Nutrition Fitness Life

I previously posted the measurements of the average woman compared to Barbie’s. This spurred comments regarding Barbie as a poor choice of dolls for young girls.

That got me to thinking… Which dolls present positive images to girls - that are not all about ginormous ta-tas and itty bitty waists? What would I want to give to my little nieces? To my daughters?

So off I went to ‘research’ this conundrum, and I made the following list of dolls I thought give a more positive image than Barbie. I noticed that, overall, these dolls are more expensive, which is unfortunate. However, I believe they are also of greater quality. If you know any other great dolls for girls (and boys too), please let me know!

Girls Explore

Girls Explore dolls personify actual women in history, complete with period clothing and biography. Amelia Earhart, Harriet Tubman, and Dot Richardson are among the historical lineup.

Now, these are not glamorous dolls. There are no ball gowns, sparkles, and makeup. They’re also $55.00 a piece. However, they ofter a unique peak into history and the importance women have had in shaping it.

Only Hearts Club

Thanks to Lynnae from beingfrugal.net for mentioning these great dolls. Only Hearts Club features dolls that are girls from different ethnic backgrounds with a wide array of interests, from horseback riding, music, cooking, and math. They are appropriately dressed and come with their own pet. They are approx $16.00 each.

American Girl

I remember when these dolls from when I was a preteen, and I thought they were beautiful. Only three different dolls were offered at that time, but the American Girl company have since grown to include not only dolls from different periods in history, but baby dolls, dolls that resemble their young owner, clothing, books, and accessories. An American Girl Place, a museum/store/restaurant, is located in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. And now there’s a movie coming out featuring Kit, a girl living during the Great Depression.

What I like about the American Girl dolls is how beautiful they are, yet how suited they are for playing. I really like the opportunity for learning about history that is involved with each doll. Each girl has their own story books, clothing, and accessories. My favorite has always been Samantha, from 1904.

The latest addition is Julie from 1974. This “historical” doll is hitting a little too close to home. If they make a doll from 1984, I’m going to start feeling really old!

The dolls cost roughly $90 or more.

P31 Dolls

P31 Dolls are based on the teachings from Proverbs 31 (hence the name P31) and feature three Biblical women, Leah, Abigail, and Elisabeth. However, they are featured as girls and are dressed in modern outfits. The dolls come with a cookie recipe, cookie cutters, and a lesson based on Proverbs 31:20. They cost about $40.00.

Language Littles Speaking Dolls

Just as the name says, Language Littles Speaking Dolls “speak” various words and phrases in their native tongue if you press their hands. Languages represented by these dolls include Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. They cost approx $48.00.

Manhattan Toy Cuddle Dolls

Cuddle Dolls are your basic, cute dolls without the images that seem to encourage girls to grow up too quickly. They are soft and meant to be hugged and played with by little ones. Price is approx. $22.00.

Karito Kids

The purpose behind Karito Kids is teaching lessons about “social responsibility and charitable giving.” Each doll is from a different culture - Australia, China, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, and New York. You also have the opportunity of contributing to Plan, an organization that focuses on involving children, their families and communities to help other children in need. Each doll costs about $100.00.

My Twinn

My Twinn dolls are created to look like their little owner. Send in a photo of your little girl, and in about a month, you will receive a doll in her likeness. They cost about $139.00.

Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Photo credit: MrPyro321

This was the week of the meme’s. I was tagged by Weight Ladder to do a 6-word memoir. I had actually completed this meme in the past, but no worries. My “profound” words are still there for all to see.

JoLynn at The Fit Shack tagged me with a “4 Things”- themed meme, and some of the questions really made my brain work. I hope I won’t be graded on this. I need a nap now.

4 Jobs I’ve Had

1. Library - shelving books (I could often be found reading the books when I should have been shelving them.)
2. Grocery store - produce department (Wash your produce before eating - dirt, bugs, filthy hands all touch the fruits and veggies.)
3. Dermatologist’s office (Wear sunscreen!)
4. Hospital, Labor and delivery - Need I say more?

All were great experiences, and I learned from each.
What are 4 ways you know you are living your life’s purpose?

1. I feel at peace
2. I feel inspired/energetic/productive
3. I am met with few obstacles; doors just open; results happen
4. I “just know” - call it intuition/that inner voice/conscious

What are 4 things you do to take really good care of yourself?

1. I try to exercise and eat healthy on a regular basis
2. Continually learn and be open to new experiences
3. Maintain closeness with my family; keep my marriage a priority
4. Grow in my spiritual life

What are the 4 events that have most formed how you live your life today?

1. Going off to college
2. Joining the military
3. Meeting my husband
4. Marrying my husband

And I couldn’t leave out my parents. That answer may not be specific to one event, but my life has definitely been shaped by my parents and how they raised me.

What are 4 things you do to keep your motivation up to work out and eat healthy every day?

Well, I don’t exercise and eat healthy every day, even though that certainly would be the ideal. Motivation-wise, I keep it up by focusing on improving my overall health, as well as increasing my fitness so I can be stronger, faster, more agile, and flexible. Also, my motivation gets a boost for vanity reasons as well. I like to look my best as well as feeling my best!

Name 4 people who have been the most influential in motivating you to change your eating and exercise habits.

I don’t have specific persons in mind. I would say those who are fit, healthy, and toned inspire me, whether they are friends, family, fitness trainers, or other bloggers. Hearing stories about how exercise and eating clean improve health and overall quality of life, as opposed to the negative consequences of being sedentary and eating junk, definitely inspire me to work on my habits.

What are your 4 reasons for staying off refined sugar and white flour?

Sugar makes me moody, lethargic, foggy, and craving for more sugar. Plus, sugar offers no nutrition, is harmful to the body, and makes weight gain way too easy. These, in a nutshell, are the reasons I want to get off and stay off sugar! (Can I get extra credit for the additional reasons?)

List 4 ways that blogging has helped you either attain or maintain a higher level of health and fitness.

1. It keeps me accountable.
2. Blogging about health pushes me to learn more about it.
3. Blogging has exposed me to many fantastic blogs with great info and ideas regarding health and fitness.
4. Through blogging I have met amazing people who inspire me. This is one of my favorite aspects of blogging, connecting with other people. That truly makes it worth while.

So there you have it! All you wanted to know about Susan, and more!

Hey, if you’d like to take up this meme, consider yourself tagged. The rules are simple:

• Link to the person who tagged you
• Post the rules on your site
• Answer the questions and share your “4 things.”
• Tag 4 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs, if you wish
• Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Brown rice, beans, chicken, veggies, cheese, and a little spice - I made this dish last night, and it was pretty, darn tasty! It’s fairly simply to make and is a great option when you have leftover rice and/or chicken. What I also like about this dish is it’s healthier than the meals you’ll find at those fast food burrito restaurants, and it still satisfies.

• 1/2 cup onions, chopped (can use green, yellow, or red onions)
• 1/2 cup green and red peppers, chopped
• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cooked chicken breast chopped (can be plain or seasoned)
• 2/3 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup salsa
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cilantro
• Dash of pepper and garlic powder
• 1 cup shredded, low-fat cheese (and kind of cheese - cheddar and Monterey Jack are yummy choices)

Preheat oven to 375° F. Sauté chopped onions and peppers for just a few minutes. Then add to a large bowl. Combine all ingredients in that large bowl, except cheese. Mix gently. Empty ingredients in casserole dish or other oven-safe baking dish. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Bake for 15 minutes, until everything is heated through and cheese is melted.

Options:

This recipe is flexible, so feel free to change, omit, or add ingredients. Instead of chicken, you can use tofu (kind of negates the whole Tex-Mex feel, though). You can use a clove of fresh garlic instead of garlic powder. You can add or decrease the amount of seasonings to your taste. Add 1/2 tsp of chili powder for more punch.

You can eat this just as it is. You can scoop it with whole grain tortilla chips or wrap it in whole grain tortilla. You could place it on romaine lettuce, add cherry tomatoes and guacamole, and you’ve got a delicious salad. Use this as a main dish or a side. It’s easy to take with to potlucks, and it makes for great leftovers.

It’s all up to you, so have fun, and I hope you enjoy this recipe!

…So why are the plastic women so disproportionate?

And this is why I cringed when I heard my coworker, oblivious, ask his little girl over the phone, “Did you play with your Barbies today?”

Source: ANRED

Hey, I just joined the WOMAN Challenge (Women and girls Out Moving Across the Nation) this week. (Thanks for the inspiration, MizFit!) It’s an 8-week fitness challenge for women to exercise at least 30 minutes or get in 10,000 steps each day. Registration is free, and you can progress along virtual treks across the nation by earning points for each day of exercise you accomplish. If you complete the entire challenge, you can get a certificate and, better yet, the knowledge that you’ve done something really good for yourself (but a certificate would look really good on the fridge).

I’m all for healthy, fit models, and I’m glad they’re out there! However, it is my belief the modeling world is still inundated with super skinny models or at least with the pressure to be super skinny. Leslie from the Weighting Game provides an excellent example of unhealthy modeling standards to which many of these young girls are held. Since when was a 23-inch waist considered fat for a woman?! That’s unrealistic for most of the population. (These kind of things just get my blood boiling!)

OK, time for some happy thoughts! Merry of Cranky Fitness fame wrote an excellent post about the dangers of trash talking yourself. If you think it, say it, you’ll start believing it - like a self-fulfilling prophecy. So, focus on your positive qualities and accomplishments, folks! I know I could use a good dose of happy-self-thoughts as I can be really hard and critical of myself.

I love dance! I love the expression and exercise, and over at The Great Fitness Experiment, Charlotte’s videos of her hip-hop class just inspired me! Yes, there was an unfortunate mishap, and I feel really bad for Charlotte’s injured friend, but you’ve got to admire her drive! Seeing everyone staying in step, workin’ it out, and having fun made me want to join them right then and there! (And I was in pajamas!) Oh, how I reminisced of my bygone dance class days. (happy sigh)

Have an excellent and active weekend!

I was struck by a story I heard the other day. I’d like to share it with you…

After her moving performance, a great soprano was approached by a woman who gushed, “I sing too, but not like you! I would give anything to sing as well as you!” The soprano graciously thanked her and replied, “If you truly wanted to sing like I do, you would have already given everything.”

Ooo, I like it! Maybe this story stood out to me because I enjoy singing and strive to improve. And yes, if you want to get technical, you could argue that some people are just gifted with beautiful voices that others will never have no matter how much they practice.

The point of this story, as I’m sure you noticed, is that to achieve a goal, you’ve got to put forth the effort, whether it is improving at singing, finances, running, push-ups, healthy eating, etc.

Desire

It starts with a strong desire to achieve a specific goal. If someone tells you to stop eating sugar, but you don’t really want to, you’re not going to achieve that goal. If you want to get a leaner body but the desire isn’t a priority, you’re probably not going to achieve that goal.

Having the desire to achieve a goal is necessary, but by itself, desire doesn’t really mean anything. Sure, the woman in the story wished she could sing as well as the soprano star, but was she willing to work for it? It’s not enough to simply dream. You’re not going to be a prima donna, marathon runner, or lean, mean, fit machine simply by dreaming. You’ve got to put that dream, that desire, into action. No one is going to achieve your goals for you. (Unless you have a magical genie. But even Aladdin had to take action!)

Commitment

Taking action towards a goal requires commitment. Desire provides that spark of motivation, but commitment keeps you going when the going gets tough. Commitment prevents you from giving up and keeps you on track. Commitment doesn’t listen to excuses.

Knowledge

The third component to goal achievement is knowledge. It’s important to know how to achieve your goal. You’re going to have a tough time achieving that lean, mean body if you don’t have the knowledge of how to specifically do just that! (And furthermore, you might injure yourself!)

You also need to know if your goal is realistic. Not everyone is going to sing at the Met, be a billionaire, compete in triathlons, or be Mr. or Ms. World Fitness – and that’s OK! You need to know what is realistic and achievable for you! Dream big, yes! … But not so big so as to prevent you from achieving your goal.

To me, the story at the beginning of this post is a good reminder that if I want to achieve big goals, I have to put forth the effort. What do I really want to achieve?  Do I know if the goal is realistic and how to go about achieving it? Am I committed to it? By answering these questions, I believe I’ll have a better chance of accomplishing my goals and even learn which goals are my priorities.

And who knows, maybe after their conversation, the wannabe star put forth the effort to become a better singer. Maybe she eventually even sang on the same stage where she once listened to that great soprano.

Your thoughts? Any tips/words of wisdom to add or change?

If you’ve just arrived, or you’d like a review, check out my posts about sugar addiction and the solution to sugar addiction. I’m following the 7 steps outlined in Potatoes, Not Prozac.

Step 2 is keeping a food journal. In this journal you write:

1. The times you eat/drink
2. What you eat/drink
3. How you feel physically
4. How you feel emotionally

Why even do this? It helps you connect with your body. You will learn what your body needs, how certain foods affect you, that if you do “A,” then “B” will happen.

The food journal allows you to see progression over time. As you wean yourself off sugar, you may see healthier food choices, steadier eating times, and more positive emotions. Looking back on the food journal can be an encouragement in that sense. You may be amazed to see how far you’ve come.

This step is difficult for some. It’s challenging to figure out and face what we’re feeling. We might feel guilty writing down everything we’ve eaten. It’s actually pretty amazing how much of ourselves we have tied up in food!

But the food journal in this particular program is not about good or bad. There’s no judgment involved. You’re simply recording information as objectively as possible in order to help you learn connections between what you eat and how you feel.  It’s all about learning so you can make positive adjustments that result in improved health.  The journal gives your body a voice.

“Your body doesn’t provide a computer printout to tell you what’s going on with it, but it gives you clues in the form of symptoms that hint at the bigger picture. These symptoms will be consistent and predictable. You just have to learn to read them.” (Potatoes, Not Prozac, p.111)

I think this is an interesting way of using a food journal.  I’ve never done anything like it before, and I’m curious to give it a try.  I can’t say that I’m going to love journaling what I eat or even remember to do it on a regular basis. But that’s why I’m going about all this very slowly.

Photo credit: assiewin

I’ve been working on slowly weaning myself off sugar. And when I say slowly, I mean s-l-o-w-l-y. That’s just what I find works best for me. I’ve tried going off all sugar cold turkey in the past, but with disastrous results! I’m trying a completely different perspective I learned while reading Dr. Kathleen DesMaison’s book, Potatoes, Not Prozac. So, when you hear of me working on specific steps, I’m referring to this book.

I’ve been on the first step, breakfast, since April 30th. I’ve been eating my protein and complex carbohydrate, and it’s really helped hold me until lunchtime. I feel a lot steadier. I’m definitely not ready to go off all sugar yet, but simply eating a good breakfast just makes me feel a whole lot better and reduces cravings for sweets!

I feel ready to move on to the next step, which is keeping a food journal. Hmm, I’ve kept a food journal in the past but never stuck with it. Why all the fuss over it anyway? I’ll tell you in the next post…

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

A little girl, asked where her home was, replied, “where mother is.” ~Keith L. Brooks

The hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
- W. R. Wallace

All mothers are working mothers. ~ Unknown

There’s nothing like a mama hug. ~Adabella Radici

To all you wonderful mothers, I want to wish you a joyful and beautiful Mother’s Day!

Photo credits: foobean01, lifan