Tag: nutritional supplements

Reflections on 2014

On January 1st many of us set New Year’s Resolutions. We resolve to do better. Do more of the things that are good for us (health, fitness, financial) and less of the things that are not so good for us (poor food choices, sedentary living, frivolous spending). The model of success I have found through the Health Fitness Beauty Quest has been one of adding. The focus has never been about taking away, but one of incorporating more of the things that are better for me.

Health

By adding better food choices such as an apple before a breakfast taco or a salad before a burger, I found the cravings for poor food choices naturally minimize and were even deleted from my daily meal options. This does not mean I forgo pizza or burgers or tacos. What it does mean is that those types of food options have fallen into the few and far between meals. I simply do not care to eat them as often as I did in the past.

Fitness

In 2014, I added neighborhood walks, interval treadmill sessions, hiking and gym circuit training to my cycling and swimming. I was surprised to discover how quickly my body responded to mixing up my fitness routine. It took less time to loose inches and gain strength when I varied my workouts. By adding more movement and changing the types of exercise I was doing I saw bigger results.

Beauty

I went big when it came to beauty. I added monthly facials, had an abdominal awake lipo procedure, incorporated a morning and evening beauty regimen and learned more about how to care for myself than I had in all my adult life. I not only learned about beauty care, but I stuck to it day after day, month after month. It’s one thing to learn something, but it is an entirely different thing to see it through day in and day out.

Nutritional Supplements

Although nutritional supplements are not part of my blog title, they have played an important supporting role in each aspect of my health, fitness and beauty. In 2014, I became a part of the #1 nutritional supplement company in the world. Incorporating nutritional supplements to my daily routine was another I found to move my quest forward. By joining the company I also added another stream of income to my business.

As I look back on 2014, I see a year of transition and transformation. I took my life back from the unhealthy version of myself and staked a claim for the new healthy, fit and beautiful version of myself that will live out the rest of my adventure-filled days.

The RESET Weight Loss Challenge

RESET picWhen I signed up to become an Independent Distributor for USANA, they sent me a box of all kinds of goodies. From nutritional supplements to skin care to snack bars. One thing that piqued my interest was a glossy box that had the word RESET on top. When I opened it I discovered there was a 5 day weight loss system inside. Individual packets of Nutrimeal, Essential Supplements, Snack Bars and a RESET Success Guide.

I have been pretty happy with my existing healthy weight loss program of being physically active and smart eating. However, the claim of loosing 4.5-5lbs by the 5th day had me intrigued. So, in the interest of being product knowledgeable, I figured it might be a good idea to give it a whirl. After all, how can I talk about the products unless I have experience with them? Or at least that is what I told myself I was doing.Jennifer's starting weight for the #RESETChallenge

Like everything else on this journey, I figured sharing the experience with you would be another way to keep me accountable. Here is a pic of my starting weight of 157lbs. I will be posting pics each day on Twitter so we can all see how well it does or doesn’t work.

Here is the video I created for the first day:

 

Not one to go it alone, I invited my mom and a friend to join me. Let me know if you’re interested in joining us for your own healthy RESET.   I will keep you informed of the progress and write an update post on day five. Wish us luck!

Diving into Discovery Mode: USANA

As part of my continuing discovery journey for the Health Fitness Beauty Quest, I am in Salt Lake City, UT to attend the USANA International Convention. I have used their nutritional supplements for almost a year. In that time I have shared my improved health and energy with you. Now I am putting my detective hat on so I can learn more about why these nutritional supplements have had such an impact to my health. I also want to get to the heart of what makes this company so different.

Join me for daily video interviews on my USTREAM channel and YouTube channel or follow me on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtags: #HFBQ and #USANA14.

New Adventures

Today, I am embarking on a new adventure. If you have spent any time at all on the Health Fitness Beauty Quest site or following me on Twitter or Facebook then you will know a bit about the nutritional supplements I have been taking since September 2013. I have shared the changes I have seen in my health and the improvements I have experienced in my cycling. In my book, both have been quite noteworthy.

Perhaps, it will not come as a surprise to you that I decided to join the company who makes the nutritional products that have helped to transform my life into the healthiest and most active version of me I have ever known. Both my sons are also taking the nutritional supplements and have seen improvements in their health. My mom is the newest nearest and dearest person to me to begin taking nutritional supplements from this company. Heck, even our 13 year old dog is taking supplements. As I’ve said before, when you know something works you share it with the people (and dogs) you love.

Although, I consider myself a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda gal, it did take me almost a year to make the decision to go from a consumer of their products to becoming part of the company. I thought about this decision a lot over the past few months. The longer I took the products and the more I saw the benefits in my life and the lives of those I love, I knew there was only one direction I could go and that was forward.

usana logoTomorrow, I am flying to Utah to attend the USANA convention  Since the company is located in Salt Lake City, you could say, I am going straight to the source. I am ready to drink from the USANA firehose to learn everything I can about the company that developed the products which have made such an impact to my health.

However, I won’t just be attending the convention, I will also be hosting a Social Media Lounge. Follow all the video interviews this week on the Health Fitness Beauty Quest streaming channel.  I will also post random musings and the occasional audio interview on SoundCloud. You can be sure there will be Twitter and Facebook posts as well. Be on the lookout for the #HFBQ and #USANA14 to follow all the action.

 

Health: Interesting Observations on the Health Fitness Beauty Quest

abstract treeWhen I started my Health Fitness Beauty Quest in early September, I wasn’t quite sure what I would discover. I was pretty sure whatever it was I would be more knowledgable and healthier. What exactly that would be had yet to be found. Well, here I am on December 10th and I have had many AHA! moments as well as some, Hmmm….interesting moments.

In this post, I will share those moments as it relates to taking the USANA nutritional supplements provided to me by Penny Muckelroy who is an Independent Distributor for the company. Penny gave me a bag full of nutritional items she felt I would need in order to move in a positive direction. The goal was to improve my nutritional health on a cellular level. Penny explained to me that if each individual cell was healthy, then my entire body would be healthy. Sounds simple enough. In order to do that I needed to take a handful of supplements twice a day. These were given to me in AM and PM packs. As in, take this handful of pills in the morning and this second handful of pills in the evening. Seemed like overkill to me, but I was on the quest and listening to my advisors and following their instructions towards better health was the entire point.

USANA AM/PM Pack Supplements

USANA AM/PM Pack Supplements

The Ride

So for a few weeks I took them and other than fluorescent bathroom breaks, nothing seemed to change. At least that was what I thought. About 3-4 weeks into the AM/PM packs, I went for one of my weekly bike rides with my bike group. We went for a normal weekday ride of 18 miles. No big deal, right? Well, actually it was a big deal. About 1/3 of the way I noticed I didn’t feel tired. Then at the halfway mark I still didn’t feel tired. Then we finished the 18 miles and I felt like I could have ridden 18 miles more. What was going on? Then it hit me. The only big thing I had changed was in adding the AM/PM packs to my day.

I thought about all those rides and bike tours I had done in the past (20-54 miles) where I had always felt the fatigue during the ride and pushed myself to complete the tours. All this time I thought that the fatigue was part of the ride. Little did I know I was pushing my cells to do so much on what apparently was an empty gas tank. When I started taking the AM/PM packs my cells began receiving the nutrition they were missing. They charged themselves up and then I really felt what it was like to ride at full power. What a difference!

A Glance In The Mirror

At about two months into taking the AM/PM packs I noticed something else entirely. I was fresh out of the shower, going from robe to my clothes for the day when I happened to glance at my full-length mirror. I was so surprised by what I saw…or should I say what I didn’t see that I stopped for a closer look. I am a 44 year old woman who has a couple of kids under her belt and has lived a bit on the frivolous side of life. So I am sure it is no surprise that I have cellulite and stretch marks on my body. What caused me to stop and stare at myself was what appeared to be smooth skin in places that hadn’t seen smooth skin in years. I went closer to the mirror and I could see the stretch marks, but they were very faint and my skin felt smooth and soft to the touch. I was amazed. Am I saying that if you take the AM/PM packs that this will happen to you? No. I have no idea what will happen to you. I am merely sharing what I am noticing is happening to me.

Shiny and Thick

It is no secret that as we ladies get older hair dye becomes an important part of our beauty routine. Hair dye is not the kindest thing we can do to our hair. In my case, it exasperated things by drying out my hair. So, I now had dry thin hair that on good days I could manage with lots of deep conditioners, leave-in treatments, mousse and hairspray. On bad days my hair resembled a dry haystack.  So, in the third month I was surprised to discover that my hair which has always been fine and in recent years thinning felt thicker to the touch. It also looked shiny. I mean healthy shiny. It was actually bouncy and soft to the touch. When the heck did this happen?!

My Thoughts

When I started taking the AM/PM packs, I had no idea that where I would see the biggest difference would be in the challenging areas of my body. My hair had become more and more of a problem the older I have gotten. I had long ago written off the stretch marks and cellulite as just part of getting older. I thought the energy levels I was experiencing when cycling were what they should be and had no idea how much I was missing.

I cannot say that anyone reading this will experience what I have in just the few short months of my Health Fitness Beauty Quest. In my opinion I am still in the infancy of what I will learn and experience as I move forward. What I can say is that I have found a whole lot of positive benefits to taking the USANA AM/PM nutritional supplement packs on a daily basis.

In the beginning I took the AM/PM packs with little expectation. Now I look forward to taking them. I wonder what the next AHA! moment will be and can’t wait to see how my body will improve as I nourish it on the cellular level. I now am beginning to understand what Penny meant when she explained the importance of doing so back in September. I am so much wiser now than I was then.

I do appreciate all of your encouragement here on the blog in the comments as well as your replies and tweets on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you for continuing to support me on my journey.

Health: Learning About Nutritional Supplements

For this Health|Fitness|Beauty Quest interview, I sat down with Penny Muckelroy who is an Independent Associate with USANA Health Sciences, Inc. She shares the benefits of nutritional supplements when it comes to whole body health, information about USANA’s pharmaceutical grade production facility and how she helps her clients starting with a Health Assessment.

Disclosure: Penny Muckelroy will be providing me with nutritional education and supplement recommendations based on the findings of my Health Assessment.  I will share my personal experiences through blog posts, audio and video which will be posted here on the site as well as on YouTube.