It's Time to Talk about SANE

Many of you know that body image issues have been a struggle for me for most of my life.

I started counting calories when I was nine, I ate between 600 and 900 calories a day the summer before I started high school, and throughout my first 14 years of motherhood, I tried to eat as little as possible each day--and still get out to exercise (even when I was exhausted from being up all night).  That part of my story hasn't been pleasant.

About a year ago, I started something new.  I read The Calorie Myth my Jonathan Bailor, and my frustrations with food and exercise finally made sense to me. He explained the science behind how our bodies work. He told me which foods would help my metabolism to heal. More importantly, he helped me to finally achieve "nutritional serenity," so I don't even have to think about calories anymore.

I wish I could explain how much this has meant to me. Looking back, I can't believe how many years I spent going hungry.

(These are my "before and after" photos - I can't tell you how reluctant I have been to post these, but I know it's helpful for people to see...)

But the story gets better...a lot better.

My daughter, Alia, started struggling with her weight when she was in third grade.  I helped her to count calories (like I did), and I encouraged her to eat less sugar.  I also tried to get her moving more and invited her to participate in my workout DVDs.  Nothing worked. She kept getting heavier and heavier.

However, when I started applying the advice from Jonathan and The Calorie Myth, she saw that it was working for me, and she began to follow my lead.

It was slow at first. We started eating green smoothies together, and I showed her how to get protein into every meal. But over the course of a few months, her entire body changed.  Every few weeks, we were heading off to Old Navy to buy her smaller pants and poking new holes in her belt so she could tighten it.

It wasn't only her body that transformed.  She became happier and more confident than I had ever seen her--without EVER being hungry.



Last September, I reached out to Jonathan Bailor on Twitter and thanked him for making a difference in our lives. Then I invited him on Power of Moms Radio, and he invited me onto his podcast.

We talked about Alia--and all the mothers, fathers, and children out there who are overweight and/or diabetic--not because they are weak, but because they don't know what to do besides "eat less and exercise more."

Then we decided we could do something together to help save lives. We outlined a step-by-step program for families--including things like how to grocery shop, how to pack SANE lunches, and how to eat healthfully while on the go. We recorded videos about how to get organized so the process would feel easier, and we interviewed Alia regarding how she made this transformation as a 15-year-old girl.

This week, our SANE Families program has launched. 

It has taken hundreds of hours behind the scenes to get it up and running, and there's still a lot of work ahead of us to get it out to the families who need it, but this is part of my Butterfly Project I've been telling you about.

My life and Alia's life have been so transformed by Jonathan's work that we feel compelled to share it with others who are struggling like we were.

If you want to hear our podcast with Jonathan and learn more about our SANE Families projects, this is the link that includes all of the key SANE information:

http://learndobecome.com/sane

So excited about this--and hopeful that we can make a real difference.

Much love,
April

Why I Was Afraid to Record a Podcast with Jon Acuff

In a post I wrote about a month ago (called "What Scares Me"), I referenced a great book called Start by Jon Acuff.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I was working on the computer while Eric was at some evening meetings, and I thought, "Maybe Jon would want to be featured on our Power of Moms podcast."

Immediately, that nervous/fearful part of my brain started sending messages like this:

• Jon is a best-selling author.  He's probably too busy.
• You'd probably be too nervous to do the interview.
• Don't even try this one.

But then that other part of my brain (that wants to punch fear in the face) replied with messages like this:

• Our Power of Moms podcasts are awesome.  I bet he'd love to take 30 minutes to be featured in front of our audience.
• And I've interviewed lots of best-selling authors: Richard and Linda Eyre, Julie Morgenstern, and Katrina Kenison. I can totally do this.
• I might as well try.  The worst thing he can say is no.

Without taking any more time to think about it, I located the contact form on his website and started typing an invitation.

The next day, I received an email from his assistant who wanted to schedule the recording.  I was elated.  (I even forwarded the email to my husband and my co-director, Saren, with an added, "SO excited!!!!!!!")

Now the podcast is up at Power of Moms, and I can't wait for you to hear it.  I didn't tell Jon how nervous I was, but after a few minutes, I felt totally fine, and I think the interview was wonderful. 

Jon is a great person--very personable, funny, family-centered, and encouraging.  If you don't know about him already, I'm glad I had the chance to introduce him to you.

And the advice in his book works.  See how he's already helping me to overcome my fears?

Go to the podcast page to hear my interview with Jon Acuff.

Getting Organized for the First Day of School

I just submitted this as a possible guest post to GTD Times, so I thought I'd post a copy of it here, as well.  Why I do things like this at 1:00 in the morning, I'm not quite sure....

The first day of school started out great.  My three oldest children dressed in their new clothes, laced up their new shoes, ate a healthy breakfast, and then headed off to school with homemade sack lunches and brightly-colored, fully-stocked pencil cases.  I felt like a wonderful mom.

They returned home seven hours later, happy but tired, toting folders overflowing with paperwork, and that's when MY work started (I mean...continued).  As I shuffled through more than 50 sheets of fliers, forms, and date-specific notices, I started to feel a little dizzy.  The pile on my counter harbored a LOT of information, most of which needed my attention right that minute.  I was tempted to break into tears or bury my head in a carton of Rocky Road, but then I thought, "Wait a minute.  I've been trained in Getting Things Done.  I was MADE for situations like this."  

Within 30 minutes, the papers were completely processed, and I was ready to move on with our evening.  And since I had such a glorious experience with my paper party, I thought I'd share some ideas that might help other moms manage the near-constant influx of papers that comes flying from their children's backpacks.

Shall we begin?

Step #1: I did a quick initial sort, pulling everything out of the pile that belonged in the trash.  That was actually half the pile, since all three of my children received identical copies of each handout (maybe they'll go digital someday?).  By removing the trash at the beginning, the remaining stack looked much less daunting.

Step #2: I went through the stack again and processed everything that would take two minutes or less.  I typed the teachers' email addresses into my Contacts list, noted the date of the school's 5K, and recorded all of the holiday breaks onto my calendar.  That eliminated seven or eight more sheets of paper.  

Step #3: I gathered all the sheets I wanted to keep for reference (bell schedules, classroom rules, details about the school exercise program, etc.) and put them immediately into my filing cabinet in a clearly-labeled folder...just in case I need to find them quickly in the future.

Step #4: I made a decision on the school picture order form and then wrote a reminder on the next day's calendar page to order the photos online (doing so enabled me to receive a few extra photos free of charge.  Wasn't that a nice of them?).

Step #5: I got out my Next Actions list and recorded the three extra school supplies my daughter needed in the "Errands" context.  

Step #6: I spread out all nine of the emergency cards and a few extra forms on the table, and my children and I filled them out together.  They wrote their names, address, phone number, etc., and then I added a few additional pieces of information and my signature.  

That was it!  Piece of cake, right?  There's no need to stress when you're a "black-belt" at paper processing.

There was one little boy in my daughter's Kindergarten class a few years ago whose mother NEVER emptied his backpack.  I'm serious.  Every morning, he came to school with a bulging backpack--full of paperwork that had been piling up for months.  I knew his mom a little bit, and I don't think she was trying to be neglectful.  I think she just felt overwhelmed with her own paperwork and problems, and unzipping a backpack of "stuff" would have thrown her over the edge.

I feel like part of my mission in life is to help the moms of the world to get organized.  It takes some work, but it's not that complicated, and the basic ideas presented in Getting Things Done (and therefore, Mind Organization for Moms) have the power to make life much, much easier--whether it's the first day of school or simply the first day of the rest of your life.