The Journey: Why is obesity an epidemic in our country?

While I was on this journey last year to lose 45 pounds,

 not only was I learning how to count calories,

 how to fit exercise into my already bulging daily schedule,

how to plan ahead and list out my snacks for the day,

how to accept that loneliness, frustration, and boredom were emotions that were fueling some bad snacking habits,

but I also had to learn how to control my portions!!

It was another enormous "ah-HA" moment for me when I began paying attention

 to what a REAL serving size is.

I was a little ashamed when I realized that I was often eating enough for 2 or 3 people!!

It takes an enormous amount of self-control to only eat one piece of pizza when you're STARVING!

(Well, for me anyway!)

But that's just it.

I had to learn the foods that were "diet busters" for me and either:

1.  Avoid them completely until I wasn't starving

2.  Manage my hunger better with a salad or something ahead of time so I didn't gorge

I started thinking about this idea of self-control a LOT!

I thought about the way the American culture is overloaded with huge servings!

We want everything "super sized"

and instead of treating it like it is...enough servings for several people...

we eat the entire thing!!

I don't think we expect to go into a restaurant these days, and get anything less than 

a wheel barrel full of food on our plates.

And we wonder why obesity is such a problem?

 Americans are becoming more comfortable with and accommodating to being such an unhealthy size.

Have you noticed that clothing sizes are different/bigger than they used to be?

I'm convinced that the size 10 jeans I could buy today are waaaay bigger than the size 10 jeans I

used to buy 15-20 years ago.

They have such a large selection these days of clothing for the larger person,

as well as so many accoutrements to accommodate them.

I heard recently that the number of bariatric surgeries has just skyrocketed!

Obviously, we have a problem with obesity in this country,

but we want the quick way out of the problem.

We either live in denial (that hamburger isn't THAT big or I'm not THAT heavy, I'm just pleasantly plump!),

or want a quick-fix!

Why can't we be content with just one serving?

Isn't that all we really need?

Am I using my food to be my comfort?

Am I so overwhelmed with my responsibilities and daily stresses that I turn to that box of cookies?

Why am I not turning to the Lord with my burdens?

"The Lord is my portion, saith my soul;

therefore will I hope in Him."

~Lamentations 3:24

"I cried unto thee, O Lord:

I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion......

Attend unto my cry;

for I am very low:

....Bring my soul out of prison,

that I may praise thy name."

~Psalm 142:5-7

I get that obesity will not become completely extinct in our country if we all learned portion control.

I know there is so much more involved.

But I have observed that Americans eat way more than they need to,

and that the driving force behind that should be addressed.

Sure, it's genetic.

Because my parents had bad eating habits passed down to them from their parents.

And where did my grandparents learn unhealthy eating patterns?

From their parents.

That's the genetic link.

It became so intensely clear to me that my children learn how to eat

and why to eat from.....

ME.

I want them to learn that finding a quiet place to regroup when the frustration mounts,

or that a hot cup of tea or coffee with some sweet, lovely music can calm the soul

better than that bowl of ice cream.

I want them to learn that beginning their day in the majestic and peaceful presence of the Lord

will make all the days pressures pale in comparison.

"My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever."

~Psalm 73:26

Illness and the Type 1 Diabetic child

We're sick again.
And I'm getting sick of it.
I mean, really?
We haven't been to our Pediatrician in a couple of years, and I almost broke down Saturday morning and took in my two oldest who are sick for the second time in 3 weeks!
Over the New Year's Day and the following week, I think you'll remember we had a nasty "barf-a-thon."
Now, this last Tuesday evening, my oldest red-haired daughter began coughing and complaining of a sore throat.
She didn't get out of bed until this morning.
And she's been running a fever, has laryngitis, and a congested, wracking cough.
On Saturday morning, it was my second daughter.
She woke up with a fever and sore throat, and began losing her voice more as the day got older.
Sigh.
My husband and I took turns going to church with the well ones on yet another Sunday.
Pray for us?

It's always stressful and wearisome to have a sick child, but especially so when she has Type 1 Diabetes.
Until we started living with this disease, I had absolutely no idea how ignorant I was to what our bodies just do for us.
I had no idea that your pancreas spills out insulin throughout the entire day and night whenever your body needs it.
When you eat...you need insulin.
When you move and exercise and run around, you need insulin.
When your body gets cold or hot, you need insulin.
When you get sick....you especially need insulin.
I was IGNORANT to how many things the pancreas regulates in your body.
Just another grace.

But when your child doesn't have a functioning pancreas, you have to learn how to think like a pancreas.
Believe me, this has been mind-numbing.
Questions like these overwhelmed me when we were trying to take in all this information"

"Seriously?!?!"

"You mean, people actually have to do this??"

"You mean, I have to know how many carbohydrates are in every morsel of food that goes in this child's mouth?"

"REALLY?  We have to check her blood sugar THAT many times a day?"
"I'M the one who has to do all the math to figure out exactly how many units of insulin to give her
at EVERY meal?"
"Wait.  There's more than one KIND of insulin and they work completely differently?"

And it only gets more complicated when she is sick.

See, when she's sick, she has to have insulin.

But if you give insulin, you have to expect that to affect her blood sugar.

Fine if her blood sugar is already high because of the illness, but tricky if it's in normal to low ranges.

Then she has to get some carbohydrates in her to offset the insulin.

No fun when you're vomiting and can't keep anything down.

So we had to learn the liquids she could have that contain carbohydrates....popsicles, soda, jello, juice boxes, etc.

But our problem has been that she hasn't wanted to eat.

So we haven't checked her blood sugar, or if we did, it was within normal ranges.

She started feeling exceptionally bad then.

Why?

Another thing we had to learn about.....KETONES.

Here's what our information defines these as:

"When the body can not use glucose (from carbohydrates) for energy,

it will break down fat cells for another source of energy.

Ketones result from the body's attempt to use fat cells for energy.

Ketones are acids, and can make your child sick."

In other words, an ill person with a healthy, functioning pancreas will just continue to put out the insulin necessary to convert carbohydrates into energy to keep that sick person's body functioning (brain, bladder, heart, lungs, etc.).  

Yet another grace.

But a person who has no pancreas has no insulin to get the sugar (glucose) into the blood stream for energy, so their body will try to convert fat into energy.  The resulting acid waste from that spills into the urine and are called ketones.

We have test strips in our house now to check her urine for ketones every two hours when she is sick. 

Because of this latest illness, we are becoming a little more used to having to handle these ketones.

At first, we sort of panicked.

When you're told that if her ketones measure "large" you may ultimately have to take her to the hospital,

you take it very seriously.

So she feels terrible, we pull out the test strips and see the dreaded PURPLE color.

Large ketones.

I call the doctor on call at Children's Hospital for instructions, and here's what we are told to do:

Check her blood sugar and urine for ketones....every two hours:

If her blood sugar is ABOVE 250, she can't have carbohydrates (think diet soda or proteins):

In addition to that, if she has:

Large Ketones- We give her 20% of her total number of units of insulin (both Humalog and Lantus).

12 units of Humalog

Moderate Ketones - 15% of total units of insulin for the day

9 units of Humalog

Small Ketones - 10% of total units of insulin for the day

6 units

Trace ketones - Use her correction scale (another chart we have to follow on well days)

BUT:

If her blood sugar is below 250, she can have carbohydrates.

We were to start by adding in 45 grams of carbohydrates with large ketones.

Oh, and don't forget the 8-10 oz. of water every 20 minutes.

Thankfully, we have found her to respond quite positively very quickly, and all her numbers drop back to normal/safe ranges within a couple hours.  

I can't tell you the relief and security I've found in the lifeline at our Children's Hospital and how quickly they return our calls, and how encouragingly they coach us along!!  

We never feel like we've done the wrong thing, or that we were calling because we are hypochondriacs!

More grace.

Gifts.

A sigh of relief.

But I'll be so glad to be able to put the notebook and ketone strips away.

And to get back to the outside world.

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe!!

It's been awhile since I've posted a recipe, but this is such a yummy one and is so good for these cold winter days.  The first time I ever heard of this dish was when I was living in New Hampshire.  I don't think it's specific to that region of the country, though it wouldn't surprise me as it's so hardy and warming during the endless months of snow and cold up there.  Honestly, I've never seen a recipe for it nor seen it served anywhere here in Texas, but that doesn't mean that it's not here.
Doesn't nearly every good "homestyle" restaurant have a recipe for this?
My recipe is taken from a cookbook I have from a M.O.P.S group in Northwest Ohio where I grew up.  It's very good, but I'm sure it would be more amazing with some fabulous homemade sauce or other ingredients added to it (I'm thinking shredded cheese or those french fried onion things, and I've seen other recipes that use frozen peas and carrots and diced tomatoes too).  It's really delicious and one of the perfect "comfort foods!"

Shepherd's Pie

1 lb ground beef (I always use a pound of ground turkey)

1 can corn

1 can green beans

1 can cream of mushroom soup (I prefer the organic brands without all the MSG)

3 servings of mashed potatoes (leftovers are great for this!!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown ground meat and place in the bottom of a casserole dish. (I used about a 3 quart dish)

Layer corn over meat, then soup over corn.

Layer beans over the soup.

Cover all with the mashed potatoes.

Bake for 45 to 60 minutes.  (I did mine uncovered.)

I think the next time, I'm going to mix some shredded cheese into the mashed potatoes before spreading them over the top of the veggies.  The idea of cheesy potatoes just sounds so good to me!!

Enjoy!!!

(P.S.  Sorry I don't have any pictures of it in an individual serving on a plate, but you can find some

here and here!!)

The first birthday of the season

Yep.
It's here.
Just as I get the last box of Christmas stuff packed shut and stuffed up into the attic.
Birthday season has officially begun!

From now until May 23, we will be celebrating 5 children's birthdays, the Mommy and Daddy's birthday, as well as the Mommy and Daddy's anniversary.
Not to mention a couple of Grandparents and the only Aunt will be celebrating their birthday within that time frame as well.
We have at least one birthday every month until that date in May, with the heaviest grouping of them being in April when we will have a daughter's birthday, the Daddy's birthday, and the Mommy and Daddy's anniversary all in one WEEK!!

And the first birthday of the year in our immediate household goes to......

ARYN!!

The baby of the family turned 3 years old yesterday.

In some ways, it's hard to believe that it has been three years since she was born,

but so much has happened in our lives since that time that it's hard to believe that

it has only been THREE years??

What a treasure she is.

So full of fun and sweetness...even with those occasional rotten spots!!

 We always start out the birthday celebration with "breakfast in bed"

complete with a donut for every year old they are now,

and the first present of the day.

 We decided to do the rest of our birthday celebrating at lunch today

especially so Daddy could participate with us on his lunch break from work.

The girls and I baked and decorated her cake,

and though we certainly would not have taken any awards for precision or beauty,

we so enjoyed working on it together.

Our nickname for her is "bear-bear" because of her little satin blanket with the bear's head attached that she so loved when she was even smaller.

Hence, the bears on the cake.

We all went out for a walk after lunch because we had such beautiful weather,

and I knew she would love to walk her "baby" in her new stroller. 

The Journey: Accepting that I must be a good steward of my body

As I moved farther along the road of this weight-loss last year, something occurred to me.

I would see these stories of men and women who so misused their food and completely ignored the warning signs of impeding danger happening in their bodies that eventually they became so morbidly obese that they would have to be cut out of their houses and hauled in special vehicles that could handle their weight to the nearest hospital that could handle the catastrophic damage they had incurred on their bodies.

Those stories left such an impact on me and I began pondering how and why such things could happen.
When most of these men and women reached a certain size, their poor bones just couldn't bear the weight anymore and they were often confined in an enormous bed in their living rooms.  I wondered how they continued to be able to eat.  I mean, if they couldn't walk, who was bringing the food to them??
Usually a family member.  And if that family member balked because they could see the danger this large person was in, that person would get extremely manipulative with them, and they obviously gave in to the large person's demands.  Obviously......I mean, how else could they sustain themselves?

So I began thinking......

"Is this really what God intended when He created our bodies?"

Why did God design our bodies they way He did?

Why did He create us with the need to consume food?  Such an enjoyable experience, most of the time.

Did He mean for us to literally feed ourselves to death?

Did He intend for us to use our food as a best friend?  A comfort in emotional times?  A way of escaping the boredom or stress or frustrations of the day?

Isn't that what He wants to be to us?

Shouldn't we find all our needs met in our relationship with our Heavenly Father?

Doesn't He want to meet all our needs?

Certainly He didn't intend for us to have a relationship with our food!!

Did He intend for us to just allow ourselves to slip into apathy, fatigue, and ill-health?

Now please don't think that I'm missing that some people have lots of things that are completely out of

their control that cause them to be unable to take good care of themselves.

I know there are single Moms out there who literally have no time for themselves between the needs of their children, their job, and their home.

I get that some people have illnesses that confine them at home when they would much rather

be out walking and getting some exercise!

That's NOT what I'm talking about.

I was just thinking about me.  

I learned that emotional eating is not just eating when you're sad.

Boredom, loneliness, and stress are all emotions too.

Three years ago, things were stressful in my life, but I had no IDEA the tidal wave of life that was about to be coming at me.

It happens.

But I wondered if the way I had responded to everything was what God has intended.

I only have this one body.

I don't have another chance.

Only one shot.

This is it.

How am I using it?

Am I taking the best care of it (this body) as I can?

I know that I cannot prevent every form of illness to come into my life.

No amount of vitamins, supplements, exercise, visits to the chiropractor, refusing to eat anything that is not hormone, chemical, or cage-free, tofu eating, or vegan dieting can prevent something that God has written into the appointment book of my life from happening to me.

But I do believe that He expects us to take care of the gifts He has given us.

I really think that our Intelligent Designer created us in the most spectacularly detailed way to function amazingly when cared for properly.

I have a responsibility to use this one body, this one life in the way He designed it, for His glory.

"For you are bought with a price:

therefore glorify God in your body,

and in your spirit,

which are God's"

~ 1 Corinthians 6:20

"...but that with all boldness,

as always,

so now Christ shall be magnified in my body,

whether it be by life or by death."

~Philippians 1:20

How can I do that when I abuse it?

How can I be considered a faithful "steward" if I'm trashing what He has given me, or ignoring it's flags for help?
How can do my best for Him, be the hands and feet of Jesus, if I'm too exhausted from being overweight or some other physical ailment that just needs a little attention?

I have to be responsible.

No one else can do this for me.

It's up to me.
I learned that I'm in a race....not to see who can finish first....but who can stay in it and finish at ALL.
Better be training, and as healthy as possible, and shaking off any extra things that may "weigh" me down.

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run,

but only one receives the prize?

Run in such a way that you may win.

And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.

They then do it to receive a perishable wreath,

but we an imperishable.

Therefore, I run in such a way,

as not without aim;

I box in such a way,

as not beating the air;

but I buffet my body and make it my slave,

lest possibly,

after I have preached to others,

I myself should be disqualified."

~ 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27

Daily grace

What Jesus looks like

I've been thinking a lot about the name....
the name {or theme, if you will} of this still fresh year.
A name that will embody the way I move, the way I respond, the way I think about, the way I treat....
my children, my husband, my friends, strangers the Lord unexpectedly places in my path, myself.
I've been pondering what it looks like to be like Christ.
Would those around me say, "I could never do that.  That's what Jesus would do."

"{Jesus} is patient,

{Jesus} is kind,

{Jesus} is not jealous,

{Jesus} does not brag and is not arrogant,

{Jesus} does not act unbecomingly,

{Jesus} does not seek His own,"

{Jesus} is not provoked,

{Jesus} does not take into account a wrong suffered,

{Jesus} does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth,

{Jesus} bears all things,

{Jesus} believes all things,

{Jesus} hopes all things,

{Jesus} endures all things."

~1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

I want, not only complete strangers, but my HUSBAND, my BABIES to see a difference in me.

Like the Israelites saw in Moses after he came down from the mountain after spending 40 days with Jehovah.

"And it came to pass,

when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables

of testimony in Moses' hand,

when he came down from the mount,

that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone

because of his speaking with Him {Jehovah}.

And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses,

behold,

the skin of his face shone;

and they were afraid to come near him."

~Exodus 34: 29,30

Of course, I don't want my family to {be afraid} of me, but I do want them to know I've spent time with Him.

That what I am and how I respond to them looks {like Jehovah.}

This last year I learned something incredible to me.

It has revolutionized me.

And I'm ashamed to admit that I never understood this before now.....my FORTIETH year of life.

40 YEARS....and I never got it.

Don't think I had ever seen it.

Knew a whole LOT of what it looked like without it.

Couldn't figure out why it was so {amazing}....so {wonderful}.....so {matchless}.

When you've never seen something displayed and had a name put to it, it's hard to visualize.

I don't want my children to miss it like I did.

I don't want my husband to feel strangled by the lack of it.

I want my family to experience the freedom it results in.

"Freedom is not doing what you want,

but the ability to do what you should."

This year I want to develop the habit of extending, of growing in, of living in the freedom of......

Grace.

Now that I know what it looks like.....I want to show it.

I want to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

2011

The Year of Grace