Summer lemonade … the healthy way
With summer comes lemonade. You’d think it might be a reasonably healthy choice, right? Nope, it’s not, unfortunately. Most of it is loaded with more sugar than a candy bar.
But I’ve experimented, and I have my own summer lemonade that I think is awesome! It’s really refreshing on a hot day, and offers up a little variety to all the water I usually drink.
All I do is add lemon juice to clean, filtered water along with some stevia and just a tiny bit of sugar. This is all to taste, and that’s how you discover what works for you. If you are used to sugary drinks, this may taste too sour for you. Adjust the sugar. Or try some honey in it. Or add more stevia and see how it goes.
If, to enjoy this lemonade, you are adding more sugar, scale down the tiniest bit each time. Challenge those taste buds! They will adapt. If you do it *perfectly* healthy and don’t like it, you simply won’t fix it that way. Doesn’t it make more sense to make it how you enjoy it, then try to scale down the unhealthy part bit by bit? If you do, that creates progress. And that’s what I mean when I speak of small steps. Little by little you’ll get to where you don’t want much sugar in this and maybe not at all. I don’t use sugar in any of my other drinks – I like stevia the best or a combination of stevia and honey – but, in this, I think a little bit helps balance the sour of the lemon juice.
There are ways to still have what you enjoy — like lemonade – but make them healthier. Then, you can have your lemonade and drink it, too! 
Honor your strengths
“Build upon strengths,
and weaknesses will gradually take care of themselves.”
~ Joyce C. Lock
Simplifying simplicity
A part of living well – whole life wellness – is simplicity. Embracing the beauty of simplifying is like finally getting a breath of fresh air. Ahhh, you can relax a little more. Your shoulders stop their climb toward your ears. Your stomach settles down. You’re happier. You have more time. Ailments and symptoms you have may improve or disappear.
And, like all the areas I focus on in my work, this one weaves itself over and under and into the others. Work on simplifying, and you’ll be less stressed. Simplify, and you’ll have more time to focus on the other areas: move your body more, play, spend more time with the people you love, fix healthier meals you enjoy.
So, in honor of simplicity (and because I’ve written about its impact many times before), I’m keeping this simple:
Here’s what to do for now – no more, no less:
Look at your to do list, whether it’s written or in your head. Take something off it. Actually, take two somethings off it. I know they’re there. I can guarantee you that there are items that really don’t need done. Items in which the world won’t come to an end if you disregard them. Items you can delegate. Items you should have just said no to in the first place.
That’s it. Start there. Simple. Straightforward. Notice the effects.
Don’t disregard this as too simple. Simple works! Give it a try. Pay attention. See if it made a difference in how you feel. And see if, indeed, the world didn’t come to an end because you only did 98 things instead of 100.
