Water, water and more water!

The older I get, the more in tune I am with my body. There are few tell tale signs that tell me when my body is becoming dehydrated.

•  My lips begin to crack and peel
• The space under my eyes begin to look like big ole suitcases
• I wake up in the morning with pillow creases on my face
• My energy levels are low

Unfortunately for me, when the temperature begins to drop, I don't consciously drink enough water. Exposing my body to constant buzz of the heater can also be drying to my body. When any of the above symptoms appear, I realize I need to start chugging. 

My goal is to preempt these symptoms of dehydration and consciously drink more water through out the day...every day. It's pretty easy for me to drink water during the week while I'm sitting at my desk, but the weekends throw me off completely. To combat this issue, I will do the following:

• When I'm at home, I will set my egg timer to go off every 60 min. When it goes off, I must drink an 8 oz glass of water. 
• Every morning, I drink a warm mug of water with lemon. Going forward, I will use my biggest mug to make my morning concoction and fill it to the brim with water. 
• When I leave the house, I must have a bottle of water with me. I normally take one to the gym, but I need to have one with me at all time.
• When I'm out and about, I need to drink that bottle of water (not just sip it) and make sure it's empty when I return home.
• BONUS: Keep my humidifier on ALL day and move it next to my desk during the work week.

Counting ounces of water daily doesn't motivate me, but having baby smooth lips and glowing skin DOES motivate me. I will continue to drink until my dehydration symptoms disappear.

WebMD.com compiled a lovely list of 6 Reasons to Drink Water. You can read the details on their website, but the quick summary is as follows:

1. Drinking water helps maintain the balance of body fluids.
2. Water can help control calories.
3. Water helps energize muscles.
4. Water helps keep skin looking good.
5. Water helps maintain normal bowel function.

Drink up!

Blueberry Jam! Uh huh.

Day 14 of 30!

Today is Saturday and I had a taste for a non-liquid breakfast. However, that doesn't mean I'm not drinking my nutrient blast of green goodness. I ate a breakfast sandwich - gluten free bread made with brown rice flour, 1 pasteurized egg scrambled, 2 slices of nitrate free peppered bacon AND a slice of provolone to top it off. Delicious! 

After I consumed my yummy breakfast sandwich, I turned on the TV and a Nutribullet commercial was on. So today's drink was inspired by David Wolfe.

1 c organic baby spinach

1 c organic kale

1/2 organic cucumber

1/2 frozen banana

Blueberry jam (see recipe below)

A few raw pecans

1 serving Amazing Grass Organic Wheat Grass
1 c unsweetened vanilla almond milk

BLUEBERRY JAM

A friend sent me this recipe and she uses it to make blueberry pancakes. It's Saturday, and I was planning on making blueberry pancakes this morning so I prepared the jam first. Then I realized that I tossed my old griddle and never replaced it. I had the jam sitting in a bowl looking yummy so I decided to dump it into my smoothie. That was a good decision!

1 c blueberries 

2 tbsp chia seeds

pinch of stevia to taste

Mash the blueberries or blend them in a food processor. Pour into a glass bowl. Add the chia seeds and stevia (or your preferred sweetener). Mix and let it set a few hours to gel. 

Cheers!

ENERGY BOOST THIS AFTERNOON
I'm continuing this post from this morning. It's 3:56 PM and I just came back from running. This may not be exciting for the average person, but I am not a runner, I don't workout on the weekends AND I'm usually chillin' around this time in the afternoon.

Not today!

This is the second weekend where I took advantage of the energy boosting benefits of my green smoothies. I decided around 2 pm, I was going to go for a run! Ha! I have to laugh at myself because that sounds so healthy...so fit...so not like me!

I tried running last year using a couch to 5K app and even though I completed the 6 weeks, I never liked running. I just didn't like it. I could do it, but I never got that runner's high AND I didn't lose any weight doing it (which was my primary motivation). Go figure. 

Knowing what I know now, I probably didn't lose any weight because I was so focused on losing the weight and hating running that my body was experiencing a low grade level of stress...all the time. Stress will make your body hold on to weight for dear life. 

Now do you see why I'm laughing at myself because I can hardly believe I decided to get up and go running, just for the heck of it. Well I ran and it felt good. I went to the local track and did 3.1 miles using Lolo BeatBurn Treadmill/Outdoor trainer app and tracking my distance with Map My Run.

I feel GOOD (in my James Brown voice)!

Off to the shower!