Develop Your Total Living Routine: Mental

Part of the "Can You Afford Health" Series

Originally my plan was to give you the information all in one post to assist you with how to "Develop Your Total Living Routine". However, as I began writing, I realized that I would be doing a disservice to you by cramming it all into one post. For one, it would have been too long. For another, it wouldn't have given you time to digest the pieces and give them each their proper "due". Part of developing your total living routine is internalizing and refocusing yourself with each component as they come together as a whole.

The words "internalizing" and "refocusing" go hand in hand with "reimaging" which all make up our first component of Total Living--the Mental aspect.

Get Your Mind Right

Yep, I've issued a challenge. Get your mind right! Change your outlook. Reimage negatives into positives. I was in a discussion on a blog post talking about opportunities being everywhere. This post combatted the popular belief that "opportunites only come once in a lifetime". I agreed with the poster that opportunities were abundant. You have to train your mind to look at opportunities differently. Once you do, you'll find them in many things. Once you've reimaged your mind you've increased your opportunity quotient. And guess what? I'm so proud of you!

How do you reimage your mind?

1- Start reading positive books. What you feed your mind has a direct impact on what your "vision" is.

2- Create a Dreamboard/Dreamcards. What are your dreams? What are your goals? Find images that correlate with what you've dreamt up for yourself. Assemble these images and words on posterboard (or corkboard) and hang it in a place where you'll see it daily...multiple times per day. Dreamcards are very similar. Use index cards to write down your goals and personal absolutes. Post the cards in different areas of your living environment. Be creative, colorful, festive when making your dreamboard/dreamcards. You want to make them exciting to look at...which will make you want to look at them more. Constant visual images of your dreams, goals and personal absolutes will manifest into reality.

These are two key steps to "getting your mind right". Once you've become a positive image photographer, you'll find that it's a bit easier to tackle the other components of the Total Living Routine: Spiritual, Physical and Financial. I'll be back with posts dedicated to those! YAY!!

DREAMBOARD EXAMPLE
(Courtesy of Successful Inspirations)

Can You Afford Health? Pt. 1

How much is your health worth to you? I'm hoping that you'll say priceless. In fact, I'm willing to bet most of you will say priceless. But are you just saying that to have something to say? To conform to what you think others are saying or want you to say?

I can't count how many times someone has said "I want to be healthy" on their way to the fast food spot. Or "I need to get more exercise" while still sitting on the sofa. What? Being healthy is not a fad. It should be part of your living routine. What's a living routine? I've devoted a whole post to it that will be published tomorrow. But basically, it's a routine that you've developed for your life that encompasses total health (mental, spiritual, physical, financial).

This series is dedicated to answering the question of "can you afford health"? Or better yet can you afford NOT to be healthy? We'll see...

Eye On Carrots

I'm sure many of you have been told from an early age that carrots improve your eyesight because of the beta carotene. Well that's not entirely true. Even though carrots ARE a prime source of beta carotene. It's the beta carotene that, when consumed in excess rather than moderation, can cause more harm than good.

You see, your body converts carotene into Vitamin A. Vitamin A is a top player in eye health and is responsible for good and bad eye sight. Many of the diseases and eye illnesses result from a Vitamin A deficiency. But before you go on a "What's up Doc" carrot eating marathon, too much Vitamin A is toxic to your body.

Hypervitaminosis A is a fancy way of saying you've taken in too much Vitamin A. This causes, amongst other things, liver problems, hair loss and jaundice. Remember being told if you eat too much of something you'll turn into it? In the case of jaundice, you'll turn into a carrot or squash...at least the same color.

For those kiddies reading this, no use trying to tell your moms and dads that I've told you veggies are bad. I'm not saying that at all. Just eating in moderation is the way to go!

Little known carrot fact: Carrots are a highly refined version of the weed, Queen Anne's Lace and are native to Afghanistan. Who'd have thought?

There's Something In The Water

I'm sure you've heard by now that Coca Cola has purchased the Center for Responsible Hydration aka Glaceau. What in the world is a "glaceau"? They're the makers of VitaminEnergy, SmartWater, FruitWater and my absolute favorite drink in the world...VitaminWater.

If you haven't tried VitaminWater, I encourage you to give it a sip...or guzzle...whichever you prefer. Why? This is one of the most complete drinks I've ever had the fortune to hydrate with. In fact, this is my choice for getting my vitamin supplements in. Yes, vitamins in pill form are readily available but since you only get about 10% of the vitamins in those pills (90% goes undigested), I for one prefer to ingest them already broken down. This pretty much ensures that your body will get what it needs without having to "overextend" itself.

With 15 flavors to choose from (11 of which I love, the other four I haven't tried yet) you are sure to find something that you just can't seem to hydrate yourself without. This water not only makes drinking water hip (who would have thought?), it also says being healthy is in!

Thatsa Mighty Good Pizza

Contrary to popular belief, pizza is actually one of the healthier take out foods. That's a good thing for me especially since I love me some pizza. YUM! With so many varieties, I'm willing to bet you can eat pizza everyday for a year and not have the same combination twice.

For healthier pizza choices you want to stay close to loads of veggies, no extra cheese (as hard as that is), shrimp, clams, chicken and fruit (you've got to try pineapple chicken pizza!). Tofu and tempeh actually make pretty good additions to your healthy pizza choices as well.

Pizza is also a quick and easy, fulfilling meal. Feel free to express your creativity with pizza dough as your canvas. Trust me, you won't be sorry. One of my favorite "make your own pizza" recipes is Pineapple Citrus Chicken with Spinach and Feta Cheese. I know it sounds like there's a lot going on but the first time I "accidentally" made this I was smacking my lips for days. It's real easy to make too. Here's what you'll need:

A Pizza Shell (Di'Giorno or Boboli)
Tomato Sauce
Shredded Cheese
Feta Cheese
Grilled Chicken Strips marinated in Orange Juice, cut up
Pineapple Chunks, drained
Frozen Spinach, thawed

You know what to do: throw everything together and bake for about 20 minutes or so. DELICIOUS!