New Beginnings

So how many times have you told yourself that you are going to do something good for yourself? You are going to eat healthy and “get in shape”. Lately I have been telling myself this everyday. There are times I tell myself I wont eat that cookie just because someone offers it to me but then I fee bad not taking it or let them convince me to eat it. Afterward I realize the “pleasure” of eating it was eclipsed but the regret I feel for eating it. So now I am going to start my journey. No excuses! I am excited to learn new things and share what I learned with others. 

Day One of Non-Processed Foods

So I am sure that everyone who doesn't eat processed foods knows that it can be very challenging to find things that are not processed. Even meats I thought would be clean have what they call "natural favors" added to the meat in a solution. I could not find one item of meat which didn't have this on the label. I am pretty sure I will have to go to a butcher to find what I am looking for. Produce on the other hand has been easier. There is a food coop called Bountiful Basket (click on the name for link to website) where you can contribute a $15 to purchase produce in a group. You get a basket of 50% fruits and 50% vegetables. There is an option of receiving organic for an additional $10. I haven't done this yet but I plan on giving it a try. Friends of mine have done it and they say the price is good for what you receive. Just be on time to the location you specified to pick it up and be sure to check the night before to make sure nothing has changed. If you aren't there when you are supposed to be they will donate your portion.

Today I bought:

• Fresh Broccoli 
• Bananas
• Apples
• Almonds
• Rolled Oats (I grind a container to use as flour. It is not processed and cheaper than the oat flour you buy in the store)
• Grapes (good frozen for snacks on hot day)
• Eggs 
• Chicken

I am excited for this life style change. It will take discipline. I will have to dive into this whole heartedly. For now I am going to eat as cleanly as I can. I hope to find reasonably priced organic eggs and meats with no additives. If anyone has any suggestions let me know! 

Non-processed Food Diet

So I have started researching diet with non-processed foods. It seems like it would be hard at first but I want to eat as clean as I can. I found a website which has helped me get a better idea of what is processed and what is healthy ( http://www.getting-started-with-healthy-eating.com/). The site provides good information and helps you get started eating healthy and clean. I will be grocery shopping today. Later I will let you all know what my grocery list looks like.

Success!

So lately I have been saying "super fantastic" a lot so I think I will just keep saying it. Today was SUPER FANTASTIC!!! I had a day off today. I was able to make the pumpkin protein bars I love. It is a recipe by Jamie Eason from Bodybuilding.com. I make my own oat flour. Just grind up up oat meal and you have it. Just be sure to add a little extra since it wont be as finely ground as what you can buy in the store. The best part of today is that I did really well with my diet. It needs some tweaking but I am slowly getting there. I think before I got sick of eating the same things all the time. I have some new ideas now that will spice things up a bit like homemade almond milk ice cream. It is a great alternative since I am also lactose intolerant.

If you are looking to get healthy. There are a ton of great healthy alternatives out there that can help sooth those cravings without consuming extra preservatives and gunk that you don't need in your diet.

PS I think I really do want to become a Registered Dietitian (RD). I have been batting around the idea for about a month now. I love to help people get healthy as I am doing the same for myself!

I Will Overcome!

So today didn't go so well with eating healthy. It is true that you crave what you eat. I have found that there are a few reason why I go for eating bad foods:

       1. I give myself the option of eating bad foods
       2. I don't give myself enough variety of good foods to eat
       3. I put myself into tempting situations.

So... I work at a coffee shop with yummy syrups to go in my latte and pastries. If is so easy for me to just eat what is there. At first I would bring my own homemade protein bars. I never ate the pastries and when I had a drink I would only have sugar free syrups. I was actually losing inches. And now I am sure I gained it all back. I wasted all the work I had done. It wasn't easy to get to where I got to and now look at me.

It is important for me to get down to the reasons why I keep stumbling. I don't view it as failing because that means I have quite. I will not. I want to become a RD and I refuse to be a hypocrite. I will practice what I preach. How can I help others when I can't overcome myself.

PS I feel pretty crummy from the sweets I ate today. NO GOOD!

A New Season Means A New Beginning

I LOVE the spring! Nothing about nature makes me more happy than to see trees budding and leaves beginning to grow. Even though I get wicked bad allergies, there is nothing better than this time of year. To me, the change of a season signifies a new beginning. Spring really is the time for a new beginning. New life comes after the cold of winter. 

In my small group this semester we have been going over Ephesians. In chapter four, Paul tells the believers in Ephesus to take off their old selves and put on the new. This means, as a follower of Christ, we are to walk away from our old ways in order to live a new life in Christ. If someone were sweaty and covered in dirt from working outside all day you would expect that, after taking a shower, they would put on clean, fresh clothes. It wouldn't make sense to put back on those filthy dirty clothes. Same is true for those who follow Christ. A person begins dirty with sin but when someone commits their life to Christ, their sins are washed away and they are made clean. The dirty clothes are like our old life. Why would you want to cling to that old way of life when you have been given something clean and new? 

This is something that I, like many other believers, can and do struggle with. As God reveals Himself to us, there is a slow trading of the old life for the new. Sometimes there are things I feel safe with. Things in my life I don't feel I should have to give up: music, horror movies, language, gossiping, etc. All these things I slowly gave away so that I could receive the new life God has promised each and everyone of us. 

We have areas of our lives we don't see as wrong because they don't seem harmful or bad. But these things can turn into gluttony and envy. For me, one of those areas of my life is food. When my brother died, I turned to food for comfort. I would eat when I was sad and when I was bored. I would eat when I was mad. Not only would I eat, I would eat until I couldn't eat anymore. I made eating part of my identity. Someone who is doomed to over eat for the rest of her life. But that is the old me. I have made decisions again and again that I was going to be healthy. I tried to take off the old by hiding it in a box so that I could get at it when I failed. 

This time it's different. I am sick and tired of being controlled by my stomach. 

I keep telling myself that once I get to a certain place I am going to live a health life because it will be easier when conditions are right. Well... I know that future conditions will NEVER be any easier or more favorable than they are right now. I am ready to make the decision. The decision to not let food control me. I am letting God have this part of me. God is the only one I will allow to have authority over me!

This is honestly a new decision for me right now as I write this. God speaks to my heart has I write. He speaks to all of us. We just have to let ourselves hear Him. 

Thank you Lord for opening my eyes to how much I let my flesh control me. Thank you for helping me replace this old part of my life with a renewed attitude of heart. Thank you Lord for guiding me to yourself each and every day. Thank you Lord for dying on that cross so that I may know your mercy. Thank you!

Tolerance?

I have been hearing a lot about tolerance lately. Tolerance is pretty much only mentioned when talking about  lifestyle decisions. So I got to thinking... what is tolerance? According to Dictionary.com tolerance is a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward thosewhose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, ect., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry. This makes sense. Who wouldn't want to be treated fairly? I know that I do. So what is intolerance? It is defined by Dictionary.com as lack of toleration; unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect contrary opinions or beliefs, persons of different races or backgrounds, ect. Now how are people using it?

People have the wrong idea about tolerance. As a follower of Christ, I believe that we should love people despite differences in opinion, race, religion, nationality, and so on. Even the ones who are hardest to love should be loved. BUT this doesn't mean that I will except or celebrate the things in their life I know to be wrong. People define tolerance and acceptance as being one and the same. And if you can't accept, agree, and encourage whatever needs to be accepted then you are intolerant. Then if you speak against what you know to be wrong then you hate. If you don't agree with tolerance, well... that can't be tolerated. Because I am a Christian there are people who think I am intolerant and therefore they will hate me for it. If we look back on the definition of tolerance shouldn't you be accepting of everything?

There was a video that someone posted on facebook showing 2 women getting engaged on the ice at a hockey game. People had responded to that video with hate. I agree with that 100%. I feel it is very wrong to treat anyone that way. Name calling is not something done out of love. But because I believe that intimate relationships are meant to be ONLY between a man and a woman, I cannot agree with nor encourage such a relationship. This doesn't not mean I hate anyone who is in a homosexual relationship it just means I will stand by what I believe and pray that one day that person would too. Because there is no way a person who truly believes in Christ would not want everyone to also know the truth.  

To those who have felt like they have been hated by a Christian I want to say that I am so very sorry! 

A Christian should represent Christ and the true Christ of the Bible is not a person of hate but a person of compassion and love. That is who a Christian should be and that is who I strive to be. No, I'm not perfect because I am human but I am always seeking God and praying that He will give me the heart of Christ. I encourage you to learn for yourself first hand who Christ really is.