these natural appetite suppressants because I know they will work for you if you give them a chance. Like I said before, I tried all the magic pills that people say will curb your appetite and unfortunately, I found that none of them worked. If your appetite is out of control, your body is probably trying to tell you something. My gut problems were causing vitamin and mineral deficiencies in my body and everything was going haywire. Listen to your body and you will find the answers you’re looking for.

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May 25, 2018 by cardioandcupcakes

Signs Of Unhealthy Gut Bacteria & How To Correct It

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Our gut affects every part of our bodies in some way. You may have the obvious symptoms that would be a sign of unhealthy gut bacteria like diarrhea or constipation, but today I want to point out some of the less obvious signs of unhealthy gut bacteria and then I’ll give you some tips that you can use to get your gut back in balance.

Let’s start with the signs of unhealthy gut bacteria.

Food Allergies-Research has recently shown that food allergies may be caused by changes in the human gut flora. We are all born with certain strains of gut bacteria passed on to us by our mother. This could be why certain families have a tendency to have the same health problems. These bacteria are altered any time we take antibiotics.
Mood issues-If you have unexplained mood swings, depression, stress, or anxiety, it could be a sign of unhealthy gut bacteria. We all have our good and bad days, but if you find on a daily basis you are having mood issues, your gut could be to blame.
Skin problems-If you have acne, dry skin, rosacea, bumpy skin, eczema, itchy skin, it could be your gut causing it. As a teenager I had pretty bad acne. In my 30s I developed rosacea on my cheeks, but it was also super itchy and I would get bumps similar to pimple but not a pimple. The more cleansers and things I tried to use to fix it, the worse it would get. Once I started getting my gut bacteria in balance, it went away within days.
You get sick all the time-Most of your immune system is found in your gut which explains why an unhealthy gut could contribute to you getting sick a lot.
Can’t lose weight no matter what you do-Ugh! If this is you, I can relate. I was in the same spot. I tried everything! I was starving all the time and still not losing. Fixing your gut bacteria can change this!
Autoimmune disease-Unfortunately this is one of those medical mysteries. Your immune system attacks it’s own cells. It has been linked to gut health and is thought that undigested particles of food from leaky gut could be to blame.
Inflammation-Inflammation can present itself in so many ways. My whole body was inflamed. My feet were burning, my hands and feet would swell up, my face was round and my whole body was bloated. I think this goes along with your immune system issue above. Your body is just attacking everything.
Heartburn/Acid Reflux-This is actually caused by too little stomach acid. If your stomach doesn’t produce enough acid to digest your food, it just sits there in your stomach and gets bad bacteria growing in it and then passes to your small intestines eventually with the bad bacteria. Not good.
Yeast infections-When you gut bacteria is imbalanced, it can allow yeast to grow out of control in your body. You may have experienced this after taking antibiotics. If the yeast gets too far out of control, it can become overgrown throughout your body causing all sorts of craziness. This is called candida overgrowth.
Urinary Tract Infections/Interstitial Cystitis-The reason for this is not really known, but if you constantly have urinary tract infections or you have the painful bladder syndrome known as Interstitial Cystitis, it’s probably caused by a gut imbalance. I was “diagnosed” with interstitial cystitis after going through tons of tests, antibiotics, etc. This is a term that doctors use when they can’t figure out what’s wrong with your bladder. Once I got my gut bacteria back on track, my symptoms began to lessen.
Tiredness-If you are tired all the time for no reason, it could be unhealthy bacteria in your gut stealing your nutrients. I was deficient in Vitamin D and B vitamins due to the bacterial imbalance in my gut.
Poor Concentration-The gut and brain are connected. So it’s no surprise that brain fog, poor concentration, and memory problems are related to gut health.

Now that you know the signs of unhealthy gut bacteria, here’s how you can correct it.

Remove processed foods and sugars from your diet. Processed foods and excess sugar feed the unhealthy bacteria and yeast in your gut. Cut these things out and eat whole foods to feed the good bacteria.
Eat probiotic and fermented foods. You can take probiotics, but in my experience, the probiotic pills have never done much for me. Eating fermented foods like saurkraut, kimchi, pickles, kombucha or cultured foods like yogurt and kefir will get good bacteria into your gut. This is the diet I recommend for getting your unhealthy gut bacteria in check.
Take apple cider vinegar before each meal. Raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar helps your stomach produce acid and aids in digestion. You could also take an HCL supplement if you aren’t producing enough stomach acid. I took an HCL supplement, but as soon as I did the next step and broke up the biofilms, I no longer needed it.
Break up the biofilms that the bad bacteria have created in your gut. The unhealthy bacteria, yeast, and parasites in your gut form this protective layer around themselves that is really hard for anything to get through called a biofilm, which may be the reason antibiotics are becoming less effective. Cistus tea will break up these biofilms so your body can get the bad bacteria out. This is the most crucial step in correcting your gut imbalance in my opinion. The really awesome thing is that it also reduces hunger and cravings.
Chew your food well. I struggle with this. I was a nail technician for 18 years and would have 2 minutes to eat before my next client arrived. I developed the terrible habit of scarfing my food down in no time because of it. Chewing your food well makes it much easier for your stomach to break it down especially if you have low stomach acid.

Put these steps into action to correct your unhealthy gut bacteria and I bet you’re going to start seeing some truly amazing changes in how you feel!

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How To Stop Binge Eating Junk Food And Lose Weight

Do you find yourself losing control of your eating? Do you eat dinner and then find yourself eating an entire package of cookies afterward? I can totally relate! I used to be completely out of control when I started eating some delicious junk food. Sometimes I would even binge on junk food that didn’t even taste that great. I’m going to share some tips with you on how to stop binge eating junk food and lose weight.

How To Stop Binge Eating Junk Food And Lose Weight

Be sweet to yourself. Binge eating is related to emotions many times. We have thousands and thousands of thoughts every day, most of which are negative. Pay attention to your thoughts and you’ll quickly see what I’m talking about. Try to keep your thoughts positive and think good things about yourself. The binge eating cycle just makes this worse because when we binge eat, we feel guilty and think terrible things about ourselves which just makes us want to binge all over again. Work on positive self-talk. I know this might sound weird or hokey, but it works. We’re surrounded by so much negativity every day. Give yourself some positive vibes and it will change your mood.
Pay attention to what triggers your binge eating. Do you binge after a stressful day at work? When you hang out with a certain friend or family member, do you tend to binge? Does watching TV trigger a junk food binge? I bet if you give it a little attention, you’ll find a pattern to what is triggering your binge sessions. Once you know what it is, you can work to change your habits. For me, my main trigger was watching TV. For some reason when I would sit in front of the TV, I needed to be munching on something (usually something sweet).
Keep junk food out of your house. It’s a lot harder to binge on junk food if you don’t have the food readily available. I know some people say “But I have to have that stuff for my kids and husband to eat.” They really don’t need to eat that stuff either. Processed food is not necessary for anyone’s survival. Keep healthy options for them and yourself to snack on. It will help you avoid temptation and they’ll be healthier for it too.
Don’t give yourself crazy diet restrictions. If you feel like you can’t have anything good to eat, chances are you’re going to go crazy and eat all the things. Focus on eating whole foods like vegetables, fruits, protein and healthy fats. Find delicious recipes so you’ll feel like you’re indulging when you really aren’t.
Heal your gut. My experience with binge eating was that I would crave things and just couldn’t stop thinking about it until I just gave in and ate it. Once I started eating, I couldn’t stop. I took steps to change my way of eating and heal my gut which resulted in my food cravings going away and my belly bloat going away. This was the way I personally overcame my binge eating and food cravings. Your gut is connected to almost every part of your body and it is directly connected to your brain. Having an imbalance of bacteria in your gut can wreak havoc in your whole body! If you’ve been eating a lot of processed foods for a while or most of your life, its’ pretty likely you’re gut needs some love.

If you’ve tried everything and nothing works, you can seek professional help from an organization like Overeaters Anonymous. I had a friend who had success with them and spoke very highly of their services.

Whatever you do, don’t give up! I know you can beat this binge eating! Believe in yourself and realize how strong you are and that you can overcome anything.

XOXO,

Cassie

Don’t forget to grab your free weight loss tracker!

May 23, 2018 by cardioandcupcakes

Why Can’t I Stick To My Diet And Have Willpower?

Why can’t I stick to my diet?

Willpower.

I know you’ve heard this term and probably used it yourself in regard to dieting. Well I’ll be the one to tell you that it’s all a crock!

We start out on a diet where we have all of these restrictions, can’t eat any of the things we love and frankly, I’ve gotten quite depressed on some diets because of this. I mean who really wants to live every day denying themselves of things that bring them joy in life?

When we fail at our diet which wasn’t designed for us to be successful anyway, we feel guilty and ashamed that we couldn’t have enough willpower to stick to it. We feel like such a failure.

Why is it so hard to stick to a diet?

Your diet is too restrictive. I think the most important part of sticking to a diet is listening to your body. I did a low carb diet in my 20s. I lost 90 pounds, felt great and got in the best shape of my life. My body was loving that diet at that time. I tried a low carb diet again in my late 30s and I felt completely horrible. I felt like I couldn’t digest the food properly and I didn’t lose anything. In fact, I gained a few pounds! I now listen to my body and what it needs to do its job. If I try a way of eating that doesn’t feel good, I don’t continue with it.
You have uncontrollable sugar cravings. It is impossible to stick with a diet if you can’t stop thinking about all the sugary goodness that you can’t have. I know. I’ve been there. It isn’t pretty! My sugar cravings would haunt me until I just ate whatever I was craving. I couldn’t get them out of my head no matter what I did. I would read online to just have some water or go for a walk and they would subside. Are you kidding?! That doesn’t work! So I would give in to the sugar monster and eat that sweet goodness. And then of course, I would have the feelings of guilt and shame for failing myself. You can read here how I’ve kicked my sugar cravings for good.
You’re dieting only to lose weight. I know we all want to lose weight and that’s usually the main goal of going on a diet. But what if you changed the way you look at dieting? Stop focusing on the scale and focus on how you feel. If you’re eating healthy food and listening to what your body needs, you should be feeling great and the weight loss will come with that. The more we stress about the scale and pressure ourselves to lose the pounds, the more a diet sucks. Are you eating in a way that you can live with for the rest of your life? If not, search for the diet that makes your body happy and your mind happy. I’ve put my scale away and am focusing on what makes my body feel good and I’m so much happier! And I know I’m losing weight because my clothes are getting loose. Who cares what that scale says?! Wouldn’t you rather see your pants size go down than a number on the scale?
You’re deficient in vitamins and minerals. A lack of essential nutrients can cause all sorts of problems in our bodies. I was deficient in several nutrients including vitamin D and the b vitamins. It took me a long time to figure it out, but a gut bacteria imbalance was causing my nutrient deficiencies. These bad gut bacteria were using up all of my vitamins and leaving none for my body to use which caused all kinds of crazy symptoms in my body that I would never have thought would be related to my gut or vitamins. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause cravings that make you fail at your diet. This is how I got my gut balanced so my body can use the nutrients I put into it.

How To Have More Willpower

The most important things you can do to overcome your lack of “willpower” are to listen to your body and talk to yourself positively every day. Negative thoughts about yourself just bring more negativity. Instead of beating yourself up, take the time to try to figure out why you can’t stick to your diet. Maybe you have one of the issues above.

Trust in yourself and put in the time to try to understand what is happening and why so you can correct it. In the medical world, doctors seem to look for a quick fix band-aid rather than finding the root cause of a problem. As a society, we all want instant gratification. I fully believe in finding out what is causing your problem so you can fix it permanently rather than just masking the symptoms. If you’re having cravings, there’s a reason. If you’re body doesn’t respond well to a certain diet, there’s a reason. Your lack of willpower is your body trying to tell you something. Listen to it.

The #1 Reason You Have Sugar Cravings And How To Stop Them

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I have to be honest here. I have had sugar cravings my whole life since I can remember. I come from a long line of diabetics. So I needed to figure out what was causing these sugar cravings and how to stop them as quickly as possible!

My sugar cravings were so bad, but the worst time for me was at night. I would literally just finish dinner and feel like I needed some sort of sweet snack. The problem was that I couldn’t stop thinking about it until I just went ahead and ate something sweet. It was out of control. I also craved bread and other processed carbohydrate foods, but the sweets were the worst.

I’ve struggled with a ton of health problems over the last 13-ish years. You can read about that here. I was on the diet roller coaster since childhood when my mom started taking me to Weight Watchers meetings with her. I’ve just about tried it all and guess what?! I would lose and gain it all back and then some. Quite a few of these diets were not healthy and didn’t teach me anything about how to eat properly and I always had sugar cravings no matter what diet I followed. Even on a keto diet I craved sugar. I read that after a couple of weeks on low carb, you wouldn’t crave sugar anymore. HA! That was not true for me!

I had read that certain vitamins and nutrients could help with sugar cravings and over the years tried quite a few of them, but none of them ever helped me kick my sugar addiction. Nothing ever seemed to work and it was super frustrating!

How To Stop Sugar Cravings

I recently started eating a whole food diet with a focus on vegetables and fruits and I added in fermented foods to help my gut bacteria just to see if it would help. You can imagine my surprise when I started to feel better and lighter but I was still struggling with a few of my health problems and some sugar cravings even though they improved a bit with the fermented foods, when I came across this cistus tea.

I’ve been drinking the tea 3 or 4 times a day and I feel like a new woman! The reason I decided to try it is that it is supposed to break up biofilms in the body. It is said that bacteria and yeast overgrow in our bodies and create these biofilms to protect themselves. So when we take antibiotics or natural antibacterial or antifungal products, the medicine can’t reach the bacteria and yeast to kill it because of these protective biofilms.

Of course I was skeptical if this was true or would even work, but the tea was inexpensive enough that I figured it was worth finding out. I’ve struggled with my health for so long that I’m usually willing to try just about anything. I started drinking the tea the day I got it in the mail. I didn’t notice much difference that day or the next day.

On my second full day of drinking it, I felt my belly bloat reducing and a sense of lightness in my body that I haven’t felt in years! It’s hard to describe, but I felt like a thousand pounds was lifted off of me. The coolest thing that happened though was that I wasn’t hungry! I didn’t find myself snacking all day like I usually would. I was having probiotic yogurt with fruit in the morning and I would forget to eat until I was truly hungry. And let me tell you, I am not someone who forgets to eat!

My third day I felt a little rough. I still had the wonderful feelings from before but I was a bit nauseated and had a bit of a headache. I reduced the amount of tea I was drinking for that day and felt better by the next day. They say as these biofilms are broken up and the yeast and bad bacteria are dying off, they release toxins. So I think that may have been the reason for how I felt on this day. This is the first day I realized that I wasn’t craving sugar anymore!

After the third day, I felt better and better every day. I can honestly say that my aches and pains and my painful bladder are no more. My belly keeps getting smaller every day with the combination of this tea and my diet of whole foods and fermented foods. I’ve vowed to stay off of the scale but my jeans are looser so I know I’m losing weight. My sugar cravings have completely stopped. I feel like I am in control of my eating for the very first time in my life! It’s so amazing!

A key factor to this is eating healthy because you don’t want to keep feeding the bad bacteria and yeast. Plus you want to get good bacteria into your body to help push out the bad stuff. So be sure to get your fermented foods in!

If you try the incanus tea, you’ll want to use the same tea and brew it 3 times. It releases different polyphenols each time you brew it. I love this because it makes it even more cost effective! It comes in loose leaf tea. So I use this little gadget to brew mine. I tried drinking it hot at first and realized the flavor of it is muted more if I drink it iced. I usually add a packet of stevia to sweeten it a little. And don’t worry, it doesn’t taste bad. I was nervous that it was going to be super gross, but I actually enjoy it when it’s iced.

Another awesome thing about this tea is that it breaks up the biofilms on your teeth too. So your teeth feel cleaner and accumulate less plaque.

I hope you find this information useful if you’re trying to stop sugar cravings. It’s amazing to me that an imbalance of gut bacteria could cause such bad sugar cravings. I’m so thankful I found this solution to my problem and I hope it helps you too!

If you try it, please let me know if it worked for you! If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask below.

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Best Body And Cleaning Products For The Chemically Sensitive

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If you have chemical sensitivities, you know how frustrating it can be. It’s really hard to find products that don’t cause your body to react. In this post you’ll find the best body and cleaning products I have found for the chemically sensitive.

I was a nail technician for 18 years and I believe the exposure to all the nail chemicals caused these sensitivities for me. I have had chemical sensitivities for about 13 years now and I’ve tested lots of products to find the perfect ones that don’t cause any reaction.

I wanted to share my list of products that I use that are all natural and organic that keep my body from reacting for those who are struggling with multiple chemical sensitivities.

The Best Body And Cleaning Products For The Chemically Sensitive

The first product I changed that was giving me major reactions was my laundry detergent. It’s unbelievable how toxic regular laundry detergent is! If you’re struggling with skin rashes, itchy skin or any other issues with your skin, I’m sure you will benefit from a natural laundry detergent. This is the one I use. It comes scented with essential oils or unscented. I’ve used both and not reacted to either one. Just this one change will calm your body down fast! It’s not super fragranced like the regular commercial detergent, but it has a nice soft essential oil fragrance. The lavender is my favorite! Be careful when buying a natural detergent. A lot of them I looked at still had some pretty harsh stuff in them. This one I’ve listed here is the most pure one I found. I also love that it is safe for high efficiency machines and is plant based.
The next change I made was my soap. Rubbing toxic chemical soap all over your body is not ideal if you’re sensitive to chemicals. I switched to this one and it changed my life! I use the bar soap because it’s more cost effective, but if you enjoy a liquid body wash, it also comes in liquid form.. You can also use the liquid as a laundry detergent! I did that when I first switched from regular detergent, but the one I listed above is cheaper. Both are great though. This soap also comes in unscented or scented with essential oils. I love the tea tree oil or peppermint because they’re invigorating, but they are a tiny bit tingly. It also comes in almond, citrus, rose or lavender which all smell awesome! You can buy these on Amazon in larger packs and save money. I also use this soap to wash my face because every face cleanser I tried was causing my face to be red and itchy.
The next thing I switched up was my deodorant. All the chemicals and aluminum in regular deodorant are so bad for us. I started using this one and I really like it! I like the tea tree scent because it’s a bit stronger than the others in the way of fighting odors.
I also decided I should try an organic shampoo and conditioner because when you shower and wash your hair, the shampoo and conditioner get on your body. So it only made sense to use something that my body wouldn’t have a reaction to. I have to tell you this has turned out to be the best shampoo and conditioner I’ve ever used. As a former salon owner, I’ve tried a lot of the best hair products on the market and these take the cake!
I also decided to remove fluoride from my toothpaste so I switched to this one and it is amazing! It leaves my teeth feeling so much cleaner than the toothpaste I used to use. The fluoride we take in fills in the receptors in our bodies for other elements and wreaks havoc on our bodies. So there was no question for me about changing up my toothpaste to fluoride free.
I began using a vinegar and water solution to clean my house and floors. It works great as a window, bathroom and floor cleaner. I pretty much use it for everything. Just fill a spray bottle a third of the way with vinegar and fill the rest with water. It’s cheap, easy and non-toxic.
I also decided to eliminate the toxic room spray we were using in our bathrooms. I switched to this organic room spray and I love it!
Lotion was another really toxic thing I was slathering my body with. The crazy thing is that most commercial lotions have mineral oil in them and don’t even soak into our skin anyway. So you have to keep using more and more and it never really helps. This one works amazing and I promise you won’t be reapplying it every 5 minutes!
With summer approaching, I want to mention sunscreen. Again, we’ve been rubbing this all over us to prevent sunburn and it’s completely toxic. I like this one a lot because it’s a spray so it’s easy to apply.

I hope this list helps you calm your body toxicity down. I know making these changes has really helped me cope with my chemical sensitivities. If you only have the money to change one or two, make the change to natural laundry detergent and body soap. The less toxic stuff you have in your life the better, but just changing those two things will make a huge difference! Even if you aren’t chemically sensitive, these products could take some of the toxic load off of you body and improve your health.

Resources from this post:

Easy Way To Lose Belly Fat Without Exercise-Healthy Gut

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Easy Way To Lose Belly Fat Without Exercise

I’ve been doing some soul searching lately. I’ve gone through a very turbulent 13 years with my health. As many of you know, I spent my life on a diet rollercoaster, trying the next new fad diet at every turn. I’m always looking for an easy way to lose belly fat without exercise because I have health issues that make it hard for me to exercise without being in pain. I finally decided to just listen to my body and what it needs. I’m giving up the scale and doing what seems right for my health. We get so caught up in life sometimes and forget to get in tune with ourselves and do what we need to do for us. I wanted to share with you some things you can do that will help you lose belly fat without exercising and change your health at the same time.

Changes To Lose Belly Fat

Cut out processed food. Processed food is just not good at all for us. We all know it, but it’s hard to resist temptation. Focus on whole foods that are found in nature to reduce your belly. Processed foods make us bloated and feel horrible. Switching to whole foods will change the way you feel and help you reduce your sugar and junk food cravings.
Take a supplement to help with stomach acid. You can’t digest your food properly if you don’t have enough stomach acid. If you are burping a lot, get gassy after meals, have heartburn or acid reflux or feel like your food just sits in your stomach for way too long, these are signs that your stomach acid is too low and you may benefit from a supplement.
Add fermented foods to your diet. An imbalanced gut is the cause for almost everyone who struggles to lose weight. Adding fermented foods to your diet will help get healthy bacteria in your gut and create a healthy balanced body that is primed to lose weight. Taking probiotics is not the same. Some people have an intolerance to probiotics, but fermented foods work great for them. I personally cannot take probiotics without side effects, but my body does great with fermented foods. Once your gut starts to heal you will see drastic changes in your belly bloating. Some fermented foods you can add to your diet to help you lose belly fat are yogurt, kefir, kombucha, saurkraut, and pickles. If some of these things sound like another language to you, I totally understand. I had no clue what kefir and kombucha were. You can buy them or make your own with cultures. I didn’t have luck getting the cultures at the health food store, but I found them on Amazon. Can I just tell you that I am obsessed with the saurkraut?! The kombucha is so good too! I try to eat a lot of fermented vegetables because they are lower in calories than yogurt and kefir. I usually have yogurt with berries as my dessert in the evening.
Drink cistus tea. Cistus tea helps break down biofilms that bad bacteria create to protect themselves. Breaking down these biofilms allows your body to push the bad bacteria out as you get more healthy bacteria in your body through fermented foods.

Besides losing belly fat, here’s what you can expect to see from making these changes to your diet:

Clearer skin
Easier weight loss
Decreased appetite
Stronger immune system
Decreased food cravings
Better mood
More energy
Decreased food allergies
Decreased chemical sensitivites
Better health and relief from health issues like acne, fibromyalgia, eczema, psoriasis, asthma, arthritis, autoimmune etc.

If you’re interested in learning more about losing your belly by balancing your gut, The Lose Your Belly Diet is the best resource that explains exactly what to do in a really easy to understand format. If you read the book, there’s an exact diet you can follow created by a doctor and it’s designed to help you lose belly fat without exercise.

If you challenge yourself to make these easy changes, I know you’ll lose belly fat and be feeling amazing and looking hot this summer in your swimsuit!

I would love to hear if you decide to try these ideas and if they helped you lose belly fat or what other wonderful health benefits you had!

Please share this on Facebook or Pinterest using the share buttons if you think it could help someone you know who is struggling.

How To Stay Motivated To Lose Weight

Figuring out how to stay motivated to lose weight is one of the most difficult things. Temptation is around every corner. Some days you’re discouraged with your lack of progress. You’re hungry and you just want to eat. Your kids’ unhealthy snacks are calling your name. No one is noticing that you’re losing weight. It’s a challenge, but I have a few tips that will help keep you motivated when times get tough.

How To Stay Motivated To Lose Weight:

This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure here.

Find your reason why. Why do you want to lose weight? Maybe your reason is to be able to play with your kids or to fit in your skinny jeans or to feel amazing in a swimsuit or to be able to run a marathon or to feel more attractive. Really take some time and figure out why you want to lose the weight. Why do you want that? How will you feel when you reach your goal? This is one of the most important things that will keep you motivated. Always remind yourself what your reason is when you want to give up.
Imagine yourself as you’d like to be. If you can really visualize what you want to look like, feel like and act like when you reach your goal, it will help you stay on track and committed to the process. Take a few minutes when you first wake up or before you go to sleep to just imagine how amazing you will feel, what you’ll wear, and how you will be when you reach your goal.
Celebrate your small successes. Made it through a day without cheating? Got your workouts in all week? Drank a gallon of water today? Passed up that cupcake at work? Whatever your small successes are, be sure to celebrate them. Be proud of yourself for the little things. It’s the little things that will get you to your big goal in the end. It’s ok to toot your own horn!
Join a support community or find a support partner. Having support on a weight loss journey is so helpful! Just knowing that there are other people who get what you’re going through makes all the difference in the world. Your family may not understand your struggles. Your skinny friends who can eat anything they want won’t get why you can’t just have pizza. Find people who are on the same journey as you and embrace them. You can find weight loss groups on Facebook or find a hiking group or workout partner in your local area so you can support each other and motivate each other.
Stop making excuses. Life gets busy and stressful, but you can’t excuse your way out of doing what you need to do for yourself. You keep your commitments to work, your kids and your husband. Why can’t you keep your commitments to yourself? You have to get out of your own way.
Follow a program that is so simple you don’t have to think about it constantly. Find something that fits into your life and your routine like it’s second nature. It’s impossible to stick to something that you have to have on your mind every minute of the day. We have other things going on besides dieting. Keep it simple. This is the biggest tip on how to stay motivated to lose weight. The right program is the key! When you can enjoy the process and don’t have to focus on the outcome to get through it, everything will be easy.
Love yourself as you are. There is a sense of calmness that comes when you stop beating yourself up, body shaming yourself, and talking to yourself negatively. I challenge you to wake up each morning, look at yourself in the mirror and say one nice thing about yourself. Learn to love who you are and all of your wonderful qualities instead of focusing on the things that you think are wrong with you.
Keep your fridge and pantry stocked with healthy foods. It’s a whole lot easier to make the right choices when you have the right foods on hand. Let your pantry get too empty and temptation sets in because you have no options but junk food.
Recommit to yourself and your program each week. Set a goal for the week and commit to reaching it no matter how small it is. Set a day each week to take a few minutes to think about this and make a commitment to yourself. Get your free weight loss tracker so you can write down your goals and track your progress.
Be patient. I KNOW! I’m the least patient person on the planet, but weight loss doesn’t happen in the blink of an eye (unless you’re I Dream Of Jeannie). You have to just do your thing, stay committed, live life the best you can and it will happen. This is why you need to follow a simple program that fits your lifestyle. It makes this patience part a whole lot easier.

Do you have any tips on how you stay motivated to lose weight? Let me know in the comments below.

XOXO,

Cassie

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