Reset me, baby!

Today is Wednesday, April 16, 2014.

Today is the day that I began my Ultimate reset!!!

If you don't know what that is, basically, it's a 21 Day Detox system that is created by Beachbody and I am SO excited about it!
Why?

Well, I'll tell you!

For starters, there is no strenuous exercise! Sounds like my kinda system... how about you, eh? All joking aside, though, there really is nothing more than a couple of brisk 20 minute walks a day. This is because the program is filled with supplements that are supposed to help you clean out you system from the inside, out. So while you may not be getting in a lot of crazy exercise, you are working hard on your internal systems. 

Before I tell you anymore about what the program entails, I want to tell you why I am doing this.

As you may know, I have struggled with both my physical and mental health for a while. Part of my struggle has been addiction to food. I have used food as a vice throughout my life, and I know that I am addicted to it... especially a few types of foods that really wreak havoc on my body. (Particularly fried foods and chocolate anything!) The problem is, when I eat these foods, I choose not to worry about eating them in moderation, and the thing is, because of that, I have developed many health problems, as well as a loss of self control. It's a horrible cycle to fall into...
I thought that participating in this reset would help me really understand why my body craves the foods that it does, and how I can find a way to move myself from the reliance I have on foods that make me sick to my stomach. I am not saying that food is bad, but I do believe that we (especially Americans) have perverted the idea of food and what it is meant to do for us.
Food is a social culture in American society. It is used as a way to socialize and entertain more than it is to build and sustain life. My hope from participating in this reset, is that I will find a way to create a meaning for food in my life that will be both healthy as well as enjoyable. I think it is great to find joy in food, but I feel there are different reasons to enjoy food than the reasons I currently live with....
and that is why I am doing this reset...

So, over the next 21 days, I will be following a strict meal plan and schedule, and I will be tracking my thoughts, ideas, progress, and everything else along the way!

My starting weight: 158 pounds... I got out of control the last couple of months, and I am ready to reign it back in!

Morning 1 Breakfast! Yum!

Day 1 Lunch... I have never tried Miso soup before, but it's pretty good!

I've Never Had a Bad Day... AKA, "The Story of Cholo, the Dog"

I have been recently thinking about good days vs. bad days, and was reminded of a story once told to me by a professor I had while attending my college courses at Brigham Young University - Idaho.

(Brother) Dr. Garth Waddoups, who was a veterinarian at the local animal clinic, also happened to be the head of the Department of Agriculture. He once gave a devotional entitled, "Never Have a Bad Day."
I have always treasured this talk, and have thought of it often since hearing it. I can even still remember where I was sitting, and my thoughts while listening to him speak. The story he told, while funny, was really quite strange, but left a lasting impact on my mind... and so, I'll share with you Brother W's story of Cholo, the dog; Or why we should Never Have a Bad Day.

Dr. Waddoups

..."That day some unusual things happened. I was at work trying to keep pace with a busy schedule. I had just finished my morning surgeries and hurried to exam room one to see my first patient, in our practice there is a small slot in the door that holds the medical records where the technicians write their findings  as they interview clients and examine the patient. Today the card was empty. That was strange and as that fact was beginning to register, something else out of the ordinary happened. The door softly closed behind me, and the technician who normally followed me into the room was on the other side of it. There was a scruffy white and black dog sitting on the exam table, you have never seen such an emaciated mess in all your life. He had one red swollen eye and what looked to be a large dirt clod on his head. His coat was dirty and unkempt and he was very gaunt. 
Having no idea what we were doing, and learning only that the dogs name was Cholo from the record, I asked, “What are we doing for Cholo today?” For a moment no one answered, there appeared to be a whole family there, grandparents a mother and father and several kids, and they all looked at the floor. They were Hispanic and as is often the case an older woman touched a young girl on the shoulder and she began to speak. “We had Cholo put to sleep a week ago.” With that flat statement my gut tightened slightly, I could envision that we had put Cholo to sleep a week ago and that somehow we had not done a very good job, and he had come back to life, you know that can be considered as one of the ultimate failures. That is a hard decision for people to make and if it had gone poorly, I could imagine that they were not happy, so tentatively, I asked, “Did we put him to sleep?” They smiled and the little girl said “no”. Now relieved but still confused I prompted them to continue. This time the mother in broken English began to explain. “A week ago Cholo ran into the road and was hit by a car, it didn’t kill him but he was badly hurt.” “His eyeball was popped out and his skull was fractured, we could see his brain!”  “We knew he could not live and so my husband’s friend took him into the desert and put him to sleep.” I asked, “How did he put him to sleep?” She answered that he had shot him five times. I laughed and commented, “He must not have been a very good shot.” “Oh no”, came the reply, “Cholo was dead, and we buried him in a shallow grave.” This was becoming more bizarre by the moment. 
Still perplexed, I ask, “How did he get home.” She said, “An hour ago the phone rang and my husband’s boss said your dog is out here and he doesn’t look very good, you better come and get him. We tried to explain that it could not be our dog that he had been dead for a week, but he said he was sure it was our dog and that we had better come down. It was Cholo and so here we are.” Still not sure what they wanted, I ask, “What do you want us to do, put him to sleep?” The mother became excited and began to shake her head, “No, no, Cholo is a good dog, after all of this, he came home to us. We want you to fix him.” 
Cholo had had a bad day. He set a new standard for bad days. He had been hit by a car, had his skull fractured, his eyeball popped out of its socket. He had been taken out into the desert away from his family and shot five times. Then to end this bad day, he was buried alive. So with this as our standard, I would submit that I have never had a bad day and neither have most of you.  These were poor people so I began to explain that we would want to take x-rays and run some tests to see what would be best for Cholo. The mother looked at her hands and said “We only have $1200.00.” I am sure this was all the money they had in the world. I told them to have a seat and we would see how extensive his injuries were and then we could talk of the costs involved. 
I really expected to find very little when we x-rayed Cholo, but when the pictures were developed, he had been shot five times in the head and neck. I don’t know how he was alive, but he was. The dirt clod on the head turned out to be a large laceration and a fracture into his frontal sinus. What they thought was the brain was actually the sinus cavity. We cleaned it up and sutured his wounds. The eye was very red and hemorrhagic; it had been proptosed and because of the loss of blood it had sunk back in to the socket and his vision was fine, even though the eye was very blood shot. Cholo required very little attention, a few sutures and some antibiotics and pain killers. He was a modern day miracle."...

The moral of the story:
Cholo could have been very upset with his family for treating him like they did. Perhaps he didn't understand that what they were doing was from their heart, and they thought it would be best for him! In the end, he came back to them, regardless of the past events, and they were able to truly help him!There are times in life when we hold onto the pain that others may have sown into our lives. Had we been brutally beaten, and left out to die in a shallow grave, we would probably choose one of two things. The first, is the choice that Cholo made. Return to our offender in hopes of fully understanding the reason behind their actions. We would return with nothing but love for the abuser, and hope that, some how, he might help us out of the strange circumstance we find ourselves in, but fully believing that no-matter how we are treated, we will still offer our love to him.The second choice, and one which seems to be more commonly made as I look through my own experiences, and the experiences of those around me, is to stay in our shallow grave. Rather than getting out and getting on with our lives, we roll around in the dirt thinking that somehow that will create cleanliness, clarity, and bring wholeness back into our lives. This choice, however, hinders no one but ourselves. Had Cholo chosen to stay in the hole, feeling sorry for himself, he would have only died a slow and painful death, and no one would have known about it. Instead, he chose to act. He pushed his way out of the hole in which he had been placed, and found his way back to a family that was sorry for their actions, but thrilled to see him! Whatever it is that is ailing you. I urge you to choose to be like Cholo! Don't waste your own life because of the choices of those around you! Push your way through your trials, find your way to those who love you, support you, and want to help 'fix you'. I promise that you, and those around you will be much happier because of it!If you would like to learn more about joining a challenge to create your best life, or if you'd like to read the full transcript of the talk from which I took the story of Cholo, you can visit the following:
www.facebook.com/cheltzey
www.beachbodycoach.com/cheltzey
www.youtube.com/user/cheltzen
For full text of Dr Waddoups' talk:
http://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/Devotionals/2010_02_02_Waddoups.htm

SLOW....DOWN....

Slow down 
Man in the mirror slow down
You're running too fast to see what life's all about 
This world ain't a fire for you to put out
The best times are here and now 
Slow down

~Kenny Chesney

This past Saturday, my husband and I had an easy morning and then took the day slowly.

That is basically where our life is at right now... slowed down, and I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR THAT!

This is a health blog, so if you are here, you are probably look for some info on how to be healthy, right?
Well, here it is:
SLOW DOWN

That's it. Just slow down! I can not tell you how important this is to us right now.

Throughout my life, I have been thinking about the next step, and while it is not a bad idea to plan for your future, the past has taught me that often times, the future doesn't usually turn out how you planned it would anyway.

So what does that mean? Well, for me, it means that I need to stop thinking about what I want to do next and enjoy where I am at right now, because I have noticed that when I think back on my life, I never really too the opportunity to enjoy the phase that I was in. I was always pushing for bigger and better, but that trained me in such a way that when bigger and better came to me, I didn't take the time to savor my success. I was instantly ready for the next bigger, better thing and that made me a really unhappy person. 

I was going WAY TOO FAST to really enjoy what life is all about. 

I may not have reached the best part of my life yet, but I have had some pretty great times. My only regret is that I didn't take the time to enjoy them to the fullest while they lasted. 

I am only 23 years old, though, and there is time to change. I am counting my blessings that Andrew and I have the jobs that we do. We knew what we wanted in life, and we have created a space for ourselves where we can choose how fast or slow our days go by. I know that is not a blessing that a lot of people have, especially when you are working for an employer and have to bend to their rules and expectations, but it doesn't mean you can't control other aspects of your life.

 Think about when you are in the car driving to or from work. Look at how rude people can be and how hurried everyone seems. I challenge you to create time for yourself to slow down and enjoy some quiet time to yourself. Turn off the radio and just enjoy the view you have. When you get home, don't turn on the TV. It is a time killer! Seriously! So many lives are wasted away in front of the TV.

If you want to enjoy life, spend the time you would normally spend in front of the boob-tube working on some type of hobby you enjoy, or playing with your family/friends.

I guarantee you will start to forget about TV and realize that you aren't missing anything by turning it off! 

Just slow down and soak in the beauty of life that is all around you!

Don't rush through your life. It is not healthy. It causes stress and fatigue, and death bed regrets. No one ever says on their death bed, "I wish I'd hurried more." or "I wish I could have worked more hours." or "My life was too long, I am just ready to get through this next phase."

So back to our Saturday, Andrew and I were talking about how nice it was to drive through town with no where to be at any particular time. We ran some errands at our leisure then checked out a new part of town. I learned somethings about my husband that I didn't know before, but most of all, I just enjoyed feeling alive, and happy. It was a great day, and we decided that we were going to work on creating that slow feeling for everyday. 

Slow down.

This life's not a fire you need to put out.

The best times are here and now.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I can hear some kiddos and my husband laughing down the hallway... I'm going to go spend some time with them!
Enjoy your life!

Drew and I taking some time to enjoy our lives together in St. George in January. I am so grateful for those memories!

B...P...D...

I want to share something with you.

I'm gonna be flat-out honest with you.

What you are about to read is VERY personal. 

So personal, in fact that I can't count the number of people I have talked to about this subject on my fingers.

Yes, THAT personal.

So, why am I doing this?

Well, I thought that if just once in my life, I could share my experiences and help save someone else from hard times, then it would be worth the humiliation and trauma that would come from me putting this out there.

So, what's this BIG SECRET?

I feel like I'm writing to an AA group or something here... 

Here goes...

I have BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER.

There.
I said it.

It's out for the world's ear now, and there's nothing I can do to take it back.

So now what?

Well, if it's alright with you, I'd like to explain a little about what I am talking about, thanks!

First off, many of you might be reading this and thinking... OK, what the heck is Borderline Personality Disorder (We'll refer to it as 'BPD' from here on out).

Well, most simply stated, it's a psychological disorder. For whatever reason, my brain process my relationships and how I deal with stress in an EXTREMELY emotional way. 

So how did it start? Well, I am not exactly certain. I know I had manipulative tendencies as a child... I would tell stories to get attention/sympathy, even though I had a VERY easy-going childhood. When I think about it, though, it seems that it really grew into a big problem shortly after the divorce of my parents when I was in junior high. I had a really hard time making good, close friends in high school because of it. You see, a person with BPD has a hard time developing relationships because he is always worried of being rejected or abandoned. What a regular person perceives as normal behavior, someone with BPD will take things that were meant off hand very personally and will stew over them until they are ready to pull their hair out. That is pretty hard to add to the already unforgiving challenges that come with adolescent/teenage life. For me, it started with my dad. I can not describe to you how MORTIFIED I was at the thought that I would disappoint him and he would reject me because of that. I was ALWAYS walking on edge when he was around to make sure that everything I was doing would somehow please him. Finally, though, the stress was too much for me to handle and I broke down. I moved away with my mother so that I wouldn't have to please my dad on a day-to-day basis. The disorder didn't stay behind though, and soon began taking control of other aspects of my life (like high school friends that I mentioned above).

So what exactly happens with BPD? For me, it started with disassociation. Like I mentioned above, I tried to remove myself from the perceived problem. When that didn't work, I resorted to self-harm. It frightens me to sit here watching these words show up, knowing that people I know are going to read them, but I promised myself that if I was going to help someone, I needed to be completely honest. I started with hitting myself until I bruised. It was an outlet for me. A way to release emotion that was too much for me to handle. It escalated, though, into thoughts of suicide. That was a scary time in my life!

I remember receiving a letter from my grandmother in my senior year of high school. She was upset with me for leaving my dad and moving with my mom. The frustration and humiliation I felt from reading the letter was intense. I bit myself so hard that I drew blood. That was the night that my mom found out about my self-harm. The only other people I have really talked to about it besides counselors are my husband, and through prayer. This is something I guarded because I was so ashamed of it.

How did I find out I had BPD? Honestly. I didn't know. I thought I was just depressed, and I hid it from people. Most people who knew me in high school and college are surprised when I tell them that I have dealt with depression. What I do know is that I came across a book in high school. Someone very close to me carries traits of the disorder and I was actually trying to learn how to cope with them. It wasn't until I was in college that I realized that I was probably carrying these very traits in my own walk of life. The book I read is called 'Stop Walking on Eggshells: Taking Your life Back When Someone You Care About Has BPD' by Paul T. Mason, and Randy Kreger.

What happened when I realized that I had BPD? First, I denied it... until I could no longer hide from it. I got married and my husband realized that something was up. He is an AMAZING, patient man for helping me learn how to cope and live. Once I accepted it, I began letting it define me. I couldn't function in the everyday world, but I hid it as much as I could. My parents didn't even realize all that was going on, but I was really going downhill. I ended up dropping out of college because of it. I had lost my passion for the subject I had been studying and I was loosing my zest for life. I was constantly filled to the bursting point and having problems building relationships with people at school. For this reason, I stopped going to school and got a job, and though I enjoyed the idea of the job, it was one of the worst experiences of my life. I really butted heads with some of my coworkers and I was miserable all the time! 

I dealt with that by running away, yet again... live and learn, right? (Even if it takes a few times). My husband and I moved 400 miles away from the little town be grew up in, and it was HARD but probably one of the better choices we have ever made. It was good for me to be away from family and realize how much I appreciated them. 

After we moved, I began becoming more aware of my health. I began really studying the Atonement and trying to use it in my life. I had also been having some major physical health problems. I REALLY started taking initiative in August of 2013. I upped my water intake and started drinking a supplement called Shakeology to ensure that I was getting adequate nutrition. We stopped eating out and restricted out restaurant visits drastically, and then I began to notice it. It was soft and subtle at first, but I was noticing a change. I slowly began to become happier. I was beginning to take care of myself and loving myself because of it. I felt great and my zest for life began to come back. I was taking my life back!

I have been reading a book by Darren Hardy called, "The Compound Effect." In it, he talks of gaining 100% control of your life by owning your decisions and the consequences that come with them. I can honestly say that a few short months ago, I was letting my circumstances own me. I wasn't pushing myself and I was not growing because I was sympathizing with myself for 'what I had been through.' When I read his words, it felt like a slap of reality. I realized I was WASTING my life wallowing in self-pity and I needed to make sure that I defined myself by who I wanted to become. My mindset before had been, 'I'm just not quite happy/healthy enough to make that work for me.' I had let the disorder control how my life would be lived, and it was not fun. I was MISERABLE. 

Since then, I have still had hard moments or days, but they are fewer and further between. I can feel honest joy in my life now, and I have found something that is putting me in a place where I can help others find THEIR true happiness as well! It is such a rewarding place for me to be!

Mostly, I wanted to write this to say, whatever you may be going through, know that you are not alone! There are others, even some whom you would least expect, who are dealing with demons you wouldn't even dream of. The beauty here, though, is this; YOU CAN OVERCOME YOUR DEMONS. If you are ready to work hard, and accept that YOU have power that reaches beyond your wildest dreams, YOU can change and create the life that YOU want to live! I PROMISE YOU because if I can do it, I KNOW anyone can! I can't promise you that it's going to be easy, because it's not. It's going to require a LOT of extra hard work from you, but YOU have the power to take your life and make out of it whatever you heart desires! Isn't that amazing?! I believe in you!

Before I leave, I just want to say that if you or someone you know is struggling with BPD, I'd love to answer any questions you may have. I hope that you got SOMETHING out of reading all of this, and I hope you understand that I write all this from my heart. This isn't easy for me to put out to the world where anyone can see it, but my true desire is that just someone might see this and gain something from it that will benefit their life! Thank you for taking the time to read!

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www.youtube.com/user/cheltzen

Really?

Hey everyone! It's been a while! 

My husband and I took a trip on short notice last week, and it switched up my schedule a little. It's a bit difficult to blog from the road, so I threw my blogging to the back burner for a couple of days, but I'm back! 

I have been talking to some friends and family lately about health, and our conception of it, and that lead to what I want to talk about today.

You're probably not getting enough calories. If you are, then you're probably not getting enough nutrients.

Really? 

Yep. R.E.A.L.L.Y!

Let me go a little science nerd on you for a minute to explain:

1. You're wanting to drop a few pounds so you're going to lower your calorie intake to make that happen. (Applause) BUT, there is a FINE LINE there... lowering your calorie intake will encourage your body to resort to burning off stored fat, yes, but lower your intake too much, and whammy! It'll backfire on you. 

Now, I can't give you a number and tell you exactly how many calories you should be eating during the day because there are so many factors that vary that outcome, but I will suggest that if you are a woman, you should be trying to get at least 1200+ per day, and about 1500+ for men. This is even if you live a sedentary lifestyle. If you are working out and active, you'll want to increase your intake accordingly. There are calculators online what can give you a less generalized estimate if you're interested.

2. "I get enough calories, but I am not loosing any weight." Are you getting the right nutrients, and how are your portion sizes? There are a number of problems that could be happening here, but I'd like to focus on the two that I see most often:

First, you are eating huge portions infrequently throughout the day. Stop that! Do you realize that your stomach is really only about the size of your fist? When you eat, it expands, and the more you eat, the larger it gets. That means that the next time you eat, you will eat more to fill full because there is more space to fill. Ideally, you should be eating about 6 small meals/day. (Meals that are about the size of your fist). This will encourage your stomach to keep it's form while you still get your recommended calories.

Second, you are eating enough during the day, but what you are eating is not fueling your body. There are certain nutrients that the body must have to function properly, and there are myriads of foods out there that have zero nutritional value for you. So you eat them, and perhaps get some energy from them, but not much more. When you do this regularly, your body goes into starvation mode. It's like putting diesel in a gas engine... you can fill up the tank as much as you want, but it's not going to take your car anywhere. When your body goes into starvation mode, it will convert anything it can into a usable form, and generally that means fat. It will also try to store the fat for you to use on a day when you need it. The problem with this is, we don't live like our ancestors. We live in a society where food is readily available, in very poor form. We keep eating when we don't need to, so our bodies don't use that fat that has been placed into storage on our thunder-thighs, love-handles, and spare-tires... So the body grows, and becomes very unhealthy. 

There is so much more science and variety to that story, but that is basically how it works, and I didn't want to bore you anymore! Try to identify which category your fall into, and then tackle what you struggle with! I'd just like to add that while we do have the most unhealthy of choices available to us, we also have some of the most healthy options around us as well. Just remember to treat food like fuel. You wouldn't go to the gas pump and poor fuel out over the ground just because it smells good, or you're addicted to it... don't waste your food like that either. Don't waste food and let it gain control of your life, and most importantly, don't life for food, but do EAT TO LIVE!

Make your life awesome, and be healthy enough to enjoy it!

Velv... I mean, "LIFEeeta" Cheese!

Football playoffs are upon us, and I am excited to watch the Super Bowl in a couple of weeks. 

With the Bowl comes some of my favorite treats, like dips, pizza, (boneless)wings, and more!

Have you ever tried Rotel Cheese Dip?

I could eat that ALL DAY LONG and be perfectly happy, but considering that I don't want all the hard work I have been doing to go down the drain in one day of vegging out on goodies, (the Holiday's were bad enough, but we aren't even going to talk about that, OK? hehe) I have been playing with recipes looking for ways that I can fortify the recipes I already love to make them fit more easily into a healthy lifestyle!

Thus, "Lifeeta Cheese" was born!

I made this a few nights ago and it was great with broccoli and boiled 'new potatoes'

I wouldn't recommend eating this often. While it is way healthier than the original soft-yellow-loaf that you buy at the store, it is still pretty high in calories. 

Recipe:

2 cups milk (I used whole because that's what we drink)

2 tbs cornstarch

Dash of salt

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (can add more to taste, we thought this was fine).

Directions:

Add milk to cold saucepan. Add cornstarch, and whisk. While whisking, turn up heat to med-high, closer to high, but watch closely. You do not want the milk to boil, and you don't want the starch sticking to the bottom of the pan. 

As milk heats, continue stirring. It should start bubbling. At this point, you can add the salt and half of the cheese, keeping it on the heat. It should start thickening quite rapidly. As it does this, add remaining cheese and continue stirring until melted. 

Viola! Isn't that easier than walking clear to the back of the store to find this stuff? hehe... I always seem to have to search for it, but now I have it in all the ingredients in my pantry, and I can eat it with less guilt!

This makes about 3/4 of the amount you would get with a store-bought loaf. We haven't tried to store it, but if you aren't going to use it right away, it should be fine to put plastic wrap or tin foil in a bread pan, poor the mixture in and refrigerate until hardened. It should keep for about two weeks like this.

Happy Super Bowling! May the best team win!

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www.beachbodycoach.com/cheltzey

PD

When I was in high school, I was a member of an organization called FFA.

I went to National FFA Convention twice, as well as many state and local activities, but each time I went, I felt a rush of excitement as I was made aware of the potential that I had. I didn't recognize this back then, but that rush came from listening to key note speakers who were teaching me how PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT ~PD~ could affect a person!

Since joining Beachbody, I have been trying to do at least one hour of PD a day. Why? Let me illustrate with a picture...

Life is great at presenting opportunities for us to learn. It has it's ups, and it has its downs. I assume most of us can look back and say that we have become better people than the people we used to be, and that's great, but imagine if you could speed up that process by learning from others' successes and failures.

Well, have I got great news for you! (You probably already know what I'm about to tell you, right?)
YOU CAN!!!

This is what Wikipedia says about PD: Personal development includes activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employ-ability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations

Doesn't that sound great? Don't you want to 'contribute to the realization of YOUR dreams and aspirations?!?!!!' 

Here's your takeaway for today: When trying to live a healthy lifestyle, it is important to include at least 15 minutes of personal development into your daily activities. 

Here's my story about PD:

I DO NOT enjoy washing dishes or folding socks. I am perfectly fine with any other household chores, but please, DO NOT ask me to do those two tasks. Whelp, I am a housewife. With a husband who works full time, it is important for me to tackle those chores. I used to avoid these as long as I could. When they finally needed to be done, I would put on some music and drag myself to the task, giving my time begrudgingly. Just recently, I began listening to Personal Development books, and General Conference talks during these chores, and my attitude has completely changed. Now I don't have enough to do to last me as long as I'd like to listen to my recordings! To top things off, I am becoming more confidant and growing because of it! I am happy in the work that I do, and our home is a much more pleasant place to reside! 

You don't even know how great of an investment that small change is to me in the scheme of things!

Now, I'm off to clean the bathroom!