My No. 1 Healthy Lifestyle Tip

You may have noticed, I've been pretty MIA lately due to the miniature dictators that are currently going through "a phase" and requiring 99.9% of my time so, I'll get right to it.

Eat (and drink) for energy.

That's it. It's that simple. Now, figuring out how to do that can be the challenging part. You have to actually spend a little time with yourself figuring out what foods give you energy and which ones sap it. Over the course of the past few months, I've pretty much gotten it down, and hopefully, this blog (or I) will help you, too.

I've learned so much over the past six and a half months of this pregnancy. I've been living the Advocare lifestyle for a year and a half now so, I've definitely built up a solid foundation of health and wellness, but like anything else, your perspective shifts and evolves as you grow and learn more about what you care about. 

When my 'get healthy' journey began, it was aimed at losing weight and "getting me and my family healthy" which I learned, is a great thing, but way too broad of a goal (if you're a glutton for punishment, you can see my before pic HERE).

Then I started CrossFit and it turned into, eating to perform, putting on lean muscle mass and getting faster and stronger.

Then I got pregnant with Boy #3 and it became eating solely for nutrients. 
(Full disclosure: I'm not gonna lie - Weeks 4ish - 12 sucked. All I could seem to get down was Cocoa Pebbles at 9pm. I'm so happy and honestly, proud, that I had built up such a solid foundation before I got pregnant to draw from. I'm not saying that you can just eat whatever you want when you're pregnant, nor do I condone the use of Cocoa Pebbles as food, but it was what it was. Week 12 was like a whole new world and I hopped right back on the healthy train.)

When I shifted the way I looked at foods, a total transformation happened. I couldn't look at foods/portion sizes in terms of weight loss, etc. I had to look at them in terms of the nutrients they'd deliver. I know we all say, "eat for health, etc.", but honestly, that's hard. It's hard because it's preventative and I think that everyone wants to see change and results. And it's hard because that's a really general thing to shoot for. It's hard to see the effects of 'eating for health'...unless you eat for energy. THAT you can see and feel.

I started out by really digging into the Paleo Diet. And whenever I use the word 'diet' I really mean like the foods you consume, not "hey, let's eat nothing but grapefruits for a month 'diet'". I was really skeptical in the beginning, but after some extensive research (having read books like, It Starts with Food, Wheatbelly, Practical Paleo and Against All Grain). I totally get it. Do I choose to be strict Paleo? No. BUT, that's the beauty of educating yourself on food and nutrition and figuring out how different foods affect you, your system and your energy levels. I do a variation that works best for me, my energy levels, my budget and my current season of life, aka a complete Goat Rodeo, but I've found what works and what foods to stay away from. 

It took some education (which I hopefully can help by lessening your learning curve), auditing, trial and error and most of all actually caring. Caring enough to put eating for energy as a top priority in order to reach the bigger, overarching goal of 'eating for my health'.

I'm a better mom and person when I eat for energy. I have a much longer fuse for my wild boys and husband. I have more energy to keep the household running and make sure that there's good food in the fridge, laundry is done (mostly...), I'm in MUCH better shape this pregnancy than I was my last two (and I would've even considered those to have been healthy) and I'm just...happier. 

Life is crazy, yo. Don't let it run you over and pass you by. Sure, there are days where no matter how good my food choices are I still feel (and probably look...) like I got hit by a train, but the important thing to remember is: 

1. 
Eat and drink for energy, everything else will fall into place


2.   
 
Currently, "a major stressful event" is everyday at naptime. 

These are the key takeaways that I've discovered:

• Gluten and Sugar are the devil. Avoid them like the plague.
• Drink a gallon of water a day (I also drink at least one serving of Rehydrate)

**PS I totally follow the 90/10 rule. I fully plan on having wine and/or a margarita post-baby and when we do go out to eat or attend family functions, I'm not a complete freak and just drink water, I actually eat (just plan ahead and make the best food choice possible) but that's a whole 'nutha post! 

Make sure to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram for recipes and other fun stuff!

Hopefully be back later this week, lovelies! 

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