Keep Falling In Love…On a Budget

October 30, 2012 by Featured Author Leave a Comment

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from.

Whether you’re a kid, teenager, or adult…..you love someone. I don’t care if it’s your mother, brother, best friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, whoever, there is someone out there that you love to have fun with. Now I also don’t care if you’re making six figures or living paycheck to paycheck. I know you’re probably on some type of budget, and that my friends, is why I’m here to help. I promise you can find many ways to have fun during this gorgeous Fall season with the person you love even when your pockets are sort of empty.

Everyone’s been in this boat at least once or twice, and if you haven’t, well someday all your riches will be gone and you’ll have to figure out how to have fun by going for a walk or jumping in a pile of leaves. Ok, I’m kidding. Your riches probably won’t be gone, but you should still try to enjoy the little things in life.

Keep reading to discover some different fun activities to help keep you falling in love. I’ll help you get started. [Read more…]

When You’re Afraid to Eat

October 25, 2012 by Featured Author Leave a Comment

I don’t know when it happened.

Somewhere between me being 6 and becoming an adult, the world changed. Somehow, some way, children everywhere started to have allergies. Everyone you talk to tells you how they can’t pack their kids an old fashioned PB & J sandwich for lunch because so many other kids are allergic to peanuts. Parents everywhere have begun worrying about feeding their children nuts or peanut butter. Children are ostracized because they have to sit at the “peanut butter/nut table” at school.

How and when did this all happen? More so, why did this happen?

When I was a little girl, my mother gave me a freshly picked peach. It was beautiful and plump and I was was so excited for this tasty treat…..until about 5 seconds after my first bite. In under a minute, my throat was closing, I was having trouble breathing, and I had hives everywhere. I was so itchy. I knew I didn’t feel right, but I didn’t even know I was supposed to be scared. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening until I was sitting in the doctor’s office being pumped up with Benadryl while seeing the fear in my mother’s eyes. Apparently, my allergy to peaches decided to show its lovely face that day, and it has stuck by my side ever since. After lots of tests, it was learned that I’m severely allergic to nuts. Not peanuts, but tree nuts. (Peanuts grow underground, so they are in the legume family like a bean or a pea.) Because nuts are related to the pit and seeds in many fruits like that killer peach I ate that day, I’ve had to watch every single thing I put in my mouth at every meal thereafter.

If you have food allergies, you know how annoying this can be.

Of course you learn to embrace it because you have no other choice, but it sure can be a nuisance when you’re at a party or a restaurant or when you first start dating someone and they make you fresh chocolate covered strawberries and you start to break out. Or how about when you order Oreo frozen yogurt and you pull an almond out of your mouth and the lady at the counter tells you, “oh, sorry, we use the same scoop on all of the flavors, even the ones with nuts” Believe me, it’s not fun, but you have to learn to adapt to it. It’s a part of who you are after all, and you should love every single part of what makes you different. It’s still irritating though when you eat healthy all week and really want that one cookie, until someone tells you there might be traces of walnuts in it. What a buzz kill.

The worst feeling is being afraid to eat.

It’s terrifying to take a bite of something and worry that you might feel that feeling all over again. Even though you carry your Epi-Pen every where you go, it’s still the scariest sensation in the world. Yes you learn to live with it, but I don’t think the fear is something that will ever 100% go away. Personally, I know if I ate an almond and didn’t have my Epi-Pen, I would go into anaphylactic shock. But what I have taught myself over the past 19 years is that I need to live with it. I need to learn exactly what I can and can’t eat, and hey, if I can’t have that cookie, it’s one less fattening thing I’ll be eating! You have to go to the allergist and figure out exactly what to stay away from and learn how to enjoy the foods you can eat. Take care of yourself, and see if the allergist can check to see if anything has changed. I need to do this soon. It’s one of the ten little things I want to do before I turn 26. Once you’re educated, you’ll feel a little better, but you will always be extra cautious. Keep yourself updated by regularly visiting the FAAN website. Learn all about cross pollination.

If you’re one of the lucky ones who don’t have food allergies, good for you.

You have no idea how fortunate you are. If your kids are allergy free too, count your blessings. I can only imagine how nerve-racking it was for my parents to let me have dinner over friends’ houses. I go back to my previous question though, why are kids all of a sudden being born with these severe allergies? When I was little, I was one of the only ones. It was strange. I always knew I was different from the other kids. I hated having to explain why I couldn’t have the same desserts or candy as everyone else. So, I leave you with one piece of advice. Don’t ever make fun of the people who do have food allergies.

You never know how they feel, and there’s nothing worse than being afraid to eat.

About the author: Holly is a 25 year old writer from New England who is on a journey to a happier and healthier life. She’s a firm believer in loving yourself, being kind to others, learning from mistakes, and letting go of what holds you back from being the best version of yourself. Aside from writing, she enjoys eating healthy, staying fit, traveling to fascinating places, fashion, helping animals, spending time with family and friends, and meeting people that inspire and encourage her. She loves to express her stories, ventures, and feelings through words and photographs. Writing about her life is a beautiful release, and she hopes to enthuse her readers along the way. Learn more about her at www.thecatzmeow.net, or Hollyamber28@gmail.com

No More Excuses: How to Motivate Yourself to Lose Weight

October 4, 2012 by Featured Author

“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”
– Benjamin Franklin

Ben Franklin was onto something.

Have you ever met a successful person who was good at making excuses? I haven’t, either. Instead of wasting his time sitting around conjuring up good excuses, a successful person takes responsibility and does what he needs to do to achieve his goal. Simple as that.

If you want to lose weight, do it. Yes, it’s much easier to plop on the couch and crack open a bag of chips while cooking up a reason to skip another day at the gym instead of, well, going to the gym, but would you feel so great about yourself by the end of the day?

It’s easy to let your excuses discourage you from improving your body. It doesn’t have to be like that! Sometimes you just need a little push in the right direction, and what better way to do that than to debunk your lame excuses?

Excuse #1: I’m too busy.

Your life may be going 500 miles an hour, but there’s always a way to incorporate healthy behavior into your daily schedule. For example, the time spent waiting in a McDonald’s drive-through could be better spent preparing a quick healthy meal, like a cup of oatmeal or a bowl of salad. Exercise doesn’t always mean spending an hour at the gym. You can break up your exercise throughout the day or replace one of your activities with exercise (such as riding your bike to work instead of driving).

How to motivate yourself: Create a reward system. Every time you exercise or eat something healthy, give yourself a point. For every 100 points, treat yourself to something nice! Or, instead of a point, you can add a quarter to a jar and use the money to buy something you’ve had your eye on for a while.

Excuse #2: Being healthy is too expensive.

Organic food and gym memberships can be hard on the wallet, but there are plenty of other ways to eat well and work out on a shoestring budget. Did you know that you can get your daily intake of fruits and vegetables for an average price of $2 per day? That’s cheaper than a liter of soda! Buy frozen fruits and vegetables, whole grains in bulk, or prepare meals yourself instead of overpaying for already-made meals. Rent exercise videos from the library, jog around the park, or do physical labor around the house.

How to motivate yourself: Add a monetary value to everything you do or buy. This will help you go for the healthier option most of the time. A few examples include:

“Why should I buy this pack of soda when I can get water for free?”

“I’m watching cable T.V. This is costing me $50 per month. Maybe I should cancel cable and go hiking instead.”

“I spend $60 a week on gasoline, which adds up to $3,120 per year. Yearly bike maintenance costs a fraction of that.”

Excuse #3: It takes too long to lose weight.

Dieting and working out is a long and hard battle. Just because you don’t see instant results doesn’t mean it won’t happen eventually. Be patient, and keep it up. You just need to keep your eyes on the goal. You’ll get there someday.

How to motivate yourself: There are tons of ways to motivate yourself to keep going. You just need to monitor your progress and keep reminding yourself why you’re doing this. Take a photo of yourself on a weekly or monthly basis, and, whenever you feel like giving up, lay out the photos in chronological order. Just seeing yourself get thinner and thinner may be enough to motivate you to keep going. Also, you can take out an old thin photograph of yourself and put it up in a place where you will see it every day. It would also help to take an article of clothing you want to wear when you reach your ideal weight and hang it in a visible place.

Are you a talker or a doer?

Do you know someone who talks the talk but never walks the walk? Do you want to be that person? Visualize the way you want to be, and do something to turn into the new you!

About the Author: Dora Novak, author of this article, writes frequently about topics related to food or health. As a start she used low calorie protein bars when she found herself having troubles with motivation.

Need help losing weight? Visit our sister site, www.21DayHabitChange.com and you’re guaranteed to change one bad habit in 3 weeks or your money back. (Enter code “ScottSentMe” and save 60%)

The Power of Accountability

September 4, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

by guest author John Lenning

The following is a letter that I received from a new friend. I asked him if I could share it because I thought it was awesome.

I just wanted to say “thanks” for helping to get me back on track.
For a little over a year before I contacted you, I had been having pain in my hip flexors. It started off as nagging pains, but got worse and worse with each month. About one month before I met you, I went to my sister’s house for a weekend get-together.

One of my college buddies who I had not seen in over 9 months was there. When he saw me, he said “Haven’t seen you in a while, what have you been up to?”

I paused for a second, then replied “Work, and uhh…that’s about it”

He replied, “Work, that’s it?”

I said, “Yeah….”

He then said, “Seriously, you haven’t done anything else?”

I just kind of stood there with a dumb look on my face, thinking, “Wow, I really have not been doing anything, have I?”

After what seemed like forever, I kind of laughed and acted like it was not a big deal. I then quickly changed the subject to something about his job.

For a week after that, I just kept asking myself what I had been doing. His question made me take a look at myself and realize that I had let my pain prevent me from doing things. I had been using it as an excuse. I had used my hip injury to justify skipping the gym, camping trips, and other things. I even used it to justify my poor eating habits.

I realized that I had been passively going through life, never stopping to see that things seemed to be going downhill.

Even after that experience, it took me over three weeks to convince myself that I needed to start doing something about the pain. I finally convinced myself that I needed to actually do something and was able to convince myself to talk to Mike. The rest is history.

I am thankful that I was able to finally break through the walls that I had built, and ask Mike if he knew what I should do. If I had not, I would still be living a mediocre lifestyle. Thanks to you guys I am back to my old self.

Thanks again,

Here is the lesson:

If you are having a difficult time motivating yourself, get someone you can trust and tell them what is going on. Then, tell them that you are not comfortable in your situation. Ask them to hold you accountable to do something about it. You do not need to ask for “help” or “assistance” just accountability

About the Author: John is a competitive athlete and trainer. When John is not working out, coaching, or eating, he is usually trying to learn something new. He currently writes about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of hip pain at his personal site.

There is Always Another Choice

August 27, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

There is always another choice.

We might not like the choice. We might not be immediately aware of the choice. it might not even be the best choice. But we are never stuck with only one option.

The key is to ask ourselves, “How” do we change this, not “Why” are we here.

Once you answer that question, the alternative(s) will give you power.

[Read more…]

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