I make a version of this smoothie almost EVERY DAY. I love how quick and nutritious it is.
Enjoy this Power Smoothie Recipe as you start your day, finish a great workout, or as dessert!
Read MoreChocolate Peanut Butter Bliss
Leading out of Abundance: Pursuing Relationship with the Servant Leader
We're continuing our leadership series in this week's blog post (see post 1 and post 2) and we felt it was most appropriate following Easter to reflect on the greatest leader, Jesus.
Jesus did not come to earth as the type of leader everyone expected and hoped for. He did not come as a proud and triumphant warrior but as a meek, gentle baby. He did preach in beautiful and extravagant venues wooing people with emotion and whit but instead in homes, boats, and hillsides preaching and teaching relationships, truth about sin and forgiveness, God's grace and mercy. And he did not die gallantly destroying his enemies, but loving them instead and making a way for new life in him. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve, the life of Jesus can teach us many lessons about leadership.
Service First
Jesus came not to be served but to serve others. We witnessed examples of his servant heart when he provided wine for a wedding, fed thousands, visited sick and dying people, and washed his disciples’ feet. Service was central to Jesus’ ministry. He didn’t put his own agenda ahead of God’s; afterall in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed "not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39b). He led by example through service and invites us to do the same.
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Holiday Survival Guide: Faith
Christmas Greetings to you!
Christmas truly is an amazing and beautiful time of year. Where we live, we have a cold, but sunny day. The prediction is that we will get a mountain of snow this week. One of my favorite parts of this beautiful white snow is that it reminds me of the fact that with only a single thought proclamation, Jesus completely covered our sins, just as the snow covered all the brown dirty ground.
So what does this have to do with Christmas? With all of the beauty and wonder that surrounds Christmas, it can also be the time of year when emotions are plentiful, sleep is short, gatherings are abundant, and expectations are high. In the midst of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior, various thoughts can creep into the purest of minds. These thoughts can often form around unhealthy expectations, such as the desire for our children to be perfectly behaved at social gatherings, for our friends or spouses to give us the perfect gift, or for our bodies to magically transform to perfection because we approach New Year’s resolutions.
Read MoreHoliday Survival Guide: Food
Nourish your body to have more energy and enjoyment of this Holiday season!
My sister and I were talking about how to make this Holiday Survival Guide Nutrition edition short and sweet, but applicable to our lives RIGHT NOW, amid the hustle, bustle, wrapping, and eating.
I’m still working off the rest of my baby weight (yes, he’s 17 months now), so one of my goals this December was to not put any weight back on. This no longer feels like a drag, but a positive challenge to see where I can be my healthiest.
This time of year makes it extra difficult because I LOVE FOOD and healthy, homemade treats, so I have to be extra careful to be intentional with my choices during a season that seems to revolve around food. BUT, the season doesn’t revolve around food or family, or even children, as many believe. Sure, we can make Christmas whatever we want, but historically, Christmas is the celebration of the life of one person, Jesus. When Jesus is my focus, my priorities line up and it gets a little easier to remain peaceful amidst the fullness of the season. I still very much enjoy the food, family, friends, and snowy days, but I can do all that with priorities in place.
The result of making good choices affects EVERYTHING and everyone around me. When I eat better, my mood is better, I’m physically healthier, and most notably, I have more energy, yes, even with a 17-month-old baby who STILL doesn’t sleep all through the night.
Let me share with you some Survival Guide strategies to help you to feel your best as this holiday season ends as we welcome in the New Year.
Read MoreHoliday Survival Guide: Fitness
“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was (…) expecting a child.” Luke 2: 4-5 (NIV)
And it came to pass in those days that mom got very crabby because she had missed her exercise class, again. And all because of Christmas and its insanely busy season! Mom was stressed out and everyone expected her to take care of everything. Mom decided to find some quiet time and turn to the 2000 years old reason for her oncoming nervous breakdown to find some inspiration. The following are her thoughts and discoveries as recorded in her personal notebook:
Dear journal,
Holy Spirit, will you help me discover your much-needed divine wisdom?
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What About Gout?! It's No Longer Just a "Disease of Kings"
Growing up in Germany with health-conscious parents, I was strangely fascinated by the American diet. I remember watching a Christmas movie where drinking a coke was about the best thing that could happen to a sad kid --and it stuck with me. On TV people would always go ‘grab a bite’ and then I’d see them eating French fries and sipping on a shake. When I did an internship in Canada for 6 weeks as a young adult, I felt ecstatic to find a fridge and multiple freezers in my family’s home, always stocked with pop, microwavable quick meals, tubs of ice cream, and a pantry filled with different kinds of cereals.
I had so much fun starting my day with mixing sugary cereals, one or two donuts for snack (I was interning as a teacher after all), and walking home for lunch (the school was close) to either have some leftovers from the family cookout on Sunday or those pizza pops all the kids went crazy for. At the end of my school day I would sweeten my free time by drinking coke, and eating ice cream with frozen fruit on top. It felt like freedom! In addition to walking around town, I did spent some time on my family’s treadmill. But when I was back in Germany and had my pictures developed, the photos revealed -without sugar-coding it- that in those 6 weeks I gained 20lbs.
But here’s the kicker; it wasn’t my weight that was the real problem. Honestly, I don’t even remember noticing my weight gain until I saw the pictures. What I did notice while in Canada was that my teeth started hurting, which made my much-needed naps very difficult. It wasn’t my gums or one specific tooth, it was the enamel that hurt all over my teeth! I also noticed terrible skin blemishes and severe sluggishness. Having no energy led to craving more sugar! Besides that, the depression I had already struggled with before I arrived in Canada got worse, much worse. This led to falling back into old patterns of comforting myself with food. Most of the day was spent thinking about food and sleeping. And candy… there was always more treats to be had. So why not have more!?
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Nomato Enchiladas Recipe
As promised in my last Veggies You Never Thought You’d Love blog post, I present to you my tried and true Nomato Enchilada recipe! This recipe has transformed over the past year and only gotten better and better. As I even type about this recipe, I’m salivating! I’ll give you a little background info on this recipe and then let you have the big reveal.
With my long history of picky eating, I never got adventurous with trying new foods until I was in college. My husband actually deserves the credit for slowly stretching my pallet. I distinctly remember the first time I had enchiladas—we were at a little Mexican restaurant in Duluth, MN for a get-away weekend for our first wedding anniversary. There was nothing familiar on the menu and I gave my husband the typical deer-in-headlights panicked face of “what am I going to eat!?!” He suggested I try enchiladas. Whoa, that’s new to me. To make it worse, they served two varieties! Needless to say, as soon as I tried the red-sauce enchiladas I was sold. This recipe that you’re about to drool over is my attempt to recreate that delicious authentic enchilada I had over 6 years ago!
You may be wondering what is a “nomato” enchilada? Well it is simply an enchilada with no-tomato. Again, as I said in this post, I love, love, love tomatoes and all their health benefits. This year I’ve just had some issues with histamine intolerance and haven’t been able to handle the tomatoes. We loved having these enchiladas so much that I set out to create a tomato-free version. Although I love tomatoes and tomato sauce, it never ceases to amaze me that we hid SEVEN veggies into this one sauce that would normally just have a couple veggies in it.
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Three Thoughts for a Health Breakthrough
I just returned home from the annual Thrive Conference this weekend. The theme this year was Audacious Hope. Shout out to all the ladies who attended the conference (it was incredible)!
There are too many topics and ideas to fit into one blog, so I picked out 3 takeaways from the conference that I want to share with you. Guys, Thrive is a women’s conference, but these ideas and questions are universal.
The first question I have been pondering was presented by pastor, author, and speaker, Craig Groeschel. Craig was speaking about leadership, specifically on ‘becoming a leader people love to follow.’ This question was asked in relation to leadership, but I’m going to ask it to you in relation to your health & wellness habits:
1. “What is no longer working that needs to be changed?”
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Fearfully & Wonderfully Made
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well,” Psalm 139:14.
Sometimes it’s hard to read verses like this and find peace with them when our bodies feel broken, maimed, undesirable. These are not the descriptors that God gave our bodies. He made us good, in his image, fearfully and wonderfully. So then what happened? Why do our bodies sometimes feel broken? Why do they wear out? Why do we look in the mirror sometimes and wish to see a different reflection?
Our bodies had been designed in the image of God which is described in Genesis 1:27: "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." After Adam and Eve created distance between themselves and God in the Garden of Eden, creation—including our bodies—began to break down.
But God used this situation to write a beautiful redemption story. He would send Jesus to "comfort the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release the prisoners from darkness" (Isaiah 61:1b). Jesus came to reconcile us with God and he is now preparing our final home with him. We will not always have broken and maimed bodies. We will be restored and made new. What a great hope we have in Christ!
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Veggies You Never Thought You'd Love: Nomato Sauce
What if I told you that you could magically transform a one veggie sauce into a mouthwatering, nutrient-dense seven veggie sauce? Would you call me crazy?
Well friends, I’ve done some extensive recipe testing and perfected my own version of what the internet calls “nomato sauce.” What exactly is no-mato sauce? This sauce is a delectable tomato-like sauce but without the tomato. Don’t get me wrong, tomatoes have wonderful health benefits, but some people don’t tolerate tomatoes and the rest of their family of nightshades very well, especially people with histamine intolerance issues.
Over this past year when tomatoes became increasingly problematic for me to process, I craved an alternative to top my beloved enchilada stuffed sweet potatoes (thank you Danielle Walker for developing such an amazing recipe!). After much testing and tasting, here I present to you my own Nomato Sauce.
As you’ll see in the recipe below, the sauce recipe I give is really the base from which you can develop your own creation. I give two options for seasonings to transform this sauce into marinara or enchilada sauce (note the enchilada sauce does include chili powder which contains paprika, a nightshade, so avoid this if all nightshades are a concern for you). Please share with us how you use this recipe!
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3 Warning Signs Your Life is Out of Balance
I used to think that achieving balance meant having a quiet (CLEAN) house, using a calm speaking voice all the time, and maintaining an empty schedule. . . And then I had kids!
Think about a day when you were running non-stop and then at the end of the day you ask yourself, “what did I even do today?” After a day like that, I wonder how I can be so busy, and at the same time, so unproductive!
I think achieving and maintaining balance begins with defining your priorities. Take a moment right now while you are reading and see if you can answer the following questions OUT LOUD.
What is important to you today?
What is important to you in this season?
What is going to be important to you at the end of your life?
100+ Back-to-School Lunch Ideas
It’s back to school season which means many of us parents are scrambling to figure out “what do I (or my kids) pack for school lunch?” I (Caitlyn) am honored, excited, and overwhelmed joining for the first time the rank of parents and caregivers that are packing up their little lovebugs and sending them off to school! Whether school is a car drive a way, the destination of the sea of school buses, or across the kitchen table, back to school season requires some prep.
With school starting last week for my kiddo, I’ve been in the thick of washing school clothes, packing his backpack, and planning lunches. This week I want to share with you my round up of healthy school lunch ideas. Below you’ll find a couple Living Wellness original recipes and a bunch of links to other websites. Bookmark your favorites for later! I'd also love for you to share in the comments below your favorite school lunch ideas.
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Cooking for Health & Healing
The Living Wellness team is excited to share a Guest Blog Post from the legal team at Schultz & Myers who, for over 10 years, have been helping people that have experienced personal injuries.
A personal injury can make you feel sad, angry, overwhelmed, and many other emotions. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may not be able to work or engage in your favorite activities.
While an injury is not a joyous event, it is something that you can begin to recover from with the right mindset. Many people who experience a personal injury turn to activities to fill the void left by injury. While you do need to take time to recover, certain activities can help speed up the process so you can get back to doing the things you love.
During your recovery, you may want to consider engaging in culinary therapy. Cooking may be stressful to some people, but to others, it’s truly therapeutic. There is a distinct link between cooking and recovery, let's explore the benefits:
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AvoGuaco Part 2 - Uses & Health Benefits
Hello again! Last week, Peter and I (Arianne) took over the Living Wellness blog and shared our favorite recipe, AvoGuaco. We wanted to share some of our favorite ways to use this recipe as a side dish or a main dish.
Before we move into the various different ways you can use this wonderful mix, let’s talk about some of the health benefits that come from the ingredients in this living food mixture!
We’ll start with the most important ingredient in this recipe… Avocados! The health benefits from an avocado alone could arguably deem this the healthiest food of all time in my opinion. To name a few of the benefits that this nutrient-dense, superfood has inside of its shell: aids in digestion, skin, dental and hair care; it's anti-inflammatory; health fats help you stay full and many more (source). My favorite part of eating avocados is the satiety factor. You might be wondering what satiety is? To be satiated means that your body is satisfied with the nutrients it has received helping you feel full or not hungry.
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AvoGuaco Recipe Part I
Thanks for stopping by! My name is Arianne Lind. My Fiancé Peter and I are absolutely honored to share one of our favorite recipes with you on the Living Wellness blog.
Peter and I both became Living Wellness Facilitators in February of 2018, but we’ve been following the amazing life tips of Living Wellness for over two years!
After completing the Living Wellness Facilitator Training, we discovered profound ways to enhance our lives even more. Being a part of the Living Wellness community has fully inspired Peter and I to launch our own business. We are very small and in the beginning stages of creating the entity that we now call SimplyyElevated.
We are passionate about educating on food awareness, having a healthy lifestyle, and teaching people how to cook! This includes taking recipes that are traditionally not so healthy, such as pizza and brownies, and making them better by using healthful ingredients. One of our long-term visions involves having a meal service ready and available to the public.
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5 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism NOW
Friends, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite excerpts from my Living Wellness for Growth Groups (pages 69-72) to help boost your metabolism this summer. Mindful eating is another favorite. If you're interested in reading the rest of the book, you can get your own copy here! Enjoy!
Week 2, Day 2: Metabolism
Years ago, when I first started talking about the metabolism, I used to describe it as a woodstove: throw a log on to get it started and then feed it before it burns out. Simple, right? In some regards, this does describe the importance of eating regularly throughout the day, rather than skipping meals and eating all at once. But your metabolism is so much more complex. Your metabolism is more like the inner workings of a city, controlling the flow of processes, hormones, and systems within your body.
What Is the Function of Your Metabolism?
The chemistry behind your metabolism is complicated. Think of your metabolism as the stoplights and law enforcement in a city, carefully regulating the flow of traffic to maintain peace, much like your body chemistry (metabolism) constantly regulating chemicals and hormones to maintain balance. According to an article from the Mayo Clinic staff (2014), your metabolism is responsible for breaking down, digesting, absorbing, transporting, and storing or burning the food you consume (calories). There are many moving parts in an efficient traffic flow and in a healthy metabolism. It’s easy to blame weight gain on a slow metabolism as a result of age or genetics, but in reality, the speed or rate that you burn calories has more to do with what you eat and how often you exercise. Your metabolism is a chemistry lab, not a drag race. Unless you have a metabolic disorder, weight gain is a result of consuming more and/or the wrong kind of calories than your body needs—usually because the calories we consume are void of nutritional value, causing you to eat more.
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Does the Church Need Wellness?
Does the church need wellness?
Well, I’m going to let you decide.
When Jesus gave instructions to his followers, he said things like, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19), and “feed my sheep” (John 21:17), and “This is the most important [commandment]: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your should and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31). He told stories and parables about what I believe to be the heart of the gospel, which is taking care of the people among us that don’t have a voice; the “least of these.”
So where does wellness fit in?
I think we can look to Jesus for the answer --and common sense for confirmation. Much of Jesus’ recorded ministry on earth was spent healing physical issues. Jesus healed the blind, lame, sick, injured, and paralyzed. He did so much more than that, but these are the body issues we can examine, which lead me to believe Jesus cares about our physical well-being too.
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Veggies You Never Thought You'd Love: Sautéed Swiss Chard + Caramelized Onions
I absolutely love heading to our local farmer's market this time of year. Strolling down the aisles looking at the rainbow colors of produce just fills me with awe for God's creation.
This week we purchased a bunch of kale, Swiss chard, spring onions, and basket of green beans for under $10! Our local farmer's market also encourages kids to make healthy food choices by giving them a $2 token for any produce (fruit or veggie) at the market. I love seeing my son getting excited to pick out "his" veggie at the market and then proudly carry it in "his" bag :)
As I've mentioned in the other posts in this series (type in "Veggies You Never Thought You'd Love" into the search bar to read them all), eating fresh veggies have not always been something I enjoyed. In fact, I detested them! Over the course of many years, through the journey of learning that eating is not just about satisfying hunger but nourishing my body with the fuel it needs, I have come to love these veggies. With this series, I hope to encourage you to branch out and try a new veggie or two and share the experience with your kiddos or friends.
This week, I'm excited to share with you my favorite summer time veggie dish: Sauteed Swiss Chard + Caramelized Onions.
Read MoreHealth Fire! Warning Signs that Keep Me up at Night
The baby was finally sleeping, after a 2 ½ hour battle. My weekend was spent at an amazing Writer’s Conference in St. Paul, MN, where there were meetings and speakers and networking, yummy panel lunches, advice given and taken, and more meetings. The event was fabulous and full, and I was spent.
I was all ready for bed when my husband came in to say goodnight before he went and watched some tv. We heard something that sounded like a chirp, but neither one of us acknowledged it because we feared we’ve heard that sound before. Maybe we were both thinking that we had imagined it or that if we didn’t acknowledge it, it would disappear.
There was no denying the second chirp, I think it was louder. Yes, it was definitely louder than the first. We looked at each other with a look that said “I wish I hadn’t heard that.” It was 11:13pm and we were both dog-tired. Optimistically, my hubby asked, “how often do those things go off. . . every couple of hours?” He had just gotten that out of his mouth when it chirped again. It was definitely the fire alarm, letting us know that the batteries needed changing. Now.
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Proximity: The Distance Between You and Success
Proximity can be the difference between meeting and missing your goals.
Proximity can be the difference between having a dream and making it a reality.
Proximity is nearness in space and time. So what is the distance between you and success?
I tried to explain this concept to my husband as he was lugging a heavy and awkward spin bike from our basement into our kitchen at my request...yes into the kitchen. He was as confused as you may be.
We do not have a spacious kitchen but it fits our needs. There happened to be a space between our kitchen table and the deck door that looked just the perfect size for my experiment with proximity. See the spin bike fit nicely in our basement and I had the best intentions to use the bike while watching TV downstairs. I was excited at the possibility of have a consistent, easy to access workout option in our home that I could utilize despite the variable Minnesota weather.
As I've alluded to in previous blog posts, working out is not second nature to me like my dear sister Ashley Darkenwald. I'd go as far to say most of my life I have loathed exercise. It always felt like punishment because it was boring, hard, and painful...and honestly I never stuck with in long enough to see results which only has made me more discouraged from doing it. Fast forward many years of turbulent health challenges and dramatic changes to my daily nutrition, I've found myself exercising again but with a completely different mindset. Instead of thinking of exercise as a punishment, I seek out exercise I enjoy, find my "happy movement" as Ashley calls it. In addition to being much more mindful of what I like and dislike doing for exercise, I'm more aware of how much my body personally needs.
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