Food for Thought

While enjoying a relaxing evening of Chianti and Solitaire, my phone buzzes. Glancing down, I see Di's name.  Di is my step-sister, but we've been good friends since early childhood - long before our parents married. The text is brief, and the words frighten me... "Help! I need you!"

Much to my relief, I discover that she's not stranded in a bad neighborhood, been attacked, or is any other state of impending doom. She needs a weight-loss coach. She, like me, has made discoveries about herself - and found things that she wants to change. Introspection is tricky business. It's dangerous to look at yourself and see what needs to change.  Now, please understand - I am not a doctor,  nor a dietician, nutritionist, minister, or therapist. I am a woman who, after a year of life-changes, lost 50 pounds, and completely changed her outlook on life. I found lots of things I didn't like about myself, and I made a firm decision that a year would pass by anyway - who did I want to be when it was over?

Here are some quick tips that I like to remind myself from time to time:

1) Drink 8-10 glasses of water every day. It boosts your metabolism, increases your energy, and suppresses your appetite.

2)Budget your television time. TV is the great time-waster.  We all make time for the things that are important to us. In one hour you can either walk 4 miles, or watch 1 episode of Survivor (or Lost, or whatever your preference is). If you wish to watch television, try to do something useful at the same time - Ironing, sewing, crunches and arm curls, or even soaking your feet after a hard day.

3) Make good choices. Avoid grease, bad fats, processed foods,  sugar, and high fructose corn syrup.

4) Walking at a brisk pace is one of the best things you can do for your body. It help relieve stress, sweat out impurities, and boosts your stamina.

5) Get rid of the unhealthy addictions you have. They may be smoking, drinking, eating out, television, shopping, gossip - anything. In all things, try achieve balance and self-discipline.

6) Standing is better than sitting. Walking is better than standing. Jogging is better than walking.

7)Always look for ways to incorporate activity into your life: Walk with friends, jog to an audio book (instead of sitting at home reading it), clean house as a family, hike to a picnic spot instead of being shown to your seat by a hostess.

8) A clean home promotes a clean mind.

9)A hard worker rarely suffers insomnia.

10) "Just as the sea bears the stream, so does a guilty heart spew forth blame."  When you feel critical of someone, or before you accuse a person of a wrong-doing, reflect to find that within your own personality that made you so unsettled.  Often, we show uncharitable behavior to those who unwittingly provoke feelings of fear, insecurity, jealousy, or guilt.  Ask what it is within you that sparked your negativity, capture it before you project it on someone else, and use it to inspire a positive change or understanding. Emotionally, the opposite of intimidation is apathy. We usually don't notice, or care about, those that fail to threaten us. 

11) Answers to prayer most often require a sacrifice of effort.

12) A victim will always be such. One of the hardest things to do is to not assign "good guy", "bad guy" roles during negative circumstances. Sometimes bad things just happen and the best you can do is to work for better things in the future.

13) What you see in others is often a reflection of one's self.... (very similar to #10 - but with a very positive light on it). A happy woman who takes care of herself often runs into pleasant people with "pretty eyes", or a "nice blouse", or a "beautiful home".  A miserable person often sees the same people, but views them quite differently.

14) Faith and logic should be eternal partners. 

15) The best way to improve your state is to help someone else improve theirs. Everyone has something to learn from the others around them.