Category Archives for Health

Introducing My Second Youtube Channel-Living Life Now

I am in a season of aggressively pursuing purpose! I can’t sit and wait for things to fall into place. As God encourages me to move forward, I am saying yes. With each passing birthday, I am faced with the reality that time does not stand still. I want my time here on earth to matter. I want to have an impact, I want to bring God glory. I want to do what He created me to do. Without question, I know He gave me the desire to help other women because I know.

I know what it is like to want to be healthy but not have a clue where to begin.

I know what it is like to want to work out but feel overwhelmed with the idea of starting.

I know what it is like to feel inadequate as the keeper of my home.

I know the challenge of being in the trenches raising children and putting my own health on the back burner.

I know the frustration of being inconsistent in pursuing a healthy lifestyle and doing what I know I should.

With all of that said, I’m excited to share with you that I started a new Youtube Channel, Living Life Now. This channel will reflect those interest. Living Live Now will feature the following:

1.Healthy recipes for the entire family (a mixture of paleo & keto recipes).
2. Intermittent fasting tips and encouragement.
3. Motivation to exercise.
4. Tips for an orderly home.
5. And whatever random thing that comes to mind that I think is worth posting!

I was toying with the idea of creating a separate blog to go with this channel but decided against it. Instead, I created a “health” tab on the main menu of this blog. This section will feature videos from Living Life Now. I encourage you to subscribe to this channel and share it with others. Your support is appreciated, please and thank you! I will also continue to post on my other Youtube channel, Living For Later. Please keep me in prayer as I continue to aggressively pursue purpose!

Be Blessed
Anika

PS- What thing has God laid on your heart to begin? Are you waiting for perfect to start? What are some small steps you can take to get started? I encourage you to begin.

My Intermittent Fasting Results

I have experimented with intermittent fasting over the years but never really stuck with it.  However, for the last year or so, I have been more consistent, and I am pleased with the results. It has been a work in progress.  I started off with having an 8-hour eating window and eliminated snacks in between meals.  After a few months, I narrowed my eating window done to 6 hours-eating only two meals with no snacks between.  Eliminating snacks was a huge game changer, this video explains why. I then took the plunge to do one meal a day (OMAD) for the entire month of January. My plans were to return to two meals a day at the end of the month, but I was so thrilled with the results that I decided to keep going.  There are still some days where I eat two meals, but I do OMAD 95 percent of the time.

The results have been amazing.  I have increased energy and mental clarity and have gone down a dress size.  I explain more about my results in this video.  One of the most pronounced observations I have made from doing OMAD is that my sugar addiction is GONE.  I also noticed that some other symptoms such as bloating and swelling in my joints have significantly decreased.  It is also freeing to not be consumed with what I am going to eat or even use food as a pacifier throughout the day. It was difficult in the beginning, but my body has adjusted.  The irony of it all is that eating one meal a day has given me more energy than when I ate three.  The key is to eat the proper foods during your eating window.  You can click on my YOUTUBE  recipe playlist to get some ideas of what I have been eating.

I would love to take you along on this journey with me and it is my hope to be an encouragement to you as well.  Keep watch for more updates and even new recipes and meal ideas.  Are you familiar with intermittent fasting, have you tried it, what has been your experience?  Leave me a comment, I would love to hear from you.

Be Blessed

Anika

 

Low impact workouts

November 12, 2015

Summer was good to me. There was a lot of family bonding and as an added bonus my husband and I worked out together over the summer months.  IT WAS GREAT!  Did I mention that quality time is my love language?  But then school started and our little workout party got broken up.  I told myself that even though I lost my handsome workout partner, I was going to be ok with returning to working out by myself using these YouTube videos.  After all I got the revelation that Jesus does care about my health.  But I missed a couple of days because we were all getting adjusted to the back to school schedule.   A couple of days turned into a few weeks and before I knew it, November was here and it had been whopping three months since I worked out consistently ( I stopped counting going up and down my stairs as suffice). I called one of my brothers the other day and he shared that he was just getting back into working out.  During our conversation, I made a commitment to begin working out again.   So here I am 2 weeks into getting back on track. Being one that doesn’t do well with keeping things to myself, I have decided to share with you my YouTube playlist for low impact cardio workouts.  These workouts have been great!  Don’t let the low impact part fool you, these workouts will have you working up a good sweat.  I also love the fact that these are easier on my joints.  I plan to add more videos to this playlist as I go so be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates.    As it stands, I am aiming to work out for 15-20minutes at least 4 times a week.  Leave me a comment and let me know if you have fallen off the workout bandwagon but plan to start up again. We can do it together!

Free workout videos on youtube that are 25 minutes and under

February 4, 2015


I am so excited that a few of my readers decided to begin working out after reading this post. Way to go Koya and Lashanda.  By the way Lashanda has a new single on amazon that would be great to play as you are working out.  If you choose to purchase her single,  please consider doing it through amazon smile and  choose my church Faith Covenant Fellowship (Hoffman Estates is our given location) as your charity to support and the church will receive a donation from your purchase.

For those who would like to begin working out and need some suggestions you can visit my youtube channel. There is  a  playlist of exercises I do in the comfort of my own home.  Some of the workouts require dumbbells.  I have  sets of 5 lb., 8lb., and 15 lb. weights that I purchased at walmart. Some of the workouts do not require any equipment.  Happy working out!

 

 

 

Does Jesus really care about that? Thoughts on what drives me to be healthy post pregnancy

I gave birth in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013.  In between all of that I had two miscarriages, one in 2006 and another in 2008.  I think it’s fair to say that my body has been through quite an adventure.  After each birth, I was left with a sweet baby and some extra pounds as a souvenir of the journey.  I was not one of those moms who lost all the baby weight while nursing.  I would have loved for that to have been my testimony but it was not.  I have found what works for MY BODY to be healthy without counting calories and spending hours working out.  I follow the Paleo diet 90% of the time.   I also work out five days a week in the comfort of my home for 10-20 minutes in the morning.  My short workouts are better than doing nothing at all.

My body certainly doesn’t look like the girl I knew before child birth and I am learning to be ok with that.   I can’t obsess about returning to what was, just work on keeping healthy what now is (not sure if that’s grammatically correct but you get the point…right?)   I have tried to return to old eating habits (mainly consuming way too much sugar) and not only does it pack on the pounds but it also brings some not so pleasant side effects.   After a really long morning a few weeks ago, I found myself hiding out in the pantry with my twenty month old eating just about all the caramel flavored popcorn from Costco.  I was so convicted at the end of the day, not because eating caramel popcorn is a sin but because at that moment I was being gluttonous and using the sugar as my god and comforter.  I was certainly not hungry at the time, just extremely irritated.  Prayer should have been my recourse not sugar!  I have to continue to ask God for the grace to exercise self-control to do what I know is right for my body to be healthy.

My choice to eat healthy and exercise has a trickle-down effect with both natural and spiritual implications.  When I eat and exercise like I should, I have more energy to effectively fulfill my call to be the keeper of my home. My sleep is better which in turn helps me to get up feeling well rested giving me quality time in prayer and bible study.   I am not as emotional and snappy. Ok…I still have my moments but they are not as frequent.  I am not constantly in a brain fog because I have consumed all the wrong things.

So to answer the question, does Jesus really care about my eating habits and my overall health…yes, He absolutely does!  I know from personal experiences that He directs His children in EVERY AREA.  If you have not done so already ask Him what the best health plan is for you.  If He has already told you what to do…OBEY!  My goal to be the healthiest me for this season of life now goes beyond vanity.  However I must confess that this was the initial  motivation.  I recognize that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and also its God’s desire for me to be healthy in body as I am strong in spirit (3 John 1:2).  Hear me when I say that the goal for every woman should not be to look like the model on the magazine.  We are all built differently and not everyone was intended to look the same.  Instead, be driven by the desire to please God by taking care of the temple He has given you.

I don’t want you to walk away from this post feeling condemned because you struggle in maintaining healthy eating habits and are challenged with the idea of consistently working out.  Instead I pray that you walk away feeling encouraged to do what you know is needed believing the Lord to extend His grace as you make up your mind to walk in obedience.  Let us take this journey together, striving to be healthy so that we can be used even the more for God’s glory!  Are you on board?  Leave a comment below to let me know.