I was born & raised the first 25 years of my life in South San Francisco. Yes, South San Francisco is not in San Francisco, it is south of it. I used to say I do everything in San Francisco except sleep, but now I am official resident of one of the most fabulous cities in the world.
I started dancing when I was 3 and trained heavily in tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical (my fav!), hip hop, Afro-hatian, modern and character dance all through my grown up years. By the time I was in high school I was choreographing my own competitions - some even against my teachers - and teaching for my peers. My life and world revolved around music & dance to the extent that I could never see my reality outside of it. The happiest moments of my life have been seeing a production come together, and having this vision you saw in your head & hoped you could make it real actually become real. It's definitely still at the core of my heart to this day, but life has a way of turning your world upside down, doesn't it?
Fast forward a few years into my 20's and doctors started putting me on pills for anything that was wrong with me. (That's what they were supposed to do, right?) I had struggled with depression since I was in junior high, but I developed an anxiety disorder that felt like it came out of nowhere, and things went pretty downhill after that. Within a few years I was having some major heart issues and was in the ER about a dozen times. I couldn't work, I couldn't dance, I couldn't do anything and I really felt like I lost everything I had in life at that point. I was getting worse & doctors wanted to put me on more pills & I just wanted it all to stop. I really believed in nutrition and I wanted to try & fix myself naturally. I had studied a bit previously, but by no means was I an expert. Around this time I also lost my home, as being a freelance makeup artist was not enough to make ends meet forever. I'm not sure how I mentally got through all that, but I think that's something I'm learning about myself in time. Something had to change, and in 2012 I began the year-long process of getting myself off prescription medication, and getting myself healthy enough to get out of bed & be active.
From being a hardcore ballerina, I wanted to jump right in to being active once my heart was officially okay to do so in January of 2013. By that I mean I overcame tachycardia (where your heart rate is never below 100bpm) and lowered my blood pressure from 150/100 to 117/78. What did I decide to do? The Insanity home workouts, of course! Well that was obviously not a good idea for someone who's arms would hurt from moving a laptop, but hey, we learn. After a couple of weeks learning how to pace myself, I was getting good progress. I was also consistently tracking my food & nutrients in MyFitnessPal - which I encourage everyone & their mama to use. Food is medicine - that is the truth. I was eating so amazingly right for my body that I felt - and still continue to feel - better than I ever had in my whole life. I have more energy than I did when I was a teenager or in my 20's, and get this - I'm HAPPY! No, I don't have everything in the world or a lot of "things", but I feel actual pure happiness. That is something I never had before. I tried, I wanted it, I faked it a lot, but between good food & vitamins, I now have it.
In a matter of months I decided to finish getting my Personal Fitness Trainer Certification, because I wanted to help people not have to go through the things I went through. I want people to have the right tools & education to help themselves and not feel like a pharmaceutical is the only answer. I want people to be healthy and happy! Of course, I am continuing to further my education in nutrition and looking forward to being all nerdy excited about food.
So here we are - Natural Beauty and Body! Feel good, look great, eat wonderful, exercise awesome, better yourself and your world around you.
This journey is going to be filled with easy healthy recipes, fitness tips, home and gym workouts, nutrition information, beauty info and tutorials, natural remedies and mindful things to be aware of for our planet. We're also going to have fun and feel amazing!
Thank you anyone who took the time to read my first post. I look forward to taking our exciting journey together. :)
Samantha Marie
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