Rediscovering Yourself-Wellness Tips for Empty Nesting Women

Becoming an empty nester is a significant life transition that brings many emotions. While it may feel bittersweet to see your children leave the nest, it also presents an opportunity for self-discovery and personal growth. If this is a transition that's not far off for you or if it's one you've found yourself in recently like I have, we'll explore various wellness tips and practices to help empty-nesting women navigate this new chapter with grace and find their identity beyond parenthood. I feel like once the kids moved out, I finally had no more excuses to not use the energy I used on their health and well-being and use it on my own. Here are some things I did that might help you too!

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Benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training

High-intensity interval training, also known as HIIT, is a form of interval training that involves short intervals of maximum intensity cardio interspersed with longer intervals of low to moderate-intensity cardio. What makes high-intensity interval training different than regular interval training is that the maximum-intensity intervals are based on maximum effort, not a specific heart rate. Any type of cardio exercise can be used for a HIIT workout including running, swimming, walking, jumping rope or the use of equipment such as a treadmill, elliptical or stair-stepper. Want to know some of the benefits of high-intensity interval training? Read on!

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Keto No Bake Gluten Free Cheesecake

The title alone makes this dessert seem like no fun {I mean, come on...keto, no-bake and gluten-free???}, but you've got to taste this! We all know someone who has dietary restrictions, so why not give this cheesecake a try and see for yourself. It's a refreshing taste we all know and love that you can almost feel not guilty indulging in. Read more to find this delicious keto cheesecake recipe that you'll love adding to your dessert recipe stash.

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The Biggest Loser Reboot: A Former Contestant Speaks Out

I have loved reality TV since the early days of  COPS and MTV's The Real World. I easily got sucked into season after season of The Biggest Loser, and I must confess, I was kind of surprised when I noticed that the show, after running for 17 seasons slowly disappeared from the television lineup. While there is no shortage of reality TV out there, it was a show my husband and I enjoyed watching together. After taking a four-year break, the show is back, this time on a new network with a reboot. I had the chance to sit down with season 2's runner up Suzy Hoover recently to ask her what she thought of the new show. Let's just say, she's not hopeful.

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Everything You Need to Know about Shopping at a Food Co-op

When we were shopping at a farmer's market in Italy recently, it struck me that each of the items at the market was listed with the region that the item came from. It hit me that Americans have such a disconnect with their food and where it comes from. I started to become much more aware of how my food is sourced.

I've always been a fan of my local farmer's market, but that's generally a seasonal shopping experience in my area. Just this past weekend, Central Co-op opened up in my neighborhood and I thought I'd give it a look. I've never shopped at a Co-op grocery store before, and maybe you haven't either, so I'm going to try to answer all of your questions about food co-op's, from how to shop at them, if you should join one and the best tips to getting the most out of your shopping experience. 

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Summertime Essential Oil Diffuser Recipes

Bring the outside indoors with these incredible summertime essential oil diffuser recipes!  These diffuser blends give you those fresh and light smells of summer anywhere you go. Whether you are diffusing at home, in your car, or even at your office. Enjoy these natural summer essential oil blends.
If you are looking for new scent blends to try for summer, I have a handful that might fit perfectly into what you are wanting. These are some of the best smelling essential oil combinations, in my opinion.

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Healthy Homemade Greek Yogurt Fudge Pops

This post is sponsored by FAGE; however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

It's no secret that I have a little bit of a sweet tooth, especially when it comes to frozen desserts. I can eat frozen treats all year round, but really do enjoy them when the weather starts to warm up. FAGE Total Plain Greek Yogurt gives these healthy homemade Greek yogurt fudge pops a little tart kick, which may just deter your little ones from stealing them from you. As I described it to my nieces who were eyeing them in my freezer, they have a more grown-up taste perfect for the sophisticated adult palette. 
These Greek yogurt fudge pops will feel like a decadent dessert but they aren't a cheat food at all! 

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Blackberry, Kiwi and Chia Pudding with Granola Recipe

Chia seeds aren't just for those furry little chia pets you find as a gag gift. Nope, they are popping up everywhere as a superfood you shouldn't be ignoring. Chia seeds actually have three times more iron than spinach, twice as much potassium as a banana and are a great source of fiber. They are a small but mighty seed and you are going to want to come up with more ideas on how to incorporate them into your daily diet.  Speaking of diet, if you are looking to watch what you eat, chia seeds can help you feel full longer since they absorb 10 times their weight in water. This blackberry, kiwi and chai pudding with granola is a great way to try load up on those superfoods. 

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Feeling Confident in Your Own Skin: How to Embrace the Changes in Your Body as You Age

From the time I was little, I remember looking in the mirror and picking out my flaws. My hair was too straight, I had too many freckles, my legs were too skinny. It seems like human nature to pick out all of those things that we don't like about ourselves. I look at my teenage daughter now and I see those same freckles spread out across her nose and I gush over them. Her stick straight hair is just like mine and it's beautiful the way it catches the sun and lays over her shoulders. Those legs I thought were too skinny on me before are now one of my favorite body parts because they've held me up for forty years. There is a little bit of an evolution I've been on the past few decades. I still see the flaws sometimes, don't get me wrong, but I also have come to accept those things as part of me. So how can you feel confident in your own skin? I'm sharing a few ways that I've learned how through the years.

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No Bake Healthy Lemon Bar Coconut Balls

I don't know many people who don't love the refreshing flavor of a lemon. It makes me think of summer even in the dead of winter. Why not try these healthy lemon bar coconut balls for an easy-to-make snack. The lemon flavor pops while the coconut takes a backseat to let the flavor take over. I do love a sweet treat that seems like an indulgence but really, it's low in sugar and cures the craving. Give them a try, I bet you are going to love them!

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Mediterranean Pasta Salad

I never tried any kind of Greek food until I was in my 30's, but now, I can't get enough! I haven't met a Greek salad I didn't love. I love the combination of the zesty, salty and spicy flavors all coming together. Just talking about it and my mouth is watering! So full of flavor. Which is why you can't go wrong with this Greek inspired Mediterranean Pasta Salad, especially during the warm summer months and into the crisp fall. All the ingredients are so fresh and most of them can be found in your garden or at your local farmers market. 

You really can't go wrong with this easy pasta salad with classic Mediterranean ingredients.

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Healthy Grilled Chicken Bruschetta

Chicken is one of those favorite meats in our home but it can get a little boring. I'm always looking for new ways to serve this lean protein to my family but at the same time not over complicate it. This grilled chicken bruschetta recipe is a new favorite and is a great weeknight meal that doesn't take a lot of time to prepare.

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Probiotic Foods or Supplements...which is better?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Activia Probiotic Yogurt. All opinions are 100% mine.

I consider myself to be fairly health conscious and do my best to take care of myself, but the older I get, the more I realize that there are things that I should be doing {after years of my dentist hounding me I am now flossing, so you can rest easy on that one!} that I'm not so that my body can be functioning properly. I want to make good choices that make the least disruption to my already over-booked lifestyle. If you are like me, you have heard about probiotics, but the word has gone in one ear and out the other. In case you missed it you can find out What the Heck Probiotics Are and Why You Should Care.

If you have even spent a second looking into probiotics or talked to your girlfriends about it, you may be confused about what is the best way is to add probiotic foods to your diet.  Is it better to consume probiotic Foods or Supplements? Let's take a look.

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What the Heck are Probiotics and Why Should I Care?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Activia Probiotic Yogurt. All opinions are 100% mine.

I've heard the word uttered through the years but pretty much ignored it. Probiotics...why should I care? And what the heck are they anyway? I'm a healthy active woman doing the best to take care of myself and my family, why do I need one more thing? As a mom, I do my best to juggle all the balls...to keep the kids schedules organized, to make healthy dinners, to get to the gym, to balance my work and my family time. Sometimes the idea of one more thing throws everything off balance. But isn't balance really what we are ultimately seeking?

Several different life events this year have made me feel like I may need more balance. Not only have I faced physical hurdles, I have also been dealing with negative self-talk I've had to overcome.  But I know that I'm strong and I can do hard things. I desire to live my best life and I can't do that with obstacles in my way, so I need to take charge. I need to hit reset and start fresh and that means that I may need to make some small changes for a better life. Instead of ignoring the word, let's dig in and see what the heck probiotics are why I should care about them.

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Immune Boosting Smoothie Recipe

It seems like this time of the year someone around me is always sick. I don't have a lot of time to slow down so I try to stay as healthy as possible. The stronger your immune system, the less likely you are to get sick and the faster you can recover if you do. You can actually drink your way to a stronger immune system and today, I am sharing one way that you can do that.  By incorporating fresh produce into your diet and adding a boost, you'll not only get some great nutritional benefits, you will also be able to fight off any cold or flu germs that come your way.

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Jenny Craig-Stay on Track While on Vacation

Thank you Jenny Craig for sponsoring this post. -- Get serious about losing weight with Jenny Craig!

For most people, going on vacation means leaving behind their daily routine, but that doesn't mean that you can't still maintain the healthy habits you try to incorporate into your life every single day. I had the opportunity to travel for a long weekend to Hawaii smack dab in the middle of my month long Jenny Craig reset. You see, in the matter of about six months, I packed on about ten pounds. A major car accident about a year ago left me with a limited activity level and unexplained pain that turned into chronic pain. I spent most of last year visiting doctors offices and trying to get to the root cause of the pain I was experiencing and in the process, my body slowed down to a crawl and decided to start packing the pounds on. It was only about ten pounds and I was still in a healthy weight range for my height, but I didn't want ten pounds to turn into twenty pounds to turn into thirty pounds. My clothes no longer fit and instead of buying a whole new wardrobe, I knew that I needed to hit restart, so I joined Jenny Craig at the start of the new year. I jumped head first into a weight-loss program for the first time in my life. I wasn't quite sure what that was going to look like as I traveled, but surprisingly I returned from Hawaii four pounds lighter. I'm going to share with you how you can stay on track with Jenny Craig even while on vacation.

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Pushing Reset With Jenny Craig

Thank you Jenny Craig for sponsoring this post. -- Get serious about losing weight with Jenny Craig!



I stepped on the scale at a doctors appointment and audibly gasped. I'm sure it wasn't the first time that the nurse heard a patient question the accuracy of the scale. Weight has never really been an issue for me. If anything, I hovered around the lower end of normal. Last February I was involved in a fairly serious car accident. Accident related injuries turned into chronic pain that the doctors couldn't put their finger on. For months I bounced between specialists trying to find the cause of my pain while trying to find my new normal with physical limitations. Before the accident, I was very active. I ran often, did strength training and made it a point to hit the gym five days a week. For months after the accident I was struggling to find a new routine. The medication I was on made me exhausted and one of the side effects was weight gain. It should have been no surprise when that scale showed a weight I had never seen before outside of pregnancy. 
I ignored the number as it crept up. I had frequent doctors appointments and I figured it was the heavy clothes I was wearing as the weather started to turn. Plus, the scale was probably just not calibrated correctly. I mean, it gets used all the time right? Wrong. The third appointment at the third doctor's office in one week confirmed that I had indeed packed on some pounds. I'm not quite sure why I didn't notice. My jeans were tight and rarely could I have them buttoned. Ten pounds, that's how much weight I had gained in just a few months.

Ten pounds really isn't that much, but I'm getting older and my metabolism is slowing down and well, if it was ten pounds in just a few months, what if it was twenty pounds in a year, or fifty pounds in five years. I needed a reset. I needed to re-examine my activity level, figure out my portions and take off those pounds that were slowing me down. I didn't want to mess with any fad diet programs. I needed to get real results that were going to last. If you need a reset too, come see how the first two weeks have been on the Jenny Craig program.

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Strawberry Yogurt Salad Recipe

I'm guilty. I am one of those people that has made a new year's resolution to be more conscious of the food that I am eating. I am usually a pretty good eater. I pick up fruits and veggies quite often as a snack, but I also pick up handfuls of chocolate and chips too! The older I get, the more I realize that I need to pay more attention to what I'm putting into my mouth. This strawberry yogurt salad is the perfect meal for lunch time. Or serve it as a fresh side. Eating more fruits and veggies never hurt anyone!

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Lemon Pucker Pistachios

I like snacks. A lot. Please tell me I'm not the only one! A few years ago, I indulged my snack habit and started a subscription with Nature Box. I became obsessed with these Lemon Pucker Pistachios that you could order. I could order 5 bags of snacks and I would often order multiple bags of the pistachios. It's always inevitable that when I love something, they stop making it. I pouted about it, sent tweets to the company, checked back incessantly in hopes that the pistachios would return with no luck.  I have finally come to grips with the fact that the Lemon Pucker Pistachios just might not make it back to the snack rotation at Nature Box, so what's a girl to do but set out to make her own.

I think I got pretty darn close and making them couldn't be easier. If you love pistachios, you will love these lemon flavored ones.

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The 4 week water challenge. Does it really take 10 years off of your face?

I know I don't drink enough water. I know how important drinking water is, I just don't do it. I do sip on water throughout the day but my maximum intake is around 12 ounces of water per day. A far cry from what is recommended, though despite all of us knowing 8 by 8 {8 glasses of water by 8 pm}, water recommendations are no longer a one size fits all approach. WebMD has a recommendation of 1/2-1 ounce of water for every pound. I'm 108 pounds and live a fairly active lifestyle, so around 100 ounces is a pretty fair goal to shoot for.  A few years ago I had a pedicure at a spa {thank you groupon} and the esthetician told me that my skin was dry. I didn't think my skin was dry. It didn't feel cracked or flaking but she recommended that I drink more water.  She told me I could be dehydrated. I took note of it, but obviously didn't really change my habits.   I guess I sort of underplayed how important drinking water is for my overall health. For some reason, despite having seen this article before, I was inspired to drink more water and to start a little blog experiment.  I thought that I would document the process week by week and see if I saw results as drastic as she did. She really does look 10 years younger. I'm wondering if it will work for me.

source

I downloaded an app to my phone to help me keep track of my daily water intake. The author drank 3 liters of water, which is about 101 ounces, so I set my app to track what felt like an ocean of water every single day. I started on a Monday, so with no makeup on, I took a picture. Each Monday I logged my observations from the week and snapped a no makeup picture.  I do occasionally drink things other than water {usually coffee}, but those don't count towards my water goal. I'm sticking to logging strictly water only. So here we go me on day 1.

Come see what this journey was like for me and if I will keep on drinking 101 ounces of water every single day. Are you dying to see if I look 10 years younger just by changing this one habit?

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