Life 7 Months Post-Baby...

I am the healthiest I've ever been. I'm physically fit. Why did I avoid vegetables, push-ups, and natural remedies for so long? My taste buds were trained to love grease and high fructose corn syrup. Taste buds can change! I was lazy and worked out in aggressive spurts only to release anger. I was only told to trust the doctor. Yikes. I'm experiencing spiritual and emotional growth. Why was I so afraid of sharing my feelings and even crying on occasion? I thought I was alone and that if I shared my traumatic past and my feelings about it that I would scare people off, get pity, or worry others. And if I cried I wasn't sure I'd ever stop. Turns out, I'm not alone. I'm not unique and I did stop crying.

I'm frequently asked how I got in shape so here it goes...

PHYSICALLY:

• Paleo Diet! No grains, No dairy, No Soy, No Legumes. Very little sugar. Lots of Veggies, Meat, Fruit, and Nuts. I saturate everything I cook in Coconut Oil! The Vitamix and Juicer are used regularly. I tried adding rice back into my diet when I started dropping weight too fast but my body did NOT like the reintroduction of rice so I cut it back out and just upped my avocado and sweet potato intake. 
• Primal Workouts. Dancing. Now that winter is here we haven't had the regular trips to the park where we were sprinting and exercising together. The past month or two I've been doing planks, push-ups and squats very infrequently. The kids keep getting heavier so I lift a 17 and 25 lb weight many times a day. And we gig a couple times a week so I'm on my feet for a few hours making sure I move continuously.
• doTERRA's Essential Oil, Slim and Sassy. (Silly name.) It's a completely safe, natural effective weight loss aid. It's a blend of Ginger, Grapefruit, Peppermint, Lemon and Cinnamon. Most importantly it's treating my hypoglycemia. It regulates my blood sugar level while detoxing my fat cells. Impressive. Find it here, www.mydoterra.com/blazeanderic/ or contact me if you'd like to try a sample! Also doTERRA's Essential Oil, Breathe which has replaced my 2 asthma inhalers that I puffed over 35 times a week. Now my asthma is completely manageable with 1-2 drops a day of Breathe. Miracle for me.
• Supplements! With extra Vitamin D!
• Pre-Pregnancy Weight with Baby #1: 130 lbs. Gained 40 lbs during the pregnancy. Born 3.29.11
• Pre-Pregnancy Weight with Baby #2: 130 lbs. Gained 35 lbs during the pregnancy. Born 5.4.12
• Weight Today, 7 months post-partum:118 lbs. with more lean muscle than my body's ever had!

MENTALLY:

• A strong program of continuous recovery that enables me to help myself, help others and live the life of my dreams!
• Limited screen time. We took a month long tv break to let our brains relax a bit.
• Choosing Acceptance over Control and Faith over Fear.
• doTERRA's Essential Oils; Basil, one drop 2-3 times a day for mental renewal. I was struggling with becoming extremely overwhelmed on long days alone with the kids and this oil has turned that around. I finally feel capable and stable. Serenity layered with Frankincense or Balance to help me cope with stress, especially at bedtime. Find them here, www.mydoterra.com/blazeanderic/
• Incredibly supportive, wise, helpful husband.

If you'd like any recommendations on easy Paleo Meals, Primal Workouts or doTERRA Essential Oils just shoot me an email, blazemusically@yahoo.com or send me a message on Facebook! Life is good. It used to be such a struggle. I was choosing to sit in my pain, medicate with things that made it worse and I didn't know how to stop. I realized if nothing changed I'd be stuck there forever so I've been working hard to be the person I've always dreamed of being and life gets better every day! 

Emote, Eat and Take Your Vitamins

Emotions are not emergencies. Deep Breath and Repeat.

The past two weeks have been chock full o' emotionally charged dates. There was the anniversary of a traumatic event that changed the course of my life and the anniversary of the day (years later) that I decided to stop escaping every emotion by any means necessary. I got through the tough day without doing anything to make it worse, which was a feat. I let the memories surface. I felt the fear, anger and pain and I did my best to let it go. Then the happier date came along and I felt the gratitude, humility and the hope that was deserved. Apparently feelings don't kill me and sometimes they even make me all warm and fuzzy!

Before- 8 months prego w/ Jazz and After- Last weekend at Humpy's Great Alaskan Alehouse gig.
I'm excited about the muscle definition in my arms. Carrying two babes has an upside!

The worst thing I did was some emotional eating but I've forgiven myself. :) Have you ever had a Fast Break candy bar?! It's like Mr. Snickers and Ms. Reese's knocked boots and had the most glorious baby ever! And I ate 3 of their babies...

My diet is still 90% Paleo 10% shitty sugar. I'm considering doing Balanced Bites 21 Day Sugar Detox or The Whole 30. Have you done either? Any suggestions?
I've been asked a lot lately what I eat so here are some pics from this week:

Breakfast-Banana (I have to force them down. I can't stand the texture but they're so good nutritionally. Sigh.) Steak strips w/ peppers, onions and asparagus and of course, COFFEE!

Love hydrating with Coconut Water!

I'm a big advocate of supplements! Most of us have deficiencies we aren't aware of that are bringing down our quality of life. I learned so much from the book, "Depression Free, Naturally" by Joan Mathew Larson. I notice a dip in my mental state when I stop taking B vitamins. D is an essential which I already preached about here. Iodine, Iron, Calcium, Potassium and Magnesium are my other dailies. I've recently upped my Flax intake to help with my Omegas since I'm allergic to Fish. And after most meals we take Papaya Enzymes to help with digestion. (Pregnant ladies, papaya enzymes are a life saver for heart burn.)

What supplements do you find work best? 

21 Day Total Body Transformation...Hopefully

Eric and I have been transitioning into a totally Primal diet (hunter-gatherer foods) since the birth of our 2nd babe three months ago. Cutting out grains was surprisingly easy for both of us. He's one of those annoying people who can go on health kicks as a behavioral experiment or just for the hell of it and stay 100% dedicated. For years he's wanted to cut agricultural grains knowing that they were the introduction of a vast amount of health problems for our world. I have babies with allergies so I decided to cut common allergens while nursing in the hopes that my daughter doesn't have to go through to agony my son did by being allergic to everything I was ingesting. Wheat and Corn were cut so when we got into the Paleo Diet there were just a few more grains to exclude.

Last week we started the Primal Blueprint's 21 Day Total Body Transformation: A Complete, Step-by-Step Gene Reprogramming Action Plan. We feel awesome! We are 6 days in. Eric's lost 5 lbs, I've lost 2. But more importantly we're getting buff and the eating is energizing! I no longer have a food coma after any meals! 

Our Workouts:

Circuits of - Planks, Reverse Planks, Push ups (Chest touching the ground), and Pull Ups. 

Grok Ball & Sprinting - We throw a 10 lb medicine ball as far as we can, sprint to it, throw it again, sprint, and so forth until we our sweating bullets and cant lift our arms. 

Walking, Stretching and Playing!

Go Barefoot! Eric's Vibram Five Fingers and My NB Minimus.

Our Typical Day of Eating:

Breakfast: 3 Egg Omelet or Scramble with celery, onion, bell pepper, cucumber and bacon or turkey bacon.

Lunch: Big Ass Salad. Romaine, Spinach, Kale, veggies listed above plus avocado and chicken. Olive Oil out of our Misto w/ salt and pepper as dressing.

Snacks: Macadamia Nuts. Fruit Roll Ups we make with our new Dehydrator using berries from the yard. Homemade Sweet Potato Fries & Chia Seed Muffin (Blaze only since I'm trying to up my calorie and carb intake while I'm still nursing.).

Dinner: Meat and Veggies. Steak and asparagus is my favorite.

Dessert: Dark Chocolate. 85% (Yuck. Eric's into it but my taste buds aren't there yet.) Coconut milk ice cream. Fruit.

Beverages: Water, Coffee, Tea, Coconut Milk, Nut Milks, Hemp Milk and occasional Red Wine. I don't drink but Eric was on board for a lifestyle change that included dark chocolate and red wine. That seemed sustainable for the long haul. :)

Lyric helping us pick raspberries in the backyard.

I'll report back at the end of the 21 days. At that time we'll be continuing this Primal Living but this is just a nice hardcore jump start. Maybe by the end of 3 weeks I'll have stopped my small sugar binges every few days. *sigh* Still it's progress. Now when I eat sugar I get shaky and dizzy so clearly my body is rejecting shitty foods and the insulin spikes they produce. Yeah baby!

Check out the Primal Blueprint and the 21 Day Total Body Transformation Guide! Living Primally is the cure to our ills. It all makes so much sense and our health has already improved as a result of tossing out the "conventional wisdom" of our food pyramid that's led to all time high obesity rates. Go Primal! 

My Transition from Hot Pocket Hottie to Coconut Cavewoman

Eat like a caveman. Yum! Live like a caveman. Logical! Workout like a caveman. Roar!

PRIMAL LIVING ROCKS MY SOCKS!

Almost 3 months ago my daughter, Jazz was born. Her older brother had such extreme allergies that I was convinced to stop nursing early on because he dropped in weight dramatically from a lack of nutrients from my breast milk. I felt completely at fault. Nursing had been a struggle from the get go so I was ready and willing to let the nastiest formula ever, Alimentum, nourish him, since I couldn't. I feel some guilt still for not trying harder to do an elimination diet but he was allergic to 16 out of the 20 foods tested. Living off of rice, potatoes, garlic and carrots sounded beyond difficult and to be honest I was so stressed by that point that my milk was drying up fast. Our horrible pediatrician had yelled that I was "Starving!" my poor baby. It was a bit traumatic for me so we did our best. He's a strong healthy 1.5 year old boy now! (And he can snap his fingers which is just plain impressive.)

With Jazz's arrival I decided to eliminate all common allergens in case she had severe allergies to. I was determined to breastfeed her so she could get the ultimate nourishment!

Foods I Eliminated:
Wheat
Corn
Soy
Dairy
Sugar (For my Hypoglycemia.)

While I was researching allergy-free recipe sites I found, Mark's Daily Apple. It was dedicated to Primal Living. The Paleo Diet (or Caveman Diet, Hunter-Gatherer Diet) was exactly what I needed:

No grains, No sugar. Meat, Veggies, Fruit & Nuts!

His website got me so fired up about the entire lifestyle. Everything about it made perfect sense to me. My husband had been wanting to phase out agricultural grains, knowing that they're completely unnecessary to our diets and that their introduction to us brought about so many health problems! We decided to GO PRIMAL together!

I saw a change in my digestion immediately. There was a cleansing process that was slightly shocking. I felt bad that I'd been clogging my body with so much disgusting fast food, etc! Now I am an amazingly clean running machine. (Hopefully you all know what I mean without me getting more graphic...)

My skin stopped breaking out and is shinier. Weird.

I've had zero grains in over 2 months and it's been surprisingly easy to avoid them. No sugar has been a struggle though! I thought I could have it in moderation but when I get a taste it's a lot like alcohol or any other substance I've been addicted to in the past. I just want MORE! So I've had a couple sugar binges but nothing too drastic and it hasn't derailed my success. MDA says go for 80/20 with your eating. I've been about 90/10. I try to use the 10% for cooking sauces, salad dressing or any occasional bite of sweets.

Most importantly, Jazz is doing beautifully! She's eating well and growing well. Her skin is perfect unlike the awful rashes and eczema Lyric got from his allergies. The new wonderful pediatrician said it's good I'm eating this way because she can see small signs that Jazz is a sensitive baby as well.

Lately I've been getting sick easily, which is really not cool since my profession is singing and it's no fun (and not very pretty) when I have a head or chest cold. I know that lack of sleep is a huge part of it. Being a new parent doesn't afford much rest. I decided to count my calories and make sure I'm getting enough as a nursing mom. I realized that they might be too low which would be giving Jazz all the good stuff and leaving me with little to keep my strength up. The absolute least amount of calories a nursing mom should have is 1800, and that's if she's still trying to lose a lot of pregnancy weight. I'm 5 lbs from my pre-prego weight and figured I should be getting at least 2,000 calories a day to be healthy right now. At the end of my first day keeping track I'd taken in 1,200 calories and I'd felt like I'd eaten a lot! Uh oh.

I am now keeping a detailed journal so I make sure to get:
Calories: 2,000
Carbs: 100
Protein: 100

I've decided to modify the diet a bit while I'm nursing to include sweet potatoes and quinoa to up the carbs. I'll let you know how it goes!



Typical Day of Meals:

1. Superfood Smoothie: 1 tbsp Flaxseed, 1 cup kale, 1 tbsp Hemp E3 Live w/ Maca Protein Powder, 1 tsp Camu Camu, 1 tsp Mesquite, 1 cup frozen fruit, 1 tbsp Chia Seed, Coconut Water and 15 drop Phytoplankton.

2. 1 bell pepper w/ hummus

3. 1 large piece of chicken. seasoned with salt, pepper, cinnamon and cooked in 1 tsp coconut oil and 1 tsp soy sauce. 1/2 avocado. 1 cup lettuce.
OR
Steak and Asparagus

4. 2 egg omelet w/ 1 tbsp Flaxseed and 1 sausage link. Cooked in 1 tsp olive oil.

5. Handful of almonds, pistachios and/or pecans.

6. Raw Foods brand Super Cookies. Marsala Chai, Lemon, Carrot Cake and Chocolate are my favorites.

And I sip on water with lemon juice, Yerba Mate tea and Perrier Water throughout the day. Oh and of course 1-2 cups of Coffee with a dab of coconut oil.

I'll keep you updated on my Primal Journey!

What results have you seen from living primally? Did you have any difficulties with babies with allergies? Any tips for the rest of us?

Veggies! Vitamix! Victory!

I eat vegetables now. Raw. Nutrient filled. Healthy. 

A few years ago my diet consisted of (in order of importance) 1. Champagne 2. Hot Pockets 3. Skittles 4. Wine. You might think that's a joke but unfortunately it's not. I wasn't overweight or particularly sick. I functioned through long days of work, rehearsals and partying...for the most part. And I clearly didn't care much about myself.

But then I decided to have some babies with this dude I thought was the shit and suddenly there was someone I really wanted to take care of. And since that someone was living in my body I had to consider changing up my habits! Thankfully dude or "my husband Eric" as some call him, was a real nutrition aficionado and he encouraged me to eat a lot of good foods. We made a big chart to check of food groups, we went on walks, I quit boozing it up, and I slowly but surely started changing my mind about this crazy idea of healthy living.

Today, nearly 2 years and 2 kids later, I can say with confidence that I am healthy and I LOVE IT! I took ample time to grieve over the loss of my microwave and my addictions. Now the fog has cleared and damn I feel good!

My first born had TONS of allergies and because of that I was asked to stop breastfeeding very early. I really wanted to nurse my new baby so I decided to take a preemptive strike against allergies and just cut out every common allergen food group. That meant no wheat, corn, or dairy. And because of my hypoglycemia I'd just cut waaaay back on sugar. On my search for allergy free recipes someone recommended the site, Mark's Daily Apple. HALLELUJAH! That discovery set the path for the way of living my husband and I are embracing now! Mark Sisson is the author of The Primal Blueprint. It's all about the Paleo Diet and living life the way cavemen did. Hunter gatherer foods, specific non time consuming exercises like sprinting and heavy lifting, parenting skills such as baby wearing and homeschooling, barefoot or vibrams, no stress, nature, etc. There is so much that I'll have specific posts on later but basically it all made so much sense to us and we were fired up to get started!

The paleo diet is meat, vegetables, fruits and nuts. Exactly what I need and my body is loving it! It's been a month and I had a nice/uncomfortable detox cleanse from cutting out all the agricultural grains. I now have more energy, no sugar/carb crashes, no food comas, clearer skin and the baby weight is almost all gone! (She's 7 weeks old today.) Most importantly Jazz is still nursing, gaining impressive weight and has never been sick.

We're enjoying making new creations in the kitchen and for the first time in my life I want to cook! It's a creepy miracle that no one in my family saw coming. 

Vegetables lose so many nutrients when cooked that we try to eat them raw but I yearn for warm meals! We found a solution! 

Vegetable Soup in the Vitamix!

First we grabbed all the veggies that looked good from the fridge. Kale, Zucchini, Celery, Carrots, Orange Bell Pepper, Asparagus, Onions and Tomatoes.

Next we chopped them up and threw them in the vitamix with warm water (the exact amount to fill our two bowls) & bouillon (1.5 tbsp). We saved the tomatoes to mix in at the very end for texture.

Voila! Two warm bowls of nutrient filled vegetables. Seasoned to taste with fajita seasoning, salt and pepper. 100 calories per bowl. (2.5 cups) YUMMY!

What are your favorite soup recipes? Have you tried making warm creations in your Vitamix yet?