Thankful Thursday!

Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.

-- Eileen Caddy

In an effort to share a bit of the joy and laughter Eileen speaks of above, this blog will be dedicated to moments of gratitude each Thursday. I invite you to share the things you find yourself most thankful for throughout the week.

Just send note, a photograph or both to me by noon on Wednesdays to be featured on Thankful Thursday. If you didn't get a chance to submit your thankful moment this week, don't let that stop you. Just leave a comment down below. I am so excited to be able to share these special moments with all of you!
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I love yoga! Seriously I just love it. A while back I was doing yoga at my health club about twice a week. I would leave the club feeling so good.

Then I got sick. I got some strange virus that made it difficult for me to do much of anything. It lasted about 6 months and I put my membership on hold.

I got better and could have gone back to the gym but I never did. I don't know why. I know I had some good excuses...the woman who taught the class was gone and the I heard the new girl was no good, I was too busy, I don't know, I just didn't go back.

A couple of weeks ago one of my friends introduced me to 40 Days to Personal Revolution. In the past I always stayed away from books about yoga. It didn't seem like it would be something I would be able to do easily or something I would enjoy. But this time I felt differently. I was drawn to it.

So today I am on Day 4 of my personal revolution. I am thrilled with it. I love waking up and spending a few minutes meditating and then jumping right onto the mat to wake up my body with the beautiful yoga moves.

When I finish the session my body is humming with energy and I feel like I could burst with energy and excitement. I have gotten more done in the last four days and I have felt good doing it all.

So that is what I am thankful for this Thursday! What are you thankful for? Scroll down and leave a comment.

Nature's Sports Drink

I've always disliked the idea of giving my kids sports drinks with their artificial colors, flavors and God knows what else is in there. Sometimes when they are out playing baseball and football in the blazing sun, I feel like they need a bit more then water though.

I have known about coconut water for a while. When I was eating raw, I used to buy the young coconuts at my local market, chop the top off and add the water to my smoothies or drink it. The kids liked it too. The problem is that it isn't too practical to bring a coconut and big knife to the games so my kids could drink it.

Well, that problem is solved. They have started selling coconut water in single serving containers, like a juice box. There are several different brands and they even have some flavors like pineapple, acai, peach mango and more. I bought mine at Whole Foods and the kids really liked it. So do I.

So what is so great about coconut water? Well, first of all it is natural, it comes straight from the coconut. No high fructose corn syrup, no sugar, no colorings, flavorings, or chemicals. That alone is something you don't hear much about when it comes to sweet drinks.

Secondly, coconut water is amazing stuff. It is similar to plasma and in WWII it was given to soldiers intravenously when supplies of plasma were low. It has more electrolytes then the sports drinks that are out on the market and has 15 times more potassium. In fact it has more potassium than two bananas. Potassium is essential for the body's growth and heart function. It helps kidneys function normally and helps keep a normal water balance between the cells and body fluids among other things. It is high in vitamin C, low in sodium and even has a bit of fat to slow down the metabolism of sugar. It also contains lauric acid which is used to heal the digestive tract.

So instead of reaching for those neon colored, artificially flavored sports drinks, try a little box of nature's sports drink. Let me know what you think.

Move Your Body

One of the things I am learning to love is exercise. I have not always had the greatest relationship with the many forms of exercise that are out there. Now that I am focusing on not only eating right but also in complete body care, I am searching for ways to get my exercise without feeling like I am torturing myself.

This weekend during class at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition I got a huge lesson on what it takes to get a good workout. We had a trainer come in and work with us for 15 minutes. We were standing up in front of our chairs and let me tell you there wasn't much room. We started jumping around, raising our knees, doing some punching, and getting our butts kicked with some squats.

Let me tell you, at the end of those 15 minutes everyone was sweating. It was so simple. There were only about 5-8 different moves and we just repeated them until the time was up. It doesn't get much easier then that does it?

Later, I was on the plane heading home and I ran across a reader's tip in the Body and Soul magazine. She had a history of struggling with establishing a workout routine. She never felt like she could fit it in. She decided to change her mindset and commit to doing just one minute of sit ups a day. Now on days that she struggles she only does the one minute but on other days she ends up doing 10, 15, or 30 minutes of exercise. Very interesting.

In one day I got my lesson twice. I don't need to go to the gym. I don't need to have the perfect workout DVD. I don't need to complicate my life. I only need to move my body. What a great lesson for all of us. Start small, commit to something, and get moving.