Glowing Essence Love

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

IT’S TIME TO HEAL

It seems that when I most feel broken and down that’s when God makes me reflect on who he is and his power. There are so many tragedy’s going on in the world today. More and more each day I see how when we don’t have JESUS we self-destruct and not only OURSELVES but we DESTROY OTHERS. When we hurt our human natured tendency is to make others feel the same pain we feel. How many precious souls have we destroyed? how many people around us are hurting? Is it your neighbor, your co-worker, that person sitting or standing next to you on the train, is it the car next to you at the stop light, is it you? The closer you get to God the more you are healed. The further away the more self-destruct. John 10:10 is truer than ever – The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. What are you letting the thief steal, kill and destroy that is yours???? Why are you letting the enemy destroy you, your family, your friends, your talent? Will you fight back or are you going to stand there and let him take what’s rightfully yours???

Why do you run from the one that wants to help you win this “raging war” within yourself and those around you? Why do we run from Jesus?

So many people are seeking “spirituality” through different means: yoga, Buddha, the universal but they never look in the one true place that their souls are thirsting for…in JESUS. He is the way the truth and the life! Yet we continue to run from him, run from his love, run from his guidance, run from his healing, run from his salvation. Why do we run from HIM that wants nothing more than to love, heal and give us life? Why do we go after other gods instead of the one true almighty GOD? We can spend a lifetime searching for another alternative to “fill us up” and give us “peace” inside and never find it unless it’s through HIM. Open your eyes and heart! Salvation, healing, love, faith and hope are waiting for you in Jesus. It’s time to let go of all the pain and come to him....Oh how he loves us. <3

XOXO,

Ruthy

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Confessions of a Gluten free blogger

Hi Lovelies,

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on my blog. But today I felt compelled to do so. Nonetheless about my personal health related problems. As you may or may have not read a few post below I was diagnosed with gastritis a few months ago and changed my diet which was composed of mostly fruits and vegetables. This holistic approach healed my stomach and aided me in weight loss which I was able to maintain for several months. However, once the holidays came around I started dabbling in “past” binging and eating habits. Because of this I gained 12 pounds and got a really bad acne/rash all over my face. At first I thought the acne/rash was from a new moisturizer I was using and when I switched that and it didn’t go away I was stunned. I began to eat more fruits and vegetables as I was doing in the past and was even more surprised when my acne/rash didn’t get any better. In the mornings I was eating oatmeal and at lunch ramen noodle soups. My face just kept getting worse and worse. My body was also swollen and bloated even though I was only eating half of what I was used to. My acne/rash began to get bigger, hurt (burning sensation) and get itchy. I was desperate, so I did some research on food, digestion and acne/rash before getting medical advice. What I found out is that if you have problems digesting gluten and you consume it your body will have an allergic reaction in different ways, one of them being this acne/rash that I was having.

After this I tested out this theory for my acne/rash and went gluten free for a week, which meant no cake, no bread and definitely no oatmeal. I was pleasantly and surprisingly stunned. After the 5 day my face started clearing up. Can you imagine the shock I felt when I discovered that I had celiac disease and could not eat anything with gluten in it and that I was able to self-diagnose this myself through a little research and testing? I was like “what?!” “No way!” Not because I love eating bread but because I do love a nice warm bowl of gluten filled oatmeal in the morning or the occasional slice of cake. I am no longer able to dabble in these treats even thought I know there are gluten-free alternatives out there. I will say it did feel good to know that I was in harmony with my body and able to help myself.

Now some of you might say how can you self-diagnose yourself and declare that you have celiac disease without getting a professional medical opinion? You’re not a Doctor! To that I say here is how: first of all I know my body and pay attention to it. When something doesn’t feel right I start researching and investigating until I find out exactly what it is. I will give you two examples. First example: When I had gallbladder stones I had a chronic pain on the right side of my mid-lower abdomen. It was usually right after eating greasy food. I would also get nauseas and a bunch of other symptoms that were associated with this. When I could no longer take the pain I went to the Doctor (who wanted to waste my time getting blood test and labs etc.) and I had to tell him that I believed that I had gallbladder stones. I was so aggressive about it that they finally did a CAT scan and did in fact find and diagnose me with gallbladder stones and my gallbladder was removed a few weeks later. Second example was when I had gastritis. I was also able to diagnosis this before getting a professional medical confirmation. I researched all the symptoms and when I finally went to get checked they confirmed what I had already self-diagnosed.

Please do not get me wrong I believe in going to the Doctor and getting yourself checked out and properly treated. What I am saying is that if we really wanted to we can diagnose our symptoms with the right research (I like a more holistic approach) and then have a Doctor confirm or not confirm our diagnoses. I believe I helped my Doctors and myself out because I took out the guess work for them. I was a prepared and educated patient and that my friend saved me a lot of time (and money) running test and labs trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Besides I only get one body. I feel it is my duty to take care of it as best as I possibly can and that includes personal medical research.

Back to my self-diagnoses, again I was still shocked that I had celiac disease and that my body was responding beautifully to being gluten free. I of course had to re-test the theory (I can be a little stubborn) and so the following week I ate eat some gluten filled cookies, small portions of bread, cereal and oatmeal. I quickly discovered that after a few hours of eating these things 1. I had ridiculous stomach pain 2. I was nauseous, bloated and 3. My acne/rash started coming back!

I have now been officially gluten free for about 6 weeks and my face has cleared up completely. The rash has gone away and my skin is even staring to glow again! I no longer have these horrible stomach pangs or feel bloated after I eat. For more information on Celiac disease please visit their website http://celiac.org/ or speak with your Doctor.

Thanks for reading and being part of my life journey.

Be blessed and inspired,

Ruthy

Xoxo

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Sweater Love

Hi Lovelies!

Today’s post is about my current obsession with graphic sweaters. I love this new trend on sweaters because not only will they keep you warm in the cold days ahead but you will look super cute. I have seen them over the place and I have to say this is a must-have for fall. There are so many options for styling them, pencil skirts, maxi skirts, pleated skirts, printed skirts, skater skirts, midi skirts, etc….. My personal favorites are sweaters with animals, cool landscapes, camouflage, Aztec and heart prints. Actually, you could say I love them all! The best part is that most of these sweaters are really inexpensive. Both Old Navy and Forever 21 have great selections of graphic sweaters at amazing price points.

What’s your favorite sweater trend?

Sweater Love by ruthydelvalle featuring beach shirts

A Wear sweater
$56 - awear.com

ONLY blue jumper
$51 - newlook.com

Forever 21 graphic sweater
forever21.com

Mary Katrantzou metallic silver shirt
net-a-porter.com

Forever 21 sweater
forever21.com

Topshop aztec design shirt
topshop.com

Old Navy pink crew neck sweater
oldnavy.gap.com

Wildfox Couture beach shirt
$215 - jades24.com

Gray shirt
$16 - thehut.com

Sweater
$29 - fashionunion.com

Billabong sweater
swell.com

Old Navy graphic crewneck sweater
oldnavy.gap.com

Thursday, August 22, 2013

30-day Challenge

30-day Challenge

Hello Lovelies!

Today’s post is a personal one and about a challenge that I made to myself. All my life I have been overweight and have struggled with this. However, in the past 12 months, since having my second child, I decided to educate myself because all this diet fads were not working for me. I was even working out but still didn’t lose weight because you can’t outwork a bad diet. So for the past several months I have changed my diet to mostly plant based foods, because of this I lost 48lbs.

I am so proud of this accomplishment because it was not through diet pills or a diet fad but through consistent clean eating and making right food choices every day.

Nonetheless, I hit a Plateau and needed to refresh my eating habits since I was starting to pick up old habits again. This is where the 30-day challenge comes in. I realized that I wasn’t pushing myself hard enough and I wasn’t acting like I wanted “it” bad enough. I gave myself a pep talk and decided to cleanse and purge myself for good from all the bad food habits I carried around for the last 33 years of my life. I challenged myself to eat and drink only fruits and vegetables for 30 days, be it in form of a smoothie, juice, cooked or raw fruit and vegetable. This was all I was going to allow my body to ingest.

Below is a little of how the past 4 days have been for me since the challenge began.

Day 1 – I felt good and strong. I made a mental and physical choice to push myself to new weight loss heights and transform my body and mind for good.

Day 2 – I felt exhausted and woke up super hungry even though I was drinking my juices and smoothies. I had a massive headache (body purging itself of all the additives and junk). I caved in around 3pm and had 2 coconut and almond KIND bars. Later on that night I had 2 bites of my husband’s pizza.

Day 3 – I woke up feeling strong again and not so hungry. I realized my mistake on day 2. I needed to ingest more WATER. I filled up on plenty of water and felt pretty full for the better part of the day. That is until I got home and my husband cooked white rice (he makes it so good!). I had a few bites of that and a Chobain yogurt with chocolate and almonds. I felt guilty but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

Day 4 – I dusted myself off from last night’s “binge” and woke up feeling strong and determined to keep going. I also looked in the mirror and absolutely loved what I saw – Glowing skin, flatter tummy and tons of energy. I had to get over my mental and physical (hunger pangs) hurdle and keep pressing forward.

The point of this is to show you that even though you fall off a day or two, KEEP GOING! Never give up! There is no progress without struggle. It has NOT been easy and very intense at times. I am constantly trying to renew my mind, I get lots of cravings but instead of reaching out to grab some potato chips or a chocolate bar, I grab a banana or a plum or apple. It’s all about choices. I hope this honest account of how my challenge has been going thus far inspires/motivates you to push yourself. It is never too late to start new healthy eating habits.

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe,^[a] all things are possible to him who believes.” Mark 9:23

~Ruthy Xxx's

Friday, August 16, 2013

Vintage Tones

Vintage Tones

There was a big meeting at the office the other day and I knew that I was going to be moving around a lot. Therefore I wanted to wear something that was sophisticated yet had movement. I was quickly drawn to this red & white polka dot skirt because of its A-Line form (without being too flared) and flowy texture. Since I had just gotten back from vacation and was still “bloated” I wanted to wear a shirt that was fitted yet flattered my mid-section. This white cotton peplum top did just the trick. The front ruching and stitching detail worked wonders for me.

Once paired together it had a 1950’s vintage feel and was very flattering. I added red kitten heels just to keep the look simple and classy.

What’s your favorite vintage look?

Be Blessed and Inspired,

Ruthy, Xxx’s

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Tribal Flare

Today’s look is all about styling a print (in this case a tribal Aztec shirt) 3 different ways.

1. The first look was styled by itself for a simple yet effortless chic look. You can pair it with a jean skirt like I did or a nice black or Khaki pencil skirt.

2. For the second look I added a Neon Yellow blazer to give this print a pop of color. I feel that this solid print gives it a sophisticated polished look to an otherwise casual outfit.

3. The third look is traditional meets modern. I added a Houndstooth blazer (a very traditional fall print) to have a mixed print effect without going overboard. What ties this look together is that the black print pulls from each other. This is a bold look and may not be everyone’s cup of tea, so if you’re going to wear this look wear it with confidence.

I hope these 3 style ideas have helped you – Simple, Pop & Bold! Also, if you’re looking for staple pieces in your wardrobe, blazers are a must have as they add flavor, color and sophistication to any look and can be used all year round.