Well, it's finally over! Football season, that is. Sunday marked that last game for about 6 months. I don't mind watching football so much, but I guess I wasn't born with the "fan gene." You know, I enjoy the athleticism and dedication and discipline it takes to be a gladiator on the field, but I don't really care who wins. Well, I want to win whoever Ricky wants to win - you know - it makes everything happier in my house!
I don't mind the games on t.v. but beginning around late August, the humming of a crowded arena is all I hear in my house all day long on a Saturday game day. It's a tad distracting. Kinda like little bees humming in my head, and I find that I can't really concentrate on anything else. I just don't like that noise!
Made me think about the devil and his distractions. How his whisperings in my ear keep me from staying on purpose. Nothing major, but I keep hearing about my defeats over and over and how it's pointless to try to break old habits and eat healthier. Whisperings. My weight was up a pound. I worked so hard this week. I don't know what I can change. What's the point. Whisperings. Nothing I do works. Might as well eat a bag of Poppycock and quiet the whisperings for a while. At least until tomorrow morning when I get back on the scale. Why do I stay in the vicious cycle? Because it keeps me distracted.
Two passages that just stopped me in my tracks this week.
Ephesians 1:17-19
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Ephesians 1:4-5
Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.
I was made for more than this! I was made for more than being distracted by my failures, my obsessions, my compulsions and the constant inner conflict!
Lord, I want my life to bring you pleasure! I pray that your wisdom, revelation and intervening power be an integral part of my health choices each day. Lord, I know that I was made for more than this! I pray for your indwelling power to walk away from things that are not beneficial to me.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Balancing Act
Matthew 6:25
So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life – whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn’t life consist of more than food and clothing?
Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Psalm 90:12
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Ephesians 5:15-17
Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Ephesians 5:29
No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body, which is the church. (New Living Translation)
After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church. (NIV)
Worrying about what I am going to eat v. planning my meals.
Spending time with my idol (food) v. devoting time to a healthy lifestyle.
Probably one of the hardest things that I have overcome, by the power of Christ, is my lack of organization and planning skills and the effects that lack had on my health.
In our readings for Day 11, Dr. Davis writes about managing the clock and structuring our priorities. I am the first to admit that organizational skills do not come naturally to me. However, during the course of the last 5 or 6 years, by the grace of God, I have made progress in structuring my priorities and organizing my time by praying using many of the above-listed scriptures.
One area I have to tread carefully over is spending time thinking about menus, recipes and meal plans. I have found that if I spend a little time during the week, usually for me the best time is Saturday morning, getting together a plan for my week, my eating is much more in line with my intentions of a healthy lifestyle. I look at my calendar and try to decide when we will be eating at home, what our schedule is for the week and loosely come up with a plan for the week. Then, I take care of the lionshare of the shopping during the weekend.
I find that if I spend a little time planning, I do not spend too much time during the week thinking about food, what I want to eat, what food I am craving, and giving in to emotional needs by eating because I do not have a plan. I always remember the Weight Watchers' saying, "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail."
Some things I do to take the guesswork out of what I am going to eat is always have healthy options on hand:
Boil eggs in bulk that I combine with fruit for breakfast on the go
Always have fruit and cleaned and chopped veggies on hand for munching.
Always have hummus and peanut butter for dipping.
Always have salad fixings - I take my lunch to work everyday and it is usually a salad with some type of protein on top (leftover lentils or beans, tuna from a pouch, baked chicken).
Buying salmon steaks and chicken breasts in bulk from Sam's - each piece is individually wrapped so they can go from freezer to plate with little fuss.
Sweet potatoes - can be cooked ahead for a quick, on the go side.
Nuts and dried fruit - not to be eaten in large quantities but will tied me over between meals.
Remember, the goal is to be intentional, to make wise food decisions, and for me, not to obsess over food. My plan removes the guesswork and the need to focus and fantasize about food all the time.
What healthy eating tips and tricks do you use? I would love new ideas.
So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life – whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn’t life consist of more than food and clothing?
Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Psalm 90:12
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Ephesians 5:15-17
Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Ephesians 5:29
No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body, which is the church. (New Living Translation)
After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church. (NIV)
Worrying about what I am going to eat v. planning my meals.
Spending time with my idol (food) v. devoting time to a healthy lifestyle.
Probably one of the hardest things that I have overcome, by the power of Christ, is my lack of organization and planning skills and the effects that lack had on my health.
In our readings for Day 11, Dr. Davis writes about managing the clock and structuring our priorities. I am the first to admit that organizational skills do not come naturally to me. However, during the course of the last 5 or 6 years, by the grace of God, I have made progress in structuring my priorities and organizing my time by praying using many of the above-listed scriptures.
One area I have to tread carefully over is spending time thinking about menus, recipes and meal plans. I have found that if I spend a little time during the week, usually for me the best time is Saturday morning, getting together a plan for my week, my eating is much more in line with my intentions of a healthy lifestyle. I look at my calendar and try to decide when we will be eating at home, what our schedule is for the week and loosely come up with a plan for the week. Then, I take care of the lionshare of the shopping during the weekend.
I find that if I spend a little time planning, I do not spend too much time during the week thinking about food, what I want to eat, what food I am craving, and giving in to emotional needs by eating because I do not have a plan. I always remember the Weight Watchers' saying, "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail."
Some things I do to take the guesswork out of what I am going to eat is always have healthy options on hand:
Boil eggs in bulk that I combine with fruit for breakfast on the go
Always have fruit and cleaned and chopped veggies on hand for munching.
Always have hummus and peanut butter for dipping.
Always have salad fixings - I take my lunch to work everyday and it is usually a salad with some type of protein on top (leftover lentils or beans, tuna from a pouch, baked chicken).
Buying salmon steaks and chicken breasts in bulk from Sam's - each piece is individually wrapped so they can go from freezer to plate with little fuss.
Sweet potatoes - can be cooked ahead for a quick, on the go side.
Nuts and dried fruit - not to be eaten in large quantities but will tied me over between meals.
Remember, the goal is to be intentional, to make wise food decisions, and for me, not to obsess over food. My plan removes the guesswork and the need to focus and fantasize about food all the time.
What healthy eating tips and tricks do you use? I would love new ideas.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Welcome!
I want to welcome you all here to my blog and I hope that you stop in and check out the postings every week and feel free to make a comment. We can use the comments feature to communicate with each other regarding prayer requests, motivational needs, accountability issues, ideas to address during our study, etc.
As you can see, I have been posting on this blog over the last couple of years so I went through and deleted posts that were not on point. In the past, I had used this format to document with pictures my food journals as a way of keeping up with my daily intake, as well as journaling workouts and random aspects of my life. Now, I will focus on our Bible study and topics covered during our time together.
I certainly enjoyed today's Week 1, Day 1 reading from our book. Even more, I am so thankful that I am a new creation in Christ! Dr. Davis says, "it is this 'newness' that plants in us the desire to live in a way that is pleasing to God and in accordance with His precepts."
Just so my position is clear, if you research, pray and select a certain diet plan, then by all means, follow whatever plan you feel called to select. I looked around the Mayo Clinic website this morning and they had a lot of medically sound information about different eating plans, including the DASH diet, meditteranean diet, vegetarian diet, diverticulitis diet, gluten free diet and low glycemic index diet. Dr. Davis says on page 10 of our book that our hope is that we "discover that the Word of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit are truly sufficient to guide us as we implement lifestyle changes for better health."
For fun, I have included the following link to some superfoods information. Superfoods are foods that are considered medicinal in nature in that they heal and nourish us rather than detract from our health.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/superfoods-everyone-needs
Test yourself this week and see how many you can add in over the course of the week. Also, try something you have never tried before. There are lots of foods that offer super-nourishing benefits and I promise that you will be able to tell a difference in your levels of energy and vitality when you do something good for yourself by including these in your diet.
I hope you all have a blessed weekend! The weather will be beautiful so bundle up and go for a nice, brisk walk.
As you can see, I have been posting on this blog over the last couple of years so I went through and deleted posts that were not on point. In the past, I had used this format to document with pictures my food journals as a way of keeping up with my daily intake, as well as journaling workouts and random aspects of my life. Now, I will focus on our Bible study and topics covered during our time together.
I certainly enjoyed today's Week 1, Day 1 reading from our book. Even more, I am so thankful that I am a new creation in Christ! Dr. Davis says, "it is this 'newness' that plants in us the desire to live in a way that is pleasing to God and in accordance with His precepts."
Just so my position is clear, if you research, pray and select a certain diet plan, then by all means, follow whatever plan you feel called to select. I looked around the Mayo Clinic website this morning and they had a lot of medically sound information about different eating plans, including the DASH diet, meditteranean diet, vegetarian diet, diverticulitis diet, gluten free diet and low glycemic index diet. Dr. Davis says on page 10 of our book that our hope is that we "discover that the Word of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit are truly sufficient to guide us as we implement lifestyle changes for better health."
For fun, I have included the following link to some superfoods information. Superfoods are foods that are considered medicinal in nature in that they heal and nourish us rather than detract from our health.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/superfoods-everyone-needs
Test yourself this week and see how many you can add in over the course of the week. Also, try something you have never tried before. There are lots of foods that offer super-nourishing benefits and I promise that you will be able to tell a difference in your levels of energy and vitality when you do something good for yourself by including these in your diet.
I hope you all have a blessed weekend! The weather will be beautiful so bundle up and go for a nice, brisk walk.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
What does hunger mean to me?
- No one loves me
- My needs will not be met
- I am all alone
Of course, I have no idea if this scenario is anywhere remotely accurate and really, does it even matter. I know Freud was all about those first few years of life but if you trace back every dysfunctional thought pattern or behavior it really just gives you an excuse to keep doing it. My mother and father abandoned me so....I have an excuse for every bad thing I have ever done or will ever do.
To counteract some self-sabotaging thoughts that I have had, I practice speaking the following confirmations out loud several times a day:
- Hunger is never an emergency
- Hunger is only mildly uncomfortable.
- I can tolerate hunger.
- Hunger will come and go.
I spent so many years of my life trying to figure out the psychology of me. I don't know if it was necessary or not but I do know now that my needs are better served by focusing on the here and now and the future.
Joyce Meyer says that forgiveness is the beginning of all healing. So maybe it is necessary to look back, examine the wounds, name them and forgive where necessary. Then forge ahead.
Philippians 3:12-14 says
...but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Why I became a vegetarian...
God told me to! How crazy does that sound? 2005 was the worst year of my life. Lots of heartache and loss and as I was trying to recover and heal, I started praying for healing. Well, what happened was that God didn't just heal the losses and pain I encounted that year, he went back and healed every wound I had ever experienced. I had always walked around feeling as though I had huge holes in my heart that were constantly oozing blood. I would try to patch up one and another hole would spring a leak. I was unable to be filled because of these wounds/holes in my heart.
This healing occurred over the course of the summer of '06. God started showing me a path to leading a truly healthy life. I had made efforts in the past at trying to be healthy, but they were my efforts and I asked for no divine intervention. But God placed on my heart a series of verses that became my life verses - Prov. 3:5-6 and Rom. 12:1-2. That summer I was drinking too much wine. I had always enjoyed wine, but I had started relying on a couple of glasses every evening when I came in from work to destress. Sometimes it was 1/2 a bottle. Sometimes it was an entire bottle. The most important thing that it was usually 6 or 7 days a week that I was drinking. It was becoming a problem. Also, I was and had been for many years, taking anti-depressants, ADHD medication and meds at night to sleep. And let me say that I truly expected to be on antidepressants for the rest of my life. I couldn't imagine living without them!
As I prayed for healing and for God to show me how to lead a truly healthy life, I started to realize that with God's power, I could overcome my undisciplined, unhealthy lifestyle and as scary as it was, I could stop taking medication. God revealed to me through my prayer and meditation and reading of His word that I needed to stop living in the world and as the world lives and let God guide me to a path of health and healing. He revealed to me several things: I needed to get outside as much as possible and move my body - I need sunshine and nature; I need to exercise hard - releasing all those feel good chemicals is necessary for my peace of mind; I needed to change my diet to a vegetarian diet and eat food as close to the way God made it as possible so as to set myself apart and to stop using food to medicate my moods; I needed to stop drinking; I needed to spend time in God's word daily; I needed to fellowship with other believers by going back to church; my depression was more of a spiritual emptiness caused by my disobedient lifestyle and my distance from God and that once I started getting closer, I would have no need for the medication. God healed me! All I wanted was to make it through the heartache but he took my heart and totally healed it of all its wounds! God is good and he lit my path.
That's why I live the way I do - and I have always understood that my path is by no means the path for everyone. Everyone must make their own way, but God will lead you on your journey if you pay attention!
This healing occurred over the course of the summer of '06. God started showing me a path to leading a truly healthy life. I had made efforts in the past at trying to be healthy, but they were my efforts and I asked for no divine intervention. But God placed on my heart a series of verses that became my life verses - Prov. 3:5-6 and Rom. 12:1-2. That summer I was drinking too much wine. I had always enjoyed wine, but I had started relying on a couple of glasses every evening when I came in from work to destress. Sometimes it was 1/2 a bottle. Sometimes it was an entire bottle. The most important thing that it was usually 6 or 7 days a week that I was drinking. It was becoming a problem. Also, I was and had been for many years, taking anti-depressants, ADHD medication and meds at night to sleep. And let me say that I truly expected to be on antidepressants for the rest of my life. I couldn't imagine living without them!
As I prayed for healing and for God to show me how to lead a truly healthy life, I started to realize that with God's power, I could overcome my undisciplined, unhealthy lifestyle and as scary as it was, I could stop taking medication. God revealed to me through my prayer and meditation and reading of His word that I needed to stop living in the world and as the world lives and let God guide me to a path of health and healing. He revealed to me several things: I needed to get outside as much as possible and move my body - I need sunshine and nature; I need to exercise hard - releasing all those feel good chemicals is necessary for my peace of mind; I needed to change my diet to a vegetarian diet and eat food as close to the way God made it as possible so as to set myself apart and to stop using food to medicate my moods; I needed to stop drinking; I needed to spend time in God's word daily; I needed to fellowship with other believers by going back to church; my depression was more of a spiritual emptiness caused by my disobedient lifestyle and my distance from God and that once I started getting closer, I would have no need for the medication. God healed me! All I wanted was to make it through the heartache but he took my heart and totally healed it of all its wounds! God is good and he lit my path.
That's why I live the way I do - and I have always understood that my path is by no means the path for everyone. Everyone must make their own way, but God will lead you on your journey if you pay attention!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Accept no mediocre life!
From the book - Accept No Mediocre Life
"It is a spiritual conspiracy to get us to accept mediocre as a standard of life. It is a war for control of our hearts, minds and souls. What is S-'s ploy? He's fixed on our spiritual destruction. He's a 'liar and father of lies' (John 8:44). But his tactics are exceedingly subtle. He bombards us with feelings of inadequacy. He seeks to clothe our hearts and minds with a drab coat of beige. He delights when we are labeled average and mediocre, for he knows most labels are libels that limit our capacity to dream, aspire to greatness or even feel worthy to know God or accept His love. The result? We live well within our perceived limitations and grade-point averages."
For much of my life I wanted to eat "normally" like everyone around me. Problem was, I was adopted, and my family all had much different body types than I did (them - ectomorph, me - endomorph/mesomorph) and my friends all seemed to be itty, bitty petite girls. If I ate what everyone else around me ate, I gained weight. Heck, if I looked at what they ate, I gained weight. But I tried to be like them. I went back and forth between gaining weight (topping out at over 200 lbs.) and exercising to be able to eat what I wanted.
Then I got older and everyone who ate "normally" was now overweight. "Normal" had changed. I didn't want to be normal any longer. I didn't want to be average. I felt called to be better than that - I wanted to be the best me I could be. All that God created me to be, I belive that I can now achieve!
Weight and food have always been such a struggle but I realize now that the actual mental struggle was taking up so much mental energy - was I making food an idol? As they say in AA - "let go and let God".
Shellene
"It is a spiritual conspiracy to get us to accept mediocre as a standard of life. It is a war for control of our hearts, minds and souls. What is S-'s ploy? He's fixed on our spiritual destruction. He's a 'liar and father of lies' (John 8:44). But his tactics are exceedingly subtle. He bombards us with feelings of inadequacy. He seeks to clothe our hearts and minds with a drab coat of beige. He delights when we are labeled average and mediocre, for he knows most labels are libels that limit our capacity to dream, aspire to greatness or even feel worthy to know God or accept His love. The result? We live well within our perceived limitations and grade-point averages."
For much of my life I wanted to eat "normally" like everyone around me. Problem was, I was adopted, and my family all had much different body types than I did (them - ectomorph, me - endomorph/mesomorph) and my friends all seemed to be itty, bitty petite girls. If I ate what everyone else around me ate, I gained weight. Heck, if I looked at what they ate, I gained weight. But I tried to be like them. I went back and forth between gaining weight (topping out at over 200 lbs.) and exercising to be able to eat what I wanted.
Then I got older and everyone who ate "normally" was now overweight. "Normal" had changed. I didn't want to be normal any longer. I didn't want to be average. I felt called to be better than that - I wanted to be the best me I could be. All that God created me to be, I belive that I can now achieve!
Weight and food have always been such a struggle but I realize now that the actual mental struggle was taking up so much mental energy - was I making food an idol? As they say in AA - "let go and let God".
Shellene
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