Make It Fun

Welcome to my new blog!

As some of you know, last fall I decided to move my freelance writing career in the direction of food writing and continue with my existing blog, Like A Flower Unfolding, in which I had been documenting my spiritual journey.

I had a vision of following in the footsteps of some really wonderful food bloggers like Smitten Kitchen, Soup Addict, 101 Cookbooks, Gluten-Free Goddess, and others.

After a few posts, I realize that while I enjoy reading these blogs and definitely love trying out some of the recipes, it's just not "me" to take photos while I am cooking and then post the end result plus recipe as a blog post.

After putting a lot of thought and heart into it, I realized some things about myself and my direction.

For one, I realize that I am a budding food activist. A food activist is someone who supports--and eats!--locally grown food. We are fortunate to have plenty of that in Middle Tennessee! Our rolling green hills are home to many wonderful farms that I will talk more about in future posts.

And for me, being a food activist takes that a step further. I have a real passion for supporting and finding ways of bringing healthy, local food into what are called "food deserts". These are areas, mostly in inner cities, where there are no grocery stores that are easily accessible to the residents, so most people who live in food deserts wind up buying overprocessed and unhealthy food from convenience stores.

So I was very excited last week when the Obama Administration announced that it is launching a Healthy Food Initiative to bring healthy foods to underserved areas, both rural and inner city.

I also am a supporter of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's anti-obesity project in Huntington, WVa.

Which brings me to another area this blog will focus on, and that is living a healthy, fit life.

Prior to September 20, 2009, just five short months ago, I was not living a healthy lifestyle. I was more than 100 lbs overweight, and I had not exercised in years due to a back problem and being told by a health practitioner that I should not do any exercise but water aerobics...and there are no water aerobics within a 25 mile radius of where I live so it became very easy for me to not exercise.

September 20 was my dad's birthday and if he had lived past age 61 he would have been 93. The reason he did not live past 61 was because he died from obesity-related causes. At 52, the light bulb finally went off in my head that I could be next.

Almost immediately, what I had prayed for for years happened--about 98% of my food cravings went away. I stopped eating fast food, processed foods, and traditional sugary desserts.

I started eating healthy and exercising--walking, yoga, and good ole calisthetics that we learned in PE!

I began losing weight and feeling great!

Inner changes happened as well. I mentally released many of my long-term cares and worries, my low self-esteem, my lack of confidence, and forgave people I needed to forgive, including myself.

I watched The Biggest Loser each week to stay motivated and inspired. The Biggest Loser contestants + the phenomenal trainers Bob Harper (from Tennessee!) and Jillian Michaels, continue to inspire me.

So in this blog I want to share healthy recipes, fitness tips, and inspiration that are continuing to help me on my journey.

A few weeks ago, I finally "got it" that it's a journey, not a destination. It's not about reaching my goal weight, although that will be exciting. It's about what I am learning along the way, and how I am changing. So it seemed that the blog warranted a name change, new color scheme, and a new photo to be determined.

This blog is also about how I am having fun, and how that is a spiritual path for me.

I used to think that "fun" was an activity.

Now I know its an inner attitude and enthusiasm for life. When you have that, everything can become "fun", thus the name Recipe For Life Make It Fun. Plus, plain ole Recipe for Life was already taken! (And I think Mary Poppins said something about that fun thing, but I'll just leave out the spoonful of sugar since I'm cutting sugar out of my diet).

I look forward to connecting with you here and sharing the journey!