Why Arbonne?

If you recall, I was first introduced to Arbonne in 2011 by a girl I went to high school with. It was after I was diagnosed with a stress fracture from training for my first half marathon. At this point I had started reading about the right foods to eat to not only prevent this injury from happening again, but also to fuel my runs. I immediately fell in love with Arbonne's protein - I looked and felt amazing! Along my health journey I learned (through Arbonne) that my body doesn't tolerate any gluten and minimal dairy. I have other food sensitivities and intolerances - but that is a WHOLE other blog series! :) Anyhow, I decided to jump in and start my own Arbonne business! I was rockin' and rollin' and promoted to District Manager in 2 months of starting my business! Fast forward to August of 2012, my sweet mom lost her battle with cancer. I decided after this, that I just didn't care about my biz as I tried to deal with the loss and grief of losing my mom.

Over the years, I missed having my biz. In November of 2017, I got married ! WOOHOO! :) In this, my husband and I decided we had financial goals we wanted to meet and we started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. As a teacher, I don't make much money - of course. So, I kept trying to think of ways that I could help meet our financial goals on my minimal salary. Arbonne stayed in the back of my mind, just rolling around. I kept thinking about it, but also thought my husband would think I was insane. I imagined him saying, "you have 2 Masters degrees and you want to... sell lipstick!?" I finally decided to talk to him about it, and we looked over the business plan. And guess what... he was SO incredibly supportive and ready for me to jump in! AH how cool was that!? Sometimes, we can be our own worst enemies! He didn't at all react the way I had imagined.

Within 1 month of starting my Arbonne business (again), I promoted to District Manager. 1 month! How awesome is that!?

I know there are stigmas associated with Social Marketing, but other people's opinions of me or honestly none of my business. (Thank you to Rachel Hollis for drilling that in to my head.) Arbonne is a company that I am proud to be a part of, products that I can attach my name to and feel safe bringing in to my home. I see this as a way to take my passion for teaching and nutrition and merge them together. I don't see it as selling lipstick, I see this as an opportunity to teach people how to be healthy or how to better their finances through this powerful gift called Arbonne. 

Keto: Just Say No

The noun form of the word "diet" has two meanings:

1. 1.

   the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.
2. 2.

   a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.
3. 
   

More often that not, when we hear the term we often are referring to the latter of the two. Over the years on my health living journey, I have researched or even tried various "diets" (definition #2). The one diet that really got me second guessing all of the information from the internet and what "they" say.  (Who are the elusive "they" anyhow?) After a lot of research and prompting from friends, I tried keto before my wedding last year. After a stint of hardcore keto (bullet proof coffee, sub 20 g of carbs a day, moderate protein, high fat, and even going so far as to log my vitamins) and peeing on a lot of keto sticks, I stepped on the scale. 

Within 1 month I had gained 5 lb. Aside from the weight gain, through out the month of keto I physically felt terrible. My reflux had returned, after it had subsided in 2012 after I nixed gluten from my diet (definition #1 :) ). I didn't feel healthy. You know that feeling when you eat something really greasy and that grease might as well be seeping out of your pores? Yeah, that's how I constantly felt. That's the best way to describe it!

I then decided to step back and evaluate popular fad diets. Aside from my experience with keto, I firmly believe keto is a fad diet with major long term health ramifications. How can aiming to eat 150g of fat a day be healthy? How can one think that eating blueberries will make them fat?

God created foods such as apples, blueberries, sweet potatoes, chicken, etc all for our nourishment as human beings. We often times act as though our brains know more than our bodies - our bodies that were designed so intricately to function in ways that our brains still can't even begin to understand. So, how arrogant or foolish are we to think that our bodies don't know anything and we need to trick them?

Your body was designed to take in food for sustenance and to function properly. As you step away from "diets" (definition #2), you should start to listen to the needs, signals, hunger, etc from your body. It will tell you when you need to eat and what you need to eat. Now, if your mouth is wanting twinkies every meal, then that is not nourishment. You can choose wise foods, while not following unhealthy diets. 

Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Last night I made an awesome casserole! Mexican food is always a fan favorite in our home, so I chose one of many Pinterest recipes. This one was from Family Fresh Meals. I made a couple of changes to it to suit our family. It was a huge hit, and leftovers for lunch were great!

Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients

• 18 6-inch corn tortillas (gluten free)
• 1 packet Frontera, Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
• 2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 4 cups Mexican blend cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Place 6 tortillas in the bottom of a buttered baking dish - allow them to overlap some
   
   
3. Top with 1/3 the packet of enchilada sauce evenly over tortillas
4. Top with 1/2 chicken, 2 TB of onion, 1 cup of cheese
5. Repeat steps 1-4
6. For the final layer, add 6 more tortillas, the rest of the sauce, chicken, and onions. Top with one more cup of cheese.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Let stand for about 5 minutes before serving.