Many of us grow up and through our teenage lives want nothing more than to be completely different from our parents. But as we develop and become adults often we find many traits, habits, traditions are shared. Whether it’s how we keep our homes, careers paths we choose, or just plain old recipes we share there is something to be said about sharing ideals as your parents did. It’s a part of who we are and how we grow. I know I definitely share some habits with my parents and even my grandparents. However not all are the same though, I know that I have deliberately chosen to make healthy choices with the habits I share. Personally I come from a family of obesity and diabetes. Battling my weight is something I knew at a young age I would have to deal with forever.

Having the challenges ahead of me I didn’t get down and give up, I didn’t listen to the doctors when they told me it’s in my genes I’ll always be overweight. About 4 years ago I made the decision to truly make changes, change the way I eat, live, carry myself and think about myself. 60 lbs lighter, healthy active lifestyle, and a role model to my kids that you can change who you are and be what you want to be I’m proud to say I still share habits with my parents.

The whole point of this ramble today is to challenge you to think outside the beaten path laid out for you. My oma who passed it on to my mother which trickled down to me LOVES to find, try and test out new recipes. Something I spend hours on Pinterest doing, but I search out a little differently than they do or did (they are both making great lifestyle changes as well) I purposely search out new ideas for a healthy lifestyle. New recipes that I can share with my family that include their favorite dishes but not loaded with all the fats and sugars the average diet contains.

Today I want to share a new find with you, this weekend I went sweet potato crazy. The benefits of sweet potatoes are great (you can find info here) and I wanted to add them to all types of stuff. For the Superbowl party I attended I brought a sweet potato hummus dip and at home I made a tasty hearty soup. Here is the soup recipe for you -

 Sweet Potato Cauliflower Soup

yield: 6 to 8 servings

• 1 large head cauliflower (the one I used was at least 7″ in diameter)
• Few dashes garam masala (optional)
• Few dashes curry (optional)
• 3 medium to large sized peeled sweet potatoes, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 5 cups filtered water
• 2 cups chicken broth

First, preheat your oven to 400 °F and cut up your cauliflower into bite sized pieces. Sprinkle cauliflower lightly with curry. Place cauliflower onto cookie sheet (I used parchment paper) and place in oven. Let roast until golden brown on the tops and tender, but not mushy, about 20-30 minutes. There’s no need to flip ‘em. Just remove from oven and let cool while you cook the rest of the soup.

In large stockpot, bring sweet potato, onion, garlic, broth (I love using homemade broth) and water to a boil. Salt (about 3/4 tsp) and stir. Reduce heat and allow to remain at a constant simmer until sweet potatoes are tender.

Let soup cool and then blend soup in blender until very smooth. Combine with roasted cauliflower and stir. Salt to taste and warm up over stove top if needed.

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This week I challenge you to step outside your comfort zone and find a new recipe, you never know what ingredients in your pantry can make you.

FOCUS

What does focus truly mean to you? How do you put it into your lifestyle everyday? Being focused can generally make or break the outcome of what you are working for. Do you have the goal in mind? Are you working towards the specific item or is it vague and blurry?

Focus has become a huge part of my life lately. We are focused on taking our health goals to the next level, focused on improving our home, focused on our finical goals. But stating this without a clear definition of what you are pin point working towards can often lead you walking around in circles. Here’s some food for thought –

F – Forward Motion, daily taking steps towards reaching your goal.
O – Opportunity, keeping your eyes on the goal with give you the strength to jump at opportunity when it comes along.
C – Commitment, staying on track it because easier to stay committed as the end result is in clear picture.
U – Unstoppable, driving people are a force and get what needs to be done to get where they are going.
S – Success, simple as that.

Just some simple blog from my brain to your computer screen this evening. I challenge you to set your focus, zoom your lense and drive for your goals. Post them on your mirror and declare yourself every day that you will reach them. Before you know it the mountain will be climbed and defeated. Success is a great feeling but only comes after hard work.

I’m pretty sure at one point in time in everyone’s life we have heard the term “positive thinking” The ideology of putting what you want out in the universe and you get it back. Many people are skeptical about “The Secret” and I can completely understand why. How is it possible that by thinking something it’ll come? Putting it out there that you are going to find a suitcase of money in a parking lot one day is not realistic. But if you think about it, you could easily one day meet a future business partner in a parking lot that will forever change your life. Putting what you want into action does not mean that you will receive that exact thought back, but maybe the means in which you can utilize to get what you are looking for.

Goal setting is something I talk about a lot, but there is a reason why. It’s going to relate into my next paragraph as well. By setting a goal, dream, vision you are giving your mind something to relate, work and push for. Myself personally I’m really fired up about doing a triathlon, I’ve never partake in any type of event like that. 2 years ago you would’ve overheard me saying “I don’t understand why people would pay to run when they can do that any day” But over the last summer and after working at a couple events I understand why, at least for myself. It’s the accomplishment, the commitment, something to work for. I want that, not so much the medal saying I completed the event, I want the medal saying “I committed, I trained, I completed!”So I’ve committed, I’ve put it out there that this is what I want, either next year or the year after depending on family. Either way, I’m committed and excited to train.

and BAM…. there it is.

The excitement, the passion, the drive, my frame of mind in a whole different way. I’m not a swimmer, haven’t ever been a swimmer, but last week I was excited to jump in that pool. The training I have ahead of me is going to be tough, putting my head under water is something I have never been able to do. But there I was, trying, pushing, stopping every two strokes cause I couldn’t breath. Flipped onto my back and did the back stroke, then breast stroke, and then tried the front again. After about 30 minutes I was done, first day down, now to Google breathing techniques. Sunday… back at the pool, this time with a different agenda, breathing. I read a lot online and took a bunch of tips, there I am Sunday afternoon my family all with me as I sit in the shallow end staring at

the water. After twenty minutes of relentless breath, tilt, breath, tilt, over and over I jumped in the swim lane and took off. Proud to say I was able to complete one whole length without having to stop.

So now I’m even more excited, excited to get in the pool and workout, fired up to feel the burn in my shoulders and improve. Why? Because I have set the goal, I have given myself a reason to drive and thus changed my frame of mind towards the pool. Six months ago I would’ve looked at you and said “I’ll stay on the elliptical you can take your pool”

What is your mind set on? Do you look at you lean protein with steamed vegetables and think “uh I’m tired of this I want perogies and sausage” or do you look at it and get excited because you know that those jeans are gonna fit even better?