I’m loving all the new techie health tools I’ve discovered! Tonight I am making White Chicken Chili. I use Menus For Moms as a general menu planner (when I remember… this is another thing I need to work on!) and this was listed on the menu for last week. I work a menu one week back, because I just haven’t been able to coordinate my planning and my shopping perfectly. It works! Tonight’s dinner is simmering on the stove and I have just enough time to share my recipe with you. I ran it through the Calorie Count Recipe Analyzer and got the points for it, too! While it is listed on the menu, I have used my own recipe for years:
WHITE CHICKEN CHILI
3 cans of white beans or Great Northern beans
2-1/2 cups of diced, cooked chicken
2 cans of fat-free chicken broth
1/2 cup dried onion (or 1 medium onion, chopped)
1/2 a small can of diced green chiles (you could use a whole can- my husband isn’t a fan)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. oregano
Dump it all into a large sauce pan and simmer 45 minutes. This was adapted from a crock pot recipe, and in that case you would put it on low for 8 hours or high for 4. I like my soups and chilis thicker, so in the last few minutes (or last hour in the crockpot) I add a flour/water mixture to thicken it.
This past week has been one of frustration, but also victory! Not victory in the sense that I have it all nailed down, or even that I’m on top of my reading, but rather victory because I stuck with it. I was behind, on average, 6 chapters each day. Yes, each morning when I would normally be starting my current day’s reading, I was reading the last several chapters of the prior day. I have been playing catch-up all week and I’m not happy about it! I did stick with it though, and as of today I am caught up, again.
Since we spent the better part of this week reading the Book of Job, I wanted to share some thoughts about it. I have read parts of Job before. I have heard many, many sermons preached about Job, but I have never actually sat down and read the entire book, until now. What I see in this book, I don’t recall from the sermons.
First, the man had EVERYTHING… favor with God, a family, home, servants, land, and many animals. In his time this means he was a wealthy man, and since he was faithful to God, he was also probably looked upon as an important person and someone others admired. Why God decided to test Job by allowing Satan to come against him, but didn’t allow him to test other faithful souls in the OT, I’m unclear about. One thing that is abundantly clear though, is that Job was God’s man through and through. Even when his friends came to comfort him, and began to give him reasons for his afflictions– maybe he was in sin, maybe he didn’t have enough faith– Job still stuck to his faith even though he spent the majority of the book complaining to God about everything he was going through.
“Then I would still have this consolation– my joy in unrelenting pain– that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.” Job 6:10
The back and forth between Job and his friends was rather amusing, actually, because it seems to me that in his grief, Job couldn’t tell that his friends weren’t trying to upset him but to comfort him, however poorly their words expressed it. “But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” Job 5:8-9 Job was already doing this.
Later, as Eliphaz brings to light sins that Job had committed (sending widows away empty-handed, withholding food from the hungry, etc) Job admits the God’s hand is heavy upon him. Never once does Job curse God for allowing his suffering. How many of us would actually be able to do that? But this is what I want to be able to say when my life is over:
“But he knows the way I take; when he has tested me I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps. I have kept his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.” Job 23:10-12
I’m seriously looking forward to the TweetChat on Monday evening. I have missed the past two weeks, and I don’t want to miss this week! Hope I’ll see you there!
People who know me know that I don’t like to exercise. People who don’t know me can probably tell that I don’t exercise. My weight has been a struggle off and on for the past 10 years or so. I wasn’t overweight as a child, teen, or young adult. It was after having children, and becoming more sedentary that the pounds have been adding up. When D2 was a baby, I went on Weight Watchers. It was the first ‘diet’ I’d ever tried, and I used the online program. It was fantastic! I loved it. I counted my points, learned how messed up my eating really was (portion sizes in particular), and I lost weight. 55 Pounds, to be exact, in six months. I am 5′3″, so this was a very exciting, obvious weight loss!
I look at most of the people that I know and they all seem to fall into one of two categories: Overweight, or in seriously GOOD shape. I don’t know too many people who are in the middle, and I don’t fall in there either. We used to ride bikes almost every evening after dinner. It wasn’t “for fitness”, and hauling two toddlers in child seats on the backs of our (then very top of the line, nice mountain) bikes isn’t exactly conducive to heavy duty biking, but we got out nearly every day. For me, that was the extent of my exercise. I rode bikes and chased toddlers.
What I really want is something which I don’t even know is attainable, for me. Or realistic. What I really want is to be able to run Bloomsday. Weird? Probably. Bloomsday is one of the largest road races in North America, and it just so happens to take place right here where I live. It is 12k, which is 7.6 miles. I can walk/jog 2 miles pretty well. I have never attempted anything more than that since I was a kid and did March of Dimes’ WalkAmerica in 5th & 6th grades, and that was 20 miles. But I would like to be in good enough shape to just do it, not necessarily RUN the entire thing.
I would also like to be able to swim laps. I know it sounds strange, but I am not a very good swimmer. I can swim, but I can do maybe 3 pool lengths, which is 1.5 laps, and I’m done. I feel like I’m going to die, that I will just drown half way across the pool because I can’t swim any more. And it’s beside the fact that right now I don’t even own a swimsuit. No one would want to see me in one anyway. I don’t wish anyone to see me in one anyway. I know practice makes perfect. That means I need to get myself into a swimsuit and try to find a time when the Y’s lap pool isn’t packed.
What I REALLY want is to not get sleepy at 2pm every day, ‘feel the burn’ when I walk up ONE flight of stairs (to my bedroom!), or get winded when I have to do anything strenuous. I’m tired of feeling fat & tired. I want to be healthy before my total health begins to really take a turn. I am 39. It could happen.
So I’m getting real here. I lost 55Lbs. 6 years ago, and kept it off for nearly 3 years. I went from a size 14 to a size 6. Then I got lazy, slipped back into my old terrible eating habits, and never did force myself to exercise on a regular basis. And now I’m back in a 12-14, wishing I were still a size 6. Yes, I am basically starting over. I weigh 7 lbs. less than I did when I started last time around, but it’s still a 14. I need to get back to counting points. I need to be diligent to journal my intake and to get myself to the gym regularly.
“I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:13
I will be sharing some cool tools I found, which are helping me along the way. I wouldn’t just randomly post this without the hope of cool tools! =) I wouldn’t be ME if I didn’t find some techie gadgets to share with you, so stand by for good stuff!
I know that around the end of December, people usually begin to have revelations about themselves and decide to make changes. I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions. They are usually broken by January 10th, so what is the point? I don’t make resolutions on New Year’s Eve. Rarely do I make big life-changing decisions based on a holiday… especially not the kind that are made in haste and do not last.
Some things have become glaringly obvious to me in the past several months which I feel I do need to address:
1. My spiritual life tanked last spring when our 14yo daughter was having a serious rebellious stage. It was really thrown up in my face when I found myself struggling just to pray, and realizing I hadn’t been feeding myself spiritually on a regular basis in a very long time. This has changed drastically over the course of the past 7 months since J has been at Teen Challenge. While she has been in her insulated, Spirit-filled bubble down there at TC, the Lord has been developing my husband and I. We have learned that to be strong, we have to lean on Him. It’s just not an option any more. When the harder things hit, we cling closely to Him. It is amazing how much we have both changed. I needed a boost in my Bible reading though, and joined the Bible in 90 Days Challenge to help with that. Boy has it!! I love it! I began with the group on January 1st, but NOT as a resolution. It is more of an “I need to be fed spiritually, so I need to do this.” I’ve been trying to post weekly about that, so I will leave this topic for another post. Suffice it to say, this area is definitely being addressed. I am turning to mush. I find myself weeping in worship, weeping in prayer, and just weepy when I think deeply about life, whether it be happy or sad thoughts. Jesus is my love, my fortess, deliverer, healer, and friend.
2. My health is in jeopardy. I am about 40 pounds overweight. I feel lazy, tired, and very blah physically, most of the time. I am addressing this too, just this past two weeks, and I am getting serious about it. I will post much more about this issue, but the plan of action is really just your basic, get-healthy plan: Eat right, exercise regularly, drink water. Sounds so simple, yet so challenging for me. I am looking at myself and seeing the potential for health problems, potential for diabetes, cardiac problems, blood pressure issues, and whatever else goes along with being 40+ lbs. overweight, and I don’t want it.
3. I don’t get enough sleep. I tend to be a night owl, with my most productive time being between 8pm-1am. This doesn’t go over well with E, as he usually is ready for bed no later than 11:00, and the alarm goes off for both of us at 6am. Another problem with my staying up late is that I get hungry around midnight, and I don’t choose the best snacks at midnight. Understanding my favorite time is late night, but I also need to be up & going in the morning, the only solution is that I have to go to bed earlier. Along with this is getting my shower in the evening rather than the morning, because getting that done & getting ready eats into my Bible time before the boys get up…. and when reading 10-11 chapters each morning, I need that time to myself!
All three of these areas are big, for me. I know that I need to work on them, eliminate some bad habits, and create some good ones that I can stick with. I need to be healthy in body, mind and spirit.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!
Tonight’s dinner is simmering on the stove and I have just enough time to share my recipe with you. I ran it through the Calorie Count Recipe Analyzer and got the points for it, too! While it is listed on the menu, I have used my own recipe for years:
Momma’s Talk