Our Family Only had One Car and one OVEN...today I am thankful for my WHEELS!

Today I am thankful for having my own wheels. My Dad worked at Stroh's Brewery and had a "driver" pick him up. Not a "driver" like Metro Cars, but another man who worked at Stroh's who lived near by and kind of came our way on his way to work. My Dad paid him weekly for gas.
My Dad did this so that my Mom could have our Chevrolet Impala to do what she needed to do. Happy Wife, Happy Life! I love you Dad. Can you imagine! Today when you jump in your car try to be thankful that you have wheels too!

I am also thankful today for double ovens with convection on top (4 racks) and conventional on the bottom (2 racks). How in the world did our Mothers do it with ONE OVEN and four children! The reason I am thankful today is that I spent the morning preparing NOT TO COOK this weekend.

Here is what I made in order: roasted brussel sprouts with red onion, roasted carrots, roasted beets, vegan white bean with kale soup (so delicious and so easy) and vegan green lentil soup with kale, tomatoes and veggies and raw energy bites (almond butter, chia, sunflower, pumpkin seeds, oats, honey YUM).

 

 

What do you do to get ready NOT TO COOK!

 

To get these soup recipes go to: deniselovathealthcoach.com and contact me through the contact box. Type in SOUPS!





I love the smell of Fall at the Royal Oak Market!

 

The view of the market is incredible: smell, touch, texture, people, produce, nourishment!

 

Saturday morning is my quiet time to plan my Sunday of cooking for the week

 

The colorful peppers remind me of my grandmother's garden and the value she

placed on her vegetable garden.

 

The magnificence of this display is a work of art

 

Do you want to be in CONTROL?

The answer to this question is probably yes! for most of us. Who doesn't like to control their day, control their destiny, control how things work in their family. Who doesn't want to protect everyone from harm and make sure everyone is all right! I have big news for you, I mean big, big, big news.

The only thing you can control in life is how you treat yourself and how you interact with others.

You can only control how you "feed" yourself on all levels (food, emotion, spirituality, who you socialize  with etc.) and how you treat yourself (does your inside voice talk negatively or positively?).

Can you control how your husband or children behave? feel? express themselves? eat?  Can you control how your mother feels about you or your children or her life or your life? Can you control what is deep within other people. If you think you can, you must be super-human all powerful.

The only thing you can control in life is how you treat yourself. It is time to stop trying to control things that are out of your hands.  Is it time to begin to look inward and start treating yourself better with better food, better exercise, better relationships, better sleep, more kindness, more time, more prayer.....to start to begin better life?

Every day is a new beginning, every meal is a new beginning, every interaction with another human is a new beginning to do something different and ......well.....better.

My hope for you today is that you treat yourself better today than yesterday.

To Your Best Health,

Denise Lovat
Certified Holistic Health Coach

Visit my website for my complimentary Raw Energy Bites Recipes http://www.deniselovathealthcoach.com
Go the to Services Page and at the Request Information Box : type in RAW RECIPES

Help Someone....Daily and Be Healthy

We are all so busy inside our own heads with our own problems, and tasks of the day that sometimes we miss the little things in life that could make a huge difference in our health. It is a proven fact that when we go outside of ourselves and reach out to others, we are happier! I don't mean digging a well in a third world country. There are probably 20 simple ways each day that you can help someone....if you are paying attention and coming outside of yourself.

Mahatma Gandhi once said that “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Your actions of kindness can change someone's entire outlook on life as well as your own. 

Recently my 18 year old son and I were in the grocery store. We were second in line with the customer in front of us with a large order. I whispered to him to go bag her groceries. He moved to the end of the belt and started to bag, even asking the woman if she would like her milk in a bag. She laughed (good medicine). The woman was so appreciative by this small little act of human helping human. The cashier was taken aback as well and said that he hoped my son's good deed was paid forward to him.

Often at Meijer I like to surprise the person ahead of me and bag their groceries (because I want to get out of there AND I want to help). I always  ask their permission first. No one has ever refused the help.  One time, the person I bagged for waited for me to ring my order up and helped me. I think this is SO FUN and contagious!

Consider some recent research*:

• Students who performed five acts of kindness a day increased their happiness
• Providing emotional support to others significantly decreased the harmful health effects of certain kinds of stress among older people
• People who donated money to charity got a boost in a feel-good part of the brain, as revealed in brain imaging research

*http://www.liveyourlifewell.org/go/live-your-life-well/others 

I recommend building "helping others" into your daily life. You will reap the rewards.

If you want to dive deeper into the benefits of helping others, I recommend Stephen G., Post's book  "The Hidden Gifts of Helping." He is Professor of Preventive Medicine, Head of the Division of Medicine in Society, and Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics at Stony Brook University. Visit him on his website at www.stephengpost.com/hiddengifts.

Now get out there and help someone!

To Your Best Health,

Denise Lovat
Certified Holistic Health Coach

Visit my website for my complimentary Raw Energy Bites Recipes http://www.deniselovathealthcoach.com
Go the to Services Page and at the Request Information Box : type in RAW RECIPES

No Gym Membership, No Excuse, Pick up a Jump Rope!

My children took karate from a crusty old man who had a great big heart. He was a good disciplinarian and taught me how to jump rope like a boxer. I am so thankful for that lesson. Many times I do not feel like driving to the gym or doing a formal work-out. I realize that in nice weather it sometimes makes me angry to be inside when the sunshine and freedom of the outdoors is calling me.  What do I do on those days? I pick up my jump rope and head outside to the driveway, or go for a short run with my jump rope and jump 25 times at all the corners that I turn on. I am accelerating my heart rate in short bursts, I feel ALIVE and am not confined to the indoors and working on machines or treadmills.

Here are two good videos to help you learn how to jump like a boxer!
It is hard at first, but you will improve greatly very quickly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsWui2L_r2c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI_6eT-0-X4

You can find jump ropes at Sporting Goods Stores, like Dicks Sporting Goods and Dunham's.

Don't worry about how fast or how long you do it at first. I recommend you try to jump for 5 minutes each day, not continuous when you first start (5 minutes can seem like an hour). Take breaks whenever you need to. You will start to build endurance and strength. Let me know if you give this a try!

 

To Your Best Health,

 

Denise Lovat

Certified Holistic Health Coach

 

Visit my website: www.deniselovathealthcoach.com

Contact me through my website and you will get FREE recipes - Five Fall Crock Pot Dishes to come home to

Do you desire Financial Health? Experiment with CASH

This week I did an experiment with cold hard cash. Each month when my credit card bills come in, I am always amazed at how much money I have spent. I am always convinced that the bill that American Express has sent is someone else's. Alas, the bill always turns out to be mine. American Express never makes a mistake.

My experiment: for one week, use only cash when purchasing anything. My experiment has been a great learning experience and a way to reset financially.

Using cash for all purchases has really made me think long and hard about each and every purchase this week. I am a real consumer. I go to a grocery store at least once a day and find things to buy wherever I am, even in church!

Here were some of my thoughts while shopping this week: Do I really need another bag of $20.00 cacao powder when I have 1/3 of a bag at home? Why buy 8 peaches when some might go bad before we eat them, just get 6? Just because something is on sale, does not mean you have to buy it? With only $60.00 left in my wallet, I better save some for gasoline.

I invite you to experiment with cash and reset your finances. I cannot wait until my credit card bills come this month and say "0" due. Imagine the freedom!

Are you Feeding your Worry? I Have a Secret Weapon...

One of the first things I did to improve my health was to search for a way to decrease worry. As a mother of three children who would soon be teenage drivers, I would lay awake at night worrying about all the bad things that could happen as my children grew up to become adults. Laying awake at night worrying cannot possibly be good for your health...heart racing, tossing and turning, sleep deprivation.

I stumbled upon an article that changed my life. The result of reading the story has armed me against worry that can impact health negatively... the constant downward spiral kind of worry that is heavy on you when you go to bed and heavy on you when you wake up. My mind would always take me to the worst possible scenario. This tool  that I discovered is my secret weapon against worry and a key to good health.

I want to share this secret weapon with you today, in the hopes that it can change your life and improve your health. The article was written by Mary Lou Quinlan and was featured in the November 2010 issue of Real Simple Magazine. Mary Lou Quinlan's mother was ill most of her life. Her name was Mary Finlayson and her secret weapon was writing down on any old piece of paper her worries and prayers and placing them in her "GOD BOX" for God to take off her shoulders. When Mary Finlayson died, her children found not one but 10 "GOD BOXES" spanning many years of their lives. Reading through all the notes was like looking at the tapestry of their lives. It moved me into action.

I immediately bought my first "GOD BOX" at Michael's crafts. I have it pretty near full and I am in need of my second "GOD BOX." Sometimes my prayers are answered within minutes. It is AMAZING! The answers I have received and the relief I feel by physically writing down my prayers and worries and giving it up to God, has improved my health by at least 100%.

The first year I gave "GOD BOXES" to everyone I knew for Christmas. Today I continue to give this gift to many women whom I meet in my life.  If you decide to use a "GOD-BOX" and you have positive results, I would love to hear about it. Email me at deniselovathealthcoach@gmail.com. Please pass this secret weapon on to others in your life, it is worth sharing.

I invite you to read the original story in Real Simple here: http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/family/relationships/inside-god-box-00000000045743/index.html

The author Mary Lou Quinlan has also written a book which was a New York Time Bestseller and she has an inspirational website: http://www.thegodboxproject.com/.


To Your Best Health,

Denise Lovat

For my FREE recipes and tips on how to kick sugar go to: www.deniselovathealthcoach.com