Eat Healthy, Be Healthy!!! Everyday we make choices about our food, so make health conscious ones! Don’t make choices that are going to leave you guilt ridden. Even the most popular comfort foods can be made in healthier ways. I’ve made delicious healthy mac & “cheese” and pot pies which people love! They couldn’t believe they were vegan and healthy because they tasted so good. This is why I keep trying to tell people that healthy CAN taste good! Actually it can taste pretty darn amazing!

I’ve noticed that people can do pretty well making good food choices for meals for the most part but find it very difficult to snack healthy. One of the biggest lessons I leaned on my weight loss journey was to swap unhealthy snacks with healthy ones. If you’re a chip lover try eating homemade sweet potato chips or making yummy kale chips as an alternative. They are so tasty and guilt free! Even my teen has grown to love them and makes them at my house! If your more of a sweet tooth then swap things like sugar loaded ice cream with a healthy homemade version. Process frozen bananas and peaches or mango, freeze in a container for 10-15 minutes to set. How simple is that? Anyone can make it! When your on the run and busy carry nuts and seeds with you or fresh fruit. Everyone who knows me is totally used to me pulling out healthy snacks from my purse when I’m hungry. If you’re not prepared then you will be tempted to pick unhealthy food choices, so be prepared!

I wasn’t always a healthy individual and for most of my life I made poor food choices. I went from being the over weight child to a teen with an eating disorder and I was down to a size 1/2. After having all my children I then ended up very over weight and feeling horrible. I had a very significant amount of weight to lose in order to feel healthy! In 2009 I started to make little small improvements to my diet and becoming a little active. In 2010 I became more active and started walking a lot. Yes walking! So simple right? It was so effective though and the weight started coming off finally and people around me were noticing! By 2013 I lost about 80 lbs and I never dreamed I could accomplish that but I did. Am I done with my health journey? Nope. I have a little more weight to shed but I’m now focused on toning and becoming stronger everyday. So to anyone out there struggling to shed some weight … you can do it! If I can so can you! Keep going! Keep trying! Rome wasn’t built in a day and your weight isn’t gonna come off over night either. Be patient with the process, make healthy food choices and be consistent with your workouts and it will happen!

~ Debbie ~