Tag: holidays

An open letter about kindness!

An open letter about kindness!

I just celebrated my 30th birthday a little over a month ago.  It’s always an exciting time to celebrate my birthday, not because I get gifts or eat my favorite local pizza, but because it starts a new year of random acts of kindness.  It’s a new year of pledging to do a minimum of 30 different surprises of giving back, helping others, and spreading more kindness out into the world.  The world has enough craziness, chaos, and uncertainty in it that every little bit of kindness helps.

My ultimate dream through my random acts of kindness is to be the person on Ellen that gets to surprise a deserving family or person of something extraordinary that will change their life – notifying someone they will be able to provide presents for their kids on Christmas, a new car that allows them to get to work safely, helping a college student pay for tuition who may not otherwise have the opportunity, supporting a food drive or coat drive, etc.  My favorite acts of kindness are the random ones to strangers and people I barely know.

So, one day I hope to be that person that can spend an entire day(s) or hour(s) surprising others with things that will change their life.  After all, when you spread kindness and give back you are changing the world one good deed at a time.  Keep that in mind today and every day, not just around the holiday season, on #GivingTuesday, #SmallBusinessSaturday, or during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And, remember to join me on the #ProjectKindnessBook pledge and follow my Project Kindness by using your birthday as the minimum number of times you give back, help others, and spread kindness throughout the year. Use #ProjectKindnessBook in your post to show you have made the commitment to making a difference in the lives of others and changing the world around you.

Simple and easy ideas include leaving a note for a veteran, baking cookies for your local police or fire department, reaching out and thanking your child’s teacher, leaving a large tip for a server, buying someone’s coffee or meal, and donating food and coats throughout the year.  My high school students created cards for veterans, the elderly, and sick children this week to celebrate others.  This small project helps the students see how their gesture can change the life of someone else.  Keep spreading cheer and kindness…it’s the best gift you can give during the holiday season and every day throughout the year!

~jj

#ProjectKindnessBook

#AlwaysChooseKindness

Bacon?! Yes, please!

Bacon?! Yes, please!

Who doesn’t love a great sweet or maybe bacon?  Who was completely bummed by the new research that the World Health Organization aka WHO released this week about bacon, sausage, and hot dogs?  I have to admit that this was information I already knew, but information I never really want to hear (or at least not see plastered across every media outlet known to planet Earth).  I think everywhere I looked I saw articles, broadcasts, and posts reminding me of the harm of these foods.  Depressing, right?!  Or maybe not, maybe just news we needed to hear, be reminded of, and information to make us more well informed people about what we are shoving into our mouths each day (sometimes even me, on occasion)! 😉

On my list of nutrition improvements I continually have 1) Reduce sodium intake 2) Decrease sugary foods and 3) Increase naturally flavorful, non-processed foods (i.e. fruits and veggies, proteins in their most raw form).  Salts and sugars are an ongoing health concern that can always be improved no matter where you are at on your fitness and health journey.  Since the holidays are coming and Halloween is just around the corner it makes following these nutrition goals a bit difficult (even for me), but I have some tips that may just be the key to your nutrition success!

Remember that salts and sugars are often heavy additives in processed foods and of course in candy.  It is important to think about how much salt and sugar is in your diet (cereal, candy bars, sandwiches, pizza, salads, etc) – most people eat three times or more servings of the recommended amount of daily sodium.  That’s scary, especially considering heart disease and cardiovascular concerns are the number one killer.

To cut down on salt and sugars, consider eating more naturally sweet or salty foods that don’t have as much added to them for flavor.  Fruits like watermelon, strawberries, apples, oranges, and pineapple which are naturally sweet are great choices.  Decrease processed meats, chips, cheese, and other salty foods and consider eating foods that are in their more natural form such as chicken, fish, and other meats that you can control how much salt is added.  For desserts, consider a dessert that has fruit in it or a dessert that has a fruit topping such as pudding or mousse with fruit. Further, when it comes to cakes, cookies, pies, tarts, and other sweets make them from scratch so you can control the additives, preservatives, and other ingredients such as sugar and sodium that are placed in the dessert.  Sometimes you can make a less sweet cake, cheesecake, or tart and add fresh fruit that makes it less sugary, but still tastes delicious.

It may seem like a heartbreaker that bacon isn’t good for you and may cause cancer or that cookies like snickerdoodles are high in sugar, but it isn’t something we didn’t already know.  After all, we don’t think fried cheese, pickles, and chicken are good for us, do we?! 😉  Like I say, everything in moderation.  Life is too short not to enjoy the things we love (on occasion)! 😉

~jj

#ProjectKindnessBook

#AlwaysChooseKindness

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