And when I say food and supplement snob, I mean that in a healthy way…not that I’m obsessing over every single thing I put in my body. But for the most part, I treat my body as a temple, where the Holy Spirit resides and I want to honor Him, myself, my family…with it. I’m never 100% perfect and I do have treats/cheats, whatever the heck you want to call them. I don’t really focus on the semantics of it all. It is what it is, but however you feel good calling it – do that. For me, it doesn’t make a difference but I definitely get my fill of not being perfect. I practice more of an 85/15 rule for the most part. 85% I’m pretty darn clean and like to stick to a portion control system (somewhat loosely) so I make sure I’m getting enough protein, enough veggies, fruit, good fats, carbs etc. The other 15% is for living life, having those treats, days when I don’t get enough in, etc.
For the most part, I am careful about what I put in my body and even my treats may look different than most. There are many things that back in the day were main staples, weekly, daily items that I have no desire whatsoever for. It just doesn’t give me the same satisfaction, nor do they tempt me or even call my name. Like sodas for example or regular candy bars. I just don’t have any desire for it. For me, food is fuel. I love food, I love good, nutritious, real food. I love making sure my body is getting what it needs on the daily. Our bodies were made not only for macronutrients – carbs, fats, protein – but even more so for the micronutrients. I think that’s a huge thing we’ve been missing. For me though, that was what I learned first on this whole journey and experience.
So with that said, let me give you a little back story and tell you how I got to this place of wanting to treat my body as a temple and really take care of myself. One big defining moment for me was the sickness and death of our son. It’s not just one moment but over a period of time. Maybe you’ve read my story, maybe not, so I’ll give you a quick rundown. Our 2nd son was born with a genetic defect that affected his whole body. He was in and out of the hospital for the year and 3 1/2 months that he lived. I was 29, then turned 30 right before he passed away and it was one of the hardest times of my life. Never in your life do you think you’ll go through something like that. We almost think we’re invincible until something does happen.
What that event did was made me question everything in my life, it made me see things in a whole different way. If you’ve ever lost a child you know your life will never ever be the same. It’s not something you ever get over. You learn a new normal, a new way to live with the hurt and the pain. Or if you’ve experienced a loss early on as a child of a parent, close relative, friend, spouse. But really any kind of tragedy or event in your life, even divorce is a grieving process. You learn a new normal. Life how you thought is no longer that way and you have to figure it out.
So figure it out I did. After years of being broken, depressed, barely surviving, losing myself…I finally said f that. I’ve got to find the joy again and learn a new way. I spent years soul searching and discovering truth about life, my purpose… I decided instead of letting life pass me by and living in my circumstances, that I would begin sharing my story and showing people how I found my joy again and how they could to. It’s been a long journey of personal growth – mentally, emotionally, spiritually and then physically. (and that’s where we get Fit Full Circle from) …that’s the short of the long. ;-) lol.
The last element was my health. I started with supplementing, thinking I could supplement my way to health. I learned all about the differences in supplements, synthetic vs real. And if you didn’t know there was a difference there is a BIG one! To keep it simple because this is getting a little long…synthetic is made from chemicals in a plant/factory and real is made from real foods. The difference is your body knows how to recognize and use real food supplements but doesn’t with synthetic. Synthetic have higher concentrations because your body only gets a small percentage from it since it’s not real food and it’s made with coal tar and rocks, stuff we do not need. My advice, if you’re using synthetic, STOP. You’re better off taking nothing than ingesting that. It honestly does nothing for you and studies have even come out saying it’s harmful.
But not all supplements are created equal as I learned through much research and trying it out on my own body. There are only a handful of companies that I would trust with putting their supplements in my body, honestly. …back to what I was saying though. I thought I could just supplement and not change my diet and boy was I wrong. Well, it worked for a while. I felt a lot better because my body was getting more of what it needed but I realized over time many of the foods I was eating were causing negative side effects so the good the supplements were doing were negated by the foods I was eating. No bueno!
I wanted to look and feel great inside and out. I knew I was made for more and had gotten a taste of what feeling good felt like. I think we sometimes get so far away from it, we forget how good we can or are supposed to feel.
So I began to focus on my diet, what I was consuming in terms of food on the daily. This again took years of research, trial and error. I had young kids at the time, so it took a little longer but day by day, week by week I was feeling better, my body was functioning optimally, I wasn’t getting sick, the kids were feeling better and getting sick less often. WIN WIN in my book! Because it’s hard dealing with sick kids especially when you’ve got many kids and at that time I had 4! I had 5 kids in a 7 year time frame, my 2nd one being the one who passed away. At one point I had 4 kids, 3 that were 3 and under! =P I had my hands full to say the least!
If you’d like my free Basic Nutrition Guide, click here to see how I eat. The kids have strayed some from it as of late. We live next door to my parents, well my dad now as my mom passed recently…but they keep tons of junky stuff in their house much to my dismay. It’s hard to keep the kids away from it when it’s right there. =(
…in a nutshell, that’s how it all started! I hear a lot of people say that you can do it without supplements and yes, you can lose the weight without supplements. You can get in shape without them. But here’s my take on it. On my best days and on my worst days, with the way food has changed and the nutritional value in our fruits and veggies, etc these days…in order for optimal health, I need to supplement. I can’t possibly get everything my body needs on a daily basis. It’s impossible! And even on my best days. So, I’ve been supplementing to make sure my body gets all the micronutrients it needs for 13+ years! It’s no wonder I look and feel like I do. I’ve made myself new several times over and have reversed my age. So while many of you are taking years off your age by lifestyle and diet choices, I’m adding to mine.
I want to honor my God, my family, my Diego and my mom in Heaven by living a healthy life, by being my best inside and out. The biggest fu we can give to sickness and disease is to get healthy, not to support some run or walk or more research on the sickness. Yes, medicine can help once it’s there…but let’s get down to the root of what’s causing it. Focus on health!
Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox. I’m super passionate and fired up about the subject and that’s why I live it out in my own life every single day!
Much love and hugs to you! If you need help, reach out. xo, Alicia