Pearls, Pigs and A Little Perspective

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I bet you’ve been wondering where I’ve been. OK, maybe not. But in case you have been curious as to why Chatty Cathy hasn’t been so chatty, I’m going to fill you in. 

I wish I could tell you that there hasn’t been anything to write about. Nothing could be farther/further (whatever, the English language confuses me) from the truth. I’ve been wanting to write… OK, rant… about a lot of things. Because a lot of MAJOR things have been happening in my world. So why haven’t I? Well, some of the junk is not mine to share. Some of it is inappropriate to share because it involves other people. And some of it, well, God basically told me to keep my big mouth shut. 

Want to know what’s more uncomfortable for me than dealing with a bunch of major junk at once? NOT being able to talk about said junk. Ugh. I hate when God decides to work on the hard stuff.

Although I can’t go into the details, I CAN share some valuable lessons I’ve learned and I’m trying to apply to my life.

• You can’t change anyone but yourself. I already knew that, but I’m really trying to focus on my involvement in the problem. Instead of ruminating on what other people are doing wrong, I’m focusing on what I need to do right.

• You CAN change your reaction to what others are doing. This is really hard for me. I’m very good at being right. I’m even better at telling people how right I am. That’s not always helpful.

• People can’t always hear the truth and it’s not always my job to tell it to them. God keeps reminding me of Matthew 7:6 "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” If people aren’t ready for the truth, you telling them will only cause them to turn on you. And sometimes God reveals things to you for you, not for you to tell everyone else.

• God’s blessings ALWAYS outnumber the bad things in your life. You just have to refocus your attention and be deliberate in thanking Him when it’s the most difficult.

• A little bit of perspective goes a long way. All of a sudden, I’m old enough to be surrounded by hospitals and funerals. I’m not sure how it happened, but here I am. People I know and love are dying or suffering from horrific diseases or having parts of their bodies stop working. It’s becoming the norm and I don’t like it. But somehow in the last 7 days, I’ve become thankful for it. Only God knows how many days we have left. Who am I to waste the days He’s gifted me with on nonsense? I’d much rather focus my efforts on fixing relationships and glorifying the Lord with all I do and say.

So let me leave you with this thought… Are you really living today? Or are you wasting time on things you can’t control anyway?

How to Overhaul Your Eating Habits

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I recently had a friend tell me that she wants to overhaul her eating habits. She is overwhelmed and doesn’t know where to start. We are meeting next week so she can pick my brain and ask me questions about what I have done to get where I’m at. 

Lt: Summer 2009, almost 1 year after baby #2. Rt: Oct 2012 - 15 mos after learning how to eat right, exercising regularly and improving my overall health.

Obviously, I’ve been thinking a lot about it and thought it might be helpful to come up with my top five things that I have changed in my diet that have led to a healthier me.

• STOP DRINKING SODA. It’s poison… glorious, tasty, addictive poison. I drank 2-3 Sam’s Club cups of regular Cherry-Coke for years. Oh.my.goodness!! I get the “need” for the bubbly. But it’s so not worth it. Most soda contains artificial food coloring. The bubbles bloat you. Caffeine can cause breast tenderness and other problems. Of course the calories in regular soda are just stupid crazy. In general, it’s definitely NOT making you feel better or live healthier.
• COUNT CALORIES. There are NO quick fixes to weight loss and maintenance. It’s all about calories in verses calories out. If you want to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume. If you want to maintain your weight, you must burn the same amount of calories that you consume. It’s as simple (and difficult) as that. I had no idea how to eat properly until I started using MyFitnessPal. You can learn more about that process here.
• DITCH THE DYES. Artificial food coloring is also poison. It’s made from petroleum. Would you eat Vaseline? Um, no. Right? So why do food manufacturers put petroleum based food coloring in our foods? If you avoid the dyes, you will be eating more whole foods. It’s a win-win situation really. You can learn why we started avoiding the stuff here.
• EAT AS MUCH ORGANIC AS YOU CAN AFFORD. But don’t beat yourself up over what you can’t. Milk and processed snack foods are my top two. If it’s going to be processed, I want it to have as few chemicals in it as possible. And regular milk has hormones and other nastiness in it. God knows, I don’t need any unsolicited hormones going into my body.
• TREAT YOURSELF. Seriously. All this business about not being able to eat fat or carbohydrates or sugar is insane. We need all of that stuff. We just need to know how to eat it properly. Again, count calories and you’ll start to figure that part out. So if you like candy-coffee, like I do… drink it! Or if you like chocolate… eat it! Or if you like holiday cookies… bake them! Just do it all in moderation.

Am I saying anything you haven’t heard before? NO. That’s because proper diet, exercise, healthy foods and eating in moderation have always worked. 

My advice: take it slow. Tackle one thing at a time. And don’t beat yourself up when you mess up. Life happens and sometime a good old-fashioned binge on M&Ms makes us feel better. Just don’t let yourself stay there. That’s when we get in trouble and that’s why I weigh myself every morning (as non-neurotically as this OCD perfectionist can do it). Monitoring my weight daily holds me accountable and keeps me on track because I only gain weight when I’m not eating healthy.

I hope this helps. And I pray that you will be blessed with good physical health in this new year!