vegetarian, pescatarianVegan, Vegetarian, Lacto Vegetarian, Ovo Vegetarian, Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian, Pollotarian, Pescatarian, Raw, Rawtil4, Flexitarian.

Say that five times fast. You can learn more about what each of these are here. But the point is, wow. There are so many ways to label what we choose to put into our bodies. I’ve come to think about this topic because just this past March I hit 24 months of making a conscious decision as to the food I wanted to consume. My family isn’t vegetarian, or anywhere close to it. Back in March of 2015, we were a typical latin american family who gathered for parties and events to eat because really, we’re all there for the food, aren’t we?

Christian and I have this joke (but true story) we tell of one day early in our marriage when I got home to have my sweet husband tell me he had already made dinner. Steak! Yum. Oh and what else? No, just steak! We laugh about it now because of how much we have both grown and learned along the way. Food is something we experience many times a day, every day.

It is astonishing how little we used to think about it in the past. My mom always tried to get me to eat my veggies. I just wouldn’t budge and the colourful food was always left on my plate or I’d sneak it into one of my brother’s plates! Now as a married couple, cooking on our own, it didn’t seem so hard. Steak tastes good, pasta tastes good, extra cheesy hawaiian pizza with bacon tastes good. What is there to think about? Just follow your taste buds!

My sister though, who grew up elsewhere with her mom, was my first glimpse at a different way of eating. I also have a joke (but true story) I tell about how the first time I visited her in my teens I opened her cupboards to look for food and could only find what I called “rabbit food” Just seeds, and things in jars with gasp no labels?! And the fridge? A sea of mason jars with interestingly coloured things inside.

I walked over to the corner store purchased a loaf of white Wonderbread, a tub of margarine, Coca-Cola, and white cheese. Heading back up to her place with food, I put things away. But not after I made myself a nice grilled cheese sandwich with an ice cold coca cola to go with it. Food. I’m sure my sister was horrified, but she hid it well. While helping her with dinner I saw how she pulled out jars, seeds, some eggs, vegetables, and beans. No meat for this meal. How could something be a meal without meat? Instead, there were mushrooms and chickpeas and things I had always said I didn’t like, even when I hadn’t even given it a try. Typical teenager.

Through the years I continued to eat my way, with the additions that flourished when my mom made something delicious and then when I was done eating told me there had been carrots in it. Whatttt. Or when my yearly visits to Montreal to visit my sister would always end up in me trying something new that I actually liked. I didn’t try a pineapple or avocado until I was 20!

Somehow, somewhere, I started to think about food, and how there were all these things I never tried and assumed wouldn’t taste good. They were delicious, and interestingly, nutritious! If I look back, I think what I ate was never a concern because I wasn’t a large girl. I wasn’t overweight and didn’t look unhealthy. It’s a common mentality, and a wrong one, but regardless it is likely why food choices were not a common topic in my life.

In March of 2015, almost two years into our marriage, scrolling Netflix at home while waiting for my husband to come home from work I stumbled upon a documentary that changed my life. Forks Over Knives. I watched it in awe. I was horrified, alarmed, worried, interested, curious, and by the end, I was on my laptop researching many of the topics I had only just heard about for the first time in my life.

That very same day I decided to become Vegetarian. I just couldn’t unlearn what I had learned, I couldn’t unsee what I had seen. The numbers didn’t lie. Earlier in my life, I had seen those PETA videos, with the mistreatment of animals, and although I was horrified then, it didn’t make me stop eating meat. This though, data, information, and a new way of thinking for me made something happen, something click.

Originally, it came as a shock to most of my family. There were no vegetarians in our family, and it took a while for them to realize this was here to stay. “Oh, you don’t eat chicken either?” “Are you doing this to lose weight?” “You need protein, how are you going to get any protein if you don’t eat meat?” “This won’t last” “You need meat to be able to grow a healthy baby” “Think about the health of your future children” “Will your children eat meat?” “So what are you going to eat now? Salads forever?”

My mom came around quickly and to this day anytime we have an event or a gathering she’s always mindful to make something vegetarian, and to me, this is such an expression of love, love her for it. Naturally, Christian being the superstar he is supported me from day one and even made a plan to only eat meat if we were out with friends or out on an event but he would refrain from cooking it at home.

Through these last two years, he and I have learned more about food than in all the years of our lives prior. I have become obsessed with learning and trying. We have set foot in health food stores and regularly shop locally at farmer’s markets. I understand the value of food as a form of energy, health, and medicine. I have experienced incredible changes in energy, drive, motivation and positivity in my life. I had energy to begin exercising regularly, something I didn’t do often. I started helping other women in changing their life through the use of food and movement. I became passionate about helping others lead healthy lives, no matter if they ate meat or not.

Fish has been reintroduced into my diet in the last few months, and it’s actually interesting how natural this addition came back into my life. Through my research into things that I cared about, fish never made any appearances, thinking back, there were things in the first documentary I watched that I wasn’t following.

They spoke of the evils of anything that came from cow’s milk, yet although I don’t drink cow’s milk, I do consume cheese, butter and sometimes yogurt. They didn’t mention fish as a cause of many of the diseases and issues the documentary brought up yet I wasn’t eating it because it didn’t fall under the Vegetarian umbrella.

This was my lightbulb moment. In an age where we feel like we have to define ourselves to the world, labels help keep us in line and in check, because how hard would it be to explain that you’re not a vegan, but you don’t consume cow’s milk directly, and you are vegetarian, but you eat fish here and there, and you had that marshmallow during the campfire and yes it has gelatin, but… Do you see what’s happening?

The feeling to have to justify to your family, to the world, to yourself what you are is tiring and completely unnecessary. I have recently grown to understand that I am none of these labels. I choose to eat what brings me joy, and I choose to avoid some foods always or as often as I want to (looking at you gluten!)

So eat what you want to eat, but learn a thing or two about your food, whether you choose to care or not is up to you, but there’s nothing wrong with learning. I’ve been recently letting go of things that were bringing my life invisible stress and this issue had been one of them. I write on this blog for many reasons, but writing is one of my ways of getting my feelings out, and this is something I felt had to come out.

I’m happy doing me and to the person who judges or pokes fun at anyone for foods they put into their body, I simply feel sorry for you and wish for you to take a step back and rethink how to better add value to the world and to others, there are kinder ways of educating. Likewise, to those who choose to follow a strict diet and have your reasons as to why, know that not everyone is ready to change when you are, that everyone’s make up is different and although this has worked miracles for you, it may not be right for them and sometimes, just being an example to others of a healthy and happy life, how my sister was to me, does more to intrigue or help someone than flat out shaming or trying to convert everyone you meet to your way ever could.

You do you girl, label or no label.

Love,

Mariangelica

 

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Do you have a car payment? A line of credit? A mortgage? Do you have student loans? If you said yes to any of those questions, this post is written specifically for you.

I can’t figure out when or how I came across Dave Ramsey, but I am so grateful I did. Dave is the voice of debt repayment. Every day for three hours a day he hosts a radio show that is broadcasted live on youtube, facebook and is later offered as a podcast anywhere you listen to your favourite podcasts. He teaches millions of people how to get out of debt and how to be debt free. By following Dave Ramsey’s baby steps it is possible for anyone to become debt free. The hubs and I are on his plan and are currently on Baby Step 2 and crushing our goals hard.

So why should I worry about debt? I make my monthly minimum payments, I’ve never been late on a payment and my credit score is awesome.

Well, with most debt, the longer you have it the more money you throw away in interest payments. Banks WANT your money, and interest is their bread and butter. As Dave says, your greatest wealth building tool is your INCOME, and debt makes this number lower the more you owe! Imagine having no car payments, imagine keeping all the money you make? Yeah, it’s possible, and the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps will get you there.

Baby Step 1: $1,000 to Start an Emergency Fund

Sell anything that isn’t attached to the floor, make a budget and cut back on expenses. Save the $1000 as FAST as you can. If you already have a savings account, take everything out of it and leave $1000 in it and put all the rest to your debt. The idea for this fund is that it’s an EMERGENCY fund. A birthday is not an emergency, because you knew it was coming up. With this in the bank you won’t have to go into debt if something were to happen.

Baby Step 2: Pay Off All Debt but the House

List all your debts from the littlest one to the biggest one and list your monthly minimums. Every month, make a new budget with your partner and attack that little debt with a vengeance! Throw every last dollar you can at the little one until you pay it off. When you do, take all the extra money you were putting towards the debt AND the minimum payment you were making and add it to what you pay to the second debt on the list! This is his snowball method and the idea is that the motivation of knocking off the small debts will inspire you to keep going while freeing up more money to pay off the larger debts!

Baby Step 3: 3 to 6 Months of Expenses in Savings

Now you are debt free! Congratulations!! Time to build your emergency fund to a full fund. This means, add up all your expenses for the month. Mortgage, food, utilities, insurance etc and multiply that number by how many months you want to save. He recommends 3-6 month’s worth. Now this is your new savings goal! This will allow you to be prepared were life to throw a huge wrench your way. This and all his steps are also available on his website.

Baby Step 4: Invest 15% of Household Income Into Retirement

Now that you have no payments and a fully funded emergency fund, time to make that money work for you. Invest!! Take 15% of your gross household income and invest it into a Tax Free Savings account, your work’s matching RRSP etc. Remember, time is of the essence and you will benefit from compound interest when it comes to this step. Stay consistent and soon you will be a millionaire. It’s just math!

Baby Step 5: College Funding for Children

Now that your future is taken care of thanks to investing it’s time to start saving for your kid’s post secondary education! The Canadian government has something called the RESP and by contributing to it the government matches 20% of your contributions up to $500 a year. (aka, free money!) This is a great way to start saving for your child’s education.

Baby Step 6: Pay Off Home Early

Now, there’s just one more debt standing between you and a truly debt free lifestyle. Can you imagine not having a mortgage payment?! I’m freaking out over here just thinking about it! Any extra money you put towards your mortgage is going to shave off so much interest and so many years off your mortgage! This is a huge one, and usually, especially in Canada, we don’t often find mortgages for 80 or 90k like our neighbours to the south do, so our debt here is quite large. Just keep at it. You have no payments, your life is well set up after following all the baby steps, so enjoy your money while paying down your house faster!

Baby Step 7: Build Wealth and Give

Max out your RRSP and TFSA investment contributions per year, and have FUN. As Dave says, you live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else. Become incredibly generous, and do whatever you want. You have done so well. Congratulations!

All the baby steps and more on the entire idea behind Dave’s plan, including his own personal story, is detailed in his book the Total Money Makeover, which I could NOT recommend more. I actually wrote about My Top 5 Personal Development books and you better believe this was on that list!

Best of luck on your journey. Are you following his plan? What baby step are you on?

 

 


This post contains affiliate links. What does that mean for you? It doesn’t cost you anything extra but I get a small percentage of your purchase if you decide to purchase something from the post. I do this to make some side income while linking you to the great products I use. I will never write a post about a product I do not believe in, and no one has paid me to write this post. All opinions are always my own. Just like supporting a friend’s small business, by clicking on my affiliate links you are supporting a small time blogger who deeply appreciates it. Read more about this on my about page.

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You failed. It happened, and now you can’t stop thinking about it. It’s ok, we’ve all failed before, and guess what, we’ll fail again. But we need to move past it! Here are some tips on how to finally STOP OBSESSING over that time you failed! Time to move on, move forward and get to the next thing.

1. Admit it, but don’t BECOME it.

Don’t let that one thing that didn’t go quite right define who you become. You do not become a failure, ever. Admit that it happened, but don’t let it touch who you are. You are a try-er, and these are the things you have to go through to get to the place you want to be! Our self-esteem drops when we decide to become our fails, and that’s not only damaging but it lowers our frequencies and slows down our progress. Nobody wants or deserves that!!

2. Feel what you feel.

There’s nothing good that’s ever come from ignoring our emotions. Figure out how you really feel and put it into words. Do you feel angry? disappointed? sad? It’s all ok, and guess what? It’s all natural! Allow yourself to feel what you feel. Once you do, it’s time to move on.

3. Turn it to ashes.

Writing something down gets the energy out of your body. Putting your emotions and situations on paper allows you to clear your mind. Truly. So take a moment, and write it down. The failure, your feelings. Put it all out there onto the page. And then, turn it to ashes. Burn the paper and let the ashes fly away and take everything with them. It’s a very freeing moment.

4. Sage it.

You’ve now gotten rid of all these negative thoughts and emotions that were swirling around inside you. Here’s the thing, though, energy lingers. I can’t seem to focus when I have a cluttered space or when it feels stuffy and heavy in the room or in the house. Ever feel that? Like no matter what you did, you still don’t feel quite right? it’s time to clear the negative energy and clean the space around you. Nowadays you can find these things anywhere, but go grab yourself a sage smudge stick and use it. Sage has been used for centuries to clean and purify areas. Make it work even more by saying some positive thoughts as you do this, or pray, whatever you’re into.

5. Let go of other’s opinions.

Sometimes, when we’ve failed it isn’t so much the failure that we get really anxious about, it’s when it’s a public failure. When people know. What will they think now? Deep down we all have this fear of not being respected or believed in, and failing makes us feel less than. But guess what? You’re not the first person to have failed. You’re not the only person in this world that things have not turned out for. So let go of the care for what other’s think of you because you tried, and somewhere along the way, you will succeed, and that day, you’ll know that it was all your hard work, your dedication, and your drive to stop obsessing about that one time you failed.

Love always,

Mariangelica

 


This post contains affiliate links. What does that mean for you? It doesn’t cost you anything extra but I get a small percentage of your purchase if you decide to purchase something from the post. I do this to make some side income while linking you to the great products I use. I will never write a post about a product I do not believe in, and no one has paid me to write this post. All opinions are always my own. Just like supporting a friend’s small business, by clicking on my affiliate links you are supporting a small time blogger who deeply appreciates it. You can read more about this on my about page. Thanks love.

 

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LAZY DAY WORKOUT

Let’s face it, we all have that one lazy day. Maybe you’ve had many lazy days that have turned into weeks or months. We’ve been there, and the idea of starting again can seem daunting. I’m more of a head-first type of girl, but if you want a slow build up because well, maybe you’re just not mentally ready to start any sort of program. Here are a few ways I get a little burn during my day when I’m feeling too lazy to workout:

1. Watching Netflix?

netflix - lazy

Back in the olden days pre-Netflix, there was something called ‘commercials’ and it was the perfect time to get up, move around, maybe even fit in a few squats. Now, there aren’t any commercials, and although I am loving the easiness of binge watching shows I have found that I could spend two hours watching tv in the same position without complaint. Scary. So there are two ways I like to shake things up and force my butt off the couch.

  • I set a reoccurring timer on my phone every 20 minutes. Every time the phone goes off while I’m watching the show I have to workout for 5 minutes! I usually do two sets like this one: 30 seconds of push ups, 30 seconds of bicycle crunches, a minute plank hold, and high knees for 30 seconds. Once I’m done, and only then can I continue my show. By the end of an hour-long show, you will have done a 15-minute workout! How’s that for sneaky!
  • Another game I like to play with myself is more specific to what I’m watching. Nowadays people have made these for almost every show and movie out there, but here is a list of 43 of the most popular tv shows and how to turn them into your favourite workouts!

2. Cooking Dinner?

cooking - lazy

I find making dinner the best and funniest time to get a few reps in of any type of fitness into my lazy day. Funniest because I must look hilarious doing it!

  • You now can’t walk and must now only lunge to get to places.
  • Every time you close the fridge you have to do 10 squats.

3. Going to bed?

You can actually do some wonderful yoga poses in bed to help with any aches and strains on your body from the day. 

  • My favourite pose in bed is ‘Happy Baby’ it always feels so good on my lower back and it does wonders for opening up my hips.
  • Knees to Chest is another relaxing pose I like to do before bed, plus, it warms me up to be tucked into a little ball.

 

No matter how you get fitness into your lazy day, try it this week and fit it in the cracks of time you encounter while going about your normal day, every little bit counts!

 

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21df-free-meal-plan-1

It’s Monday and today I start (another round) of the 21 Day Fix! You can get your own here! This is by far my most favourite fitness program from all of Beachbody’s line of workouts. Every Monday I get this electrifying reminder that it’s the beginning of a new week and there’s so much thrill in the beginning of anything.

The beauty of this program is the nutrition aspect. I am not a nutritionist, nor an expert in nutrition, and you shouldn’t have to be to get the benefits of any program. Your body is made in the kitchen. Working out is a part of being fit and healthy, but food is a much bigger part. The 21 Day Fix Program brings coloured containers that make it so easy to plan your meals and eat the correct portions to achieve your goal. And I’m all for easy hah.

The program starts with a booklet with a formula for figuring out which caloric bracket you fall under, and trust me this is the first and last time you have to look at calories! I honestly do not look at calories anymore, it’s been so freeing!

After the calculation I am told exactly how many containers of each colour to consume in a day and boy is it a lot of food! I know some of my past challengers have questioned if they really should eat that much food, and the answer is YES. Your body will be working out hard everyday and you need fuel for your body. Plus, here’s a secret, if you were gaining weight before trying this program out, then you were eating MORE calories than the ones in your bracket, so remember that. It’s all about the quality of the ingredients you are eating!

THE MEAL PLAN

Being Vegetarian AND Gluten Free really forces me to go to the natural ingredients and be a bit more creative than usual when planning out my meals. So the meal plan might look a bit drastic to a gluten & meat-eater’s eye, but that’s the beauty of this program, just change all your red containers to your preferred choice of protein and give it a go! I’m sharing this because it helped me when doing groceries for the week! As a note: I know it’s a lot of eggs, if i get tired of eggs halfway through the week I may switch to something else from the list! Remember, make it your own!

free-mealplan

 

I hope you give this program a try, it has been a complete life-changer for me!

Have you tried the 21 Day Fix? Do you follow a meal plan you love? I’d love to hear about it! Let me know in the comments below!

 

 

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