Trials? Conflicts? Worries?

“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.”  Proverbs 21:30 

How completely refreshing are those words?  In a world so divided, it is uplifting to be reminded that God is not ever surprised or faced with unanticipated events.  He is in control.  We can’t really understand that because we are so not in control!  You may think you are, but it is an illusion.  Just as quickly as we believe we have everything in order, something can come at us from a blind spot and send us spinning. 

My life has been filled with many blessings and also many challenges that I would not ever have imagined I would face.  But God knew.  He has faithfully walked me through each day and will continue to…He has promised me that.  As I look back, I can even see ways he prepared the way for me to persevere.  He put people in place I didn’t know I needed and orchestrated experiences that prepared me when I didn’t know I needed to be prepared.  Looking back and seeing God’s hand is so encouraging and such a blessing.  As trials come, I am bolstered by former experiences where His love and strength saw me through.  His plan is perfect.

We will face unexpected trials in our lives.  Sometimes these trials will be a result of our own poor choices, sometimes they are consequences of someone else’s poor choices and we get hit with the waves as they create turbulent waters.  Sometimes we may not be able to explain it at all…life just is not fair.  Thankfully we can rest in God’s love and trust Him.  He is the one stable foundation.  He is the same God today that raised Jesus from the grave and the same power is available to us as we travel along our path.  “…As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  Joshua 1:5 

The awesome truth is that we can apply these words to even miniscule trials…they are still truth.  A trial doesn’t have to pass any certain test of difficulty to qualify, if we are stressed or weary, we can rely on God anytime!  Nerves about final exams…God cares.  Worried about traveling…God cares.  Anxiety about…anything…God cares.  God is awesome and I just wanted to give Him a shout out today!  God…you rock!

“A heart at peace give life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”  Proverbs 14:30

Check in time

Hello all!

So, how are you all doing?  Are you setting goals and meeting them?  Simple, small goals…daily goals…even hourly goals build your confidence and help you make big changes over time.  You can do it, I just want you to “hear” that today…YOU CAN DO IT!

Just as cars need antifreeze, gasoline, and oil and wouldn’t run well if you eliminated even just one important component…our bodies need each component of a healthy diet to stay in good working condition.  Balanced diets matched with portion control will take you a long way on the journey to healthy living.  Lean proteins, complex carbs, healthy fats…our bodies are built to use them all.

Maybe your goals are more emotional or relational.  Remember, healthy living involves many areas of our lives, it is way more than just eating healthfully or getting active.  I have recently  been walking alongside a dear friend who is experiencing crisis in her life.  It has been a good reminder to me that the time to do what is truly important in life is now.  Maybe you don’t know where to begin with a challenging relationship or circumstance.  I don’t pretend to have answers for you, but I can share what has helped me.  I journal.  Writing down my thoughts and emotions often helps me process and gain direction when I feel overwhelmed by emotion or circumstances.  It’s a place where I can be bluntly honest and have no worry of my words hurting anyone else or being misunderstood.  It really is helpful.  If relationships are challenging and you don’t know where to begin, maybe start by writing a letter to the person.  You don’t need to give it to them, you can even burn it or shred it when you are done, but it helps so much to just open up and get honest about feelings and pain and then you are able to move towards forgiveness and freedom.  Holding onto anger and regrets only hurts you.  This stuff is not easy, but it is life-changing.  So many people are held hostage by anger, hurt, and bitterness and it chokes out joy and peace in their lives…so sad.  This kind of emotional pain has physical consequences, our mind, body, and spirit and all connected and influence us whether we try to ignore them or not.

Whoosh, this got kind of heavy there for a minute.  I don’t want to bog you down, I just know from my own life experience that the hard work of emotional healing is worth it.  God can and does transform lives, relationships, and families, He is in the business of restoration.  If you are struggling with your weight and just can’t seem to stop eating or maintain the healthy habits you desire, be brave and look a little deeper, you might be trying to compensate for emotional wounds with food and that is a lose/lose situation.  

It’s coming…

Well, swimsuit time is fast approaching and I think we should talk about it.  I bet if I polled 100 women, one of the top 5 least favorite things to do would be shopping for a swimsuit!  I really don’t think it is completely dependent on if we are a healthy weight either…the lights in the fitting rooms are always bad and the suits are sized all weird, so you leave feeling like you are the strangest shaped human on the planet, who by the way has blotchy, pale, farmer-tanned skin.  Often that makes you head right for the ice cream counter.  Can you relate?  Come on, tell me I’m not alone!

Ok, so it is April and Summer is soon going to be upon us.  How about this year we feel better in our suits, and shorts, and just our skin?  I think that is a splendid plan! Too many summers have gone by not swimming at pool parties, and avoiding having our pictures taken when our family is playing on the beach!  Life is to be lived and if your weight is holding you back, it is time to tell your body who is boss.

In order to make lifestyle changes you just have to start putting one foot in front of the other.  Start by decideing on small changes to start today and then add something new once a week.  Maybe it could go something like this:

Week 1:  Something my niece Krissy started doing that is helping her lose weight is drinking a big glass of water before every meal.  What a great idea!  It fills her stomach up helping her not eat as much and gives her a minute before she sits down to eat to remember what her goals are.  Great plan!

Week 2: Add in doing something active for 30 minutes every day.  This can be a walk after dinner, playing soccer with your kids, chasing a frisbee, lifting weights, doing a work out DVD…whatever.

Week 3:  Now add in eating a balanced breakfast everyday, and making sure you get 5 serving of vegetables a day.  It has been studied (by smart people who study things) and determined that people who eat breakfast actually take in fewer calories throughout the day.

Week 4:  Next it is time to change up the eating plan.  Eat 5 times a day, 3 smaller meals and 2 snacks.  Eating more frequently helps to stabilize your blood sugar and reduces fat storage and bingeing.  Just be sure you are limiting your portions.  Don’t start eating 5 regular-sized meals or you will not be going the way you want to go!

Week 5: Now eliminate one meal out per week.  It is very challenging to make good choices at restaurants these days and the portion sizes are almost always at least double what a normal serving should be.  By eliminating just one meal out, you can save yourself a bunch of calories and start seeing results.

Week 6:  Now that you are used to being more aware of what you are eating, start writing down what goes in your mouth.  This is one way to help eliminate mindless eating.  You might be surprised how often you grab a bite of this or a sample of that…those calories add up and usually you are nabbing higher calorie items too.

You get the drift, just decide what you are adding each week, it is up to you.  Start with something that you can do with just a little bit of change and as you progress, tackle your trouble spots.  Losing weight and making lifestyle changes won’t happen overnight, but if you start today, you can lose weight, feel better, and be healthier by the time the pool towel hits the deck.

Math

I never liked math.  Math is logical and unfeeling.  It is black and white.  I think that is part of the reason I never liked it, it can’t be persuaded to be what I want it to be, I must conform to the rules if I want the right answer.  Weight management is really just math.  So we must strip away the emotional connection to food and view food/calories instead like a bank account…a system of debits and credits.  Is this easy?  No.  But, when we are able to step outside of our unhealthy connections to food, there is sweet relief for our emotional health, our physical bodies, and for our pant seams.

Over the past three weeks, I’ve shed 5 pounds that has been hanging around for over a year.  The difference for me has been to remove the pressure of deadlines and self-imposed ultimatums and accept that I had a math problem.  I decided I wanted to lose eight pounds.  One pound = 3500 calories.  Eight pounds = 28,000 calories.  What does that really mean?  We burn a certain number of calories just being alive.  This is our resting metabolism.  The more muscle we have the higher our resting metabolism.  The more active we are the higher our resting metabolism.  Think of it like a gas tank…a car needs more gas if it is driven than if it sits in the garage.  So, to lose fat/weight it is necessary to increase our metabolism and increase our calorie burn.  Two ways to do that:  we can take in fewer calories and/or we can burn more calories.  Those are the only options.  Knowing that we can understand why it takes a while to lose weight making it easy to get discouraged.  Taking food in = instant gratification.  Burning calories/Limiting intake = long-term benefit but no instant result.  This is why small, daily or even hourly goals are important.

(Warning: elementary craft project ahead)  I created a graph in Excel and labeled each block 500 calories.  I printed a big square with enough blocks to equal 28,000 calories, my goal.  Everyday I keep track of my calories in and calories burned and color is the amount of deficit I created.  (I use my fitness pal) I have figured out my resting metabolism (roughly) by going on self.com (Self Magazine website), they have lots of tools and calculators to figure out how much your current resting metabolism is and stuff, but there are many sites where you can figure it out if you just Goggle it.  My approximate resting burn is 1600 calories/day.  So, if I take in 1300 calories in a day and burn 300 calories in my work-out that day, I have created a difference of 600 calories.  (300 calories not taken in and 300 burned)  So I get to color in 600 calories on my graph.  When I have the entire graph colored in I will be at my goal.  I know that I can go as fast or as slowly as I desire by tweaking my intake and my activity level.  This has always been the case, but somehow it is different to see it on paper.   There is no looming deadline, just blocks to color, knowing that my choices each day determine how fast I color myself to my goal.  As I want to eat during the day I know that if I go over that 1600 calorie mark and don’t exercise then I will actually have to erase some of what I have colored…I don’t want to do that!  With the help of this little visual aid I’ve lost 5 pounds and more importantly, I’m viewing food in a healthy way for what it really is…fuel for my body.

We have a connection to food.  Many of us have unhealthy connections to food and pay the price everyday, emotionally and physically.  Try a new approach and for today, think of food as fuel, or debits and credits.  Changing habits and thought processes surrounding eating is a process and won’t happen overnight, it takes hard work and determination, but it is possible to make healthy choices today and begin walking towards who you desire to be.

A story of freedom

I love chocolate.  I think that chocolate is part of a healthy lifestyle…in moderation of course!  A healthy lifestyle in just that, a lifestyle, a life-long journey.  That means that you shouldn’t expect to make the most optimal food choices everyday, all day long, and you shouldn’t expect yourself to exercise everyday and always get 8 hours of sleep a night.  You shouldn’t expect yourself to always wash your makeup off before bed, and drink enough water and not too much soda…everyday.  And, for me, it just is not realistic that I will never eat chocolate!  Expectations are so important because if your expectation is perfection, you will be disappointed every time.  This makes you much more prone to just throw in the towel and sabotage any healthy inclination you may have started to initiate.

Healthy living involves incorporating things that you enjoy, even foods that don’t top the most nutritious list, into your life so that you don’t feel deprived.  Feelings of deprivation lead to bingeing, whether that involves a 2000 calorie mid-afternoon snack, or a $500 shopping spree, a binge is a binge!  So, what is so bad about a binge?  Well, as a former compulsive binge eater I can explain that for sure.  Bingeing perpetuates a vicious cycle of self-loathing, discouragement, and more bingeing.  You may tell yourself you don’t care, because that is easier than figuring out why you want to eat the entire box of graham crackers, but the fact is you really do care.  So, you eat, then you regret, then you cycle through days of extreme punishment that you may call self-discipline as you decide once again that you will never, ever do that again!  (striving for perfection)  Disappointment becomes depression as you fall into the cycle time and time again.  Usually this leads to withdrawing and hiding emotionally as you believe you are un-loveable.  You believe if anyone knew how you behave, how little control you have over something as “simple” as what goes in your mouth, that they would never accept you.  Well, I have good news!  You don’t have to live there and you are not alone.

My recovery has been a process that has taken the better part of 4 years.  My disordered eating patterns started when I was just 9 years old, but I never realized I had an eating disorder until about 4 years ago.  Turns out I was not just an “emotional eater”.  I am talking about this today because I want to help anyone out there that feels alone and defeated in the struggle with food/weight management/ healthy habits.  There are a lot of avenues for help, counseling, support groups, books, and this blog!  But the true answer is what we celebrate on Easter.

My recovery began when I acknowledged that I didn’t have just an eating problem, I had a spiritual problem.  I have been a Christian since I was 7 years old.  I was raised in a loving, Christian home and my dad was a pastor.  As I grew up, got married, and experienced the struggles that come from just living everyday, I began to grow in my faith and relationship with Christ out of necessity.  As I learned more about Him He showed me more and more about myself and created desires in my heart to overcome barriers in the way of closeness with Him.  It wasn’t that I had to get better so that He would love me, I had to let go of pain and work through barriers so that I could understand how he viewed me, how much He loved me, and be able to focus on His plans for me instead of focusing on myself, what I weighed, and what a horrible disappointment I was.  One of my favorite verses is Psalms 18:19, “He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”  Did you catch that?  He delights in us.  God, creator of the Universe, delights in us, just as we are, knowing us intimately as only a creator would.

God doesn’t want us to lay down our idols because he is afraid he won’t measure up!  He loves us and wants to help us lay down our idols because he understands how destructive they are to us.  They rob us of the abundant life, freedom, and joy that He created us to enjoy.  My eating disorder had to go.  I wanted peace.  I wanted acceptance.  I wanted love.  I wanted to discover the life God had planned for me.  No earthly person can love us and accept us like God.  God sent Jesus to die so that we could experience abundant life in Him!  “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” Roman 4:25

As you celebrate Easter weekend, remember that it isn’t about chocolate or egg hunts, although those are fun and good, but about Jesus making the ultimate sacrifice so that we can have life and victory.  Thank you King Jesus!  As Easter passes, begin to invite God into your day, your thoughts, and talk with him about your idols.  He loves you and is willing and able to give you victory over whatever you are facing.

Sweet Nuts/Trail Mix

I thought I had this one on here, but in the process of compiling a list I realized that I did not, so here it is!  Nuts while they are loaded with fiber, vitamins and minerals, and healthy fats, also contain a lot of calories.  So, add them in to you diet, but plan for them and watch your portions.  I have to be careful with trail mix, because I love it!  You can use snack bags and make 1/4 cup servings so that you don’t have to decide when to stop eating…1/4 cup is approximately 180 calories.  These sweet nuts are so good in spinach salad with fresh strawberries, or combine it all and have an awesome snack for hiking, camping, or out and about on a busy shopping day!

Sweet Nut Trail Mix

Ingredients:

• 5 cups pecans, walnuts, and almonds
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup Splenda
• 2 Tbsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup Craisins
• 1/2 cup peanut M & M’s or chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray
3. combine cinnamon and Splenda and set aside
4. Combine nuts and egg whites and mix until nuts are coated, then sprinkle in Splenda mixture and stir until nuts are all coated
5. Spread nuts in single layer over baking sheet
6. Bake for 30-35 min until no longer moist (I usually turn them over after about 20 min) and then allow to cool completely
7. Combine sweet nuts with other ingredients to make trail mix and divide into serving size bags for easy portion control.

 

 

Recipes

Here is a list of the recipes posted on the site, just for easy reference.  If you click on the Healthy Recipes link on the right side of this page you can then  page through the postings and find the one you are looking for.  Thanks for checking them out…I love making healthy, yummy food and I love for you to make it too!  I’ll be posting more recipes, so stay tuned…

Baked Goods:

• Chocolate Chip Banana Bread/muffins
• Pumpkin muffins
• Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf
• Breakfast Brownies (chocolate zucchini muffins)
• Banana nut muffins
• Cinnamon Sugar Muffins
• Zucchini Muffins

Main Dishes/Misc:

• Sweet and sour pork
• Chicken Tortilla soup
• Bean dip
• Pizza
• Salsa
• Chili
• Black Bean and Corn Salsa
• Pasta with Chicken and vegetables
• Top Snack picks
• Green Tea
• Applesauce

Dessert:

• Mud bars
• Apple cookies
• Brownie bites
• Cherry Cobbler
• PB & J cookies
• Cake
• Ginger Cookies

 

Priorities

Hello all,

March is racing along and Spring is in the air, I love it!  It is a beautiful time to live in Arizona and play outside, I try to be out there as often as possible!  Whether it is sitting in the sun reading, working in the yard, or running, outside is the place for me.  You see, in a few short months it will look so nice outside as I peer through the window…but when I step outside I will feel like my face is going to melt off!  There are a few months that being outside just is not a good plan, so I am enjoying soaking it all in now!

Are you enjoying something about your life right now?  If not, I encourage you to change that pronto!  One habit that makes enjoying your day challenging is a lack of focus.  Our society is addicted to busy schedules it seems, and it is easy to feel worthless if free time on your day planner.  I challenge you to break out of the rat race and pick a few areas of your life to focus on.  As you do that, start to whittle away the extra tasks, appointments, and commitments so that you can put your energy towards what is really important to you.  It is easy to commit to things out of obligation and if you never re-focus, eventually you are living a life filled with the things other people think you should do!

What are your priorities?  What do you want to be sure and accomplish before you leave this world?  If you don’t name it and work towards it then it won’t likely happen!  Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to run a race?  Do you want to earn your degree? Do you want to have family night every week?  Do you want to read all the books by a certain author?  Do you want to take your kids on a hike or to the park once a week?  Do you want to have people over to your house more often?  Do you want to got to church regularly?  The possibilities are endless if you work towards them, but if you are tied up doing too many different things, it is really hard to enjoy the things that are most important.

So, set a goal.  Have a family meeting or a dinner with your spouse and figure out what you really want your life to be about.  Do it this week!  Life can throw you curve balls and you just are not guaranteed anything, so make sure you are doing what you really want to do.  Understand that sometimes this plan will take several years to fulfill, for instance if you want to get a degree and change careers, but it will take longer if you don’t get started! There are bound to be areas you can initiate change in right away to feel like you are moving along on the path you have chosen.  Be intentional and be grateful…you have this day!

Constant Motion

We are in a state of constant motion in our world.  The Earth turns on its axis defining our days.  Nature is in motion.  Birds soaring, insects buzzing, lizards sunning, dolphins playing, and waves constantly lap against the shoreline…24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Our lives are also in constant motion.  We must cope with ever-changing circumstances and emotions that challenge us as we face the day.  Will a sick child throw an unexpected wrench in an over-packed schedule?  Will the flow at work be crazy or boring or somewhere in between?  Will I be able to keep up?  Will I feel as depressed/ or elated/ or angry/ or content today as I did yesterday?  Will gas prices soar so high that my family will struggle to meet our bills?  Will a car accident or a diagnosis swerve this day into an unexpected trench?  We are bombarded by our own choices, choices others make that influence us, and circumstances out of our control that impact our day and create the constant flux we feel in daily life.  It can be unsettling.  Anxiety, depression, obesity, abuse, crime, addictions, and many other destructive patterns are developed if we are not aware of the impact this constant motion has on our behavior.  How do we cope in a healthy way?

The answers are all part of a healthy lifestyle. * Eat a balanced diet.  Eating the right foods (whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and lean proteins) that provide our bodies with the nutrients and energy we need, give us the best stance against uncertainty.  Our immunity is better, we have more energy, and we feel better physically when we eat a balanced diet with the right amount of calories. * Exercise.  Activity provides an excellent way to burn off stress, elevate your mood, and give your brain time to shift into neutral.  The effects of exercise on our minds, bodies, and emotions just can hardly be beat.  If you don’t regularly work out, stop making excuses and get active.  Quick spurts of activity make a difference, you don’t have to have 2 hours or a gym membership!  Get a jump rope and jump rope for a minute prior to each meal…3 minutes…you don’t have 3 minutes?  Get creative, but get active, you can do it and it is worth it! * Focus.  This one is really important.  As the constant motion of life occurs it is easy to begin to just drift.  We can get tossed from one crisis to another and begin to feel overwhelmed, depressed, or hopeless.  As women, especially mothers, when we allow this to happen, we need to understand that the ripple effect impacts our spouses and our children.  Just as Peter started to sink when he lost his focus while walking on the water to see Jesus (Matt. 14: 25 – 32), we start to sink when we lose our focus and get distracted by circumstances, emotions, or to do lists.  We must actively choose to focus on Christ.  He is the one constant.  He never changes.  He is always with us, always available, always loving, and always able.  He does not get overwhelmed or surprised.  He does not run out of resources or energy.  He does not fail.  Jesus is the only foundation that is secure.  He orchestrates the motion of our world with perfect precision and still care about each concern on our hearts.  He is our refuge and our deliverer.

You can’t wait for the motion to stop…it won’t.  What you can do is decide what you will focus on.  I implore the mothers that are reading this to just take this in for a minute.  You are in a unique, God-given position in your household.  You are the helpmate.  Your impact is enormous.  Use the role you hold to empower your spouse and your children by preparing healthy meals and snacks, including exercise in your routine, and modeling in front of them a disciplined focus on Jesus and trust in His word.  When we live that way, the motion is around us, but we are not moved, we can rest is who we are…God’s girls.

Breakfast Burrito

It is so easy to just grab a bowl of cereal in the morning, but cereal is not a well-rounded breakfast.  It packs a high calorie punch and often doesn’t have the protein and fiber to keep you full for very long.  Here is a breakfast burrito that doesn’t take long to make and it will keep you going all the way to lunch.

Breakfast Burrito

Ingredients:

• 1 egg + 2 egg whites
• 1/8 cup reduced fat shredded cheese
• 2 slices Canadian bacon, diced
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced
• spinach
• S & P to taste
• 1 tsp canola oil
• 1 La Tortilla Factory low carb/high fiber tortilla, warmed

Directions:

1. In a small skillet, warm oil and then saute onion and Canadian bacon
2. scramble egg + egg whites in a small bowl and season to taste, add to onion and Canadian bacon in skillet and cook to desired doneness
3. Add in cheese and spinach and fold to wilt spinach and melt cheese, turn off heat
4. warm tortilla in a toaster oven or flat skillet, put egg mixture in tortilla and roll it up

The low down:  250 calories/ 19 carbs/31 protein/12 fiber

You can add other vegetables for virtually no change in calories, so throw them all in there!  Kids will like this too and it starts their day off with a warm, healthy breakfast.  The tortillas I have listed come in a smaller size, and you could divide the eggs between for kids…perfect!  Have a great week, everyone!