Holiday Health Tip #7

Resist the inclination to wear loose-fitting clothes.  Elastic waist bands may be comfortable, but they give a false sense of what is actually happening to your waist-line!

This is what I'm wearing today.  I chose to use a shadowy picture to try to cover up the grimace on my face!

Healthy Holiday Tip #6

Borrow a child or get one of your own.  Try to do what THEY do for 30 minutes.  If you can manage 60 minutes, that would be even BETTER.  (These are two of my grandchildren.  Here they are using old-folks' canes as their shepherding tools. In the absence of suitable sheep, they settled for a "sheep-dog.")

Healthy Holiday Tip #5

This one's for ME!)  After a day of heavy celebrating (read "sugar" in my case) get back to healthy eating.  Give away tempting left overs.  Package individual pieces of pie attractively and share with a neighbor or friend, who is probably package HER individual pieces of pie attractively and sharing with a neighbor or friend.

Be sure to exercise today.  Thirty minutes minimum.  Outdoors, preferably.  Look back at yesterday with satisfaction and leave any and all regrets behind.  Today is a new day.

Apart from him (God), who can eat or who can have enjoyment?  (Ecclesiastes 2:25)

Healthy Holiday Tip #4

Happy Thanksgiving!

You're on your own today!  If you really are serious about maintaining health, I know that you will be thoughtful and thankful as you make your food choices today. 

Me?  I'm actually going to be roasting our turkey for tomorrow.  That's when the BIG gathering will be here at our house.  The carving mess will be over and we'll have plenty of counter room for the other preparations tomorrow morning.  We'll be serving lots of salads and fruit today around here today, drinking plenty of water, and taking some walks.  We'll dust and run the vacuum tonight before bedtime.

Healthy Holiday Tip #3

If the weather prevents walking outdoors combine a shopping trip with your exercise. Indoor malls are great places to walk and many have walking clubs.  Get there early before the crowds get too heavy. If you are planning on shopping in a particular store, park near and entrance on the opposite end of the mall - even if time is short you will still get some exercise.

I actually did this yesterday - at WalMart - while we waited to meet our daughter and grandchildren.  I have done it before, too.  Just walked the perimeter several times.  I like doing this!

Healthy Holiday Tip #2

Even if you think you can't dance - get up and shake to the music; if you have arthritis in your knee, dance while sitting.  The more you move your body, the more calories you'll burn!  Movement will also clear excess sugar and "bad" cholesterol from your blood (I'm told).  It will help you to relax and this will lower your blood pressure.

(I'm going to put the laptop down right now, get up and shake to some music!  For 30 minutes!)

Healthy Holiday Tip #1

Through New Year's Day, I am going to post a health tip that sounds workable or has been helpful to me. I hope it will help someone else, too. In fact, if you've successfully maneuvered through the holidays yourself or have heard a helpful tip, why not pass it on? I'd be happy to feature it over the course of the next few weeks! Let's help each other!

Here's the first one:

When you dish up your food, make sure that half your plate (or more) is full of vegetables, peas, beans or grains. Eat this first. Don’t pile your plate high with meat and starch – you’ll overwhelm your liver and the excess calories will be turned into fat (weight gain)!

I'm Like an Autumn Rose....

In the late autumn of my life, I want to be like this rose that (along with a few others) persists in  blooming in late November.  Some of the foliage has given up, but not this flower!

To be sure, some of my "foliage" has given up!  Youthful energy, skin tone, natural hair color, and memory are a few things that have gone...but NONE of those keep me from blooming beautifully.

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.  They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, "the Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him."  (Psalm 92:12-15).

Physically, I will "bloom" using the strength God gives me to exercise - walking as energetically as I can; using the rebounder as often as I can.  I will remind myself that I eat to live and not live to eat!  I will limit the quantity of healthy food I eat.  These are such basic, simple things for an autumn rose such as I.

Spiritually and mentally, I will flourish also.  I will read, listen, and learn.  I will attempt new things. I will seek out the company of like-minded Christians.  I will steadily increase my communication with the Heavenly Father (prayer). I will read and meditate on God's Word.   By His grace and planted firmly in Him, I will proclaim:  "He IS my Rock!  I am his Autumn Rose."

Fill 'er Up!

"Why Don't You.. Think Of Your Body As A Car and Fuel it Accordingly?"...begins this great post.  "We all know that good nutrition is vital, but in a sea of non-fat, low-fat and full-fat foods, it can be difficult to know which is the best possible decision to make when it comes to healthy eating choices. So instead of deliberating over countless food labels..."

You need to go there and read the rest of it for yourself.  So, click here and read up!

Walking for Exercise and Pleasure

We began our 30 minute walk on this beautiful afternoon at THE CROWS CORNER - a delightful shop full of crafts and antiques in Edgerton, OH.  While walking in the interesting neighborhoods of this small town, I found these hydrangeas cut and lying on the curb.  I brought them home and will figure out a way to work them into my Christmas decorations.

Walking for exercise and pleasure is a wonderful combination!

GAIN or PAIN?

"Short term gain equals long term pain.  Short term pain equals long term gain.”

How true is this?!  The whipped cream on top of the latte, the "just this time" failure to exercise, the slack we give ourselves when we excuse our lack of action due to feelings or other circumstances, toleration of a day or two to pass without prayer or reading of God's Word, short-cuts to reach a goal....

For the moment these all seem OK.  Pleasurable even.  We feel we gain time or emotional or physical satisfaction by these choices.  We who are Christians even pass off these choices as an exercise in Christian freedom.

Then comes the inevitable reality - long term pain.  In our pain, we turn to our faith and the strong arms of God expecting  quick relief from it - much like Tylenol for a headache.

What's wrong with this picture?

More About Excuses....

"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one." (George Washington)

Making Lemonade

When life hands you lemons......and all that jazz!

Our Saturday morning was planned, or so we thought.  I exercised by riding my bicycle to arrive right on time (8:00 a.m.) for the opening of the United Methodist Church Bazaar.  It was a beautiful, windless morning and it felt good to ride.  There were not as many vendors as in the past; fewer handmade items, etc.  So I rode home with fewer ideas than in past years.

While there, however, I heard that a supermarket was selling turkeys for $.40/pound!  I called my sister to make sure she had room in her freezer (I only have the one in my refrigerator, and it is full).  Then I called my husband to pick me up on his way to the same supermarket to get his oil changed in his car.  He had called yesterday and they said they opened at 9:00.  We were there by 8:50 only to find out that they had actually opened at 7:00 and there was now a 2 hour wait.  The turkeys were gone, too.

We drove to the closest oil change facility, paid an extra $10 (ouch!), and I walked to the supermarket competitor nearby to check out their turkey prices.  Too high. But I kept walking up and down aisles until my husband called to say the oil change was complete.

My lemonade?  I've had my 30 minute walk!

Simple Breakfasts, Anyone?

For me this morning it was half a banana (my husband slices the other half on his Shredded Wheat cereal).  I sliced mine in half longways and spread each half with a little bit of peanut butter.  That, and a couple of mugs of 1/2 decaf & 1/2 regular dark roast coffee was MY breakfast.  What was yours?

I found Jennifer Causey's blog this week.  I think you'd enjoy seeing her simple but grandly varied breakfasts!  The picture is one example.  Check it out at Simply Breakfast - the art of breakfast.  Notice the various mugs/coffee cups from post to post. I tend to use the same one every day.  It "fits" me quite nicely.

Della-esque

After my first 30 minute indoor walk of November, I went to my closet.  I recently came across the blog of a very creative woman.  I am quite conservative in my dress - but there is something in me that aspires to the verve and excitement that Della expresses through her wardrobe every day.

She is SO funny - has a great talent in expressing her views in very humorous ways.  I digress.

This necklace is a Della-esque venture for me.  I need SOMETHING to keep me perkin' this month!  (If you want to see the rest of the outfit, just click on the picture.)

Make NOVEMBER Count!

Except for June, last month (October) was the worst I've done in the sense of how many days I walked for 30 minutes.  It is a good thing that I record my efforts.  By looking at the facts in my sidebar, I see that I need to make November count! 

"Give it your serious and concentrated effort and make no excuses!" (from my October 19th post)

I will make no excuses....I will self-correct with the grace and power that God provides.   For all who read, for all who strive to establish and maintain healthy habits, I say, "Courage!"  And in the words of our Lord to Joshua,

"This Book of the Law (for us, the Bible in its entirety), shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to al that is written in it.  For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will  have good success.  Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."  (Joshua 1:8-9).