Wellness Tips #3 & #4

Relax your skin by working out.
Exercise has long been known to help reduce stress and anxiety.  It also help decrease acne, as one of its causes can often be heightened stress.

If you, or someone you love, have acne, I would like to recommend the Clarity Clear Skin Essentials 4-step acne prevention system that costs only $1.88 per ounce. (Melaleuca Preferred Customer price)

Step 1 - Foaming Cleanser.  Gently washes away pore-clogging debris and oil buildup to help prevent the start of acne.  Includes the active ingredient salicylic acid, as well as aloe vera to protect from drying, cooling cucumber, and soothing Melaleuca Oil.

Step 2 - Deep-cleaning astringent.  Cleanses deep down into pores with the active ingredient salicylic acid, plus chamomile.  Leaves skin feeling refreshed and toned.  Includes zinc PCA to help control skil oil levels and green tea for antioxidant protection.

Step 3 - Oil-free moisturizer.  Protects skin from drying and flaking without clogging pores.  Powered by ultra-moisturizing glycerin and sweet almond, with aloe vera to protect from drying.

Step 4 - Breakout treatment.  Helps loosen dead skin cell buildup and clear away excess oil--letting pores start fresh.  Includes salicylic acid and the soothing benefits of Melaleuca Oil.

To compare Clarity to other popular acne treatments:
Proactiv does not include a moisturizer and costs $3.99 per ounce.
Clean & Clear does not include an astringent and costs $2.92 per ounce.
Neutrogena does not include an astringent and costs $3.04 per ounce.

Competitor product prices from Proactiv.com, Drugstore.com, and Neutrogena,com on November 7, 2012.  Prices may vary.

Eat to your skin's content.
Include a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables in your diet.  They contain antioxidants, which help protect the skin from cell damage and help support skin structure so it functions efficiently.

Deep, long-lasting moisturization.  It's what helps even the driest skin become softer and healthier.  And it's what you'll find inside every bottle of Renew Lotion.  Discover for yourself why Renew Lotion has changed the lives of so many people suffering from dry skin.  It has the right levels of glycerin to draw moisture deep into your skin, petrolatum to guard against moisture loss, and allantoin to help your skin heal.  Renew Lotion is the clinically proven solution for softer, smoother, healthier skin.  Even if you suffer from severely dry skin, Renew is the only dry skin therapy you'll ever need.

I would love to help you shop for these and many other safe, natural, health-promoting products.  Let me know if you would like more information.  You can also click on the Finding Freedom Team logo to the right of this blog for more information.

Information for this blog taken from the Winter/Spring 2013 Melaleuca Country:  The Exclusive Wellness Catalog.

Wellness Tip #2

Set achievable fitness goals.
If that goal to lose 50 pounds by the end of the year seems impossible, you might feel like a failure from the start.  However, if you start with goals that stretch but don't discourage you -- like losing 1 pound this week -- it's easier to feel like a success.  Keep the ultimate goal in mind, but be sure to reward yourself for achieving each small step!

There are 40 weeks left of 2013.  If you lose 1 pound each week, you would be down 40 pounds by New Year's Eve!

Here are some simple things you can do that will lead to better wellness:

1.  Eat smart.  To eat smart and make better choices, we must get informed and understand the alternatives.  Did you know that choosing mozzarella over cheddar cheese, popcorn over potato chips, Greek yogurt over sour cream and salad over French fries can lead to a reduction of 10 pounds in a single year?  Did you know that eating three smaller, healthier meals and two healthy snacks (one mid-morning and other mid-afternoon) can lower blood sugar by up to 13 percent?  Healthy choices make a big difference.
2. Get active.  We also need to get active.  Exercise stimulates healthy digestive function, enables the cardiovascular system to prevent plaque buildup and even stimulates healthy brain function.  Exercise is essential to wellness, not just weight loss.  Exercise gives us these and other benefits if--and this is important--it is done regularly.
3. Stay accountable.  As you eat right and get active, stay accountable and share your wellness goals with others.  Help one another reach those goals.  It's a fact:  whether it's losing weight, exercising daily or building a business, teaming up ensures you'll stick to your goals.

Take Oligo.  We've learned when we give our body consistent (not intermittent) nutrition, it can function properly to defend, protect and renew itself.  Minerals are the catalysts for critical functions like proper digestion and metabolism.  Healthy immune, brain, thyroid and nervous system function all depend on essential vitamins and minerals.  Just as your car needs oil continuously running throughout its engine, vitamins and minerals need to be continuously available to your body's systems.

No other mineral and vitamin supplement is more effective than Oligo.  We have the science to prove it's more absorbable and protects antioxidant vitamins better than any other product sold.  If you are not taking the Vitality Pack with Oligo, please start today.  You'll do so with confidence that you're taking the best nutritional supplements available on the planet.

For more inforrmation on Oligo, click on this link. Oligo Vitality Packs

Wellness tips 1-3 from McKay Christensen, President of Melaleuca, January 2013 Leadership in Action
Other information from  the Winter/Spring 2013 Melaleuca Country Wellness Catalog.

If you would like more information on building your own business, please click on the Finding Freedom Team icon.  I would be happy to talk with you!

Wellness Tip #1

Would you like to experience a HEALTHIER, more fulfilling life?  I would like to share some wellness tips with you that can help you do just that.

Wellness Tip #1

Keep healthy foods at your fingertips.
Hungry?  Keep healthy, fiber-rich, and high protein foods like raspberries, almonds, and Greek yogurt close at hand in the eating area--and chances are they'll find their way into more snacks and meals.  Stow the sugar-and fat-filled potato chips, cookies, and white bread well out of easy reach.

There is a hidden epidemic.  More than 90 million adults in North America alone have it, and they might not even know it.  It's called metabolic syndrome, a condition where your body becomes increasingly insulin-resistant--and less able to properly metabolize blood sugar.  1 in 3 adults meet the criteria for metabolic syndrome/pre-diabetes.

Answer these questions:

• Do you have a hard time focusing and thinking clearly?
• Do you feel sleepy or fatigued, especially after a meal:
• Do you get cravings for sugar and high-carb foods?

These feelings can indicate metabolic syndrome.  Visit Melaleuca.com/gccontrol today to check if you have any of the 5 risk factors.

Information from the Winter/Spring 2013 Melaleuca Country Wellness Catalog.

If you would like more information, please click on the Finding Freedom Team icon to the right of this post.  I'd love to talk with you! 

Wellness

I have not done a very good job of maintaining this blog.  My goal is to try to blog at least one time each week.

I have been re-evaluating what I would like to do with this blog.  For several years I have had wellness on my mind.  A few years ago, I led a women's devotional and exercise group at church two nights a week.  The goal was to improve both our physical wellness and spiritual wellness.  That group has since stopped meeting, but my interest in wellness has not gone away.

Last spring, I asked my husband to train with me to run a 5K in the summer.  We trained for a couple of months, but my husband began having pains in his side when we ran, so we stopped running, too.

Summer in Northwest Ohio was very hot and dry.  I am a teacher, so I spent most of the summer in the comfort of my central air-conditioning.  Russ, on the other hand, works in a cabinet shop that has no air conditioning.  When he got home, he was ready to soak in the cool air.  We didn't do much to continue our path to wellness.

That changed for me, though, when I coached 8th grade volleyball at school this year.  This was a learning experience for the team AND the coach.  I played volleyball from 7th grade through my junior year of high school.  I have also played church league volleyball but not in recent years.

After volleyball, I enjoyed being at home in the evenings for several weeks.  Toward the end of November, I asked Russ if he would mind if I tried one Zumba class that was being offered at our park in town.  He said that it was okay with him.  When I got home, I asked him if I could show him my favorite move.  He asked if it meant I was going to go back.  I said that I would like to try one more class.

That did it.  I was hooked!  I have been attending Zumba class 3 nights a week most of the time since November.  I really enjoy it.  The instructor also works at the school where I teach, so we talk Zumba at school, too.  I like that I can be active and get a great workout while dancing.  It doesn't feel like exercise to me.  I was a cheerleader in high school and in college.  We often did routines to music, so it feels similar to that.

This long introduction brings me to the new focus of my blog:  WELLNESS.  Russ & I have been members of The Wellness Company, Melaleuca, for nearly 3 years.  They focus on Total Wellness:  Physical, Environmental, Personal, and Financial.  I would like to add a fifth category, Spiritual.

I would like to invite you to join me on my journey to total wellness:  physical, environmental, personal, financial and spiritual.

Have a great day!

The Power of a Positive Mom - Week 5

Life has again gotten in the way of me maintaining my blog.  I am again going to try to get back on track to blog at least once a week.

I'm still working on the "From Grumbling to Gratitude".  That's a big challenge for me.  If anyone would be willing to pray for me, and with me, in this area of my life, I would greatly appreciate it.

Here is the Week 5 entry...

"The Beauty of God's Love"

Key Scripture:  Deuteronomy 7:7-9

The LORD did not choose you and lavish his love on you because you were larger or greater than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations!  It was simply because the LORD loves you, and because he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors.  That is why the LORD rescued you with such amazing power from your slavery under Pharaoh in Egypt.  Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God.  He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and constantly loves those who love him and obey his commands.

Journal Prompts:

1.  My Thoughts:  Do I live my daily life with the constant awareness that God deeply loves me?

No, I don't.  I struggle every day with self-esteem issues.  I often feel like I'm not good enough to do what needs to be done in the different roles I play:  wife, mom, daughter, educator, cook, housekeeper, etc.

2.  My Choices:

• This week I will choose to relish and reflect on God's great love toward me.
• This week I will choose to show God's love to others in my words and actions.
• This week I will choose to help my children understand the beauty of God's love.
• This week I will choose to:

I will spend the rest of this week seeking out Scriptures that remind me of God's great love toward me and try to memorize some of those Scriptures to pull out when I am feeling low.  My prayer is that in learning more about God's love for me, I will be able to express God's love to others and help my children understand the beauty of God's love.

For Further Reading:  Deuteronomy 6-7.

The Power of a Positive Mom - Week 4

From Grumbling to Gratitude

Key Scripture:  Numbers 14:26-30

Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "How long will this wicked nation complain about me?  I have heard everything the Israelites have been saying.  Now tell them this,'As surely as I live, I will do to you the very things I heard you say.  I, the LORD, have spoken!  You will all die here in this wilderness!  Because you complained against me, none of you who are twenty years old or older and were counted in the census will enter the land I swore to give you.  The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.'"t

Journal Prompts:

1.  My Thoughts:  In what areas do I need to change my grumbling into gratitude?

I need to stop grumbling about money.  God has always provided just enough for our needs to be met.  We don't have a lot of extras, but God makes it possible for us to live comfortably. I also need to stop grumbling so much about my daughters' behavior and fighting.  God blessed us with 2 children.  I need to be grateful for them and help them to see God's blessings, which includes their sister.

2.  My Choices:

• This week I will choose to take my eyes off what is wrong in my life and look at what is right.
• This week I will choose to replace my grumbling with gratitude.
• This week I will choose to encourage my kids to see God's blessings all around us.
• This week I will choose to:

I'm going to try to do all three of these things.  I need to do them all.

For Further Reading:  Numbers 14

The Power of a Positive Mom - Week 3

The Grace Challenge

Key Scripture:  Leviticus 19:16-18

"Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people.  Do not try to get ahead at the cost of your neighbor's life, for I am the LORD.  Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives.  Confront your neighbors directly so you will not be held guilty for their crimes.  Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself.  I am the LORD."


Journal Prompts
1. My Thoughts - In what ways do I need to show God's grace toward others in my life?
This week I am having a rough time with being Mom to my oldest.  I need to remind myself that she is young and will make some poor choices.  I am much older and make some poor choices as well.  I need to forgive her just as Jesus has forgiven me.  I also need to help her ask for forgiveness for the choices she made.

2.  My Choices

• This week I will choose to focus on God's great love and grace toward me.
• This week I will choose to show grace toward others.
• This week I will choose to ask God's help in guarding my heart and mind.
• This week I will choose to...

This week I will work at showing grace toward others.

For Further Reading:  Ephesians 4:28-32