Tricks or Treats?

A friend and I were sharing with each other yesterday of our difficulties with choosing to eat healthy over the past couple months. Yep, that is right, you are hearing it again, it is a choice and I do not always choose to eat healthy. I do choose to eat the foods that ARE healthy, but the amounts are toxic for me. I believe I got comfortable with where I was at and knew I could 'play' with five or so pounds. No playing. Doggone it, I let a little thought of ME being able to PLAY with 5 pounds creep in and it produced 12 pounds...hmmm...sticking to the plan is always the best way. Sticking to God's plan is ALWAYS THE ONLY WAY! Do I need that extra foo? Absolutely not. Did I want that extra food? Yes, which won out? Well, the last two days choosing to go God's way has been the winning choice. I have gone to bed with my stomach growling and aching because I was hungry. I was hungry because I stretched my stomach bigger than my fist. Remember, our stomachs are supposed to be the size of our fists and if we are eating a larger portion than our fists, we are stretching it. YIKES! Sometimes I wouldn't eat more than my fist at the first sitting but then at another sitting, an hour later I would eat the same amount...what in the world was I thinking? Everyone, choosing to BE healthy and live a healthy lifestyle is difficult but oh so rewarding. I pray this is ministering to someone else besides me out there. Yes, I struggle, we all do. I have not reached the point where I did not. HOWEVER, I do know that I struggle because I LET myself think I can have a little bit more of something than I should. A simple, yet very dangerous thought pattern that is easy to embrace. Stick to the plan. Do not change the plan unless God says. Yep...I was just trying to remember how many times I have written something like about me to all of you. It does not matter how many times, being real and honest and choosing life and health for today does. We CAN do THIS!

Back to my friend (I am going to call this friend Sally for writing purposes only) and I's conversation yesterday. Sally stated that she needed something in her hands to break the need of putting her hand to her mouth because of cigarettes and food. Good revelation, I thought. As we were talking Sally, shared maybe she could get cinnamon toothpicks or make cinnamon toothpicks to trick herself into thinking she was smoking or eating. Not only would these toothpicks help with the urge to have something to fiddle with in their mouth and fingers, it would also add flavor and fresher breath. She wanted to exchange a bad habit for a better habit, awesome. This led to if she would buy them, would they have sugar in them. Then we were talking about what if she made her own. This brought us to a Google search on how to make cinnamon flavored toothpicks.

The benefits of cinnamon are enormous as well http://www.organicauthority.com/health/11-health-benefits-of-cinnamon.html . Please read this article. I liked #8 especially...I need help with that. I had given up this practice (and I WAS made fun of for doing it) but you know what, the cinnamon sticks are coming back out! Watch out world my ____________ will be fantastic soon (you will have to read the article to know what will be fantastic...Dad-you are gonna love it!).

Cinnamon Bark Oil was purchased for ‘Sally’ yesterday and toothpicks will be purchased as well. Woohoo! (Here is the recipe Sally will be using: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Cinnamon-Toothpicks). I think I may even purchase some cinnamon bark oil for myself and reach for a homemade cinnamon toothpick when I want to reach for more almonds, etc. In fact, I looked in my spices to see if I had anything, I could make cinnamon toothpicks with and found cinnamon extract. The ingredients in cinnamon extract are propylene glycol, alcohol, water, and extractives of cinnamon. I had no idea what propylene glycol was so Google had my attention again. Oh my, http://thegoodhuman.com/2009/03/31/what-is-propylene-glycol-and-why-you-should-avoid-it/ is a good source of information. I am not going to share with you what it says, as I want you to do the research as well. The articles I have shared today are not long ones and are very beneficial to our healthy lifestyles. Please take a few moments to read them.

It is not even 8 o'clock this morning and I am spinning with excitement about the things I have found.

How wonderful it is to be feeling good this morning because of good choices I made yesterday. We CAN do this.

How are you doing today? How have you been doing today? I do not hear from most of you and am hoping you are enjoying the blogs from Kathy and sometimes hearing from me. My goal is to write daily, but I have yet to achieve it.

A Note of Love

I have a dear friend who loves to have a dark chocolate candy a day. She does work and in the break room she finds if she doesn't plan ahead she goes to the snack machines and buys stuff she knows she really doesn't want. 

She makes some homemade granola and takes it in to work to have for her snack. For those of us who struggle with portion control an idea would be to pack a 1/4 cup (or whatever amount Holy Spirit tells you to that is safe for your body) in two snack bags, one for morning break and another for the afternoon break. You can even do this at home and use your plastic containers.

I felt impressed by Holy Spirit to purchase some Dove Dark Chocolate squares for my lovely friend. I mentioned to her to only take a couple to work and that she could even put one in each bag so she doesn't eat both of them at morning break.

Here's something to consider: often our love tanks are empty and we need a word of love or encouragement throughout our days. Now when she goes on break she will read a love note because on the inside of the Dove Dark Chocolate wrappers is a nice love note. I mentioned to her to eat the chocolate in small bites and to work her whole break time on smoothing out the wrapper and then keep the wrapper in plain sight where she is working. She (others) could also make a portrait out of it or place it around the house or work stations as 1. daily reminders of love Father has for us, 2. love we are giving ourselves by choosing to portion our food and not give in to eating so much more 3. a memorial that states we have drawn a line in the sand and we are not crossing over to the real "dark side".

This is just one little thing we can do to overcome some of our weaknesses and plan for our day. Holy Spirit, God, and Jesus love us to be successful and help us when we are not:).