It’s OK to Change Your Mind About Your Business

You have heard the saying, “Never give up”, many times in your life.  You have heard the saying, “Winners never quit”. So when you begin to have thoughts about quitting your job or closing your business you may get pangs of guilt coming at you from yourself and those around you. There is a stigma that quitting is what losers do.

But what if we don't put the label of “quitting” on the action? Perhaps we are on a journey and now your path is leading you in another direction. Or maybe you want to change your mind. Maybe you thought this was what you were destined to do but now are having second thoughts. Does that make you a loser? Does that make you a quitter?

For instance, you might be a nurse. You became a nurse because you love helping people. You love nurturing and taking care of people. You like to help people heal from injuries and traumatic diseases. Plus, the pay is not bad. The shifts are long but you can work with more flexibility than many other careers. Think back to why you became a nurse. Now, fast forward to your current feelings. You may now feel burned out. Your cup is empty and there is no time to refill it. You are getting fatigued working long shifts and graveyard shifts or swing shifts. You end up getting 3 hours of sleep on those days.  We can go on and on…

You may be at the crossroads. You still want to help people. You still want to assist in their healing. You still love to nurture and take care of people. The vehicle just needs to change. There is nothing wrong and everything right with that. You are not quitting. You are just changing vehicles.

In this time it is also very normal to change careers at least 3 times in our working lives because we are living longer, it is easier to learn to work in another field or career and our lifestyles change to fit our next path.

You might be a Real Estate agent who is wondering if showing and selling houses is really what you are being called to do. Perhaps you became a real estate agent because you enjoyed being with people, you enjoyed the smile on a  new family's face when they purchase their first home, or maybe you got into real estate so that you could invest in properties to build wealth for you and your family. Maybe you became a real estate agent because you like to serve others, help others, make a difference in their lives.

But now you may be wondering… while you love to serve others you also have bills to pay. Maybe you are not making the amount of income you need to make to support your family. And may be you are suffering from burn out because you have been burning the candle from both ends, not delegating your tasks, not creating systems that can be delegated, and not taking right action to reach your financial goals.

I have seen agents who are miserable, barely making enough to pay their bills, struggling with lead generation and getting enough business and yet, they tend to defend their decision to stay in real estate because of the stigma connected to quitting real estate. After all, being altruistic is something you want to be admired for. Being in real estate is not a career but a business. The mistake I see most often is agents who don't treat their businesses like businesses. They treat it like a job. That will never work out. Employee mentalities don't work in entrepreneur settings.

Perhaps you are working in corporate America putting in long hours and climbing the “success” ladder. You chose this path as the vehicle to reach security and have a great retirement. However, years into this grind, you start to see you are giving up too much of yourself and time away from your family. Something is going to have to give.

While the 3 of these scenarios are pretty different, what they have in common, is a chosen vehicle and a road to drive that vehicle on.

Now, maybe you have been thinking about how much you would love to start your own business and leave the 9 to 5. Maybe you are passionate about skiing and want to teach skiing instead of selling real estate. Maybe you are a nurse that knows natural healing alternatives and believe starting an online business coaching parents in how to deal with their child who has ADHD naturally is going to be much more rewarding while still fulfilling your desire to nurture and help others.

As long as you are changing the vehicle on the path you want to be on, that is perfectly fine. I have been hired by real estate agents, business owners and corporate employees to help them get more business only to discover they are not passionate about their business at all and they wish they could be doing something else. If your heart is not into it, the drive and tenacity you need to succeed will not manifest for you.

Interested in having a discovery session to go through your options? If you are contemplating changing horses ( vehicles) the best thing you can do is get an objective opinion and expertise to help assist you to make sure you are making the right decision.

Schedule your session today!

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Every Listing Is Won Before You Ever Step Foot In The Seller’s Front Door

Every Listing is Won Before You Ever Step Foot in The Seller's Front Door

Sun Tzu said over 2,500 years ago in the ‘The Art of War',  “every battle is won before it is ever fought.”

Before you ever step foot on the battlefield the battle has already been won.

If you want to be a listing agent or want to be a better listing agent reading Sun Tzu's ‘The Art of War' is a must read.

The battle is nearly always the one going on inside your own head. 

The first step to winning the listing is to “know thyself”. You must know who you are, what makes you tick, what keeps you up at night and what you want to jump out of bed in the morning for. You must understand your limited beliefs, where they come from, deal with them and then, let them go. You must get out of your own way. 

If you have any sabotaging behavior ( and all people do) ~ I can assure you that you will lose the listing before you cross the door's threshold. 

I get calls from agents who are concerned about going on listing appointments only to lose the listing to another agent. When we work on discovering what is it that creates this reality for them, in most instances it is all about that inner battlefield. 

It rarely is about the listing presentation itself. 

Even if we can trace the losses back to points in the listing presentation inevitability those points being missed or being made are connected to the agent's mindset. It always goes back to this one pivotal point: the conversations going on inside your head and what your subconscious wants to create for you. 

The second step is to know the seller. You must know the seller. Have you done your research on the property? Have you looked up the tax appraiser's report on this seller? Have you checked to see if there are any liens on the property, are they in lis pendens status? Have you checked on the MLS to see the property listing history and sales data of this property? All of these are critical to you knowing how to discuss listing the property. 

Have you checked out the seller on social media? Have you checked their facebook page, twitter, linkedin and online? Finding out every single detail you can about the seller will help you connect with the seller. 

The third step is sincerity. Does the seller feel like you just want a listing or does the seller feel like you care about their problems, pains and issues? Connecting with the seller on common ground is the key to building trust. 

We all know that people only do business with those they know, like and trust. Be that person. 

The text of The Art of War is in the public domain.

Here is a link to a downloadable pdf file of the book. Just click on the download link on this library: http://www.paxlibrorum.com/books/taowde/

Many people will take works and text that is in the public domain and add commentary to it in order to copyright and publish the works in book form.

You can buy one that is annotated on Amazon The Art Of War
 from $3.99 to $7.99 for a paperback book, the audio version is $1.99 and the Kindle version is .99 cents.

If you would like the simplified text file,  the MIT has one here: http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.1b.txt.

Listing Experts Academy is the perfect program for agents who strive to be the best listing agents in their markets. 

Win the battle by becoming a member today. Text me at 561-502-1577 to get started today. 

Enjoying Spring in Wellington Florida

Enjoying Spring in Wellington Florida 

I love spring. It is the sign of new birth, rebirth and wonderful weather before we get into the heat of summer. 

I am currently sitting out on our patio listening to the birds chirping away as I write this post. Of course here in Wellington we get to hear the birds chirping all year round. The birds from up north fly here in the winter and congregate in large masses on telephone poles, in the trees and atop buildings. 

We have a much more subtle changing of the seasons. The spring here brings a renewed freshness in the air and less rain. Our rainy season is in the summer. Our hurricane season starts in late spring and goes until the end of fall. 

Spring is a great time to go to the beach but the water is still a bit chilly for our toesKaterina Gasset SEO Consultant: What do you love most about spring? I hope you're enjoying the season as much as I do here in Wellingon FL! here. The snowbirds don't mind however for compared to the beaches up north- this is warm. It is all relative. 

But still, the word, “spring” itself conjures up wonderful feelings and fills my mind with thoughts and visuals of new life being born and springing up around the world in the spaces where spring happens at this time of the year. 

Spring abounds on the internet as you are welcomed with wonderful pastel colors in design and objects to feast your eyes upon. 

My collard greens are fully mature and ready to harvest and I hope my cabbage is ready before it gets too hot:). 

So wherever you are, whatever your climate is like, I hope that you are enjoying the season of spring whether it manifests for you in boldness or very subtly like it is here in Wellington Florida. 

Reflections of 2013 ~ Can I Handle the Seasons of My Life?

Reflections of 2013 ~ Can I Handle the Seasons of My Life? 

“Time makes you older, children get older, I'm getting older too… Can I handle the seasons of my life…. ” Stevie Nicks might have written these words in contemplating her choice to make song writing her life however, the words to this song are quite poignant. 

Enjoy the song and Stevie's beautiful voice and person as you read my reflections of 2013 ~ 

 

Joy and sadness seem to appear on the scene close together. The span of rising up with emotion to the heights of euphoria watching Tristan emerge as undoubtedly the best pitcher in his age and the best short stop in Palm Beach County, most likely also the state of Florida and surely in the top 10 in the country, to the lows of two fathers passing and a dear friend all within months of each other bringing us to diverging underneath a bedrock of grief. 

Where does our life take us? While much of life is based on our own choices and the paths we choose to take we are met up with processes in life wherein we seem to not have a choice. After all, I did not wish for my father to die the day he died, Nestor did not ask for his father to die the time he did and Mary's two small sons did not every choose that their mother would die on Christmas Eve. 

Yes, we get older and so do our children. Mortality has a way of showing up. 

While flashing back through 2013 ~ it was a great year in many respects ~ such is the ying and the yang in life. You would never know success if you never experienced failure. You would never know joy without every feeling sorrow. You would not revere life if we could deceive death. 

Tristan is amazing. He is such a great son. We are so honored to have him in our family. All the adult children are working and being responsible. Joshua went to China this year. He is our second oldest son and is a Chef for the Fairmont Hotels. He was offered a very good Chef position in Shanghai for the Fairmont and then just a couple months later they asked him to go to Nanjing to start a new restaurant for the Fairmont. Kaleb is our third oldest son and he is the Chef at Kon Tiki in Wellington. 

The grandchildren are all doing great. They are all happy, safe, learning and growing. 

Our real estate brokerage – International Properities and Investments LLC had a great year. We hired two agents, one in Wellington and one in Fort Lauderdale. We expanded delegating more tasks to our virtual assistant team. We shifted some goals around and worked on purpose. Listings is still the forefront of priorities for Nestor and we continue to work more on our business instead of in our business. 

Coaching and consulting grew during 2013 and I was afforded opportunities to speak at events to brokers who own their real estate brokerages which has really helped to grow the income of our coaching company. I developed a new course called, Listing Experts Academy and I am so excited about the success and the value of this program already. The company increased in revenue by another 20%. I found out recently in one of my entrepreneur masterminds that I participate in that if your company grows by 20% a year for 5 years in a row you are considered a “gazelle” company. 2 more years to go:) to see if I earn that status for our company. 

We are continuing to develop new products and support systems for REALTORS®. But life is not all about real estate and we have a lot of interests and experience at our ages wherein we can touch lives, empower others to follow their dreams, help people live happy lives and more. We are expanding the companies, hiring and training and moving forward. 

So can I handle the seasons of my life? I believe I can with the help of my Heavenly Father, Nestor and our family. 

Get Healthy in the Rain Challenge Update for March 2013

Get Healthy in the Rain Challenge Update for March 2013 

Learning to listen to your body is the best way to get healthy. How's my juicing journey going? FANTASTIC!!!! 

Since January 5th when I started Juicing for health which turned into a weight loss adventure I have lost 25 pounds.

I lost 4.5 inches of belly fat ( abdomen), 2.5 inches from my waist and 1 inch from my hips. Those hips sure are stubborn! 

We juice for breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch and mid- afternoon snack. Then I most often have a small dinner of either veggies and rice, curry veggie soups, beans and rice or salmon and rice. Sometimes it will be a salad but I am spoiled from juicing now and making a salad takes too long! I'd rather juice my salad! 

I started my juicing journey because of my cancer scare which you can read about here. The side effect was that I started to lose weight. I am very overweight and still have a very long way to go before I am at a healthy weight again. This is the heaviest I have ever been in my life. I was never a fat person. No one in my family, my siblings, my parents, my cousins… not one person is fat except for me. And I did not get this fat until I started going through menopause. 

One of the goals I was trying to reach to was to do at least one full day of juice fasting and not have any meal. I was scared of doing that for a long time because I was afraid of being hungry. This is a very emotional part of the subconscience mind in regards to hunger pains. Maybe some day I will share that very personal story of why I have a fear of hunger. Today is not that day:). 

This past Sunday I chose to make it through the entire day just juicing! I did it! I made it through and the reward was waking up Monday morning having lost another 3.4  pounds!!! So Monday I juiced the entire day too. Tuesday my weight was the same. That is fine. You don't lose weight every day you are juicing. Each person is different. 

So I did a total juice fast on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesay of this week. Today I broke my juice fast with a large salad that had wonderful avocado on it. 

I am so used to juicing now that my daughter and I have no desire whatsoever to have anything for breakfast other than our freshly made juice. The same goes for lunch and snacks. I do like to eat avocados and fresh garden tomatoes. 

My first post about my juicing journey for the Get Healthy challenge is here. 

I only miss meat when I smell it. Other than that, Lenn Harley would be proud of me… I am not eating meat. Lenn Harley is a vegetarian in case you did not know that. She is one strong woman too! You would not want to target practice against her! She will beat you! She is a great shooter! 

But the best part about this entire juicing journey is that it has really tuned me into what my body needs nutritionwise. When I do try to eat something that is solid food, I listen to my body. I only eat one thing at a time. I listen and feel how my body reacts to each food. Since January 5th we have only had fast food three times. Two of those times I got a horrific headache. The headache was the worst from the McDonalds hamburger. We don't eat cheese in our home at all and we are totally dairy and casein free. I removed most of the bread from the hamburger, still got the headache. It was the chemicals I am sure. The same thing happened when I ate from Wendy's. 

The only place surprisingly that did not give me a headache or make me sick was Taco Bell even though they have all kinds of additives to their food. After a baseball game our little guy wanted to eat at Taco Bell. He wanted us to go as a family. I was hungry and did not bring enough juice with me that evening and my will power was not strong enough to not eat along side him. Interesting fact that I learned! I ordered a salad with some black beans and salsa which I had thought was a pretty good choice considering. But it only made me hungrier. I then ordered a soft taco and tore off half of the tortilla. When I went online to find the calories… OH MY!!! The salad had over 550 calories and the soft taco which was actually more filling only had 180 calories. Interesting how what we think might me low in calories is actually more! 

My juicing journey has become a lifestyle choice and decision. The energy is amazing! My mind is clear, my muscle pains are all almost gone! My body is feeling light. Exercising is easier. 

Everything in life happens for a reason. The cancer scare created the sense of urgency that I needed to go through a natural healing process and the benefit from that scare was a wonderful and empowering journey of juicing. 

I encourage you to start juicing if you have weight issues, poor immune system, digestive issues, depression or any nutritional deficiencies. 

Get Healthy in the Rain Challenge Update for March 2013

Get Healthy in the Rain Challenge Update for March 2013 

Learning to listen to your body is the best way to get healthy. How's my juicing journey going? FANTASTIC!!!! 

Since January 5th when I started Juicing for health which turned into a weight loss adventure I have lost 25 pounds.

I lost 4.5 inches of belly fat ( abdomen), 2.5 inches from my waist and 1 inch from my hips. Those hips sure are stubborn! 

We juice for breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch and mid- afternoon snack. Then I most often have a small dinner of either veggies and rice, curry veggie soups, beans and rice or salmon and rice. Sometimes it will be a salad but I am spoiled from juicing now and making a salad takes too long! I'd rather juice my salad! 

I started my juicing journey because of my cancer scare which you can read about here. The side effect was that I started to lose weight. I am very overweight and still have a very long way to go before I am at a healthy weight again. This is the heaviest I have ever been in my life. I was never a fat person. No one in my family, my siblings, my parents, my cousins… not one person is fat except for me. And I did not get this fat until I started going through menopause. 

One of the goals I was trying to reach to was to do at least one full day of juice fasting and not have any meal. I was scared of doing that for a long time because I was afraid of being hungry. This is a very emotional part of the subconscience mind in regards to hunger pains. Maybe some day I will share that very personal story of why I have a fear of hunger. Today is not that day:). 

This past Sunday I chose to make it through the entire day just juicing! I did it! I made it through and the reward was waking up Monday morning having lost another 3.4  pounds!!! So Monday I juiced the entire day too. Tuesday my weight was the same. That is fine. You don't lose weight every day you are juicing. Each person is different. 

So I did a total juice fast on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesay of this week. Today I broke my juice fast with a large salad that had wonderful avocado on it. 

I am so used to juicing now that my daughter and I have no desire whatsoever to have anything for breakfast other than our freshly made juice. The same goes for lunch and snacks. I do like to eat avocados and fresh garden tomatoes. 

My first post about my juicing journey for the Get Healthy challenge is here. 

I only miss meat when I smell it. Other than that, Lenn Harley would be proud of me… I am not eating meat. Lenn Harley is a vegetarian in case you did not know that. She is one strong woman too! You would not want to target practice against her! She will beat you! She is a great shooter! 

But the best part about this entire juicing journey is that it has really tuned me into what my body needs nutritionwise. When I do try to eat something that is solid food, I listen to my body. I only eat one thing at a time. I listen and feel how my body reacts to each food. Since January 5th we have only had fast food three times. Two of those times I got a horrific headache. The headache was the worst from the McDonalds hamburger. We don't eat cheese in our home at all and we are totally dairy and casein free. I removed most of the bread from the hamburger, still got the headache. It was the chemicals I am sure. The same thing happened when I ate from Wendy's. 

The only place surprisingly that did not give me a headache or make me sick was Taco Bell even though they have all kinds of additives to their food. After a baseball game our little guy wanted to eat at Taco Bell. He wanted us to go as a family. I was hungry and did not bring enough juice with me that evening and my will power was not strong enough to not eat along side him. Interesting fact that I learned! I ordered a salad with some black beans and salsa which I had thought was a pretty good choice considering. But it only made me hungrier. I then ordered a soft taco and tore off half of the tortilla. When I went online to find the calories… OH MY!!! The salad had over 550 calories and the soft taco which was actually more filling only had 180 calories. Interesting how what we think might me low in calories is actually more! 

My juicing journey has become a lifestyle choice and decision. The energy is amazing! My mind is clear, my muscle pains are all almost gone! My body is feeling light. Exercising is easier. 

Are You Doing what You Always Dreamed of Doing?

The greatest human tragedy is not living the life of your dreams. It is a sad day for many people when they look at their past years realizing that all they have been doing is working to keep on working. They were not working for a living.   

  We want to work to make the life we dream of having not to rack of the debt and then be a slave to working to pay each month the debtors we owe. That is not working for a living. That is working for others. That is not living life on your own terms but rather someone else's terms. 

Are you doing what you always dreamed of doing? 

I was watching some surfers the other day and following their stories. I was impressed by a man who had wanted to surf since he was young but never did. When he reached the age of 50 he decided to buy a surfboard and learn the sport. He became very good at it. 

Now the question of course is: did he save up his money and then at the age of 50 he could do what he loved to do or did he just take the risk, dust off his dreams and go for it? 

I was just coaching one of my favorite clients who happens to hate real estate sales. She does not want to be doing this when she is 60 years old. Unfortunately she has done what most of us do and has debt. Since she is not debt free she has to make money now to pay off that debt. She is SUPER successful in real estate. She is one of the top producers in her company which is a large company. But she works a lot of hours and does not get to go and do the things she dreams of doing. 

I am passionate about helping you to realize your dreams. Dust off your dreams! Take the risk and go for it! For some of you that is getting rid of your corporate job and getting into real estate to be your own boss. For others it is to get out of real estate and go and do what you love to do whether that be surfing or going to help the homeless. 

When you reach the age of 50 you have lived half of your life. Hopefully you will be one of the many centurians as their numbers increase. That is my goal too. You realize at this stage of your life that you are no longer going to live forever. You are not the immortal you once thought you were. 

One of the ways to figure out what your passion is, is to think back to your childhood. What did you dream you would be when you grew up and why? What was it about that dream that got you excited? As you grew up what tugged at your heartstrings? When I was a little girl I was a really good speller and writer. I wrote poetry. A lot of it. I loved to write and speak. Asking me to give a book report in class would make my day! Since I was very shy this was my way to reach out and connect with others. But what did I really want from all of those abilities, skills and talents? Deep down I wanted to make a difference, I wanted to inspire others and to help others. 

But I also love to travel and hang out with my family. Sometimes we need a vehicle to get to the destination of our dreams. The vehicle may not always be what we love to do. As long as you don't get stuck in that vehicle on the side of the road out in the middle of nowhere with no chance of reaching your destination you can use the different vehicles that appear before you. 

Please watch this video, it is only 3 minutes long, it may be the best 3 minutes you have spent in a long time: 

Are You Doing what You Always Dreamed of Doing?

The greatest human tragedy is not living the life of your dreams. It is a sad day for many people when they look at their past years realizing that all they have been doing is working to keep on working. They were not working for a living.   

  We want to work to make the life we dream of  having not to rack of the debt and then be a slave to  working to pay each month the debtors we owe. That is  not working for a living. That is working for others. That is  not living life on your own terms but rather someone else's  terms. 

 Are you doing what you always dreamed of doing? 

 I was watching some surfers the other day and  following their stories. I was impressed by a man who  had wanted to surf since he was young but never did.  When he reached the age of 50 he decided to buy a  surfboard and learn the sport. He became very good at it. 

Now the question of course is: did he save up his money and then at the age of 50 he could do what he loved to do or did he just take the risk, dust off his dreams and go for it? 

I was just coaching one of my favorite clients who happens to hate real estate sales. She does not want to be doing this when she is 60 years old. Unfortunately she has done what most of us do and has debt. Since she is not debt free she has to make money now to pay off that debt. She is SUPER successful in real estate. She is one of the top producers in her company which is a large company. But she works a lot of hours and does not get to go and do the things she dreams of doing. 

I am passionate about helping you to realize your dreams. Dust off your dreams! Take the risk and go for it! For some of you that is getting rid of your corporate job and getting into real estate to be your own boss. For others it is to get out of real estate and go and do what you love to do whether that be surfing or going to help the homeless. 

When you reach the age of 50 you have lived half of your life. Hopefully you will be one of the many centurians as their numbers increase. That is my goal too. You realize at this stage of your life that you are no longer going to live forever. You are not the immortal you once thought you were. 

One of the ways to figure out what your passion is, is to think back to your childhood. What did you dream you would be when you grew up and why? What was it about that dream that got you excited? As you grew up what tugged at your heartstrings? When I was a little girl I was a really good speller and writer. I wrote poetry. A lot of it. I loved to write and speak. Asking me to give a book report in class would make my day! Since I was very shy this was my way to reach out and connect with others. But what did I really want from all of those abilities, skills and talents? Deep down I wanted to make a difference, I wanted to inspire others and to help others. 

But I also love to travel and hang out with my family. Sometimes we need a vehicle to get to the destination of our dreams. The vehicle may not always be what we love to do. As long as you don't get stuck in that vehicle on the side of the road out in the middle of nowhere with no chance of reaching your destination you can use the different vehicles that appear before you. 

Please watch this video, it is only 3 minutes long, it may be the best 3 minutes you have spent in a long time: 

Are You Doing what You Always Dreamed of Doing?

The greatest human tragedy is not living the life of your dreams. It is a sad day for many people when they look at their past years realizing that all they have been doing is working to keep on working. They were not working for a living.   

  We want to work to make the life we dream of  having not to rack of the debt and then be a slave to  working to pay each month the debtors we owe. That is  not working for a living. That is working for others. That is  not living life on your own terms but rather someone else's  terms. 

 I was watching some surfers the other day and  following their stories. I was impressed by a man who  had wanted to surf since he was young but never did.  When he reached the age of 50 he decided to buy a  surfboard and learn the sport. He became very good at it. 

Now the question of course is: did he save up his money and then at the age of 50 he could do what he loved to do or did he just take the risk, dust off his dreams and go for it? 

I was just coaching one of my favorite clients who happens to hate real estate sales. She does not want to be doing this when she is 60 years old. Unfortunately she has done what most of us do and has debt. Since she is not debt free she has to make money now to pay off that debt. She is SUPER successful in real estate. She is one of the top producers in her company which is a large company. But she works a lot of hours and does not get to go and do the things she dreams of doing. 

I am passionate about helping you to realize your dreams. Dust off your dreams! Take the risk and go for it! For some of you that is getting rid of your corporate job and getting into real estate to be your own boss. For others it is to get out of real estate and go and do what you love to do whether that be surfing or going to help the homeless. 

When you reach the age of 50 you have lived half of your life. Hopefully you will be one of the many centurians as their numbers increase. That is my goal too. You realize at this stage of your life that you are no longer going to live forever. You are not the immortal you once thought you were. 

One of the ways to figure out what your passion is, is to think back to your childhood. What did you dream you would be when you grew up and why? What was it about that dream that got you excited? As you grew up what tugged at your heartstrings? When I was a little girl I was a really good speller and writer. I wrote poetry. A lot of it. I loved to write and speak. Asking me to give a book report in class would make my day! Since I was very shy this was my way to reach out and connect with others. But what did I really want from all of those abilities, skills and talents? Deep down I wanted to make a difference, I wanted to inspire others and to help others. 

But I also love to travel and hang out with my family. Sometimes we need a vehicle to get to the destination of our dreams. The vehicle may not always be what we love to do. As long as you don't get stuck in that vehicle on the side of the road out in the middle of nowhere with no chance of reaching your destination you can use the different vehicles that appear before you. 

Please watch this video, it is only 3 minutes long, it may be the best 3 minutes you have spent in a long time: 

authored by Katerina Gasset 

Road Blocks Along our Juicing Journey

Road Blocks Along our Juicing Journey 

 

 

In January we started on our juicing journey. I first started juicing not to lose weight but for health reasons as you can read here in An Unexpected Journey. The great side effect was that just by juicing for breakfast and for lunch each day I lost 15 pounds in January. 

 

 

At the end of January we decided to do a juice fast for weight loss since it had been working so well up to that point. We joined a health challenge which you can read about here. 

 

 

I did a lot of research on juicing, bought our juicer and then decided to help inspire others to take this journey with us by producing a YouTube playlist on our juicing journey. 

 

So last week we chose to follow the guy that did the documentary: Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead which you can watch here. His name is Joe. I wanted to make sure I was meeting nutritional values during the juice fast and that is why I chose his reboot your life 15 day menu plan. I wanted to see if I could go an entire day with just juice and no foods. The 15 day plan was to get you ready for 5 days straight of juicing after 5 days of juice mixed with raw and cooked veggies. There are not grains, beans, meat, fish, starches etc during the entire 15 days. 

 

 

After the first 4 days of trying to eat ALL the food on this menu I had gained a pound. I was not feeling the same energy that I felt when I was juicing all day and having one meal at night. 

 

 

After thinking about his 15 day plan this is my critique on it: The recipes are delicious but way too much food. This plan is for someone who eats a lot. Most people who are as overweight as I am eat a lot. I don't and never have. So having too much food even great veggies was not a great experience for me. It was TOO much cooked veggies, not enough raw foods and too many blender smoothies. For years I had a blended fruit smoothie every single morning and it never did anything to help me lose weight. 

 

 

I believe that Joe has two intentions from his 15 day menu plan; to get people who overeat and eat a lot of junk and fast foods to get used to a yummy and delicious vegetarian diet and to help those with a sweet tooth and of course, to limit any liability of a straight juice fast for a long period of time. Joe did a long juice fast but it was under the supervision of a doctor. He is not going to promote those long juice fasts on his website because that would open him up to law suits by people who get sick from doing a juice fast. I get all that. I am fine with all that. I am just not in that place. It was not a good fit for me. 

 

 

The second part that did not sit well with me was this menu is way too sweet. This is great for a person who has a sweet tooth. I don't. I like salty foods. There are a lot of cooked sweet potatoes in this menu plan which is great for a sweet tooth but I like my sweet potatoes juiced now, not cooked. That way I am getting raw sweet potatoes which is much more nutritional with the live enzymes. 

 

 

So by the 4th day of this 15 day menu plan I went back to juicing for breakfast and lunch and today I feel so much better! I know a lot of about nutritional values from using the cronometer for a year. I know my daily requirements for vitamins and minerals and which veggies and fruits have them. 

 

 

I have not missed meat at all. I don't miss white potatoes. I don't miss candy or sweets as those were never my downfall anyhow. I do miss rice and sushi and salmon which I will of course put back into my menus after I lose this weight. 

 

 

Today is our shopping day for all the yummy and colorful fruits and veggies. My body is saying Thank You! Back to strict juicing again!!! For snacks I will go back to juices and raw veggies like sweet red peppers which are in season here in Florida right now. They are such a power packed veggie. A farmer at our farmers market sells them right now for 50 cents each!!! YUMMY and a great buy!!!!