Sunday, March 24, 2013

advocare journey



I am a little nervous to tell people about my Advocare journey because I'm more private about certain things. However, I'm learning that there are some things that are worth sharing, especially when they have been a great thing in your life.

A little over a year ago, I felt like I was in a black hole of tiredness. Jacers was going on month eight of not sleeping through the night. With Addelyn, she started sleeping through the night at four months but this boy wanted to party all night and hang with his Momma. For those who know me, I have narcolepsy and usually take Ritalin but can't when I'm nursing. So I was struggling! I could hardly get through my days. Some of you may remember, those were the days when I often started crying daily, almost quit my job daily, and I'm guessing I wasn't really fun to be around! Sleep matters! A really good friend of mine suggested I try Spark, a "healthy" energy drink (not like all of the latest ones on the market). I was skeptical but since I trust her, I tried it out. (After secretly going on Mayo Clinic's website and looking up every ingredient first.) After a few days of Spark, I honestly felt like a different person. It wasn't like a had a quick burst of energy but more that I felt like I could focus more and even stay awake much better.

After using Spark for months, I decided to try a 24 Day Challenge. I would say I've considered myself a pretty healthy person (one that likes to eat junk food at times of course!) but overall, a goal of eating healthy 90% of the time. During my first 24 Day Challenge, I noticed a lot of my eating habits that weren't very healthy. My sugar addiction. My Diet Pepsi addiction. Although I already ate a lot of fruit and veggies, I wasn't very aware of how much wheat and dairy (too much!) I was eating. I also didn't realize how little protein I was consuming each day. So as you can see, I had a ton of learnings. Plus, it helped me to lose some of that stubborn baby weight that didn't want to come off after baby number two- around 15 pounds of it. I'm still on the journey to a healthy eating lifestyle- I probably ALWAYS will be on this journey but this has given me some framework to help with my eating habits.

Around seven months ago, I became an Advocare Distributor- mostly for the discount it offers when buying the products. I even have my own little website, https://www.advocare.com/120835572, because along the way, it has been fun to help some others on this journey too. One friend of mine (I'll let her share when she is ready- has lost more than thirty pounds and is still going strong!) It has been amazing to watch! It has been fun also to get to know some really great people through the Advocare team. So that is my journey so far! I haven't told tons of people unless it naturally comes up. The main reason I share it- I had someone get frustrated with me the other day because they didn't understand why I hadn't even told them about this journey. I would say my main deal is that I never want to come off as a salesperson. I love to share it with others- if you want to hear more about it:) Otherwise, that is my story, to be continued I'm sure!!!

7 comments:

Trudi said...

Kris, do you know if Spark is safe to drink while breastfeeding? We are going on 7 1/2 months of not sleeping through the night with Charles. My mom has been an avid Spark drinker for years, and I've often wondered if I could drink it or not. Thanks!!!!

Unknown said...

Kris, do you still take ritalin for narcolepsy? I've been on provigil for years and it doesn't work as well as it used to. A friend is doing advocare and I'm considering it for weight loss, but I'm worried about interactions with my medicine.

Unknown said...

Kris, Do you still take your ritalin while on advocate? I'm considering advocare but I was concerned about interactions with my provigil.

Kris Hoskinson said...

Roxanne,
i actually haven't been taking my ritalin anymore. spark has helped so much! send me an email at khoskinson@orchardhillchurch.org if you'd like to talk about more details:)

Anonymous said...

So is this just for energy? I just started a diet overhaul this week (I'm the most unhealthy vegan i know!) always the whole reason was because I am SO tired all of the time. Like, lay on the couch and cry tired.
anyway, day three of the new diet. (mostly organic, mostly raw, all vegan, all gluten free) took out any thing artificial, frozen or prepackaged food. No refined sugar.
We'll see how it works. Definitely still feeling exhausted. Craving chocolate, soy ice cream, and chips. LOL

Kris Hoskinson said...

Rachel- one of the main reasons i did this is for energy, yes! the advocare has helped me a ton with energy and also just an overhaul of my diet, like you are talking about! good job on getting rid of lots of the junk from your diet, it is hard isn't it??

That One Girl said...

CAN you take Ritalin while taking advocare challenge?