Why We Must Read Food Labels!

So the other day I was at the grocery store and was reminded in a big way why it's so important for me to read food labels!
I was in the sauces aisle looking at the varieties of pasta sauces. I have a few favorite brands, but am always willing to try something new, especially if it's going to be healthy!
Well, to my great delight I saw this lovely jar of sauce with a pretty label that just shouted, "Buy me! Buy me!"
The label said, "Eating Right. Uniting flavor and nutrition."
Done! Sold. This is definitely healthy sauce and it costs about the same as my favorite brand. One of our favorite brands has tomato puree, tomato sauce, onion, salt, olive oil, garlic and a dash of sugar. Super simple, nothing else needs to be added, right?
So I grabbed a couple jars and started walking away. But something was nagging at me to read the ingredients label. But why? The label says that it's about eating right and talks about nutrition. Plus it's pretty!
To get past that nagging feeling, I looked at the ingredients and was so surprised at what was in this PASTA SAUCE!

Refined fish oil Pork gelatin Sodium polyphosphate
Yuck. I don't need, nor do I want those ingredients in my food, especially something as simple as pasta sauce.
I could totally make the sauce myself, but I'm not 'there' yet on being really prepared for meals and having lots of pasta sauce in the freezer. :)
My point in this post is that we (I) have got to make sure to READ our food labels and not be fooled by pretty pictures. I'm so glad I went with my gut and looked at that label!
Have you been surprised at the ingredients on some of the foods you've purchased?

October Special Offer Just for You!

I am so very excited to let you in on my special for October...this is just for you and I really encourage you to take advantage of it!

We are quickly coming in to the cold and flu season. As a busy wife and mom, I just do not want to get those germs if at all possible. There is really no time to be sick, right??  Boosting our immunity is our best defense during cold/flu season or traveling!

So that's why I've created this fantastic special program...it's chock full of the Shaklee products that we use to keep our immune systems healthy!

From now until October 31, get a FREE Shaklee Membership (this is a lifetime membership!!) and a FREE bottle of Defend & Resist from me with purchase of my best-selling Nutrition & Immune Support Package!! 

Immune Support Package 

1. Vitalizer (includes the perfect multi, fish oil & probiotics)

2. Nutriferon (impacts Natural Killer cells)

3. Vitamin C (Chewable 100mg or Sustained Release 500mg. We love the chewables because our kids can take them too!)

FREE with this offer:

Shaklee Membership (read below about why I think a membership would be great for you!)

Defend & Resist (reduces duration of illness when taken at the first sign)

That's $37 in FREE goodies for you!

Contact me via my Facebook page or email directly at ourhealthyhappylife@gmail.com for more information!


Here is a little information about our Shaklee memberships and why I think you would love it!

When joining my Member Team you:

• get discounts on all Shaklee products (save 15% on everything and even up to 25% on some!)
• receive shipping specials
• get your own secure ordering website with LOADS of health information
• receive 100% money back guarantee on all products - no questions asked!

Now, here are some answers to questions you may be asking yourself:

• There is no yearly renewal fee. Joining as a Member is lifetime!
• There are no minimum orders EVER! You can order once a month, or once a year...it's up to you!

In addition to Shaklee's 100% money back guarantee, we offer:

• 100% guarantee that the ingredients listed on the label are in the product
• 100% guarantee of quality controlled product formulations that ensure product safety, purity, reliability, and performance.
• 100% guarantee that we use the finest quality ingredients available. 

31 Days of Healthy Living | A New Series

Welcome to my October series, 31 Days of Healthy Living! I hope you find some interesting and helpful information throughout the month!  Day 1: The best nontoxic household cleaner on the market! Day 2: The best meal replacement smoothie ever! Day 3: Get moving, stay healthy! Day 4: The only disinfectant you'll ever need.  Day 5: Freshen the air in your home naturally! Day 6: My favorite, natural way to take the edge off...I'm talking about stress!  Day 7: Our favorite nontoxic, biodegradable fabric softener. Day 8: The best scouring cleanser around!

Easy Ways to Take Control of YOU!

As a work at home mom, with a husband, two kids, and two small businesses, I get asked all the time, "How do you do it? How do you keep the house clean, food on the table, businesses running, a everyone happy? Do you have a full time nanny or babysitter?" No, though there are times I wish I did!
Truth? I DON'T do it all, hardly ever. I do A LOT though. I'm constantly working, and after awhile, if I don't get it break it can really take a toll on me. If you're in a similar situation, I'm sure you can understand.
So what do I do when I start to feel overwhelmed by not being able to do it all? Or when I feel like I need just five minutes to myself before I crack?
I just tell myself to make a change. Change my attitude, change my thoughts...you get the idea!
Along with the mental pep talk, here are some of my tried and true ways to take back control of that overwhelmed feeling.

Take Care of Myself, Too! This is the NUMBER ONE thing to do! If I'm going to be on top of my game for my husband and kids, I need to take care of myself. So I make it a point to exercise at least 4x's per week, whether it's Zumba, an Insanity class, or just doing my own workout at home. If I go more than two days without exercise, I feel jumpy. I also really strive to eat right and keep my nutrition intake up. For the past 15 months I've been very consistent in taking my daily multivitamins. I've seen a great improvement in my overall energy and I have been sick only once, which is great since I'm chasing two active boys all day!


Cut Myself Some Slack I'm not perfect. No one is. It's hard being a grown up with kids. Heck, sometimes it's just hard BEING! In today's world of social media and everyone posting only the good things about their lives, it's easy to get caught up in that and think you're not doing enough. You are. I am. And I have to remind myself of it almost daily. No, the kitchen isn't always sparkling. In fact, it's pretty darn messy right now. No, the laundry isn't put away yet. No, my kids aren't perfectly behaved all the time. Sometimes money is tight. But that's ok...I am doing the best I can and that's enough!

Get the To Do List Under Control I'm a list maker, but when I write out a list of 20 things to accomplish in one day, I get too overwhelmed and end up getting nothing done! I have my basic to do's that are what keep my home livable at any given time. If I can accomplish that list everyday, then I feel great. Special projects are ongoing and I just have to work on them when (and if) I can during the week.  I have a small planner that I keep next to my laptop in the kitchen. It's easy for me to jot stuff down as I think of it or check off my list.

Schedules, Schedules, Schedules Working at home is rewarding, but challenging. Until recently, I would do work throughout the day, but didn't really have a chance to focus on what I was doing. At the end of the day, I felt like I hadn't done much work at all. So I made a change and have declared the boys quiet time to be my work only time. Ya'll, it has HELPED so much! I'm able to focus more and I get a lot more done than I used to. Having a set work schedule, mine is 1pm-2:30pm, will help you feel in control of your day!

Those are my top must-do's for getting that in control feeling back. I hope this helps you if you're feeling a little off! Let me know what you think!
I'd love to connect with you in my Facebook community!

Three Day Mini Cleanse | Day Two

I'm checking in with my day two of the mini cleanse I'm doing! Today was much easier than yesterday! I didn't have any sweet cravings, which is my downfall. We frequently have homemade chocolate chip cookies in the cookie jar, and they're so easy to grab and munch on as a snack. But today, I didn't even think about them. Woot! I was only able to get in about 10 minutes of HIIT because the boys were all over me today. No worries; I'll try again tomorrow!
Breakfast Sweet potato juice with added Instant Soy Protein. We like to add the protein to our juices because...well just juice doesn't have enough protein to get me through an hour, let alone til my mid-morning snack!
Lunch Chocolate 180 Smoothee with homemade almond milk
Snacks (one in the morning; one in the afternoon) 1 c fresh strawberries 1 organic string cheese 1 c popcorn/rice cake things
Dinner Penne pasta with roasted corn, poblano, bell pepper, and grilled chicken (recipe coming tomorrow!)
Water 64 oz Not bad! Just one more day and I'll be mini-cleansed!

Lunch in 30 Seconds?? Yes!!

Hi everyone! Today I'm vlogging...yikes! Here's how you can make a nutritious, filling, YUMMY Shaklee 180 Smoothee in about 30 seconds!

Three Day Mini Cleanse | Getting Back on Track

Hi there!
Today I started a three day mini cleanse. The past two weeks have been off kilter for us. Our youngest son (2 years old) had an accident two weeks ago. Thank the Lord he's a-ok, just missing a few of his teeth! Yikes! It could've been worse, but we're forever thankful it wasn't. Anyway, we had a few stressful days trying to keep him comfortable and feed him foods that were soft so he could eat!
That said, the stress of it all led to stress eating for me, along with totally stopping my workouts! No bueno! My favorite shorts are getting a little snug, I feel sluggish from not having a consistent workout routine...it's time to get back on track!
I do this mini cleanse several times a year, when things come up. It's safe, it's easy, and the best part of all...once I've completed the cleanse, I feel so much better, with more energy...just ready to take it all on!
Now, this cleanse is NOT a weight loss cleanse. It's simply a way to detox my body, get rid of all the bad food (Kincaid's Hamburgers, Mi Cocina queso, a margarita here and there, chocolate chip cookies!) and start fresh, ready to get back on a healthy eating and workout plan!

This is my Day One accountability check in!
Breakfast:  1 "Butterfinger" Shaklee 180 Smoothee. 2 scoops of vanilla 180 mix, about 1 teaspoon of Chocolate PB2, and 8oz of homemade almond milk
Snack: 1 cup grapes, 12 raw almonds
Lunch: 1 Chocolate Shaklee 180 Smoothee. 2 scoops of chocolate 180 mix and 8oz of almond milk. I also take my Vitalizer strip. I have to wait til I've been up for awhile before taking my vitamins!  (Note: I get the Lean & Healthy 180 Kit, which has 2 containers of Smoothee mixes and the Vitalizer! It's set up on autoship so it arrives at the same time every month and I don't have to think about it. I get mine for free...and you can too!)
Snack:  1 organic string cheese, 1 clementine orange
Dinner: Small piece of grilled chicken, about a cup of mixed grilled veggies
Water: 65oz (a good trick to make sure you're getting enough is to divide your weight in half. That's how many ounces you'll need each day)
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I also did 20 minutes of HIIT (high intensity interval training). It wasn't 20 straight minutes because the boys kept interrupting me, but I got it all in eventually!
Today was HARD for me. I've gotten so used to the unhealthy eating, that my body was like, "What? No cookies today?" I also had a headache for awhile, but after drinking all my water, it finally flushed out!
I don't expect to lose any weight, but I'm certain my favorite shorts are going to fit better by Wednesday night! I'll be back tomorrow with Day 2 Accountability Check In!
Have you ever done a mini cleanse? Did it work for you? 
Don't forget to join my private Facebook group! Join by clicking here.

Keeping Kids Healthy | Back to School Tips

It seems like most families in states around us have already started school. Here in north Texas school doesn't start until next week, and our boys start preschool in September! Now is the time to get organized for our kids health for this school year! If you're like me, an ideal school year would involve no sick days, no tummy aches, no runny noses...could we just keep them in a sterile little bubble? Here are a few of my best tips for starting the school year off happy and healthy!
Eat Clean and Healthy! When our boys (and us parents too!) are eating clean with minimal junk food, their little bodies don't have to work as hard to stay healthy. We juice almost daily, we offer fresh fruits and vegetables at every meal and for most snacks, and we eat fish and chicken a few times per week for proteins. 
Here are some of our favorite clean eating recipes: Juice recipes Grilled Veggie Tacos Homemade Honey Wheat Bread Grilled Fish Tacos Eggplant Caponata
Pop Those Multivitamins! Even though we strive to get the most nutrients we can through food, it's just not enough...for various reasons. We can't always afford to buy organic but we do the best we can. To supplement the nutritional gaps, we started the whole family on a great natural vitamin and supplement regimen about a year ago. I partner with the number one natural nutrition company, so naturally I recommend their vitamins, but it's really more than that. We've been really healthy since starting this regimen and being consistent about it. This past winter was our least sick winter on record! We had ZERO sick visits to the doctor for the entire family for NINE MONTHS! Woot!
Here's what the boys take daily. In fact, they call me out if I get distracted and forget!

• VitaLea OceanWonders for their multivitamin
• Chewable Vitamin C for added immunity
• Optiflora Probiotic to keep their stomachs in tip top shape

You can read about what's in our natural medicine cabinet here.
Keep Germs Away! This goes without saying, but since our kids are going to be around other kids and in more germy places, remind them to wash their hands with soap frequently! And do it at home too! Sometimes it's not possible to wash hands, so keeping a safe, nontoxic hand sanitizer with you (and even in the kids backpacks) is a good idea. Our favorite it Young Living's Thieves. 
Another thing I do to help keep the bacteria and germs at bay is to apply Thieves essential oil to the bottoms of the boys feet before they head off to school, playdates, or places like a bounce house. It smells just like the Thieves hand sanitizer. Yum!

Get Some Zzzz's! I don't know about you, but I feel so much better when I'm well rested and have had enough sleep at night. We are pretty structured when it comes to sleep for our kids...they're both in bed by 8pm every night. Our boys need their 10-11 hours of sleep. When they don't get it, they're overly tired and their little bodies have a harder time fighting off the germs! 
I'd love to hear what you do to help keep your kids healthy through the school year and answer any questions you may have!
Join my Facebook group page today!

Juicing Recipes! | Drink to Your Health!

We've totally gotten addicted to this juicing phenomenon! It's a great way to get the boys to have their daily greens that they're not so good at eating. We still give them actual veggies at mealtimes but juicing is just an extra way to keep them healthy!

While juicing is healthy, it's really just fiber. So we give each juice concoction an extra healthy punch by adding instant soy protein mix to the juice. It adds 16g of non GMO soy protein! It's flavorless and can be used for so many other things that need that extra bit of protein. We love it and you can get it here!

We are still experimenting with our juice recipes, but here are two of our favorites! Let me know if you try them!

Getting Juiced Up | Adding Nutrition to Your Diet

While we work really hard to get the best nutrition possible into our boys, they are young still and can be a bit picky when it comes to vegetable eating. Our oldest is pretty good about it; he loves red bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots, and he'll even eat salad on occasion. The youngest...not so much. He does like broccoli but that's about it.

Do you juice? It seems to be a big deal lately! We recently inherited a Jack Lalanne juicer and decided to give juicing a try so we can get some of those veggies into the boys. So far we really like it! Along with their daily multivitamin and probiotics, we think adding the veggie juices to their diet will really help round out their nutrition!

We've used several recipes, but have found that we just like to clean out the fridge and put a bunch of fruits and veggies together. We've been guilty in the past of not going through our produce quick enough and having to throw it away...not anymore!

For this juice, we used apples, oranges, spinach, ginger, carrots, lemon, and cucumber. It was tasty!

What are your favorite juice recipes? I'd love for you to share them in the comments or join my Facebook community group!

Know Your Nutrition Products | Choose Quality!

Hi there! How are you? Today I want to give you some helpful information about choosing your nutrition products.  

What would you think if you found out the nutrition products you were taking weren't what they appeared to be? 

When it comes to nutrition, our common sense tells us to listen to qualified health care professionals, but many of them don't know the right questions to ask when it comes to learning about quality nutrition products. 

The next time you're looking for nutrition products, keep these 10 things in mind...your health may depend on it!

1. Who manufactures the product?The company who sells a particular product may not manufacture them.  They may only “distribute” the products.  The best nutrition products on the market will be manufactured and distributed by the same company.  
2. Does the nutrition product undergo quality control tests on their ingredients? Every batch of nutritional products should have their raw ingredients analyzed for potency and quality.  The best nutrition products will have as many as 300 quality control tests on each one of their nutritional products.
3. Does the nutrition product have independent labs verify their quality with results made available to the public?The products of nutrition manufacturers should be made available to independent labs to verify their quality.  One area that should be verified is the stated amount of a particular ingredient that is listed on a product label with the actual amount that is contained in the pill.  You’d be surprised at the number of nutrition products on the market that don’t even contain the stated amount of ingredients listed on their labels.
4. Are the nutrition products you use made from natural or synthetic ingredients?Not all nutritional products can be 100% natural; an example would be B vitamins.  No B vitamins can be 100% natural, anyone claiming so is misinformed.  All high quality nutritional products will contain as many natural ingredients as possible.
5. Do the nutrition products pass the “water test”?The water test is used to ensure nutrition products absorbability.  Many nutrition products on the market have so many artificial binders, fillers and colorings that when consumed, the digestive system cannot break down the pill so that the body can absorb the nutrients.The Water Test: Take a sample pill from your nutrition product and place it in a glass of water. Your pill should completely dissolve into a pile of powder within 20 minutes.  If it takes longer, there is a very high probability that your body will not be able to break the product down and absorb it into the bloodstream.
6. Does the manufacturer of your nutritional product have a legitimate scientific advisory board?A high quality nutrition company will have an advisory board consisting of world-renowned physicians and scientists. Many less reputable nutrition manufacturers will pepper their “advisory boards” with people who do not have accredited advanced degrees in biochemistry or nutrition and are not authorities in the nutritional field.
7. How many full-time qualified scientists does the nutrition manufacturer employ?A high quality nutrition manufacturer will have many scientists on staff with accredited graduate level degrees of a Masters or higher in an allied field of nutrition.
8. Does the nutrition manufacturer have at least one legitimate research facility?A high quality nutrition manufacturer will have separate buildings dedicated specifically to research.  The more reputable manufacturers will have them located at prestigious medical schools.
9. Does the nutrition manufacturer commission clinical studies on their nutritional products?A high quality nutrition manufacturer will commission clinical studies on their nutritional products at prestigious institutions such as: Harvard, Tufts University, Johns Hopkins, Yale, UCLA, Stanford University or University of California Berkeley. These clinical studies should be performed by outside institutions so that all results and design methods will be unbiased.
10. Does the manufacturer publish their clinical findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals?Not only will high quality nutrition manufacturers commission clinical studies on their nutritional products, they will also publish their clinical findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

NOT ALL NUTRITION PRODUCTS ARE CREATED EQUALLY!

(Thank you to Dr. Steven Chaney for this helpful information)

By the way, my family uses and recommends Shaklee nutritional products to everyone! Shaklee MEETS or EXCEEDS each one of the points listed above!

Happy August!

Hi friends, how are you? I've been slacking in my blog posting lately. I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things now that it's a new month!

First and foremost, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who joined my Member Team with Shaklee! I've already received such great testimonials from some of you about how happy you are with our products! The most popular has been our Get Clean line and children's nutrition. I'm not surprised...most of you are just like me...wives and moms trying to create a healthier home for your family! 

If you missed out on July's Free Membership opportunity, don't worry...there are still several ways you can get your membership for free!

1. Purchase Vitalizer and your membership is free!  I take Shaklee Vitalizer everyday...I have to admit I was a skeptical about taking it at first, but after taking it consistently for two weeks, I could definitely tell something was going on. I felt more 'balanced' and my energy levels stayed consistent. That in itself was enough to keep using Vitalizer! I just love it!
2. Purchase one of our wonderful Shaklee 180 Kits and your membership is free! As you know, my husband and I love our Shaklee 180 Smoothees! We keep chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla on hand all the time. They're the perfect meal replacement and we also add a bit of the mix to our yogurt or oatmeal for an extra bit of energy! Purchasing the Shaklee 180 Lean & Healthy Kit gives you both the smoothees and the Vitalizer! Win!

Plus, when you join my Member Team, you get access to your own Member Center where you can place orders at your convenience and get lots of other helpful information. And as a Member, you receive 15% off retail prices!

If natural nutrition is something you're interested in, then Shaklee is for you! Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions!

An Accidental Vitamin Test

I just put myself through a test about the effectivness of my vitamins. Mind you, it was an accidental test, but it ended up being proof of how important it is for me to get all of my daily nutrients!

Here's the story:
For about 10 days I'd really been struggling with being low on energy and just couldn't figure out what was going on. I'd been getting enough sleep (finally!), I'd been exercising consistently, and eating pretty well. However, around 3pm I would start feeling what I refer to as 'the drag.' I would be super sleepy and just want to nap.

It was driving me crazy, because I'd started resorting to coffee in the late afternoons as a pick me up. I love coffee, but I don't like relying on the caffeine to get me through the rest of the day.

So, I mentally went through my usual morning routine. Coffee, breakfast Smoothee, vitamins...

Wait. Vitamins.

I'd started taking Vitalizer back in January to go along with my Shaklee 180 Lean & Healthy Kit.  I'd drink a Smoothee at breakfast and take my vitamins at that time. After about 7 days of taking Vitalizer, I mentioned to my husband that I felt 'better.' I had a consistent level of energy through the day and I knew I was getting all my needed nutrients.

I realized that for some reason, I just stopped taking the vitamins. I think it's because I rearranged our medicine cabinet and the Vitalizer wasn't in front of my face anymore. Out of sight, out of mind.

Could my lack of energy be because of that one little strip? No, probably not. But, since I was starting Vitalizer back up again, I figured I'd keep track of how I was feeling just to see if it really played a part.

Well, what do you know?

Again, after about a week of taking Vitalizer, I got my energy back! No more afternoon drag, no more late afternoon desperate grab of coffee! I'm thrilled to know that all I needed was my Vitalizer!

This tiny strip is proof enough to me that it's giving me all the daily nutrients that I'm not getting from food alone, which in turn helps me feel better, more energetic, and ready to conquer the day!

Tell me, do you take a vitamins and supplements? Have you noticed an improvement in your overall health?

Are you interested in learning more about Vitalizer? Contact me directly or read about it here.

And here's a special incentive for you!

• Purchase Vitalizer and your Shaklee Membership is FREE! That's a $19.95 savings!
• Purchase Vitalizer on monthly autoship and save an additional 10%!
• There are no monthly or yearly minimum purchase requirements!