I'm relatively average, or so I keep telling myself, with brown hair, hazel eyes and average height, though slightly over average weight. I'm not fat, I'm chubby, and for the most part I hold it well, mostly on my butt and a bit on my thighs. The rest is on my belly. I could do without that bit, but until I can get myself in gear and figure out how to be anything but a terrified shut-in, I'll have to deal with exercising my wobbly self in front of my animals.
That's another point. I love animals. I would have been a veterinarian, but I wouldn't be able to handle losing any of them or having to put them down. So instead I'm a pet owner with the insane dream of maybe one day owning a zoo. But that's a different story for a different time. So far I have three cats,
and their babies. There's Deego, Koda, Sassafrass/Ripley, Oddball, and the Blondes. At one point we also had Biff and Scooter, but they are happily re-homed and living it up as sibling-less balls of energy.
I'm an author, with more ideas than I have time to put to paper. An artist with an endless supply of sketch books. A gardener with a love for vegetables and pansies. A cyclist with a disused and broken bike. And a dirt biker just starting to learn to ride. I'm young and still just learning what I want to be when I grow up.
I guess I should get down to what this blog is about, now that you know a bit about me.
I recently became an Independent Consultant with Arbonne. They are a company that makes healthy products that are vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, have no artificial colors/flavors/preservatives, are botanically based, and have no harsh chemicals. This covers anything from make-up, skin care, shampoo and soaps, fitness supplements, and healthy living products. I haven't even used all the products, that's how many there are available. I joined for the Healthy Living products and I've loved every minute. The package came with two flavors of protein shakes, two flavors of Fizzy sticks (energy drink/coffee/pop replacement), detox tea, a 7 day detox blend, Digestion Plus, and Daily Fiber boost. I was provided a daily meal plan, recipes to use the protein powder in if I got bored with drinking them, and a step-by-step guide on what to eliminate from my diet and what to replace it with to ensure I was introducing healthy alternatives into my new lifestyle.
Not only did I feel good using the products, but it didn't break the bank to order them. The protein shakes supplemented two meals a day, so that was two less meals I had to buy groceries for, and they only cost ~$5.00 per meal. I was actually saving money eating the protein shakes twice a day. When you get down to it, if you go out to eat, you should expect to pay anything from $7.50 - $15.00 for one person for one meal. And that's a decent price. Even if you bought groceries, you still have to factor in everything that goes in that meal. Let's give any example; salmon with lemon, sweet potato and broccoli. You want at least a head of broccoli, that's going to be a dollar at best. The sweet potato will also be about a dollar. The lemon is not grown in most areas, so it'll be more expensive by default, so we'll say a dollar even for that. The expensive bit is the salmon. If it's fresh, you're looking at a good $10, if it's frozen it'll be a little cheaper, but not by much. This still puts one healthy meal at $10 or more. So monetarily, it made sense for me to give Arbonne a try. The worst that could happen is I would run out of product before the 30 days was up.
I want to share my journey to healthy living, my ups, downs and in-betweens, and how I plan out my days. Everything from each meal, to my work-outs, and even when it gets a little too hard. I hope you're ready for a ride, because I expect this roller coaster will derail itself at some points, and that's ok. As long as I am ready and willing to try and get my life back under control, I will share it with you.
Thank you, and may you take pleasure in my endeavors. I hope that I can inspire some of you to start your own journey, or to give you the dedication you need to continue :)
