Daily Effort

Okay, today I want to talk about how important exercising your body is.

To illustrate this, I want to compare it to spiritual exercise.

It is work, yes. But all things which are worth having, require work. Even daily effort.

I believe that just as my spirit requires the daily effort of reading the scriptures, praying, having faith, repenting, and following the council of the Holy Ghost,

my body requires the daily effort of EXERCISE, eating right, etc.

I cannot expect to neglect this, and have my body or mind forgive me.

And because my body and spirit ARE connected as a soul, exercising BOTH, benefits BOTH.

Now, don't go and think this means something it doesn't. It doesn't mean hours of unpleasant physical LABOR. In fact, I don't believe it even requires OnE hOuR.

Hmmm... How long do I believe a person needs to exercise every day? Why ask me? I went ahead and looked it up on WebMD for you and linked right HERE. (Okay, so the link didn't go exactly where I wanted it to. After you get to the link, look for the the "my fitness recommendation", then click on "more")

The gist of it is this,

No more than 30 minutes at a time, most days of the week, of aerobic exercise,

and strength training two days a week. Now, a time frame wasn't given for this, but it said only 6-8 exercises ought to be done, with 8-12 repetitions per exercise.

From personal experience, this would not take long.

You know what I have liked about WebMD? I enjoy being able to find articles written by those who are not motivated by LOOKING a certain way. Now, you can find articles ALL about looks as well. I just like that I can find articles with health in mind ;).

SO, I want to talk about StReSs.

Want to know a sure fire way to NOT stress?

Think about, a day when you do not feel stress.

Think about, waking up just a bit earlier than the rest of your family. Falling humbly to your knees to spend time with your Father in Heaven.

Then, pulling out the scriptures to read, study, and feel the Holy Ghost.

Then, at the end of the day, you gather your family around you, and pray and read from the Holy Scriptures.

How do you feel about this at the end of the day? You are about to go to bed, and you have fallen to your knees again, in gratitude for another day to become more like Him. You have written in your journal.

You lay your head down on your pillow.

How does it feel?

Good.

Are you stressed about things left undone to strengthen your spirit?

Nope.

Now, I think it is the same for the daily effort which ought to be given to your body!

And if done, the same amount of stress can be eliminated towards that subject.

Often, the things that tend to haunt us before, during, and after our days are the things left undone, which we KnOw we ought to have done.

And those are my feelings.

Cookies, Mmm...

So, this is better late then never, I suppose.



I made sugar cookies for the Boys on Halloween, and I substituted the white flour for oat flour, and they were DeLiCioUs, yes they were. They tasted like SUGAR COOKIES. Oh, heavenly heavens, how I love those things.



I just had to post about it because I am ever so excited about it!!!!!!

How Planning Helps Me Accept My Hunger

Okay, so in my last post I spoke about spending some time learning what your body's natural hunger pattern is.

People seem to always be saying to me,

"Are you hungry AGAIN?"

As though that is bad or weird, when really, it is just natural.

My body's hunger pattern is pretty much this-- I am super hungry so much that I could feint-- every two to three hours.

And the way I am okay with this is through planning.

I believe that nutrition need not consume us.

But I DO believe in planning, and forgetting. So I can LIVE my life and free myself from ONLY thinking about nutrition.

Planning is not anything too complicated, thank heaven.

I plan----- a menu.

What do I want to eat this week? What do I desire to snack on? Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? Any new recipes I would like to try?

Next, I make a---- shopping list. (See, not too complicated.) Any new ingredients I don't have?

Then----- I shop.

Then, when I get home, I pull out my planner, and I write down what I would like to eat on which days.

Some people (you know who you are!) have scoffed at my menu planning. But guess what? It is the BEST gift I can possibly give myself. Remember my personal story about not having any home made, soaked, dehydrated granola? What do you want to bet, I didn't plan a menu that week? I hope you didn't bet too much, because I know I didn't.

Eating in a wise way takes planning. Not much. Just enough to know that I am going to soak granola THIS day, and I am going to be home all the NEXT day, so that will be the PERFECT time to DEHYDRATE it. Oh, and since that will be in the oven all day, that would be the perfect day to eat something out of the CROCKPOT for dinner... And so on and so forth.

And do you know what happens when I have it all written down in a spot I will look at?

I forget about it.

Freeing me from talking about it to all my friends in order to remind myself to do it.

Because you know what?

Nobody really wants to know about how you are going to dehydrate your granola or cook out of your crockpot simultaneously. Nope, but they do want to reconnect with your about their family. Or about some problems they are having...

And connections with your loved ones, that is what makes life awesome.

And maybe they are too stressed to make their own dinner.... THAT is when they are interested in what you've got cooking. And when you are glad you have granola and crockpot deliciousness to offer them...

Mmmm.... Hmmmm....

Aren't you glad you planned?

Accept Hunger

Accept that hunger is your body's way of getting the nutrients it needs.

Diets,

Pills,

Trainers,

All seem to be teaching ways to CURB hunger, CONTROL hunger.

Eat this protien.

Drink this protien.

Eat more FIBER ( a BIG fad right now.)

STARVE without knowing it! Just take this instead!

You see what I mean? OBSESSED with curbing hunger.

I say, FORGET that.

Spend some time learning what your body's natural hunger pattern is, and instead of being afraid of it, plan for it.

Then forget about it.

Your body will remind you.

And then,

You will eat.

Personal story?

I was speaking to a friend the other day about how I just really wanted roasted sweet potatoes at dinner, so that was what I baked and ate. I knew I had some pasta in the fridge, and so I could eat that when I inevitably became hungry later that night.

And she said,

"I couldn't just eat vegetables for dinner, I would get hungry too fast!"

Ladies and gentlemen, that is why I wrote this post.

A Story?

I spoke to a good friend and asked her,

"C., my I ask for some advice?"

C. was kind enough to say,

"Yes." She is AlWaYs kind enough to say yes. Hence, good friend.

I asked her,

"Was my last post hard to understand?"

She said,

"Well, I definitely had to read it two times before I got what you were saying..."

SOOOO....

I told her my plan to tell a story to help illuminate my point and she said,

"Yes, definately tell the story."

So, I am.

In my last post I spoke of advice from another dear friend, E.

She is so amazing. She always has what we like to call, "The Lord in her back pocket" That girl can give some good advice.

Let me tell you why this particular bit of advice was life changing for me, and then maybe you and I will be on the same page, eh?

The advice was to tell myself this,

"The lack of this food would be the only unhealthy thing I could do."

And this is a true life story of a time I have used this advice...


Once apon a time... ( Just kidding. But really, it happens almost daily)




I was hungry. Super hungry. So, I went into the kitchen and opened up my pantry. In it, was a bag of baked potato chips (My weekly treat maybe I will talk about in a later post). But what I WANTED to be there was homemade, dehydrated granola. Wouldn't that be a delicious snack? Wouldn't it be a nourishing snack, as well?

WHY didn't I soak some granola last night, then dehydrate it all day so that RIGHT now, at 3 pm, I would have a nourishing snack? WHY????

Well, if potato chips are all I have that sound good to me right now, I would rather go hungry... Because those things are NOT good for you....

And here is the problem. You see, for years I battled the stupid temptation to be anorexic, and this is how it starts. I convince myself it is okay to go hungry instead of listen to hunger because there is nothing I want that is worth eating.

Lies.

And then this panicky feeling of conflicting emotions rises up inside my chest, because I AM hungry and those potato chips are the ONLY thing that sounds good....

Do you want to know a secret?

Well, it is only a secret because it is personal. And it is personal because... I am ashamed of it.

I made a list of negative thoughts I tell myself, then I asked good friends and my wonderful husband to help me replace those negative, untrue thoughts with true ones.

One of my negative thoughts was this...

"Because I am eating this, I will get fat and unhealthy."

Which would, of course, cause stress. I didn't even BELIEVE this thought, but still, there it would pop up whenever I would get into a situation like the one described above.

SO, my friend, E. suggested I replace it with this thought,

"The lack of this food would be the only unhealthy thing I could do."

And then I calm down, relax, and do what I know I should do.

Listen to Hunger.

It has changed my life.

I am crying, literally crying at my inability to explain this! It has helped me so much! And I can't seem to get the words out! Someone, help me out here!

What I am TrYiNg to say is

EAT!!!! Please. Eat. Eat when you are hungry. God gave us wonderful bodies that need to be fed to work properly. So stop starving when you are hungry, and eating when you are full.

That is what I am trying to say. Because when I do this SiMpLe thing. Everything is better. When I am not doing it, everything is worse.

And that is my advice. Well, it is E's advice.



Thanks E.

What else do I do? Do you really want to know?

My friend, E., gave me advice that still brings tears of gratitude to my eyes, it was and is so helpful.

Background--

I used to be anorexic, blah blah blah, you've heard it before. But it makes me tend to be afraid of food. So, when I get really hungry and I need to eat, and I find something to eat, one of my first thoughts is... "I shouldn't eat that. I should be eating _____..." And I will fill in the blank with the healthy food of the moment that is unavailable. And then I will feel like if I eat what IS available, I will get fat. Oh, how stress only makes us gain weight and corrodes our spirits.

So, I was wanting to replace this thought with something true and logical, and E. came up with the Perfect. One. And now I say it when I am hungry.

It is this,

"When I am hungry (KEY to this), the lack of this food would be the only unhealthy thing I could do."

Isn't she a genius? I am grateful for friends who are the hand of the Lord.

Say something encouraging to a friend this evening. I highly recommend it.

Eat! Don't Diet!

So I have a wonderful friend, who moved away. So she was checking out some recent photos on facebook the other day and then she made this comment to me...

"You are looking so skinny, that if I didn't know any better, I would be worried you were going anorexic!"

Well.


It lit a fire under me to write this post for those who are wrongly misinformed that in order to lose weight, one must go to an extreme-- such as drastically reducing your calories (a "Diet"... oh how I shudder at the word) or by taking ANY pill which promises to help with weight loss (ugh, I HATE that term, "weight loss")


I would ask you the following: Eh hem...

1-- Are you drinking at minimum 8 glasses of water daily? Really? Keep track to make sure. Keep a LOG. 8 glasses. Of WATER. Soda, juice, milk-- DON'T count! If you feel you "cannot" drink 8 glasses because you are drinking one or more of those other things-- omit the other things, starting with SODA until you are able to drink AT LEAST 8 glasses a day of water.

2--Are you eating a minimum of 5 full servings of vegetables a day? What about fruit? Are you eating fruit? How much? Add some more.

Are you following this advice?

If not, start.

After my third child, it took me a bit longer to lose some of the pounds I desired to lose. And unfortunately for me, my friends husband, who was dieting heavily at the time himself (this always warps thinking, we will forgive him because of this) made this comment to me,

"You could stand to lose a few pounds."

Actually, not unfortunately for me.

Because it made me decide, right then and there, that I was never going to diet myself into making this comment to anybody. I was going to follow what I knew worked. And it starts with those tips right up there. I followed them, and tomorrow, I will tell you some other things I do, because I need to go tend to the children right now!

Love to you all,

Chelsie