“Just as food is needed for the body, love is needed for the Soul.”  Osho

Happy Valentine’s Day! Seriously, this holiday is a blessing in the middle of the winter. It floods our stark winter world with hearts, color and chocolate. Yum!

I love any reason to eat rich, dark chocolate or get roses (Husband – you reading this?). This mid-winter celebration offers much more than a reflection on the romantic loves, or lack of them, in our lives though. The core of all health begins with the love we have for ourselves. Honestly, it sounds cliché, but its true.

Relationships can drastically affect our health. They are a primary food that can nourish our health or bring it out of balance. Relationships with partners, co-workers, friends and family can influence how we feel, our stress, happiness, and motivation. They can effect our eating patterns and the choices we make in regards to our personal vision.

The most primary relationship is, of course, the one we have with ourselves. And nothing effects how we eat more than our mindset.  Do you prioritize your day for someone you don’t value, respect or love? Didn’t think so.

Do you prioritize the time to shop, cook, plan and eat? Do you choose foods that support your love for yourself, and not just your love for that food?  Does your relationship with food leave you satisfied and happy?  Or guilty and shameful? Are you energized and vibrant, or do you cycle through feast and famine? How functional is your relationship with food?

Lot’s of people think that eating healthy and consciously is hard and full of deprivation and bleak, yucky foods. Who wants that? I’m all for eating what we love (see chocolate comments above). I’m all for being healthy and fit. And I’ve come to love the clean, flavorful, real food that energizes and connects me to my vibrant self. I want that for you too. The biggest shift I have had in my own health was when I realized that I could eat without guilt, fear or shame. Honestly, the thought had never occurred to me until I saw speaker David Wolfe during my training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

What are you thinking about after you eat?

This Valentine’s Day make a vow to nourish yourself, care for yourself and share the gift of a healthy and vibrant you with the world. Share the love and reap the happiness in the coming year.

Start today. Buy yourself some flowers. Give a gift to a teacher, friend or lover. Enjoy the chocolate. Celebrate your wonderful self.

Cydney Smith, founder of www.MompreneurWellness.com, helps entrepreneur women, who are also moms, to leverage the power of healthy eating to fuel their success in life and business. When not writing about healthy eating and living, or coaching successful women, Cydney is usually off adventuring with her 2 daughters (8 and 9). She lives with her husband, girls and pets in southwestern NH. Follow on twitter: @cydneysmith

Coffee is a twisted love affair for me. I find that drinking coffee is thrilling, motivating and delectable. I have many rituals around it: like popping into Prime Roast, my favorite coffee shop. Seeing the folks who work and hang there can be an important part of my day as a mompreneur. I love the spot as much as I love the coffee. They do sell tea; I don’t get it very often though. I prefer certain roasts; right now I’m into Organic Bali Blue Moon (love the image!). I have particular grinding and brewing techniques I use at home (fresh ground and French press please).

The main reason I love coffee? To use Dolly’s words from the song Working 9 to 5, ” Wake up in the morning, stumble to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition, yawn and stretch and try to come alive…” That’s it; I love the sense of ambition, the feeling of coming alive. In my mommy, kid, homemaker, entrepreneur, family cook, community member life what the heck is wrong with that?? I live a healthy life; it’s a priority for me. It’s an awesome full life, and I am very purposeful about the activities I choose, foods I eat and systems I use to maintain it. I often ‘ring the towel dry’ and squeeze a little bit more out of my day.

I don’t always need coffee to feel ambitious; in fact sometimes it starts to cloud my motivation. For the next 2 weeks I am on a food cleanse, and I’ve switched to mostly caffeine free teas, with an occasional green tea or black tea infusion if I feel like it. What I appreciate about this time away from coffee is that I become more aware of how it can become a crutch for me, a way to plow through my daily living, instead of connecting with my true intentions for the life I’m living. It lets me get more done, but I sense I start to ignore the quiet voice inside that may need to rest, or read, or connect with my ‘real’ self. The self that isn’t a clean house, a business minded health counselor building a successful business. It’s the self that isn’t always sure, that likes to read, go for walks, and really live. The self that is open to the muse, the angelic forces, and the coincidences in life.

Without coffee, and while eating a cleansing diet, I shed weight, toxins, and layers of ‘shoulds’ and tasks. I tend to be the do more, ADHD, Pitta, lover of all things new and exciting type. And at times I use coffee to keep that going. I also use coffee to lift myself out of a long day and into a long night of responsibilities. It serves me. Sure there are many other strategies. I’m a health counselor, I know this! Just like all the rest of life, it’s a choice that I enjoy making. I’ve found peace with it. I’ve chosen moderation, and ownership of my choice. I choose it, and I let go of the guilt. Really, it’s just a cup of coffee.

Stepping away, reminds me to build up some other muscles of self-care, because I often see having a coffee as self-care. During the next 2 weeks I let myself sleep, I might not get ‘it’ all done, but I do get just one thing at a time done. Awesome. And I am doing this while launching Mompreneur Wellness, my business, into a bigger field. I want to be connected to myself and the choices I am making. And I found that I was letting coffee induced ‘ambition’ get in the way.

During this time, I wonder, as you might be, will I stay off of coffee forever? It is a positive experience being off coffee. But I won’t give it up. I will drink a cup or 2 here and there; I’ll try to control its hold on me. And when I feel that slipping, when I get to the place where I can feel it depleting me, aggravating me, I’ll step away again. I’m Ok with a vice; in this crazy world of momness I’ll take a cup of ambition when I can get it.

Cydney Smith, MompreneurWellness.com. Holiday special “Total Wellness Breakthrough for Entrepreneur Moms” free (reg. $87) now through Dec. 15, 2009. Email cydney@mompreneurwellness.com for more info. Twitter.com/cydneysmith, FB fan page: www.tinyurl.com/mompreneuerwellness

Thanks for checking out the Mompreneur Wellness Blog.

I’m committed to living an authentic life and to me that means nourishing myself with high quality foods and activities. I know that total wellness allows for an abundance of energy, clarity and inspiration that allows me to consciously create a life I love. I want this for you too!

I’ve created conscious rhythms in my life that allow me to raise my children and have a meaningful career. I won’t say it’s seamless, I’m not sure about the concept of balance, but I know I wanted to enjoy raising a family. For me creating businesses and having kids has gone hand-in-hand.

As an entrepreneur and a mother I have made a choice to live my best life. I do this with awareness and humor. I’ll be sharing with you my knowledge about nutrition and wellness, mostly through the lens of my own authentic life, not as model life (please!), but to invite you to witness my choices and inspire you to make your own. I know first hand that eating well and raising a family, a business (and having a life outside of both) can be another place mothers can grab a guilt trip ticket. Well, here’s your pass! Follow the Mompreneur Wellness Blog – it’s fun, it’s messy and it’s full of organic, whole grain foods. What you won’t find here are “shoulds” (Ok maybe a few, I am known to have an opinion), but I abhor rules – particularly ones related to how I nourish my life and myself.

I do benefit from structure though and this is what you can expect from my blog:

Menu Plan Monday - I will post a mompreneur friendly menu weekly with recipe links. Started by orgjunkie.com.

Tuesday Tips and Techniques – All things related to total wellness for the entrepreneur mom

Wordless Wednesday – Photos of Mompreneurs in action. Checkout this image of Tina Fey, the Mompreneur: <http://lifehacker.com/304441/tina-fey-organizes-with-post+its> Email your photo for Wordless Wed. to cydney@mompreneurwellness.com

Thursday Reviews/Interviews – I’ll review favorite and interesting products, foods, books and things related to total wellness for mompreneurs. Occasional interviews with a Mompreneur regarding her philosophy of total wellness and authentic living.

Primary Food Fridays – Topics related to the non-food ways we feed and nourish ourselves: relationships, career, exercise, hobbies, everyday moments…

Hope to “meet” you soon, and thanks for checking out the Mompreneur Wellness Blog,

Cydney Smith, The Mompreneur’s Wellness Coach