HOPE Part III: If God is for us, who can be against us?

When I sit back and think about my journey to motherhood over the last 8 years, I am humbled. I can see God's hand all over my life; orchestrating, molding and crafting a beautiful symphony.  If this journey were set to music, I can actually hear the changes in tempo and melody in my head. It hasn't always been this way, but the beautiful thing about knowing God and having a relationship with Jesus is that you can have peace and joy in the midst of circumstances that seem hopeless.

Please read on for the continuation of my blog series, HOPE Part III: If God is for us, who can be against us?

Four years ago, I received a medical diagnosis for a condition called PCOS or polycystic ovary syndrome.  It explained my miscarriages, the weight gain after discontinuing the use of hormonal birth control, my high blood sugar and so many other symptoms, including cysts on my ovaries that my gynecologist informed me would make conception the old-fashioned way difficult for me and my husband.  I felt strongly that God had led me to this new doctor, who actually listened to me and confirmed I wasn't crazy when I thought something wasn't right with my body.  He referred me to a reproductive endocrinologist, a fertility specialist, who might be able to help.  

The funny thing about getting answers in the natural is that sometimes we read into it.  For me, I thought to myself, "is this from God?" That question should always be the first one we ask, but we should also to pray and meditate about it.  More often than not, God will show us his will through multiple signs, occurrences and people.  But God also uses disappointment, struggle and defeat to get our attention. It's not cruel, vengeful or malicious, but it's love.  He knows us, He created us and He knows exactly what it will take to get our attention.  

The six months following my diagnosis were heartbreaking.  I had four failed fertility treatments. My marriage was strained.  I was still trying to control the outcome, but God had other plans.  He kept whispering to me to leave my job.  I questioned God's command, "How could I leave my job?  My awesome insurance was paying for fertility treatment.  I must be crazy!"

I had been in prayer more than ever before; not knowing how to give up control but knowing I needed to let God move the pieces. God was trying to get my attention. One of the ways he does this is through a restless spirit (Esther 6:1-14). I knew something had to give.  I was miserable, and I worked for a non-profit that focused on maternal and infant health.  It was a daily reminder of my failure to become a mother.  I had been interviewing for lots of jobs, but nothing was panning out. And then came two different signs.  

My husband told me to just quit and we'd figure it out. Money would be tight, but we'd be ok.  And then, a good friend hopped in my car as I was leaving my office one day. She told me that she was serious about hiring me away. She owned a small business, a fitness center, and knew that I'd be an asset (she'd been saying that for four years).  She couldn't pay me what I was earning, but she offered me partnership, controlling interest and the opportunity to build a dream with her. 

I prayed about it and talked with my husband.  This would be the perfect opportunity to focus on my health and wellbeing.  So I jumped in with two feet, not really knowing the path my life was getting ready to take. For the first time, I was fully confident that with God on my side, there was nothing I couldn't do.  

Romans 8:31 NIV
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Jumpstart your metabolism with apple cider vinegar

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But what you may not know is that there are other things you can do first thing in the morning to jumpstart your metabolism, your digestive system and your circulatory system.   Below is my recipe that I start my day with every morning. I drink it all at once.

Jumpstart your metabolism with apple cider vinegar 



Here are some other benefits of apple cider vinegar and raw honey.

The taste takes a little getting used to, but the lemon and honey help and give you an added nutritional boost.  Best of all (in my opinion), if you aren't regular in the morning, about 20 minutes afterward you should be! (I'm convinced a good BM will fix anything.)  There are many benefits to drinking warm water first thing in the morning!

Try it out and leave your comments below!

Yours in health,
Coach Steph

Healthier breakfast alternative for your meat and potatoes man

What do you do when you're trying to eat healthy and prepare clean meals for your family and your husband and only wants meat and potatoes?  If your significant other is like mine, he's not going to drink a smoothie or eat an egg white omelette! So, instead of trying to change him, I just try to prepare the healthiest version of foods that he loves. 

This is my recipe for an alternative to him swinging through the drive-through and getting a breakfast sandwich every day because he wants a hot meal.  I don't get up early to make him one, and these can be stored in Ziploc bags and reheated for grab and go.

Healthy breakfast alternative for your meat and potatoes man

Drop biscuits:

4 1/2 c Bisquick all-purpose baking mix

1 1/3 c skim milk or plain almond milk 

1 c shredded cheese

1 lb all natural pork or turkey sausage (I get our pork from the farmers market, and it's farm-to-table.  No nitrates, fillers, hormones or antibiotics. I used turkey sausage for a long time. Just read your labels so that you're not giving something that's full of preservatives)

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and grease a cookie sheet with butter or cooking spray.

Mix the Bisquick and milk in a large bowl, then fold in the cheese. Add browned sausage (cook it first) until all is mixed evenly. 

Use a serving spoon or a cookie baller (one size up from a melon baller. Pampered chef has a good one if you're looking) to drop the biscuits onto your greased cookie sheet. I do 4 to a row so I can bake 16 at a time. Bake for 10 minutes and let them cool on a baker's rack or paper towels.  

Once cooled, I package them into sandwich bags for easy serving. My husband eats three at a time, but you can figure out what you need. One batch makes 30-32 biscuits depending on how you measure them. This gets us a little over a week of breakfast.  To reheat, wrap the biscuits in a damp paper towel for about 20 seconds. 

Lower in fat, preservatives and calories than any biscuit from any fast food restaurant and much cheaper. All the ingredients cost us about $5 for 8-9 meals! Your man will be eating something  yummy, semi-healthy,  and you can feel good about what he's eating and not spending at the drive-through.  I love feeding yummy food to my family,  and I know he appreciates the little bit of effort that I put into making sure that he gets a hot breakfast in the morning. Happy baking! 

HOPE Part II: When your life doesn't go as planned

I'm sure you've heard the saying, "If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans." Does that mean we shouldn't plan? I don't think so. But our desire to live life according to a plan not willed by God can lead to heartbreak, brokenness and defeat. When things don't go as planned, we sometimes ask ourselves, "why is this happening to me," or "what did I do to deserve this?" The truth is, God's word tell us that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purposes.” (Romans 8:28)

 We all have a unique calling on our life; a purpose that no one else can fulfill in the Kingdom. Most of us spend our whole lives searching for our purpose. Mark Twain once said, “the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” But what if you're so driven to fulfilling your own plans that you leave no room for God to show you his will for your life? If you don't take time to sit, listen and seek, how will you ever be able to hear his voice and see his signs? 

That's what happened to me. Please read on for the second part of my current blog series. HOPE Part II: When your life doesn't go as planned.

My whole life I was raised to have goals. I was a first generation college student; my dad finally completed his degree when I was 16, but I was the first person in my family to graduate high school and immediately go onto a four-year university. Frankly, I felt a lot of pressure; I'd go on to be the only member of my family to take a traditional path to education. It was very important to my parents and became very important to me. I was so driven to get the next 'A,' plan for the next class and set myself up for success. Before long, I didn't need anyone else to hold me accountable. I knew what needed to be done.

That drive has taken me very far in life; so far that I believe it became an obstacle to seeing God's plan for my life. Thanks to all my hard work, I graduated college in 3.5 years. Because of an internship my senior year, I landed a full-time salaried position three months after graduation. I was on my way! Education, check. Job, check. In the middle of college I met my now husband. He proposed a month after I started my job. Fiancé , check! We got married 1.5 years later.

Life was grand! Now, I had a husband who liked plans, too. We decided before we got married we wanted to wait 5 years before trying to start a family. Seems reasonable, right? But what I didn't allow for in my life and marriage was for Jesus to truly take the wheel (thanks to Carrie Underwood I'm now singing that catchy song in my head). I always kept God at an arm's length. I only ever put enough trust in Him so I wouldn't be too disappointed when things didn't happen. I didn't fully understand God's grace and desire to bless us until much later.

Five short months into our marriage, I found myself suffering a miscarriage; it was the most traumatic thing I've ever experienced. I was in the middle of a stressful season at work and didn't even realize I was pregnant until I lost the baby. I was on the pill (plan) and had been taking antibiotics for a UTI. I just wasn't expecting it. But God was trying so desperately to reach me. I just didn't listen.

Flash forward over the next 4 years and two more miscarriage. I had begun to pray fervently. I was unhappy at work. I was stressed, exhausted and at the end of my rope. My husband was self-employed, working long hours. I had this nagging feeling to go see another doctor. It wasn't just intuition, God was pulling at me. See, he'd been trying to get my attention for years, ever since I gave my heart to him when I was 16 and confessed Jesus as my Lord and Savior. But I wasn't ready to SURRENDER my plans to God.

But guess what? I was on the verge of breakthrough.

It was nearly my five-year wedding anniversary. BABY TIME!!! I found a new gynecologist since I had this feeling (the Holy Spirit) to change doctors. I made an appointment and was ready to have a baby. At that visit in July 2012, my new doctor diagnosed me with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, an endocrine disorder that can cause ovarian cysts, making conception and pregnancy difficult (my miscarriages). Left untreated, it can lead to serious health problems including heart disease and diabetes. But, all I heard was an answer (thank you Jesus) to my miscarriages and for the first time had HOPE that motherhood may not be impossible.

Please join me next time for the continuation of this series. Thanks for reading!

HOPE Part I

Did you ever want something so badly that you would stop at nothing to get it?  Whether it is a material thing, a relationship or something intangible (i.e. peace, freedom), we all have goals, dreams and visions of our future.

I was baptized as a baby, but I have been seeking God all my life.  I really started to pursue a relationship with Jesus in my early 20s, when a lot of young women and men are searching to find who they are. One scripture that I have always clung to, whether I was walking closely with the Lord or bumbling my way through life, hanging on by a thread, was Jeremiah 29:11.

It has become my family's scripture, the one my husband and I pray out loud, in the quiet, together and alone.  It really sums up what we all need to make it in this crazy world: HOPE. Placing my trust in God to guide me and help me navigate life was the best decision I ever made.  It doesn't make things perfect, but it makes life enjoyable. 

This scripture has a particular place in my heart as it relates to my hopes and dreams to become a mother.  In the 'About Me' section of my blog, I talk a little about my road to motherhood because it was the catalyst for a lot of big changes in my life.  The news of my health troubles and infertility led to me making big changes in my life spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally. The greatest joy to come out of my journey to motherhood has been my relationship with Jesus.  

I'm going to unfold a story to you over the next few months.  It is a story of grief, brokenness, heartache, trust, redemption, love, friendship and of course, HOPE.  I pray you will follow my blog as I share a very personal but important story, one that changed the course of my entire life and led me to a place I hope each and every one of you finds.  

My greatest wish for you is that you find your purpose and embrace the man or woman God created you to be, for you to have hope and a future.

Yours in health,

Coach Steph

What does healthy mean?

To many of you, this may not mean much.  But these numbers have helped me redefine my own meaning to the question, "what does healthy mean?"

Flashback to July 2012: I was 28 years old and weighed the most I ever had in my entire life, 270 lbs. Aside from the weight, my blood pressure was 140/90.  My fasting blood glucose level was 120.  The number above represents nearly 4 years of hard work including exercise, a complete overhaul of my eating habits, and most importantly, a mental shift in the way I think about health and fitness.

I, like most people, always determined how healthy I was based on two numbers: my weight on the scale and my BMI.  I'm not saying you shouldn't pay attention to those numbers, but I want to challenge you to add a few more into your health profile.

Do you know...

• your resting heart rate?
• your fasting blood glucose level?
• your blood pressure?
• your body fat percentage?
• your heart rate recovery time?

If you answered 'no' to any or all of the above questions, I challenge you to seek out your health care provider and a certified personal trainer to help assess what your numbers are.  Getting a total picture of your overall health includes all your numbers.  

When you are armed with information and knowledge, you can start to form a plan as to how you want to improve your health. Your number one goal shouldn't always be to lose weight.  Fat loss is a bonus by-product of living healthier.  When you know your numbers, you can begin to define, "what does healthy mean" for yourself.

Yours in health,

Coach Steph

Why the 2016 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue is important

I'm a certified personal trainer. My job is not to make people shrink.  My job is to educate my clients and help them reach the goals they set for themselves. Not everyone's goals are the same.  My goals are not your goals and vice versa.  So why am I bringing up the SI swimsuit issue?  I could write at length about this topic, but I'm going to just share a few things.

Why the 2016 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue is important:

1. As a woman who has battled disordered eating, bullying (now we call it fat shaming), yo-yo dieting and poor self worth for most of my life, the three very different women on this cover represent a societal shift.  It represents that the perceived standard of beauty and sexiness is starting to change.  Sidenote: the editors and marketing team realized this would create buzz.  Let's get down to it: it's all about money. If these covers entice people to buy magazines, then the gamble paid off.

2.  Health is a lifestyle, not a size.  I don't know a lot about Hailey Clauson.  I have followed Ashley Graham's career for about a year.  I've been a Ronda Rousey fan for 6+ years.  I have watched and read about Rousey's lifestyle and nutrition.  She is healthy, athletic and beautiful.  Ashley Graham exercises on a regular basis, enjoys a diet of balance and moderation and is beautiful.  Though I don't know a lot about her, Clauson is also a beautiful woman.  All three of these women make a living off their appearance.  To say that Rousey and Graham are not healthy because they don't look like Clauson is an ignorant statement. What does their blood work, blood pressure or resting heart rate look like?  Those are really the biggest measures of our health, not how we look in a bathing suit.

3.  Making a decision to lead a healthier lifestyle is major.  Losing weight, gaining muscle, training for an endurance race or simply improving your eating habits are all challenging in their own way depending on the person.   I can tell you that for a lot of my weight loss clients, the biggest battle I help them face is what's going on between their ears.  Overcoming what we see in the mirror and think about our bodies are two of the biggest obstacles in reaching health goals.  Don't minimize the effect of what seeing a woman who "looks like you" on the cover of a magazine might do for a woman's self esteem.  (anyone remember wanting to look like Cindy Crawford, Kathy Ireland or Hannah Davis and realizing that may never happen?)

4. No one has the right to tell you what your body should look like.  It's your choice.  The kind of lifestyle you want to lead will have an impact on what your body looks like.  Hailey Clauson's body works for her career.  Ashley Graham's body works for her lifestyle and career.  Ronda Rousey has made her living on having muscle, strength and stamina.  Who are we to say 'your body isn't good enough?'

I could go on forever about this topic.  If you want to discuss further, leave a comment.  I welcome the dialogue, but no body bashing.