WHEN IT COMES TO SEX AND MENOPAUSE, USE IT OR LOSE IT

Let me clarify before I continue writing this article that my stance with sex is that it belongs and is a big part of a healthy marriage. The issue with sex and menopause, or even going through the premenopausal period brings lots of changes to the female body that can negatively impact our sex lives. I do cover all things health related and never to offend, but hopefully to motivate, inspire, educate, or get us thinking about our lives in a healthier way.  I have joined the ranks of the 50+ woman and feel that it is important to speak out about subjects that we all want to talk about, but seem to hide behind closed doors feeling ashamed, embarrassed, or in denial.  Whatever the case may be, please know that no woman will escape going through menopause, we all have this in common, and it is pretty awesome to think that there is a support system to lean on for answers.

I am just going to blurt it out, when it comes to sex and menopause, use it or lose it ladies.  As our hormones plummet to nothing, ugly things start to happen to the vaginal and surrounding tissue of the urethra.  Our once plumped up beautiful flower has started to wither away making pollination something of a challenge to say the least. What is happening is called vaginal atrophy and just as a muscle begins to decrease in size and shape when not exercised, the same thing happens to our vagina. Studies have shown that consistent sexual activity helps to promote lubrication of the vaginal walls and to maintain the shape and strength of the vaginal canal.  So it is not only important to have regular sexual activity, but also climaxing to exercise those muscles and bring blood flow to the area.  

Sex is a big part of a healthy marriage, and I applaud the husbands out there who are our biggest cheerleaders, and approach with patience and understanding their menopausal wives.  The bedroom romp takes on a whole different meaning when it comes to our aging bodies.  We will be the biggest investors of lubricants, gels, and creative play to maintain a healthy sex life.  The important thing to remember is not to get frustrated, relax, go with the flow, and just have sex.  Schedule a sex date with your spouse and focus on the feelings, sensations, and enjoyment of just being together.  That is what it is all about anyway, giving of ourselves to each other, without inhibition, embarrassment or shame for what we are going through, but a greater sharing experience and acceptance of who we are as women.  Place no expectations on the sexual experience and bask in the moment of play time with your spouse. 

Sex and menopause are just another part of our journey in this life and we do have a choice of how we will handle the changes.  It is important to be pro-active in taking care of our sexual bodies and applying whatever healthy measures that will enable us to feel good, sexy and confident in this area.  Avoiding the subject will not only create a dysfunctional vagina, but also an unhealthy marriage, since sexual closeness is an important part of expressing our need and want for our spouse.  Apply the “use it lose it” philosophy to your changing body and you will be on the right track to a healthier vagina through menopause.   

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FIT AT 50!

Stay Healthy!

Darla

I COUNT QUALITY NOT CALORIES

I stopped counting calories years ago, and simply made my focus on eating healthy quality “real” food each day.  I like that motivational poster that says “no one has ever gotten fat eating too much kale” and this is really true and can be applied to most of the healthy food choices out there.  I do not feel the need to keep track of ingredients I know are providing health benefits and awesome nutrients that keep my body looking and feeling the way it does.  I keep my refrigerator, pantry and counters stocked with plenty of organic vegetables, greens, fruits, yogurts, raw nuts, lean meats, and my list goes on and believe me, I am stuffing my face every three hours or less with a nutrient dense fiber rich food.

Maintaining a healthy body is about living a quality life and that means being concerned about the quality of food that I eat.  There is a big difference in consuming a McDonald’s Big Mac and fries compared to an organic chicken breast with a sweet potato and mixed greens.   The latter will be more nutrient dense, health beneficial and less calories, but to the eye will appear like more food.  This is a great example of why I do not bother with counting calories.  As long as I am eating meals like organic chicken and greens, the need and stress behind counting calories is pointless.  I eat for health and listen to the cues of my body that tell me to fuel up.

When it comes to buying my groceries, I hit the perimeter of the store and steer clear of the aisles full of processed inflammation causing crap.  Take into consideration your local grocery and how it is laid out, generally produce to the right or left, dairy to the back and following along to the meat counter on the opposite side.  I stick to my list in hand and the only extras that I dash into the forbidden center would be for dark chocolate, red wine, or something organic like packaged Quinoa.  I really enjoy the local farmer’s markets and stake those out for my produce as much as possible, and I adore the organics at Costco.  I believe in keeping my healthy food intake simple as well.  The food gets too much credit for being complicated when trying to adopt a healthy lifestyle and that is such an unfair assumption. 

Take an organic apple for example, and appreciate the nutrient value and simplicity of this “fast food”.  Now add natural organic peanut butter to that apple and a power fuel meal has been created.  I do not find that difficult and I apply this type of philosophy to all my healthy foods.  I am sure we all know how to prepare and cook an organic chicken breast and other than on the grill, one of my favorite methods is in the crock pot with some fabulous spices or salsa.  I also enjoy sweet potatoes and will prepare those with an olive oil rub, and finish off this meal with a spinach salad topped with walnuts, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  I am talking about quality food to create a quality healthy body.  Think about our ancestors, what they ate, and how it was created.  It was the simplicity of organic lean meat, dairy and produce from the land eaten throughout a busy physical day and the thought of maintaining a healthy body was not even a thought.  It was lived every day and that is what I think about when I am living my life as a healthy person and eating the way that I do. What I do count is quality when it comes to my calories and that works for me. 

Stay Healthy Fitness Happenings: Want to promote your business through low cost Ad Space or a fun Giveaway with Stay Healthy Fitness? Check out my pages for Ad Space or Host a Giveaway and I look forward to assisting you!

 

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Stay Healthy!

Darla

SET YOUR BOUNDARIES

It took me many years through this journey of life to learn how to set boundaries and even what the heck that meant. Think of a boundary as a shield of protection around you and one that will provide health and happiness.  Go deeper with the meaning and understand that boundaries are an important part of self-love and not allowing others to treat you in a way that is not healthy for you and your life.  When boundary setting is not demonstrated for us as we grow up into “adult world”, the struggle to understand how to implement them can be difficult, and sometimes scary.  The sacrifice of self to the point of mistreatment by others can be the result if boundary setting is not put into place.  Boundaries make a clear statement of what is not allowed when it comes to each person, and when those lines are crossed, it is a painful process for the one that has been wronged in that way. Sometimes clear communication of the boundary can resolve the conflict and other instances will require radical choices of removing ourselves from the situation altogether.  The most uncomfortable part of a broken boundary is the trust that was there before has now been chipped away into doubt.

I am all for doing whatever it takes to learn how to set boundaries: counseling, support groups, church guidance, etc.  Once the gift of boundary setting has been established in life, it provides a confidence, strength, and overall feeling of worthiness never experienced before, and it will seem as if life has begun in a truly healthy way for the first time.  Once boundaries have been set, it is important to honor yourself by remaining true to those decisions and not allowing anyone or anything to rob you of your shield of self-love.  Even the best of boundary setter can backslide and be tempted into old patterns of trusting someone to the point of letting down a boundary, but in the end it leads only to anger, resentment, and hurt.  Along with the pain will be the shame felt personally for allowing it to happen in the first place and feeling the sting of failure to ourselves.  Boundaries teach us how to respect ourselves enough to know how we want to be treated, and further what is acceptable in our lives.  Boundaries remove the doormats that we as people may have once been, and replaced with a security door of emotional ability to conquer any circumstance placed in its’ way.  

Emotional health is a large part of our physical health and discussing topics like boundary setting are at the top of my list when it comes to being a healthy person.  The journey has been a tough one, but the positive result of learning how to set boundaries has created the person that I am today and I love myself for that. 

Stay Healthy Fitness Happenings: Want to promote your business through low cost Ad Space or a fun Giveaway with Stay Healthy Fitness? Check out my pages for Ad Space or Host a Giveaway and I look forward to assisting you!

 

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LOVE  a Splurge Now and Then

Stay Healthy!

Darla Leal, Fit at 50

PLAN FOR SUCCESS

Having a plan is so important in our success in life and health.  I think this quote says it well: “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”  When something is planned out and written down, not only is the motivation kicked up, but also the personal challenge to reach that goal increased.  Besides, it is a written plan right in front of our face, and not something that we are only thinking about and may put into place someday.  See the difference?  If we are good stewards of our money for example, we are budgeting for expenses with our income and successfully paying our mortgages, rents, and overall bills.  Without that budget plan in place, I am sure we can all agree a huge financial mess would be the result of our irresponsibility.  Planning takes responsibility and a commitment to do what is best for our life and health.  Failing to plan sets us up for failure. 

Let’s get back to the plan and what it takes to put a health related goal into place.  I highly recommend an accountability journal to plan out strategies for exercise scheduling and also a healthy food tracking area to record food intake daily.  I also like to keep track of water intake, sleep and my overall mental game.  Tracking your weight on a scale one time per week is also motivational to see your progress and to ensure that the plan is working.  When the plan fails to function, it is never the goal that changes, but the plan or program.  Finding what works for each of us is a trial, error and fine tuning of our plan until we see the results of our investments. Just as it is exciting to pay down debt with a responsible budget plan, it is equally or even more exciting to reduce our waist lines through our commitment to the plan of adopting a healthy lifestyle. 

Everybody understands the need and importance of money to support our lives and my goal is to convey that our health banks are even more important. Imagine not balancing our checkbooks and leaving out transactions each day to the point of not knowing the balance.  Accounts would be overdrawn, additional fees paid, collectors knocking at the door, and stress increased tenfold.  That same analogy can be applied to our daily exercise and food intake.  If we do not balance our food intake, write down what is consumed, or never record our exercise expenditure, we are setting ourselves up for weight gain, increased risk of disease and illness, increased stress, and eventually doctors knocking at the door. Looking at how important a plan is for success in these terms should motivate all of us to implement them today. 

Living a healthy life is not a guessing game or a wish and we are only kidding ourselves when we run around without a plan.  Success comes when daily habits of eating healthy and moving our bodies are made a planned priority. Do we sweep our money responsibilities under the rug?  Well, I suppose some may but the outcome is always an unhealthy consequence in doing so.  How much more important is our health and that so many people do just that, sweep it under the rug.  Let’s turn the goals of obtaining a fit body into more than just a wish by starting today with a plan for adopting a healthy lifestyle. 

GIVEAWAY TIME:

WINNER RECEIVES A FULL SIZE BOTTLE

Want to win a full size bottle of THE Herbal Face Food Facial Serum and have glowing skin like never before? 

Go to my Giveaway Page and enter to win the World’s 1st Organic, RAW, Edible, 100% plants face serum with an ORAC antioxidant rating of over 10 million, making it the most potent and powerful SUPER anti-oxidizing product of any kind. Made from organic plant concentrates, antioxidants and enzymes, which are sourced from all over the world.

Herbal Face Food™ is created by J. Michael Zenn, author of the bestselling book ‘Self Health Revolution’

DON'T MISS MY FREE UPDATES

Thanks for stopping by my Blog, hope you enjoy the content, and if you have not become a follower yet, I would love to see your face on my friend's list, or if you want to receive my free updates, use the button at the right to select your feed preference. I look forward to responding to your comments and appreciate your shares.

Stay Healthy!

Darla

user of THE Herbal Face Food and proud to show my images without photo shop or airbrushing. I am 50 years young and celebrate Fit at 50!

YOU DON’T NEED TO TELL ME I AM FAT

In my daily walk of being a trainer and consultant, I work with many beautiful people who want to lose weight and get healthy.  Guess what, they not only know and tell me that they are fat, but carry a heavy emotional burden of unhappiness about it.  I or anyone else does no need to verbally slap them across the face by telling them what they already know.  For some reason our society feels the need to point out the obvious as if the person does not know their own condition.  Who am I or you to judge anyone without walking in their shoes physically or emotionally?  I am blessed on a daily basis with gaining insight into the lives and emotions of those who are fat challenged, empathetic to many of the shares and driven to help them adopt a healthy lifestyle.

A fat person does not need to be told their fat just as a skinny or muscular person does not need to be told what their body looks like.  Standing in the truth of our own mirrors tells that story.  There are strong stated “no excuse” and “your fault” labels placed on the fat challenged and even coming from those working in the fitness industry.  Blanket or general statements of blame seem a bit harsh without knowing each individual’s circumstances in life.  Sadly, strong and hurtful terms can be used as publicity gaining ploys but at the emotional expense of those who are in a fat challenged position in life.

I am not saying that it is a healthy state of well-being to be fat and that it should be an accepted way of life.  That is way off the base of this blog.  What I am addressing is the unfair judgments, statements, and ignorant approach to those who are fat challenged.  All people deserve to be treated with respect and honor and we definitely should not be throwing stones when most of us live in glass houses.  There are many people running around unhealthy and simply not wearing it on the outside of their bodies in the form of fat.  Imagine if everything about everyone was exposed automatically for all to see.  In such a state, I guarantee the judgments would quickly come to a halt and all of us would be running with our unhealthy tails tucked between our legs.

Whether the amount of overweight is twenty, forty, or over one-hundred pounds, the person carrying the extra weight knows and feels that burden without me as their trainer or you as an observer saying anything. Those people dealing with obesity need to feel safe to share what has gone on in their life that has brought them to such an unhealthy state of living.  Some are at the point of owning their sabotage and others are still lost in denial and not ready to make healthy changes.  I do not need to blame or fault anyone because those feelings are always shared honestly with me by those who are fat challenged.  Obesity carries a stigma that is negative and can feel painful for those that suffer it daily.  I like that saying that goes “you have fat, you are not fat” because it is not the abundance of fat that should define us as a person. 

All of us in this life want to be healthy, and even supported through the process.  It is our personal responsibility to create that healthy life regardless of our size and shape, and the healthy choices that we make today will form our healthy tomorrows.  I know what needs to be done and what makes me feel great as a healthy person, and what I offer is support, motivation and education to those who desire to get there.  All of us can find reasons to procrastinate and that is probably a good place to start by asking that question.  Why are you waiting?

GIVEAWAY TIME:

WINNER RECEIVES A FULL SIZE BOTTLE

Want to win a full size bottle of THE Herbal Face Food Facial Serum and have glowing skin like never before? 

Go to my Giveaway Page and enter to win the World’s 1st Organic, RAW, Edible, 100% plants face serum with an ORAC antioxidant rating of over 10 million, making it the most potent and powerful SUPER anti-oxidizing product of any kind. Made from organic plant concentrates, antioxidants and enzymes, which are sourced from all over the world.

Herbal Face Food™ is created by J. Michael Zenn, author of the bestselling book ‘Self Health Revolution’

DON'T MISS MY FREE UPDATES

Thanks for stopping by my Blog, hope you enjoy the content, and if you have not become a follower yet, I would love to see your face on my friend's list, or if you want to receive my free updates, use the button at the right to select your feed preference. I look forward to responding to your comments and appreciate your shares.

Stay Healthy!

Darla

user of THE Herbal Face Food and proud to show my images without photo shop or airbrushing. I am 50 years young and celebrate Fit at 50!