Saturday, February 21

And the winner is...

And the winner of the Heart Healthy Recipe Contest is....

Kath of Katheats.com!
(this photo is from Kath's website- I have made these and they are delicious, but Kath is a much better photographer than I am!)

Kath is basically the queen of oats and she responded with a recipe for Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars that are bursting with heart healthy oats and walnuts. Here's an excerpt from her email explaining why these two ingredients are so heart healthy:

"Oats: Oatmeal contains soluble fiber, which reduces your low-density lipoprotein (LDL) B the "bad" cholesterol. Soluble fiber appears to reduce the absorption of cholesterol in your intestines. Gel-like soluble fiber binds bile (which contains cholesterol) and dietary cholesterol so that the body excretes it.

Walnuts: Walnuts have omega-3s that are a healthy form of fatty acids that seem to help your heart by, among other things, preventing dangerous heart rhythms that can lead to heart attacks. Nuts also have lots of arginine, which is a molecule that increases the production of nitric oxide in your body, which may in turn help improve the health of your artery walls and make them more flexible and less prone to blood clots."

You can find Kath's recipe on her website in the recipe section- a great resource for heart healthy recipes.

Congratulations, Kath! I'll be sending you three packets of Rokit Fuel in the next few days!

Love,
Lis

Thursday, February 19

Rokit Fuel

Okay, okay, so this is totally a food thing and I should put it on the "foodie" blog, but I really wanted more people to see it, so I'm putting it here.
This was my breakfast this morning- Pumpkin Chocolate Rokit Fuel Cereal with other things added in- shredded coconut, a little extra chocolateness, some protein powder and almond milk + extra plain oats (to bulk it up, since I was sharing with Dale). Rokit Fuel is SO yummy! More about Rokit Fuel later in this post!

So I got the results of my many lab tests at the doctors and (big surprise) everything was normal (the doctor is almost positive that I'm allergic to the mold growing in my apartment- eww! More on that later...) EXCEPT for my triglyceride count, which was... high.(Classy, I know.)

Wait, what? I'm only 22! How can my cholesterol/triglycerides be high yet? Well, the funny thing is that I've been thinking for a while that I should get it checked, because heart disease is so prevalent in our family. I'm very grateful that I followed my intuition and had this checked- what better motivation to workout more and eat healthier than wanting to lower your risk of heart disease?

So, to start of my increased heart-healthy consciousness "How to Be a Leading Lady" is going to host a contest!

This is a heart healthy recipe contest!
You have until 5 pm on Saturday to email your favorite heart healthy recipe to leadingladylis@gmail.com.
On Sunday at 5 pm Leiah and I will collaborate and choose the winner- so be looking for that post sometime Saturday evening.
The rules are:
- it has to be an ORIGINAL recipe. NO plagiarism please!
- it has to contain at least TWO heart healthy ingredients. Please include a SHORT description of why these items are heart healthy.
- All emails must be in my in-box by 5 pm on Saturday in order to be considered for the prize.
- Bonus points if you sign up as a follower of this blog!!!

Here are some examples of heart healthy foods that I have in my kitchen right now to get your creative juices flowing!

(That last one there is golden flax seeds)

So what do you get if you win?
Rokit Fuel! http://www.rokitfuel.com/release/

This is a great hot cereal that I love (they say that you can eat it cold, but that doesn't sound very good to me)! It is seriously one of the best cereal's I've ever had and SO filling and heart healthy. Check out their website for the nutrition facts and awesome flavors!

They have four flavors of cereal and I'll be giving a 3 single serving packets of Rokit Fuel to the winner of this contest. And think about it, not many people read this blog so your chances of winning are really good!

I'm excited to read your recipes!

Love, Lis

Tuesday, February 17

Choose Happiness #2

"Choose Happiness" "Choose Happiness" "Choose Happiness" has been my mantra today- it hasn't been easy but I have succeeded. Somedays it's tough to choose to be happy, but I never gave up and guess what? I feel pretty darn happy!

So there you have it. It works. I've put it to the test and it has worked again. It's that old saying "Mind over Matter." It's the knowledge that I can rise above whatever "daily life" throws at me. Knowing that I am in charge of my own happiness is empowering- I am still learning this, but having a successful day like today gives me strength and encouragement.

Try it out for yourself! Tomorrow! Right now! And always.

The choice is yours.

Choose happiness.

Love,
(a happy) Lis

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures- I thought about taking a picture of myself SMILING, but you can see that in my profile photo!

Monday, February 16

Happy President's Day

I hope you all have enjoyed your President's Day/Valentine's Day weekend- I have! My brother-in-law drove from California to visit and we had a lot of fun hanging with family, especially on Sunday. Here are some pictures from our visit at my husband's little sister's house:
we ate dinner and then played a ROUSING game of Scrabble- rousing as in we were all freaking out and calling each other names (all in good fun of course- we're all best friends) and making crazy facial expressions, as you can see in the pictures below...
Noel's mad because Dale said she has no talent (even though she won!).
I'm mad because it's the last round and the best word I can spell is "tip"- I had a minor tantrum over that one....
And then we had a much more civil and happy game of Scum- my FAVORITE card game...
NOW we're smiling and having fun!
Dale's brother Quinn brought a date to hang out with us old married folk (she's in the green) and we all liked her a lot.

I highly recommend spending time with people who make you feel happy and good about yourself. Sometimes, especially during the winter for some reason, I tend to kind of isolate myself. It always makes me feel unhappy so I'm making an effort to reach out to my friends and family- yo spend time with them, playing games or watching movies or just gathering around the dinner table for a homemade meal. People need other people! It makes us feel good (most of the time) to be social and friendly.

Later this week I have another friend-date- so I'm definitely looking forward to that!

This week, I challenge you to try and reconnect with people who make you feel good and happy- I promise that it will brighten up your day!

Love,
Lis

Sunday, February 15

Happy Valentines Day!

(Not the best picture- we looked better in real life, I promise!)
I had such a wonderful Valentines Day thanks to my sweet husband and to re-reading the post I did on "Choosing Happiness." I'm sorry for how negative I was in my last few posts, but that has been my mood for the past week. I'm trying to move past it and focus on the good and CHOOSE to be happy and productive. This really works, even if I forget sometimes.

We had a fun and free date- a Valentines Dance at our church with a live band and lots of fun. We danced a ton, had our picture taken and had some fun little finger foods. A good date doesn't have to be expensive if you're creative and open about it!

I hope you all had a nice V-day and are remembering to be happy and enjoy life!

Love,
Lis

Friday, February 13

Doctor

So my doctor's visit went pretty much as I expected it to- they said I had a virus but didn't know why I get sick all the time. So I've got another appointment for next tuesday for a FULL physical. Exciting, huh? But, I haven't had a physical in years so I AM interested to see what they find out about me.

I'm still feeling sick, but I think I'm at the tail-end of it- no more fevers and I'm not so much like a walking zombie. I've started doing my stay-healthy regimen again which I'll describe for you:
take the following pills: 2 claritan, 1 women's multi-vitamin, 1 acai berry capsule, probiotics and 1 Vitamin E gel capdrink the following: 2 Emergen-C packets daily, TONS of water, (and as much as possible of the following) green tea, ginger tea, echinacea tea, and really as much herbal and green tea as I can squeeze in in a day.I know from experience that when I am religious about this regimen I don't get sick nearly as often- it's just kind of a pain (and expensive) to maintain- but I guess it's worth it if I don't have to feel like crap so often.

Tuesday, February 10

leiah's weigh-in

126! Yay Leiah!

Stumbling Blocks

Sorry for being MIA for a while on the blog. It's the perfect opportunity, though, to talk about stumbling blocks because my signature stumbling block has really been a doozy the past couple of weeks.

So, I don't have a life threatening illness, I'm not injured or confined to a wheelchair, so I know this may seem paltry to people who are suffering through those kinds of things, but this is very real to me.

I am ALWAYS sick. Seriously, I get a cold or the flu once or twice every month, complete with fever, aches and pains, chills, and all the rest of the symptoms that come with those sicknesses. It's not like they're going to kill me, but it's SO frustrating and very DEPRESSING to feel like absolute crap every other week.

The only time when I've noticed a significant drop in how much I get sick is when I'm drinking 4 kinds of (immunity boosting) teas and taking a whole bunch of vitamins and other pills every single day. When I let my guard down for a little while BOOM I'm sick all the time again.

Right now I'm suffering through my SECOND sickness for the month of February and it's only the TENTH day of the month. Ridiculous. Sometimes, I just feel like giving up. (though I'm not as cute as this kitty!)But then I remember that I CAN'T give up because this is MY LIFE! MY BODY! And I'm in charge, so I'm going to the doctor today and I'm gonna find out what I should do about this sucky problem.

I guess I just needed to rant about that for a minute. I'm feeling extremely frustrated and a little hopeless and depressed about it, but I'm trying to just be proactive about it- to be a leading lady and just FIND OUT WHAT THE PROBLEM IS and then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

I guess that really is what Leading Ladies do when they are faced with problems. They don't waste time crying about it and saying how unfair it is. They just identify the problem and then fix it. I'll do my best. In the meantime, do any of you have suggestions? Or support, would be great too, I'm feeling pretty low. I'm gonna try channeling Lara Croft today- she never gives up.Anyways, Monday weigh got forgotten yesterday(again) so here's mine and I'll call Leiah for hers.

Weight- 147 lbs.- it's hard to work out when you're sick. Somehow I didn't feel like going to my 6 am class with a fever. Maybe I'm a wimp.

love,
Lis

Friday, February 6

Celebrate!

Happy Birthday, Mom!


Love,
Your Daughters

P.S. We still look to you for inspiration and advice- you are truly a Leading Lady for us.

Wednesday, February 4

Choice

Life is full of potentially problematic situations. Situations where we could easily choose to get depressed, have bad attitudes and just throw up our hands in defeat. Or we could choose to make the best of our circumstances, look on the bright side and work harder and better.

The key is CHOICE.


One of the most important things to learn in life- one of the true signs of a mature, well balanced person- is that we always have choices. Life may throw us some truly nasty circumstances, it may knock us off our feet and attempt to sink us into the depths of despair, but we always have a choice about how we will react.

Learn this. Learn to choose to react in a positive way to any and all of life's crazy little (and big) adventures and you will have learned one of the keys to living a happy and successful life. Learn to do this and you will have made a huge step towards becoming the leading lady of your own life.

Choice is everything.
http://www.teesforchange.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_17

Great shirt, huh? teesforchange.com has some shirts with inspirational messages on them.

Love,
Lis