Blog

5 Ways to Eat Healthier

Are you looking for simple steps you can do to make your life better, healthier and more productive?

So are we.

We are on a mission to improve our health by improving our diet. It is hard to make sweeping changes. Slowly the deprivation eats away at our willpower and before we know it, old habits have taken over.

The answer is to use simple, straightforward action items that can be implemented easily. Below are five suggestions you can do today:

1. Read food labels. 

This will help you understand what you are putting into your system. Really give yourself a minute to think about the building blocks your body needs. Your body is a machine. Water, protein, minerals, and trace elements will help it run most efficiently; not long chemical sounding ingredients.

2. Cook at home. 

The best way to take control of your diet is to cook at home. You will know every ingredient included. Plus, it’s a lot cheaper to make your favorite foods at home.

3. Eat an apple every day. 

Remember the old adage “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”? Did you ever wonder about the meaning behind it? Apples and other fruits have a lot of natural nutrients, fiber and vitamins. Mix it up with pears, bananas, oranges, grapes, berries; pick your favorite, there are plenty of options to keep you from getting bored. Just serving of fruit a day will build a habit of including natural whole foods in your diet.

4. Eliminate sweet drinks. 

This may be difficult at first, especially if you have a hardcore habit. It also includes no artificial sweeteners. If you make a conscious effort, you will find over the period of a week or so it gets easier. Sweet drinks add empty calories to your diet with no nutrients in return. 

5. Limit meat. 

Start with one or two meals a week without meat. Beans, eggs and nuts are good sources of protein. Meats are harder to digest and can leave you sluggish without realizing why. To compensate for less meat, add more complex carbohydrates and vegetables to your meal.

We have been implementing these steps. Some times life happens and we miss the mark, but each day is an opportunity to choose wisely.

Challenge yourself and your family to implement one of these steps each week over the next five weeks. At the end of the challenge, check in with yourself about how you feel. Do you feel better physically and mentally?

What other action items will you implement? Let us know your plans in the comments. 

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest updates on all things Five Feline Farm. If you are in the Charleston, IL area, stop by our Farm Fresh Mercantile Grand Opening this Saturday, October 7 from 12:00PM to 4:00PM. 

Tribe Conference

This past weekend, we attended Tribe Conference. It’s a conference for writers, artists, creatives and entrepreneurs. The weekend was packed with speakers and information along with a few challenges. As a result, you’ll be seeing some changes in our website, blog posts and communication with our community over the next few months. Our goal is to provide you, our fans and followers, with the best value for the time and money you spend with us.  

  • We identified things we need to implement as Five Feline Farm moves forward.
  • We connected with others who are ahead of us in this process and a few who are behind us. 
  • We learned to invest in ourselves so there is enough available to invest in others. 
  • We made decisions about the business and next steps. 
  • We might break the rules.
  • We will show up every day and do the work.

Stay with us as we put what we have learned into practice and share what we know. It’s going to be exciting. 

One last thing, we learned to identify and address our dork goblins. More about that in a future post. 

If you would like to know more about Tribe Conference or TribeWriters, head to goinswriter.com. You’ll get a ton of information. 

A New Feline Joins the Farm

It was a story to tug the heart strings. Eighty plus cats rescued from a hoarder home in Southern Illinois. Nearing that fateful day when otherwise healthy cats would be euthanized for want of a home. We had just lost our Sassy after 15 years of love to the wasting of kidney disease. She was a special soul and is missed profoundly. In the midst of this grief, we heard the story of the hoarded cats. It was too soon, but the need for homes compelled us to act.

The cats were removed from poor conditions, relinquished by an owner overwhelmed with the responsibilities of a situation that spiraled out of control. We do not blame or judge that person. We are thankful for the opportunity to raise and love the one destined for us. 

I was scared. I had four babies I could barely feed as I was starving myself. First the cage, then a carrier. I did the best I could for my babies, but I could not care for them all. The nice people at my first shelter helped me with them. The dogs barking scared me. Some days the most I could do was cower and shake. I had no idea what would happen to me next. I heard the words, but didn’t understand the meaning.

We really weren’t sure what we wanted other than to provide a home and convinced we would know the right one for us. We held several. Snuggled them, checked their age, gender. Looking for the one who made that special bond.

Tiger Lily was huddled in the back of her cage, passed over by those who wanted a more active or younger or different color. As soon as she came into our arms, she snuggled in, buried her head in the crook of my elbow and purred. Yes, it was a nervous purr, but a purr nonetheless.

The one in the black shirt pulled me out of my cage. She was gentle and held me close. The one in the pink shirt stroked my head and talked softly to me. I liked them instantly but was afraid they would not want me. Maybe I’m not pretty enough. Maybe I’m too old. I tried to purr to let them know I liked them but it came out as a tremble. 

They didn’t put me back! They didn’t put me down. They kept me in their arms, first one then the other. After all the paperwork was signed, we went to the car together for a long ride home. They talked to me and told me I was going to be loved forever. I could hardly believe it. 

On the way home, we had to discuss a new name. We talked to her about the home she was headed to and what she would find there. As we talked and drove, we settled on a name. Tiger Rooney. She gave us a paws up.

It was a long exhausting ride. I was so scared, I pooped in my carrier. I didn’t mean to but it just happened. In my experience, humans don’t deal very well with that. I knew it would be my first test. Black shirt said it smelled bad. Pink shirt said oh the poor baby. They pulled over. Pink shirt picked up the poop in a napkin and threw it out the window. Black shirt petted my head and told me it was ok and it happens sometimes. That was all. Then they drove on to my new home. 

Once home, Abby and Thumper sniffed the carrier to acknowledge the newest member of the household. Unimpressed, they went about their usual activities. For them this means is to curl up in a chair on the porch and take a nap. After a couple of hours snuggling and sitting together, Rooney was settled into a bedroom to become acclimated to her new home. 

 I’m so tired and it is all so scary but I think I could like this home. 

For more stories about Rooney and all the happenings at Five Feline Farm, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and here on the blog.

Take Some Time Off

It’s all going wrong.

Have you ever been in one of those cycles when every thing just seems to go wrong?

We recently battled one of those cycles.

First came unusually heavy rains washing out newly planted garden seeds. Logs ferried down the swollen creek jammed under the bridge we use to take the ATV to the back of the property.

One of the mowers wouldn’t start and a tire on the ATV went flat. Not once, but twice.

The two of us just didn’t have enough hands to hold up the sheets of tin while screwing to the mercantile ceiling. That project came to a halt while we figured out what to do.

It’s hard to stay positive in the face of continued adversity. Hard to remember when we are sore, exhausted and frustrated that we truly are blessed. Hard to recall all the progress we’ve made over the years.

What to do?

How do you cope and break through when nothing is going your way?

We took a day off.

That’s right. Put down the shovel, the hoe and the screwdriver.

Sometimes the best thing to do when nothing seems to be going right is to back off. We’ve learned from experience that continually banging your head against the same old wall does not improve focus and clarity. It only hurts your head.

We came back refreshed with new perspective. It was possible to think through problems and come up with a new solution.

The garden is replanted and thriving. The ATV tire is fixed and the mower starts. There are still logs to remove from the bridge and a few details in the Mercantile to finish.

But it looks better every day.

Stay tuned to all of our social media channels for updates to Five Feline Farm. We are growing daily, while seeking to provide quality products and excellent service.