365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 273

I have been steadily preparing to take the Whole30 Challenge with the Paleo diet. Preparing is definitely key to being successful. First, I have been preparing my body by week by week taking something out of my diet. The first week I took out creamer in my coffee. I have never had my coffee black but what they say on their website made me think yes it can be done. Here is the section on it not being hard:

It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You won’t get any coddling, and you won’t get any sympathy for your “struggles”. YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE not to complete the program as written. It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important health cause on earth – the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime.

http://whole9life.com/2013/08/the-whole30-program/

Actually, it was only a day or so and I was used to black coffee. The next week I cut out dairy. It has been an almost ritual at dinner time to have a class of milk. I miss it but I will survive. This week I am cutting out desserts. No more ice cream, cake, pie, brownies, candy, sugar of any kind. This is challenging but thank God for strawberries which make for a good alternative. The other part of preparing has been in having on hand the right kinds of foods and ingredients to make some Paleo recipes and of course, researching those recipes I would like to try. I have a notebook all set-up with my recipes and Whole30 guidelines. I have tried 4 different kinds of vegetables that I never tried: beets, swiss chard, bok choy and kale and am happy to say I like them all especially in a chopped salad. I am learning to cook with all fresh foods which is really awesome. So, I officially begin my 30 day challenge on Sept 9^th and I am feeling ready. I just need to plan out my menu to make day to day eating go smoothly. My hubbie is being super supportive and even saying he will eat anything I make for dinner. We have a cruise coming up in April 2014 that we want to both be ready for physically. I am so thankful to my sister-in-law and brother for sharing with me about this lifestyle of eating called Paleo and the Whole30 challenge. It really is all about helping each other. You may not be ready for this eating lifestyle change but maybe someone you know is. Please share the link with them.

Isaiah 6:3 And they were calling to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 201

Habits can hard to break especially if you have done these things since you were a little. There are the typical bad habits that we can all think of like smoking and drinking which we know are addictions but there are also the more subtle bad habits that aren’t physical addictions but emotional addictions. My biggest bad habit is dessert. It is something I expect to have in the evening whether it’s a simple bowl of ice cream or more elaborate dessert creation. I have a mind-set on dessert. If there isn’t any dessert then I will find something else to eat. I would like to say I am fully led by the Spirit but I know that I am not. My evenings are my danger zone time when I let go of the Spirit and go back to my old ways. I will have to be more mindful of this and prepare and pray so that with the Spirit’s help I can overcome this bad habit. Bad habits can be broken because anything is possible with God.

Romans 8:13-14 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 175

I have a weakness when it comes to food, especially desserts. It has been a constant battle over the last 15 years.  There is usually something that spurs me to stop and start eating better. I got the kick in the behind last week when I was getting ready for work. I started pulling out several cropped pants and one after another found them not to fit until I finally came to one that did. It was the straw that broke the camels back. I chose to be realistic and said just no dessert until Sunday which at that point would be 3 days.  I didn’t make it to Sunday. An apple pie was brought to our house and I was not prepared to handle that.  I cannot do this on my own. I found this scripture that really makes you think about what you do or don’t do to your body by what you eat and how you live. Desserts and entertaining TV shows have been taking me away from the Lord. So, I am calling on the power of the Holy Spirit within me to help me make wise choices regarding food and physical activity.  I will make it my goal to please God with my how I regard my body.

2Corinthians 5:6-10 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 204

I have been struggling with my weight the last couple months. I have gained to that weight some of us set for ourselves that tell us, Uh Oh, time to watch what I am eating and get moving. I reached that weight a couple months ago after my trip out to Texas with my mom and sister. To make matters worse, instead of going down it's gone up more. Ugh. Last Friday I committed to myself to not eat desserts for a week. No chocolate, candy, cookies, cake, ice cream, NOTHING. I did it which is great but the weight is still there. I know it's only a week but I have been use to doing good for a couple days and see my weigth drop a pound. I have been getting in some excercising too so maybe I am just building muscle back that I lost and that's counter-acting the weight loss I had hoped for? In any case, I am thankful to God for the abundance of food options we have and I am praying that he will provide me with the self-control and to be prepared. That was one of the things I learned from Weight Watchers, to be prepared. Plan ahead on what you will eat. My planning has been very piece-meal so I know I can improve upon that. I will have to keep holding on to the three P's. Patience, Persistence and Prayer.  I will get my weight back to a heathly level with God's help.
1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.