DIY Home Decor: Creating an Accent Wall
April 17, 2024The older I get and the more Instagram reels I view, the more I believe I am capable of my own DIY home decor. We are two years into our home remodel and still have about 6-12 months left of work to do. If I’m being real honest, I feel as long as you own a home, you have work to do. In this blog post I will share our latest DIY Home Decor: Creating an Accent Wall. An accent wall is a great focal feature of any room.
Measure, measure, then measure some more
Our room of choice for the accent wall is our daughter’s bedroom. We wanted to have 1×2’s spanning vertically across one wall. Our challenge was that the ceiling is at a slant and all but two of the slats of wood had to be cut to the appropriate length then also cut an angle to fit the roof line.
Sight of future accent wall. I may or may not have miscalculated the length of three boards. Thankfully, Lowe’s allowed us to return three of the untouched boards and purchase the correct length. I cannot stress enough how often to measure then measure some more!
To achieve the look we desired, we set the 1×2 boards every 17 inches along the wall. We have a total of eight 1×2’s going across the room.
1×2’s create the board and batten look for the accent wall. Focus on the outcome for the space.
Our current home is smaller than our previous home and my desire is to create a space that feels as large as possible. In our children’s rooms, the ceilings slant so I want to focus on decor that brings the eye up. For our daughter’s room, she desired an accent wall and we both liked the look of board and batten slats.
We have slowly been updating our daughter’s room. We have removed extra shelving, painted the dark gray walls a bright white, added a new area rug, and also expanded the closet door to double doors. You can read about the closet update, here.
An accent wall can create such an eye-pleasing view of a room. Select paint that will connect the entire room.
Originally, I thought we would keep the wall color White Dove to match the rest of the walls; however, after my daughter selected a lovely bedding set that had some pretty blues that would match her current rug, we chose to paint the accent wall a lovely shade of blue.
We purchased this rug from Boutique Rugs. 
Here is the bedding we will order. This bedding will tie in the blue of the wall and her rug. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commission from any viable links. While we have not received the updated bedding as of yet, I still feel the outcome of the accent wall has made a significant impact on the overall space. What are your thoughts? Do you like the accent wall? I would love to hear from you.
How to Start a Blog: Tips to Make it Happen
In today’s fast paced culture, one would think a blog is antiquated. However, blogs are a thriving mode for communicating with a mass audience covering any topic of interest. Read along as I share how to start a blog: tips to make it happen.
Family photo at Rosemary Beach 1. Select a niche.
I almost hate using this phrase for a subheading. If you spend any time at all online, you will hear the buzzword, “niche”. Honestly, sometimes it is stressful when I hear, “select a niche” or “niche down”. Take a deep breath and do not fear, selecting a niche might be easier than you think. What is it that you want to share? What perspective do you have that you want the world to know? For me, I like sharing about my home and family – our lifestyle. I have selected the niche of “Lifestyle Blogger”. When creating your own blog, select a niche ideal for you.
Much of my blog inspiration comes from what I share on my Instagram account. 2. Utilize a host site.
It is almost comical that I have a blog when being tech savvy is not my forte. The good news is, there are YouTube tutorials that can walk you through a step-by-step process for setting up your blog. These tutorials do a great job of helping you understand the ways to begin to monetize your blog. I decided to use WordPress to create my blog. WordPress has a wide range of templates to use when designing your blog.
Over and over again as I started my blogging journey, I saw information about bluehost.com. This is my host site for my blog. It allows me to own the name of my blog and its place on the internet. I pay an annual fee for the website name and site upkeep.
3. Determine a schedule.
Once you have hammered out the nitty gritty of a niche and have taken the time to set up and create the look of your blog, it is time to determine a schedule. Admittedly, this last one has been my weakness. For the 2024 year, one of my two goals for the year was to write 52 blog posts. I wanted to consistently show up on my blog in a way I had not previously done. Notice, I did not say I would post once a week – ha! I know myself too well and wanted to give myself grace in the event that something happened one week and I could not generate a blog post on a specific day of the week. Currently I am targeting releasing a new blog every week. A bulk of my blog posts have been released on Wednesdays with few exceptions. Determine a schedule that works for you and stick to it!
My hope is that these tips are just the motivation you need to start your own blog! Please let me know in the comments if you have a blog and what its name is. I would love to check it out!
How to Create a spring Capsule Wardrobe
I like the simplicity of a capsule wardrobe. I am not a big shopper and enjoy utilizing pieces that have more than one function. Read along for my ideas on how to create a spring capsule wardrobe.
1. Pull everything out.
While we did create a walk-in closet in our current home, it is still not a large space and I must utilize each square inch carefully. Having 2-3 times a year where I pull everything out, is beneficial for keeping an organized space. The benefit of pulling all items out of your closet serves as a visual reminder of what you do wear often and what you have forgotten about. Also, this is a perfect opportunity to seperate your clothing items by season. If you have available space, store your off-season items in another location. (Shhh! Don’t tell my husband, but I put my off-season clothes on the backside of his half of the closet 🙂 )
A closet organizer like this one makes seeing your wardrobe a breeze. This one has over 12,000 reviews! *As an Amazon Associate, I am eligible to earn a commission on any viable links.* 2. Cull unwanted or unused items.
In 2022, I attempted to wear a different outfit for every day of the year. You can read all about it , here. From that time on, I have really tried to focus on only keeping items that I enjoy or serve me well. Getting rid of unused or worn out items is essential to keeping a well curated wardrobe. Donate items you longer want or if you are like me and wear things until they fall apart, throw them away. Having a closet that is crammed with items tends to make you overlook what you actually have. A closet that allows you to easily see your clothing options creates an environment where you can choose your outfits with little complication.
3. Coordinate pieces and seek inspiration.
I happened upon Clothed in Grace on Instagram and am grateful for the guidance and inspiration she provides. Her site guides me in how to curate a seasonal collection. Below is her latest spring capsule wardrobe. When I have fewer items – tops, bottoms, dresses – then I am able to determine if what I have coordinates with my other clothing items. There is a cool website, combineclothes.com , that allows you to type in how many tops, bottoms, solo outfits, and extras you have then it will calculate how many possible outfits you can create from those items. With my current spring wardrobe capsule, I have enough items to create 1,450 outfits! I think that is plenty to get me through these warmer months.
This is a great site for inspiration and guidance in creating your wardrobe capsules! The benefits of following these tips for how to create a spring capsule wardrobe are: ease of outfit selection, ability to identify what items need to be added to your wardrobe, and a streamlined closet! Enjoy and let me know if you put these tips to use.
Maximizing Space: What Changing a Closet Door Can Do
Where to start
When we moved into our house two years ago, the room we had chosen for our teenage daughter had dark walls and a hole where a closet door used to be. From the look of the hole in the wall, one would think the closet was extremely small; however, we discovered the closet ran the length of the wall. Reaching the back of the closet was a challenge with the single existing opening. Maximizing space through adding double doors allowed us to utilize all of our daughter’s closet area.
A starting hole in the wall. Gathering material
In order to maximize the available space we needed to brainstorm ways to expand this space. Adding double doors seemed to meet our needs. Our upstairs has slanted ceilings. The slant of the ceilings impacted the height of standard closet doors. We determined that a height of six feet would allow our daughter to access the top shelf of her closet as well as the rack that holds her clothes.
In order to accommodate the height of the closet doors, we purchased solid wooden doors that could be cut down to the correct size. In addition to the wooden doors, we needed to purchase the appropriate trim for the door. To save on material costs, we shopped for these doors at Southeastern Salvage. When trying to budget for a remodel project, look for local supply stores that are not your typical box store. ReStore is a store created by Habitat for Humanity that carries overstocks or materials leftover from large construction sites. Stores such as Southeastern Salvage or ReStore could save you money. Just remember, you may have to be patient when shopping for your materials.
We used wooden doors for the expansion. Finishing touches
We used the same paint colors we have used throughout the house to finish the doors: White Dove for the interior walls and Simply White for the trim. Both colors are from Benjamin Moore.
I love Purdy paint brushes. (as an Amazon Associate, I am eligible to earn commission on any viable links) Adding double doors to this space allows our daughter to access all the items within her closet. She is able to see what clothing options she has on hand instead of being regulated to half a visual. Maximizing space lends help to organization and decluttering habits as well. Visually, I feel the double doors are a more appealing feature. Let me know in the comments what you think!
You can check out other DIY projects in our current home, here. I would love for you to follow along with us on this home remodel journey.
The finished product Healthy Snack Ideas
When making choices that are healthier for you, I’m surprised at how much (or maybe I should say how often) food you should eat. It is best to keep your body fueled every 3 hours. That could add up to six meals a day: 3 meals and 3 snacks. Read along for ways to add healthy snack ideas to your day.
Quick and Easy Healthy Snack Ideas
I did not think that I would like hummus. In fact, I really only like one flavor thus far – roasted red pepper hummus but the single serve containers of hummus with some sliced or chopped veggies are an ideal snack. Another quick and easy snack is the Lesser Evil popcorn. (As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commission on any viable links. This is at no extra cost to you.) This popcorn is AH-mazing! It tastes wonderful and is popped using coconut oil. My kids make fun of me because I am a firm believer that coconut oil can do anything. Another quick and easy snack idea – fruit! Dark berries are really good for you but I think you can’t go wrong with fruit in general.
High in Protien Healthy Snack Ideas
Costco carries a great protien bar put out by Genius Gourmet. Their peanut butter and chocolate bar is my favorite. 000 Greek Yogurt by Oikos is also a great source of protein. Both of these snacks are super quick to grab and go! Including a bit of protein with every meal/snack is important to staying healthy.
Something Sweet
I LOVE sweets and cutting out sugar makes my sweet tooth ache! Lily’s Chocolate Bars are my salvation. (as an Amazon Associate, I may earn commission from any viable links at no extra cost to you) My favorite kind is any that have sea salt in them. Lily’s Chocolate Bars use stevia and erythritol to sweeten its bars. Lily’s Chocolate also produces chocolate chips for baking.
Another great sweets idea is smoothies. I love a good protein smoothie. One of my favorites I call the Big Mama. I got the recipe from the Trim Healthy Mama book and it calls the recipe Big Boy smoothie. For some reason I could only remember Big Mama and it’s stuck! Ha! Place one cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk in a blender. Add in a scoop of whey protein, Stevia to sweeten, a dash of vanilla, a cup of ice, a dash of salt, and a few frozen strawberries. Blend to the consistency you like. This hits the sweet spot for me! You can find the exact recipe here.
If you are trying to make healthier choices in your food selections, I hope these healthy snack ideas have been beneficial. This year I am focusing on making healthier choices myself and have shared some healthy habits I am working to implement in a blog post, here. Check it out and as always, please let me know what you think! Here’s to healthy eating!
3 Levels of Date Night
Date night can be such an exciting time. It can also cause anxiety or stress in long term relationships. Date nights should not stop once one is in a committed relationship. In fact, as a married individual, I propose 3 levels of date night.
A while back I heard a man speak of advice he was given regarding date nights. He passed the information along and I took a shine to it and have incorporated his advice into mine and my husband’s date nights. His advice? Take your spouse on a date every other week; a weekend away every other month; and a week vacation every other year. Why is this important? Relationships, even seasonsed married ones, take time to grow and develop. To be in a marriage relationship, is to be a farmer tending the soil of your hearts. Read along as I give further explanation to the 3 levels of date night.
1. Local Date Night
Local date nights mean just that – they are local. I found a great blog post that gives some creative ideas for date nights in my neck of the woods (Birmingham, AL).
Oftentimes, mine and Jeff’s local date nights simply include a dinner out to a new or an old, favorite restaurant. For this reason, I love the above referenced blog posts that provides a variety of local date night ideas. I am definitely going to be using some of these ideas!
2. Weekend Date Night
The next level of date night is: every other month, spend a weekend away together. You can stay somewhere local or travel a little distance but the point is to get away from your daily distractions and spend time in special lodgings to enjoy one another. I recently found this beautiful weekender set on Amazon that would make packing for getaways so much fun! (As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commission on any viable links. This comes at no extra costs to you.)
A weekend away gives you a chance to not only enjoy one another’s company but to also rest and relax. Got a location or activity that you know your kids will not like? Save it for your weekend date nights. Honestly, on our last weekend getaway, Jeff and I did not do a whole lot of anything. We went to bed early and got some much needed rest. It was a good time together and our destination was only about a 3 and half hour drive from our house.
3. Vacation Date Night
The final level of date night is the Vacation Date Night. Every other year, take a vacation with just your spouse. This may sound scary, especially if you have small children, but you can implement this date night as you see fit. Why is this level important? Because if your marriage is successful, it will be the longest relationship you have and your spouse will be the one person who is most often in your life. While you have your relationship with your children, they will grow up, move away, and start families of their own. You and your spouse can maintain your relationship by getting away together for a vacation. A week is an ideal time period; however, work out what you can. Give yourself some grace. If your children are too small or finances are tight, you can spread out your vacations to a few years apart.
In full disclosure, this last level has been rare for my husband and I; however, this past summer in celebration of our 20th anniversary, we went on a 10 day vacation and it was wonderful. We savored the time we had together. We were reminded of why we picked each other and why we fell in love.
A word of advice…
Now, if while you have read this blog, you have thought, “How is this possible? Surely she doesn’t keep this kind of date night schedule?” OR, “That might work for her but my spouse doesn’t plan anything.” To answer both lines of thought: 1. We do not strictly adhere to the schedule of these levels of date night but we have implemented all three levels. 2. In our relationship, I am more of a planner. I could spend time bemoaning my husband’s lack of planning date nights or I could: communicate to him that date nights are important to me; appreciate that planning and organization are my strong skill sets; and take notice of the other contributions my husband makes to our relationship.
Each relationship is unique but incorporating these 3 levels of date night into ours has proven beneficial. Please let me know if you have tried these various levels.
3 Easy and Nutritous Breakfast Ideas
We all know breakfast is an important start to your day but sometimes knowing what to make leaves one stumped. Here are three easy and nutritous breakfast ideas to get your day going!
Eggs and bacon
Eggs and bacon are about as easy as it gets. Why is this considered a nutritious breakfast? It includes fats and protein. Our bodies need fats, protiens, and carbohydrates in a healthy balance. Consuming fats and protiens together in a balanced amount allows your body to take in nutrients and maintain a safe blood glucose level while keeping your body satisfied for the three hour time block between meals. I like my eggs fried and for convenience, I cook my bacon in the oven.
I learned from Martha Stewart a few years ago how to cook bacon in the oven. Lining a baking sheet with aluminum foil, place your bacon on the baking sheet in a cold oven and set the oven to 425 degrees. After 25 minutes, your bacon is ready!
THM Pancakes
Trim Healthy Mama pancakes are an amazingly wonderful, nutritous meal. As I have shared in a previous post, Trim Healthy Mama is a program that works to balance your blood glucose level in order to help with weight loss or maintaining a healthy weight.
Trim Healthy Mama has multiple offerings in print including an introductory book to their program as well as cookbooks with great recipes to incorporate into your meal plans. Here is the recipe for these energizing pancakes that are made with protein and carbohydrates as the main macronutrients. Combining these macronutrients creates a meal that provides energy for your day. For a sweetner, I use Stevia in my meals that call for a sugar substitute. Here is one type of stevia that can be ordered from Amazon. (As an Amazon Associate, I am eligible to earn commission on any viable link. This is at no cost to you.) Trim Healthy Mama also sells its own type of sweetner.
Sweet Potatoes with Avocado, Egg, and Cottage Cheese
Oh my goodness, I discovered this magnificent breakfast recipe by following Trim Healthy Mama on Instagram. This meal is considered a “crossover” meaning it has all three macronutrients involved. While a crossover meal will not help you lose weight, it can be a great idea for maintaining a healthy weight balance. For me, this meal is a choice that keeps me interested in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It is delicous! You can see how easy it is to make in the video below.
Well there you have it! Three easy and nutritous breakfast ideas to get your day going in a healthy way. What are your go-to nutritous breakfast recipes? I would love to hear from you!
Decluttering: Tips for Removing Excess
Any casual viewing of Storage Wars or Hoarders reveals that many of us have an issue with clutter. Decluttering can be an effective way to remove excess from our lives. Removing the excess just may help clear our minds and bring peace. Below are a few of my decluttering tips for removing excess.
A bedroom shows off its beauty when kept clean through decluttering. 1. Designate zones in your house.
A Bowl Full of Lemons really helped me designate specific areas or “zones” of my home. Having listed and designated spaces in your home allows you to tackle one area at a time for decluttering. Sometimes getting rid of all clutter feels overwhelming. Focusing only on one zone feels more manageable.
In addition to decluttering one zone at a time, Go Clean Co. taught me to work an area from left to right. I have 18 zones in my home (front porch, hallways, living room, kid 1 room, kitchen, half bath, commons area, pantry, primary bedroom, primary bathroom, kid 2 room, kid 3 room, dining room, back porch, stairwell, laundry, kids’ bathroom, and garage). As I go through a zone to declutter, I can work in that space from left to right, pulling all items out to see if they are still needed or wanted.
Go Clean Co is an educational follow. 2. Kon Mari it.
If you have never heard of the Kon Mari method, check this article out. I am not gonna lie, for me, tackling the entire Kon Mari method is overwhelming; however, I have taken her advice of touching an item and seeing how your spirit responds as a guide for eliminating clutter. At first, that advice may seem odd but give it a try. When you are decluttering a space, handle each item. Your body has some type of response whether it is negative, meh, or a joyful response. Keep only what sparks joy.
As your pile of decluttered items grows, determine if you will throw them away or donate them. I place my donated items in large bags with handles in order to set them in my car to drop off at my charity of choice.
3. Create a challenge for yourself.
I have created a challenge for myself (I first learned of it from Instagram) on decluttering that I have been working on for six months! The challenge was only supposed to last for one month – ha! For each day of the month, get rid of the corresponding number of items. For example, on day 1, you get rid of 1 item and on day 31, you get rid of 31 items. When you have gone through days 1-31, a total of 497 items will be eliminated from your home. I am currently on day 30 and have 7 of the 30 needed items to throw out. This has definitely been a challenge for me! I thought it would be much easier than it has been but I can tell a big difference in my home when there are close to 500 items of clutter no longer clogging up my home!
For other tips or insight into keeping your home clean, you can read a related previous post here. Have fun decluttering!
How to Travel on a Budget: 3 Tips I Use
What makes travel so grand? Is it the new location? A different culture? Or just the possibility of getting away from the day to day stress. Read on to discover how to travel on a budget.
Photo by Oleksandr P on Pexels.com Tip #1: Create a budget.
When planning a trip, sit down with yourself or your significant other and determine how much money can be spent on your trip. Give yourself some time to consider: transportation, hotels, clothing, food, etc. Be sure to include how many people are traveling with you. You might learn what a ticket cost for one person but then you will need to multiply that cost by how many are in your travel party.
As I will state later in the post, research will be a big help to your planning. I found this article during my recent research for our upcoming trip to Greece. I love that the author gave a variety of budget levels for traveling to Greece. Once you have created your budget number, now it’s time to list out all your wants.
I love to travel! You can find other tips and advice I have given on a previous post, here.
Tip #2: List your wants.
While considering your travel budget, make a list of all your top wants in a trip. What is the most important to you? Great food or a great hotel? Which would you prefer to do more of: lounge in your hotel or be out and about with the locals? Write your travel priorities in 1, 2, 3 format and allocate the most funds to your top priority.
For me, I want my family to have as many experiences as they can while on a trip. As far as money goes, I am willing to eat cheaper or reserve a standard hotel room if it means we can rent a sailboat and tour an island or if we can take an old fashioned train ride up the mountainside. For others, having a grandeose suite is the hilight of their trip. Only you can determine which part of a trip is the most important to you and therefore, deserves the greatest allotment of your budget.
Greece is our travel destination for the summer and I cannot wait! After you have listed your wants, now begins the research. Research allows you to match your wants with your budget.
Tip #3: Research, research, research.
With the world wide web at our fingertips, you have ample oportunities to research any travel destination. Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and blogs offer a plethera of ideas for where to stay, what to do, and what to eat. Depend on the real life experiences bloggers or friends and family share with you regarding your desired travel destination. Please do not rely on only one person’s review. Spend time reading or viewing several reviews of a restaurant, resort, or travel experience.
Once you have completed your research, create a travel ititnerary that list where you will go each day, where you will eat, and where you will stay. An itinerary can help reduce impulse spending and keeps your entire travel crew on track. For our trip to Wales, I used Rough Guides travel guide to Wales. Here is one for Greece. (As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commission off any viable links. This is at no extra cost to you.) My travel guide book gave me an abundance of information and really was beneficial during my trip and I needed a quick reference to an area or a recommendation for food.
With careful study of reviews, I have utilized the following sites for hotels and overnight stays: Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com Google can offer great reviews on restaurants and experiences. Yelp is also another review site for restaurants; however, blog reviews of restaurants for overseas trips might be most beneficial.
For more tips on how to travel on a budget, check out this link.
How to Start a Daily Quiet Time
Craving a word from the Lord? Or simply wanting moments to center yourself? Let me share with you how to start a daily quiet time.
1. Designate a purpose.
This blog post is for individuals who feel a strong desire to center themselves and align their ideals with God in a daily manner . Practical tips for establishing this time will be given. From the inception of my blog, I would say my target audience would be women whose main role is the chief executive operators of their home. You can learn more about me and what my passion is here. As the chief excecutive operator of your home, quiet time can enhance the productivity of your home. When initiating a quiet time, designate your purpose for creating a time alone. Do you want to grow closer to God? Need a time to quiet the noise of the world and discover what drives you? Determining your purpose will motivate your plan.
2. Choose a platform
What do I mean by a platform? Any avenue to assist as a conduit of your time alone is considered a platform. A variety of platforms can assist with creating a quiet time: devotional book, Bible, or podcast. Here is a top selling Bible on Amazon. The beauty of study Bibles is you learn about the culture of the time of each particular scripture as well as context clues and background information. One platform I used this past year was a podcast, The Bible Recap. This podcast revealed so many aspects of the Bible that I simply did not know (and I have read through the Bible before). This podcast helped me to deepen my understanding of the Bible and God’s message. The appropriate platform can give you knowledge and knowledge is power.
Women’s NIV Study Bible. As an Amazon Associate, I am eligible for commission on any viable links. 3. Pick a consistent time.
Picking a consistent time is a habit I have been crafting for DECADES. I am in no way a morning person and for a L O N G time did my quiet time at night. In 2023, my first challenge for the year was to do a daily quiet time first thing in the morning. As a night owl, a little bit of preparation had to take place in order for this challenge to be a success. Getting sufficient sleep, purchasing a journal, keeping my devotional materials near my bed, making sure my coffee supplies are stocked and ready to go are necessary preparations for me to be successful.
4. Give yourself grace.
In my opinion, as long as you are making an effort to have a quiet time, the exact time of day it happens is not of top importance. Now, three decades into this habit and I can definitely see the benefits of starting the day out in quiet time. For me, a cup of coffee is tantemount to being able to pull of any successful moments of quiet reflection. Am I successful each day? No, but giving myself the grace to let go of my shortcomings and start again as soon as I can has been helpful.
Whatever your purpose for starting your own quiet time, I hope you have much success in your endeavor. My desire is for these tips to help motivate and guide you. Share with me in the comments any tips or tricks that have been beneficial to your own quiet time journey.
5 Daily Habits for Healthy Eating
Eating healthy may seem overwhelming or like an insurmountable tasks; however, establishing healthy eating habits creates positive outcomes in your life. With the implementation of 5 daily habits for healthy eating, you will see an improvement in your overall health.
1. Take a multivitamin.
Multivitamins provide nutrients that your body might be lacking. For me, Vitamin D and C are two vitamins that I need more of in my body. When I take a daily multivitamin, my energy levels noticably improve. Of course, the addition of raw fruits and vegetables will also increase the nutrients available to your body. While the increase in energy levels is wonderful, I will caution against taking any vitamins on an empty stomach. Please eat a full meal before taking vitamins in order to reduce the possibility of nausea and always consult your doctor before taking any new vitamin or supplement.
2. Drink water.
Sure this habit is a no brainer but if you are like me and not a huge fan of water, you might want to get creative in how to get your water intake higher. Setting a goal for how many ounces you will drink per day, using a pretty water bottle, or adding a no sugar sweetener to your water might be ways to make drinking water daily an easy habit. Since reducing sugar in my diet, I find that I am reaching more for water and allowing myself one Coke Zero per day.
There is a drink that Trim Healthy Mama created called “Good Girl Moonshine” and it has water, apple cider vinegar, ground ginger, and stevia in it. I’ve made it with a flavored tea to give it extra punch. This drink is a healthy sipper and also helps with weight loss – the apple cider vinegar can help to invigorate your metabolism.
3. Plan ahead.
This habit is CRUCIAL to my success. Creating a meal plan the weekend before the next week helps me keep on track for healthy eating. Designating specific times to create meals and snacks saves me from becoming too hungry and eating anything in sight. With the proper preparation, I already know what my next meal or snack will be. I have sat down with my own schedule and written in meals and snacks; however, I believe you could use a calendar as well.
Part of my planning includes researching various healthy eating sites via Pinterest and Instagram for meal and snack inspiration. My favorite is when I can find a Trim Healthy Mama weekly meal plan and pull meal ideas from it. In 2022, I set a goal of providing 365 different meals for my family. This task definitely required planning ahead! You can read all about it here.
I recently discovered The Peachie Spoon on Instagram and love the variety of recipes she has that help stabilize blood sugar levels. 4. Eat every 3 hours.
Trim Healthy Mama is the eating plan that I am most closely adhering to and one of its pillars of success is the habit of eating every 3 hours. This time frame allows your body to process the food from the previous meal without overloading its systems.
When I create my meal plan, I write out the times I will be having my meals and snacks. Typically I have a meal at: 6:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., and 9:00 p.m. My 6:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and my 6:00 p.m. times are for meals and the other times are for snacks. The key to success is pairing either fats with protein or carbohydrates with protein but NO MIXING fats, carbs, and protein. I highly recommend the Trim Healthy Mama book. The sisters that wrote the book spent years in research on ways to provide the best nutrition to your body.
As an Amazon Associate, I may be eligible to earn commission on viable links. 5. Celebrate the wins.
Making healthier choices is hard. Celebrating each little win is a great habit to establish daily. Do you feel more energized? That’s a win. Did you lose half a pound? Consider that a win. Are you able to think more clearly? Another win. Celebrate your ability to grow and change for the better. This is a habit to incorporate in every aspect of life!
By implementing these 5 daily habits for healthy eating: take a multivitamin, drink water, plan ahead, eat every 3 hours, and celebrate the wins, you are sure to feel the positive results in your body!
