YOU

Let me start off by saying that it is amazing how great I feel after eating whole REAL foods.  It is really remarkable how your body responds to healthy eating.  I am actually excited about waking up and making healthy choices throughout the day.

I really believe it is imperative to our quality of life by choosing a natural whole lifestyle.  Now that that has been said, let me say this, the way we treat our bodies shows how we view ourselves.  Think about it, you see a nice fit, toned women at a restaurant or out and about, do you really think she got that way by eating a quarter pounder the meal before?  Do you think she would ever even think to order something like that or cook it at home for that matter?  Nope, she is the one ordering a salad, a nice cut of meat and a side of steamed veggies or opting out her white bread for whole grain. It's because she cares about herself, she cares what her body looks like, she cares about her health and most of all she respects herself enough to not waiver.

If you do this, you truly learn to respect yourself and love yourself and learn how to really be happy I promise you others around you will thank you for it.  Once you are happy with who you are and make the decisions that lead to your destiny your family will be better for it, you will be better wives to your husbands, better mothers to your children and better friends.  You can only be one person, why not make it the best you, why not wake up and feel healthy and happy and loved instead of lethargic, sluggish and unwanted?  Is that how you want to live your life?  If you make a decision to do this it's going to make you the person you were always meant to be and your family will be stronger for it, your children will learn from it and you'll be your own biggest fan.  I mean if you're going to be cheering for somebody it might as well be yourself, right?  

I hope we can all take the time for ourselves so that we can be better at all the things we were meant to live for.  Until we meet again, I bid you all a farewell and goodnight!

Warm regards,

Candace

  

 

This is what I like to take on the go when I'm in a rush!  They are not 100% clean and natural but they are pretty close.  I am trying to slowly get myself off of all preservatives : ) and it is a process let me tell you!

This is my Salad w. Goat Cheese, Cucumbers and Red Onion.  Sorry that it is half eaten, whoops ;D

Oh this is just a little ole place I like to call heaven!  I love stopping here on my lunch, it is about a block a way and so fun, I could spend hours in here!

After visiting the co-op I was a little hungry from all that looking so I had a little snacky ;D 

LIFE

Do you ever feel like you've become the worst version of yourself?  All the self-loathing, all the little things you really can't stand about who you are have somehow sprung open and that is all that you can see?  I have felt like the worst version of myself pretty much my entire life.  I don't know where it all stems from exactly but I do know somewhere along the line I made a decision, and that decision set the course for my whole life.

I made a decision to look at myself in total and complete disappointment, disapproval and disgust.  I was my own worst critic, I made up in my mind that I wasn't worthy enough to really be all the things that I knew I was meant to be and I kept believing it.  Well I am here to tell you I have hit my breaking point.  It took me 25 years to figure out that my life actually might just be worth living, who would have thought?!

I know you, whoever you are, are out there and finding yourself in the same position that I was.  That position that makes you ache, that consumes your thoughts, affects your relationships and will eventually destroy everything good in your life because you will never know how to enjoy your life.  You have to get to a point where you decide you are worth loving, and then every single day you find a way to love yourself.  Every single day you look in the mirror and tell you that you are beautiful, that there is no one else that is like you, that there is not one other person that has your smile, there is not one other human being on this earth that could do all those quirky little things you do exactly how you do them..nope not one.

You have to make a decision that you are going to change and then you have to do it.  I know, I know not so easy peasy right?  It will take time, A LOT of time, it will take determination, and it will take the willpower of getting your mind right.  I think I just got to a point where I knew that God made me for so much more than all of this and if I couldn't even love myself then how was I ever going to love anyone else.  For some of you that have been reading my blog in the past you know that I started out doing this as a form of accountability for myself to lose weight and while I still want to get those last few pounds off I have vowed as this whole "Self-Love Movement" to NEVER go on a diet again.  

I know you always hear this, "it's not a diet I am making a lifestyle change", but I have decided I am just way too hard on myself to put my mind and body through another one, soo I have just vowed to eat clean, eat natural, eat healthy, eat the way God intended me to eat.  I have decided to turn my blog into a "Lifestyle Change" :D  No longer will you see me post "40 days of this" or "30 days of that" it will be a "LIFE of this" or a LIFE of that".  I have decided life is way to short to be spending it in torment, and that is really what I was doing to myself, I was in this vicious cycle of never feeling good enough, but really I only have to be good enough for God and I already never will be so the pressure is off! :D No, instead I will spend my time loving myself, loving others and letting joy weave it's way in.   I will still be letting you know about what I am eating and posting pictures and recipes at the end of every post so that you can learn with me and eat healthy whole foods!

Until next time, farewell and good night!

Warm regards,

Candace

Breakfast was yummy Oats with 1/2 banana, a teaspoon of natural peanut butter and a dash of cinnamon !

Lunch I had Organic Spring Lettuce with Cucumber, Goat Cheese and Balsamic Vinaigrette :D I love me some Goat Cheese!  If you have not tried it, it is wonderful and you must!

Dinner I had a Messy Egg Sandwich with 2 pieces of Ezekial Toast 2 eggs, Turkey Bacon (which I will not be using really any more because even though this is low in calories is is full of preservatives) and a sprinkle of sharp cheddar!  Yum this was my favorite meal by far, it's just something about breakfast for dinner always hits the spot :D

And lastley, I met with a new friend for a late coffee date and had this Cinnamon Rooibos tea and a little organic fruit roll!