Scrambled eggs with salami, pineapple and SUPER spices

If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change...

It's Tuesday morning, you roll out of bed and are ready to start your day. You get ready quickly and head to the kitchen, make a cup of coffee and remember you were supposed to eat breakfast as well. You scramble a couple of eggs in coconut oil, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, grab an apple and head out the door.  There that's good.   I am eating a balanced breakfast just like I am supposed to...

But, what if I told you that adding a few simple ingredients, that you've probably got in your cupboard, to your scrambled eggs would help you in ways you could never imagine.

I want you to start thinking about "cooking with purpose!"

Next time you make your eggs...think about opening that spice cabinet and adding these simple ingredients:

1.  Thyme

a.  Thyme is packed with vitamins C and A, therefore it can boost your immunity.
b.  Thyme has been know to treat acne and high blood pressure.
c.  Thyme is commonly take for bronchitis, whooping cough, sore throat and upset stomach.

2.  Sage

a.  Sage can help increase concentration and focus - use it as a brain booster.
b.  Sage contains many anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds beneficial to health.
c.  Sage is packed with Vitamin K, used to develop bone strength.

3.  Turmeric

a.  Turmeric supports healthy brain cells and overall cognitive function.
b.  Turmeric is a natural anti-inflammatory for your heart, your muscles and anywhere the body is fighting inflammation.
c.  Turmeric promotes healthy mood balance and soft smooth skin.

4.  Cilantro

a.  Cilantro helps relieve anxiety and reduce the effects of stress.
b.  Cilantro is a natural anti-inflammatory, reducing heart disease, autoimmune disorders and alleviating arthritis and joint pain.
c.  Cilantro helps control diabetes by controlling your blood sugar.

Fighting disease doesn't start with a diagnosis from the doctor and a prescription of Januvia, hydrochlorothiazide, Lipitor or Aricept to control your diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol or prevention of Alzheimer's.  Fighting disease starts with what you put on your plate each day.  What foods go in your belly.

Knowing that natural herbs and spices pack a punch that fights all of these diseases makes me want to sprinkle them on everything I eat.  Instead of being quick to pop that pill to fix your latest ailment be intentional and head to your spice cabinet and see what nature has to offer to help you out.


What's in my breakfast?

I typically have scrambled eggs or an omelet with pineapple, nitrate free salami, spinach, thyme, sage, turmeric, cilantro AND leave that pepper on there, pepper increases the body's ability to absorb the turmeric! Cook in coconut oil and grab that apple...and now your breakfast is not only balanced it's chocked full of disease preventing power!

When God gives you a new beginning, it starts with an ending.

Two weeks from today I will wake up on a Tuesday morning no longer the proud owner of CrossFit Michiana.

The gym that I know and love, my passion, my place of refuge, my comfort and my happy place - will have the same four walls and it will be filled with the same awesome people but it will no longer belong to us... and I want everyone to know that I am truly OK with that.

For some time now, I have felt this tugging and pulling at my heart.  I didn't know what it was and I pushed it aside.  One thing I've learned in my 47 years on this earth is that if God is determined it doesn't matter how far you push it aside, it will keep rising to the top until you deal with it.  So, one day out of the blue, I presented my concerns to Jim.  What I learned that day, is he was being tugged as well.

CrossFit Michiana was our everything.  We poured every ounce of ourselves into making people better through our gym.  We have been blessed with opportunity after opportunity with our corporate bootcamps Elkhart General Hospital, Inova Federal Credit Union, Penn and MoRyde.  We have also worked with Penn Rugby Clubs - both boys and girls, we started a FitClub at Schmucker Middle School.  We have had thousands of people walk through our lives and through the gym doors - our mission was to change one person at a time and hope that one person went on to help one person change as well.  We wanted to start the ball rolling and teach people about healthy habits, nutrition and exercise.

In the meantime, we created a family.  People that always had our backs and we had theirs as well. It didn't matter where we went we would always run into someone that knew us through CrossFit or bootcamps and know that our lives are better because of each and every one of you.

The decision to end our commitment to CrossFit Michiana was not made lightly but we knew it was time for a change.

So what is in our future?  Where do we go from here?

We hadn't even announced that we were closing the gym when I saw a door that was hanging wide open for me (sometimes God has to make is super obvious for us humans!)  Angela and I were texting back and forth one day and out of the blue figured out that she needed someone to help her in her business and I was looking for a life changing opportunity.  Everything happens for a reason, I know in my heart and will always believe that.  In meeting with Angela I was presented with an opportunity to be her wellness coach in her lifestyle change through functional medicine program that she runs with her patients.
Click here for Dr. Angela Lucterhand info.

I wanted to scream from the rooftops, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Because, this is exactly what I wanted to do.  I wanted to take my knowledge of health, life and spirituality and help people be better!  Plain and simple.

So where do we go from here?  What are my goals?

So this is where I am right now,  I am first a wife and my goal is to help and support Jim in what he wants to do next.  He has a passion for seniors and their caregivers and I can't wait to see what the future unfolds for him.

I am also a mother...of a police officer so I pray a lot...of a daughter that lives too far away...so I have a pang in my heart...and my Brookie is getting married - so we are planning a wedding!  I love being a mom of 3 adults that I can be so proud of where they are and where they are going!  I loved them as babies but my role as the mother of adults is so much more engaging!

I am also a step-mom.  This is a tough job for anyone that's been in this position.  I work daily to let Gage and Gabby know that I love and support the decisions that their dad and moms are making for them.

I am also an athlete.  To be honest.  I am a little lost in this part of me right now.  For the first time in many years, I have no goals as an athlete.  It's scary.  But I know this is a phase that I need to go through and I will come out a better person on the other side.

And last but not least, I am a now a new business owner.  I can't wait to see what unfolds.  I have so many ideas in my head I want to burst.  I want to continue to touch lives, one at a time so that person can touch a life and make a change as well.  Knowing that I have the support of the thousands of people that I met along the journey of CrossFit Michiana's existence is what keeps my feet moving every day.

Thank you to each and every one of you for being in my life.  I am a better person for knowing you.

XOXO  Carole