as y'all prolly know... we try to limit dairy in this household for optimal gut health!
 
and ONE thing the hubster truly misses is ICE CREAM, I mean, we are from the South... so homemade vanilla ice cream from Blue Bell was kinda a staple growing up!
 
however, we learned how to whip up a delicious "ice" cream recipe while staying true to our nutritional plan and keeping everyone's gut happy
 
((( plus it's loaded with superfoodies, so that's an added bonus for this mama-bear! )))

GROCERIES:

• 5 medium bananas, cut into 1" pieces and FROZEN (tip: don't freeze with peel on, that's a hassle you don't want)
• 1-2 tbsp of cacao powder (superfoods)
• toppings... which we opt for crushed walnuts
• 1 tsp of almond butter

 
NOW WHAT?

1. place frozen bananas in the food processor... cover and blend
2. add cacao powder and almond butter...
3. cover and blend for 3-4 minutes or until smooth and fluffy!
4. serve with desired toppings and eat immediately!

if you try it, tag me and let me see!!!

Now.  Let's be real, love... this was something I actually wasn't doing!  YIKES!!!  And it wasn't because I didn't have access to water.   Dude.  The water was right there on my nightstand - how freaking blessed am I, right?  BUT this habit of drinking first thing in the morning wasn't happening.  What would happen is a staggering-zombie walk down the hallway throughout the house to get to the bubbling coffee pot for some liquid caffeine.  

UGH!!! 

I was drinking caffeine... and pouring coffee straight into my gut + bloodstream BEFORE I hydrated myself.   It's not like I was consuming water during my sleep, so I was mostly likely a tad bit dehydrated in the morning.  No wonder my gut was angry shortly afterwards... TMI.  

Anywho.  This brings me to the HEALTH HACK: Start your day with 8oz of Water

Here's the Health Hack low-down... drink 8 oz of water FIRST thing in the morning!  I typically aim...

How this health hack came to me was in a series of threes, that's how it happens doesn't it?  We joke in the veterinary ER world how things typically come in clusters of threes... three hit by car patients... three heart failures... three, well, you get the gist.  Anywho.  Here were my THREES: 

1. Chalene Johnson brought it up at a Marketing Impact Academy weekend conference in February.  I was blessed to be attending as a guest for a dear friend (love you, D!)
2. Once I got home, a video was popped up on my social media feed... thanks Big Brother... as a video I may be interested in.  It was Mel Robbins and you can read the article here, I couldn't find the darn video again.
3. Finally, with the excitement of a five-year old on Christmas morning... I run up to the hubster to tell him this revelation... Chalene Johnson + Mel Robbins said, first thing in the morning for me to put down the phone + to focus on ME!!!  His response... "I have been telling...

Deodrant is one of those products that folks typically don't think about... it's a habit.  And with it's application, you get a wee bit of peace of mind that you won't stink up the place and/or there won't be unpleasant sweat stains under your pits during this afternoon's office meeting.  Right?  

Well.  In our journey towards a healthier lifestyle... while our main focus is optimal brain + gut health... I realized nutrition isn't the ONLY thing that contributes to optimal brain + gut health, but also your internal dialogue... your daily habits... and even the products you place ON your body.  

So.  I started with deodorant... and soon discovered that there were at least THREE common ingredients found in conventional deodorants that scare me, but let's briefly touch base on one today.

Anywho.  This brings me to the HEALTH HACK: Start your day with 8oz of Water

RISE + SHINE SLEEPY HEAD

Here's my tips to owning my morning + being my most vibrant and productive self.  Now. That being said... do I do all of these tips EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING.  Um, no.  I human and slip up from time to time.  However, I know if I can master just a few of them... then my day is starting off on the right foot.  If I do ALL of them, Hallelujah, I'm doing fantastic.  

The takeaway, I would love for you to snag from this... find out what works for you, which tidbits make YOUR mind/body feel fantastic, which habits take away stress + not add it in your day... and do that.  It may be one of these or it may be all, I don't know.  You got to figure it out, love.  As my hubster would sarcastically quote me, "You do you, boo.  You do you."

01 // YOUR ALARM CLOCK

Love.  For the longest time, I was using my mobile phone as my alarm clock which was not helping me rise + shine.  Here's the scenario:...

Prior to having the Gillies, our twins, I would read stories from other moms... about dressing up their little girls in bows + having tea parties while other moms were taking frogs out of coverall pockets + cleaning mud tracks in their kitchen.  And I'll be honest... I was a wee bit scared about being a mom.  Not because I was going to be bad at it - I'm pretty sure the Gillies would have a lot of therapy material, but because I didn't know about tea parties... and I sure as heck didn't know anything about dump trucks or legos.  

MY HIGH SCHOOL PHOTO... SO MUCH AWESOMENESS, RIGHT?

I grew up as a tomboy sorta... I guess.  What do you call a girl who played almost every sport their small town offered but also participated in pagents and cheered at football games?   Seriously.  At the Friday night football games, I would cheer until halftime then join the marching band by playing the bass drum (and yea, played the piccolo in orchestra).  I was an odd...

recently, I had gotten away from eating salads... call it boredom.  call it laziness.  call it Ishmael.  whatever.  for some reason, salads were nonexistent in our household for a wee bit.  now.  that doesn't mean we weren't eating leafy greens... we were, I just got into the habit of either blending them into our smoothies or sautéing them to serve up with sunny-side up eggs (still a fave!).  

but. I needed to get back into the habit of salads... not just for my overall well-being but because our littles (who just turned 5!?!  what?!?) were watching what mama was eating and starting to refuse salads (cause I wasn't eating them).  um.  not good.

so.  the search began with finding inspiration for salads - I need it... and what better place to search for food-inspiration than instagram, right?  ugh.  some folks take AMAZINGLY delicious looking food photos while my food art is a tad lacking in the artistic side....

For a brief recap:  

Over the past few months, my own wellness was taking a backseat... and I was struggling, to put it lightly.  INSERT the love of my life.  The hubster gave me some tough love + an idea.  He casually mentioned I should focus on simply doing one percent better each day... just 1%.  For a person with a "Go BIG or Go HOME" attitude, this was hard for me to accept.  However, he went on... if I focused on simply being 1% better each day over time, I would be doing 100% better than I am doing today... and how great would that feel?  RIGHT?!?  

This spurred the idea... 1% better each day for at least 100 days.  Now, thanks to my brilliant dear sweet aunt... due to the compound effect, if done consistently over 100 days I'll be doing better than 100%.   However, for the ease of my mind... we are focusing on one new health hack (1% better) each day for 100 days, consistently.  

But WHICH habits, right?  And which...

Wait... what?!?  First off... it may seem a wee bit odd, but as a woman who strives to help others reach their health + wellness goals.  My own personal health + wellness goals were, well, suffering... to put it bluntly.  

I was staying up late to squeeze extra calls + trainings... waking up early to make sure I had everything set up for homeschooling... throwing meals together at the last minute... forgetting exactly when I actually showered and let's not EVEN talk about shaving my legs.  YIKES!!!  

It came to a point where I felt like my body was literally held together by Jesus +  whole lotta dry shampoo while running on pure coffee.  

side note:  here's my simple DIY dry shampoo recipe

you are welcome.

That's when the love of my life, the hubster gave me some tough love + an idea.  He casually mentioned I should focus on simply doing one percent better each day... just 1%.  For a person with a "Go BIG or Go HOME"...