Fall = Health Kick

I don't know what it is about this time of the year, but Fall always puts me in the mood to get my body back in gear.  Usually people spend the end of the Winter and the majority of the Spring working on their health and getting back into shape for the summer.  I am usually the complete opposite.  I guess I'm just expecting Winter to be full of candy, starchy comfort foods, and pies, so in order to balance things out a bit, I jump into a health kick.  

So with that said, I thought I would share with you some of the things I am doing to treat my body a little better, one step at a time.  Considering that these things will mostly consist of fitness routines and fresher things being added to my diet, let's call this series "Fresh & Fit for Fall".  Like the alliteration?

For my first act, I shall share with you my new morning routine.  Now, I've tried this before and enjoyed the benefits of it, but never seem to be able to stick to it.  Well this time, I am vowing to stick to it because now I have you to get on me if I get off track.  There's no escaping it once this is published!  My morning ritual now consists of instead of a cup of coffee being the first drink of the day (other than water...no matter what, I always have a cup of water before anything else), I am drinking a cup of warm lemon water.  Lemon water is something you may have heard of in the past, and boy does it really work.

Lemons are a popular "go-to" for anyone trying to add a little extra something to their water, but many folks don't realize the benefits of adding lemon to your water, especially first thing in the morning.  Lemons are full of great things for your body, including vitamin C for immunity, pectin for digestion, vitamin B6 for healthy brain and nerve function, etc.  The benefits of drinking a glass of warm lemon water before eating or drinking anything else in the morning are endless.  Some of the major benefits include aid in digestion, balancing pH levels in the body to fight disease, helping to clear skin, controlling hunger, among many others.  Beth from Tasty Yummies has a great post on the benefits of drinking warm lemon water every morning.

I am looking forward to the continued benefits of my new morning ritual!

Do you have a morning ritual for health benefits?

As always, thanks for reading!

(Long overdue...) Update!

Good morning everyone!  Or, at least those who are still around.  If you haven't noticed, I haven't updated in over 6 months.  I can tell you what went on the past 6 months that go me so sidetracked but if I am honest with myself and you, I can say that it was my own laziness that deterred me from blogging all summer.  Let me just explain the reason for my laziness.  It was pure exhaustion.  This summer I took a position with the National Park Service for my 5th summer season.  The position was at the same site I've been at for 4 of my seasons with the NPS; Bodie Island Lighthouse on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  This year was particularly awesome for me because this was the first year the lighthouse was open to the public for climbing.  Opening the lighthouse for climbing has been a dream of the National Park Service as well as everyone who loves this site for a very long time.  After a 3 and a half year restoration process, it finally happened!  

I am what is known as an Interpretive Park Ranger.  No, I don't interpret languages for visitors at the site.  I interpret the resource.  What this means, is that I share the resource (namely, the lighthouse) with visitors and help give them the opportunity to make meaningful connections to said resource through an array of mediums.  These mediums can range from cohesively developed formal interpretive programs, to casual conversations with a visitor on the lawn in front of the lighthouse.  It is the best job ever.  I get to share my passion for the lighthouse and other resources in the park with visitors and help them to care more about these resources than they ever thought they would.

With the opening of the lighthouse, this year was busy busy busy.  Every day, we had 16 tours scheduled for visitors to climb the lighthouse with a ranger (one of us).  We could take up to 22 people per tour.  One the tours, we gave a formal interpretive program about the lighthouse to visitors as we climbed to the top of the lighthouse.  It was an amazing experience to share with visitors.  Many visitors who came to climb had been waiting for decades to get the chance to climb to the top of Bodie Island Lighthouse.  The lighthouse has 219 steps to the top and out onto the balcony.  Each of us climbed the lighthouse approximately 5 times per day.  Sometimes less, sometimes more.  Needless to say, I was in shape this summer.  And tired.  Like I said, laziness stemmed from exhaustion.  At the end of the day, I found myself eating dinner and going straight to sleep.  It was an awesome, tiring, interesting summer.  Lots of things fell to the wayside though.  Now that I have more time on my hands, and I'm exponentially less tired, I am back!  I won't promise a certain amount of posts, or what the content will hold, but I can say that I have things I want to talk about, posts I have planned in my head, and the time and energy to do it all.  So, I'll leave you with that.  A little glimpse into my life this summer.  

PS: I also got married in May!  Which turned out to be one of the less exhausting things in my life this summer.  What can I say?  When it's right, it's right.  It was amazing and fun and one of the best days ever!

As always, thanks for reading!