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.

Craving What?

“The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!’” (Numbers 11:4-6 NIV).

Do you ever crave a food? What do you crave? Craving is an all-consuming desire. Women who have experienced pregnancy probably can share something they craved. Sometimes there are other health factors that create cravings. If you desire chewing ice it may be a sign that you are anemic. There may be others; please share. 

Though I’m no longer pregnant or anemic, ice cream is my nearly constant craving. Is it the dairy content or the creamy, smooth, comfort food characteristic? I wish there was some physical reason I crave ice cream but I’m afraid it is just its cool deliciousness.

Imagine the life of a prisoner of war being fed a basic minimalistic meal of bread and water. I wonder if he/she craved anything specific. I can’t really imagine being lost in the desert and provided one thing to eat for weeks, months, or even 40 years!

I’m pretty sure I would have been one of those complaining, not thanking God for His provision every day like clockwork. Not thanking God for doing all the work of preparation and delivery of a healthy meal that was filling and nourishing.

God is so good to us, even when we don’t appreciate it. Although we can’t eat a diet of candy bars or sweet cakes and pies and brownies and lasagna and chicken and noodles and prime rib and ice cream all day long, every day, we canmake choices, healthy choices that will give our bodies what they need to function and be strong.

Thank you, God for helping us appreciate what we have. Help us make the decisions that are best for our physical and mental health. And thank you for ice cream, too.

By Gloria D. Stewart

Caring for our temples

Caring for our Temples

This week the Holy Spirit placed on my mind the verse “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.” (1Cor.6:19, NIV)  As I reflected on this verse I have to first of all, determine what is a temple?  In my thinking, it is a holy place, a sacred place, a place of worship and adoration.

            Wow!  That makes me stop and really think—a holy place, a sacred place.  How does one take care of a holy place?  Certainly with reverence, maintaining it well.

            I need, to tenderly, lovingly care for my body, a holy place.

            Then, I realized I had to determine how to do that.  I think the answer is found in the mantra we’ve heard for years:  rest (7 to 8 hours of sleep a night), exercise (250 minutes a week), and eat a healthy diet is a partial answer to the question

            That last one is where we Americans can so easily get tripped up.  Watch TV for two hours in the evening and record how many food ads you see about unhealthy foods (i.e., junk food).  Open a Good Housekeeping magazine or a Woman’s Day magazine and count the food ads for unhealthy foods.  We’re bombarded with “Buy this; no, buy this.”

            When we enter the middle aisles of a supermarket, the potato chips, Oreos, chocolate chip cookies or Twinkies almost jump off the shelves into our carts.  We justify buying them with, “Well, Bill or Bonnie (spouse) likes chips,” or “The kids love Oreos.” 

            The question is this:  Does Bill or Bonnie or the kids need the junk food any more than we do?  Of course not, for their bodies are “temples of the Holy Spirit” also.  Since we are all members of the Body of Christ it’s up to all of us to care for and about ourselves and each other.  We need to tenderly, lovingly care for our temple and help others care for theirs.

                                                                                                            Sharon Witty

                                                                                                            August 16, 2018

Inside Out

Last time Sharon shared that we need to call on Jesus sooner in our struggles with food. And do we ever have struggles!

Society doesn’t make eating healthy easy, does it? Turn on the television and commercials bombard our minds with tempting-looking, steaming hot pizza and juicy burgers, with melted cheese stretching across the screen. Restaurants call us in with bargain prices and banners or posters with bigger-than-life meals. Every grocery aisle is packed with displays of sweet treats, yummy-looking baked goods and store-made desserts. Magazines are filled with perfectly manicured foods that lure us into the quicksand of empty calories.

“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you,” (Romans 12:2 MSG).

Scripture tells us we need to fix our attention on God (away from the TV and flashing signs of distraction) and allow Him to change us from the inside (where our stomachs and brains are). Let’s allow God to bring out the best in us. He will give us the ability to calm our cravings, choose healthy options, take a walk around the block, and make mature choices. 

We aren’t alone in this walk. We have a life-partner in Jesus Christ who can help us through all our struggles. And Sharon and I are here, too.

Blessings,

Gloria D. Stewart

Pride

This past weekend became a difficult one.  Oh, not on the outside.  Someone watching me may have commented, “Sharon’s having a good weekend,” as she observed me buying healthy foods at the Farmer’s Market, then finding bargains at a yard sale and even sitting on my patio, reading a fictional novel.

            But the watcher would not have been able to see the battle going on in my mind and heart, a battle between food cravings and me.  Had oatmeal raisin cookies, caramel nut ice cream and/or Fritos to be found in my cupboards or freezer, I’m not sure they would have still been there at 9 p.m. on Sunday.

            Did I turn to the Holy Spirit during this battle?  Nope.  I kept fighting on my own power, which was exhausting.  Finally, finally, I cried out to the Lord, “What is going on?”

            The answer came quickly, “You’re bored.”  That answer was right on.  I had been looking to myself as to what I needed or wanted to do, rather than asking the Holy Spirit, “What next?”

            Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians to “Pray without ceasing” (5:17, New American Bible).  Personally, I don’t think this means to be using words all the time, but to be aware of God’s constant presence, of the Holy One’s unfailing love.

            What would have happened had I cried out “Jesus, help me,” early on during my struggle?  I suspect help would have come, my cravings ceased and peace descended into my heart.

            Now I pray this lesson learned be a lesson applied.

                                                                                                                        Sharon Witty

                                                                                                                        July 19, 2018

What About Portion Control?

Sharon Witty and I started this blog one year ago at the end of July. So Sharon will get the honor of writing an anniversary blog in two weeks. In 24 blogs we have discussed eating, dieting, and trusting God in many different ways, but I haven’t discussed one of my problem areas: portion control until today.

I have been using a small dinner plate for several months now, to try and scale (ugh) back the size of my portions. But, that isn’t working very successfully so I think it is time to start weighing my portions. There are some healthy foods (mostly vegetables and fruits) that I have been serving up rather liberally. It’s time to reel in the elastic pants and faithfully measure my food. I’m nearing a nice weight loss goal (one of several on my journey) but it has taken me far too long to reach it. I need to step up my progress and portion size may be key to achieving it.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1 NIV).

God wants me to be transformed in His image. I still have a long process of change ahead of me. I’ll never be perfect like Jesus, but my life is a constant gradient of striving toward that impossible goal. God wants to help me every step of the way. I just need to surrender to His will and do everything I can to move forward, even when I end up backsliding for a stretch.

We never face the struggles of our lives alone. God is with us, even when I’m reluctantly setting up the food scale on my counter. He will count it all joy. And so will I.

Gloria D. Stewart