eating healthy through the holidays

I'm sure I'm not the only one concerned about surviving the holidays intact. I am not so much worried about the gift giving and the running around to see everyone. My issue is with all that scrumptious food.

When I decided that I wanted to take better care of myself by eating right and exercising it was June 3RD, my birthday, and I wasn't thinking about Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. I hadn't considered what it was going to be like to eat healthy through the holidays.

Fortunately, I've been making better choices for the past 4 1/2 months; I survived Halloween without eating a single piece of candy. The fact of the matter is that I don't have any desire for watermelon Jolly Ranchers or plain M&M's. What I do crave are those yummy sauces and gravies! Then there is all of that cornbread dressing and those mash potatoes. I could literally drown myself in a vat of gravy, oh the goodness!

But no, not this year, this is the year that I make healthy lifestyle choices. I have a plan. The first thing is that I am only going to drink water or herbal tea. I am not wasting calories on sweet tea; I don't drink anything but water now anyway, so that shouldn't be too hard. Next, I am going to keep on exercising, maybe even increasing my workout on the days that I am likely to want to eat more. The third thing that I am going to is to map out my eating. In other words, I am not going to put anything on my plate that doesn’t have a purpose. I know that if I eat more protein it will help my body process the carbs more efficiently so I’ll eat more lean meat and beans. I’m also planning on using a smaller plate and avoiding going back for seconds. I figure if I eat slowly and enjoy my food I won’t need to load up my plate.

I put this plan into action yesterday and it didn't go too badly. I only put half of a twice baked potato on my plate, I drank water and I resisted dessert by eating an apple. So far, so good. Do you have a plan for eating healthy through the holidays?

precious presents

We are fast approaching the holiday season and with that, for some reason, the Christmas shopping season. This Friday is the dreaded Black Friday, named so because this is the day that retailers go from being in the red to being in the black.

Once again I want to challenge you not to fall into the commercialism of the season. One rebellious group, The Adbusters, are campaigning for us to join Buy Nothing Day where you can pledge to not shop from sunrise to sunset on November 26th. I think this is an interesting proposition, since we Americans have more waste that any other country. So, in addition to not shopping on Black Friday I want you to consider some other ways you can make changes this holiday season.

Did you know that 1.8 million people in under resourced countries die every year from dirty drinking water. The Advent Conspiracy who tells us to worship fully, spend less, give more and love all, is asking for support for Living Water International . There is a wonderful video where Chris Seay explains, from the streets of Haiti, how you can spend your Christmas money to save lives.

Samaritan's Purse offers aid to the worlds poor and sick. They have emergency relief programs that provide assistance to victims of war, famine, disease, and natural disaster. At Christmas time you can pack a shoe box and have it sent to a needy child through their Operation Christmas Child program. Their vision is through the story of the good Samaritan.

Fred Curry, of Rice and Beans Ministry, in Costa Rica is asking for support in reaching out to the poor people in the coastal, central and south pacific. Just ten dollars will feed a family for 4 days.

Of course there are children right here in the US that go to bed hungry every day. Many of these kids rely on the school lunch program to receive nutritious meals. On weekends and holidays there the program, Feeding America, that offers additional food through their Backpack Program. They fill children's backpacks with nonperishable and easily consumed food the day before the weekend or holiday. Our church is partnered with a local school and we provide these backpacks,. We are always in need of more backpacks and money to purchase food due to the increasing numbers of qualified applicants.

So, instead of giving into the commercialism of the season, I am begging you, please consider participating in one of these programs or look into another programs in you region where you can give the most precious gift.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing all a wonderful day full of love, hope and thankfulness.

February 2, 2008

Well, today is Groundhogs Day and Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. According to legend there will be six more weeks of winter. I hope that means we will get some snow! Yea Phil!



Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. It used to be one of my favorites. I thought it would be great to do a day over and over until you could get it right. Today is not one of those days. In fact, I can't think of a day that I would want to do over. I am very content with my life. Is there a day in your life that you'd like to live over?

New Years Day

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Musing

As I was sitting in the back yard watching the leaves being blow around by the breeze I got to thinking about all my friends. All but two or three of them are people that I have met since being married with children. I know them from church and they live very similar lives. But as I was watching the leaves scatter, I thought about all the places my friends have scattered off to. I have one friend who lived in Hawaii for a while that is currently in Germany. Another friend lived in California before going back to her home state of Texas. One lived in Texas for a while, but now lives outside of Washington DC. Another lives in Texas and still and another in Louisiana. We have lived in Florida and Louisiana before coming here to the Natural State. It’s interesting how the breeze scatters us and yet we are all still friends. Unique and yet still all the same.
I can’t wait to go visit my friends in Hattiesburg for the holidays, but I will be sad not to see all those who have moved off. Here's to those who won't be home for the holidays, you will be missed.