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Tag: joy griffin dent
Sugar Today, On Hips Tomorrow
What is satisfying in the moment, but harmful in the long run?
Ok, I’m thinking food choices here, in case anyone’s wondering.
Yes, it’s that time if year, again. When we start thinking about losing…
Pounds off our hips and pounds out of out closets.
Of all New Years resolutions, dieting is third on the list, right behind getting fit, and spending more time with family and friends.
Dieting and de-cltering.
For me they go hand in hand. It seems every time I think about losing a few pounds I gravitate to my closet where the racks are stuffed with at least four different sizes of clothing. For some reason they’re linked in my brain and I can’t seem to do one without tackling the other. Check out Darcy’s De-Clutterting Diet and Darcy’s De-Cluttering Diet Part 2. for a bit of inspiration.
How nice would it be to not only narrow my hips but my clothes size, as well. Just think of all the room I’d have in my closet for more cute clothes! 🙂
Lets talk about diets.
There are the biggies…
You can check out their websites and see what fits your lifestyle.
Then there’s…
Just plain ole’ eating healthy.
You know exactly what that means. I like to follow doctors and chiropractors that recommend an Anti-inflammatory diet. Just Google that phrase and see what comes up.
I recently began following Dr. Steven Sisskind, M.D. Check out his website, RealDoseNutrition. I take one of his supplements and am on his emailing list. As an advocate of the anti-inflammatory diet, he’s fine-tuned healthy eating and weight loss into a simple booklet that’s easy to follow.
My favorite health newsletter is Alternatives, by Dr. David Williams. You do have to buy a subscription, but it’s truly some of the best money I’ve ever spent.
Another one of my favorite’s is Dr. Asa Andrew. He’s a natural medicine doctor and a chiropractor. His book, Empowering Your Health, was life changing for me. It’s available in most book stores and online. His anti-inflammatory diet is included in the book and it’s easy to follow. His book is inspirational and highly motivational.
But, until you get his book or something similar, here’s an abridged shopping list. If you start with these simple changes it will change your body and your life. You will feel better and naturally lose weight.
First, eat lean meats, veggie’s and fruits. Organic and fresh when possible.
Second, omit all forms of sugar from your diet. This includes all white forms of carbohydrates. I know this may be hard for some of us, but try it for three months and you will never be the same. 🙂 After the three months, introduce healthy carbohydrates back into your diet and try to focus on gluten free where you can.
Variety is the spice of life! So…yes, you can occasionally have something sweet. But try to wait until after the three months.
Third, add omega 3’s to your diet. You can Google this but here’s a quick list: raw almonds, raw walnuts, lemon flavored Cod Liver Oil, [I take a tablespoon in the morning and one again in the evening.] Alaskan salmon: wild is best but if that’s not available buy farm raised or canned. Vital Choice Seafood is a great online source for wild. This is where I buy Dr. Perricone’s Anti-aging pack. It’s wild Alaskan salmon and organic frozen blueberries. 🙂
Fourth, move. Get up and walk. Fifteen, twenty minutes. Don’t stress over this. Just get moving. As a writer, I sit most of the time. Not good, folks. If you’re sedentary, like me, take frequent mini-walks. I like to dance, so the days I can’t walk, I’ll put on my iPod and dance around the living room. 🙂 [You’ll find that if you commit to fifteen minutes of walking, you’ll go longer.]
I wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Skinny 2013!
What do you want to change in 2013? Your waist line? Your closet clutter? Are you sick of feeling tired all the time? Would you like to lose a few pounds? Maybe, you’d simply like to manage the stress in your life.
How about spending more time with your family in 2013? It’s hard to say, no, with so many wonderful opportunities available to us. But sometimes, it’s something that simple, that helps us manage our time.
Have you tackled any of this before? If so, can you tell us your secrets to having more time, to stress management, weight loss or de-clutering your life?
I would love to hear from you. Connect with me on Facebook, I’d LOVE to be your friend!
The White Poinsettia
The Christmas season, after I lost my mother, I was shopping at a local florist for my annual poinsettia purchase. My habit was to buy three large plants, one read, one pink and one white and cluster them in the entrance of my home.
On that particular day, I was on my way to a Christmas Coffee and decided to buy my three plants on the way to my friend’s house. When I got there, to my dismay, there were only three poinsettias left. I had planned to purchase a white poinsettia for my friend when I purchased my plants.
I remember standing there struggling with the decision whether to buy the last white poinsettia for her or for me. My mother had died the day after Thanksgiving three weeks earlier, so I was late getting my house decorated. I stood there, my heart still filled with grief and battled over the white plant.
I have to confess, normally, that wouldn’t have been a difficult decision for me. I would have kept the white one and gotten her something else. But for some odd reason I wanted my friend to have the white poinsettia. So, I give up the struggle and I bought the white plant for her and the red and pink one for me. Hopefully, I would find a white one later at another shop.
After loading the three large plants in my car, I made my way to her home. I knocked on her door. When she opened it, I was greeted, not only by her smiling face but by about a hundred red poinsettias that were sitting beautifully in clusters throughout her home.
My heart plummeted. I should have kept the white poinsettia, rang over and over in my brain as I awkwardly stood there holding the white plant in my hands. It was definitely going to mess up her well planned Christmas decor. But, she graciously accepted it as I greeted her with a smile and a hug.
Disappointment washed over me as I realized I could have kept the white plant and given her something else. But, I pushed the selfish thought aside and enjoyed the gathering.
On the way home, I stopped by two more florists trying to find another white plant, but still no luck. Later, as I turned into my driveway I noticed something on my front porch. As I got closer and pulled to a stop I stared in amazement. Sitting on the front porch was an enormous white poinsettia.
Mouth gaping, I mounted the steps. I couldn’t believe it. In anticipation, I looked to see who the plant was from but there was no card. I carried it inside and in minutes, set it with the red and pink one in the entry way of my home.
For the rest of the holiday I told myself that an angel had delivered it.
There’s a part of me that would like to tell you that I never found out who sent the plant. That would make a good ending to my story wouldn’t it?
But, I found out four weeks later that the president of my garden club had delivered it as a gift from the ladies in memory of my mother.
But, during those four weeks, every time I looked at that beautiful white poinsettia, I was reminded that you can’t out give the Lord. To this day, I have no idea why I had such an internal struggle over whether or not I should keep the plant or buy it for my friend.
Was it so God could reveal a bit of himself to me during my time of grief? To show me even the little seemingly insignificant things in our lives are still important to Him? Do you think He was smiling when He watched my reaction from heaven?
It was comforting to know that He witnessed my struggle over something rather insignificant and chose to minister to me with a tangible object.
The old saying is true. God meets us where we are.
Has there been a time in your life where the Lord met a need in your life with something ordinary but extraordinary for you?
Please share. 🙂
Merry Christmas, y’all!
Connect with me on Facebook, I’d LOVE to be your friend!
Mouse Mischief
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Ah…really?
How could two tiny mice do so much damage?
I know, I know, mice are soooo cute. Look at Mickey and Minnie for example. Who would ever think that such an adorable little couple would ever intentionally destroy a family keepsake?
But, I’m sure my two particular rodent’s intent was to build a nest for the little ones soon to grace our basement. And how could I, the owner of such a large comfy space, deny this one little important thing to this mousy couple?
I can see Mrs. Mama-to-be Mouse, now. Scurrying and searching through the cardboard boxes for just the right material for her nursery. Sniffing here, scratching there and leaving a large deposit of droppings in her wake. Heck, it’s as if she wanted me to find her!
Imagine my delight when I discovered this in my Christmas decorations!
No biggie, it was only one of the stockings I made for my husband and me for our first Christmas, almost forty years ago, when we were poor as *ahem*, church mice. Christmas stockings we continued to use every year since, even when we could afford something nicer. It was only a small nostalgic item, one I made from a pattern I found in Family Circle magazine. Made out of cheap felt, lovingly sown together by hand. That’s all!
Sure, go ahead and shred my hand-made felt stocking into itty-bitty balls of stuffing. It’s not like a need a stocking this year.
Oh, and Merry Christmas, by the way. I left a little something for you under the worn out wreath leaning along the basement wall.
I hope you like peanut butter. 🙂