Sort of Ironic

Have you ever noticed that people who eat natural, organic food have a kind of stereotype put on them? In some ways they are automatically put into a category - sometimes a negative category and sometimes a positive category. It's kind of a funny thing because the habits they have are only going to help them in life, you know?
I hope that in time that sort of a lifestyle will be more abundant in our society and that it will be sought after.

Almost made it

Last night I didn't quite make my 10:00 bedtime, but I did close my eyes by 10:30.
Tonight I will try again. However, tonight I do not feel relaxed. I need to unwind starting RIGHT NOW so that in about 30 minutes I will be ready to go to sleep.
Why is it so hard to go to bed early??

Must improve my sleep!

One of my biggest sleep problems is that I just don't get enough. I have 2 young children and they decide when I wake up in the morning (and when I wake up in the middle of the night). So my best chance of improving my sleep duration is to go to bed earlier. However, that has also been my biggest challenge! I've been trying to do this for a while now and I am not good at it.
So tonight...I will try, once again, to be in bed earlier. Let's say my goal will be to be in bed, with my eyes closed, by 10:00. There - I said it and now I must do it.
There is so much more to say about sleep, but we will talk more about it later.

Scratch

At the health workshop this last weekend, I bought "Scratch" - a cookbook by Tammie Duggar. I've looked through it and I am so excited to try these recipes! They are recipes made from scratch with nutritious, whole foods.
Tammie fed us lunch with 2 different recipes from this cookbook and both meals were very delicious.

Baby Steps

As I mentioned, this whole process will be a slow process. And even though I want to change many areas of my health, I think mostly about the nutritional changes that need to take place. We have some good habits already in place, but there are many poor habits that we will need to change.
I think that for us what we will do is to continue to eat what is already in our pantry. But then as we use a product that is not as healthy, we will simply replace it with a healthier alternative.
We have been learning that it is very important to eat WHOLE FOODS and to try to keep them as pure as possible. And if it is available, ORGANIC is a great way to go.
Today I went to Costco to get a few things and I especially wanted to get organic chicken breasts and organic peanut butter.
I found the organic chicken breasts. Very expensive! I was kind of expecting that, though. But it was still a shock! I also bought 2 organic fryer chickens - which were also very expensive!
When I got to the peanut butter section, I was surprised to see that they didn't have the organic peanut butter anymore - it was replaced with "natural" peanut butter. The organic would have been best, but the natural will have to do for now.
This is all a bit overwhelming for me, but I will continue to try to take everyday in baby steps.

The 7 Pillars of Wellness

Adam and I spent this past weekend at a wellness workshop. It was called "The 7 Pillars of Wellness" and it was done by Dr. Jerry Duggar and his wife, Tammie (their websites are linked to the right). Overall, it was very informative and we learned a lot.
Here are the 7 pillars of wellness:
Think Well
Eat Well
Drink Well
Sleep Well
Cleanse Well
Move Well
Love Well
It is kind of a lot to take in! So basically the idea is to improve each of those areas to achieve optimal health. Dr. Duggar spoke on each of these pillars and he gave us ideas in how to better each area.
This is going to be the starting point for us. We will attack each of these areas, a little at a time and hopefully we will slowly get healthier and healthier. But this definitely needs to be a slow process. It is way too overwhelming to think we could change all of these things overnight.

Why am I here?

Hi. My name is Amy Clark and I am unhealthy. I am unhealthy in all ways - physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Most days, I just do not feel good. I get headaches, I'm so tired, I am in and out of depression, I am irritable, overly anxious, my mind is often foggy and in complete chaos and I've been getting sick a lot. And guess what - I DO NOT WANT TO LIVE MY LIFE LIKE THIS ANY LONGER! I hope you could hear me yelling that because that is what I was doing.
I want to have energy and I want to think clearly and I want to just plain feel good inside. I feel very strongly that it is time for me to do something about this. I need to take control of my life and get healthy in all ways. In doing this, I believe that I will be able to be a better mother, teacher, and leader to my children. I will be a better wife to my husband. I will finally be able to become the person that I have the potential to become. Right now I am spinning my wheels and I am tired of being frustrated with myself. I am ready to work and move forward.
And by the way - I am not doing this alone. I am enlisting my family - my husband and my children. We will be making this journey together.
So that is what this blog is about. I thought it would be helpful for me to journal exactly what we are working on and the progress that we make.