Me Time...

Our night. This single star stood out in the 
black night of our backyard heaven. 

Today I am not where I want to be. I don't mean physically, which is our simple ranch home in the suburbs of New Jersey. Nor do I mean in terms of my career, which by day is a sales executive. I also don't mean with regards to my family life, which I am extremely thankful for. I mean, in terms of my inner self. Me.

I go through these mental exercises all day, every day. My thoughts race from one lane to another into a never ending land of goals and plans. Plans for today, plans for tomorrow, plans for the season. Events with my children, events with my husband, events with the whole family. Things that I need to clean, replace, purchase, or sell.

These days, I find myself pondering about my inner self. My spirit. I think this gradual shift we've adopted of healthier living is making me realize that not only do I need to care for my physical body, but I need to care for my spiritual body.

I consider myself a spiritual type person. Type meaning, I am a believer in Christ and believe in my salvation through Him. I believe I'm saved because He is so loving and merciful that He forgave me and took me into His family. I'm not clever enough or witty enough to have earned His love, mercy and salvation on my own. Nor do I pray enough, give enough or work hard enough to believe I could have possibly won his favor. I believe that I will see Him one day in Heaven. And that my family will be right by my side.

I'm finding that the spiritual part of my body, where my beliefs reside, needs some attention. It needs Time. Me Time. A personal down time where my mind can get off the race track of life, park itself and refuel. A place where I can be Still. Where I don't have to think of all the plans and goals yet to be reached. A place where my mind can be Silent. Where the important virtues of God's great plan can begin to seep into my pores, values of loving and being loved. Caring and being cared for. Giving and receiving.

Today I'm concluding this holistic living doesn't mean the same thing for everyone. At least not for me. It is becoming a lifestyle where we are becoming healthier in our bodies but also in our souls. So the racing thoughts begin resurfacing as I ponder how to incorporate healthier living choices for me and my family, but most importantly, opportunities to strengthen our spiritual health. The race begins unfolding in my mind into thoughts of more meditation, more reading of the Bible, more, more, more...

I try to put the mental brakes on my racing thoughts just for the moment and sit still.
Time. Me Time...

All Aboard the Juicing Bandwagon...

A few months ago I had my quarterly "Girl's Night Out", which by the way is a girl's night out for my girlfriends but my kids are always home with me, so technically it is a "Girlfriend's Night Out" for me. Good times nonetheless. I had some snacks, things that I was devoted to at the time - donuts, chocolate fondue, and marshmellows, and things I thought they would enjoy - strawberries, graham crackers and pretzels. Looking back retrospectively I now understand my dear friend Tatiana's comment to me, which will forever resonate in my brain. She observed me multi-tasking, as most moms do, devouring a donut with one hand and fixing my kids' lunches for the next day with the other, pasta salad and fresh fruit. Tatiana leaned over at me perplexed and said,

"You treat them better than you treat yourself."

"What do you mean?" I asked as I wiped the last bit of chocolate frosting from my lip. But I knew exactly what Tatiana meant. I always knew enough that I didn't constantly offer my children the same foods that I consumed regularly, sugar, sugar and more sugar. No. I knew enough to offer them fruit, even if I never ate it, and whole grains, even if I never ate them.

At my Girlfriend's Night Out, we wrapped up the evening and I began putting away the leftovers. I remember yelling out as though I was in a Jersey auction "Anybody want these strawberries? Strawberries! Anybody want these strawberries?" My friend Monica looked at me, perplexed (I got a lot of perplexed looks that night). "Why don't you freeze them? You can make smoothies out of them." I thought two things to myself at that moment. One, you can freeze fruit? And two, people actually make smoothies at home? "No, you can have them," I said relieved to get rid of that fruit I knew would just rot in my fridge.

Fast forward to now. I've learned that "juicing" as I'm told it's called, is very healthy. In fact, I took the plunge and invested in my first juicer, the Breville, which I thought was a safe bet. It's compact and inexpensive in the juicing world. I took the kids to the produce market and racked up on lots of fresh organic fruits and veggies. We came home and I began my hunt for juice and smoothie recipes that I thought we would enjoy. Quite the task when you have a picky eater, AKA my son Daniel and a non-believer, AKA my husband David.

Although we have only made two juices so far to date, the kids are loving this! In fact, Daniel helps me by shoving the produce down the chute in our new Breville. And they both love watching the juice start pouring out. But, we still have work to do getting daddy onboard the Juicing bandwagon. I don't think the grimaced look he made when he swallowed our first concoction of oranges, carrots and strawberries counts as an official drink. I'm thinking he didn't fully swallow. The good news is that my children and I have started drinking fresh juices in the morning regularly and the best part is that they are getting a serving of veggies! All Aboard...

Sleepy Sling...

Delicious. That about sums up our first family trip to Trader Joe's today. I decided, if I'm on this journey to holistic health, where can I go grocery shopping? Trader Joe's or Whole Foods? Well Trader Joe's is only 15 minutes away so that was an easy choice, although in my heavily saturated supermarket town, I probably drove past at least 10 on my way there. I strapped Mia into her Ergo Baby carrier and Daniel walked alongside me. I was a bit nervous on how we would handle this on our own. Would Mia be ok strapped in for an hour or more? Would Daniel be ok walking next to me the entire time? They did great! Mia dozed off and Daniel helped me put everything in the cart. I think the most rewarding part for me was having Daniel ask me the names of vegetables he hadn't eaten before. "Mami, what's that?" "That's eggplant honey." Wow, my son didn't know what eggplant was. 

Ok, so this day was a success in my mind but also an eye opener. One, I love Trader Joe's for many things but disappointed in the produce (not as fresh as my local farmer's market) and there are no baby products. Zero. Two (or three technically), I'm so used to cooking the same things the family likes that I don't expose them enough to different things. As we checked out, I made sure to purchase some of the reusable carrier bags and clinched my teeth nervous the bill would be high. I mean our cart was over the rim full of fresh veggies, fruits, meats, grains and lots of other healthy, yummy treats. But alas, I was shocked. Good shocked. Our supermarket trip was about $40 less than what I typically spend on our bi-weekly shopping trip! As soon as we got home, Daniel helped me prepare dinner, which included the pasta and veggies we just purchased and we enjoyed the moment and every last bite.

Delicious. Simply delicious.

For the Love of Life...

I'll admit, when my dear friend Monica first told me about "Doc", as she referred to him, I was skeptical. No, skeptical is definitely not strong enough a word. Weirded out. Yes, weirded out is the perfect description. I mean, who goes to a doctor that doesn't prescribe medicine? And what kind of doctor tells you to visit a holistic mommy's website? Just too weird for me to comprehend. I just scrunched my forehead and nodded my head because who was I to criticize? I mean every mother has the right to make choices she feels is best for her children. So while Monica continued her three year relationship visiting Doc and taking her girls there, I continued taking my kiddies to their regular pediatrician. Now let's rewind five months.

Back in October I took Daniel (my oldest, my four year old) to his routine physical exam and he got a series of the standard vaccines they give to four year olds. That's when "it" all began. "It" being a noticeable change in his every day health. You see, Daniel was always prone to getting sick. I mean even as an infant, he was hospitalized at two weeks old because he caught a virus. After being on antibiotics for three days, they released him and shortly after, diagnosed him with colic and acid reflux. I swear the first year of Daniel's life, he was sick every month. The emergency room and doctor's offices had our number on speed dial at this point. And the only thing they could tell me was that he was normal but that "some kids just get sick easier." "Ok", I thought, "this must be normal, right?" What did I know. This was my first baby. I continued with his normal regimen of regular visits and regular vaccines but sure enough, Daniel would continue to get sick frequently and be assured if someone in the room was sick, he was going to catch it!

After Daniel's October visit, he was sick more days than healthy. Fevers, colds, multiple ear infections, back to back to back. I mean he just could not kick it! He developed a wet cough that would not go away. They tried allergy meds, cough meds...nothing worked. I did all of the tricks I knew of, vapor baths, Vicks, honey, vaporizer, you name it, I tried it. After his second ear infection and chronic stomach cramping and vomiting, I called the practice and again got the same answer. "Bring him in. Sounds like he has a virus."

That's when a holistic brick hit me on the head and I decided I was not going to subject him to any more trials and errors. I was desperate and I thought, what can I do for my child naturally to help his little body recover and be the best it can be, the way God intended him to be? So I began researching and asking around. I later learned a very interesting thing. Not only was Monica a holistic mommy, but come to find out I actually had 3 other holistic mommies that would serve as a sounding board for me to finally take my first giant leap of faith. I decided to take Daniel to his first holistic doctor.

Dr. Tom McGuire was the first to take a look at Daniel. He made some adjustments and asked us to come back one week later. No medicine. We went back one week later and he made a few more adjustments. Again, no medicine. Well, that's weird. I swear I haven't heard Daniel cough in exactly two weeks, since our first visit. As a matter of fact, his stomach pains went away. Coincidence? Or was their method of realigning Daniel's body having a greater impact on his health than I could imagine? That was the beginning of me converting into a believer.

Then we visited "Doc" at his practice "For the Love of Life". He took a long look at Daniel, and spent over an hour on his physical exam. Here is where - true to my original gut - I was weirded out, but in a good way. He confirmed everything Dr. Tom said the week before! Two holistic doctors who had not spoken about Daniel confirmed the same conditions that were impacting his immune system! The song "I'm a believer" began resonating in my mind! After adjusting Daniel some more and completing his exam I was given a regimen of vitamins and minerals to give Daniel to get his health back up optimally and best of all, naturally. So while I know Daniel is human and not immune to ever getting sick again, I don't remember the last time he looked so rosy, and best of all, cough and phlegm-free!

Dr. Tom McGuire: http://www.mcguirechiropractic.com/Dr--Tom.html