Happy 4th of July!!

Happy Independence Day! This is one of my favorite holidays. I love the colors, the fireworks and I love celebrating our Nation's independence. I think its easy to take for granted all the freedoms we enjoy as American's. I know I'm guilty of it sometimes. As I sat in sacrament meeting yesterday at church and listened to person after person talk about why they are grateful to live in America, I realized how proud I am to live here and how lucky I am.

Since this is Independence Day, it's also a great day to declare your independence from the fat! Ambush fat just like the colonists ambushed the English during the Revolutionary War. Install your own Paul Revere in your head so that when you're tempted to eat something bad for you, that voice will kick in screaming "The fat is coming! The fat is coming!" Declare that this is the year you win your independence in the battle against the fatness.

Today, I spent some time cleaning out my fridge (my least favorite household job next to vacuuming) and when I saw all the produce I had in my fridge that had gone bad, I got a little bugged. Sometimes I feel produce comes to my fridge to die. I buy it, with the honest to God intention of eating all of it in my journey to be healthy.

But then as I stand in front of the fridge looking for something to eat, staring at the whole fruit and veggies, the battle rages inside my head and it goes like this:

"Hmmmm...I think I'm hungry. Oh look, a whole watermelon (or fruit/veggie of your choice). It is hot outside and that does sound good. But, hmmm....I don't really want to cut it up and then I'll have to clean it up. It would just be easier to eat this bag of chips. Yeah, chips sound refreshing."

For Hell sakes, right? Another problem is for the Midge. When she's hungry and I'm working, I'm usually not taking the time I should to make sure she's getting the right snacks all the time. I'm usually telling her to grab an apple, string cheese or granola bar. Then she usually grabs what every candy she can find. Do we see a pattern here?

I found this great idea on Pinterest from Real Simple Magazine a while back and I got inspired. I headed over to the Dollar Store and bought some cheap baskets to do this. They've been sitting on my counter for about two months. Today, as I'm declaring my independence on the fat, I decided to do something about it. While Bridget ate breakfast and played with Playdoh, I cut up pineapple, cucumbers and celery and put them into snack bags. I also washed some grapes I bought from Bountiful Baskets (More on this tomorrow) and put them into snack bags. I added some whole apples and some string cheese.

Bridget looked at me like I was crazy (I get that a lot from her) and asked what I was doing. When I told her it was a basket full of snacks she could get herself, her little eyes lit up. What a great mom you are, she said (in my mind this is what I heard). So I cleared a space in the fridge and we are ready to go.

(Yeah, this is a bad picture. I sure wish I had a sister who was a professional photographer and could take these pictures for me. Sigh.)

 As I was trying to figure out what to put in there, I got thinking about all the options. Carrots would be great in there, as would sliced peppers. Cantaloupe and watermelon might be tricky but I'm going to try it. What else would you put in there?

On to some very exciting news!! As you know, I've been on a new {program} for about a month now. I'm feeling great, am down about 10 pounds and have lost about two inches! Tonya's husband has lost three inches and down about six pounds. As you know, I don't believe in diets or anything that changes your habits so drastically you have to stay with it or get fat again. This stuff is not like that.

Tonya and I are so impressed with this product we're having an open house on Thursday, July 7 at 7 p.m. at my house. There will be a short presentation and my friend Ben will be on hand to answer some questions about it. Tonya and I are going to whip up some of our favorite low fat snacks and will have recipes to give out. We will also be giving away a fridge basket so you can start to get organized!

Food, healthy and your two favorite girls ever? Could you be luckier? I think not. If you are serious about getting healthy, I urge you to come spend an hour with us and learn about this amazing {program}. Plus its nice to get together with other people going through the same struggles you are. Its basically the coolest support group out there. Love it.

Please e-mail me at brenda.june.fisher@gmail.com if you have questions or give me a call at 801-312-0088. We need a head count for the food, so if you're coming, let me know!

Love you guys, keep kicking fat's ass!!!