Give 5 Minutes To Gratitude!

Waking up is hard to do. That alarm goes off and most of us hit the snooze and lay there and think "ugh I do not want to get up". Lord knows I have several mornings a week that I'd much rather just lay there and sleep the day away. Just the thought of the normal day to day can seem overwhelming. So here lately I've been changing things up a bit and I must say its working!

I'm an audio tape nut! I've become totally addicted to listening to audios tapes of all kinds. Everything from self development, to books on tape, and educational stuff. I just love them and though I may not like every single one I listen too, it seems I always learn at least one new thing! I love that I can put my ipod on and go for a walk, clean the house, work...and listen to something that always seems to benefit me! Like here lately I've been listening to some great stuff on feeling grateful! WOW! Though I've always thought of myself as a grateful person and someone who feels so blessed to live the life that I do, I didn't realize what actually sitting down and thinking about it could do for my soul!

I got this idea from listening to an audio tape about how to wake up each day. Like spending the first 5 minutes of your morning laying there in bed and thinking about all the things you are grateful for, things you want to do in your life, goals you have, prayers, what matters most to you, people you love,...and anything else in your life that makes you feel good, blessed, and grateful. Also while doing this taking deep breaths in and out. You will be amazed at what that deep breathing will do for you. Its like a cup of coffee! Instant energy and alertness. The cool thing is this all only takes 5 min! You have 5 min! Heck that will get you to the next buzzing of your alarm! You should try it. Just wake up tomorrow morning and think of everything that makes you FEEL GOOD! Not the negative crap, toss that out. Turn your mind and heart on the things you love, those that love you, the good in your life, the good you want to create in your life, who and where you want to be, goals....anything and everything that makes you feel good. Maybe its thinking about spending a week on the beach because thats your favorite place to be, or the beautiful smile your children have, that feeling you get when your kids, spouse, friends...tell you they love you, the last time you laughed so hard you cried, christmas morning, your goals that you want to see actually happen...ANYTHING that just makes you feel good! I'm telling you it will help you start out your whole day better. Suddenly you will see things differently. Heck it may even make you want to get up and REALLY take care of yourself all day. You might even workout for a good 30 min or call someone you love for just a quick "I love you connection." I'm telling you guys the way you start your day, can really help you end your day on a positive note.

Things are always gonna come up. We all have things that we hurdle over day in and day out. We each have 24 hrs in a day and we each choose how we spend those 24 hrs. Just take 5 min of your day and be grateful. Just blessed and grateful. I'm sure you have so many things to be sad and down about. I get it, those bad things are there for all of us. Yet I don't care who you are, you have something that makes you smile, something that makes you feel good, and something that you love! You know you do! So give 5 min of your morning to it every day and just see if you don't feel a wee bit better! I challenge you for the next month to wake up grateful for 5 min every day! Come on how hard can it be!?

Like I said above I believe if you start your day out on the right foot, chances are you might have a lot more RIGHT things happen to you each day. Feeling thankful is an amazing feeling and I bet you might just find even more to be thankful for that you didn't even realize you were thankful for! Give it try! What do you have to lose? I mean really an extra smile today might lead to 10 more tomorrow...how bad can that be? Here is a great list of things to be grateful for that I love by Grant Cardone...

I Wake Up Today Grateful
I wake up today grateful to be alive and grateful to have this one day that lies ahead of me.
I wake up today grateful to have opportunities and commit myself to making the most of them.
I wake up today grateful to be able to work and will do everything possible to get results today.
I wake up grateful for my mental capabilities and will use my mind to solve problems.
I wake up today grateful for problems and will put attention on solving them, not causing them.
I wake up today grateful for my attitude and will use it to make others smile and commit to spreading good news, not bad news.
I wake up today grateful for the power of choice and use that power to choose how I act today.
I wake up today, grateful for even being grateful. Pass this on to others- It might make someone grateful!~Grant Cardone


Thanks guys! I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week! I'm so grateful to be able to share my days and life with all of you! Thanks! Jen

Beachbody Coach Jen Mangum
www.beachbodycoach.com/jenmangum
beachbodyjen@yahoo.com
970-209-4053
www.facebook.com/jenmangum
www.twitter.com/jenmangum
http://jenmangum.blogspot.com

Run away from FAKE SUGARS!!! Think you are addicted, they are like a drug?

I'll have a diet coke, sugar-free ice cream, sugar-free yogurt, sugar free candy,...and everything else thats diet or sugar free! Its gotta be good for me right? I mean if it has the words sugar free and diet, how bad can it be? Afterall its sugar and fat that are making us fat right? Hmmmmm? I'm not so sure! I know others out there might disagree with me, but oh well this is my blog and I can say what I wanna :) LOL! Because I have reasons to believe that all that sugar free and fat free crap are poisoning are bodies!

I've never been a pop drinker. Thank God! I'm just not crazy about it, so I honestly can't relate to folks who have a pop or diet pop addiction. I do like an energy drink now and then, but not so much the feeling I get once I'm done drinking them. The headache and stomach ache are just not for me. Or if I have a sugar free yogurt and wonder why I'm even more hungry afterwards? Weird! One would think that having diet pop and sugar free yogurt would be way more healthy than just sitting down and having a bowl of fruit with a whole avacado. I mean the fat in an avacado and all that sugar in the fruit, can't be as good as the diet stuff right?! We live in a world full of diet and fat free stuff, yet we just keep packing on the pounds? If its so good for you, one would think we'd be getting thinner? If you haven't noticed thats not the case.

Considering I'm a type 1 diabetic you would think that I'd be on everything sugar free right? Not so! I can't stand the stuff and know for a fact it makes me sick everytime I have some. I'd rather have honey, stevia, agave nectar, REAL SUGAR, fructose...ANYDAY! People often ask me what I eat and they seem surprised when I tell them that I don't buy anything diet or sugar free. Plus I'm a huge believer in the good for you fats. I have a TON of coconut oil, avacados, eggs, nuts, almond butter...and so on. I keep it real! If its FAKE I'm out! Gods foods, I like to call them. Thats what I eat and so far so good for my health. My diabetes is under control and I feel like a million bucks! The only thing that I drink usually other than water is coffee, but I'm getting a bit excited about all those stevia sweetened drinks coming out. I might have to have one of those now and then. I love GURU for an now and then energy drink and I don't feel sick afterwards! By the way stevia is just a plant! Nothing chemical about it! So thats what works for me and the way I eat.

I haven't been a Beachbody Coach for long but WOW do I have some success stories of folks going off of FAKE CRAP! I won't go into every detail, but I will share this one story that I find awesome! I had a girlfriend buy P90X from me last Sept. Well about a month in she called me and said she wasn't seeing any changes. Nada nothing. She was up everyday working out and eating pretty healthy, but nothing! Hmmmmm? I thought! So I asked her what she was eating. Well on top of all that good for you stuff, she was having about 3 or 4 diet pops a day! On top of that, she was living with nonstop headaches, horrible female issues, and was constantly moody. So I told her to drop the pop. I might as well of asked her to never smile again! LOL! Seriously she was like "no way" I'm not giving up my pop. I thought fine, but I'm telling you, you should try it for like a month. Well two more months went by and she told me that she was loving P90x and the diet, but still wasn't seeing the results she wanted. I asked her about the pop and of course she hadn't given it up. In fact she was having even more because all the exercise was making her thirsty and heaven forbid she replace her fluids with water!!! So once again I begged her to just go one month without it! So I challenged her to give it up on Jan 1st for ONE MONTH! She finally agreed and for about 8 days after the first she hated ME! Seriously she went 8 straight days with a migraine headache and might as well been a drug addict going through withdrawls. She was so sick! But it started getting better and guess what? She weighed herself on Feb 1st and in 1 month she dropped 8 pounds! Now remember the ONLY thing she changed was quitting the diet pop!!! I'm happy to report as of today, she is down 17lbs in TWO MONTHS! She follows P90X and the diet plan, but the ONLY real change she made from that regular schedule was dropping the diet pop. She said she hasn't been able to get to this weight in her entire life!!! I don't know about you, but if I had a diet pop addiction I think I might give ONE MONTH a try without it!!! So if you have one!?? I challenge you today to go 1 MONTH diet and fake sugar free! Think you can do it? If you are struggling to lose weight and feel like you've done all you can and have a diet pop addiction or sugar-free addition cut it out completely! Try stevia and other natural products and just see if it helps you! Now GO... :)

It was important to me to share this story because I think that people out there think they are doing good by their bodies when they eat sugar-free and diet products. After all the success stories I'm experiencing personally from people I'm coaching, I'm firmly convinced these products need to go! We shouldn't be working out so hard and eating right, all to ruin it with the flip of a can! So if you are, I beg you to STOP! Just for a month at least and see! Thanks :)

Until next Monday! Have a wonderful week!

Beachbody Coach Jen Mangum
www.beachbodycoach.com/jenmangum
beachbodyjen@yahoo.com
www.facebook.com/jenmangum

Negativity! Can you go one day without it?

Does it feel good to hate, look down on others, judge, talk crap, be in a bad mood, be angry, be spiteful, resentful, blame, yada yada...? I'm just curious. When you feel all those above feelings, do you feel good? Do you feel accomplished, successful, healthy, rich, happy, confident...? Well as for me, I don't. When I'm feeling down on myself and any one of those above feelings, I just feel like crap. Plus I treat everyone around me like crap. I'm a bad wife, friend, and I don't think I'm a great mom either. UGH! Its def not any fun to feel any of those feelings! So really ask yourself right now if you feel really good when you feel any of those things?

Negativity in my opinion is the worst thing you can allow yourself to feel. Its taken me a long time to pay attention to how I am as a person when I'm feeling negative. So once I started paying more attention to my actions and how I handle things when I'm feeling negative, the more I realized just how miserable I am and just how miserable I am to be around. Its tough in today's world when you can't seem to escape from negativity no matter how hard you try. Plus its even tougher if you spend the majority of your time around negative, angry people. Its easy to just go with the flow and feel what everything and everyone around you is feeling. Its also easy to allow yourself to sink into depression and resentment towards life! Negativity is almost like a drug. Once you start its tough to stop. It can literally take over your life and consume your every thought. I don't know about you, but I just don't want to be hooked on something that sucks the life right out of me!

So what do you do? Well for starters you start tuning into yourself. Meaning start paying attention to your thoughts and watching your actions. Learn YOURSELF inside and out. Know what makes you tick, who pisses you off, what you do and don't like, listen to your words before you say them, listen to your feelings, pay attention to what makes you stressed out...! A lot of times we go around feeling mad and negative and we honestly don't even know why. That's because we don't really know ourselves. Deep down, we don't know WHY we feel the way we do sometimes. So we just go around basically out of control and live life like we are on some kind of roller coaster missing out on everything! When I started paying attention to my thoughts and my feelings, I started realizing that I had control over them. By thinking about them and listening to them, they weren't able to control me. Now when I feel anger or negativity and I pay attention to that, I can literally turn my thoughts around. I can stop myself from saying stupid crap, being mean, hateful, ugly, rude, negative...! I can stop myself! I can take something negative and just for the helluva of it, say something NICE, positive, focused, helpful...and talk myself out of getting down and out.

I know what you are thinking? This is just another post on the power of positive thinking? Well you are damn right! Positive thinking is AMAZING! We can't change the world or the people around us. How many times have you tried to change someone with force, control, manipulation, cut downs,...and wondered why the hell am I not getting anywhere? Yet have you ever tried just saying kind things, no matter what someone else might be saying? Have you ever tried just putting on a smile, telling yourself I got this, who cares what they think, I feel good, I'm happy, I'm blessed...blah blah! Just kept repeating over and over to yourself or others positive things? Try it. It works for me. Plus I'm telling you when you respond with something positive to somebody shouting out negatives, most the time they shut up, get pissed off and walk away, or just simply disagree with you. Or heck maybe by talking positive to them, you can help them look at their situation differently and hell you might ever make them feel good When you respond in a positive way you feel better and maybe just maybe you'll make someone else feel better, which is just another added bonus FOR YOU. Trust me, you will. Try it!

Get out a piece of paper and just write down all the things you are happy about, things you have been blessed with, what you like about YOU...! Do it! We take gratitude for granted. We all do. Being grateful is the start to feeling positive. So make a list and make a list every day if you have to, until you start your day off with a different attitude. A positive one. Then SMILE! Every time you see someone, SMILE! I don't care if they flip you off and give you a go to hell look. Just SMILE! And after you smile try FOR ONE DAY saying ONE nice thing about that person to that person. Just try it. They might disagree, might say thank you, might say whatever....WHATEVER, just try it :) I'm telling you it will make YOU FEEL BETTER!

You know I have to bring diet and exercise in to this as well LOL! Hey its my job :) How many of us look at eating right and exercise as a NEGATIVE? Ugh I don't want to exercise, yuck I hate vegetables....and on and on! So for ONE DAY try telling yourself things like "man I feel good when I workout, mmmmmmmmmmmm that grilled chicken wasn't half bad, my ass is getting hotter with everyday LOL....TRY IT! :) Hey maybe at first it might feel like you're lying to yourself about how you feel about exercise or eating right, but all you are doing is training your brain to start rethinking its thinking. Its not lying! You are simply programming yourself to look at something positive instead of looking at it negatively. If you do this everyday, you will start to believe it! Trust me. Pretty soon those positive thoughts you are feeding yourself day in and day out become reality.

So I challenge you for 7 days to toss out negativity. Every time you are about to say something mean or hateful replace it with a kind word or something positive. Every time you want to turn on someone, cut them down, just say something nice and walk away. For 7 days pay attention to everyone around you. How they talk and how they act. Sit back and observe and observe yourself as well. At the end of every day take mental notes on if you felt any better, had more energy, just felt lighter, or enjoyed life just a little more. Put only good for you things into your mouth, just like only good for you things will be spoken out of your mouth and see if you feel better? Do something active everyday and brag to yourself how much you love it! Look at the mountains, trees, river,....everything! Pay attention. Beauty is all around you. Don't just walk by it! Treat yourself like a precious gem and try your very best to treat others the same. Take care of yourself, eat right, get some physical activity in, listen to your thoughts, pay attention to your feelings....for 7 DAYS! Go....Good luck :)

Beachbody Coach Jen
www.beachbodycoach.com/jenmangum
www.facebook.com/jenmangum
beachbodyjen@yahoo.com
970-209-4053

JustJen's All About Health Blog: JustJen Video Blog! Ask me anything!

JustJen's All About Health Blog: JustJen Video Blog! Ask me anything!

JustJen Video Blog! Ask me anything!

JustJen's All About Health Blog! MONDAYS!! Love 'em or hate 'em?

Monday morning madness! Aren't Mondays fun? How many of us have said this line of crap before? I'm starting over on Monday? Its no wonder we all hate Mondays. We've turned this day into this big significant day! We put everything off til Monday...from changing our lives, to eating right, to getting work done, to getting caught up, to learning something new...blah blah blah! It all begins on Monday! Oh but wait how many of us have failed on Wednesday and instead of starting over on Thursday, we simply say, "Aw hell I'll start over on Monday" so we destroy our body an extra 4 days, all because we messed up ONE DAY? I'm raising my hand right now!!! Seriously is this the pattern of death or what? Trust me folks, this is ME! I do this crap too!? What? WHY? So Mondays...love 'em or hate 'em?

I can tell you that Mondays for me used to be the day I hated the most. I've always looked at Mondays as the start over kind of day. Man has that screwed me up a million times. Sometimes looking back I think, DUH JEN!, why oh why did you always use Mondays as your excuse for starting anything? It wasn't until I realized that there shouldn't be a CERTAIN day to start over!!! When you fall, the key is getting RIGHT back up! Not five days later! This sad but true pattern we all get stuck in, does nothing but harm any progress we might make. Its no different then News Years Resolutions. THE BIG DAY! The day I'll CHANGE! The day I'll be BETTER! WTF? And 90% of us fail!? Right? We do! We fall off the wagon and we stay down until next years resolution or next Monday! And yet we wonder why we are never seeing results, never getting anywhere, never seening any big change, never getting better...? Living this way causes us to give up! It does. When we wait for change, the change never happens! If you don't get out of this pattern, you will continue to walk through a never ending revolving door! Don't do that!

So what do you do? Well you take Mondays off your list FIRST! Monday is now just as important as Tuesday or Sunday! And stop waiting til New Years to come. In fact don't even make a resolution! CHANGE NOW! TODAY! THIS SECOND! Not next week, not next Monday, not next year...RIGHT NOW! Now does that mean you change everything in a matter of seconds? NO! That's where we all screw up. We get going, we go all out, we do everything right, we slip up once, ....BAM we stop! Then we start over again sometime next week. Like Monday! BABY STEPS! Start taking your life one day at a time. TODAY is what matters! Today is what will make tomorrow better, if you live it right. But if you mess up today, then get up and do it right tomorrow, no matter what day tomorrow is! The longer you stay down, the harder it will be to get up. If you keep staying down and you keep living with all the things you want to change, you will NEVER change those things. You'll stay miserable, you'll stay over weight, you'll continue to eat bad, you'll hate anybody that looks good, you'll be bitter, mean, cranky...yada yada yada! You know the drill! Been there, done that. Sometimes I still fall into that! UGH! Not near as much though. I'm slowly but surely taking those baby steps and I'm changing into the me I want to be. You can too!

If you don't have a calendar get one! TODAY! Not Monday!! :) On each day of your calendar I want you to write ONE thing you want to do that day that benefits YOU! ONE THING! This # can grow as time goes on, but for now lets just write ONE THING! For example it could be a 30 min walk, 45 min of weights, grilled chicken and salad for dinner with low fat dressing, listening to a motivational CD, reading through a healthy recipe book and planning this weeks meals, writing in a food journal ...SOMETHING GOOD FOR YOU! Write down something you will do that YOU know will benefit you, make you feel better, make you smile just a little more, give you an extra bounce in your step...and do this good for you thing each day. Planning is so huge in helping you follow through. On that calendar also write your goals for each day. Not just Monday. Each day write a goal that you want to reach. It can be the same goal everyday. For example "I want to lose 10 lbs this month, I want to learn how to cook healthier meals this month" Writing down the same goal everyday is fine, in fact it will probably help you reach it faster. You become what you think about! Just get a calendar and slowly but surely start looking at EVERYDAY as an opportunity to improve. EACH AND EVERYDAY! Not just Monday! Change your way of thinking, so each day is as important as the next! Now if Wed. is a complete disaster and everything you said you were going to do, just doesn't happen. Wake up on Thursday and check out that days goals and start again! GET UP AS FAST AS YOU CAN! Don't wait til Monday to start again! Start again as quickly as possible. Do this until it becomes a pattern. I'm telling you it will make life, success, results, ...and everything else easier! Try it!

I said baby steps and I meant that! We don't change over night or get everything we want in a matter of days. Its a process and it takes time. Honestly I don't ever want to be satisfied or feel like a finished product. I always want to get better and work towards a stronger more healthier me. I want to continue learning and growing because I know I have so much learning and growing to do. I just know if I take my time and work on ME a little everyday, I'll slowly but surely continue to see positive results. Things will pay off. I'm tired of waiting for Mondays and New Years resolutions. I want each day to matter for me and each day to be another step in the right direction. No more WAITING for things to change! I'm gonna start changing EVERY DAY! And so should you!

Until next MONDAY :) Have a wonderful, successful, healthy, energetic....week!

Thanks so much,
Jen

www.beachbodycoach.com/jenmangum
www.facebook.com/jenmangum
beachbodyjen@yahoo.com
970-209-4053

Its All About HEALTH!

We all have a gift, a reason we are here, something ONLY we can offer the world, a purpose...! It took me a long time to realize and find what my gift was, but now that I have, life just seems...well awesome :) We also all have shit, hurdles, struggles, pains....blah blah blah might be different kinds of shit, but we've all got shit! Yes I cuss every now and then!? Sorry thats just me :) Like it, leave it, love it. What you'll find here is Just Jen :) I'm Just Jen! I'm not an expert, not a doctor, not a college graduate...no nada me. What I am though is a Type 1 diabetic(who has learned to live with a disease WELL), a mother, a wife, a lover, a friend, a Beachbody Coach, NEWBIE Turbo Kick Instructor, and a "I can do all things through Christ" kind of person. Everything I say is just my opinion and all based on my experiences on what I've done to continue to make my life better every day and grow into the woman I'm meant to be. Its a process, a journey...but one I'm loving taking. I have a lot to learn, I have flaws, I've made and will continue to make mistakes, I'm no better than anybody out there, but I am someone who knows without a doubt the importance of having GOOD HEALTH! And all in all thats what this whole JUST JEN blog is all about! HEALTH!

So what is my gift? I believe with all my heart my gift is the gift of helping others. Or maybe I should say the gift of helping others take care of the most important thing in their lives...THEIR HEALTH! I realize there are a million people out there preaching, teaching, living, speaking, breathing...this same gift. Well thank God! We need as many folks as we can get out there giving the gift of health. After all no matter what, the KEY to everything starts and ends with YOUR HEALTH!

If you don't have good health, guess what? You don't have anything. People might think of my next statement as selfish, but its one I'll continue to say over and over again. On top of everyone's priority list should be HEALTH! Not family, not friends, not kids, not work, not money....none of that! HEALTH! Thats what should be #1!! Why? You've heard this before I'm sure, but if you make health your #1 priority in your life, everything else thats important to you will just excel and you will become more successful than ever. When you have GOOD health you will treat and love your family more, you'll be a better friend, mother/father, worker, lover,....! You will be more successful, you will get more done, you will be more organized, you will smile more, you will be happier, you will LIVE and you will LIVE WELL!

Sounds pretty simple doesn't it? One would think it would be easy to have good health, but for whatever reason it seems to be the ONE thing we all let slide. Which then leads to us letting everything else slide. Our relationships, family, spouse, work, dreams, goals, hopes....everything begins to go down the toilet! When we don't put ourselves, our health!!! on the TOP of our to-do list everyday, on top of our priority list, and first in our heart and minds...then nothing else is treated like the priority it should be. When we are not happy within ourselves and when we do not feel good, we become that person we hate. Too harsh? Not really, just a fact. If you don't like who you see in the mirror everyday and don't feel good about you, then you don't feel good about anything else. You start to hate people, you get bitter, mean, resentful, cold, heartless, lazy, bored, angry,....and on and on and on! You simply take how you feel inside and use it against everything and everyone around you. You know you do. Take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself...Do I feel good? Do I like what I see? Am I happy with those around me? Am I happy with me? Am I giving my life and my heart all that deserves? .......I could keep going with a list of questions that would force you to get right to the core of YOU! I'm telling you right now, the most least selfish thing you could do for YOU and anyone who knows you, is take care of your HEALTH first and everything else second!

As a type 1 diabetic I've had to learn the hard way about the importance of HEALTH. Being hit with a disease at 20 yrs old was a forever life changing experience. There really aren't any words to describe what it feels like when someone tells you have a disease, have to start taking insulin injections for the rest of your life, and have to change everything about yourself or else. Those words still play over in my mind all the time. I went from thinking I was perfect, healthy, together, smart, capable....to feeling like I didn't know anything, was a failure, would never be the same, would never live a normal life, would die young, would terrify my children, husband, family, .....blah blah blah the feelings that hit me like a ton of bricks were without a doubt some of the worst feelings I'd ever felt. It just makes me wanna cry now to think that I allowed those feelings to damage and affect about 8 years of my life. Damn near my entire 20's was spent feeling sorry for myself and feeling like crap all the time. What a shame, what a waste...man I'd sure like to have those years back! To think that all I had to do was take care of myself to make my life better, still makes me mad at myself! I guess we all live and learn though. Some quicker than others and then there is the procrastinators like me who like to take the hell road around instead of the high road! I can't change yesterday though, but wow have I changed today and all my tomorrows! Thats what matters most and that is NOW what I focus on! Sure I still have days this nasty disease gets me down and I get frustrated. I'm HUMAN, but I handle things so much better now. Since I started putting my health first, everything has just gotten easier and I know it will continue to get easier.

So thats why I'm here, thats why I'm blogging and sharing my stories of disease, diet, exercise, HEALTH, happiness...with the world. So maybe just maybe I can help someone not have to go through all the years and struggles that I did, to come to the realization that HEALTH is what matters MOST! And that its really not all that hard to make it first in your life, that its really not that hard to TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!

More too come :)

Beachbody Coach Jen Mangum

www.beachbodycoach.com/jenmangum

www.facebook.com/jenmangum

beachbodyjen@yahoo.com