We were given the gift of a beautiful body...we should therefore nourish it.

A lot of people take their bodies for granted, I know I sure did when I was younger. A body is useful for many things, and like other assets we may have, in order for it to function properly it must be nourished. Exercise, rest, and diet are all areas that many of us should focus on improving.

Let me start by discussing my childhood. I grew up during one of the worst possible generation's as far as nutrition was concerned...the 90s! When I look back at videos regarding healthy diet 20 or 30 years ago I am shocked and horrified...why were people so naiive?

In the 90s...it didn't matter what you ate, as long as it contained little to no fat. Instead of a healthy snack consisting of nuts, pretzels and "fat free" nachos were preferred, I was given (by well meaning parents) a jam sandwich for school because nut butters we were told, were not to be consumed as the fat would make us fat, as well as sugary, "low fat" granola bars. Instead of a healthy breakfast consisting of something like eggs, I downed bowl fowls of nutrient empty cereals (a favorite being the fat free corn flakes) thinking that it was the key to staying thin. In the 90's I was told to avoid real cheese but eat as many salt ridden soda crackers and processed cheese slices as I could stuff in my face, as well as turkey luncheon meats, because they were "low fat." Fat free chocolate pudding instead of pure cacao, salad dressings full of chemicals and sugar, a fat free version of an alien like substance called "margarine" on a bagel in the morning, but please pass on the olive oil...and coconut oil...heaven's no! Instead, try Splenda and Sugar twin in your cream-free coffee combined with fat free oreos and fat free sugar ridden "frozen yogurt" School lunches consisting of fat free pizza pops, pretzels, crackers...where was the protein?!

Healthy items such as yogurt were made unhealthy by removing fat which was then replaced with a long list of unknown ingredients. Gummy bears were good, almonds were bad...I could go on forever about this strange phenomena!

Not only was the 90's about being low fat, but it was also a time of convenience. For some reason very few people (including my hard working Mom) wanted to take the time to cook a full meal, therefore I often lived off of items such as lean cuisine, sidekicks, hungry man (low fat of course) dinners, and lots and lots of salty, canned soups filled with MSG.

Even though I was young, I constantly felt horrible, my poor diet took an extreme toll on my health. I was anemic, lethargic, had problems with my behaviour, and was unable to function properly to do school work. Of course no one was able to put two and two together, because what I was doing was considered "good," or "normal"

Years later I realize how much better I may have felt if I actually took the time to eat healthy...perhaps some almond butter on an apple, some greek or coconut milk yogurt, some home-made granola, some avacado...

But I didn't understand the concept behind "healthy" I only understood "skinny." Eating healthy was all about weight.

One thing I am insistant on teaching my daughter about is a healthy lifestyle, (including avacado and olive oil) I want to teach her that it isn't about her appearance but about nurturing her body and mind, our bodies, like other posessions, need to be taken care of in order to function properly.

After my Mom passed away at the age of 58 to cancer, I vowed to change my lifestyle in order to help lessen my chances of experiencing the same fate, and to live a long healthy life so I can be there to watch my beautiful daughter grow up.

My change in eating habits have helped me in so many ways, not only do I look better physically, but I feel 100X better, I have energy, I can focus on tasks more easily, my depression has gotten better and I am not getting sick as often as I once did.

Healthy eating does not mean consuming what you don't like...If you don't like fish try to get your healthy oils elsewhere, like from flax, chia or help seeds, if you don't like brussel sprouts try to find some veggies that you do like...All it takes is some prioritizing, and it can be done. I once dreaded cooking, now I love it. Search the internet, try some healthy recipes incorporating the foods you do like. Then using the same recipe, make it again, but switch things up a little. Honestly my home cooked healthy meals I much prefer over the restaurant food I so often spent way too much money on. My quality of life is much better now that I am taking care of my body, and I think everyone would notice the change if they started eating better themselves. There is nothing wrong with Macaroni and cheese now and then, but try making your own consisting of healthier pasta and real cheese, muffins can be made healthy, but try making your own using healthy ingredients rather than buying them from the store.

Now if only I could convince my Dad to pass on the margarine...

As the storm surpasses...and things get lost

I feel that becoming a Mom has not only brought joy to my life but a new perspective. Before giving birth I had persistent adverse beliefs about life in general, I over-reacted to unfortunate events and often wallowed in my misery for much too long.
An example of this is when I would lose items. I have always been told that I would lose my head if it weren't attached, and quite frankly I agree. I always tended to leave behind items everywhere I went, some of which cost me a lot of money, such as scarves, sunglasses, jewelry and hats. I had my blackberry stolen, my laptop broken, and a diamond earring somehow fell out of my ear somewhere and I didn't even notice until a friend pointed it out.

Growing up an only child, my materialistic belongings meant a lot to me, my teddy bears and dolls became my "friends," and this continued into my teen hood when I would have frequent meltdowns over my expensive clothes that got chewed up by the dog, or my limited edition teen magazines that got left somewhere.

Unfortunately when disaster (or so I thought) struck my father was far from helpful, he would try to be helpful by giving me a "should have..." lecture that upset me even more because I will never be able to change what has happened in the past.

I was reminded of these frequent occurrences when I went into town with my daughter the other day. I stopped at the local thrift store to try on clothes, and somehow forgot my sweatshirt in the change room. Not just any sweatshirt, but a Lululemon sweat shirt I had saved up my hard earned cash a few years ago to purchase.

By the time I realized I had lost my sweatshirt and phoned the thrift store, someone had already purchased it. I was sad for a few minutes, but quickly turned the negative situation into a positive one.

I though about how I would feel if I had discovered a one hundred dollar sweatshirt in a thrift store being sold for only a few dollars, I would be ecstatic! That sweatshirt that I left behind probably made a fortunate person very happy, not only that, but I have a couple more hoodies that are newer than that one, that I like even better. I don't need tons of nice cloths, a hoodie or two is plenty, what's the point in having a huge collection of expensive clothes just to be ruined when my baby burps or spits up.

Not only that, but I now realize these things that I have lost in my life, no matter what the price, are simply things. Inanimate objects cannot and should not bring fulfillment to one's life, and should not be what the person centers their life around. When we die, we cannot bring our items with us, and when it comes to more important aspects of life such as love, hope, joy and happiness, the importance of our assets nonetheless fails.

Don't get me wrong, I have items that are precious to me such as the jewelry that I inherited from my Mom when she passed on, or the items I get a lot of use out of, such as the laptop I am typing on. What would happen if these things somehow got stolen, lost or broken?

I would be upset, there's no doubt about it, but I would move on. Without any of my materialistic objects in mention I have LOTS: I have a safe environment to live in and if that is no longer available to me I have friends that I can count on to help me out, I have people who care about me so deeply who reached out to me at the lowest points in my life, I have wonderful memories of my childhood such as the time I spent with my Mom before she passed away, or my first job that I hope to pass down to my dear precious daughter at some point. I have a wonderful father who cares about me deeply and is very supportive of my decision to raise my daughter even though her father is unable to be with us at this time. And last but not least, I have the most amazing gift of all, an adorable, smiling, cuddly bundle of joy, my daughter.

autism...what does this mean to you?

Autism, although it is becoming much more popular among children, still remains a relatively loose defined term. If you ask two people "what is autism" you will likely get two totally different answers.

When some people think of autism they think of  the character Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory who obviously has what was once called Aspergers syndrome, but has been recently changed to "autism spectrum disorder," or "high functioning autistic" for whatever reason, (causing even more confusion to the public). 

"Aspergers," or "high functioning autism," It is characterized by signitican difficulties in social interaction and non verbal communication, alongstide restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation to linguistic and cognitive development, in order for someone to be labelled as having "high functioning autism spectrum disorder," or "aspergers," they must have an average or above average level of intelligence (not that I believe in labelling one's intelligence based on some ignorant tests)

So therefore, the boy you might see rocking back and forth in the back of the classroom or banging his head repeatedly on the wall might have autism, but he would not be labelled as having "aspergers,"

The other thing that makes "autism" a confusing term, is the fact that although there are common characteristics no 2 people are alike. Some people with this diagnosis might be similar to Sheldon from TBBT in atypical repetitive interests in Science, and little understanding of social norms, but not all people are like him. Take Temple Grandin, for example, she was very interested in how livestock are treated in the meat industry. Other famous people thought to have asperger's are Einstein and, Michael Jackson...see similarities between these people? Besides being socially awkward, Neither do I 

So when I was diagnosed, at the age of 13 I was confused, but now that I look back on that event I see that it makes a lot of sense. As a child, I had little interest in socializing with other children, and often preferred to be by myself or with my Mom or Dad. I had the odd friend here and there, but it never seemed to last very long. 

My parents weren't social people, so perhaps my diagnosis may have been in part due to the environment I grew up in. We NEVER had guests over for dinner, My Mom had one or two "friends" whom she visited a few times a month and my Dad's friends were based on his interests, (flying, fly fishing, carving, ukelele, whatever is in the moment) he even admits he would not be friends with these people had they not had the common pursuit.

What does "aspergers" mean for me?

Personally, my interests changed from time to time but when I am interested in one thing I want little to do with anything else.

I still feel akward socially, I'm not completely socially inept but its not something that comes to me naturally, sometimes I will do or say something that people might find odd.

When I tell people I have asperger's often they are surprised "but you don't seem handicapped..." 

Aspergers has nothing to do with intelligence, and everything to do with how someone acts in social situations. 

I personally believe, no matter what you are diagnosed with you can become better each day. My social skills, (after a few years of college, and some integration in the community) are getting better, and will continue to get better if I work on improving them. 

My wish is that people wouldn't be so quick to judge someone who is labelled as having "aspergers" 

I am a Mom, I got honors in College in 2012, I do my own cooking (I LOVE COOKING) and cleaning, and take care of my daughter. My diagnosis does not define who I and your diagnosis (if you have one) should not define who you are. 

Healthy eating...such an important role in our overall well being.

As I have gotten older, I have come to realize the vital role that a healthy diet plays in everyone's lives. It isn't just to do with how we look on the outside, but how we eat is also a major factor in how we feel on the inside, and how we function in our day to day tasks.

As a teenager, food had one purpose, filling me up. It didn't help that I was raised in the 90's when we were bombarded with low-fat processed, chemical ridden microwavable junk somehow promoted as being healthy just because it was low in calories. I will admit I bought into the craze and ended up living off of lean cuisine, and "fat free" processed food such as deli meats and potato chips. I felt like crap most of the time, and when I felt low in energy, I used poor food choices to get my energy up again, only to have it drop again in a short period of time,

you get my drift?

Only once my Mom died of cancer did I realize how vital it is that I take care of myself. I have vowed to live the healthiest lifestyle possible not only for myself but for my daughter, (so I can be there for her and teach her good habits) and to other people in my life.

Sure its only a small aspect in our life but it makes a HUGE difference. Since I have cleaned up the way I eat I feel more energetic, more mentally alert, happier, and have better self esteem. The most important aspect I learned about healthy eating is that it doesn't have to taste bad to be healthy. Today I made the most delicious "pad thai salad" using all whole healthy ingredients, and I tell you it was much tastier than any of the pre-packaged crap I used to live on in my youth.

Instead of milk chocolate full of sugar and chemicals, try health food store purchased cocoa

Instead of doritos chips try kale chips

Instead of sweetening food with sugar, sweeten it with a natural sweetener such as Maple syrup, which tastes so much better.

Also, home made deserts made using healthy ingredients taste so much better than the store bought processed deserts with millions of ingredients that I've never even heard of.

My change in eating habits has helped me deal with my disability (I have asperger's syndrome) and also my depression.

Healthy eating is not about looking a certain way, it is not about being skinny or having the perfect body, it is about being the best, most whole and healthy version of yourself as you can be, whatever that may be.

My first blog

I will start by saying I am very new at blogging, so I don't really know what I am doing. I had the intentions of starting a blog for quite some time but found myself procrastinating for whatever reason. I thought I should start soon since this year has been the most exciting for me!


This year I experienced an absolute miracle: I had a baby! If you would have asked me whether or not I would become a Mom in years past I would have been doubtful. I was told I would have a difficult (if not impossible) time having children do to complications I had at birth (I was born 5 months pre-mature) so therefore I planned to adopt at some point in my life.

It all started last fall. I started feeling tired and worn out, and I was always hungry, and no matter how healthy I ate or how often I worked out I seemed to be gaining weight, I figured I had problems with my thyroid so once December hit I went to the doctor...she said "are you sure your not pregnant?" I had taken drugstore pregnancy tests and they had all been false so I was positive that I wasn't. I didn't have any morning sickness, and other than fatigue and weight gain did not have the typical "signs" of pregnancy. I told her it was impossible, but she wanted to be sure, I will never forget what she said next. "honey...your halfway there!" I felt my heart race, I felt like I would pass out on the table...I was shaking, I said "are you serious?" we listened to the heart beat and she then told me I was roughly 41/2 months along! All this time I thought I was sick when in fact I had a baby in me!