^Lauren sticking cookie sprinkles to my son's face^
I love my Mom's family but I rarely get to lay eyes on them. We keep in touch on Facebook which helps us to stay close at heart.
My cousin Lauren decided she wanted to get us all together and decorate sugar cookies for Christmas. Since I have 3 children I thought that was a lovely idea.
I forgot the 'sister' factor.
Cindi and Teresa. Between climbing on each others laps, hitting, pinching, screaming and farting on each other I didn't know what to think!
The kids had a ball. And so did I. Adam had a good time making everyone else's cookies look bad with his artsy fartsy skills.
Quote of the night:
Cindi to Rose: Where did you come from? Destiny: Momma's Vagina. Teresa: Fragina? What's that? Lauren: I dunno but it can't be as bad as a bucket vagina.
Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come The old has gone, the new is here! Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Philippians 4:13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
God is not angry with me. We have conquered death and sin by accepting Jesus. All those who accept Jesus become a new type of person. By the grace of God we are forgiven and now are greatly blessed. God has a job for us to do. God has given us all we need to complete our task.
I enjoy these verses because they are filled with the promise of better things in Jesus. It doesn't say you will be rich and never have another problem but it does say you will be able to handle anything that comes your way. They confirm there is a reason for each of us to be here. They reestablish the fact that you are loved, forgiven, and wanted.
I don't think there is anyone on the planet Earth who does not want to have a purpose. I think all of us want to be a better person and know there is someone on our side.
Matthew:6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
This wonderful verse is used over and over again by pastors trying to convince their parishioners to tithe. Such a wonderful part of the bible that originally was part of a larger message about not making money the most important priority in your life but instead to trust God and do the right thing without needing recognition and fame. Store up spiritual treasure in your heart.
I personally agree with the tithe. I don't enjoy hearing a money message every few months, but that is the part of church nobody really enjoys. I know that most churches want to do a lot of 'programs'. I also understand those programs cost money. I wish the pastor would just say to us,
"Hey, I want to do (A). It will achieve (B). In order to do that I need to raise (X) amount of money. That will fund the program for (such) an amount of time. Here is a form with all the programs we want to do. If you donate and want to support a certain program please mark the box near it. Thanks."
I know that there are passages which say if you will give the tithe the "floodgates" of blessing will flow for me. That's great. It's a wonderful lesson to give now and then. It fits when giving a sermon on financial responsibility. Money is a huge issue and there are biblical truths on how to handle money so as to avoid stress and starvation. I have given and I have noticed that money falls out of the sky for me when I do. Not literally, but bonuses and gifts, or extra work seems to come my way when I am tithing. It's tried and true for me.
I agree with a friend however, that you don't have to make the tithe with your church. You can take the 10% and give to charity instead. The money is for the continuation of good works. It also helps you maintain financial discipline. You should be donating money, saving money, and budgeting the rest. Living under your means or at least within them. This is a very hard lesson to learn. Those who know me personally know the lesson took a long time for my family to get in our heads. Luckily we are doing better now, and it was the biblical principles that helped us.
So dear reader do not take this as a tirade against the tithe, but as a small complaint of the use of a beautiful verse to get blood from a stone.
God is the ultimate scientist and all others are just trying to catch up.
The existence of God is not going to be proven by science! If we could prove God thru science then we will have figured him out and that would make us God. Since there is only one true God and He is a supernatural mystery...well scientist who are trying to 'prove' there is a God are on a road to nowhere, destined to fail.
1 Corinthians 1:19-21 (The Message)
The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It's written,
I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head, I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots. So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.
If you want to prove there is a God please take off the lab coat. He is not in your computer, under your microscope, or in your math equation that takes up 3 rooms worth of wall space.
Go outside and plant something, watch it grow, don't analyze it to death. See the beauty. Have a child. Make some friends. Go for a walk in the mountains. Get a life. Study this thing us simple folk call FAITH. Stop looking for the cold calculation and find the warm pulse of God in every place you look.
This past Sunday my pastor preached about the trap of being a 'people pleaser'. The online notes referred us to several scriptures:
Acts 5:29 Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!"
Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ
I Thessalonians 2:4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.
These are all from the NIV translation.
Wow. I only need to live my life to make God happy. God loved me when he found me, screwed up as I was, so really I'm not trying to get God's love but only return the love by living a life pleasing to him. AND...if I screw up, He forgives me!
This is deep stuff ladies and gentlemen. It is so freeing! Yes I may lose the good opinions of some people by not trying to fit in with them, but it doesn't matter anymore.
Plus if you look at the 10 Commandments and the directions given in the Bible's New Testament, it's all good for you. Resolve conflict, guide each other, love each other, help each other, don't lie or steal or cheat...you know 'em.
Joyce Meyer was on TV today and she said she knows the Bible is the Truth. She says that when she accepted the words and lived them her life was better. The Bible worked and that's how she knows it's real.(Not an exact quote but it's what I got from it)What a cool idea! If you don't trust that Jesus is the real deal, test it out! Watch the life you have change!
I really like this series. If you want to see Stu's talk go to Watersedgechurch.net and watch last Sundays talk.
Well I believe what Jesus believed. He has influenced the world for over 2000 years.
Jesus believed in God.
Jesus believed in Hell.
Jesus believed in loving one another.
Jesus believed in forgiveness.
Jesus believed in marriage and family.
Jesus believed in serving your brother.
Jesus believed in the power of prayer.
Jesus believed in healing the sick.
Jesus believed in caring for the poor.
Jesus believed in putting God’s will over your own.
Why? Why do I believe in Jesus? What a question to ponder.
Is it because I was raised a Christian? I am sure that has something to do with it. But there is more to it than that; I have some personal unconventional reasons.
First of all my mother had a near death experience. She saw the light. She felt the love. I know there are a lot of studies which try to disprove NDE but I think those people are just afraid. If NDE is real, then nonbelievers have to reevaluate their entire lives. They have an emotional investment in disproving NDE.
Second my mother was a spirit/energy magnet. Yep folks I’m talking GHOSTS. You can call it hogwash, but you weren’t in my room with all the windows rattling, just in that room.
Third, there is a miracle everyday. It’s hard to find them because they don’t make the news very easily. Science cannot explain away every legitimate miracle. Not every weeping statue is a hoax. When two people you work with pray for one of them to be healed, and then they both jump because they felt something akin to static run between them, and then the pain leaves…I see God.
Fourth, I pray. And my prayers are answered. Constantly. Faithfully. I believe it’s more than ‘luck’ and coincidence.
Fifth, I read the bible and it describes the signs of a nonbeliever, and then I see those signs in nonbelievers. I believe.
Sixth, Jesus said when he left we would be sent a helper. What you call intuition or conscience, I call The Holy Spirit. That small voice is not audible. That small voice which tells you to do something that is usually not very convenient for yourself. Such as leading you to someone that needs help. We are self centered creatures; do we really think that came from us?
Finally, number seven, biblical and historical evidence. Examples are The Book of Acts, Pliny’s Letters to Trajan X, etc. It is well documented that Jesus did exist and was crucified. It is also well documented that he was seen after the crucifixion. Instead of trying to list a lot of what I believe is good ‘evidence’ feel free to visit this webpage. http://www.layhands.com/EvidenceForTheResurrection.htm. There is another website as well called GotQuestions.org.
In an uncorrupted court of law, Jesus would be proven Savior.
Recap: For the month of July I have been focused on a change of diet. I have been reducing the dairy, carbohydrates and sugar that I eat. I have been doing this to avoid future health problems and hopefully lose some more weight. I gained a lot of stress/southern cooking weight and have been working about 2.5 years to lose it.
I have 2 days left. I think I have done fairly well making this lifestyle change, but it was not easy! I did not always stick to it. Luckily, I don't HAVE to eat this way, so when I 'slip up' I can easily get 'back on track' without guilt.
Losing guilt was a big deal, along with learning what to do when I was over come with hunger. Bread, pastry, and cake was always my go to food when the tummy was growling.
So right now I weigh 128.4 lbs. I am 3.4 lbs from my goal of 125 lbs. I give myself 6-8 more weeks of keeping carbs, sugar, and calories down to meet this weight. I probably would have passed my goal by now if I was exercising. Eventually I will get over my aversion to being hot.
Thanks to everyone who encouraged me in this change. I will be continuing my blog with a new topic in August.
Cake how I love you Cake I adore From your spongy soft body To your chocolate icing galore A moment on my lips Forever on my hips Will I love you forever When I can't get through the door?
Today is the first day I have managed to keep my sugar intake under 50 grams for the day. AMEN.
Eating lite yogurt, sugar free bread, and no sugar added ice cream helped. Eating block cheese as a snack seems to help with hunger too. Doesn't help me when reducing dairy, but I've addressed that in other ways. Such as choosing milk for coffee or milk for cereal instead of both and eating cheese free dinners.
My weight is going down. Nothing drastic, but I understand that weight lost slow and steady stays off better. If I lose 3 pounds more I'll be at my goal weight. I doubt I will do that in 9 days but I might get close.
I'm a normal American. I like things quick, easy, and cheap.
On my way up the road or down I pass:
Wendy's, McDonalds, Arby's, Bojangles, Pizza Hut, and a Chinese restaurant within 3 miles of my house.
Go a little farther and mixed in with NUMEROUS sit down restaurants and greasy spoons there is also a Subway, another Wendy's, Hardees, Taco Bell, Starbucks, several mom and pop pizzerias, a fast food/snow cone small business, Uppy's subs, Tuscany's coffee house, Dominos, Vinny's Pizza, Multiple Chinese food places, another McDonalds, and a Sonic.
Literally all this within 10 miles of my house going down 1 main road.
Holy Crap. How am I not 300lbs?
So last night I ask my oldest child if she could have anything for dinner what would it be? (I was feeling nice) So of course she picks fried chicken. Real fried chicken, which means it can't be made by me, because I haven't perfected my recipe yet. So off to Bojangles we go to order a hunk of grease with two sides of diabetic nightmare. I don't care if you rip off the yummy fried flour and only eat half of the piece of chicken, I don't care if you only smell the sides, this meal has no redeeming qualities.
So what have I learned? Don't let the kid choose what's for dinner and don't leave the house hungry.
I'm half proud of myself and half irritated. ON the one hand, I had an Arby's bacon and cheese Roastburger with curly fries and still kept my total calories under 1500 for the day. ON the other hand, I need to stop sending the hubby out for fast food every time I feel irritated in the evening. I usually only do it once a week, but still, once is more than I have in the budget.
I've had a lot of feedback on my previous sugar posts. Many people say that naturally occurring sugars in fruits and veggies shouldn't count towards my total. With a 50 gram limit on refined sugars, I'm still struggling. There are 4g in one teaspoon of sugar. I use 5 measured teaspoons in a cup of coffee. So if I drink a second cup I'm screwed by using 4/5 of the daily recommended before I even eat my breakfast. I've been told to get a book about protein diets and told to go to a dietitian recommended by my doc. I'm considering those options.
I'm also looking at other sweeteners that are not artificial to see how they measure up. A serving size of honey is 339 grams. A teaspoon of honey is 7.16 grams. The sugars in a serving size of honey are 278 grams so a teaspoon of honey has approx. 17 grams of sugars. (I didn't do the math so don't yell at me.) Since it's 'naturally occurring' sugars....I guess that makes it better?
Some of the math of eating doesn't make any damn sense.
Yesterday I managed to just barely stay under the daily recommended of sugar. The max you should eat is 50 grams, I ate 49.6 grams.
It wasn't easy. I had to track my food throughout the day on the food journal site instead of at the end of the day.
Yesterday's foods with sugar:
Baked Potato {1 potato before butter and salt}=2.04g Dark chocolate {3 squares off the bar}=13.08g chicken nugget {1 nugget}=.05g yogurt {low fat doesn't mean low sugar!}=12g orange juice =1.30g banana {I thought this was good for me!}=14.43g milk {just what I put in my coffee}=.19g Sugar {I put in my 2 cups of coffee}=8g
I was shocked that a baked potato and milk contain any natural sugar.
The worse thing I ate yesterday was a banana. Orange juice, dark chocolate, and bananas are good when it comes to serotonin but not when you want to lower sugar. I don't think sugar free banana's exist. I am pretty darn sure that sugar free dark chocolate and O.J. do.
I really enjoy my food and fitness food journal but I wish that it had more brands on it's list. Sometimes I have to find the 'closes thing' to what I really ate. Today I will be writing down the sugar from the labels and keeping track on my own. I know I need to start buying stuff like Splenda but it's hard. $1.98 vs $6.99 hard. I suppose I will just need to make my health worth the $.
Found 2 articles on about.com that have some pretty good info on fiber and veggies.
I've been looking over my food journal and I have noticed something. I am doing great on my carbs and calories, but have gone over the daily recommended amount of sugar every time. The worse day I went over by about 45 grams. It may not seem like a lot, but I'm doing this thing to help avoid becoming diabetic later in life. I use sugar in my coffee and tea. OJ has sugar, I started drinking 1 glass everyday to help with serotonin. I ate a red sauce, that has sugar in it. A slice of cornbread has sugar in it! I need to be careful. Since I've been LOW carb eating not NO carb eating I have allowed myself to eat a cookie or 3 at night if I 'behaved' the rest of the day. I also let myself have the occasional bowl of ice cream.
I think the problem is my habit of eating a sweet around 8pm. We started dessert time with our kids years ago. They know that at 8pm it's their last chance to go into the kitchen for a snack. I usually go along with them. I thought I was being good by only snacking on nuts or a couple of dark chocolate squares during the day. I now see I need to have some dessert alternatives for myself at night.
The hunger is gone. FINALLY! I dunno if it's the shrinking stomach or the detox from my carb addiction. Either way I'm not craving like I was. YES! I have also developed a strong love for nuts and beans. WTH?
I will say that the struggle now is to keep up the fiber. "Why?" you ask. Take a wild guess. Gonna need to up the Benefiber and water. I'll be looking at those low carb veggies and comparing fiber as well. I use to drink a cup o' joe in the AM and that would 'move' things along, but I switched my coffee to a 'low acid' variety as I made this diet change and it isn't helping me out. However I am not going to throw away my 5 gallon jug 'o joe because it was not cheap. I'll just wait until it's gone and then go back to Dunkin' Donuts brand. It must be full of fiber!
I am proud of myself for keeping my calories lower than 1800, keeping my carbs at least 1/2 of the daily recommended, and my dairy is low fat. I am using this website http://www.everydayhealth.com/members/account/login.aspx?returnUrl=%2ffood-fitness%2fJournal%2f2010-07-01#/1#/3#/6 to keep track of all that btw.
Yesterday was hard. I'm not going to go into great detail, but lots of noise was involved. I don't take lots of noise well. Probably a bad thing since I run a home daycare. I felt like the Grinch complaining about the Who's. "...all the noise, noise, noise, NOISE!"
So I let stress destroy my progress and I ordered from Pizza Hut. A Hawaiian Luau and a Cheese Lovers. I ate 3 pieces and felt sick all night.
"They" say that you can stave off hunger with just 5 whole almonds. Perhaps "They" can do this after months of shrinking their stomachs. Dammit. A serving size is 24. I ate them all in less than 30 seconds.
As far as cravings go it's eased up. I'm on day 7 of my low carb & dairy diet and the cravings are ok. Last night my kids made chocolate chip cookies. I allowed my self to eat some but to be honest, my stomach hurt after 1.
The hunger is still and issue. Will power is my friend. Despite my hunger I kept myself at 1279 calories yesterday and only ate 1/2 the daily recommended carbs. I went to the store yesterday and bought some veggies and fruits that are lower carbs than most. I think I can snack on those and my almonds (insert eye roll here).
I have decided I cannot give up salt. I tried it yesterday when I ate my boiled eggs. I had no idea eggs were disgusting until eating them without cheese and salt. I didn't miss the cheese, but the salt is coming back. My cholesterol is healthy and I don't typically add it to other foods.
I bought several types of raw beans. They made a debut at our dinner last night. My kids acted like I was trying to poison them but they really tasted pretty good to me. I choked down soggy asparagus so they can suffer a handful of great northern beans.
I am hopeful that changing out the types of vegetables I cook will introduce 'good carbs' that I can use for energy in the future. I haven't felt a loss of vitality but I have been warned it could happen. My concern is more about a loss of naturally occurring serotonin. I have an issue with getting nervous in the evenings. While I have learned my 'triggers' and can usually manage this condition, I don't want to accidentally reduce a natural chemical that I'm already low on in the evening hours. There are some really 'smart' articles on the web that discuss foods which produce or help your body absorb serotonin. Unfortunately most of them are carb filled. I will be doing a lot of reading about this over the next few days. If I can get most of my carbs and serotonin producing foods in the form of veggies I wont have a problem, I think.
I have discovered what some of my mistakes are so far. First lack of planning has bit me in the ass. I really should have planned some menus instead of jumping into a 31 day low carb & dairy diet. Also lack of education. I should have done some research on some filling foods before I started. I've been so hungry but I've managed to at least be reasonable when I dive into a sack o' carbs. The calorie count has been consistently under 1500 a day. Going out for the July 4th fireworks was an ordeal. We were on the beach for 12 hours and everything we brought was outside my plan. I ate what I wanted and hoped to be able to recover this week. I'm going to master this once I slow down and plan some things out. Good news is that my weight is the same as it was on Friday.
I found this article to be very informative (http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4467.) After reading this I know I need to make sure low carb veggies are a part of my diet. I looked up some lists and checked carb content on some veggies and I'll be adding some Benefiber to my daily regime.
Dairy hasn't been as hard as I thought. The day before 'that time' I was sure I NEEDED ice cream, but since then I have been able to stick to only using milk in my coffee or having a bowl of cereal in the morning. I found milk free bread products when I went shopping with only a little jump in my spending.
I'm thinking about this choice and it makes me happy. I have a lot to learn on managing what I buy, but after these 31 days I think I will be able to make some of my choices permanent. I want to avoid the problems that obesity and insulin resistance has done to members of my family. I know that with information and the support of my friends this can be done successfully and that I can be happy with the changes.
So this morning I woke up to day 2 of low carb and dairy. I weighed in and now I'm drinking my beloved cup o' coffee with milk. I like my coffee white.
I did well as far as calories yesterday. I only ate 1123 which is 877 under the 2000 recommended limit. However the 5 chips, 3 pretzels, and the bowl of ice cream shouldn't have happened. My Aunt said you could be addicted to carbs and she is right. At 3am I was in the kitchen scarfing down a Chocolate Chunk cookie and making noises only my husband should cause. I think it was the best cookie of my life. The chips happened suddenly. I was innocently standing in the kitchen, and my kids left a bowl with a few little chips uneaten. Next think I knew 5 of them jumped into my mouth and ran down my throat! It was horrifying. The ice cream is my fault. I wanted it so badly the day before my diet that I sent hubby to get some. I wish it wasn't in my freezer. Carmel Tracks from Breyer's. Who can resist it when it says "1/2 the fat"?
Today I will try and find some pages on food addiction so I can post them tomorrow.
I know how boring. Your typical blog from a chic who wants to lose weight. Well shut up I didn't twist your arm to get you here. I'll pick a new topic in August. It will be action packed I promise.
I'm Aimee. I'm 33 years old, mother of 3, married 15 years. I have a bad case of "Love Chub". I am committing myself to 31 days of weight loss starting today July 1st. I'm not a doctor or expert of any kind but I feel I have enough information to design my own weight loss program.
1. According to my Aunt Cindi I should low carb. Apparently all females in my mother's family 'blow up' in their 30's because we become 'immune' to insulin. Since carbs make sugar which is countered by insulin which we are then immune to, we gain weight. Also we can be 'addicted' to food so I will be reading up on conquering addictions to food.
2. According to my friend Steph' who is so lactose intolerant she had to make a complete lifestyle change, not eating milk or anything even made with milk is how she got down to a size 4. I will only allow myself milk in my coffee or a bowl of cereal. One or the other.
3. I own a Wii fit and I am close to a park with trails and a nice little beach. I will attempt to overcome my aversion to getting hot and utilize these resources.
I started this morning. Since it's low carb not no carb I ate a bowl of cereal. For lunch I ate 3 slices of low fat turkey which equals a whopping 50 calories. I'm starving. I'm going to drink a huge glass of ice water and see what happens.
