Sentiments by Denise

Thankfulness

Thankfulness has been on my mind a lot these days.

It's easy to think about being thankful during the month of November, when the focus centers around a holiday of Thanksgiving.
It's also easy to have a grateful heart when everything around me is going well.

Several mornings ago, I came across something I had written in my Bible last summer regarding thankfulness:

  "Learn the art of giving thanks in all circumstances. Practice the discipline of thankfulness. A grateful attitude is one of the most effective ways to open the door of communication between me & God. Thankfulness is built on trust and awakens in me an awareness of a multitude of blessings that God has poured out for me and continues to give. It also cushions the impact of trials and hurts when they come my way."  ~7/11 (See: I Thess 5:18)

I remember when Ed was laid off from his job for 15 months - trying to intentionally look for ways to be thankful during that difficult time. It was easier to complain and feel sorry for ourselves. But, gradually, as I found things to thank God for ( and there is always something), my heart began to change. Even being grateful for difficulties or hardships will bring about a change in our attitudes as we watch God pour out His blessings.

And those blessings come in multitudes.

We just have to make sure we're watching for them, waiting for them, and not dismiss them as coincidences or something we've done.

Thankfulness has been a hard discipline for me to learn (and I'm still working on it). I just appreciate God's patience with me and all He is teaching me.

Healthy Reflections of 2010

A little over a year ago (Dec '09), I sat in my doctor's office and cried. I was overwhelmed with how poorly I felt. I was not getting enough sleep. My skin and hair were dry and unmanageable. I was extremely overweight. I had no desire to exercise. I was irritable, sad, and weepy.

I was a mess.

Fast forward to two weeks ago (Dec. '10). I was in the doctor's office again, waiting to see her. She peeked her head in the door and mentioned that she needed to check with the nurse who measured my weight/vitals, as she thought there was a number recorded wrong. I asked her about that and she said that the chart showed I had lost a significant amount of weight. Then I stood up, twirled around and said, "Does it look like I've lost a significant amount of weight?"  Sixty pounds are gone! No more cholesterol medications (since Mar.'10)! Sleeping so much better! I'm exercising on a regular basis and eating a primary plant-based diet. My doctor was beyond pleased with my hard work over this past year.

There's something to be said about making your health a priority. I've learned so much over the last twelve months on how my body works, what is best for me in terms of food and fitness, sleep and managing stress. I've read many books on nutrition and health. I'm learning the best way to manage the diseases I have (past and present) so that I can live a low-maintenance life.

Here are a few things I've discovered the past year that have been helpful to me:

• I am what I eat. If I eat highly processed, sugary, saturated fatty foods - then I'm going to feel listless, fat, angry, sad, slow, and tired.
• Reading books on health, nutrition, and fitness have provided me with the right tools to make the best decisions for improving my health. Books such as: The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, Foods to Fight Cancerby Richard Beliveau, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, The Cancer Survivor's Guide by Neal Barnard, Clean Food and Clean Start by Terry Walters. I've read many others, but these have had a definite impact on many of the changes I've made over the past year.
• Strive to get a minimum of seven hours of sleep each night. I'm not going to lie - I struggle with this one on a regular basis. My job is such that I must commute over 45 minutes each way and I work a minimum of nine hours each day. This makes for a crazy long day! And it doesn't leave me much time during the week to do the things I need and want to do. So often I sacrifice sleep. Not good. I notice how much better I feel overall when I sleep those full seven hours (or more - usually on weekends!). This translates into more energy, more alert thinking, less irritability, less baggy-looking eyes, and remembering to think before I speak ;) The body does a lot of recovering/healing while you sleep, so it's important to make this healthy habit a priority.
• Exercise gets easier the more I do it. Until I had lost the first 30lbs, I was not able to move very well, so I didn't exercise much. Then after I had lost some weight I started slow, using Leslie Sansone's walk at home DVD programs. These are great for beginners, but I still use them on a semi-regular basis to supplement my fitness workouts. Thirty minutes in the morning is a great way to start my day. Then, if for some reason I can't make it to the gym or get outdoors to walk, I know I've done something healthy for my body in the way of exercise that day. Our Church has a fitness center with an indoor track, fully-equipped weight room/cardio equipment, assorted fitness classes, and a personal trainer available. Taking advantage of these opportunities this past year has helped me so much in my journey towards wellness. I'm already setting goals for the new year in this area (I'll share those in another post).
• Thinking outside the box when it comes to food. I'm learning to combine foods that I would never have put together in the past. For example: roasted vegetables (like squash or brussel sprouts) over leafy greens, different whole grains added in unusual places (wheatberries or quinoa on salads, stirred into oatmeal or as a yogurt topping), green smoothies (raw spinach teamed with banana and other fruits make an amazing smoothie!), a veggie omelette with goat cheese, or even raw cheddar slice on whole grain seed bread with pumpkin butter. Some of these combinations may sound crazy to you, but I've been using a little bit of creativity to make sure I get my daily allowances in and the tastes that I'm experiencing are really fabulous. I try to make my meals as colorful as I can by incorporating different fruits and vegetables. Yellow peppers, green zucchini, red onion, orange carrots, brown crimini mushrooms, and purple cabbage all add great nutrients and wonderful color to a veggie saute mixed with red quinoa and brown rice. Who says cooking vegetarian can't be adventurous?
• Not focusing so much on my weight (as an end goal), but pursuing wellness and good health. Losing weight (and it continues) has been a great benefit to the changes I've made over the past year, but it hasn't been my only goal. Sixty pounds is nothing to sneeze at, but I think I'm even more encouraged by the other things I see happening in my body that are benefiting me in the long run. Surviving cancer twice in my life, and dealing with an incurable kidney disease, along with hypothyroidism, has made me focus on my overall health and not just losing weight for the sake of being a certain size or seeing a certain number on the scale. I have more at stake in my wellness journey than just fitting into a certain size pair of jeans. For that reason, I only weighed myself every two weeks throughout this past year and every weigh-in day I either lost weight or stayed steady. I can honestly say that I have not gained any of the weight back that I've lost so far. In the past when I participated in other weight-loss programs (Weight Watchers, etc.) I would see-saw back and forth in my weight loss until I made my "goal" weight. Personally I think it was because I didn't really understand my body or nutrition and how it impacted my body, so losing weight became more of a game. I went clothes shopping today (desperately needed!) and found that I have dropped four clothing sizes in the past year! I still have weight to lose to get to a normal weight and BMI for my age and height. I don't stress about it - I know it will happen as I continue this journey that I'm on. (Fun fact: this past Christmas season is the first one that I can remember that I didn't gain any weight nor over-indulge in eating as I have in the past. That is an accomplishment in itself, as I realize that so many of the things I've learned this past year have helped me make the best decisions for ME!).
  ****************************************************************
  This post is getting extremely long, so I should close, but I want to leave you with a couple photos. The first was taken back in Oct. '09 at my 30th high school reunion. I like to think of it as my "before" photo. The second photo was taken a few days ago by my husband (sorry for the blurriness). This photo is my transition photo, as I still have a continuation of this journey to wellness that I'm pursuing.

 
(photo taken by David Hubbard)

 
(Photo taken by Ed Foxworthy)

Excited to see where 2011 leads me on my path to wellness!

 

 

Deep Thinking

I haven't been in much of a mood lately to write here.

It doesn't mean I don't have anything to say - it's just I've been doing more thinking about things than putting them "out there".

Things I've been mulling over:

• relationships
• listening vs speaking
• trying to understand
• working on trust
• change and growth
• stepping out vs holding back
• eternity

Yeah, it's been deep, folks. Don't know if I'll ever figure it out.

Sometimes life is like that.

Memorial Day

We had a fun and busy weekend so I decided that Monday I would stay close to home and get some things accomplished.

While it was still cool in the morning I worked in my garden getting everything planted or transplanted and making sure the weeds were gone.

I can't wait to show you pictures of my garden, though right now it's still pretty boring - not a lot to see yet. My raspberry bushes yielded their first offerings over the weekend - I picked two (!) berries yesterday. More should be coming on in the next few days. I love fresh raspberries.

Ed & his sister visited the cemetery yesterday and put flags on their parent's graves.
 

My father-in-law served in the military for 24 years, over three wars (WWII, Korea, and Vietnam). He went into the US Navy when he was 17 years old (like so many other young men back then, he lied about his age to get in) and landed at Normandy, France on D-day June 6, 1944.
He met and married my mother-in-law in 1947. They raised 5 children (one being my amazing husband!) and he died just a couple months shy of their 55th wedding anniversary. She passed away 15 months later.
I miss them both very much.

Stephen & Emilee came over for a cook-out last night. I made several summer salads - potato, broccoli, and pasta (Emilee actually made this), and we had grilled hamburgers, bbq chicken, and chicken sausages. There was also a big platter of raw veggies and hummus dip. Fresh strawberry shortcake was enjoyed for dessert.

Ed has been talking to his older brother who lives in Australia via Skype over the last couple weeks (he lives in Perth and that is 12 hours ahead of us - so when it's evening here, it's morning there). Last night, since the kids were here, they had the opportunity to see and talk to their Uncle.

I hope your Memorial Day weekend was great and that you were able to take a moment to reflect on our freedoms that we enjoy that did not come without a cost. Many have given their lives so that we may live in this land of privilege.

More than that, I am very thankful for my Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave His life unselfishly so that I could (and you, too!) live free from the bondage of sin.

A Sweet Gerbera Daisy

Emilee gave me a pretty potted Gerbera daisy for Mother's day and I'm trying my best to nurture it and keep it alive!

 
These are a bright orange color.

 I usually do not have good luck growing plants indoors, but I'm determined not to kill this one! We'll see how it goes - I might put it out in my garden, too, as I know these attract butterflies!

I've been reading and browsing a stack of gardening books over the past few days.

 

So much good information for this novice gardener. I really like the idea of companion gardening - planting fruits/vegetables/herbs next to one another to compliment their growth and root system. (see Carrots Love Tomatoes). The book on herbs is very helpful in giving different ideas on all the uses for particular herbs. I'm already on my way to a larger herb garden this year with rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, chives, mint, basil, and lavender. (see Herb Gardening in the Midwest). Several of these books also are loaded with great recipes for using the fresh produce in daily meal planning.

I'm always looking for more good recipes that incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables into my diet!

Here's another book I'm reading:

This is very personal to me, having survived cancer twice already. I want to continue to do whatever I can to keep this ugly disease from invading my body again.

Most people don't realize that lifestyle factors such as a healthy diet play an important role in preventing cancer. Thirty percent of all cancers (that's approximately one third) are caused by poor dietary habits. This book emphasizes the importance of good foods, primarily vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds in fighting the risk of cancer - mainly a plant-based diet.
A few years ago I practically turned up my nose at that idea, but the more I read, the more I understand, and the more people (loved ones, friends, and strangers) that I see developing cancer the more it just makes sense to me. I can't ignore these facts anymore and I feel empowered to keep my body as healthy as I can.

Eating the way I do now carries a stigma and I often get made fun of or make others around me uncomfortable because of my choices. I really try not to push my ways onto others - everyone makes their own choices. It's hard, though, sometimes.
I certainly wished I had made much healthier choices in my diet when I was younger. Cancer doesn't happen overnight. Often a cancer cell(s) in the body can take years before it affects us negatively (attacks). There's a good possibility that the decision to eat the way I did when I was younger initiated the growth of cancer in my body over the years.

I don't want this post to be a downer...I just wanted to say that having experienced cancer firsthand, and surviving it, has given me more motivation to eat cleaner, live intentionally, pray fervently, and love passionately as I walk this earth day by day.

Just something to think about today.