I Almost Died on Saturday! :(

Accidents happen!

My beautiful car is not so beautiful any longer.

It had been 20 years since I had an accident. Twenty long years since feeling scared out of my mind! Saturday evening, I was on my way to dog beach with my rescue dog Rodger when traffic stopped suddenly on the highway. I stopped however not in time. Five minutes later I found myself petrified, on the side of the road holding Rodger in my arms. My nose was bleeding heavily and both Rodger and I were shaking. The gentleman I hit also had rescue dogs in the car. He was a kind man. His car had little damage. My car however was totaled. We were both SO grateful our dogs were all ok! Life is so short. I watched mine flash before my very eyes. I think the worst part about the situation is that I had no one to turn to in my time of need. That is when we must look up, have faith and know that everything will be ok. My insurance covered the gentleman’s car however not my car. This was a lesson to me to never allow certain aspects of my dealings to be handles by others. It is now my responsibility to face a Mercedes that I paid cash for being a total loss. I am forced to remember that EVERYTHING happens for a reason! EVERYTHING! The beautiful news is that although my airbag FAILED to deploy, I was wearing my seatbelt and had also just picked up a carseat for little Rodger! The officer said it could have been MUCH worse! I agreed with him and as Rodger sat on my lap in a dirty AAA tow truck, I felt full of peace that everything was going to be BETTER than OK!

Whatever you are going through…Someone has it worse!

Today I surrendered into the fact that I cannot “fix” the world! In fact, at times I cannot fix my own problems. I’m going through a lot of heaviness lately and I am proud to say that after struggling with an eating disorder over a decade ago, I am not allowing that heaviness to be placed upon my plate! I’m dealing with things as they come and allowing people who have “shown up” for me in the past to show up again. I’m also opening the doors for new people to lighten the load by being there for me in ways I never knew (or cared to admit) that I need. One thing I learned today is that someone always has it worse than we do! Always! So we may as well face our troubles head on rather than hiding from them. Hiding makes anthills into mountains! Facing situations that we really want to run from creates a sense of inner strength that cannot be found anywhere else. Go face your fear and watch as unexpected hands and the grace of God lift you up to places you thought were impossible!
Namaste 

Rodger wanted me to let y’all know that we are healing and relaxing as we put out small fires one by one! I made a divine pineapple smoothie and he is just “chill~axin” with sweet little Louis! Lets all be thankful as we go through our day to day lives! Another day to live and to breathe!

Pineapple Smoothie on next blog post! 

7 Tips to improve the quality of your life!

 

Hi there:) I wanted to share with you a little about my story. My journey to health and happiness began out of necessity. At the time, I couldn’t walk into a Barns~N~ Noble without seeing myself on the cover of a health or fitness magazine. The pressure was high to maintain two totally different figures depending on the type of magazine I was shooting for.

In fitness, they liked you tan and toned. In the more glamour type magazines it was pale and a little plump. I developed a terrible eating disorder called bulimia and although I didn’t realize it at the time, it turned out to be a HUGE blessing!

In the midst of my disease I found myself alone at my mothers home in Ohio one night at 2am with my head in a toilet bowl. It was Valentines day and I had just ended a ten year relationship. I had been there (hovering over the toilet) for over three hours vomiting after a HUGE binge! I had drank a syrup that hospitals use to induce vomiting and it had back fired on me to the point of me blacking out. That was my rock bottom! I swore that night that I would NEVER make myself sick again!

Fast forward to today! I’m healthy, happy, have better skin than when I was twenty and I’m living out my passion helping others reach their goals in both fitness and cellular health! I’m sharing this with you because I want you to know that no matter where you are in life God has a plan for you! One thing is for sure however, the quality of your life is EXTREMELY important! In order to achieve a better quality of life you must develop the following seven healthy habits!

Andrea Cox today:) Happy and healthy!

1) Crush the toxic conversation in your head that is saying “I’m not good enough” or “I’m broke” or I’ll never get in shape! Look if you don’t believe and love yourself where you are at right now then who will? Become your biggest cheerleader!

2) Ditch the negative people and toxic abusive relationships in your life now! How do you expect to move forward with your goals hopes and dreams? I realize that this is sometimes very hard to do especially with family or close friends. Maybe down the line the relationship can be rekindled but right now its just not a good fit.

3) Keep a schedule when it comes to eating sleeping and fitness! Have you ever seen a baby when it gets off schedule? They cry or throw a tantrum! Guess what~ we never really grew up! We too need schedules! Try to keep a journal of mindfulness when it comes to procrastination and time wasting! Keep a food journal to prevent mindless snacking. Before long you will notice your goals begin to take shape!

4) Do what you love for a living! Easier said than done, right? Sure, the nay-sayers you just cut out in tip #2 may think so but who’s to say you don’t THRIVE when you step away from the tribe! Is it true that what you are doing is for you because you went to school for it 1000 years ago? Certainly not! Maybe you’re caught up in the 9-5 rat race that has you feeling stressed or stuck? Journal and feel your way through this~ask the important questions and find the truth!

5) Workout daily! Yes~DAILY! If you think you have all the time in the world to get your body in the shape you want, think again! I like to always remind people that it’s not how long you live, it’s the QUALITY of the life you are living NOW that matters!

Alright I know what you’re saying. I don’t have the time and what about a day of rest. Nonsense! Your lymphatic system gets sluggish on its own! Besides the better you feel about yourself the more confident and better you are to this World! Ahhh I feel the endorphin rush coming on now!

6) Get adequate sleep! Try to go to bed at the same reasonable hour each night. Use things like Lavender essential oil or stress away by Young Living oils to ease away daily tension! Keep a journal of gratitude next to your bed. At the end of the day write just 5 things that you are grateful for. Make sure you turn down the lights about 2 hours prior to bed so your melatonin balance isn’t disrupted.

7) Keep your food simple! You know how you feel after you’ve visited your family at Thanksgiving? That bloated lethargic I’ve eaten enough for 17 people feeling? Whats that for anyway? Why would you eat that way in everyday life? The salad pictured below is coming out in my new book “Sexy on Salads”! Although it only has 7 ingredients, its delicious and filling! I even had room for a vegan cookie after! Its about quality remember! I want you to care about the food that comes into your body! 

Andrea’s Confetti salad from her new book “Sexy on Salads”!

I really want you to achieve all of your goals both in your personal and professional life! What I want for you more than anything is for you to be able to actually ENJOY them!

It’s about being able to walk up and down stairs without heavy breathing. It’s about playing ball with your children without having to sit down and take a break! It’s about dancing all night long with your husband without feeling tired. Your life is happening NOW! If you went tomorrow could you honestly say you lived your life to the absolute fullest? If you said no and if it has anything to do with excess weight or toxicity holding you back then today is the day to start fresh!

To feel healthy on a cellular level is to experience life, people and places like a child!

I love you~you’re welcome!

 

 

Andrea L Cox is the owner of http://www.thehealthyhaven.net & http://www.alkalizewithandrea.com She is a fitness model turned health coach who has written two books on the raw vegan healthy lifestyle and detoxification! Andrea has appeared on numerous news stations TV shows and magazine publications. She runs yoga juice cleanse retreats both in San Diego and Mexico! Her You Tube channel is approaching close to 2Million views. Her website for retreats is http://www.alkalizewithandrea.com Her other programs may be found at http://www.thehealthyhaven.net

 

 

 

 

If you are reading this and know someone that can potentially benefit from this, please SHARE this! They will be thankful and so will I!:)

This is Why I Do What I Do…

Sunday evening I had a bit of an accident. You see, I had just sat down to enjoy a beautiful healthy meal and bit into a shell from a pomegranate seed and BAM! I chipped a tooth. Being a former “shallow, looks-oriented queen” (in the past) I immediately ran to a mirror and to my horror my tooth was indeed chipped. I did what anyone would do, I phoned my dentist immediately.

While on the phone with my dentist I noticed an email alert come in via Facebook. It was from a man named Eric Abernathy. The email said the following:

“I really enjoy seeing your photographs when you are smiling and looking all happy. It is hard for me to remember what it was like to feel that happy. 10 years ago a man fell off of a roof and landed on my head as I stood unaware on the ground below. It broke my neck and left me with paralysis and constant pain throughout my entire body. 

At first the doctors told me I would never walk again but I have fought and pressed through and can now walk some again 10 years later. I have tried “and will continue to try” anything that will help me get better and out of this bad pain. 

I am fully aware of the raw food movement, herbs, fruitarianism, meditation and exercise etc. for healing spinal cord injuries and severe nerve damage. I enjoy your videos and outlook on life. Have you heard of anything “natural” that can help heal the spinal cord and the nerves? Or have you ever encountered other folks with spinal cord injuries? Thank you for your time and what you are doing. ” 

His email did not bring tears to my eyes. It brought clarity to my mind. What’s really important in life? My silly tooth? My perfect million dollar smile? Or our relationships with others here on Earth in this short time we have.

In that very moment and several moments leading up to this one, I’ve noticed myself over and over again gaining a certain “mental clarity” in what’s really important in life. What’s important to me in this moment is being 100% true and authentic! That’s right, being my true authentic self. I choose not to put up a facade. I choose to head out every morning bare faced and sometimes bare foot, exploring this beautiful thing that we call life!

Now, I pose this question to you, what do you choose? What do you want your life to boil down to when you take your final breath?

When I visit my local farmers markets every week, everyone knows me, they all smile and greet me and this makes me feel happy. When I walk into my yoga studio, I’m greeted with hugs, and this makes me feel grateful for my yoga family. After returning home at the end of the day my little “husband with fur” Louis comes running to give me puppy kisses, and this makes me feel joy from his loyalty and unwavering love.

These are the same feelings I want with everyone I encounter in this lifetime and so should you. I know the importance of feeling our absolute best in order to invite these same positive encounters and  situations into our everyday life experiences. It is imperative that we feel great in order to attract great things! This is “why I do what I do”. This is why I have pulled together all my knowledge, all of my years of expertise and experiences & combined it with my recipes, detoxification protocols and audio programs as well as my books & combined them into one membership section of my website for you. Now you can live the healthy vibrant lifestyle you’ve always wanted!

All of this is inside of my new “Digital Detox” cleanse & membership site. Check it out! >>

Whether you are looking for an easy way to transition onto the Raw Lifestyle or looking to find your path to being your true authentic self, I look forward to being by your side! I’m so excited to hold your hand through this process of transformation in your life!  I cannot wait to meet you on the inside!

Be Well, 

Andrea Cox

In Life There Are No Mistakes.

In life there are no mistakes. For me, this is a radical idea.  I have spent so much of my time avoiding mistakes.  I’ve gone to great lengths to avoid mistakes with my choice of foods, exercise program and personal relationships (usually with avoidance of them all together).  I even try to avoid mistakes in my writing.  All this mistake-free living can leave us clinging to perfection – gripping life like it’s a dangling rope out of a building that’s on fire.

 

What I’ve learned however, through my cleansing lifestyle is that by letting things fall apart, life might just get deeper and even more beautiful. Lets explore this a little deeper. When I was in grade school, I had a creative writing class and the teacher once called my mom in to talk about my beautiful writings. She actually had me share my writings that she put into book form for my mom with the entire fifth grade class. My mother was very proud of me, however all I could think about was the teacher down the hall that nagged me for my terrible spelling (that is still terrible to this day). I remember my creative writing teacher saying “Andrea, mistakes can end up being the most beautiful thing in the world, it’s the only way you can get to some place you’ve never been before”.

 

I have to say that my attitude on “playing it safe” has completely changed over the past 5 years and even more so during the past year. Being scared to make mistakes and playing it safe is dull.  Playing with feeling and moving in a heart-centered direction instead of an “ego-centered” direction is always better. I would much rather live an exciting life on the edge, taking chances while making mistakes!

 

So here we go with a few tips! From one former ego-centered scared little girl to you!

 

Step 1 – Stop being a Perfectionist

As you move through each day, notice when your inner perfectionist arises – that part of you that works so hard to make no mistakes.   Your body is a great indicator.  Notice when tension arises.  Does your back tense up?  Do you get headaches?  Does your neck hurt?  Physical tension tends to mirror an inner state of resistance.  It indicates that in work, in relationships, or in life, you’re trying to hold everything together or trying to avoid mistakes at all cost.

 

Step 2 – Let it all Fall Apart 

For me, the spiritual and philosophical act of letting things fall apart is one hundred times more difficult.  Climbing mountains or what I like to call “moving mountains” requires strength and courage.  Letting go of perfection and allowing mistakes to arise in work, relationships, and with our physical bodies requires a deeper courage.  It requires the ability to jump head first into this thing we call “life”!

 

This may sound scary to you at first. What if by letting go and opening to mistakes, you lose your job, your marriage, or your life?

What we learn from this lesson is that the opposite might be just as, if not more, true.  As a fitness model, I would get my body in what I thought and several others at the time was “PEAK physical condition” only to be binging on ice cream and gaining 10lbs when I was not modeling (my off season). This went on for years. I would feel terrible about myself in the off season, often hibernating from friends and family like a bear. What I didn’t realize at the time was that this “hibernation period” opened up a new and unexpected field of possibilities.

 

Step 3 – Realize that others are allowed to make mistakes too and that no one is perfect.

OK, this one is a tough one but it is so very important to love, be hurt, and then to find forgiveness. Without forgiveness of others and their mistakes, we never move forward in our own lives.

 

Step 4 – Check in with yourself!

As you go through the week, ask yourself:  Is it possible that by allowing mistakes into my life that I may grow deeper as a person? Keep checking in with yourself and pretty soon it will become evident where in life, love and forgiveness you need to let go and allow yourself to just “be”.

I hope the above tips have helped you in one way or another. I am here to help you achieve your goals, hopes and dreams in your journey. To learn more click the link below, I can’t wait to hear from you.

Be well, 

 

Andrea L Cox

www.thehealthyhaven.net

www.andreacox.com