Tag Archives: diet

I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Romans 12:1 ESV

This verse connects the body and spirit.  Presenting the physical is the spiritual act.  In mistreating my body, I am abusing worship.

Thinking this way changes the way I think about eating.  Is what I'm putting in my mouth right now, "right worship?"

That's a big responsibility - it puts eating wrongly in the category of "sin," by worshiping wrongly with my body.

The daily reading for yesterday in "Everyday Prayers" was about serving God, not man.  The author applied it to service, I applied it to my eating.  And it hit me in a good (effective) place.

Oh, the hope this gives me— the invigorating, liberating, consecrating hope this generates as I begin my day. It’s why this admonition from Paul feels more like a kiss than a kick today. I want to work more heartily at all things because of your finished work on the cross, your present work in the world, and your future work in the new heaven and new earth. Even in eternity you will shepherd us and lead us to springs of living water (Rev. 7: 17). No one will ever outserve you, Jesus.

Therefore, here’s my cry: continue to free me from doing anything for the approval of people, out of the fear of people, or to gain power over people. I work for you, Lord Jesus, not for mere men.

A frustration at work can equal "stress eating" - am I eating for the Lord, or am I eating for that co-worker?

I'm working toward a goal for my wedding.  Am I eating for God?  or for that wedding dress?  Oh...the wedding dress is a good goal!  And it's not as if we're not to have goals for this world.  But eating for the dress, to the exclusion of eating for God...is putting worship in the wrong place.I can "tag" eating as both worship, and dress.  Both apply, both work, both are good.  but in the "word cloud" in my brain, with word is largest?
And I will fail at this!  Over and over, I will fail.  But along with this failure is hope, because even the failure reminds me of the gospel. If I work/eat for God, it's because of Christ's work on the cross.

How I praise you, Jesus, that the gospel is the end of any sense of a wage-earning relationship with God. I work for you because you first worked for me. (What a humbling, staggering, and astonishing truth!) I serve you because you ever live to serve me, as my advocate and intercessor. Indeed, I love you because you first loved me and gave yourself as a propitiation for my sins. You are always first and last— the Alpha and the Omega. I’ll receive an inheritance only because of your work, not mine. And should I receive any rewards or crowns, they will be thrown at your feet, giving credit where credit is due. I pray in your quintessentially glorious name. Amen. ~~Everyday Prayers, March 20

How do these work together?

I started "The Daniel Plan" by Rick Warren (and others) - yeah, yeah...same old, same old.  But as something to work through, there might be some meat there.

Consider the introduction of the book.

Stewardship.  Stewardship over my body.

Friends, I’ve been a poor steward of my health and a terrible example for you. While we’ve been helping many around the world, I’ve ignored the problem here at home.

So today I am publicly repenting, and I ask for your forgiveness! God expects us to take care of the bodies he has given us, but I have not done that. Now, I’ve only gained two to three pounds a year, but I have been your pastor for thirty years. So I need to lose ninety pounds! Do any of you want to join me in getting healthy?

Committing to giving my body to God first, is a way of putting the physical focus on Him, away from me.

Yet, in this season of Lent, of preparation, of looking forward in time to the work of Christ on the cross...it seems like a good time to start this way of thinking about health.

My body is not my own, it was purchased by Jesus, with His blood.

Today we make the same common mistake Greek philosophers did thousands of years ago. Aristotle, Socrates , and Plato believed in dualism, 4 which included the idea that your mind (or spirit) is important, but your body isn’t important spiritually. They devalued the body. In fact, some Greek philosophers taught that your body is evil, so it really didn’t matter if you messed it up.

The Bible tells us the exact opposite. Your body is holy because God made it, and everything God makes has a purpose. We are to bring glory to God with our bodies, so we can’t compartmentalize our lives and think that we can divorce our bodies and live as if only our spirit matters. God owns your body!

I determine to blog a certain number of times per week, or per month.

Here we go again.

Usually, I make a sort of rough "schedule" so that I have a target topic for the day.

Here we go again.

In the past, this is been a "life blog" - including family, theology, life, work, diet, exercise, pretty much everything.

I'm a Reformed woman, that can be the focus of my blog...that's a good thing.  Faith informs all parts of my life, all parts of my life that are informed by faith can be written about, as informed by faith, right?

I'm narrowing it down...but there will still be "life" stuff.  Blogging helps me work through things - I think I'm determined to work through a couple of theological issues that don't worry me a whole lot, but I'd like to understand them, so that will be a topic.

I'm moving into a different stage of life and my online presence will also be a little different, with a different "area" that I'm active in.  That's a good thing.

I've been moderator on a specific topic forum that has taken up time, time I'm planning on spending blogging...that's a good thing.

Interesting week, in which I discovered a couple of things.

I'm working the detox and discovery part of "The Plan" and 2 things:

When you're in the discovery phase, you can plan to lose 1/2 pound a day (if you're sticking to the plan.) If you find a food that **you** are reactive to, you can bump up a pound.

Almonds (which are non-reactive for most) apparently give me a horrendous sweet tooth - and cause me to bump up a pound (although whether from the almonds or from the falling to forementioned sweet tooth, I'm not sure)

white bread - makes me feel icky and bloated and gives me insomnia leaves me to think (because of the 1/2 pound weight loss) that I'm not **reactive** but am sensitive to gluten.

Go figure.

New Year's Resolutions for the year...

Health and fitness:

Weight Watchers for 3 solid months, to see if the plan will work (as opposed to hard core Atkins)
Exercise 3 days per week

Blogging:

6 book/movie/music etc. reviews each month
blog daily, giving myself 2 days each month "grace"
once blog post on sermon notes
participate in photo scavenger hunt one time per month
comment on another blog 5 time per week.

Christianity:

Finally getting through the "Bible in a Year"
Finishing 12 theology books in the year (one for each month)
Finishing 12 "Christian living" books in the year

Misc. Read a little each day.

OH...and Fly Lady...

Colleen's Slow Cooker Jambalaya
INGREDIENTS
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 pound frozen cooked shrimp without tails
INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a slow cooker, mix the chicken, sausage, tomatoes with juice, onion, green bell pepper, celery, and broth. Season with oregano, parsley, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, and thyme.
2. Cover, and cook 7 to 8 hours on Low, or 3 to 4 hours on High. Stir in the shrimp during the last 30 minutes of cook time.

Exercise good...my pedometer shows not very much because the battery went dead.  🙁

Diet bad...stress eating and all that.

~~~

Blood tests came back...good cholesterol is good...bad cholesterol is high...triglycerides are about 30 points lower than 6 months ago, so that's good.

Sugar is good...blood pressure is excellent.

~~~

Next up...the "lady stuff":

  • the ladies get squished on Monday
  • my baseline bone density test on Tuesday (or Monday if they can fit me in)
  • annual physical on Tuesday
  • age-appropriate tests to be scheduled on Tuesday.

~~~

Why?

I'm considering weight loss surgery before my health insurance gets messed up.

This is the really, really difficult one, because it's so easy to fall off that wagon and so hard to get back on.

GOAL: FOCUS ON THE WAY OF LIFE

GOAL: FORGET THE SCALES

Objective:  Focus on "The Primal Blueprint"

  1. Limit carbs to 100 grams a day, 6 days per week
  2. including 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables (heavy on vegetables)
  3. limit dairy to 1 serving a day
  4. restrict grains to oats and rice

Objective: Focus on "anti-inflammatory/anti-aging" eating

  1. make preferred and avoid food lists and carry in planner
  2. restrict "avoid" foods to one per day (working toward fewer)

Objective: Focus on "Blood Type Diet" (this should fit nicely, since it's very similar to the Primal Blueprint.)

  1. restrict "avoid" foods (dairy excepted) to no more than 5% of eating

Objective:  Enjoy the journey

  1. Eat foods I enjoy and don't force myself to eat food that I don't enjoy
  2. Cook one brand new recipe every week.

Objective:  Use the blogs

  1. Use the blogger blogs to track progress
  • daily food logs
  • blog through diet and exercise books
  • post new recipes
  • update weekly