December 20, 1018

December 20, 2018

Dear Readers,

We are in the season of Advent, a time of preparing our hearts for the Christ child’s birth.  But our preparations can take a severe detour into hustle and bustle—buying gifts (some of which the receiver may not want or need), cooking, baking, attending Christmas gatherings, getting those Christmas cards sent out, decorating.  In that hustle and bustle, and the cries of a small baby are lost.

And if our preparations for Christ’s birth are not detoured by hustle and bustle, they may be detoured in other ways.  Often we hold a Norman Rockwell image in our minds of Christmas, but for many of us that is not reality.  We may be separated from loved ones by death or by distance.  Others of us may be separated from our loved ones by anger or resentment.  Still others of us may be alone, and the cries of a small baby are lost.

This small baby came into our world over 2000 years ago to minister to our worries, concerns, hurts and our joys.  During these final days of Advent, may we make an effort to spend time with our God to focus on the Holy One’s love which was incarnated into the perfect Christmas gift, a small baby, Emmanuel, Counselor. . .

Gloria and I thank you for your Facebook fellowship and pray you a Blessed Christmas.

                                                                                                                                    Sharon Witty

P.S.  If we eat more than we should, let’s not beat ourselves up.  Let’s enjoy the food and any fellowship we are privileged to participate in AND love the cooks.

Seek Satisfaction

This is the season of temptations. Everywhere I look there is deliciousness: cookie trays, candy plates, wonderful desserts, buffets of elegant selections, and traditional holiday fare. If ever I needed blinders on or someone to physically control my actions, this is the season.

After the Thanksgiving holiday feast and a week's worth of leftovers, I am ready to work at my healthy eating routine again. My first adjustment is portion control. I had gotten out of control so I'm reeling in the size of my food portions and surprisingly I'm finding I am just as satisfied with the smaller portions. If I eat slowly, savoring the taste of the foods, and give my body about 20 minutes to acknowledge that I have indeed eaten, I find satisfaction.

"Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare," (Isaiah 55:2b NIV).

Often there is more going on at mealtime than hunger. My emotions often get in the way of real hunger.  I end up trying to stuff myself with food when the empty space is nearer my heart than my stomach. Does that ever happen to you? Unfortunately this has been one of my biggest challenges to overcome.

I try to be more aware of what is going on in my body these days, but I still struggle with cravings that aren't hunger based. They grab me and shake me until I give in, if I have something close by. So the key is to not keep those items around the house. I try not to let them jump in my shopping cart but sometimes I fail. Still I keep trying.

When I find myself wanting dessert, ice cream, or Golden Double Stuff Oreos, I try to take time to think about why I want those things. Am I hungry? No, usually I need something to fill my soul. So I'm going to try to follow this scripture verse and use it as my mantra this Christmas season:

"My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you," (Psalm 63:5 NIV).

I'm going to turn up the Christmas music and praise God in my off-key voice, instead of eating the foods that can't satisfy my soul.

May your Christmas season draw you closer to the Christ child's manger. That is where satisfaction lies.

Gloria D. Stewart

Let us Give Thanks

A Time of Thanks

With Thanksgiving being a week from today, I would be hard pressed to not visit with you about the holiday.

Thanksgiving—How often do we hear people talk about the thanks they plan to give on this day?  Or plans to attend a Thanksgiving worship service?  Or even plans to be with family and friends?

On the other hand, how often do we hear people talk about groaning after eating Thanksgiving dinner?  Or loosening their belt after dinner?  Or maybe we’ve heard people talk about sleeping their eating binge off while the TV blares a football game?

President George Washington proclaimed the first American nationwide thanksgiving celebration, marking November 26, 1789, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours [sic] of Almighty God".

Ah, there is the meaning of Thanksgiving—giving thanks where thanks is due—to God.  “Give Thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:15, NIV).

In spite of our knowing this holiday is intended to be a day of giving thanks, for those of us for whom over indulgence can be problematic (and even, on this day, for those who seem to be able to place food in its rightful place), our focus can be on the feast and not on giving thanks.

So what can we do about the temptation to overindulge on this day?  Two weeks ago Gloria gave us a major tool we can use—Plan ahead.

Let’s plan to enjoy the day—to enjoy God’s love, the Holy One’s blessings, family and friends.  Before the feast, let’s fill up on veggies—carrot sticks, celery, radishes.  Perhaps we can be the one who brings these items to the feast--best not to come to the Thanksgiving table overly hungry.

Let’s plan to partake of the food we particularly enjoy.  I don’t think we have to deny ourselves any foods, but we need to be careful to take small portions.  During the feast, let’s enjoy conversation—whether we’re eating with one other person, at the Salvation Army or with 20 persons at the table.

 Let’s plan to stop eating when we are full.

Most importantly, let’s plan to use the strongest tool in our toolbox—PRAYER!  Let’s pray before we gather—pray the Holy Spirit guide and strengthen us.

Let’s plan to give thanks.

                                                                                                            Sharon Witty

                                                                                                            November 15, 2018

P.S.  Gloria and I pray you, our readers, a Blessed Thanksgiving.

The Importance of Planning

It’s 10:30 a.m. and I’m hungry. Craving something; I’m not sure what. I look in the refrigerator and then the cupboard, waiting for something to jump out at me. And something does. And it isn’t healthy.

One key tool I’ve learned over the years is to plan meals and snacks. It is a tool I should use more often but it is a matter of making time to do it and the food preparation. Food preparation and planning changes my focus from what I can’t eat to what I can. There are hundreds of good, healthy choices for me to make, if I just keep them conveniently available. 

Many people recommend taking one day a week to do the meal preparation. It works well to plan the grocery list and meals (including several snacks for each day) at the same time. I work in a meal of fish two or three times a week. As soon as I get home from the store I wash and prepare the fresh vegetables and fruit. I clean and slice veggies so I can have a crunchy snack any time of day, or toss them into a stir-fry or soup in a minute flat. It is time very well spent.

I need to keep the healthy snacks at eye level in the frig so they are the first thing I see. I boil a batch of eggs every week to keep handy for a great protein snack or salad addition. I stock snack spots with nuts and fresh fruit. And, this is important: I remove those highly-processed treats from the house.

“Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred,” (Proverbs 15:17 NIV).  

Planning gives me a guideline that makes the day go better. I can look forward to what is on the menu and I can relax in knowing things will work out well.

Power

Power

On Monday afternoon I picked up a few groceries at Aldis.  Even though they were only 99 cents a pound, I walked past the grapes (Note to Sharingglory newcomers:  Grapes are my nemesis.  I can easily graze through a pound—or two—in a day).  Now that’s not to say I didn’t look at them longingly and lovingly, BUT I didn’t succumb to placing any in my cart for purchase.  I made it home without any grapes in my bag.

            That wasn’t my power that strengthened me.  It was Holy Spirit power.

            That thought leads me to a sermon Fr. Tom Braak gave at a daily Mass a few days ago.  As he discussed addictions, he stated, “We cannot go it alone.”

            As far as I’m concerned, food addiction is just as real as alcoholism, drug addiction, shopping addiction, etc.  But we overeaters cannot give up food, for we have to eat; we must keep our Temples healthy  (1Cor. 6:19 NIV).

            Scripture tells us we “. . . can do all things through Christ who is our strength” (Phil. 4:13).  But Christ no longer walks the earth in person, so the Holy One sends beings with skin into our lives to help and support us. 

Through the years, I’ve received help within weight management groups, especially Weight Watchers and Overeaters Anonymous, from Bible study sisters, from Gloria’s blog posts and, of course, from the Holy Spirit.

            Who is your help and support?  Like Fr. Braak, I encourage each of us to reach out for help, to ask for help, whether it be to be held accountable, or for prayer and advice, let’s seek the help we need to keep our Temples healthy.

                                                                                                                                    Sharon Witty

Back to the Basics

In my efforts to be healthy, one of the top things on my ‘to do’ list is to eat well. It can be challenging if I don’t make a deliberate plan and stock the house with the right foods. I started by getting rid of all the bad, tempting, delicious, stuff in the cupboard, refrigerator and freezer. I have to admit, I ate most of it. 

Then I went to the store and stocked up on fresh fruits and vegetables. Fruit became my new delicious treat.  For the past few months there has been a wonderful variety of awesome fruit: bananas, peaches, pears, apples, watermelon, cantaloupe, plums, raspberries, blueberries, black berries and grapes! It is heavenly. We are so fortunate to have access to fruit almost all year long. 

Next, I stock up on veggies. Fresh crisp lettuce, spinach, celery, carrots, pea pods, cauliflower and broccoli bits, zucchini, cucumbers, and more are a great choice for a tasty snack. The key is to wash and prepare them, ready for snacking as soon as I get them home. If they sit in the bags in the frig, they won’t get eaten at the time I have a craving for something to eat.

Don’t forget to add in good protein. I like to cook up extra chicken breasts so there are leftovers to cut up and put on salads or as an entrée without the extra work. I also cook up hard-boiled eggs for a quick and easy taste of protein.

I’ve mentioned nothing that is new, but sometimes I need a reminder. It is easy to forget the options that are available, so I try to move ripening fruit to the dining room table so it can be eaten at its peak before it spoils.

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple,” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NIV).

If we add in exercise our bodies will thank us. It is as easy as starting with a couple of cans from the cupboard as weights. Walk. Almost all of us can walk; even just around the house a few times will be beneficial. I try to do a little more every day. Our temples are worth the effort of time. 

Gloria D. Stewart

October 4, 2018

Awareness

Awareness     

“Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall” (Prv. 16:18, Life Application Study Bible).  I lived that proverb this past week. 

On Saturday I began brainstorming about this blog posting and wrote the following words:  “This week has been a good week of eating.  I haven’t binged—not even on grapes!!  I’ve eaten nutritionally and the right amounts.  I feel blessed.  Grace, it’s all grace.”

            Guess what? On Sunday I binged on grapes and pineapple.

            Today I question myself:  What does God want me to learn from this?  Certainly, I am to realize pride, probably cockiness also? 

            I think the Wise One wants me to realize I may eat finger foods, but I need to sit down and eat a SERVING of a finger food.  Instead, last Sunday I set the bowl of grapes on the kitchen counter, put a few in my hand and played Word for Friends on my phone as I ate the grapes and coming back to the bowl whenever the handful was gone.  I can eat a lotta grapes (or potato chips, or chunks of pineapple, or popcorn or, nuts,  or . . .) that way.

            When I eat “on the go,” or while watching TV, texting, or reading, I am unaware of how much I am eating.  Being unaware of what I’m putting into my mouth causes me to eat more than I need.

            So the lesson I’ve learned this week is that whether snacking or eating a meal, I need to sit, preferably at a table, and be conscious of how much food I eat.

                                                                                                                        Sharon Witty

                                                                                                                        September 20, 2018

P.S.  I also learned it’s not wise to be cocky about one’s “good” behavior.