Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Summertime Monopoly

It’s almost the end of the month and it’s hard to believe that summer is really here. It finally got warm enough that we had to shut up the house and turn on the air conditioner. I love the fresh air blowing through the windows and miss it during the summer. Don’t get me wrong, I am VERY grateful for air conditioning. When I grew up, we didn’t have air conditioning and our schools weren’t air conditioned either. It’s hard to believe that we didn’t completely melt into puddles during the summer months. But we survived and enjoyed our free time immensely. We used to sit in the breezeway to the house and play board games all during the long summer. I used to have the monopoly board memorized and knew the price of every house, rent and property in the game. I miss having all that free time. There is always something on my list to do these days. But, at least I’ve learned to use a list and make it my friend. I keep a daily, weekly and even monthly to do list. It’s where I park my brain so that I don’t have to keep it in drive. I schedule out my household chores, homeschooling tasks, menus and miscellaneous. It helps keep my mind uncluttered and gives me the ability to claim free time when I can. The bathrooms might be getting messy today, but tomorrow is my day to clean it. So, today, I can overlook the mess knowing that it will be clean tomorrow. It’s amazing the freedom it gives me to “goof off” when I can. I’m not an overly organized person, but having a schedule is freeing for me. Well, gotta run. It’s time to enjoy some of my free time and go have a game of tag with the kids. I love to do lists almost as much as margin!

Monday, May 28, 2007

Eat at Home!!!

I was completely surprised yesterday while I was surfing the net collecting information for an article I wanted to write. I was looking up nutritional information on some restaurant and fast food items and was stunned, literally stunned, by what I found. I know that eating out is typically a very unhealthy choice both for the waistline and the wallet. However, I guess I never really took the time to quantify that knowledge before. But with our family’s new commitment to following a spending plan each month and our continued commitment to healthy eating, my eyes were suddenly opened. Everyone knows that eating at home is much less expensive than eating out. It takes a little bit of time to prepare and clean up and a little bit of water and energy to complete both, but it doesn’t cost that much. But cost is another story for another day. What really surprised me was the fat content of items most people don’t think twice about while consuming. It is so easy to prepare a meal for the whole family with less fat than one serving of food to go. When a frozen mocha latte has over 40 grams of fat and ONE donut has over 15 (and who eats just one donut anyway?) it is no wonder that we have an obesity problem in America. It doesn’t matter what type of diet you are on, the only thing that counts for weight control is the number of calories consumed versus the number of calories used. Since each fat gram contains over 9 calories and carbohydrates and protein grams contain only 4 calories, no matter how you slice it, fat grams count too. I can’t even imagine fixing a dinner with so much fat. It reaffirms my philosophy of eating at home. Unless the only thing you eat at home are prepackaged meals and convenience foods, whatever you cook is probably much healthier than almost anything you can eat outside of your home. Want to lose weight? EAT AT HOME! Try it for a week. Just a week. See if being hyper-vigilant for only 7 days makes a difference. I bet if you just REFUSED to eat ANYTHING you hadn’t prepared yourself for 7 days, you would lose weight – and feel better! TRY IT! Let me know what happens! And if you don’t need to lose weight, does someone in your family? Seven days can make all of the difference in the world!

Friday, May 18, 2007

Living in the moment - What a blessing!

I’ve read a lot lately about decreasing your stress by living in the moment. Rather than physically doing one task while mentally doing 5 others, living in the moment means being truly present with the one task you are doing. I thought that was impossible and no one could live that way. I am always planning four or five things while doing what is at hand. Well, being sick has really opened my eyes to the importance of living in the moment. I am still recovering from pneumonia and trying to take it easier than normal. Yesterday seemed like a pretty relaxing day. I wasn’t stressed and I wasn’t overly tired by the end of the day. But then I reflected on what I did do yesterday and I was astounded. I had done 3 loads of wash (all folded and put away); homeschooled the children; prepared breakfast, lunch and homemade black bean soup for dinner; gone to the vet, the dollar store, the bank, the drug store, the post office, the library and the grocery store where I did my week’s worth of shopping; and returned home to unload and put all of the groceries away. I am not superwoman, but I was not overly fatigued. What was my secret yesterday? Besides relying totally on the Lord, I realized that I had also lived only in the moment. I knew I couldn’t do everything on my list, so I did what I could without beating myself up that I wasn’t doing more. I didn’t make phone calls while driving and I didn’t write blogs in my head while cooking and I didn’t plan cooking classes while homeschooling the children. I simply lived in the moment. I talked to the kids while driving and listened to them while we did our errands. I’m hooked – I hope! I never really knew how stressful and tiring it was to mentally be engaged somewhere else rather than in the present moment. And I never really knew how blessed I would feel to be recuperating and not at my fullest. I have really learned that God’s strength provides and he is always teaching me lessons – if I live in the moment enough to hear him!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

It's tough being sick - but I'm glad I have margin!

It’s tough being sick. Over the last month, I have been battling what I thought was a little cold that just wouldn’t go away. A dear friend of mine has been battling the same thing, except for three weeks longer than me. My cough continued to get worse and instead of slowly getting better, I was getting worse. Finally, I decided I had to go see a doctor. What I thought was a cold was actually a case of bronchitis with asthma and pneumonia thrown in for good measure. No wonder the day before I went to the doctor my morning work out was spent coughing as much as working out! So, Mother’s Day found me in a walk-in clinic after church. For someone who never takes medications, I walked out with four prescriptions and a promise to get a chest X-ray if I wasn’t markedly improved in 4 days. Needless to say, I found myself 4 days later getting a chest X-ray, coughing myself silly and with 2 more prescriptions. So, I am convalescing and learning how to let my husband, mother-in-law and children help out. I am also learning how to say no to certain activities and obligations and how to pace myself throughout the day. What is really amazing is that I have never felt short of breath and never really felt bad. A little more tired at the end of the day, but I was still working out almost everyday. My normal 4 mile walks were shortened slightly and my time was off a little – which I thought was due to my taking time to cough. I am now slowing down for a while and waiting to work out until my cough settles down. But I sure am glad that I have worked out and eaten right. It’s no guarantee that I don’t get sick, but it sure does help when I do. I may be slower this week, but I am not stopped. I still am able to take care of the house and kids without total fatigue and exhaustion. Maybe I would be better off if I needed some bed rest. Hmmmm…perhaps I need to think about that!

Friday, May 11, 2007

Fiber Rich Brownies

I couldn’t believe what I saw tonight. I was going through a magazine about health and nutrition and I ran across an interesting ad which included a recipe for “Fiber –Rich Raspberry Brownies”. It was an advertisement for psyllium fiber which touted its ability to lower your cholesterol. Normally I don’t pay too much attention to ads but for some reason it caught my eye. As I examined it more closely, I couldn’t believe what I saw! Here was an advertisement for a product being promoted as heart healthy yet the recipe they included called for 6 large eggs and 3 cups of sugar! Oh, but it did have ½ cup of fiber powder! Color me silly, but I like to get my fiber the natural way – in the whole foods and grains I eat every day. As astounded as I was, it started to dawn on me that if the fiber product being advertised was paying for the advertisement, it must be profitable. People must actually believe this nonsense. Perhaps we’ve all just been lulled to sleep by the large pharmaceutical and supplement industry. Somehow we think true health comes out of a bottle, in a pill or somehow in our “magical” brownies which have 6 eggs, 3 cups of sugar, and ½ cup of fiber powder. We need to wake up and think. True health comes from a full spiritual life, fulfilling relationships, enjoyable recreation and proper care of our bodies through exercise and a diet based on whole foods. Don’t get me wrong. I love brownies too and think they can have a place in our diets. But mine won’t have 6 eggs and 3 cups of sugar. And they surely won’t have ½ cup of psyllium fiber!

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Too Much Help in the Kitchen!


We have a large black Labrador Retriever named Sharlotte which we all adore. She was a wonderful gift from some friends just as my daughter was praying and begging for a dog. God always provides! But that’s another story. Sharlotte has a slight drinking problem as most labs do. When she drinks she also deposits a large amount of water directly on my kitchen floor. We always keep a small towel by her bowl to wipe the floor with after she gets a drink. When not in use, it normally “hides” under my kitchen counter. Really, it helps keep my kitchen floor pretty clean because several times a day I find I am using it. But that’s another story too.

Today, I was busy in the kitchen after dinner cleaning the dishes. Normally I feel a little like an Egyptian. I am getting quite good at building small pyramids of clean dishes and pots in my sink to drip dry. But today, I was concerned that my 9th wonder of the world may collapse, spilling all of my clean kitchen utensils onto the floor. So, as my 6 year old son was walking by, I told him to get the towel and start drying my dishes. I probably should have been more specific when I unknowingly made what I thought was a simple request. Andy was quickly obedient and started taking layers off of my pyramid and drying them. We had a nice visit while he helped and the time and chores seemed to fly by. It was only after I finished putting away all of the washed and dried utensils did I turn around and begin to sense that perhaps things were not as they had seemed. I quickly called Andy and asked him to tell me which towel he had used to dry ALL of the pots, pans, dishes, silverware and assorted other kitchen utensils I had used to prepare dinner. Much to my belated surprise, he told me had picked the towel up off the floor and used that one. ARGH! Next time I guess I need to be slightly more specific in my directions and perhaps I may be a little slower asking for help. Sometimes, there IS such a thing as too much help in the kitchen!

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Choose health over convenience!


We had a good day today! We were supposed to spend the day doing ballet and early morning baking. However, ballet got cancelled so we spent the day together unwinding and enjoying each other’s company. After dinner we decided to go fishing in the St. John’s River from a local boat ramp. The kids both caught some good sized Bluegills and we enjoyed watching the alligators nearby. We made sure to keep the children away from the water’s edge and one of us always kept an eye on the water nearby. There would be no falling in today! Emily was completely grossed out by the wiggly worms we used for bait and could scarcely eat at home once she learned that the bait had been carefully stored in our refrigerator. Yet, what I really found interesting is that we had been fishing in almost the exact same spot my Grandpa used to take me when I was only 5 years old. Grandpa and I would head out to Camp Holly with our cane poles and worms and have a wonderful time fishing. Unfortunately, I did not get to repeat this adventure many times. Grandpa had diabetes and had died of complications from the disease by the time I was in Kindergarten. It’s nice to know that through exercise, keeping my weight down and eating a wide variety of plant based whole foods that I am significantly lowering my risk of developing diabetes. It’s also wonderful to be able to help others do the same thing. I love hearing from people about how they have overcome their health challenges and family history through adopting the same principles. I also love hearing people say that they never knew a healthy lifestyle would be so easy, fun and down right tasty! Healthy, vibrant living isn’t about giving up things; it’s about doing the right things. But I really love thinking about all those future children who will be able to build a lifetime of memories with their grandpa and grandma because they chose health over convenience.