Give me Gobs of Candy Please!

Hello Mama,

So it's that cleansing time of the month for me and can I just tell you that I am craving everything and anything that is sugar. It's not the good kind of sugar either, you know, skittles,Twix, Taffy etc) 

I feel like I just want to sit down and inhale bags of it! I also know that afterward I would feel terrible and really guilty.

So how do I contain myself from not eating entire bags of these sugary treats?

I am not going to lie and say it's easy but I do I have 3 Tips that I find help me get thru these next 7 days without the guilt or the added pounds:

1. DON'T BUY IT! This is the hardest one for me to do. But talk yourself out of buying the processed sugar. Not only will you save yourself on feeling crappy with those high and low moods we all know and love, but when you don't buy it, it's not around the house for you to eat and it makes life a little easier.

2.Eat more Protein! or take an extra dose of iron. When your body is loosing iron it's needs to be replenished, so you don't feel so tired. I also find that for me, if I do eat or take a bit more iron, the cramps are not as bad either.

3. DO BUY IT, Your favorite Fruit or Healthy snack! When you are at the grocery store, buy your very favorite fruit, sit down and savor it one bite at a time. Sometimes for me protein just doesn't cut it, I need something sweet to savor, so I buy my favorite Sweet Treat "Pineapple". You can add your favorite fruit to plain yogurt(protein) and drizzle it with raw honey. It may just hit the spot.

I also wanted to add an extra Tip that really helps me with the dreaded cramps:

Stock up on Chamomile and Nettle Tea. When you feel those cramps begin, make yourself a cup of both of these teas together and add a bit of raw honey. Take a moment to sit down, take a few deep breathes of gratitude for your body and the cleansing it's doing and enjoy your tea. It alleviates the pain almost immediately.

So to all of my mamas who share this painful time of month, remember our bodies are cleansing out what it no longer needs and so we are given a chance for new beginnings. 

Sending you all of my love, strength and gratitude, 

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The Strength and Confidence of a Bolivian Woman

I have been here a month and there is so much to share but
today I would like to tell you about the Bolivian women. This subject is close to my heart especially since it’s my passion to help and inspire mothers and women across the world to love who they and the body they are in completely.

The women here are confident, beautiful and strong! You see it in the way they talk, move and dress. They all wear beautiful outfits with a variety of bright ornate colors.

They carry a purse to match their outfit, a piece or two of jewelry and sexy sassy heels that complement their figure (or maybe I should call them stilettos). When you pass them on the street they smell of fragrant flowers & perfume and you can feel and see the pride, joy and confidence they feel about their body as they are walking down the street. Imagine feeling that way?

I have noticed that these women, mothers and young girls are untouched by the media so far. In this town there are no billboards or ads to tell them how to look, dress, feel or be and they shine with happiness that exudes in knowing that they are truly beautiful and comfortable in their own skin.

I must also mention the indigenous women who cannot be bothered with the latest fashion or trend. They have their own unique style and are also comfortable in their own body and are especially strong mentally and physically. Here in the market you see mainly indigenous women running their businesses while carrying their children on their back from here to there with boxes or heavy bags in each hand walking to where they need to go. It’s so amazing to see.

Of course I have to mention the mamas who always give so much of themselves. Here breastfeeding is highly encouraged in order to provide children with the most nutrition and it is done openly with such pride. When you notice a mother breastfeeding, you can see her face beaming with confidence in knowing that she is providing the best she can for her child.

So that is a little bit of the life I am living at the moment, I am surrounded by confident, strong, beautiful women who love who they are for what they are. They come in all shapes and sizes and each one of them seem to appreciate their body for what it is. 

Can I also tell you that it is totally contagious! Yes, walking among these women every single day I find myself feeling sexy and even more confident.  I even bought a pair of sexy jeans and boots
that compliment my voluptuous figure. Here my head is held high and I thank the good Lord for a strong butt and legs that carry me up hills and help me walk for hours (because here everyone walks everywhere). For my arms that hold and carry fresh groceries for blocks so that I can eat. And for strong lungs that help breathe life into my body as well as a heart full of compassion for all the people that I see daily suffering on the street.

So to all beautiful mothers, women and young girls who think that the media should dictate what you should wear, think about your body or how you should feel. I encourage you to surround yourself with other women who feel confident in their own skin. I challenge you to embrace the body you have and decide right now how you want to feel about body regardless of how much weight you think you should loose or gain to feel better about yourself.

Ask yourself:
 Do I want to feel confidant, sexy and strong as I walk down the street, sit at the café or go into work? How have my legs hips, thighs served me and can I imagine my life without them?

 or
do I want to feel ashamed and insecure of the incredible body and beating heart that has maintained
me through my whole life?

And when you nourish your body, eat to feel strong, focused, energized, sexy and confident.

Ask yourself every time you sit down for a meal or rush to have breakfast:

Is what I am eating serving this completely incredible body of mine? Is it helping me to feel strong more energetic and focused?

And if you think there is no possible way that you can ever feel this way about your body, that it’s just too hard not to be hard on body or yourself, do as the saying goes in my own words:

Act as if you are confident and soon you will start believing it!

Until next time! Much love and strength, you amazing, strong , beautiful woman!

xo, Nancy

Tortillas in Mexico

Is it just me or does it seem that this time of year the kids are all about receiving, how much they will receive and when? 

They don't even seem to consider the giving portion of this wonderful holiday season.

I remember one year in Mexico, before we came to the US, my brother and I not getting any gifts because our parents just couldn't afford it. Needless to say I was very disappointed.

I also vividly remember hearing a knock on the door that same day and my mom handing me a bag of tortillas for beggars who had come to our door.

I can still remember how sorry I felt for them but also how good it felt knowing that they would have something to eat. ----

Sometimes I wonder if maybe it was my parent's way of showing us that it wasn't all about the getting and how good it felt to give.

I learned a great lesson that day that stuck with me until today, and so I want to teach my daughter that same kindness of giving.

Don't get me wrong I still like (sometimes even love) my things but it seems to me that it has been a while since I really had that feeling of warmth in giving, like that day in Mexico so many years ago.

Funny enough, I now sound like an old lady but how about this year we start new traditions. 

Let's start showing our kids that giving back feels so much better than getting that plastic toy that will end up who knows where. ( I speak mainly for myself. No judgments here)

As I was browsing online I found a great article with a few ways to help our kids help other kids, and it has some really great ideas.

Kids Helping Kids: 25 Ways to Give Back This Holiday Season

As for us, this year our family won't be in the US for Christmas, so our plan is to give back generously to those precious kids living on the streets of Bolivia. I want to show Sadie that giving is a much more powerful,wonderful and long lasting feeling than that of receiving.

Wishing you all my best this Holiday Season,

Nancy

Forgiveness and Eating for Pleasure

Today I am going to talk about a subject that is near and dear to my heart because it's something I have struggled with most of my life.

I am talking about emotional eating. Most of us have done it at one point in our lives or another.  I always felt that somehow after I ate, I would feel better, but was it really about the food I thought I needed?

Allow me to ask you this: Have you ever downed an entire package of chips, crackers, or cookies? Ate pizza or cake until you felt sick? Drank more coffee or wine than your body wanted?

Do you remember how you were feeling at the time?

I ask because sometimes we overeat to help distract us from that deep emotional pain or discomfort.

So for a moment think about it—have you noticed that sometimes when you overeat you’re not really hungry at all? Maybe you were lonely, angry, sad, resentful or totally frustrated.

Maybe you felt something else you couldn't quite put a feeling too.

So what hurt is it that YOU are holding on to? 

It's time to get in touch with your power of forgiveness....

Imagine confronting your uncomfortable feelings instead of eating because of all the emotion? 

The most divinely perfect way to do that is forgiveness.

4 Steps to Your Peace  of mind and weight loss

If you’ve been suffering because of past hurts, I ask that you first try forgiving whoever or whatever it is by trying just one of these 4 simple yet powerful steps. 

You may find that not only your soul begins it's healing process but that food will be something you actually enjoy and don't need as often for comfort.

• Talk to sympathetic friends and family about your desire to forgive. Talking with others is tremendously comforting and you may find they are supportive in what you want to do. 

• Write a letter to the person you’d like to forgive. You can decide whether or not you send it later, but by  putting it on paper, it makes it real and affirms how you feel and why. 

• Don’t forget to forgive yourself. Sometimes we can be harshest with ourselves. We do so much better when we feel better, so don't shame or put blame on yourself. Take the situation for what it is...you can only change now!

• Understand that you are responsible for your own attitude. Don’t let holding a grudge keep you from feeling free, open, and powerful in your own life.

Remember when you forgive, you release yourself from a painful burden. Forgiveness doesn't mean that what happened was OK, or that if someone hurt you, they are welcome back into your precious life.  It just means that you made peace with the pain and are ready to let it go and move on to a new way of living. 

It also means that your relationship with eating just became less complicated.

Wishing you Good Health and Happiness Always, Nancy XO

Sadie's 5 and were going to Bolivia

It seems like a lifetime ago that my sweet newly wed husband and I sold everything we had, grabbed our backpacks and traveled the the world for a year. 

After a year we became really home sick and so we decided to head back for a a while, and continue traveling later. We didn't realize how much later.

Our 2006 adventure in Bolivia Pics

When we arrived home, after a bit of culture shock, we quickly got back into the swing of things and found ourselves comfortable and glad to be home. At which point we decided to buy a house, settle down and start a family.

That was 8 was years ago, we now have a house, a dog, a 5 year old, and are very ready to travel again, this time with our sweet Sassy Sadie.

Why Bolivia? Life in Sucre, Bolivia is so simple, stress free, and very family oriented. At 2 in the afternoon all businesses close, people go home, spend time with their family for three hours and business opens back up from 5 to 7.

I am so excited and really looking forward to introducing Sadie to a new whole new culture and a new way of living for two weeks over Christmas.

Until then there is alot to do but it's definitely something that we are looking forward to.

Have you been on a great adventure? I would love to hear about it: 

Email me here

Until next time..

Good Health and Happiness to you,

Nancy

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you -- beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.”

― Edward Abbey

I turned 40 and it is fabulous

Yesterday I turned 40!

Looking back at 20, I thought when this day came, I would feel really old, but I really don't. I still feel like me. I do see a few more wrinkles that tell stories of my adventures and the only thing I am feeling is the excitment for the next year of adventures coming my way. 

How can I be excited about being 40, you ask?

Well I look at things a little differently than others.

You see at 16, I lost my precious mama to cancer, and after that, the way I saw things changed.  After some struggles and challenges, I began to see each day that I am alive, as a blessing. I see each moment as a chance to love the people in my life up, and to do something I love by making a difference in the lives of others.

So today I would like to share 10 things I have learned by 40:

1. View everything and everyone you meet with gratitude.

2.  No matter how challenging the situation, ask yourself what am I learning from this and what can I do differently? 

3. Schedule "YOU" time at least once a week and do something you love. It will make you a better person, woman and mother.(that goes for you men too:)

4. Dress up and go out on a date with your partner or friends, once a week. It will cultivate your precious relationships.

5.  Schedule it and keep promises you make to yourself. Don't put it off.

6. Surround yourself with people that will lift you up, not drag you down.

7. Burn, play and experiment with your food & offer thanks before and after meals.

8. Write a letter & mail it to your best friend and let them know how much you appreciate them and your friendship.

9. Smile at the store clerk and ask them how their day is going. The stories are amazing.

10. LISTEN: Be fully present, focusing your awareness on understanding, hearing without filters or judgment. You will be surprised at how people open up their heart and soul to you.

All of these things are a work in progress in my life and I will continue to try to perfect them. There is so much I have learned and still so much I have yet to learn.

So what are you life experiences? What is something you have learned in your life so far?

I would love to hear your life lessons.

Send me an email at nalbrightinfo@gmail.com

Until next time...

Wishing you Good Health and Happness, Nancy

Want more life suggestions of how you can better your life? Click here

Our little organic farm begins

The growing season is upon us and I am so excited to be growing our own food for the second year in a row. It all started with my husband and I wanting to know where our food came from. Although we often bought organic veggies from the store and locally, we always wondered what type of soil they used, did it have pesticides, and what kind of growing conditions & energy the vegetables were grown in.

After much planning and knowing nothing about gardening, we read some books, made a garden patch in our front yard and planted some seeds.

With alot of care and love, the outcome was amazing and we had food through the fall. Although some of the things we planted did not grow, we we blessed enough to be able to share some of it with family and friends. Here is some of the things we grew and had for lunches and dinners:

Green,Yellow Red Tomatoes Kale

Chard

Broccoli

Radishes

Beans

Strawberries

Carrots

Beets

Green onions

Chamomile and other herbs

Now it's that time again and my amazing husband has made seed boxes from wood and wine corks. They work fabulously and the planting has begun.

We still don't know alot about gardening but every year we learn a little bit more by experience and also by some reading.

So now it's your turn. Whether you think you know nothing about gardening or that you don't have a green thumb, toss those ideas out the window, buy some seeds, plant your favorite veggies, and give them lots of love, regular watering.

You may be surprised to find that you do have a green thumb after all!

What's your favorite fruit or veggie to plant? Send me a note at nalbrightinfo@gmail.com

Until next time..

GOod Health, Hugs & Smiles, 

Nancy♥

www.nancyalbright.com