GREAT Interview With Teresa Tapp!
Teresa was on the Vibrant Living Show with Dr. Ritamarie this morning–and you can listen to the whole thing! 45 minutes jam-packed with info about T-Tapp and especially how it helps hormones. Teresa is queen of being able to pack a lot of info in a short time!
There’s a short ad first, but hang in there for a great talk about T-Tapp—be sure to have pen and paper handy as you might want to jot down a few notes!
Feature Friday Is Back! Let’s Get Balanced!
I had so much fun in Florida! Learned a lot, ate a lot of good food, enjoyed lots of good company and loved dipping my feet (and body!) in the Gulf! Definitely some great R&R!
This week I’m not featuring a T-Tapp product, but I did find out about it at the annual T-Tapp Retreat. I have heard Julie Brannon speak at the Retreats I’ve attended, and I always enjoy her talks as she is so informative! She owns Baileys Naturals Herbal Apothecary and can mix up many combinations for different needs.
Charlotte Siems and I both have adrenal challenges. So when Charlotte told me how she had gotten a wonderful combination called Balanced Body from Julie, and that she felt like a new woman, I just had to try it, too! 🙂
I got mine a week ago Wednesday, and since I thought I was going to do my Senior Fit certification that day, I decided to wait to try it. One thing and another came up (my cert got pushed to Thursday, I kept forgetting to take the capsules first thing in the morning, then we were traveling home), so I didn’t start them until yesterday.
Now, we spent Monday and Tuesday in the van, driving the 20 or so hours home (actually it takes longer with the potty stops!). Monday night I did not sleep well at the hotel, so to say I was really tired Tuesday would be an understatement! And you know how that groggy overtired feeling carries over into the next day….
I took the Balanced Body yesterday, as I said, and what amazed me is that I got through the day without a nap–amazing in itself after the overtiredness of Tuesday! But even more amazing is that I had mental clarity and focus all through the evening!
Last night I didn’t sleep well at first, so I was a bit tired today. Again I took the Balanced Body, and I have also been working at the computer most of the day. Usually I would be so fried by this time!
But again–I have clarity, focus, a clear mind–wow! And no nap today, either! 😉
I am SO happy to have found this product and I thank Julie for sharing it with Charlotte, and Charlotte for sharing it with me!
If you are interested in Balanced Body, you can contact Julie at julie@baileysnaturals.com and/or visit her website Baileys Naturals. Tell her I sent you over! 🙂
Balanced Body contains:
American, Chinese & Korean Ginseng
Astragalus Root
Schizandra Berry
Gotu Kola Leaf
Pau d’Arco bark
Licorice Root
Just my personal note–sometimes different ginsengs can make you feel jittery. Whether it’s Julie’s formulation or just where I am in my healing, it did not make me feel that way at all. If you have concerns about taking ginseng, rhodiola is also a gentle adaptogen that I have used. Plus you can always talk to Julie–she is a wealth of knowledge and happy to help!
Still Room in Mansfield!
I’m heading over to Mansfield, OH tomorrow for a two day event! Tomorrow night from 7-9 is BWO+–grab your spouse, a friend, or just come solo. I’ll be sharing some new tweaks from the Retreat to help you take your workouts up a notch!
Then Saturday is a Ladies’ Only Day! Teen/stay-at-home daughters welcome as well, and at a discounted price! We’ll be doing MORE in the morning, along with going over some TappCore moves and talk about fitting it in!
Saturday afternoon will be a meshing together of BWO+ with new tweaks, Brain/Body Fitness and Mindful Movement. Better hormonal balance and improved metabolism are the goals! Then we’ll get down on the floor and learn how to keep the core activated for strength, health and flatter abs!
During lunch I will share about skin care using T-Tapp’s Skin Saver series, dead sea mineral salts, brushing, and I’ll also share about inexpensive, natural products to help you have soft, glowing skin!
If you’ve been following Teresa on her Facebook page, you’ll know Nerium is the new buzzword–I’ll be sharing about that, too –and have some with me for purchase!
There’s still room, and walk-ins are welcome! If you think you want to come, just give me a call at the number on the registration page and I can give you location details!
MAX Muscle Activation in Mansfield, OH!
Hope to see you there!
Note: If you’re coming for the afternoon session, you might want to bring an exercise mat as the floor is tile.
Woo-HOO! It’s Deep Discount Tuesday!
And what a GREAT DDT it is!
25% off T-Tapp brand products
FREE shipping on 4 different starter systems
TWO bonuses for orders over $75 and $100!
Click here to find out more: Deep Discount Tuesday
Happy shopping! 🙂
Refresh and Regroup
No, you don’t always have to take a vacation to Florida to the beach to refresh and regroup, but it would be nice, wouldn’t it?! 🙂
Last time I talked of really evaluating what needs to be on your plate. And what needs to go. As you eliminate the things that aren’t as important to be doing right now, especially when battling adrenal fatigue, you are still left with quite a lot of responsibilities. I’ll be honest–I can make schedules and lists that look really impressive, but what actually gets done is….not so impressive!
It is a start, though. Write down the things that absolutely are non-optionals in your life. Now, what can be delegated? Yes, I know you have 5 children under 7, but guess what? They are capable of far more than you realize! There have been many times over the years that due to health issues, I simply had to let go. No, my house didn’t get cleaned as well as I would have liked. Yet now? My girls can clean circles around me! Many times it is a matter of letting go of control, which can be rooted in fear. Trust me, the time will come that the ceiling fan blades will get dusted, the dust bunnies in the corners will be tackled and the kitchen floor won’t always be sticky!
Or perhaps it’s a cottage business you’re in charge of. Are there ways you can delegate some of the work? Would it be worth your health and peace of mind to pay someone part time to help do things that someone else can do, so you can reserve your mental energies and strength for the things only you can do?
Those are just a few ideas—think if you had to be gone for an extended period of time, how would everything get done? Of course that analogy breaks down a bit, but, if you take the time now to think of how you can ease your load a bit you won’t be forced to do it later during an adrenal crisis—while you’re driving through a mental fog!
I want to talk for just a bit on an addiction–especially in America, especially among women.
Busyness.
Granted, there are seasons when we are busy. But many times, I watch already overloaded women take on more and more. Sometimes it’s because of a need to feel needed, sometimes it’s because we don’t see anyone else stepping up to the plate, and yet other times, it can actually be an escape. It’s always easier to take on something new than to deal with the old. You see this a lot in children! But we adults can be just as guilty!
Stopping to take stock of our “running” and busyness is a good idea when we are adrenal-challenged. It doesn’t mean you can never be busy or go out of the house! But too much of that can be an addiction that becomes very counterproductive–escaping the reality that we need to conserve our energy for the best pursuits. The #1 things on your priority list!
So perhaps the “Regroup” needs to come first AND last!
- Regroup: to become reorganized in order to make a fresh start
Regroup–pull back and take a good, hard look at your schedule/routine.
- Refresh: to provide new vigor and energy by rest, food, etc.; to make fresh again; reinvigorate or cheer (a person, the mind, spirits, etc.)
Refresh by taking a day away if you can. Maybe even taking a book and going to a park! Or have hubby watch the kids so you can take a pamper-me-bath and spend as long as you want! Go for a walk in nature. Think of what refreshes you and helps you reconnect with your emotional center. That is NOT running around in more busyness! While that may invigorate you for now, it doesn’t help recharge your batteries. You must be inputting something or you will burn out!
Then Regroup once more–after a short or longer time of refreshing, you can look at things with fresh eyes. Also, you might not be so stressed, and you’ll be better able to make decisions. But don’t try to overhaul your entire life and schedule in 1-2 days! Baby steps! Take a little at a time, make decisions, small changes, give it time to settle in, then you can tackle the next area.
Once you’re refreshed and have destressed your life a little, you may be able to dig deeper to see what’s really driving you.
This is part 4 of a series on adrenal fatigue. If you just happened upon this post and want to read the first three:
Part 1 In a Fog
Part 2 Help Getting Out of the Fog
Part 3 Who’s in Control?
Photo credit: Anna Christina Marie Photography–link coming soon!
(Yes, my resident photographer! 🙂 )
Who’s in Control?
Pertinent to those trying to lose weight/inches and tone up, slowing or stalling inch loss may be a sign of an impending adrenal fatigue “fog” rolling in. That was a big sign I ignored. What do we usually do when the inch loss slows? Step it up! MORE cardio! LESS eating! MORE movement! Shake it up!
Now, there may be a time to change to a different workout or check form or even bump things up a notch, as well as take stock of our way of eating–but–that should not be the first thing we do. Perhaps we need to ask these questions first:
- Have there been any additional stresses hit me or my family?
- Have I been under a constant stress, even though minimal, for a long period of time? (health issues in children or ailing parents, for example)
- Have I been staying up too late?
- Has my eating schedule been crazy lately?
- Have I added anything extra to my already busy plate of activities?
- Have I added more workouts in? (This would include running, power-walking, aerobic types of dancing, etc.)
- Have I added too many target moves to my workout schedule?
- Have I started a diet of some sort that has cut out a major portion of calories or severely limited a food group?
Sometimes we do need to change our way of eating for health reasons, but even making major changes to improve your eating in a good way can be a stress on the body. And that is why you need to consider what else is going on in your life. Right before your extended family is coming to stay for 2 weeks over the holidays is not the time to bump up your workouts and make major changes to your eating, especially if some of those relatives tend to stress you out! 🙂
We can help ourselves drive out of the brain fog by evaluating whether some of the stressors are just short-term or ongoing, whether we need to lighten the schedule a bit during certain times, and whether we need to maybe say….the “N” word. No!
When we continue to take more on without evaluating what else is going on in our lives, we are a prime target for adrenal burnout. It’s like adding more and more good food at a potluck to an already full plate–then the plate bows, cracks, breaks—and all that good food spills and the plate is no longer useful!
Thankfully our bodies are more resilient than a plate! But it takes time–if that plate was a precious china dish, you might decide to salvage it. You would painstakingly glue piece by piece together, like an intricate jigsaw puzzle. My daughter did that a few years ago when a favorite eagle figurine I had given my husband fell off the mantel and crashed. He threw it away, but she took it the pieces and hid it in her room. Every time she went to her room, she glued another piece on. She gave it back to him as a surprise for his birthday–and you have to look pretty carefully to see that it was ever broken!
In the same way, you need to give yourself time and let yourself heal when you fill your plate too full and start to crash. That means taking some things OFF the plate so it doesn’t fully break. Better yet–start taking some things off at the first signs of the plate stressing and you will head off a disaster!
Ultimately YOU are the one in control of your life–no one forces you to eat a certain way, exercise too much or too little, allow past hurts to continue to hurt you, mull over negative thoughts. When you are in an adrenal fog, it can seem everything needs fixed at once! And, true to the nature of AF, you can be overwhelmed and do…..nothing. That is where baby steps come in. That is why I have a level in Foundations for Fitness that has just 3 moves per day on it. One of my clients does just 1-2 moves per day. No, she is not losing 2 sizes in 4 weeks! But she is starting to see some improvements in her health. Focusing on healing now will lay a good foundation for inch loss later!
I have had people say to me that they don’t want to gain inches or lose momentum, they want to lose more and get to a certain goal, adding in power-walking, full T-Tapp workouts plus 2-3 target moves. I tell them, and I’ll tell you–you will not lose any inches if you crash and need 3 naps a day just for you to function. And by function, I don’t mean be productive. I mean take care of basic necessities, with a nap between each event! :p
Please learn to listen to your body, and honestly evaluate all you have taken on. If you realize it’s too much, be realistic and do what you can to reduce the things that don’t matter as much. Often the tyranny of the urgent keeps us running ragged. Which is why we need a time to pull back and refresh and regroup. More about that next time!
(This is part 3 of In a Fog…. and part 2 is here.)
Photo credit: Alan Cleaver
Help Getting Out of the Fog!
(This is a continuation of my last post, In a Fog…)
When you get into the fog, the smallest decisions are tough—was that my turn-off? Where’s that big red barn? I can’t see more than 5 ft. in front of my car! What if a deer jumps out of this eerie white and into my path? Maybe that’s my drive…no, wait, that’s the neighbor’s mailbox. OH! This is giving me a headache and my eyes are going crazy!
We can feel the same way when battling AF. The smallest decisions become such a huge chore, and we often will avoid them just to avoid the stress of deciding! And that is where the procrastination part comes in!
As we continue to avoid decision-making, it then becomes a huge stressor and we become more and more unable to cope with the decision-making process. We second guess the decisions we do make, with a tendency to “think it to death”, causing even more stress! It’s a vicious cycle, much like feeling lost in a true fog and not sure of your landmarks anymore.
I have had some ladies tell me that having me make a schedule for them helps tremendously as that is one less decision they have to make! I can remember staring at the drawer in our video cabinet, trying to decide which T-Tapp workout to do. I finally realized I needed a “go-to” workout so if I was spending more than 5 minutes trying to decide, I’d just do that one. (Which happened to be MORE, by the way!) That was a really huge help for me!
You can do the same–you can decide a workout will be your go-to when you are having a hard time deciding. If I had an “off” day and was concerned about it being too much, I told myself I only had to do 2 or 3 moves–I “gave myself permission”. So I give you permission, too! 😉
Often planning short workouts every other day or even just 2-3 key moves per day is a good plan to help eliminate the stress of making decisions! For one period of time I wanted some variety but still didn’t have quite the mental clarity to make constant decisions, so I came up with doing 4 workouts from 4 different categories:
- 1 short workout
- 1 walking workout
- 1 floor workout
- 1 full workout
Now I might only end up doing part of any of those, but this way I had variety, yet some of the decision making was already done! I made a list of the workouts I had in each category, then I could choose from each category on its day. That worked well for that time.
That is the basis of my online program, Foundations for Fitness. One level has just 3 moves per day. Another has short workouts every other day with a few target moves allowed on off days. I use workouts you have and would like to use–even splitting some workouts up to make them more doable!
The next Foundations for Fitness starts on October 1 and goes through October 31. If you feel this would be beneficial to you, why not join us? If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!
Or, take one of my ideas above–choose a “go-to” workout or set up “categories” if you need a bit more variety!
Next week we’ll talk more about taking on too much–there are many things we can’t help, but often we become addicted to busyness and it can eventually cause us to crash!
Photo credit: seanrnicholson
In a Fog….
Think about it….if you are driving through a thick fog, are you going to speed through at 60 mph? Why not? Well, that’s obvious! You aren’t sure of yourself. Even if you’re in familiar territory–what is normally second nature becomes a tense drive through the eerily unknown.
Instead of quickly getting home from the store or work along your usual route, you are driving 5 mph through a ghostly white fog, where nothing is familiar, and you have to blink repeatedly to keep what little road you are seeing from becoming a total blur. Always on the lookout for possible taillights ahead so you don’t run into someone and have an accident. By the time you arrive at your destination, you’re so wiped out from the intense concentration you can’t even think of doing anything else! Usually a headache, fatigue and inability to concentrate further set in once you’re home. Often you need a nap after such an effort!
Being adrenal challenged is very much the same. All of a sudden, tasks and decisions that were nearly second nature become a chore. Extreme concentration is needed and you don’t progress very quickly at all. Sometimes it seems just the basic necessities are a challenge to get done! By the time you arrive at your “destination” on your to-do list, (or the end of the day, whichever comes first!), you are so exhausted from the intense concentration and effort that you can’t think clearly, have a headache, and need a nap! And sometimes, that’s just after you finally got enough energy up to take a shower! :p
That really is not an extreme comparison! When I hit rock bottom three years ago, I literally needed 3 naps per day for me to function. Not my house or my family—me.
It’s easy to feel you are going crazy–you used to be able to get so much done! Perhaps you even were in a job or position where you were the one making major decisions–and now you can’t even decide what to wear, let alone what to make for supper!
Just like you don’t drive 60 mph in a thick fog, neither can you keep going full bore ahead when you are challenged with adrenal fatigue. Many of us push ourselves with exercise, dieting, work, activities, ignoring the warning signs of an impending “fog”. I have said it before–to be simplistic–there are two ways AF happens. The slow drain, where you just feel increasingly more tired, more fuzzy-headed, less able to handle normal stresses, noises bother you, things get on your nerves more easily….then there’s the “hit the brick wall”. You’re going along involved in a home-school co-op, running a home business on the side, keeping the books for your husband’s business, homeschooling your own children, leading music at your church and WHAM! All of a sudden you can hardly get out of bed before noon!
The first is like a fog slowly rolling in. You can see it coming, but it doesn’t look too bad, so you keep driving. Eventually, you are enveloped in the white misty shroud and are forced to slow down.
The second scenario is like driving 75 mph on the interstate, making great time to get to your destination when you have to slam on the brakes because you are suddenly in a foggy white-out!
Obviously both are dangerous, but the “hit the brick wall” type usually is quite serious and may take longer to recover from. Often there are “warning signs” that we ignore, to our peril, much like ignoring fog warnings thinking we’re not driving that way so we’ll be okay.
Over my next two posts, I’m going to explore more about being in a fog and give you tips to help you find your way out to clearer, blue-sky thinking!
Photo credit: Green-Ghost
Win a FREE Month of Foundations for Fitness!
My friend, Elizabeth Ours, is hosting several giveaways in her September Giveaway Extravaganza! Yesterday she announced a giveaway of one free month in my Foundations for Fitness Program!
You can go directly to today’s post HERE and enter the giveaway–you can choose any level, including the Extreme Basic Training with video review!
While you’re there, check out Elizabeth’s other giveaways and great posts!
Have fun and best wishes!
Feature Friday–Healthy Hormones Brain-Body Fitness
Have you ever wanted to share with someone about T-Tapp, but didn’t have quite the right words to say?
Have you ever wished you had lots of testimonies together to show the different benefits T-Tapp can give?
And wouldn’t it be nice if maybe it had a few moves to show what it’s like, too?
Well, your wishes have been granted!
The Healthy Hormones Brain-Body Fitness dvd is the PBS full documentary–with about 20 minutes of exercises at the end!
There are clips from both Teresa’s and Mary Shomon’s talks on hormone health. Mary Shomon is a thyroid patient advocate and she is very knowledgeable–a wealth of info! You’ll also hear testimonies from several T-Tappers about how T-Tapp has helped them–and yes, several will talk specifically about how it helped them hormonally! Young, old, male, female–hormones affect all of us!
This is a great dvd for anyone, but I plan to have a few of these on hand to give out as an “intro to T-Tapp” along with the Yes You Can dvds!
Click HERE to read more and be prepared the next time someone asks, “So, just what IS T-Tapp all about?” 🙂
In addition to Mary’s about.com website information, check out Mary’s books and educate yourself even more! The Menopause Thyroid Solution and The Thyroid Diet Revolution
Buy Trisch’s New Book!
How does a hypothyroid, adrenal-challenged, busy mama of 9 go from barely maintaining a size 22W and being so tired she needed a 1 1/2 hour nap every day to an energetic mama and size 8 T-Tapp trainer?
That’s my story in Fatigued to Fabulous!