Today I am thankful for _____________! (AKA, Being Unapologetically Me.)

Hello friends;

Today, in my FREE online course, 'Manifest Your Dream Life - The Power of Visualization, Positivity and more" I asked the question, "Today I am thankful for ______."

It was a 'fill-in-the-blank' question for the course participants to answer.

What is magical and amazing about this course is that I learn something new about myself every single time I teach it. As we evolve and grow new lessons are brought to the forefront and made clear for us as we are ready to receive them.

To this question, here is my response:

Sometimes things in life cause us to be tentative, fearful, isolated and introverted, even though these traits are not our nature. 

To share a little more about myself, without writing a novel, from the years 20015 to 2010, for a number of obscure and emotional reasons, I ran away. 

I disappeared. I left my family. I moved to a different state all alone and no one knew where I was for quite some time. Those years were both the worst and best of my life. Without my family I was so alone and so isolated that I sunk into a deep depression. I was so lost and contemplated ending my life on many occasions. However, that depression lead me to life saving therapy and a shift within me that allowed me to let people in more than I ever had done before. And, without my family, their comments, opinions and influence I was able to accomplish great things all by myself. 

Coming back to my family was ever harder than leaving. Each of them had mourned my leaving in their own way. Each of them had a Gemma sized hole to fill when I abruptly removed myself from their lives. They each missed me for their own reasons and had moved on. When I returned there were a lot of emotions swirling around with everyone. 

Coming back I knew my family loved me, but they weren't going to let me back into their world easily, they too had been hurt. So, for the past 5 years I have tiptoed around them, always feeling like the outsider at family gatherings. Watching my family embrace my husband and children fully but not quite there with me. 

I have been going through all the motions of being a family member without feeling like I truly belonged there.  I didn't act like 'myself.' It's hard to be 'you' when you feel like a third wheel in your own family. I thought I was doing this to allow them time to get to know me again, but the truth is, I didn't know who I was around them anymore. 

Through my own online course, 'Manifest Your Dream Life - The Power of Positivity, Visualization and More,' as well as some intense soul searching and introspection I have been able to reconnect with who I am and what makes me ME.

So, when posed with the question this morning of what I am thankful for this is my response:

Last night we had a family gathering for my Uncle's birthday. I had an amazing, empowering and awesome attitude about the whole thing. I, literally, said to myself, "FUCK IT!!! I'm ME. I love them all, I know they love me. But, if they're not going to like me, let them not like the REAL me." Last night I was 100%, all out, unapologetically ME. I danced with all the kids, I took them outside in the rain, I told loud funny stories, I asked people what they were up to (always felt like I should already know what my cousin's husbands were in school for or their wives did for a living, but I honestly did not know. I was afraid to ask.) And, you know what? They all looked at me differently. My cousins looked at me like they found me again, finally. It reminded me of that scene in the movie "Hook" when the lost boy grabbed Peter Pan's (played by Robin Williams) face and says, "Oh, there you are Peter." I was me again. I know I missed me and wonder if they did too. 

It was, for me, the best family gathering since 2005.
It felt amazing. I felt like me again.

So, I am thankful I'm finding ME again, unapologetically!

If you like what you just read please subscribe to this blog.
I'd love to connect with you on social media. You can find me on facebook (Gemma Rayne Fountain) and on Twitter (@GemmaRFountain) and my website, www.GemmaRayneFountain.com.

I blog about health, nutrition, fitness and finding happiness as a woman and as a mother. 

I'd love to hear your feedback, it gives me inspiration to keep on blogging so please comment below and share with friends you think might resonate with this blog. 

Thanks

~Gemma Rayne Fountain
Exercise Physiologist, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach & Fitness Expert. 

Are You Confident With Your Body?

Are You A Body Confident Woman?
Share your secret with me...

I'm editing my mini-ebook titled 'Secrets of body Confident Woman' and I would love to hear from YOU.

If you know me you know how super passionate I am about helping women learn to love themselves JUST THE WAY THEY ARE!!

This mini e-book is to serve women and help them learn valuable and helpful tools to use on their journey to self acceptance and self love for their minds and their bodies. I am only one woman with my one small view of the world. I'd love to hear from amazing women (like you) so that I can create a super comprehensive and powerful report.

Do have a minute to comment below?
Are you a 'body confident' woman?
What is/are your secret(s) to being so?
What advice would you give to women looking to practice being more confident with their bodies?

I've come up with a few ideas, for example

1. Don't compare yourself to others.
2. Lift other women up.
3. Prepare to evolve (your diet, your workout, your habits) as your life changes.
4. Give up feeling guilty (over a missed workout, a diet 'cheat', etc)
5. Just do the best you can and be ok with that.
6. Fail and fail big, each failure gets you once step closer to success.
7. Give up the idea of perfection, it's a joke.
8. Practice positive self talk
9. What else?...

Please give me your secrets and let me know what you think about the 8 secrets I posted above.

I truly look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for taking the time to help with this project.

I'm A Good Cook and It's Time I Knew It

I'm A Good Cook and It's Time I Knew It

I was not always very talented in the kitchen. I didn't grow up with parents

who cooked. In fact, my mom cooked once a year, at Christmas. She used to say that it took her "Six months to prepare for it and six months to get over it." Hence, once a year.

So I never learned how to cook.

In my 20s I tried a few recipes but wouldn't pay enough attention and would botch them terribly by forgetting ingredients or switching measurements. I recall a recipe for a mushroom sauce that required 1 cup of water and 1 teaspoon of molasses. Yep! I mixed those two up and put in 1 cup of molasses and 1 teaspoon of water. Needless to say, I got take out that night.

So I have maintained this idea that I can not cook.

The truth is that I have become quite a good cook. I made a conscious effort to get better at it and actually started to enjoy cooking. Every meal I make now is edible and rather enjoyable. Some being more delish than others, but all 100% edible.

THREE things helped me to start enjoying my time in the kitchen:

3.) I can control all the ingredients in my food.
I make a lot of traditional foods, spaghetti, curry, stew, but I use healthy oils, organic ingredients and a lot less sodium and fat than a restaurant. I now enjoy my home cooked food MORE than a meal at a restaurant (never would have believed I would EVER say that) and it's a lot healthier. 


2.) I cook in BULK.
I make enough of any dish to last us a few days. This means more healthy and yummy food for the least amount of effort and a lot of savings in my pocket book. Plus, lots of healthy 'fast' food in the fridge just a microwave zap away.

1.) I cook my food with love.
I think about my family while I'm cooking. I think about how the healthy food I am preparing will nourish their growing bodies. I want my children to be as healthy and happy as possible. The food I am making is helping that to come true. I also believe in energy and the power of energy transfer. I transfer my energy and love into the food I cook so that it can be absorbed by my husband and children when they eat it. This makes cooking a lot more lovely.


Because I have still maintained this perception that I am not a good cook I never invite people over to eat, I rarely make food for friends or family. I have thought to myself, "they don't want anything that I cook."

I recognized this untruth in myself recently and have decided to get rid of it. I AM a pretty darn good cook these days. It's time that I admitted this.

My first step to letting the world know that I can cook is to take some of the Turkey & Lentil Soup (see recipe here) that I made to my neighbor. She is going through chemo and could use a healthy, delivered and home cooked meal.

I hope she enjoys it.


What old misconceptions are you holding on to? What ideas USED to define you but no longer do? Can you let them go and appreciate who you are NOW in the present?
I'd love to hear what 'old' thoughts that are no longer true you are holding on to. Please let me know in the comments below.

Why I Am Now An 'Oil Puller' For Life

I Tried Oil Pulling and I Liked It. Why I'm Now An Oil Puller For Life...

I tried oil pulling, after much trepidation (read all about why I decided to give it a go and my first experience with oil pulling HERE). I learned that it didn't suck and decided to do it every day for a whole week to see what happened.

Here's what I experienced...

I pulled organic coconut oil every day for a week. I started out with just 1/2 a teaspoon of oil for 5 minutes and built up each day to a full teaspoon and 20 minutes.

I would pull oil while I was doing household chores because I didn't have time to just stand around in my bathroom for 20 minutes a day.

I started looking forward to pulling oil. It was a great exercise for my mouth, face and neck. The swishing motion was something I didn't do very often before this exercise. It felt invigorating and good to move these muscles. I suffer from jaw clenching when I sleep and I noticed that I was clenching less after a good oil pulling session. I felt like I was releasing tension from those muscles that did the clenching. Less clenching for me meant better sleep and less headaches in the mornings. This was a welcome and surprised side effect of oil pulling for me.

One week isn't long enough to notice if I was improving my oral health in a major way, or making any beneficial changes to my internal organs but I did notice THIS, my teeth have never been whiter. I use a whitening toothpaste, I use the whitening strips, but they hadn't had anywhere near the whitening effect that oil pulling had. I loved it!

I also noticed that my skin was more vibrant. I'm not sure if this was from the oil or the increased blood flow from using all the muscles in my face to swish but I like what I was seeing.

The simple fact of taking time to do this self care act was also beneficial. I felt calmer, more peacful, more grounded and a lot less stressed. Taking a little time each day for me was a huge benefit for me.

Time will tell if I notice any other long term effects of oil pulling, but I can tell you this, I'll be able to find out because I'm now an oil puller. I haven't done it every single day since that first week but I make sure to pull my oil a few times a week and I'm loving the results I'm seeing.

So grab some coconut oil (organic if you can) and start pulling oil.

Let me know in the posts below if you notice any great results too.

Happy swishing my friends.

Why I Decided to Give 'Oil Pulling' a Go...

Oil Pulling - What It Is and Why I Decided To Give It A Go

I had never heard of oil pulling before I started my education to become a Health Coach with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

In one of the first course modules it was suggested that we get some coconut oil and start putting globs of it in our mouths and swishing it around for 20 minutes a day. When I first heard this in my lecture I thought "what kind of hippie crap school have I signed up for?" There was no way I was going to put a yucky glob of oil in my mouth to swish around. First of all, I don't have time for that. And, second of all, eeeeew!

But then I read the rest of the lecture and saw the list of benefits associated with oil pulling. These benefits include clearer skin, whiter teeth, improved oral health, decreased inflammation, improved allergies, improved digestion and kidney function and more. This list is, admittedly, impressive. But I still wasn't going to start doing some mambo jambo gross thing that I didn't have time for anyway.

Or, so I thought.

The list of benefits of oil pulling haunted me. I read social media posts from fellow classmates who were starting to do oil pulling and having great experiences doing so. I also was getting deeper into the school curriculum and loving the information they offered. My respect for the school was so great that I knew they weren't a 'hippie crap school' so I had trust that the information they were giving me was legitimate. All of it, even the 'mambo jambo' oil pulling.

It took a few months of stubbornly resisting before I finally caved in and decided to give oil pulling a go. I grabbed my jar of organic coconut oil and a teaspoon from the kitchen and headed to the bathroom. I started small and just put half a teaspoon of oil in my mouth. It was pretty grody at first. The globby, oily consistency in my mouth was odd. But I put my big girl panties on and didn't freak out. I started swishing and the globby oil became a liquid as it heated up to my body temperature.

This first time I only swished for about 5 minutes and then spit it out into the garbage (you don't want to spit it down the drain and have the heated oil solidify in your pipes as it cools). I rinsed my mouth thoroughly, brushed and voila! I had just pulled oil!

I felt cool and alternative. It didn't suck, not one bit. I actually enjoyed the time to myself while I 'pulled' the oil. Standing in my bathroom swishing the oil, moving the muscles in my face and mouth and letting my mind wander was an extremely relaxing experience. I actually enjoyed myself.

I decided to keep this up and pull oil every day for a week.

Each day I used a little more oil and each day I 'pulled' for a slightly longer amount of time until I was oil pulling for the full 20 minutes. I didn't have time to stand in my bathroom just pulling oil for this amount of time so I pulled oil while I folded laundry, or put away the dishes, or watered my plants. I did chores that I would have been doing anyway, but pulled oil while I did them. It was some brilliant multitasking.

I did this every day for a week.

Read about my results and if I continued to pull oil after the week HERE.

What Is A Health Coach? And, What Do They Do?

What Is A Health Coach? And, What Do They Do?

As well as being an Exercise Physiologist and Fitness Expert I am also a Health Coach.
This is my most recent certification. And I LOVE it. :)

Since the term 'Health Coach' is a relatively new career many people do not know exactly what a Health Coach is or does.
So, this blog is to help you learn exactly what it is a Health Coach does and how they can help YOU.

I'm going to borrow the definition of a Health Coach from the IIN website. IIN (Institute for Integrative Nutrition) is where I am receiving my training. They are the world's foremost school for Health Coaching.

What is a Health Coach?

A Health Coach is a wellness authority and supportive mentor who motivates individuals to cultivate positive health choices. Health Coaches educate and support clients to achieve their health goals through lifestyle and behavior adjustments. Proper health coach training programs and health coach certification ensure that Health Coaches know how to work with diverse groups of people and equips them with the tools necessary to best fit the needs of their clients.
(from the IIN website http://www.integrativenutrition.com/career/healthcoaching).

In my opinion a Health Coach combines a counselor, a great friend, a personal trainer, a private diary and nutrition expert all into one. The Health Coach isn't there to tell you what to do, or how to do it. The Health Coach is there to coach you to find healthier ways of doing things that fit your life and your world on your terms.

“The primary objectives of health coaching are to educate the patient regarding self health management and to encourage patients in taking a more proactive role in staying healthy.”-Medical Economics, Nov 2010

The Health Coach wants YOU to be the healthiest and happiest YOU that you can be. And health and happiness come in all shapes and forms. Health includes fitness, diet, rest, social life, spirituality, creativity, finances, career, education, joy, and more. ALL of these things are important to the Health Coach.There are 12 areas of your life the Health Coach will challenge you to find greater happiness in. It's not just about eating more veggies and getting on a treadmill.

“Chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes wreck our quality of life and cost a fortune. In recent years, a new and intriguing concept has emerged in the prevention and treatment of chronic illness: the health coach.” –CBS News, October 2009

I strongly believe that EVERYONE can benefit from a Health Coach. We can all use a little help to increase the happiness in some area of our lives. There is nothing wrong with getting a little assistance to see things through different eyes and reach improvement and change a little faster. Life is short, being happy is important.

Health Coaching is often a 6 month program. I am offering a special introductory phone session for you to experience what Health Coaching is first hand. A 90-minute Introductory Health Coaching session with me for only $65 is available for the month of February. I'd love to show you what Health Coaching could offer YOU and your life. I'd love to be your Health Coach.

If you are interested in experiencing, first hand, what a Health Coach can offer you and your life please contact me to schedule your 90-minute telephone appointment. Session times are limited. 

Getting In Shape SUCKS!!!

GETTING IN SHAPE SUCKS

I did it AGAIN! I let myself get totally out of shape. Granted I have a good excuse, I gave birth, so I'm not being too hard on myself. But, this still sucks!

I did, I got out of shape. And, while getting out of shape is truly super sucky getting back into shape is the suckiest suck of all.

Gone are the days where a 2 hour intense workout session would barely phase me. No more are the times of countless lunges without so much as a hint of burn. Sayonara to those workouts when it was difficult to get my muscles to be sore.

Oh yes, these are long gone.

They have been replaced with their distant cousins named 'Tired,' 'Achey,' 'Sore' and 'Whiney.'

This is HARD! Getting in shape is HARD!!!

TIRED
Adding physical activity into an already full life is exhausting. It takes time to adapt to the added physical demand an exercise routine brings. In the mean time I'm really dang tired. It's important that I stay focused and motivated and only aim for small gains each week so I don't poop myself out.

ACHEY
My body aches. My feet ache, my knees are unhappy, my back is frustrated and my legs want a vacation. Of course none of this has anything to do with the fact that I'm getting older, of course not! I must remember to be kind to my body and allow it to rest enough each day. It's ok to give myself massages, roll my bare feet over a tennis ball, roll my body around on a foam roller, and meditate.

SORE
With every step, every reach, every bend down and every stand up I wince. My muscles are being

begged, coerced and dragged back to activity and they are fighting it every 'rep' of the way. Don't get me wrong, I actually love muscle soreness. It means that I challenged my muscles well and as they repair they are getting stronger. But in this, the beginning stages of getting back in shape EVERYTHING is sore. Every muscle is crying for me to stop and lie back down on the couch. I will not listen. I know better. I know that these muscles are capable of greatness and in time they will cry when I do lie on the couch, idle and still, for they will crave movement and activity. I just have to keep pushing them little by little.

WHINEY

Whining when tired, achey and sore from working out is a right of passage. It's my way of rubbing my new found activity in the face of anyone who will listen . It's just what us fit people do and we love it. REMEMBER THIS: Whining to people about your tired, achey and sore body is an insurance policy. Once you whine you can never give up the fight for fitness for if you do all those annoyed coworkers and friends who listened to you bitch countless times will be there, circling like vultures ready to pounce and gloat in your failure. Don't give them that satisfaction. The only way to win is to reach your goal and maintain it and rub that in their faces too. For that is the sweetest victory of all.


I have said this before, and I hope I mean it this time, I am NEVER getting out of shape again. It's so dang easy to lose and so freakin hard to get back.

But I will push a little more this week than last week and I will not stop challenging my little body to be stronger, faster, fitter and healthier for this is how I will reach my goals. This is how I will build endurance and ability. This is how I will be able to keep up with my kids and play with them for years to come. This is how I will push my body to the place where I know it belongs.

If you are reading this please take solace in the fact that a former Fitness Model and Group Fitness Instructor is clawing her way into shape too. Getting into shape is hard for everyone - it's the attitude that separates those who get there and those who don't. So whine all you want and say hello to Tired, Achey and Sore. But do it with humor and appreciate your able body at every stage. Don't give up. We'll all get there soon enough.



Do you get my emails???? If not you're missing out. I send emails out a few times a month to help you stay focused and motivated to be the best and healthiest you that you can be. I send recipes, articles and other goodies. Go to my website, www.gemmaraynefountain.com to join.

* Need help with your weight loss? Check out my book.
'The Elephant in the Room - How to Overcome Your Psychological Barriers to Weight Loss Success' on Amazon
(https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Room-Overcome-Psychological-Barriers-ebook/dp/B010JGJN6Q)

Please connect with me on social media, I'd LOVE to hear from you and will answer questions if you send them. 
Facebook - Gemma Rayne Fountain

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Podcast - COMING SOON!

You can find me online at www.GemmaRayneFountain.com and can shop for products with my product partner, USANA Health Sciences for nutritional products, meal replacement products and paragon free skin care line at
www.GemmaRayneFountain.USANA.com


I am also available for online Integrative Nutrition Health Coaching. Contact me to learn more at GemmaRayneFountain@gmail.com.