Food, Family and Craziness

Hey guys,

This week was nuts! I hope all of you were able to go out there, crush your goals and live your lives with an impact. I've been modifying my diet with more legumes and seeing really awesome results--all post more about that another time! HIIT and low GI foods seem to put my metabolism into some kind of sweet spot.

Who else is excited about Thanksgiving? My favorite Thanksgiving challenge is taking our traditional foods and making them healthier. You're still going to stuff yourself silly, why not make it with healthy things so you can walk afterwards, right? :) Last year, I did a low carb Thanksgiving fest for my dad, who had to change his diet to get on top of his borderline diabetes diagnosis. The food was delicious and we all had a great time. This year, I can't wait to kick it up another notch with a healthy dinner and Minute to Win It games! If we do any really crazy stuff, I'll be sure to share. ;)

I'm staying strong with my resolution to not condemn, criticize or complain. Sometimes it's hard, and often I mess up, but the results of staying positive far outweigh any temporary relief from blabbling about my problems.

I hope all of you have an awesome weekend and an even better Thanksgiving Holiday! Don't be shy to e-mail me those prayer requests.

Thankful,

Lizi

Where Has The Time Gone?

Have you ever gotten to the end of the day and asked yourself that question?  Do you frequently feel like you tried your hardest but you have nothing to show for it? Let's look at some ways to manage time more effectively to have results to show for it at the end of the day.

#1. Define Your Goals--Some people are into structure, some aren't. I recommend doing what works for you. If writing 3 things you want to do by the end of the day on the back of a receipt and sticking it in your pocket works for you, then do it! I don't care. I like having a day planner with time blocked off for each part of my day, with my running "To Do" list on the side. I can tell you right now, though, that if I asked my brother to keep one, it would never get written in. Ever. He's a "back of the receipt" kind of guy, and you know what? It works beautifully for him. So define your goals and put them somewhere. A secondary thing to do, once you have a focus for your activities, is to prioritize them. For example, I have a goal of working out for 30 minutes every day. It's a priority for me. Another priority for me is to learn something new. If I have 2 hours left in my day, I might try a new workout. Why? Because both of these things are priorities for me and I have a limited amount of time, so I'll learn a new workout for bonus points. Let's say in this 2 hours left scenario I also needed to...I don't know...return Library books. I might just bump that to the next day, because while returning them is important, the library books won't impact my health like working out will.

#2. Bust Time Wasters--If you frequently find yourself intimidated by your To Do list and jumping on FaceBook to compensate, you need to become aware of your bad habits and cut it out. If you are supposed to be setting up lunch meetings and instead you grab a coffee and hang out on Twitter for an hour, become aware of it and cut it out. A good way to catch yourself at this is to write down everything you do, every 15 minutes for 1 day. Don't lie to yourself and don't hold back. From when you wake up, begin recording even the mundane details. I realized I spent about 40 minutes every day just staring into space thinking of what to do next. That's what led me to a to do list! Almost an hour wasted literally doing nothing (not that thinking is bad, it's not, I still spend plenty of time doing it, but there's no need for me to stand around figuring out what to do next instead of having a plan of action that I wrote up yesterday and charging forward! Then I get to spend more time with my kids and husband after completing my To Do's :) )

#3. Rinse and Repeat--There's a Japanese Proverb that says, "Beginning is easy. Continuing is hard." My sentiments exactly! Don't just do this once or twice and then write it off. If you want a successful life, you have to change the way you do things. If you want to get healthy, you have to change the way you eat. If you want to catch a rainbow trout, you have to have a certain bait. You see where I'm going with these analogies? If you're unhappy with your life--MAKE A CHANGE! And then keep doing what is successful and modify what is unsuccessful.

Just never, ever stop. A friend of mine once pointed out that in Texas, Highway 45 runs all the way from DFW to Houston. And it doesn't matter if you go 50 miles an hour or 5 miles an hour--you'll get to Houston. Just don't lay down and don't turn around.

Lizi

Just Do It!

I've noticed a trend in people that are changing their lifestyles.

They want to change their eating habits. They want to start working out. They have a general idea of why they want to do that: live longer, lose weight, look fabulous, have more energy and so on.

And then they talk themselves right out of it!

Either their wasn't specific enough information on exactly when to do what exercise, or when to eat what specific meal, or what kinds of foods you should combine, or that sounds like too much food or not enough food and so on.

For the love--Don't talk yourself out of a healthy lifestyle!!!! ALL OF THOSE ARE EXCUSES!!! 

The bottom line is this: Eat healthy, real foods (real foods don't come through a window or out of a bag/box).   Aim for 5 days per week of mixed exercises. Drink plenty of water. Supplement your nutrition appropriately.

That's pretty much it.

"But!!!" I hear you cry, "But do I do cardio, or yoga, or weights, or pilates, or yogalates, or Insanity, or use a personal trainer? And when I eat, do I eat according to my blood type, or low fat, or low carb, or Paleo, or according to an endo-ecto-mesomorph plan, or 500 calories a day? And do I weigh myself, or measure inches, or use calipers, or buy a $200+ body composition scale?"

The answer to those questions is...yes.

Ha! Now I've really got you trippin'!

You can do whatever kind of exercise you like. I myself, for example, love to run and lift weights. So, if my day allows it, I go on a 2 or 3 mile run (to some of you that's puny, to some of you that is a Herculean feat, to me that's what I have time for). If you like Yoga, do that! If you have a personal trainer, use them. If you used to like one thing but you got bored of it, FIND SOMETHING ELSE! It's the Age of Information, y'all--there IS something out there for you.

You can follow whatever realistic eating plan you want to--as long as it's real food (You know, fresh fruits and vegetables, the best meat you can afford, prepared in your home with healthy ingredients you add yourself. If you have no idea what real food is, open a new tab on your browser and fart around for a bit finding out--it's worth it). You cannot eat a fast food diet and be okay--you might take the buns off and have a chicken breast with a diet soda but consider this #rant: The "chicken breast" is made up of old, bacteria-laden mixed parts (bacteria laden because of antibiotic use in modern farming, mind you), then it was injected with a sugar/salt water mixture to make it moist and tasty (barf), then it was fried, then it was coated in liquid smoke to make you think it was grilled. You can re-name your diet soda chemical soup. You basically consumed a bunch of garbage that will release free radicals to zing around in your body, damaging otherwise perfectly happy cells, which (if you eat like that I'm guessing you don't care about supplementing vitamins too much) don't have the proper nutrients to then recover from the damage. You age your body every time you eat that junk. Cut it out! /#endrant

I think he says it best:

Drink your freakin' water too. Your body is over 90% water--you literally need it to live. If you get all of your water from carbonated crap, you're surviving but you're not thriving. When you drink your 8-10 glasses daily, your body releases toxins stored in your cells for your kidneys to deal with, which can often make you lose weight. Also, your cells release extra water they were HOARDING because they thought you lived in a desert, which often causes you to lose weight. Additionally, your molecular functions work properly when they have enough H2O to work with, giving you more energy. Oh, and you'll probably lose some weight.

On supplementation: The only reason I recommend it is because we've jacked up this planet so much our plants can't absorb the nutrients necessary for our optimal health. Some of us have seen the study on the peaches in the 50's versus the peaches now. Basically, we said screw composting, we'll concentrate on phosphorus/nitrogen balance in the soil only to make sure we can make more food to make more money. Do you think dirt is made up of 2 minerals? If you've gone through 10th grade chemistry, then you know it's incredibly more complicated than that. In addition to the declining nutritive value of our food because of crappy farming practices, we're now also genetically modifying it without enough testing to make sure that's okay to eat, spraying it with pesticides, covering it in salmonella, e.coli and MRSA--and recommending everyone eat more of it!  The USDA recommends 7 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily for men, and from 9 up to 13 servings per day for adolescent teenage boys. Don't get me wrong here: EAT YOUR FRUITS AND VEGGIES! Just be aware that what you put in your body might have unnatural issues, and to counteract that, you might need to add additional plant-derived nutrients. Examples would be antioxidants, because they fight free radicals to keep your cells happy, glyconutrients to keep your cells communicating properly and recovering from damage, enzymes to properly break down and use nutrients from the plants you eat and so forth. Another thing to supplement is protein if you--like me--don't get enough of it. I eat really healthy, but I am also busy, and if given the choice between stopping my life to cook up a bunch of meat because I forgot to on a Sunday (when I try to prepare it ahead, but seriously, I'm not perfect) OR eating chopped up raw broccoli and roasted red pepper hummus, guess what wins every time? The faster one! And while chickpeas in hummus are healthy and have protein, that's not enough to sustain my level of output during the day. Therefore, I supplement with a good, clean, real protein powder, and vitamin complexes derived from plants, and glyconutrients, and antioxidants and omega 3 essential fatty acids (they're necessary for a healthy brain, eyes and heart as well as a natural anti-inflammatory). 

Sorry for the nutrition rant. I'm a little passionate about the care and keeping of the world and the human body. 

Anyway, you can complicate your life as much as you want to, but you'll end up feeling like a failure and quitting. Don't do that. Don't give up on being healthy, or being able to see your feet when you look down, or running a mile, or living to be 130 years old and the world's top endurance knitter (I don't even know if that exists...yet...). Don't give up on your desires for a better, healthier lifestyle. 

Just do it already. 

Eat real foods. Aim for mixed exercises 5 times per week. Drink your water. Supplement appropriately. 

Repeat, and enjoy a long, healthy, happy life. 

Lizi

VLOGGING!!!

(Sounds like a new word for vomit haha! But I'm talking about Video Blogging...Video + Blogging = Vlogging!)

Today I'm going to be working on several little segments while my hubby works on saving 50 kids by Thanksgiving!!! 


Keep your eyes peeled for the latest developments in our family. Team Kratos has been growing like crazy, so I thought blogging in video might be a little shorter and sweeter for everyone. I'll start posting them in the coming weeks for you guys.

Until then, remember:

Romans 8:37
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Follow your dreams!

Do things that make you happy. Like curling your hair :p

Eat healthy, nourishing foods and feed them to your friends and family.

And please forgive me for being an erratic poster. I will do my best to continue to inspire you all to live your best lives, as well as uncomplicate the crazy world of health for you in my own weird way.

God bless, you're the best!!!

Lizi

We Like To Move It Move It!

Our house is turning into a pseudo-gym! Our living room is used for Core Workouts, Plyometrics and working out with DVD's, and our huge kitchen/dining room houses my husband's bajillion giant weights, our trampoline (or rebounder, as it's known by some), our kitchen table bench that doubles as a workout bench and our kitchen chairs, also known as additional stand-in workout equipment.

It's awesome though--I love living a healthy lifestyle by eating right, supplementing with food-based technology and moving my body. Plus, our kids love to "do cardio" by jogging laps around the backyard or kitchen table and they also enjoy yoga. How cool is that? Other kids are developing juvenile diabetes and we're training superheroes in this house!

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to share with you this amazing core workout Michael (that's my husband) turned me on to today. If you enjoy working that core like crazy, give this intense but short workout a try!

Be the ball, Danny! (you'll get it during the video). Hope you are having an awesome night living life with a major impact!

PS: Want to see my precious face? Tune in to www.mannatechlive.com tomorrow Tuesday October 23rd at 7:30 pm Central Standard Time--I'll be on Tuesday Night Live with the 2MannaSisters regarding Xtreme Food Makeovers! This will be broadcast all over America and in 22 countries internationally, so don't miss out! :)

Lizi

Eating Healthy

Hey guys, how's it going? We're living life with an insane impact here at Team Kratos! We've got testimonials coming in from everywhere, I'm being asked to speak all over DFW and even at some out-of-state locations as well as having people ask for weight loss and healthy lifestyle consultations! How awesome is that? And the best part is: malnourished kids are getting fed as a direct result of our efforts. That's what it's all about, right?

So today, I'll keep it short and sweet and focus on eating healthy. I know a few years ago I was a medical assistant with tons of health information crossing my desk every day but I was 30 lbs overweight after my first child and SO CONFUSED about what healthy eating really meant. (Maybe 30 lbs doesn't sound like much to you, but I'm only 5'1"...so I looked and felt pretty hefty).

One study said low carbohydrate diets were the only way to lose significant amounts of weight.

Another study said that low carbohydrate dieters lost significant weight at first, but almost always gained it back within 1 year.

Another studies said a high carbohydrate, low fat lifestyle was the only way to go.

Another study said high carbohydrate, low fat lifestyles led to increased health risks later in life.

One study said Paleo-style diets were the authority on healthy living.

Another study said Paleo-style diets caused kidney failure and other health complications.

So you can see my dilemma. Here I was, just had my first child, the doctor told me I was breastfeeding too much and making my baby fat, my OB/GYN was telling me he was concerned because he thought I should've dropped like 20 lbs by now post-baby, I hadn't slept in 3 months because my little girl had colic and everything I was reading contradicted everything else I was reading.

So what did I do? What any unhealthy, red-blooded American woman would do--I lived on Diet Coke, popcorn and chocolate with the occasional iceberg lettuce salad...covered in Ranch dressing...

As my weight continued to stubbornly stay put almost no matter what I did, my life stress levels were increasing due to lack of sleep (my daughter had colic for her first 9 months of life and no one slept!) and increased work load. I eventually developed stress related chest pain that culminated in a panic attack. It was kind of funny actually, I had no idea what was happening and thought I was dying or something. Fortunately my husband had experience with anxiety which had never plagued me before, and was able to figure out what was going on.

Anyhow, after that period in my life I did several significant things.

#1. I jumped OFF of the bandwagon. I decided that media on dieting was too varied: the master cleanse and the 17 day diet went in and out of popularity faster than I could blink--and I'm sure they'll do it again in a few years. I just thought about what the facts were, what every body was seeing in a general blanket and that I would stick with those, namely increasing vegetables and decreasing processed foods and simple carbohydrates like white flour and white sugar.

#2. I made vegetables my best friend. Don't get me wrong--I love meat and I'm not a vegetarian. But instead of eating a giant steak with a few pieces of broccoli, I switched it around to a palm-sized portion of meat with 1 cup of broccoli. And for snacks, I avoided anything packaged and ate celery, chopped zucchini and summer squash with humus or some other kind of naturally occurring, non-packaged veggie. If I was cooking a larger portion for guests or something, I chose a meal with a basis of vegetables, such as a stir fry. That way, I could continue to eat healthy by having vegetables as the basis of the meal instead of a starch (our stir fry's are usually chicken or shrimp tossed in with frozen stir fry vegetables or cabbage and broccoli instead of rice--just as delicious and twice as healthy).

#3. I combined protein and complex carbs with every small meal, and increased my meals to 4-6 small meals daily. At first, I felt like I was just slightly hungry all the time. Eventually--probably after 2 or 3 days--my body began to adjust to the smaller, more frequent meals and it became natural to crave food every few hours and to feel satisfied with smaller meals more frequently. An example of protein and complex carbs would be: Lettuce (complex carb) and Chicken breast (protein), Apple (complex carb) and Peanut Butter (protein), raw Broccoli (complex carb) and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (protein). Or, another one of my favorites: 1/2 a banana (complex carbs) with a scoop of Osolean (protein) and some spinach (MORE complex carbs, yum!). Pretty easy stuff, right?

#4. I began to exercise. Like, really exercise, not consider walking around Wal-Mart for 20 minutes exercise. I lifted weights--dinky little 3 lb weights at first--for 10 minutes three times per week and went on 2 mile power walks on my lunch break (took me about 40 minutes at first). Eventually, I worked my way up to what I now LOVE to do: about an hour of running 5-6 times per week and weights 3-5 days per week. Mind you, I feel incredible when I work out so it's not something I'm doing to be vain or self-righteous--working out is now something I adore. I also park further away from the store to get in more of a walk, walk around a shopping center instead of going to one store, then my car, then driving to the next store haha, I take the stairs when possible, I limit my television and computer time, I walk while I read and in general do everything I can to keep my body moving. A study was just released that for every hour of television you watch, you take 22 minutes off of your life--THAT'S DOUBLE THE TIME FROM SMOKING A CIGARETTE! Not that I condone smoking--I absolutely don't, but how shocking is it that our TV habits are worse than smoking???

So, there you have it. A generalized condensed plan of how I changed my thinking patterns, my eating habits and began exercising to lose 35 pounds and keep it off for 4 years.

Have you lost weight? What worked for you? Comment below!

Driven Mindset

I've learned several things over the years:

Time management is very important.

People are very important.

Controlling your thoughts is very important.

And giving back is very important.


So when I have a day where I am nervous about trying something new, or talking to someone unfamiliar, or doing something differently, I remind myself of what is important. I can't ever renew my time, so wasting it on dumb things that don't help me at all shouldn't be an option. I should never put my fear of talking to new people above the knowledge that there are people in this world actively looking to lose weight and get healthy, and by letting fear stop me, I'm contributing to the awful way they feel. I shouldn't let fear, doubt or worry burden my thoughts, because the Bible says "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). I know that giving blesses me and the person I am giving to, more than I will ever see or know, and that I should perpetuate a giving spirit in myself and encourage it in others.

This is what I'm digging on today, I hope it inspires you to banish fear, prioritize, get your thoughts under control and CRUSH IT today!

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Humble & Relateable

Do you remember Bill Cosby's "Kid's Say The Darndest Things" show? I didn't actively watch it, but I remember my grandparents watching it and laughing until they cried. I never really understood why until I had children of my own.

It's about relate-ability. My grandma and grandpa took my dad, brother and myself in after my parents divorced until my dad could get on his feet as a single parent. So, in essence, in their late 60's they became parents again while our dad worked crazy hours to establish himself here in Texas.

I can remember some of the crazy things we put them through. My grandma was forever trying to teach me manners and get me to take an interest in little girl things. I was a tom boy and I was very jaded and mature from my childhood, so when I wasn't reading I was outside climbing trees or catching bugs. Well, Grandma went to a garage sale across the street and bought me some Barbies, encouraging me to take an interest in girly toys over catching bugs. I have no idea why I reacted this way, but I grabbed an empty Whitman's Chocolate sampler box, filled it up with hundreds of roly-polies and let them loose in her living room! That was a rare, childish and impulsive moment for me, but I can understand a little better why she'd watch the "Kids Say The Darndest Things" show and laugh--because she saw again first hand how silly and reactive kids can be, and she (and my Grandpa) related to the feeling of trying to be the adult in a humorous situation.

My brother got into all kinds of little boy craziness--urinating outside instead of using the inside toilet (which I'm told by girlfriends with little boys that this is not an uncommon issue for young misters!), rough housing with neighborhood boys, leaving Lego pieces everywhere to be stepped on in the middle of the night, waking up the entire house hold to find his red Power Ranger before bed and so forth. At the time, it was a hassle to clean the mess and find the lost toys--but looking back, it was an honor to be trusted to look for his most prized possessions.

How many times has someone reached out to you, only for you to ignore or belittle them? Do you cultivate your ability to relate to other people? Or are you too busy to stop and open up a little?

My girls, making a huge mess 

This morning my daughter had what was a very important conversation to her with me. She was listing everything that she thought she might want for Christmas.

"And a Barbie playhouse, and a Strawberry Shortcake City...and...and..." Her little face scrunched up, then fell apart. "Oh mamma, I was thinking too much and I forgot everything that I wanted."

I smiled. It was 6:45 a.m. and I just wanted to drink my coffee. However, thinking about that "Kids Say The Darndest Things" show, and about how many people need you to just open up and relate to them, I set aside my wants. "Well baby, maybe you should think it over again, but make your list a little smaller, that way you can be more grateful for what you have, and not focus so much on what you want."

She nodded. "OK. I love you mommy, I'll be thankful."

If I allowed myself to be brusque and rude, and consider MY time and MY desires the MOST important thing, I would've missed hearing what my daughter was really saying. Behind her little Christmas list, she was saying, "I need to talk to you. I need your help. I need you to see me being a big girl and thinking this through and to recognize my forethought."

I am so thankful I caught her message and cultivated that moment with her. Life is a series of these little moments, will you be too wrapped up in yourself to see them? Or can you decide to change, to listen to what someone else is saying, what someone else needs from you?

Lizi

Dream Big

I don't have much time tonight, but I still wanted to say something.

Don't limit yourself. 

Don't suffocate your desires under excuses.

Dream big.

Take risks.

Is this cheesy? Somewhat.

But we all need to hear it.

Banish Fear

Fear is binding, restrictive, habit forming negative thought patterns that can destroy your life if you let them. Fear isn't always a huge panic-ridden incident like on television shows, sometimes fear is just small hesitations and inhibitions that pile up quickly.

For example: Fear to get your haircut might make you feel ugly or ratty, which you'll manifest in front of other people. Fear of changing careers might make you unhappy in your current position, causing you to get demoted or fired because of your actions or behaviors. Fear of inadequacy might prevent you from talking to someone who is interested in you or your opportunity and cause you to be frustrated with your lack of communication skills.

Notice that in each of these scenarios, we as people tend to think about what is holding us back and make ourselves unhappy, and then instead of owning our poor thought patterns and changing them, we look for someone else to blame. Your boss, your job, a customer, a teacher from Elementary school--your mind, if untrained to recognize fear for what it is and change your thinking, can and will find a reason why it's someone or something else's fault.

If you find yourself in an unhappy and depressed place, think about why that is. If you immediately find yourself blaming everyone but yourself, stop it. You are responsible for your thoughts--you can choose to live a happy life by being accountable for your thought patterns and changing them, or you can choose to let your thoughts run negative and wild, keeping you under the bondage of fear.

Always remember it's your choice.

If you agreed with the above and you want to know how to change, here's some tips:

1. The first thing that has to change is your thoughts. You can change your clothes, hairstyle, hair color, house, car, whatever as many times as you'd like--and it might bring you relief for a little bit--but if you don't change your poor thought patterns, your life won't feel any different in the long run. To change your thoughts, examine your inner dialogue. If you're critical of yourself, stop being critical and look for what you've done well. If you're constantly blaming others, take accountability for your part in a positive way, and look for how you can change your habits. Don't complain about your situation--you'll only make it worse. Don't condemn yourself either; think about what makes you happy and excited and stay focused on that.

2. Once you've changed your thoughts, change your actions. If you have a fear of speaking to people, join Toastmaster's or another speaking organization to become more comfortable in your skills and abilities. If that's too intimidating, ask wise and honest people you know how you can improve your communication skills. If you have a bad habit of hanging out with negative people that always put you in a bad mood about life, respectfully ask them to not complain or gossip in front of you. If they don't change, it might be a good idea to find a new crowd to hang out with. If you have a negative tirade in your head over mistakes you make, do a "performance review" on yourself instead: write down what went wrong and how you could have fixed it, but write it professionally, as if you were a boss supporting and encouraging an employee. This is a valuable way to correct your actions without condemning or criticizing yourself too harshly. When you start ripping into yourself, instead of improving you'll just feel sorry for yourself and do it all over again the next day. Instead, set goals, be proactive and be encouraging to yourself that you're in control and you can change.

3. Once you've changed your actions, change your demeanor. Rather than walk around with a sour look, smile. Smile at strangers, smile at yourself in the mirror, smile when you remember something silly, smile at your spouse, children and friends. Be generous with your affection--if you don't like to touch people, a smile will suffice! Find reasons to laugh and have a quiet inner joy. If someone makes a mistake, be kind about it and encourage them the way you'd encourage yourself.

I hope this little toe-dip into the world of banishing fear, taking control of your thoughts and your life has been helpful to you! If you have any tips, thoughts or suggestions, comment below!

Lizi

How Do You Know?

How do you know if you're healthy? It seems like a funny question to ask, but there's a surprising amount of confusion regarding what "being healthy" really means. Let's define being healthy, and if you find you're way off, let's talk about some solutions. 

"Health" is defined by Merriam-Webster as "The condition of being sound in body, mind or spirit; especially being free from physical disease or pain." I really like that bit at the end, because most often that is how we measure whether or not we consider ourselves healthy. Do I have a disease? Do I hurt? Nope? Alright I'm good! 

We fail to take into account the first part of the definition: The condition of being sound in body, mind or spirit. Some questions to ask yourself regarding health in those three areas are:

Body:
-Do I have any medical conditions that I'm ignoring? (Toe fungus, reoccurring pain, ongoing bowel issues like constipation or diarrhea, rashes that come and go, allergies)
-Do I feed myself well? (Limiting packaged foods, reducing sugar intake, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, not overeating, avoiding stress eating, consuming plenty of protein)
-Am I supplementing effectively? (plant-based supplements, avoiding synthetics, taking in an adequate amount of vitamins, minerals and extra antioxidants)

Mind:
-Am I in control of my thoughts? (not letting thoughts run wild, feeling organized in thinking patterns, being able to switch subjects mentally and then switch back)
-Do I "feed" my brain every day? (read the Bible daily, read success books, listen to motivational and inspirational messages)
-Are my emotions under control? (controlling feelings of anger, able to not have outbursts, able to control sadness, able to stop crying, have the ability to get out of a mood once you get into it)

Spirit:
-Do I know why I'm here? (If you don't, you should work on that. Proverbs 29:18 Amplified: Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]—blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he.)
-Do I know where to go for answers to a serious dilemma? (having a fellowship of people to support you, help with thoughts of suicide or murder, help with an addiction, someone to lean on and guide you when you're lost)

If you've got these bases covered, you're well on your way to health. Why on your way? Why not instantly healthy? Because in life you are always developing, improving and maturing. I like the expression, "When you're green, you're growing; when you're ripe, you're rotten." It refers to when you're learning something new, you're continuing to grow into something great. But if you harden your heart and decide there's no room for improvement, well, then you're rotting, you're done. 

If you have any health questions you want to talk about, or if you want to take a free health survey to find the right supplementation for your health, leave a comment below or send us an e-mail!

Team Kratos
mannateamkratos@gmail.com

Happiness Really Is A State of Mind

Today we're helping someone move. I can hear the groans from adult backs all over the country at that statement! But let me tell you something fun about my family: we are Christians, and since the Word says in Romans 12:2: Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind...and in Nehemiah 8:10: The joy of the Lord is my strength, the harder the task gets for us, the more we roll up our sleeves, put on a big smile and work hard to get it done!

Happiness, we've found to be true over and over again, is a state of mind.

Happiness isn't a magical feeling that floats over you when you wear brand name clothes, drink expensive coffee, eat artisan bread and listen to contemporary jazz. There is nothing you can buy or consume that will give you true, lasting happiness.

Happiness is a state of mind.

It all happens between your ears. When your husband says, "Hey babe, could you do me a favor and do the dishes real quick so I can make you dinner?" for some reason, our reaction gets dark and twisted and we think "Why should I have to do the dishes for you? Why should I have to do anything? I've busted my buns all day" and on and on with a list of how big of a saint we are. Our reaction should be: "Well hot dog! He's making me dinner! Sure babe, I'll have those dishes clean in a wink!"

If we can look for a reason to be happy in the situation, our attitude about the situation will slowly change. It takes repetition to look for blessings and reasons to be happy in our daily grind, you have to bring your errant mind back over and over again, but eventually, like all things, it will become a habit.

And then your response to whatever life throws at you won't be an emotional reaction that hurts you and the people around you.

Instead, your actions and your speech will inspire people to look at you and think, "man, what has that person got that makes them so happy all the time? I want that."

The takeaway: plaster a smile on your face, look for the little joys and blessings in your life and observe the changes within yourself and the reactions of the people closest to you.

Have You GIVEN lately?

Well, have you? I'm asking this because of the amazing amount of extra stuff I've had around my house. Extra clothes, extra canned goods, extra paper, extra seeds (for the garden). And once you wake up, and you look around, all of those excuses as to why you can't help donate to X charity or how sad you are about your financial situation become empty.

Most of the world lives on less than $10 per day.

The relief that the US sends to foreign aid is white rice, flour and dehydrated beans--dead foods that have to be enriched to even contain any nutritive value.

Meanwhile, you refuse to look into how you can change the world and decide instead you need to put a $799 flat screen LCD television on a credit card because "you can't see the screen" on your current T.V.

Riiiight.

How about next week, instead of spending $4 on morning coffee and $10 on lunch, you take that $70 from ONE WEEK and apply it to a nutritional product that not only nourishes you and your family, but also sends plant-based nourishment to an underprivileged part of the world?

That's literally all it would take. See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZpZDwjusIE

As an aside, I donated all of my extra clothes to charity, food to a community food bank and garden seeds to the local community garden. I want to make a difference in my home as well as around the globe.

Are you inspired? Have you had similar experiences? Tell me more in a comment! :)

Lizi

Dale Carnegie

I've been reading through Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. I had read it before in college, and while I thought it was really good then, I never made it my own and applied the principle's.

Man, what a mistake!

I recently resolved to follow his first principle in the book: Never Criticize, Condemn or Complain.

Let me back up a second and tell you about myself. I'm considered a driven, intelligent and kind person (these statements are taken from family and friends) . I make lots of mistakes (and freely admit that) which helps me to be understanding about other people. So, it's not like I was doing a major overhaul on my life, right?

WRONG!!!!

While I strive to never condemn other people, apparently the complaining aspect of my life was out of control. I had no idea I whined so much; in fact, I considered myself a tough cookie who kept her mouth shut!

Once you make the resolution to not complain, the first few days you find yourself repeatedly opening and then closing your mouth when you realize you can't jump on your pity bandwagon. The added benefit of looking like a suffocating fish eventually gets you to the place where you're disciplined enough to not open your mouth in the first place!

Then, about the 3rd day or so for me, I noticed 2 things.

#1: I became happier, because I couldn't complain--meaning I had no choice but to focus on the blessings in my life.

#2: Since I couldn't complain, I got to listen a lot more to people--not only did I learn more about them, but I was able to fill some needs AND give them a piece of my positive outlook!

And while I wasn't terrible about criticizing or condemning others, I'm sure my report card had a big, fat (NI) for Needs Improvement on it, because I did find myself wanting to make my friends feel better by being harsh of a third person's actions. But that's not really fair, is it? I'm not in any way involved in that situation, so that's exactly what I told my friends. They were surprisingly okay with that, and went on to talk about other things without missing a beat.

It just goes to show, you should always strive to grow.

Lizi
mannateamkratos@gmail.com