Vein Disease

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I’m 22 weeks pregnant and since about 8 weeks into my pregnancy I noticed the veins on my right calf have become more pronounced! In my first pregnancy I had a varicose vein sprout on my right calf and this pregnancy it really expanded and now most of my right calf is super veiny and gross looking.  I bought a compression sleeve off Amazon, naturally and showed my midwife my varicose veins. She said I could go to a vein specialist to get checked out, the first one I called wouldn’t even see me because I’m pregnant and they can’t treat me. I went back and asked for another specialist. I just want to get it checked out to make sure it’s not a danger to me or this little baby in my belly.

Today I went to Kimmel Institute in Boca. The nurse checked me out and took an ultrasound of my leg, she confirmed the diagnosis with Dr. Kimmel who came in shortly after and he explained to me what exactly is Vein Disease. Basically the veins in my leg aren’t correctly pulling the blood up and down my leg so little veins are sprouting around that area. The pressure on my uterus from this pregnancy are creating the environment for the veins to look worse. Fortunately, this is not harmful to the baby or me. The thing to do right now is to wear a full leg compression sleeve (sigh). After I have the baby and finish breastfeeding I can go back to get treated with the procedure called, Endovenous Laser Ablation (EVLA).

I’m thankful this is something that can be treated later and relieved the baby is not affected. It was interesting to learn how the vein system works. Dr. Kimmel explained it really well, I’m not doing a good job explaining it like he did. He did say to make sure I’m well hydrated and also to avoid high intensity activities such as running, jogging or hiit workouts which I have stopped all those activities early on this pregnancy. He said regular exercise is ok like walking, light weights and yoga so I’m going to continue doing that.

That’s all for today!

Your fears are your gifts

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I was listening to a podcast that really spoke to me, Your Virtual Upline By Bob Heilig, I’ve seen him on Facebook before but didn’t realize he also has a podcast. He spoke about what you fear is actually a reflection of your gifts. For example, if you have a fear of being a leader then your gift is to become a leader, if you fear public speaking your gift is public speaking. Wait what?

This sounds so crazy but it actually makes sense to me. I have a lot of fears and anxiety about my career as an entrepreneur. I’ve done this many years part time and have a corporate job as well, my dream is to become a full time entrepreneur but I am stopping myself from getting where I want to go because of fear. It drives me crazy at times because I know I could be so much further if I could just get over myself! I’ve spent a lot of time telling myself I don’t know how or I don’t know what I’m doing or so and so is doing it better so why bother.

But I still have that urge to keep going forward to keep trying even though I have started and stopped myself countless times. My intention with this 30 days of blogging is to push myself through that tremendous fear into action and be the leader and contributor I have dreamed of becoming. The only thing getting in the way of my dreams is me so step aside me and let your true self shine through!!

 

Chicken Salad (No Mayo)

Back to school: Lunch Ideas

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This past week I had the opportunity to be on the local news station, Channel 5 West Palm Beach and speak with John Favole to share about healthy and fun school lunch ideas for back to school!! Please check it out to learn my best tips in the video!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I brought a few boxed lunch options, each had a fruit, veggie, sandwich and dessert.

For fruit I recommend what’s in season and currently there are abundant fresh strawberries so I cut those up and added fresh mint leaves. Grapes cut in half and watermelon cut into stars.

Veggies, I packed sliced cucumbers, grapes tomatoes and added fresh mint along with carrots precut into chips which are great to dip into hummus.

Make eating fun by cutting sandwiches into heart shapes, I made sunflower seed butter and honey sandwiches because peanut butter is not allowed in area schools. Preferably buy the unsweetened sunflower seed but that is just ground up sunflower seeds with salt which you can find at Trader Joes or Whole Foods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On set I made no-mayo chicken salad, this is great to stuff into pitas, mom and dad will want to take this for lunches too! Make a big batch the night before and put together with fruit and veggie choice. Get kids involved with packing their lunches, have them help pick out their fruit and veggies combo for the next day. Add a sweet note when they aren’t looking for a nice surprise. I took a blank note card and cut into thirds then wrote on each one, “You’re amazing!”, “I believe in You!”, and I Love You!”

My chicken salad recipe was originally published on Vitacost.com

Here’s what you’ll need to make it:

3 cups cooked chicken, cubed
1 medium/large avocado, diced (about 1 cup)
1 cup apple, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced

For dressing:

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp. each salt, pepper and cayenne pepper

Directions:

In small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients.
In large bowl, combine chicken, avocado, apple and celery with dressing.
Fill pita halves with chicken salad. Wrap up to bring for lunch the next day.

Yield: 4 cups

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo credit by Melissa Perlman of Blue Ivy Communications.

Thanks Melissa for the opportunity to go to news Channel 5 WPB to share my message of health for families!!

Welcome To BlueIvy Communications

 

Your best self in 80 days!!

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80 day online bootcamp in the books! 🎉🙌Officially the challenge ended on Saturday but we were out of town so I postponed my final workout until Sunday. On Friday afternoon and Saturday I went to the pool with my family. It’s been a while since I got into my bathing suit 👙 and for the first time ever or a very long time I felt really good, great actually! I feel super strong in my core and that is always something I stare at before going out in a bikini, is my belly sticky out, do I look bloated? Now, I look more toned in my abs and feel strong from the inside out. It made me realize how far I’ve come. It was nice to enjoy the pool with my family and focus on having fun 😎 instead of thinking about how I looked. I don’t look perfect by any means, hello there is still cellulite in places but that doesn’t matter because I have worked so hard for the last 80 days to get from point A to point B!

My #positivebodsquad members are getting amazing results too! Can you imagine losing 10# and 15.5” in just 80 days!! For real, crazy awesome results for putting in the work!!

Are there days we all wanted to give up and throw in the towel? Heck yes but we kept showing up every day for each other. I mean life isn’t perfect and a day or two was missed but being intentional most of the time and getting it done, not just in workouts but putting in the effort on nutrition too. Yes we had an excellent meal plan to follow and again no one is perfect but following the plan for 85% of the time is pretty darn great and you can still see massive progress from that.

The day after it’s all done, we take a few days off and perhaps have a glass of wine 🍷 or cookie 🍪 but then it’s back on the nutrition plan because this is a #healthylifestyle and not a fad diet. We are eating plenty of real food and chocolate, vanilla or strawberry milkshakes 🥤 too so don’t feel bad for us 🙂
Come join the party and get the results you are craving because now is your time to shine!!

 

Example meals and snacks I brought to the office:

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Next bootcamp starts on April 23! It’s your time to get in the best shape of your life and feel amazing!!

For more info please fill out my form!

https://pamelahiggins.wufoo.com/forms/z17ojc861y12r0s

 

Chickpea “Meatloaf”

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Move over meaty and greasy meatloaf! There’s a new player in town 🙂 Tickle your tastebuds with this Chickpea based “meatloaf”, it’s filling, nutritious and delicious! I do eat meat but it’s nice to make a hearty meal that doesn’t have any meat in it too. I love chickpeas and grew up eating hummus but there are more ways to use chickpeas than in hummus, this loaf proves just that!

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Ingredients:

2 cans chickpeas, reserve chickpea liquid (called aguafaba)

¼ cup chickpea liquid (aguafaba)

⅓ cup quick oats

1 small shallot, peeled and roughly chopped

⅓ cup carrot, cut into 1” pieces

⅓ cup celery, cut into 1” pieces

¼ cup organic ketchup

Spices:

½ tsp each pink salt and ground cumin

¼ tsp each black pepper, garlic powder, oregano

Coconut oil spray to grease pan

 

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Pulse in food process shallots, carrots, celery.
  3. Drained chickpeas, reserve liquid.
  4. Add chickpeas, liquid, and remaining ingredients into food processor.
  5. Pulse to combine but do not puree.
  6. Spray bread pan with coconut oil.
  7. Spread chickpea meatloaf evenly in baking pan.
  8. Bake at 375 35-40 minutes until edges brown. Will be soft in the middle.
  9. Slice and serve warm.

 

Yield: 6 slices