How to Get Healthy After Hitting Rock Bottom with a Bonus: Get Fit & Healthy Shopping List

At the start of 2013, I had visions of great things that I planned to accomplish for the year. Ahem...those things flew out the window, as well as blogging, as I proceeded to get sick, terribly sick, just about every two weeks until the end of April. Being pregnant, I knew that my immune system was weaken but this was out of hand crazy. It wasn't until the end of April that I ended up with my second case of stomach flu this year, and the second time ever in my life. My husband managed to get me to our family doctor, by some miracle, and then she saw me had an ambulance arrive immediately to whisk me off to the hospital. Once there, I was rushed to the maternity ward and put on an IV Gravol drip to help curb things. Thank God it worked and everything was still awesome with the baby growing inside me. 

The larger question still loomed: What the hell had happened to my health in only six short months? I couldn't blame this all on just being pregnant. My health hit rock bottom, and it was sitting there, feeling lifeless and awful, that I realized I had to find a way to fight my way out of this mess. Sometimes when you make a wish, the universe listens and finds a way to deliver exactly what you need.

Always Start by Wishing
Image via Pinterest

The wish I made, while lying on the bathroom floor at the hospital, was to be healthy in mind, body, and soul. I want to have vitality, strength, and wellness not just for me but for those that I love and for the adventures I still plan on having.  I'm a big believer that illness has a connection to not just the physical body but to emotion, mind, and soul.  Louise Hay is wrote a very slim titled "You Can Heal Your Life."

In that book, she has posted a chart of illness with the negative thoughts that may have caused the illness. The crazy thing is that every time I looked up my illness this year I found that I had those negative thoughts bouncing around in my head. The chart also includes a new positive thought or affirmation to help break up the negative thinking that's happening on the inside. I'm ready to try anything! I found that creating that shift in my thinking opened up something in my brain that felt really, really good. I started to feel like it was possible to be healthy, eat well, get fit (even when pregnant) as well as to get my family involved in healthy changes and accomplish my personal goals. I know that sounds like a lot but I believe that the idea of a wish, whatever it might be, comes to those that were born to make it happen. 

    

In one short month, I joined Lifetime Fitness, which is worth every single hard earned penny, and feels more like a resort than a gym. If you have one in your area, you have to stop by to know what I mean! I meet with personal trainers, the on-staff nurse, and a nutritionist that all gave me tons of information to help me on my way. My wish to have strength, energy, and vitality for me and my family was slowly being granted.

There were others things that helped me on my way to feeling fabulous, some things I had and some things I needed to purchase and get educated about. Here it is:

Get Fit and Healthy Shopping List

• I joined Armommy The Spread for only $5 month. It is a meal planning service for busy people. I totally love it and the recipes are awesome!

• I stopped my cycle of coffee and sugar. I no longer drink coffee, espresso, or soda. GASP!! I found that  UnDiet: Eat Your Way to Vibrant Health by Meghan Telpner was an awesome inspiration to help me on my way. I am no longer a slave to my caffeine addiction! I have one cup of tea a day.

• I bought a Cuisinart 6.5 Slow Cooker TOTALLY AMAZING!! I use it for recipes found in Armommy's The Spread and in great slow cooking blogs like 365 Days of Slow Cooking and Slow Cooking Adventures

• I drink water! That sounds funny but it is so easy as the day passes to not drink water. My nutritionist and nurse told me that I need to drink half of my weight in ounces. For me that equals, 80 ounces of water a day! WOW! Again, I made a wish to find a way to keep track of this with ease. I happened to discover that Klean Kanteen sells a 40oz. Stainless Steel Water bottle with Sports Lid. I only have to drink two a day and I'm done. I can't believe how much better I feel drinking lots of water a day, too. I actually do have more energy.

• Smoothies! I'm not talking about the sweet fruity and frozen yogurt kind, either. Once again, I bumped into this book in the reminder section of my local bookstore. It's called Super Smooties: 100 Recipes to Supercharge Your Immune System by Ellen Brown, the food editor of USA Today.  It's awesome! I use my Cuisinart Stick Immersion Blender to whip up an individual serving that fuels up my 3PM afternoon lull. I'm also not a big meat eater so it helps to know that I am getting enough protein for me and my baby in the belly!

• Yoga! I have been practicing yoga for almost 14 years. I know the benefit. I'm even a certified yoga teacher but that doesn't always ensure that I get on my mat. 

• I have committed to doing 30 Days of Yoga at Lifetime Fitness. I will be using the Baron Baptiste book, 40 Days to Personal Revolution, as my guide, which is 10 more days and heck I may just go the extra mile. If you haven't tried Baptiste Power Yoga, you are missing out. And I'm not one to typically say that one style is better than another. With Baptiste Power Yoga, I really love the modern approach, the soul-inspiring honesty, and the awesome people in that yoga community that make it happen. They are really special people that are working to make communities better, one yoga pose at a time. Baptiste offers a Digital 40 Days that is happening in September for $149, but why wait? Grab the book and work through it on your own. There is lots of good info in this book to keep you going for the entire month and half.

• Last thing that happened this month....I bought new shoes to fit the new path I'm walking. I surprised myself when I bought them, but now I can't image my life without them. First up, I bought at the recommendation of the sales dude at Sport Chek, New Balance Minimus WT20. 

• They are a trail running shoe but they don't feel like it at all. They were created on the barefoot technology that has been sweeping the running shoe industry and I can't believe how much support they provide. I can go hours on hours of walk and still feel great-and I'm pregnant! Its my first pair of New Balance shoes, but I think I might just be hooked on the brand now! 
• I needed a slip-on pair of comfortable shoes because I am pregnant. I also bought North Face Camp Ballet Shoe and love them to death. The insoles are this crazy egg-crate like design that really comfort the foot. 

This is the longest post that I have done in years but when your health comes crashing down its time to act differently. I did and I can't believe the results. At my daughter's last playgroup, a woman noticed I was wearing a tank top and she remarked on how great my arms looked and toned-up they were. Hot damn, this stuff is working! My question to you, if you made it this far, is what path are you walking? When the last time you made a wish and looked for all the subtle signs in life that were trying to grant that wish? 

The first step in every journey is the intention. Set your intention straight and you might find yourself living the life you have always wished to have.