Personal Blog

  • Personal Blog

    Top 10 Tips For a New Puppy!

    My Best Tips For Your New Puppy!

    Tips for a New Puppy

    If you are a new puppy owner or thinking about getting a puppy, you are probably looking for helpful tips for a new puppy– and trust me, you’ll NEED them! Even though I grew up with dogs in our home, as an adult, I never raised a dog myself, I always was a cat mom. Let me just share with you that cats/kittens are 1000000000000x easier to raise than dogs. Oh wow. You don’t need any helpful kitten tips other than to buy a litter box. But for sure, you need tips for a new puppy and lots of them, believe me. I thought I was prepared for having a new puppy in the house- I wasn’t. I thought I had my expectations set– I did not. But, thanks to many friends and followers and neighbors and their recommendations, I can share a lot of helpful tips for a new puppy with YOU that will serve to make your life with a new puppy a lot more enjoyable! Read on and learn!

    Please note that a lot of these tips I’m going to share are NOT in any particular order of importance. Just know that in my experience, these are all EQUALLY EFFECTIVE, and thus, equally important, so — I’d recommend you do them all! LOL. The picture above shows a dog with a pretty light leash on and there is this thing I learned from a GREAT training lady online (You’ll want to subscribe to this channel on YouTube– CLICK HERE this woman is amazing!) that you use a “training leash” indoors. Essentially you put a long leash on your puppy indoors and then, when you need to “catch” your puppy (like to put him in the crate for bed for example) — or– catch him when he brings something god-awful in the house and won’t put it down and he wants to play hide and seek with you LOL– you can step on the leash and he won’t be able to run away. OH WOW HOW I WISH I WOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT THIS!!! Our puppy was notorious for both behaviours — CLICK HERE to buy one of these training leashes– very reasonable, you can pick up several because the puppy may pee on one and then you can alternate. When we got our puppy a collar, we had heard about the air tag from Apple, so we got him the Air Tag Collar: CLICK HERE. It works! When I drop him at Doggy Day Care- my phone will notify me that I’ve “left him behind”. Very cool. On that note– DOGGY DAY CARE. If you haven’t heard of this, look it up now. Doggy Day Care is the best thing you’ve never heard of — OMG!! Dogs and Puppies LOVE IT!! It’s extremely reasonable from a cost perspective and it will tire your puppy out like you cannot imagine. When we first got our puppy– suffice it to say, my home-work life was disrupted in a HUGE WAY. Even after he was fully potty trained, we had the issue of him getting into trouble in our backyard eating sticks and sharp objects all the time……crazy!! So being able to put him in Doggy Day Care is a wonderful thing for both of us. Look up doggy day care places by you and check them out- most even offer webcam access so you can see your dog playing all day: it’s addicting! Next up is food and treats: for food we noticed that Bijan became very fond of Farmer’s Dog all natural food very quickly. We mix this with some dry kibble for each meal and he LOVES IT. For treats, my friend Michelle sent us some of these gluten free, soy free treats from Cloud Star and Bijan LOVES THEM!!! The price is fantastic too! Great flavor options as well, no wonder!! Next up are BONES — you will want to invest in some good bones because what we learned is that you do NOT want to let your puppy/dog chew on STICKS or branches from outside– that’s bad for their digestion and can ruin their teeth! The first bones we bought for him are these bad boys; CLICK HERE. The Dream Bone brand has soooo many options to choose from– your dog will love them. Then a follower of mine told me about Bully Sticks and wow I’m sooo glad I bought these: CLICK HERE. Why are the Bully Sticks so wonderful? They will keep your puppy/dog chewing on them for like 30-40 minutes!! Best yet, they are safe for their teeth! We give Bijan one of them when Steve and I want to eat dinner and not be disturbed LOL! 

    WALKS. Take your puppy for walks as much as you can. I made the mistake of not knowing this key point early on and then Bijan would have so much adrenaline at 8:30pm at night. CLICK HERE to get this dorky looking fanny pack thing– what you’ll realize is that it can be used for when you go on walks but also for when you are doing training with your puppy around the house. (Watch those YouTube videos I’m telling you, I have been able to make a lot of progress with Bijan based on what I’ve learned there it’s amazing!) Don’t laugh but I’m glad that during quarantine I bought these surgical gloves CLICK HERE BECAUSE SOMETIMES YOUR PUPPY WILL POOP A BIG POOPY MESS that trust me will not fit in the bag you have and it will get on your hands and gross you out. I make sure when I am picking up my dog’s poop it is with gloves on– judge me if you want.  CRATE: This is the Diggs crate we ordered (strongly recommend ordering from Amazon vs. Diggs directly). And this is the soft blanket we put inside: CLICK HERE. Oh and everything they say about a Snuggle Pup is true- Bijan thinks his is his best friend, you gotta get one for your dog! These are the dog tags we got customized for his collar: CLICK HERE.  And this is the dog shampoo a friend recommended and I gotta say, it really made him smell GOOD after his first shower LOL: CLICK HERE. 

    BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

    BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE

    I hope you enjoyed this post– it’s the first time I’ve written about a more lifestyle-topic vs. a strictly health-topic focus. If you are interested in checking out some of my more recent health-focused posts- consider these: 1) The Best Makeup for Women Over 50 CLICK HERE  2) The Top 10 Keto Myths Debunked CLICK HERE 3) Healthy Gut Diet Plan CLICK HERE 4) Benefits of Magnesium for Women CLICK HERE 5) Buy my Brand New Keto Cookbook with 50+ Recipes that helped me lose 35 inches and 30lbs CLICK HERE!

     

  • Health, Personal Blog

    Healthy Gut Diet Plan: The Basic Foundations For Your Healthy Gut.

    How to Implement Your Healthy Gut Diet Plan

    Healthy Gut Diet Plan

    Are you looking for a healthy gut diet plan? A lot of people are familiar with the phrase “healthy gut” but not as many people are actually doing anything about GETTING a healthy gut! And a healthy gut diet plan is really the first step in the right direction,,,it’s the foundation toward better health. If you know anything about the GUT, you know that “everything begins in the gut”. What does that mean? To paraphrase– all of our health, our wellness, our well-being, originates in our gut: it’s like the epicenter of our BODY, literally and virtually speaking. It’s up to us to make sure it is functioning the way it should be because when our gut is working and functioning properly, EVERYTHING ELSE should be working and functioning properly– same thing as when the gut is backed up or not working well. Things start to BACK UP and NOT WORK — most of our bodily functions can all be traced back to the GUT — hence why we say “it all starts with the gut. So, let’s get ourselves moving in a healthier and more fit direction by getting a healthy gut diet plan in place shall we? What does that look like?

    What is a good healthy gut diet plan anyway?

    This blog post is written from MY perspective and MY history. So– there are a lot of different ways of going about getting a healthy gut and many differing opinions. I’m going to share my experience and it is based on my history- which I think will be helpful to many of you who share a fitness fanatic type history like mine. If you, like me, have tended to. in the past– NOT be very picky about the types of foods you put in your stomach- and your primary goal was all about weight loss at all costs, you probably found yourself walking around with a stomach ache or gas and bloating A LOT. This is very common in the fitness space. Why? People are consuming a lot of protein powders, protein bars/shakes, and buying (sometimes) cheap foods for mass meal prep (again, I’m referring to my past when I used to follow the “bro diet” of 6 meals a day chicken/broccoli/rice etc.). LOTS of young people when they start to focus on weight training and dieting are NOT paying attention to QUALITY foods and QUALITY supplements– they are pouring in a lot of crap to their body and that stuff can add up. Then if your life also consists of things like antibiotics- which sadly can be very common in this day and age– antibiotics are prescribed for EVERYTHING — that affects your gut. OTC drugs– those affect your gut. (think pain meds of any kind). And then, even if you are NOT a fitness fanatic, if you are a typical American you are eating processed food of all kinds and that is destroying your gut with all kinds of chemicals! So– all of the above leads to a VERY UNHEALTHY GUT — easily. A healthy gut diet plan is designed to — very simply– counteract that. We want to remove the bad stuff and add in good stuff. 

    Healthy Gut Diet Plan: Food & Supplements

    So some of this is like DUH no brainer but yet, if it’s no brainer, why are most Americans obese and not eating this way? It’s obviously a no brainer philosophy that most people are not choosing to follow yet. So– first thing is, let’s focus on 1) cutting out as much fake/processed food as possible. Not forever! But while we heal the gut — for sure– let’s cut out the fake crap. Eat real whole foods, ideally ORGANIC– it matters. TRUST ME. That’s another blog post coming up where I’ll talk about that topic. (I used to doubt that it mattered too) 2) drink more water : hydration is key — I’m HORRIBLE at this if it makes you feel any better. I mean, I’m really bad and it’s a major goal of mine to be better at this the rest of this year. Let’s do it. 3) Add in healthy gut supplementation – let’s start with the basics: FIBER (SEE ABOVE) EVERY DAY-– I have been putting a scoop of this in our coffee every morning for 2 years (you don’t even taste it!)- then digestive enzymes and probiotics– these 3 basics for your gut are the FOUNDATION that you should be incorporating EVERY DAY. Head over to Healthy Origins website and use my code ‘kellyolexa’ to get 25% off your entire order. You’re welcome. CLICK HERE FOR THE DIGESTIVE PAGE. 

    If you think about this– it’s really SIMPLE. We treat our gut as an afterthought. We treat our gut like it’s a garbage disposal– we expect it to grind up all this junk we throw down there and it doesn’t work that way. We have to understand that our gut is CONNECTED to the rest of our body and our bodily functions- and we need to treat it like we are treating a very expensive car- like we are only going to put in the VERY BEST FUEL for that VERY EXPENSIVE CAR if we want that car to run efficiently. 

    HMMMM. That’s actually a very good analogy — we need to run at maximum capacity don’t we? Why not fuel ourselves for maximum capability? Maxes a lot of sense doesn’t it? 

    Let’s stop DUMPING crap into our gut. Let’s start re-thinking everything we put into our bodies, because we should have been doing that since the beginning. And if we start doing that now- the future US will be remarkably different than the past US. I’m certainly seeing that myself– now that I am eating COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY than I was a year ago– my body is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than it was a year ago, 5 years ago etc. I’ll never go back. Do I sometimes think about a big bagel and cream cheese? Maybe. For a second or two. But that’s about it. What I think about longer is how amazing it feels to look and FEEL this wonderful at age 53– better than I’ve looked in decades…..amazing what happens when you change your DIET.

    Disclosure: This post was sponsored by our friends at Healthy Origins, where I have been buying my supplements for 2+ years! All opinions expressed here are solely my own.

  • Health, Personal Blog

    What Are The Benefits of Magnesium For Women?

    The Top Benefits of Magnesium For Women.

    If you are researching magnesium and wondering about the health benefits of magnesium for women, look no further. In this blog post I will cover why I feel EVERYONE should be supplementing with magnesium (I have been for close to a decade now) and why the benefits of magnesium for women are so great, they cannot be ignored and shouldn’t be ignored. When you consider all of the benefits of magnesium for women it makes you wonder why it is not a more well known THING to be supplementing with this power-mineral. Well, let’s do our best to spread the word shall we? And for now, let’s dive right in to to why there are so many health benefits found in magnesium; what gives anyway? 

    Magnesium Supplement Benefits: Too Many to Count. Start Now!

    Disclosure: Today’s post is sponsored by our friends at Healthy Origins. Does this packaging look familiar to you? Probably because you’ve seen me show their products on my social media for the past year or more– I’ve been a customer for a long time buying their fiber and L-Glutamine and now we are partnering to help educate you all on other supplements. Like magnesium. They’ve been generous enough to give you readers a coupon code: use “kellyolexa” to get 25% off at HealthyOrigins.com for a limited time. You’re welcome. 

    How I Learned About The Benefits of Magnesium For Women

    I first learned about the benefits of magnesium for women from my first functional medicine doctor. He had me start taking magnesium before bed every night to encourage better sleep — and boy did it. Magnesium is definitely something that is going to help with relaxation and sleep, in fact, I recall when my company FitFluential was running a campaign for GNC, they had a product, a sports nutrition product that had a night-time  post-workout drink and it made me super sleepy and relaxed. Guess what the main ingredient was? Magnesium. ;-0 Fast forward to when I started getting migraines and went to see a neurologist, one of the supplements she insisted I take every day was MAGNESIUM– she upped my dose to 500 mg a day. It is something I swear by. When I started doing more research into magnesium, because I had heard about it being this “miracle mineral”, I was astonished to discover that it really is…..

    What I came to understand is that (this is my summary) we are all essentially deficient in magnesium due to soil changes over time and the way we consume our food. We aren’t getting the nutrients we used to from the soil and food and are deficient.  According to Medical News Today, “Magnesium is an important mineral, playing a role in over 300 enzyme reactions in the human body. Its many functions include helping with muscle and nerve function, regulating blood pressure, and supporting the immune system.”  DANG. 

    I had ordered the book, The Magnesium Miracle by Dr. Carolyn Dean and started reading it, and I kid you not, it’s like my jaw kept dropping. The more you learn about magnesium the more you are like WHOA THIS STUFF IS CLOSE TO MIRACULOUS. Why isn’t everyone using it?? 

    Now this is my personal opinion and observation. But ladies if you are like me and leading a high stress super busy life, you are likely dealing with a lot of anxiety and stress. This is where Magnesium can really help you as well. Magnesium is known to help with anxiety, even depression. It is insanely relaxing, whether taken in pill form, as a drink or topically. I urge you to start utilizing this regularly if you’ve ever been told – like me– that you are “wound tight” LOL 😉

    Magnesium Helps Insulin Resistance

    magnesium types and uses

    Even more relevant for me now is that magnesium helps insulin resistance which is a PRIMARY FOCUS for me in my life. Something else you should know– you can also get liquid magnesium and do a foot bath– magnesium is that powerful for CALMING you down and easing anxiety. Try it sometime. Magnesium helps with cardiovascular health, bone health, easing anxiety, helping with sleep, preventing migraines, improving PMS…..I think the only thing it doesn’t do is pay your mortgage for you!! 😉 For reals though…..this is something I’ve talked about for YEARS: people….if there is one supplement we all should be taking — it’s this one. Hop on over to Healthy Origins.com, use my code and start taking Magnesium today. You’ll thank me later I promise.