OK, now I've done it. Net Nanny shut me out of my own Blog for my use of profanity. :0

I'll do better, promise.

Is Net Nanny the only person reading my blog on a regular basis?? Because she is the only person I am hearing from...... :)

That bossy little b@#$% is squelching my literary mojo!....see if she can figure that one out! I may have to start using code......

Hey! Did you Watch Oprah yesterday?! PLEASE watch it if you did not. It is important for your health and the health of your family. Michael Pollan wrote Omnivores Dilemma - have you read it?

Also, watch the movie, Food, Inc....it's great and along the same lines as Oprah's show.

Eye-opening.

I read it with my book club and now we are discussing it in our exercise club.

Yea, Tanya, after watching Oprah, has invited our exercise club to her house to watch Food Inc. together. We are doing a healthy, mostly veggie pot luck too........so fun! I am taking my healthy fish tacos. (you have to read my other posting to get the recipe :)

In case you are wondering where I stand on the vegan thing......I think it can be great for some folks, when done right, which is the challenge. We are all different metabolically. If we listen to how our BODY TALKS to us, we know what we need by how we feel through trial and error, but we must be listening.....and, education is powerful. So is eating right for your metabolic needs.

I have coached many people through the METABOLIC TYPING process, helping them to figure out the right balance of macro nutrients for themselves, and I have discovered many people really do need a more paleolithic type of diet involving clean , lean proteins. Some do better on mostly veggies and other types of proteins. FOOD QUALITY is most important, which is why you need to watch FOOD INC.

Unfortunately, we get little education in America on the subject of food quality and how to eat right for our metabolic needs, but it is SOOO important for ourselves and future generations. So get educated folks and take your health into your own hands before it is too late. Once your health is in the hands of big pharma.......well, good luck chickie.

OK, Net Net Nanny and friends, thanks for taking time to get a little inspired today........and, please, if you feel so inspired, help socialize this Blog for me?

Maybe there is someone out there who would find my profanity and silly stories.....um, momentarily distracting?

QFTD: "One man's food, is another's poison"

Yours in livin it up while living live,

Heather

and we're rollin!

Hello Body Bloggers!

Hey, guess what, my good friend Marina reminded me that tomorrow (Wednesday, 27th) on Oprah they are talking about healthy eating and "do you really know what's in your food?"..........She is interviewing Michael Pollan and Alicia Silverstone. Seriously worth your time if you can watch it.

How was the weekend? 80/20 rule?

THE RULE ROCKS.

If you haven't already tried it, start this week. Keep a journal of everything you eat and drink. EVERYTHING. Are you following the 80/20 rule? Or is it more like the 20/80 rule? Surprisingly, it's usually the drinks that get ya. Lemme know how it goes....

Well, my girls and I started our "cleanse" this week. I really don't like that word for several reasons...........C L E A N S E ..... What do you think of when you hear that word? Starving for a week while drinking some nasty tasting yuk? Douching during a full moon? Getting rid of the junk your husband has been holding onto forever? Getting rid of the husband?? Just kidding. :)

To clarify what we are doing...........we are eating a clean, whole foods diet of mostly raw veggies, healthy fats, and lean proteins. We are also drinking daily shakes which include a cleansing powder that supports the liver. The process is gentle and mostly involves removing toxins from our diet such as white sugar, white flour, dairy, wheat/gluten, alcohol, coffee, processed foods, and fried foods. That's it. During this time it's the 100% rule. Lot's of water and exercise. we feel gooood!

SO, the club.

Now we are just "the club".

We rock. Ok, I'm sayin' it! We are bitches on roller skates and takin' names while we roll!

Hey, wait a minute! That's a great idea! We need to get our roll on here in Sonoma! Roller skating around Sonoma would be awesome!

I'm telling you, we are having a blast with this new exercise club! You really should do one with your friends.........

Oops, for the love of God, it's past my bed time! It's almost 10 and I am supposed to be in bed by 9:30. It's usually 9, but I have pushed it back lately to be productive. :)

Ever since I was in High School my mom preached to me about the importance of going to bed by 9. Ya know what? it stuck with me. I still go to bed by 9....and so should you sister you-out-there! When you sleep your body is doing much of it's very important repair work. Important for ANTI-AGING. Needed to pull that word out so you would listen to me.

Sleep IS one of the TOP secrets for beauty, girls, listen up.

Sleep and water........don't tell anyone I told you those two secrets. I am thinking about writing a book. ;)

QFTD: "If it tastes good spit it out!" - jack Lalanne

Yours in anti-aging,

Heather

PS. Kathy and Cristina thanks for joining my blog!

So proud of my girls!

It's basically a Monsoon out there and we are still going strong with the exercise and 80/20 rule....

My friends Michelle and Tanya, being the warriors that they are, braved the elements and grew because of it......

I'm inspired, ladies, way to go......

No kidding, Tanya is a marathon runner and a professional BAKER. Can those words even be used in the same sentence? Think maybe she runs because she bakes?? Oh, and BTW, her last name happens to be Baker -how cute is that?

Here's the visual. She's fit, tall, gorgeous, talented in the kitchen, AND one of the greatest gals you'd ever meet. One of those people that makes everything look easy breezy. She also happens to be one of my heroes for the mere fact that she makes running doable for me. Last week when we met at the track (a few of us from the group) I SO almost did not go because I didn't want to look like a fool. No, you have no idea how deconditioned (is that a word) I am compared to these Divas. But I put on my big girl panties and made myself step out of the comfort zone for a beating..........

After we were finished, I, in my "mommy look at me" proudness, gave Mrs. Baker, the baker, the coach, a ride home. And wouldn't ya know, on the way home she told me that she was nervous too? Yea, here I was all worked up about looking like a fool, and SHE, the seasoned runner, was nervous about nobody showing up to run with her. Lesson girls, if you are feeling uncomfortable about a situation, chances are, you are not the only one feeling that way.

Did you know that most people eat the same 12-15 foods and participate in the same 3 forms of exercise their entire lives..........something to think about.

Here's some advice.........Mix your exercise like you mix your cocktails. Try something new and see how you feel. :)

Now, there are a few kinds of exercise I just do not do.....running was one of them......yoga is another.

Here's why.

They cause me pain.

I am a wimp and have been WAY too comfortable in my recent years. Life has been a little too good, if you know what I mean, comfy cozy, little me not stepping up in the way that I know I should and could. I was too busy......

WRONG!

Lazy, is more like it. Missing the mark as far as healthy balance goes, and I have the extra 10 lbs to prove it.

So we also have 2 gorgeous gals in our exercise group who happen to be a yoga instructor (Amber) and a ballet instructor (Sarah). Again, drop dead beautiful and easy breezy. Love these gals. So how I am going to face not joining in to their yoga and ballet classes? It's like Jr. High.....I so want to be part of the group and I don't want to hurt their feelings, but, for the sake of risking major embarrassment and pain, I must make excuses, oops, I mean, gracefully decline.

So why don't I just give it a try?

I honestly think it's because my butt is too wide for my feet. I fall over. I'm cereal. It is painful for me.

For the love of God, and I mean this sincerely, because he gave me frozen fish sticks for legs that will snap in two if you try to bend em, I can't imagine how I can possibly be that beautiful, free-flowing picture of grace I so desire to be.....

In cheerleading I always chose the longest skirt (and in the 80's they were long) to cover the 12 plus inch space between me and the floor when I was doing the splits. Today it would be more like 36 inches.....

Went to a wonderful mother's meditation group recently and had to use like 4 major props to help me sit Indian style.....humiliating.

My feet are so stiff I cant tuck them under my body so when it was time to get up to walk I had to let my feet defrost for a few minutes before standing. Ouch..... Totally felt like everyone was noticing how unlimber I am, but, of course, they were not. They were lovely, open, incredibly supportive women with much to offer. It was all me, baby, all me.

In my defense, thought....I tried that very hot yoga before and actually loosened up and could touch my toes. Think maybe I'll start there...... I want to make my girls proud.

I used to have dreams about doing the splits and being limber. it was so cool....

Parsley, Karen, Beth, Jen, Rene, Amy, and Marina.........thanks so much for joining my blog!

QFTD: (long, but worth it)

PHILOSOPHY DRIVES ATTITUDE
ATTITUDE DRIVES ACTIONS
ACTIONS DRIVE RESULTS
RESULTS DRIVE LIFESTYLES

IF YOU DONT LIKE YOUR LIFESTYLE, LOOK AT YOUR RESULTS
IF YOU DONT LIKE YOUR RESULTS, LOOK AT YOUR ACTIONS
IF YOU DON'T LIKE YOUR ACTIONS, LOOK AT YOUR ATTITUDE
IF YOU DON'T LIKE YOUR ATTITUDE,
LOOK AT YOUR PHILOSOPHY
- Jim Rohn

Yours in philosophical alignment,

Heather

Changing the channel......

I am trying to work through this one, friends.......

I have been feeling "off" since the earthquake in Haiti hit, and I recently discovered that beautiful and brave 11 yr old girl who they rescued with the hurt leg died. I don't know if you followed her story, but as a mother of an 11 year old daughter, I was completely broken.

That brave angel's last words were, "mommy please don't let me die."

Deep breath........

Acknowledge the emotion.

Change the channel.

Charity.

My heart is uplifted, though, by the enormous outpouring of love and support from around the world. A world with heart. Its almost as if you can feel a pulse beating from the core of the earth. I wonder if you can see it beating from outer space?

During this time I am aware of how emotions affect all aspects of our lives...... social relationships, productivity, and even our health.

There have been loads of studies done on emotions and health. The glass-half-full people are sick less often than the glass-half-empty people. Yeah, it's true.

Would you agree with this statement? Know anyone who is on loads of meds who also has a bad attitude? Know anyone who has health issues who is often depressed?

Chicken or the egg?

I am living, breathing proof that this is true. I had many health issues going on in my life before I developed the skill set to properly manage my emotions. I tended to operate from a very "me" point of view, and often from a perspective based on fear and negativity. I did not have the capacity to think beyond my own drama some of the time. Don't get me wrong, to most people I seemed pretty normal, but as times got tougher, my lack of skills to pull myself out of the muck became obvious, not only that, made life worse. You see, when you are a negative thinker and life hits you hard what do you do? You focus on all the bad, you react out of fear. Then what happens? yes, you attract more bad stuff.

During those years my body was talking to me, letting me know that it was over burdened with stinkin thinkin and unnecessary worry. Headaches, digestive issues, tiredness, etc.

It wasn't until the formal breakdown in my health that my "awakening" happened. A conscious shift, if you will, that opened my perspective and desire to change. A desire to be healthy in all aspects of my life. To be positive, to bring positivity into my life and to motivate and inspire others so that they may be uplifted as well. Guess what, BIG shift in my health. Sure the eating better and exercise helped, but I would not have been able to sustain those habits without getting a grip on my mental habits. Learning to change the channel saved my life and my marriage.

I am a definite work in progress. If we are doing it right, we all are......

Life's too short.

Learn to change the channel. And WHATEVER YOU DO don't judge others, criticize, put others down, or talk badly about others. ESPECIALLY NOT IN FRONT OF YOUR CHILDREN. Don't repeat the cycle of stinkin thinkin you learned.

FEAR.

Those behaviors come from fear and unhappiness with oneself. All those ugly emotions, including jealousy, are usually rooted in dislike of ones self. Love yourself, you will find that you will automatically find more to love in others. Be the best you can be and you will begin loving yourself and others. Only you know what that personal best is and what you need to do to make that happen.


Switching the channel is a powerful tool for you in managing your emotions. Managing your emotions is an important part of managing your health.

A healthy attitude is a great place to start. Be your personal best, love yourself, love others.

Good book. Your Destiny Switch. Google it. Can't remember the author off the top of my head.

QFTH: "If your all wrapped up in yourself, you're overdressed." - Kate Halverson

Yours in positivity,

Heather

PS Karen! Welcome to my blog! I am so glad you have joined in..... :)

girlfriends......

What would we do without them?

Janelle, Jessica, Jaime, Michelle, Georgie and Judy.....I love you guys for following my Blog......Thank you for your support. I am so lucky to have such wonderful, strong, talented women to share this with.....and I must say, I am not surprised you are the first to join. Class act sisters, class acts.

Speaking of girlfriends, remember I told you about that awesome little exercise club my posse and I started?

LOVE!

You seriously need to do this with your friends. We are now setting up a shared Google calendar that we can all access which lists all the fun exercise options here in Sonoma. We exercise together, share healthy recipes and snack ideas and we are also planning occasional outings together to mix it up such a bike outings, spa days, tennis tournaments and healthy cooking classes. So much fun!!

For dinner tonight I am making healthy fish tacos:

1lb. tolapia
1 c. organic chunky salsa of your choice - I like the fire roasted kind with corn and blk beans in it
1c. orange juice.
1tbsp olive oil
shredded mixed cabbage (cole slaw mix works well)
organic mixed greens
fresh avocado
fresh salsa for garnish
cilantro
shredded organic Monterey Jack and lite sour cream - optional
organic corn tortillas

In a frying pan, heat olive oil. Add fish and brown for 30 sec. on each side. Then combine fire roasted chunky salsa with orange juice and pour over fish. Cover with lid and let simmer 3-6 minutes until fish is lightly cooked through. Lightly warm corn tortillas in pan with a touch of olive oil or coconut cooking spray. Put out all garnishings "buffet style" and have your guests build their own tacos.

Dessert we are having Raspberry and Peach Champagne Sorbet with Gluten Free Brownie Bite on top.:)

80/20 rule baby!

Have a great weekend all....

Quote of the Day: You are what you eat and what you think!

Yours in gratitude,

Heather

Do I have OCBD?

OCBD....Obsessive Compulsive Bloggers Disorder? I am not quite sure of the etiquette around blogging, but this is my 3rd one in a week, is that ok? or annoying? It's ok. You can tell me.

I was working with a client today who does not like sushi and it reminded me of when I first moved to San Francisco from Indiana when I was 22. (Imagine banjo music while I am telling you this part) As I got off the plane in my flowered dress with 2 suitcases to start my new life I noticed someone eating raw fish. I looked around to see how others were responding to this absurdity and no one seemed to care. I had never seen Sushi before. That was my first exposure to "ethnic" food.....

Food-wise the culture shock was huge. I had no car and there was no fast food in my neighborhood. I worked at Nordstrom downtown, so I was able to get my McDonalds fix there, but the LIFESTYLE was so vastly different in San Francisco, I may as well have been from another country. I learned where the "American" restaurants were, like Hard Rock Cafe, and I hit those places often as I could. After a year or so, I got brave enough to walk into a burrito shop after seeing so many people walking around with burritos. The ordering process went like this...ugh em, "Can I have a tortilla wrapped with ground beef, cheese, sour cream in it?"....."Oh, and a little lettuce please?" "Salsa?" um, not if it has tomatoes." "You don't have ground beef?" " Carnitwhat?" "Forget it, no meat, just cheese and sour cream. " I kid you not.

Don't get me wrong, I am SO grateful for having grown up in the Mid West. Indiana is an awesome place with awesome people, and in their defense, they have changed with the times. I was impressed and delighted last time I went home to find Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and other natural stores popping up. Good values, good people. Mid-westerners have it dialed in when it comes to treating others the way you would like to be treated. Wouldn't trade that for the world.

To wrap up my story, though....as the clock ticked and the years advanced, situations with my health arised. I was the only 26 year old I knew who was tired all the time and need to go to bed by 8-9pm. I was tired, achy, and "just didn't feel right". I was also having a lot of migrains. The Dr. said I had some sort of unspecified autoimmune condition and that was that. Until after I got married and had my 2 kids and went without sleep for 5 years. Compromised immunity and lack of sleep - nothin good is going to come out of that..trust me.

Add major stress and poor diet, or no diet sometimes, and what is a poor body to do? Well I'll tell ya what mine did......I got Bacterial Menengitis. Yea, sucked. 2 kids under the age of 3 and, oh, did I mention my husband got meningitis too? We shared a hospital room. First dinner date we had had in a year. We had no family around to help with the kids and a business to run that was overwhelming us. There is much more to this story, but I am now going to get to the nutrition part to help YOU.

STRESS. If you have a lot of stress you need to make changes to your lifestyle to reduce it. Do you hear me? I don't want excuses why you cannot change, I want reasons why you should change. If you feel your health is out of balance, then your body is talking to you. Stress causes certain chemical reactions in your body that can, over time, affect hormones, vitamin status, weight gain, immunity and more. Now I understand that many of us are overburdened, and much of it cannot be helped due to our situations, but I also know that we have a lot more control over our health than people realize and it is UP TO YOU to take control of your health. Don't wait until you end up in the Dr's office where you will get sucked into the pharmaceutical vortex of no return.

Stress support tips for you:

1) If you do not have a spiritual outlet/support practice get one. I mean, pray, meditate, positive affirmations, support groups, whatever is meaningful to you. Whatever works for you. Personally, I pray. It works for me big time. Over time, spirituality has meant different things to me and I have drawn upon different sources during my process of growing. Spiritual practice regularily helps to keep stress under control. If you want suggests for this let me know.
2) exercise appropriately. If you are highly stressed DO NOT train for a marathon! Heavy duty exercise is also a stressor on your body. If you are highly stressed walk, meditate, yoga, pilates, moderate cardio and weights. I have a bunch of chi building exercise that are great for stressed individuals. They are in the book How to Eat, Move, and be Healthy, by Paul Chek.
3) Boost immunity with zinc, vitaminC, minerals, fish oils, smoothies with coconut milk and acai. My favorite is MonaVie's new Immunity drink, Mmun has everything in it and more.
4) Identify your stressors and try to reduce them by making lifestyle adjustments. I have helped many people see a different way when they thought there was no way out of their stressful grind. Talk to someone with an outside point of view who you respect. Another perspective is always helpful.

We all know stress over time creates fat around the mid-section, so if this is an issue for you, reducing stress may also help with the love handles. :)

QFTD: "I've learned that you can't have everything and do everything at the same time." Oprah Winfrey.

In relaxation,

Heather

OK Body Bloggers, quick one here....

I wanted to tell you about this cool little exercise club we have going here in Sonoma. I think it might be useful for others who are looking to get inspired about exercise........

My friend, Michelle, who is a lover of exercise and a lover of people, has called together a group of friends to get healthy together in the 2010. We started with just three of us end of 09 and it has grown into a formal "club" and here is how it works....

We invited all interested friends to join us at a coffee house to kick off. Michelle led the group through sharing of goals and what our biggest challenges are.....we created a master calandar of all the exercise options available to us in the Sonoma and the idea is we use the calendar to plug into whatever options fit into our individual lifestyles, but it is our goal to do some sort of exercise every day. I will post the calandar for you to see when it is ready to give you and idea of how we are doing it. With 10+ of us participating, the hope is that there will "buddies" available for accountability at each of the calendar offerings. We communicate by email what we are doing daily and try to stick together as best as we can. There is also a nutrition component. We are beginning a guided cleanse in the upcoming weeks and I will be providing meal plans, snack ideas, supplement and smoothie suggestions for those who are interested.

Now I don't know about you, but when trying to stick to a program alone, I find it much more difficult to do. But being part of an organized club has made all the difference. I hope to post materials for you in the near future that will help you to get your own club going. It is a very powerful way to stay on track to being the best you can be........:-)

QFTD: "If you read a food label and can't pronounce the words don't eat it!" me.

Yours in inspiration,

Heather

Introducing Body Talk with Heather Morgan

Hello Body Bloggers!

My name is Heather Morgan. I live in Sonoma, California, and I am a 41 year old mother of two school-aged children. We recently moved to Sonoma and I have absolutely fallen in love with this charming little slice of historical heaven. Have you been here? Country, yet sophisticated due to it's food and wine culture, but it's the PEOPLE that make this town, make no mistake. Good, caring, neighborly folk who love to have a good time. And can you imagine?? They also LOVE to be healthy!

I am inspired.

........which is why I am writing this blog......I am inspired to provide a space for women who are INSPIRED TOO. Inspired to find balance in their lives so that they can be their personal best. Is this you?

Then join in....I am a Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach, former teacher, counselor, and, my biggest claim to fame......ultimate fan of the 80/20 rule. Know what that is? A life changing philosophy to live by that keeps you in healthy balance, while allowing for your guilty pleasures. For example, don't tell anybody, but I just took a break and went into the kitchen and had 2 healthy pigs in a blanket. Yes, I said "healthy" and "pigs in a blanket" in the same sentence. Ahhhh, now you are ready to listen in......

The 80/20 rule involves putting healthy foods into your body 80% of the time, while enjoying in those guilty pleasures 20% of the time. Now where people get caught up is in knowing what is actually healthy and what is not. Fortunately, this I can help you with....

So how can pigs in a blanket be healthy? Depends on what they are made of and when you eat them. We'll get more into this as we get into quality of foods, but suffice it to say, "there are pigs in a blanket, and there are pigs in a blanket". Mine were made at home with all organic ingredients, gluten free, no hydrogenated oils, and mini dogs that are totally natural, no preservatives or harmful chemicals. I ate them at a time that's right for my metabolic needs and enjoyed every bite.

Here's the crack up. I grew up in Indiana eating fast food, soda with dinner, candy every day, and the same 3 veggies came from a can my entire life (maybe some frozen in there too). I know, crazy, isn't it? I remember putting velveta on bologna in the microwave and ate that daily for a while. Oh, and we had doughnuts every Saturday for breakfast. I still love doughnuts. I eat one WHEN IT MAKES SENSE, which is about once a year, but I do it without guilt.

How I got here is quite a story in itself, and I will share more as we go along........but I made the transition from junk food junkie to Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach over many years of painful evolutionary change which came about by force of nature when my health started to fail me.


Don't we all have a story? We do. I love hearing peoples stories. How they grew to be who they are by process of screwing up. Someone once told me you spend your first 30 years getting screwed up and the next 30 years fixing it. Yikes. Hope it's not that way for everyone. I, do, however, believe the more we screw up, the more opportunity there is to grow. Whether or not we seize that opportunity is up to us. But some of the coolest people I know and respect are people who have done a lot of screwing up in their lives. So I should turn out to be pretty exceptional!

I hope you will share your story. Especially as it relates to your health. I have a feeling it is meant for me to find some pretty cool friends on this Blog. Hopefully we can change lives together.

So here you will find daily (well, hopefully daily, but certainly a couple of times a week) nutrition and lifestyle tips to incorporate into your"story" that will help you to live a better you. Expect tips on healthy eating, exercise, guidelines for maintaining healthy balance in your lives while nurturing your mind, body and spirit. Many great things have come across my desk over the past 7 years and I am looking forward to sharing it with all of you.

My GOAL: to make the world a better place.

Closing Quote of the day : "Every time you eat or drink you are either feeding disease or fighting it." -a friend. How about keeping a journal of everything you eat or drink and at the end of the day write "feeding" or "fighting" next to each item. What was the percentage breakdown?

Yours in friendship.

Heather