I have been on vacation for almost three weeks(two different trips).  I wanted to wait until I returned to write more about making a commitment to stay healthy. I actually wanted to see if I would stick with my healthy eating before I wrote about it.  Otherwise, I would come back and regret every word that I had written.  Good news...it can be done on vacation!  I am not by any means advising you that you should never eat unhealthy on a vacation.  This is a personal choice for each person.  However, for me, I decided long before I went that it was worth trying to make good food and exercise choices on a trip and still enjoy the trip! 
First of all, I realized that every place you go, whether visiting in a home, sitting in an airport for 3 hours or going to a restaurant in a tourist location...you can make a healthy choice.  I did it.  I also found numerous opportunities to exercise.  I came home from the trips feeling good about myself and without a weight gain. I am NOT saying this to make anyone feel guilty about how you handle vacations.  I just know how slippery a slope it is for me to gain all my weight back.  I am not ready to slide down that slope.
First of all, I found a lot of ways to exercise.  Almost all hotels, motels or condos have a room set aside for exercise. My husband and I went each morning, while the rest of the family was relaxing, to either lift weights or walk/run on a treadmill.  It was not a big deal at all.  When we visited out of town guests, they took us on a hike in the mountains.  We even rented mountain bikes and we were rewarded with magnificent mountain views that we would have not seen otherwise.  When we were ready for dinner each night, we walked to the restaurant and enjoyed not having to find a parking spot in a crowded tourist town.
Keep in mind that this is all new for me. In the past, vacation was a time to overeat more than I was already overeating:). I would have never considered exercising. However, I came home from trips with a weight gain...and a lot of guilt.
I must tell you some things that my husband and I noticed on this vacation. My husband tends to be very friendly.  Each night, we ended the day sitting in the hot tub of the hotel.  Mark would talk to each and every guest that happened to be in the hot tub with us. He would make conversation about good places to eat and invariably the most popular places mentioned were the ones they "served the most food." The quality of the food was not as important as the quantity of the food!  Is this what we have become as a nation? Probably no need to mention that Mark and I were the only ones walking to the restaurant in this tourist town. The weather was pleasant and there were multiple restaurants within two miles of the hotel. The traffic and parking was an ordeal but everyone else chose to fight the traffic.  I am not advocating walking everywhere when you are at home.  We chose to walk because we were in a tourist town and it was an easy way to get in a little exercise.
As far as food on the trip, I could order a salad with grilled chicken at nearly every restaurant. At one place I ordered chicken fajitas and asked them to leave out the tortillas. We were a little disappointed at what our hotel called a "hot complimentary breakfast."  That consisted of biscuits, pancakes, and waffles.  I opted to go to a fast food restaurant, ordered an egg McMuffin but did not eat the muffin. My breakfast consisted up egg and a meat, which is a fairly good choice for breakfast. A protein breakfast will keep you satisfied longer than a biscuit. A small package of almonds, kept in my purse, was a nice thing to have if we were nearing an ice cream shop or something like that.  Even when we had a 3 hour delay at the airport, there were salads, cheese, celery and plenty of apples and oranges. I guess I never noticed them before because I was always "on vacation."
This was a stunning revelation.  I never knew that people could actually stay on a healthy diet on vacation. I had the mindset that vacation was a time to splurge.  You had to splurge or it was not a vacation.
 If you want to quit reading, you can. At this point I wanted to relate this to a story in the Bible. In the book of Numbers, the children of Israel were eating only manna, provided everyday by God in the desert. They got really angry about this fact and began complaining.  They were saying "If only we could go back to Egypt and eat that good food again.  We had it made."  Funny thing...they were in slavery when they were in Egypt. Sometimes when I am on vacation, I may get bitter and say "I deserve this delicious desert."  In reality, my overeating kept me in slavery. I don't want to return to that kind of slavery.  To exercise my choice and eat anything I want will mean I have very few choices about what to wear when I return home. Something to think about.

Is it okay for Christians to overeat? Don't shoot the messenger!

Romans 12:2 (NLT)

 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

I am attempting to examine what this verse really means. How far do we take this verse as a Christian?  Does it only apply to the "big issues" or does it apply to things like how we spend our money or what we eat for lunch?  In what ways should we be different and in what ways is it okay to blend in to the world's ways? In particular, I have been looking at food issues and how we take care of our body.  Should we look like the world in those issues or should we take a strikingly different stance?

We could look around at prominent Christian leaders and observe that they seem to look about the same as the rest of the world. Many are overweight.  Many lack the physical stamina through lack of exercise. I want to look at my own life with a critical eye and see if I am trying to not copy the behavior and customs of this world.  Because this verse implies that if I don't copy them, God can transform me into a new person by changing the way that I think.  Then I will learn that God's will for me is good and pleasing and perfect. Notice I said that I am looking at myself, not others.  When I mentioned that popular leaders are not following this standard for their life, I realize that more fingers are pointing back at me if I dare to point one finger at them.  So let's make this clear that this is about me, not anyone else.  If you see me in a fast food restaurant eating french fries, it will be obvious that I am just like everyone else:)

What are America's habits for eating?  Obviously we are missing the mark badly in this area. Take a minute to read the following article on health issues in America.

Excess body weight: A major health issue in America

For many people, the modern American lifestyle has led them to eat more unhealthy foods, eat bigger food portions, and be less physically active. As a result, the number of Americans who are overweight or obese (very overweight) has been rising. About 1 in 3 American adults is now obese, and another 1 in 3 is overweight.

Being overweight or obese can have far-reaching health consequences. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), excess body weight increases the risk for:

• Heart disease
• Type 2 diabetes
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol levels
• Stroke
• Liver and gallbladder disease
• Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
• Arthritis
• Abnormal menstrual periods and infertility in women
• Certain cancers

Overweight and obese people, on average, do not live as long as people who stay at a healthy body weight throughout their lives.

Not only are more adults overweight or obese, but more children are, too. Among children and teens, about 17% (or 12.5 million) are obese, a rate that has almost tripled since 1980. Some of the same health problems affecting obese adults can also affect obese children. These include heart disease risk factors such as high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure, as well as asthma, sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes, muscle and joint problems, and liver disease. Obese children and teens are also at higher risk for social and psychological problems, such as discrimination and poor self-esteem.  Obese children and teens are more likely to be obese as adults. 

How many times will we read these statistics and ignore the fact that America is growing weaker and weaker as a nation?  Can we continue to rationalize away the issue that is not only an epidemic in America, but the Christians don't look any different from the non-Christians?  No stone gets thrown at the speaker if someone points out that Christian divorce rates are the same as non-Christian divorce rates.  We are aghast and say this is wrong!  But the weight/health issue is protected somehow from debate.  It seems okay to be overweight and under-exercised.  Just a little nag of discontentment.  Just a little depression about the way we look.  But no radical alarm that this is not right.  We should enjoy health more than anyone.  God is saying, "My ways are best.  They are good.  They are perfect.  Try them and you will see." You will never hear this proclaimed from the pulpit.  Someone might be embarrassed.  

Remember "there is no condemnation in Christ...none." Period.  Never.  Just a conviction that he wants better for us than the food-addicted, stress-induced cravings, handle-depression-through-eating-ice-cream type life we are choosing.  I have said this before.  I have lived that way most of my life. However,  I am not living that way at the present time and I enjoy life a lot better than I used to.  I am seeing that his ways are really better...amazing actually:) 

Ponder this verse and see if you are conforming to the world or are you actually choosing a narrow way that very few are walking on these days.  Life doesn't have to be so miserable. God wants an abundant life for me and you.

Romans 12:2 (NLT)

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Freedom fromFood

I thought it might be helpful to share some things I have learned about managing my weight. This has been a life long struggle. After years of trying diets, I have realized that some things just work and others not so much:).  So for what it is worth, here is my list of things that work for me.

1)  Plan ahead what you will eat for the coming day and/or coming week.  If you know that you will have a tricky situation, plan for it. Pre-decide ahead of time. Decision anxiety will set you up for failure.  Decide which restaurants are good for you and which restaurants are a death sentence, in terms of fattening foods that you know you can't resist. Decide before you go to that restaurant what you will order and do not look at the menu.  Look online to see what a good choice will be. I tell the waiter when I order EXACTLY what I want and ask if that is okay.  For example, I would never let them put salad dressing on the salad. It must be on the side so that I can dip my fork(yes, I said fork) and drizzle it on the salad. Make all tricky decisions ahead of time.

2)  Make a mental box of what food items that you will eat for the rest of your life. Sometimes I think this is where we get bitter about having to diet. I came to this important conclusion...we do not have to have anything we want, anytime we want. As a Christian, I especially want to speak to that. We give up our rights to our life when we accept Jesus as our Saviour. We do this because his terms are so much better than our terms.  His ways ALWAYS satisfy beyond what we can imagine.
We need to realize that as rich Americans(and we are all rich in comparison to most of the world) we have come to expect to have countless different food choices to consume. We think this is our right!  Most of the world probably has 5 food choices.  I have come to realize that the fewer the food choices I allow in my mouth, the simpler it is to make choices and the easier it is to eat healthy. We all need a denial list to be more focused in any area of our lives, especially in the area of food. I LOVE having fewer food choices. It has provided me freedom from food that I have not experienced before.

3)  Track what you eat.  This is an easy task, but not always done by dieters.  Why?  Too confronting!!!  We don't want to confront the slice of pizza or the 7 cookies we ate. Because I am a Christian blogger, I need to add this perspective.  Whenever we keep things secret, whether from shame or conviction, we will not be able to receive that grace that God offers us. For example, if we know that eating too many sweets is not healthy for us and we try to hide that act from ourselves or others in our lives, we are missing out on the grieving and healing process that is available to us. There are many ways to track our food and exercises.  I love the smart phone apps that are free. Lose It or My Fitness Pal are just two of the ones that I know are easy to use and help set your calories and track them.  For a small fee, there are apps that allow you to plan ahead and track even more than just exercises and food consumed.

4)  This is not a well-known diet tip but it has worked for me.  Have a meal replacement once a day.  It is hard, if not impossible, to eat three low calorie meals a day without a lot of planning and commitment.  I have found that if I replace one meal per day with a protein shake, I reach my calorie goals for the day with much less grief and struggle.  There are many good quality shakes on the market at many price ranges.  Slim fast(not very filling), Shakeology(my husband has used this for three years), Whey protein shakes, ...the list is endless.

Notice that I am not advocating a certain diet plan.  I am promoting a total life style change.  When I think of all that I missed by being overweight, it grieves me.  Now when I am tempted with a slice of cheesecake, I quickly remind myself that I do not want to head back down that road. I cannot think of a single food item that it worth it. Try to hold up everything item of food that you know it not good for you but you don't think you could give up. Is that food item worth that much???  I realize that most people would say, " a bite of that would not matter." You have to decide for yourself if it would matter to you.  Only you can decide that.

Last tidbit I want to share.  I heard a well-known Navy SEAL speak this morning at my church. He said something profound.  He shared that when we accepted Christ as our Saviour, we became a "marked man or woman." By that he meant that Satan has put his "scope" on my back and he will stop at nothing to bring me down. When I was lost, he was not zeroing in on my life because I was not a threat to him. But when I gave my life to Christ, I became a threat to his kingdom because I may help bring other people to Christ. For some reason this afternoon, I was contemplating discontinuing this blog. However, God can use something that I say to plant a little seed in someones heart that will ultimately bring them to saving knowledge of Jesus. I think I will accept the fact that if I stand behind Jesus, my self-esteem will be okay because writing this blog is very scary to my self-esteem. Hope this helped someone to experience freedom from food because we can be set free from areas that have us in bondage.  

A Blog About Exercising

Some people are too lazy to plant seeds. So at harvest time, they look for food and find nothing. (Proverbs 20:4 ERV)

Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.(Proverbs 13:4 NLB)

As I continue with the theme of transforming your mind, I wanted to talk about some of the reasons I believe we are not successful in the area of weight management.  Keep in mind, these are areas that I have struggled with and had to confront.

The major component of success in managing our health is grit. Grit is a favorite quality of mine:) Grit is defined as "perseverance and passion for long-term goals. A person possessing grit does not require immediate positive feedback. Individuals high in grit are able to maintain their motivation and focus over long periods of time despite experiences with failure and adversity." Wow! How true in the area of weight management. We did not become out of shape overnight and yet we want to become in shape instantly. Remember that managing our health is a marathon and not a sprint.

The opposite of grit is laziness. Everyone has to struggle with laziness. Our first response is to skip the workout. Always! Our second response is to do an easier workout:). We have to keep in mind that the instant gratification is not worth it. The long term reward is always worth the wait.   The principal of delayed gratification is true in every area of life...money, relationships, success in school, diet and especially exercise. That is where grit comes in.  Exercise will never be convenient or easy. It does not  show immediate results, other than the way you feel about yourself when you are finished!  

The single most important thing that I started doing as far as managing my health was weight lifting. Yep, you read that correctly...building muscle. As an older woman, I did not grow up seeing other women lifting weights. Now that I have completed 1 1/2 years of weight training, so many pieces of the puzzle are making sense. I started looking differently even before I lost an ounce. Once I began to change my eating habits, I found it easier to actually lose weight. I will not get into the concepts of "muscle burns more fat" or "you will continue to burn calories after a weight training day."  I do not feel knowledgeable enough on those topics.  I will say that I am a believer in weight training and wonder why I never knew about it for most of my life:)

In addition to weight lifting, I began riding bikes. The first time I rode a bike, I thought I would die.  It was just too difficult. I continued because of the grit factor. I purposefully attempt to do things now that are physically unpleasant in the short term because there are very pleasant in the long run...having to buy smaller sizes. In the beginning of my weight loss phase, all I could do was walk. I would encourage you to try something more difficult as you are able. I just finished week 4 of a running program. I do not even know who I am these days!

Long term results concerning exercise are listed in many articles...even increased mental acuity. A physically fit 75 year old will be miles ahead, mentally speaking, than an out-of- shape 75 year old. I think it is worth it to make small investments of time, consistently, to reap large benefits in the years to come.

I will blog about what I eat in my next blog. Nutrition is 80%. Exercise is 20%. You cannot walk enough to take off all the weight you want to lose. I am convinced that both components are necessary to achieving the health that we desire.

I exercised everyday on my vacation this past week. I am amazed.

Learn From Your Past Mistakes

 

Proverbs 16:20 (ERV)

 Good things happen to those who learn from their experiences, and the Lord blesses those who trust him.

It never ceases to amaze me how the Bible has an answer for all of life's issues. As I am contemplating on what to write about today, I realized that this verse is a golden nuggett of truth for those who want to lose weight and regain their health. This verse is stating the simple truth...change what you've done in the past if you want to change your future.

I teach 8th grade Algebra. Best job in the world!!! I try to teach a short lesson every year on "3rd alternative thinking." Many of my students want to make a better grade and ask me if there is bonus work to improve it. You can imagine that I am not happy with this request. They want a quick fix to a larger problem...lack of effort.  I explain that most people would like to use the third alternative when they want to change their grades(or their weight). Problem is...there is no third alternative. It doesn't exist.

The first alternative is to stick with the same behaviour and get the same result. The second alternative is to change your behaviour and get different results.  Most of us deceive ourselves into thinking that we can continue with our same behaviour and get different results(this is what I call the third alternative). This is not possible!

At one point in my life I weighed 80 pounds more than what I weigh now! I lost a lot of opportunities to swim with my children, ride bikes with my children and just enjoy life more. I finally realized that unless I changed, nothing would change.  I literally thank God everyday that he is allowing me a second chance to swim and ride bikes with my grandsons. How incredible is that?

I have spent the last three blogs on "transforming your mind "without naming a diet plan or an exercise plan. That is because unless you get your head on straight and quit looking for the quick fix, you will not achieve your goals. I have tried in the past to lose wieght for a trip or a high school reunion or any upcoming event. But unless you committ that you want to stop the endless cycle of losing and gaining, it is just that...a quick fix and not a life change.

So before you begin your next diet, examine your motives.  Why are you wanting to lose weight? If it is for life change, then are you willing to change your behaviour for the rest of your life?  I decided(at age 55) that it was worth it to make changes because I would gain so much more than I was giving up.

Next blog, I want to visit some changes that made a difference for me. I will not advertise a diet plan or gym membership. This will be just stuff that worked for me. Until then, ponder this verse:

Proverbs 16:3 (MSG)

Put God in charge of your work,
then what you’ve planned will take place.

And if you still are not convinced that it is time for a change, ponder on this picture:)

Healthy Bodies

Proverbs 14:30(ERV)

^" Peace of mind makes the body healthy, but jealousy is like a cancer."

I think this is a good place to begin a series of blogs on being transformed by the renewing of your mind. My last blog revealed that I had made some changes in my physical health. One might follow this blog to see what kind of food that I was eating or what kind of new diet I was following. Most of the women in America are wanting to lose weght or improve their health in some way.

However, I think we need to realize that the battle must begin deeper than discovering a new diet or exercise plan. True health starts with renewing our mind and not simply eating certain foods. Google the word "diet" and countless plans will appear, each promising to be the magic answer to our weight/health problems. I am convinced that the Bible contains ALL the answers to EVERY problem we will face.  After all, it is God's Word and he is all-knowing. His knowledge trumps the world's knowledge anyday of the week.

Proverbs states that "peace of mind makes the body healthy." I have lost most of my readers with that answer! Please stay with me here.  Before any diet plans are written down, the root of the issue must be examined. Diet plans must turn into "life plans" if they are to be successful. I was reading about peace and tranquility and found this article.

"A walk through a Japanese garden, watching a gold fish swim in an aquarium, or wading our feet in a pond or lake – tranquility as our mind would imagine it to be; peace and quiet, balance, symmetry, a calming stillness.

But life is truly full of surprises. A shout here, a disturbance there – a scream, a nightmare! Life throws a curve ball when we least expect it and we fail to hit the ball and make the home run.

I thank the Lord for the writer of Proverbs. He doesn’t describe life as tranquil – because it’s not, not in this plane of existence we are in. It is a tranquil HEART that he writes about. You see, when everything around us pulls on every facet of our life, it is what is happening inside of us that matters – it is the “state of our heart” that matters. Real peace and tranquility starts from within our center – the heart. And that is only possible with a heart that is in the Hands of its Creator; a heart that has as its Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Problems and worries, whether physical, emotional, mental or imaginary – even worrying about tomorrow, has a way of weighing down on a person’s body; not only the physical body but the person as a whole. Stress robs a person of strength and will; fear immobilizes a person not to progress but to regress, to waste away. But when a person is at peace within himself, no matter what the external factors or forces may bring their way, the tranquil heart simply radiates and strengthens the individual; it is the filling of the Spirit, the empowerment of its presence, in the life of the Christian; a tranquil heart is a heart submitted to the will of the Lord."

When we make a decision to submit our eating to God's will and not our own, the plan will not be dependent on whether this is a good day to follow our diet.  When our heart is submitted to God's way and not our own, we will not eat a pizza just because we had a bad day. When we are conforming to God's will and not our own, we will have "pre-decided" that no matter what the circumstance we are facing, we will not gorge ourselves on food to handle the stress. Because that is the way the world hanldes it, right? Once again, Romans 12:1-2 states:

 "So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 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."

I have a lot more to say about this topic but it can wait until another day. Until then, I present this information to you as one wretched sinner to another, striving to be all that God has called me to be.

Deep down, I knew this day would come. It was only a matter of time.  I am a teacher.  I love to teach.  I will explode if I am not teaching something...anything.

Since my last blog post, I have made some significant changes in my life.  Some are related to my overall health and outward appearance. Others have to do with some inward changes. I am writing about them with the hopes that it will be of benefit to someone who needs to make similar changes in their life, as well.  In no way am I acting like I have it all together. I am the least "all-together" person I know! I am just brave enough to say some things out loud that, perhaps, need to be said.

I will write about the changes to my outward appearance. In the past year, I have lost about 35 pounds.  I have been trying to lose weight for years, literally years. I am close to my weight that I was at the time of my marriage. In fact, I can fit into my wedding dress. I lift weights 2-3 times a week. I ride bikes with my husband.  I am beginning a running program. I do not even recognize myself!!! I am in total amazement and complete gratitude to God. I thank him everyday that he was not happy with me in my unhealthy state.

Whether you are a believer or not, reality is that we are blessed with a body to walk around in for as long as we live on this earth. It is on loan to us. Most of my life, I trashed my body. Most of America can identify with that. Some of us abuse our body with too much alcohol.  There are others who abuse their body with unnecessary drugs. Hear me when I say that I am not casting a stone of judgement!  For years, my abuse was too much food and the wrong kind of food. 

These abuses all stem from the same problem.  I want what I want and I want it now. We are not willing to give up our rights to our body.

However, in Corinthians it clearly states

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
You should know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit that you received from God and that lives in you. You don’t own yourselves. God paid a very high price to make you his. So honor God with your body.

I could quote verse after verse about giving up our rights to ourselves and they all point to the same fact. We have been given this body on loan. It is not ours to trash. Another verse that God kept bringing to my heart is found in Romans, chapter 12.

Romans 12:2
Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.

Romans 12:2 has always been a favorite verse. I cannot count the times I have said "If the world does things one way, I will do it the other way." However, for years I chose to eat the same way as the world around me. Unfortunately, I got the same results as the people around me.  Most of America is overweight and out of shape.  Why was I mimicking their ways unless I wanted to look just like them?

I want to do a series of blogs on "not conforming to this world but being transformed by the renewing of your mind." I believe that we will come to see that as we do things different from the world, we will prove to ourselves and others that God's way are so perfect and meant for our good.