Blog Feature - Angelina Jolie

“Prevention is better than cure”

 Earlier this year, Jolie informed the public that she had double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery due to learning of her 87% chance of breast cancer and because she carried the BRAC1 gene.  She reported having the double mastectomy first because her risk for breast cancer was much higher at 87% for breast cancer than was her risk for ovarian cancer at 50%. Now, she’s currently discussing with her trusted medical professionals about having another preventive surgery for ovarian cancer.

Real Talk - The Mind and Abuse

This post has nothing to do with hair or skin or nails....but it has to do with the mind in a round about way. This is a huge peak into my life, but somehow i felt compelled to share this.

Let me begin by saying I attended a Women's Retreat this weekend and had a beautiful time as expected and anticipated. Lots of things were discussed, but one of the nuggets I took away dealt with generational curses...If you know what they are, skip to the next paragraph. If you don't read on. Generational curses are things that has been brought on your family as a burden to bear. For instance, your family may be riddled with cancer. You may have several members of the family that may develop different cancers...some may live, some may die. Another example of a generational curse is cheating/lying. Sometimes we become so comfortable with our generational curse that they may not be dealbreakers for us in a relationship. Let's take the last example for instance. If I am accustomed to my family cheating or know of several women in my family that has been cheated on, it may be eaasier for me to date someone who is cheating on me. Somehow, I may have become hardwired to become comfortable with that.

For The Record Friday – Joseph Miller, Personal Trainer (Chicago)

I was able to interview my friend and it was difficult but only because he was so modest and found it difficult to talk about himself. LOL, go figure! Handsome, healthy and modest. I was excited to learn more about what got him started into this business and why. Mr. Miller stated “I had a drive to work independently.” He also felt like there were not any gyms that facilitated the programs that he is interested. I then inquired, so just what are your interests?

1.    High interest in functional training.

2.    Using different approaches (no cookie cutter training)

3.    Having proper and effective  tools for training

Guest Post - Joseph Miller of Organic Theory Chicago

Funny, I never really sit down long enough to really consider things to "blog" about in terms of all things health and fitness, however those that know me personally know that I could banter on for days about it. This bantering recently lead me to this post; during a conversation with a relative of mine I gave a bit of advice that I think is blog worthy. So often we fall into fad diets and fitness trends, ie..do 9,000 workouts in 7 days and win a free t-shirt (or at least that's how it feels) so often that we soon forget the basics. Below I've included 3 of the most basic and realistic tips that are so easy to follow that it should be illegal..in most 1st world countries of course.

For The Record Friday Blog Feature Post - Monika!

For those of you who have been following my blog, you may be aware that there is a part I to this For the Record: Blog Feature Post of Monika: The lady that handles it all. I wanted to shine the spotlight on this lady because she makes life appear effortless and in our journey to be effortless women, it is imperative that we learn how other women make their lives easy and most importantly enjoy it! Here is part II of the Interview:

For The Record Friday - Monika

“Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to be featured on your blog!  I have been following your growth from the beginning stages and I am so impressed by the growth and success you are experiencing!  I pray that this continues to grow!” Mo Fit.

This lady is such an inspiration to me. Not only is she a sweet and kind person, but she’s a great mother of two (mother of one my church little sisters, sometimes two, lol) and a loving wife. Plus she’s gorg! Find out more about this mom. (Part I of the Interview: Follow next For the Record Friday’s post for Part II of the Interview)

Health and Fitness

It has been a minute since I've posted on the blog, but I read this article this morning that just made so much sense to me. I found myself doing a lot of ab workouts and I could feel my abs tightening UNDER my semi-muffin top.

Granted I know through aerobics I can lose the weight, but I was losing weight all over my body in other areas and I didn't want that...I just wanted to have targeted weight loss. I'm beginning to realize that that may not happen as I usually don't begin losing fat from my tummy first. I usually lose weight from my legs  and breasts first. Which I think is horrible because my boobs are almost non-existent as is.

However, it's all in the name of health. Read these 10 ways to trim belly fat in This article by Men's Magazine. Share your thoughts! MuAh and Ciao!

A Naturalista's Staycation

My Christmas holiday was really relaxing. The only thing missing was a day at the spa and a kiss from the beau. All that said, I attending a holiday party on Christmas Eve and came home and took pics of how I unwind. YES! My hair is pressed and I trimmed .5-1inch of my hair. I needed a trim like fries need ketchup!



Natural Hair

On Christmas day, I woke up feeling refreshed, caught up with friends AND then went to chill by a friend's spot for Christmas dinner and was knocked out after this plate of food. I mean, I was so lethargic from all the food I ate, lol. I enjoyed pigging out. CHEAT DAYS RULE!!!!! Tasha was such a gracious gracious host and Girl, I'm coming back for the rest of that movie. Such a classic movie!

MuAh & CiAo!

Follow me on IG @lofanaturalista

 

Air Pollutants

The sun is shining bright, the clouds are parted and I'm in a very chipper mood... I'm driving down New York Ave heading into work this morning. Enjoying this chipper mood, I put the windows down and start singing...until I pulled up next to this huge truck and tasted the exhaust in my mouth. DISGUSTING! I quickly hit the power windows button to put all the windows up. I saw another truck ahead of me and thought of all the pollution these vehicles emit into the air...

"Ahhh, city air." is all I could muster.

Needless to say, the singing stopped. Then I thought about how dirty our skin must be when we get home after a full day outside. Where I'm from people say, "You smell like outside." Please don't ask me to describe what outside smells like, but in my opinion, it's similar to saliva, breath, and wet dirt mixed with a little must. (LOL, I know it sounds awful, but I'm telling you this smell does exist!)

 

Regardless, I wanted to remind everyone that even though you may not pass a truck that emits black clouds of smoke called exhaust, this stuff is very harmful to our bodies. After periods of exhaling such polluted air, it's no wonder when we clean our noses, we find black/brown soot-like looking matter there...Washing your face and your skin overall is a must after being outside, especially in such polluted air. I can't imagine how harmful this is to our hair for women who don't wash their hair daily. Just the thought is again, disgusting. I'm definitely going to wash my hair tomorrow and be certain to use a nice natural scrub on my face to get rid of today's grime as soon as I get home today.

* Daily washing of the skin and body is a must in order to ensure healthy and clean looking skin.*

 

Now to drink some water and take care of the rest of my health from the inside out. MuAh & CiAo! 

Follow me on IG @lofanaturalista

Body Essentials - Interesting Diet Fads

I was on the internet trying to figure out why I was gaining belly fat so rapidly after having a relatively flat stomach a week ago. I know that when I cut out cheese and consume less dairy products that my belly flatten with exercise...I thought exercising would be enough to retain it for a week so I went all out. I had pizza, cereal all sorts of hours during the day and even right before bed (I love cereal, sue me!) and baked macaroni and cheese (my absolute favorite) and brownie and icecream. I ate at my heart's desire! lol But now I look down at my tummy and am not pleased.

So in my research I learned that in Asia right now, there is a banana shortage because the Asians believe that eating a banana for breakfast with room temperature leads to a flattened stomach, but if that was the case, my belly would be flat all the time. Because I stays eating bananas and room temperature. I hope none of you readers actually believe that you can flatten your tummy just by doing that and eating as you choose throughout the day as long as it's before dinner aka 8pm. without having to exercise. False! Yes, having a banana for breakfast is low in calories, but it's certainly not heavy enough to produce a "full feeling" for over two hours after it's eaten.

At any rate, I then learned that the best thing to do is to consume resistant starch foods that will help in producing that "full feeling" and will go undigested and can minimize the accumulation of fat. Here's a quick list:

Resistant Starch Foods eaten at a cool or room temperature (in addition to exercise)

navy beans
pasta
brown rice
potato
peas
barley
corn
oatmeal
banana

Suggested meals are potato salad, frozen banana and potato soup

Well, I am not certain how well this works. Doesn't seem as though any studies were done to prove what is being theorized here, but it's certainly something to consider. *shrug* I'll continue looking into it and will update you all. 

Until then, Live on Purpose and Remember that Our Natural is Beautiful!

MuAh & CiAo!

 

Body Essentials - My Mental Health

This weekend was a very busy weekend. I was able to take some time out and give myself a nice pedicure. That was a great feeling amidst the busy weekend. All in all, it was great, until I got in to work and was bombarded with emails, clients and contractors (our building is undergoing renovations at this time) Talk about alot going on!

How to keep sane in this work environment? Well, I plan. What I get done, I get done. Rome wasn't built in a day. This is something I constantly say to myself. There's so much that needs to be done. Clients in crisis, emails to check and in this RIGHT NOW society, everyone expects a response right now. Everything can't be done right away.

I check my email three times a day. In the morning, in the middle of the day and in the afternoon. I answer all emails as fast as I can in the morning and then move on to daily tasks. I do that for all  my email time checks. If I am not as busy, I check my email more, however, it is certainly difficult to see an email come up at the bottom of the screen and not glance over at it, open it up and read it real quick and send a response. So far, I have done that twice already since I began this post, lol. Sometimes, we just can't help it. So clearly, staying disciplined is important. My heart is racing because I have an appt at 12 that I'm trying to meet and I want to get this post out before that appt. LOL.

Why do we schedule our lives like this?!?! *takes a deep breath* I do plan on pausing to take deep breaths throughout the day and make a task list for the remainder of my afternoon so I can not only stay on top of what needs to get done, but put in enough time in my schedule to breathe, take bathroom breaks as needed and drink some water and just relax for 2minutes before the next task.

What do you do to take care of your mental health throughout the work day. I'm interested. Now my phone's going off. SIGH. :-) Relax today, take deep breaths and remember ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN A DAY! Live on Purpose. MuAh & CiAo

Lady Essentials - Interesting Read

My boyfriend shared this interesting read and I thought it best to share this information. I looked over at my purse and all I could think was Ewwwwww! That's nasty.

http://www.philly.com/philly/health/womenshealth/Your_purse_carries_more_bacteria_than_the_average_toilet.html

This is the post he shared with me. I encourage you to read it.

Want antibacterial wipes, the checkout counter at Target and your grocer's store usually have a travel size pack available for purchase. Wipes can also be found at your local pharmacy. With all the sickness going around, better prepared than being sorry.

Your health is important. Take care of it! All men, please share with your lady friend (s). Live on Purpose. MuAh & CiAo!

Body Essentials - Flaxseed? Who would have thought?!

I am really trying to work on eating healthier meals...I have started by having one raw meal a day and work out 3x's a week at least. Sometimes I want to workout everyday, but it's not necessary. I'm realizing that my diet affects my body as well. Guess what helps with dieting...flaxseed...So I eat my raw meals and pour flaxseed meal (blended flaxseed) on top of things or in smoothies.

I read about all the healthcare benefits to flaxseed. Here is the recent smoothie I blended:

handful of Romaine Lettuce

few leaves of Baby Spinach

Half of green apple

honey

Raspberry tea brewed from my own specialty brewed tea

or my salads:

lettuce

baby spinach

raw baby carrots

veggie burger/chicken (form of protein)

balsamic vinaigrette dressing

It was actually very yummy, the blended flaxseed adds sort of a nutty flavor to the salad and i hardly tasted it in the smoothie. So, that's good. It was probably more of a texture issue for me seeing that drinking things that has seeds or pulp seems to bother me at time. I guess it's a mind thing. At any rate, both are delicious dishes and I'm going to continue experiementing with other recipes as well. Share your flaxseed recipes with me! Live on purpose. MuAh & CiAo!

Body Essentials - Get Rid of Excess Belly Fat

If anyone knows me, I have a rule about belly fat. I got it from Professor Klump I guess. If you look down and you can't see, you know what I'm talking about, then you may have a belly fat issue. Granted you don't need to be excessively overweight to realize that you need to lose a few lbs. Women, we typically gain weight around our monthly visitor and men you gain weight because you're lazy (lol, cause you guys really have no other reason for gaining weight J/K) But anyhoo, this is what I found today about decreasing belly fat.

STEPS TO A HEALTHIER YOU:

1. Make a list of all food items ingested (cookies are FOOD, cake is FOOD, laffy taffy is broadly considered FOOD)

2. Go through the list and cross off all the items that you KNOW you should not consume especially on a regular basis (starting with soda, yes, I said it, get water or lemonade at the drive thru, stop using that as an excuse to get soda) Matter of fact, Burger King has a nice veggie burger and they have apple and orange juice. (if you know you should not be consuming much or no sugar at all, get bottled water)

3. Start counting your calories.

4. EXERCISING - unfortunately crunches/sit-ups aren't going to cut ur fat down easily, it helps to build your muscle area, but to assist with losing the weight you need to engage in cardiovascular activity. Matter of fact, the $10 or more you spend on fastfood for a week is the cost of a gym membership a month. Just keeping it real. I begrudgingly joined a gym because I got tired of seeing my almost tire growing. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I call myself trying to gain weight, but its difficult to do so. I'll do another post on that soon.

Also, attached is a list of activities you can do that shows how much calories are burned during that activity.

http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist4.htm

Make the most of this list. With a well-balanced diet, exercise and this list, you are sure to work off that extra belly fat. I'm working on mine, we all should strive to be better and healthier versions of ourselves. MuAh!

Body Essentials - Feminine Odor

If you have a 'sister', a friend, a coworker, a roomie, or just someone that you know could use this information, it's always difficult to share information like this with them. I like to think I'm a very blunt person. BUT, when it comes to feminine odor, I just cannot bring myself to telling a grown women to wash herself. But, if you ever gather up the gaul to do it, here's what you need to tell them:

1. (3) Three drops of tea tree oil to your bath with 3 cups of pure apple cider vinegar
2. Cleaning your wash rag or any items used to clean your private parts (as momma use to call 'em) properly by applying soap and water to the items used and thoroughly hand-washing the items and rinsing clean, wringing dry and allowing it to dry completely BEFORE next use.
3. Yogurt (eating healthy bacteria helps eliminate bad bacteria) i don't like yogurt, but apparently from reading it works wonders.
4. LET IT BREATHE! Sometimes we wear tight clothing or clothing that doesn't allow air to get through to "it". In the summer months, feminine odor rises, so just be careful.
5. Using feminine wipes after bathroom use or other "play"
  AND I found these as well or scroll to the bottom and click the link:

Hygiene

• Gently wash your vulva and anus daily with mild soap, water or mineral oil. Do not use deodorant or perfumed soaps, as these products can alter the natural balance and can aid in causing vaginal infections.
  Wear cotton and not satin underwear, as cotton will help skin breathe easier.
  Wipe from front to back so bacteria from your anus does not travel to your vagina.
  Cut down on drinks such as coffee and alcohol, and on sugar and refined carbohydrates, as they can change the pH of the vagina.

Baking Soda and pH Balance

• Baking soda is a good home remedy for pH balance in your body. Mix 1 tbsp. of baking soda in a glass of warm water and drink it once a day. Take a warm bath with 1/2 cup of baking soda to help with yeast infections. Soak in the warm baking soda bath for 15 to 20 minutes and then dry with a clean towel. Dab the vaginal area with a clean washcloth to make sure the area is completely dry before putting on your underwear.

Multivitamin and Mineral

• Multivitamins and minerals can be taken as supplements in order to fight vaginal infections as well as to boost your immune system. Vitamin C, beta-carotene, Vitamin E, B vitamins and zinc are beneficial and can help women with vaginal infections. Garlic is a natural antibiotic that can be eaten raw daily or taken in supplement form, and it will also help deal with the present infection.

Read more: Feminine Odor Home Remedies | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/way_5565103_feminine-odor-home-remedies.html#ixzz1mYwj5ALc