Why Focus on Fitness and Health?
12 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
With this new year well under way, I have been hearing a lot of talk on health in 2012. People everywhere are making new years resolutions on how they want to eat healthier or lose weight or exercise everyday. I myself have made a goal to run a half marathon this year. This makes me ponder, what should be the motives of eating healthy and keeping our bodies in good condition? Is it to be beautiful and attract attention? Is is so we can feel confident? Avoid disease? While none of those things are inherently wrong, there are a couple of deeper reasons that should motivate the keeping of our bodies in as pristine condition as possible.
1. Since we are the temple of God, we should take great care as to how we care for this temple. Think of it, if you are a Christian, your body is the very residing place of the holy Lord Jesus Christ! That is beyond exciting. This great privilege is also a great responsibility however. Since we have been given such a great gift, we must take special care of it. It says in I Corinthians 6:19,20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” We glorify God in our bodies by taking good care of them both inside and out. Taking care of the bodies God has graciously given us is extremely important for many different reasons. In Genesis, one of the most amazing things God created was man. This should emphasize to every person the importance of taking good care of our bodies! The very fact that God took the time and energy to make our bodies is evidence enough that we should take great care of them. Just as he told Adam to take care of the animals and treat them right, so he wants us to do the same with our bodies. This should be the primary motivation for caring for our bodies by eating healthy and exercising.
2. The second important motivational factor for taking good care of our bodies is so we can help others. One of the most devastating characteristics of a person is selfishness. If you are keeping your body healthy for selfish reasons, you will miss the joy of being able to focus on others and helping them. People with wimpy or weak bodies will never be able to help others in times of need. Granted, you can help them in other ways than just physically, but there is such joy in being able to work hard and know you have made a real difference in somebody elses life. Focusing on others instead of yourself will bring about the right attitude toward fitness and health.
Coconut Flour Cookies
13 Dec 2011 2 Comments
I must confess….I think I’m addicted to coconuts! Everything about them is just amazing. I don’t mean to sound redundant, but they are just incredible!
My family and I are on a wholesome foods diet for the holidays in which (in a nutshell) you are not allowed to have white sugar or white flour. You can find the diet and a whole lot more info at this website: maxamizedliving.com. During this diet, we have all been searching out and exploring new foods and ways to make old recipes healthier. Thus, I have recently discovered coconut flour! Such an incredible food.
Coconut flour:
- Is gluten free
- has fewer digestible carbs than wheat
- is 58% fiber! (way more than wheat bran which only has 27% fiber)
- Is a good source of protein
- Tastes delicious!
Coconut flour can be found at most healthy grocery stores such as Central Market or Whole Foods or at many online stores. For cooking, it can be difficult to keep it from falling apart. Therefore, if you are supplementing coconut flour completely for wheat, it is a good idea to add a few eggs to help the flour stick together. If eggs are added, coconut flour can replace wheat at a 1:1 ratio.
Here is a wonderful recipe to help you start your coconut flour journey 
Coconut Flour Cookies
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup sucanat
-
4 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tbs. cup butter (room temp)
-
1/4 cup coconut oil
- 3/4 cup coconut flour
- Cinnamon to sprinkle on top
Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium-sized bowl, beat the sucanat, eggs, vanilla, salt, coconut oil and butter together. Then add the flour and mix well. Let mixture sit for 5 minutes.
Using a spoon or a small melon baller or, what I did, your hands, scoop up some of the dough, form it into a ball and sprinkle cinnamon on top. Put on a cookie sheet and flatten lightly with a fork if you like. I made mine pretty small, and that gave me around 20 cookies.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Let me know what you think of this recipe! Also, if you have had an experience with coconut flour you could share with me, I would love to hear.
Gluten-free High Protein Pancakes
06 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
This morning, my 11 year old brother and I went on a 2-mile run and then worked out at our house. It was such a good and exhilarating workout!
[I love the feeling of having worked really hard, but feeling so good about what you did.]
After finishing, Nate and I were very hungry. It’s so important to replenish your energy after a workout with wholesome nutrition! Nate had just gotten some whey protein powder so I assumed we would just make a protein smoothie. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love smoothies. But sometimes, I just like to actually chew my food instead of slurp it down. So I decided to make high protein pancakes. We looked online for high-protein pancake recipes but didn’t really find a good one. So, I just decided to make my own. What resulted was an absolutely delightful breakfast! I was amazed at how tasty and filling these pancakes were. They are extremely dense but filled with such good things!
3 cups rolled oats
3 eggs
1 tbs. flax seed
1 cup yogurt (plain or flavored depending on how sweet you want it)
1 tbs. honey, agave nectar or another natural sweetener (optional)
1 scoop protein powder
Blend all the ingredients in a blender. Drop about 1/2 cup of batter in a skillet with hot coconut oil and let them brown gently on both sides. Then top with almond butter, agave nectar, maple syrup etc. This recipe makes about 6 good sized pancakes. Enjoy! Feel free to comment with your thoughts.
Top 15 Superfoods!
24 Oct 2011 1 Comment
Eating healthy on a daily basis can be difficult. I have especially experienced this the last year as I have been living at college and have very little control over what is served in the cafeteria. Therefore, I focus on eating at least 2-3 superfoods a day. This is one small way i can really work on improving my health. That is what I would suggest to you as a starting point. Incorporating these in your daily diet will be a wonderful start to a healthier lifestyle!
I have compiled a list of the top 15 superfoods for you body. Just by looking over this list, I get hungry! These foods are incredibly packed with vitamins, minerals, omega fats, and just wholesome goodness! By incorporating these into your diet, I truly think you will notice a difference in how you feel overall and it is a simple and wonderful way you can glorify God by taking good care of His temple.
So here it is, Bethany’s top 15 superfood recommendations! 
1. Fresh, Alaskan salmon
2. Wild blueberries
3. Broccoli
4. Walnuts
5. Avocados
6. Dark Chocolate (PTL!)
7. Eggs
8. Whole, raw milk
9. Quinoa
10. Spinach
11. Coconut
12. Sweet potatoes
13. Turkey
14. Yogurt
15. Garlic
Lavender Oil
16 Oct 2011 1 Comment
Lavender oil is absolutely amazing! I simply adore the smell and it is so useful. When I smell lavender, I imagine myself in a beautiful field in the south of France surrounded by the beautiful purple lavender flowers. It just makes me so happy! 
Right now, one of my favorite uses for lavender is to help me sleep. My roommate and I put about 5 drops of lavender oil in about 3 oz of water and spray it on our pillows when we go to sleep at night. We also rub a small amount into the arch of our feet, which is an extremely absorbent part of the body. It smells so good and makes me feel so calm! I truly feel like it helps me sleep deeper. This is a very simple and practical way you can began utilizing the awesomeness of lavender right now!
I also use lavender for my scars. It aids in the formation of scar tissues thereby reducing the appearance of scars and stretch marks. These two ways I personally use lavender are just a few of the many amazing benefits.
I would recommend getting lavender oil from Young Living. It is such high quality and pure oil. You can get some here…http://www.youngliving.com/essential-oils/Lavender
Here is an additional website you can check out to find out more about lavender oil. http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/natural-essential-oils/health-benefits-of-lavender-essential-oil.html
Spinach and Pine Nut Pesto with Whole Wheat Pasta
03 Oct 2011 1 Comment
I always love it when I can find a delicious and healthy recipe that also combines RAW vegetables! Here is a wonderful recipe that I love to make for my family. Even my little 11 year old brother absolutely loves this pasta! It is from Giada De Laurentiis book, “Everyday Italian”.
1 package whole wheat pasta
4 cups lightly packed baby spinach leaves (about 2 ounces)
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 to 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Combine all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour over cooked pasta and top with Parmesan cheese.
This pesto sauce is so tangy and fresh tasting. So good!
Enjoy!
The Joys of Juicing
20 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
About 2 years ago, I was shopping at a garage sale and I came across a champion juicer. I thought it might be fun to try my hand at making my own apple and orange juice. I bought the juicer. Little did I know how much that juicer would change my life! I now juice 90% veggies which is SOOO good for me! Below are some of the incredible benefits of juicing specifically and then there’s the benefits to eating so many veggies. Its just so amazing!
1. The juice requires hardly any digestion, so all its nutritional goodness gets rapidly into your system.
2. When you juice, you use more fruits and vegetables than you could actually eat. As a result, you are drinking a densely packed amount of vitamins, minerals and other plant-based nutrients.
3. Liver detoxification
4. Eating RAW veggies. All those wonderful and healing enzymes are killed when you heat vegetables over 118 degrees. You can eat all the healthy food and take all the vitamins and supplements you want but unless the living enzymes are there they are not very effective in maintaining a healthy body. Juicing raw vegetables ensure you get the maximum benefit from those enzymes. (raw food will be the topic of a whole ‘nother blog post!)
The wonders of veggies: (we’ve all heard ‘em, but here’s a reminder
-Improving the cardiovascular system and heart health
-Alkalizing your system (vegetable juicer recipes only):
-Improved brain and heart function
-Helping with healthy skin, hair, nails and eyes:
-Increased energy levels:
-Rebuild blood cells:
-Improved immune system:
Basically, you just cant go wrong with juicing vegetables. And those are just a few of the advantages! My personal favorite recipe for vegetable juice is:
1 cucumber
1/2 beet
1 bell pepper (any color)
4 or 5 large carrots
3 stalks of celery
and 1 apple
I run all this through the juicer and have it as my breakfast a couple of times a week. So yummy!
This juice is amazingly delicious! Feel free to comment with your own thoughts or recipes.
For more information on juicing and juicing recipes, here is a great link: http://juicerrecipesnow.com/
The Wonders of Apple Cider Vinegar
14 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
You might be thinking the same thing when I first heard of drinking apple cider vinegar for health reasons. Yuck! As a kid, when we would say something mean to someone, we would have to drink a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to remind us of how unpleasant our words were. But it is no longer for punishment!
Apple cider vinegar has been linked to several awesome health benefits: reverses aging, eases digestion, washes toxins from the body, lower high cholesterol and blood pressure, heart health, cancer, and weight loss! That is quite a list! While this is not some miracle tonic that will cure anything, it will definitely help your body cells function better.
My favorite way to take apple cider vinegar is to get about 8 ounces of fruit juice such as berry juices or apple juice and put in about 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. It actually tastes REALLY good! I would drink it just for the taste.
So drink up. Its good for you
Coconut Oil Hair Mask
11 Sep 2011 3 Comments
For some reason, my hair has been extremely dry recently. Typically, since my hair is so fine, if I use any heat styling, it fries my hair. This is very annoying and inconvenient to me, but nevertheless, something I must deal with Anyways, I tried a coconut oil hair mask last week. I absolutely LOVED what it did to my hair! My hair was waaay softer and shinier the next day.
This is how I did it. I bought some really high-quality coconut oil that has not been refined at all. I put a little bit in my hand at a time and worked it all through my hair, from the scalp to the ends. It was not enough to drip, but where it looked kind of wet. Then I put it up in a pony-tail and slept on it all night. When I showered the next morning, I did not shampoo it (I rarely shampoo my hair anyways….but thats a whole nother blog post!) but just conditioned it. It was super shiny and soft and a lot less frizzy as well. I did it twice in one week and it did not make my hair oily at all! I am so addicted to coconut oil and this is just one more awesome way you can use it!
P.S. You can get awesome coconut oil here: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/
A New Beginning
11 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
Hello and welcome to my blog!
I have been thinking about starting this blog for some time now. I am a very passionate person and one of my main passions is whole-body health. I absolutely LOVE the study of nutrition and wholesome eating. It is so fascinating and practical! God tells us that our bodies are HIS temple! That is an extremely important responsibility He has laid on us to take care of. With so many people abusing their bodies by eating junk and injecting themselves with chemicals and poisons, it in no way honors God’s temple! However, simply eating healthy and living wholesomely is not enough. Complete health starts much deeper- it starts in a person’s soul. A healthy and growing relationship with Jesus Christ is the only ultimate thing that can bring true health to a person.
In that light, I am going to blog about everything and anything that relates to wholesome health in the body, soul and spirit. Whatever little projects that might include. Some topics I am hoping to cover are homemade conditioner, essential oils, vegetable juice recipes, herb gardening…who knows where else the journey could lead to!
~bethany
