When life throws you a curve ball just

When its hard for your heart to let go just

When you become overwhelmed at every tasks and chore that needs to be done just

When your expectations aren’t met just

When you fight back the tears, because your heart is heavy just

I really enjoyed everyone’s emails and comments regarding yesterdays post on Emotional Eating. Emotional Non-Eating. I appreciate all of you who shared your story.

I’m excited to share this guest post with you. My friend Stephanie has a passion for building healthy families…

and is a wonderful inspiration to mom’s everywhere. Here is Stephanie’s story…

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Hey All!  The Nutrition Mom here.

Thank you Lauren for allowing me to step in for a minute.

Lauren & I love to compare where we are today with where we were a few short years ago.  She was still blogging about wedding planning.  And me, well, I was 50 lbs. heavier, working at a job I did not enjoy, and watching life pass me by.  Here is a picture of us on Halloween 2008.

Fast forward to today and I am a new person.  This former junk food junkie has found a passion for Health and Nutrition.  Not only has my life turned around, but so has my family’s.  My hubby has lost 40 lbs. and ran his first half marathon last month.  Go Troy!!  My 4^th grader, who almost had to attend summer school for 3^rd grade (yep, if you fail the TAKS test, Summer School is required for elementary students), is now making A’s and B’s.  And my kindergartner thinks every day at school is “Awesome!”

I am in the process of transitioning from a student of Health & Nutrition to a teacher.  I’ve taken my passion to the next level.  I am currently studying at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition to become a Health Coach.  Through the program I am learning that good nutrition, although vital, is not the only piece of the puzzle.  We also need to look at our relationships, careers, physical activity and spirituality.  Balance is the key.

I knew right away that I wanted to work with families with a focus on children.  Seeing the changes in my own family filled me with hope.  We live in a fast paced world.  We have more stress and less time.  Children are being pushed harder than ever.  The rise in ADHD, autism, diabetes, and obesity are a real eye opener.

But, change is here.  Change is now.  I want to be a part of it and I want to help others be a part of it.

I’d like to share my Mission Statement with you.

The mission of The Nutrition Mom is to make a positive impact in the lives of families. We focus on children through a coaching program designed to improve nutrition, strengthen family connections, and promote physical and emotional well-being. We value and support your family.

I have such big plans.  My 10 year old and I will be teaching a Mom & Me Cooking classes.  We want to take you and your children on supermarket tours and teach your children how to read labels.  Show them healthy alternatives to their favorite foods.  My goal is to empower your kids.  We want them to WANT to make healthy choices.

On my “to do” list is to also get certified to teach Children’s Yoga.

Benefits of Yoga for children:

• Manage ADHD
• Build self-esteem, coordination and poise
• Increase body awareness, confidence, focus and attention spans
• Develop flexibility, stamina and strength
• Foster Language, Social Interaction and reflection for a peaceful and relaxed state of body and mind.

My BIG dream – my own Wellness Center offering Health Coaching, Cooking Classes, Yoga and Massage.

Join me on my journey.  Let’s be the change.

Love & Health,

Stephanie

The Nutrition Mom

Facebook:  The Nutrition Mom

Blog: The Nutrition Mom

Website: The Nutrition Mom

**I just got an email from Fitness Magazine, I made the 2nd round of voting for the Face of Fitness contest!! You can Vote for me here and you can vote everyday until Sunday. THANKS Ya’ll! I simply can’t believe it**

IT’S SPRING BREAK!!!!!! Woo hoo! Who’s excited? Ya know what that means? I get to go to Zumba EVERYDAY. How fun is that? Plus, I have the busiest schedule ever this week, so starting each day off with an awesome workout, is seriously going to be appreciated.

This weekend was a lot of fun. Friday, I got a killer Zumba workout in and shopped at Jcrew with the personal shopper of the store. But first we had Starbucks

Yes, my lil’sis is a personal shopper and knows fashion! Score. I tried on white jeans for the first time, ever. Whatcha think?

That evening lil’sis and the birthday boy came over for dinner. I made one of the Stonyfield Yogurt recipes, finally. I made the Alfredo recipes, but with whole wheat spaghetti noodles (and had some rice noodles too) instead of fettuccine. It turned out pretty tasty!

I didn’t follow the recipe to a T. Because, well thats just me. I didn’t mix the pasta and the sauce together, just added it on top of the dish. Really enjoyed it and didn’t feel yucky full afterward, like I normally do after having “real” Alfredo sauce.

Saturday Morning, I woke up with every intention to go for a run with the pup. But then I got to looking around and my house was a hot mess. So decided to clean the whole house top to bottom. I mean hardcore clean people. Like get-on-your-hands-and-knees-and-SCRUB-the-floors-with-Clorox-wipes-till-it-shines-kind-of-clean. Turned pandora on and got after it. My house was a shining masterpiece after. Felt great! I got a nice cardio workout in and I think having a clean house, helps you have a clean mind. When your living space is chaos, so is your thoughts. Ohhh, I even changed out my guest bathroom…

You like? The aqua blue really makes the bathroom look so much bigger! I really like it. Ah, clean house and fresh new bathroom look. Saturday was nice.

The rest of the weekend was spent with this girl

and doing silly things to this girl…

We just couldn’t help ourselves.

How was your weekend?

If you haven’t already, be sure to send me your pictures of “What’s in your Cart?” I’ve gotten some great emails already, can’t wait to post those this week! So be sure to check back!

Good Morning my friends!

Hope today is treating you well. Can you believe it’s already Thursday?!

As you can see, there’s some new changes happening around Team Giles. So please pardon my dust, while the place gets a face lift and maybe some botox too. {kidding} and be sure to check out back soon for the new completed look!

Yesterday was my Lil’Sisters 20th birthday!

To celebrate we got pedicures…

and of course what’s a Birthday without cake? Or… confetti froyo cake?

Happy Birthday lil’sis! I hope you know just how beyond loved you are.

***REMINDER: Go enter to win some Stonyfield Farm Organic Yogurt!! Giveaway ends Friday!***