The change: To write a letter

This might sound simple because you think that it will “qualify” since you write emails and text friends with encouraging notes almost everyday.  But I am talking about getting out that stationary—yes they do make it—and sit down and write an old fashioned letter to a friend.

Why make the change:

Why?  Do you ask should I encourage you to write a letter to someone? I don’t think anyone can disagree with me that it is a very enlivening  thing to be able to receive something in the mail, especially when it is just for us.   What a blessing it is, especially for “us” Moms, who are home each and everyday to walk out to our mailboxes, expecting to receive advertisements and bills and then come upon a letter, addressed to us.

It is a refreshing lift to our spirits to think that someone took the time to write a note of encouragement.  I know for myself, it is one of the brightest joys to my day.  Especially when the days were tough and I didn’t get to look at emails or even answer a phone call during the day.  But it was a joy to receive a letter in the mail, something I could sit down to, when it was convenient and enjoy a moment of encouragement from a friend.

How to make the change:

How do we go about writing a letter????   For starters you want to have some nice stationary.  I know for myself, I used to write on plain notebook paper.  Yes it was all I had and I didn’t really have the time to look for nicer paper at the store so it was my excuse, but now I know where the stationary is in my local store so it is no excuse to be sending out notebook paper notes:) It is very inexpensive, you can even pick up a packet of blank note cards for writing shorter notes.

In your letters you want to start out with some encouraging news.  I would use the default of “God” and start it out with an inspiring verse.  Maybe one that you have been thinking about that week.  Write a short line about the verse and how it is working in your life.

The rest of your letter should remain positive.  Don’t drag your friend down with news that is despairing.  Don’t dwell on the negatives in your life.  Speak about the positives.  I like to go through and give some tidbits of what each of my children are up to.  I like to put some things that I am working on and maybe some things that I am going to be working on in my own personal life and maybe ask for some prayer in those areas if needed.

I like to include a favorite recipe that we have enjoyed as a family.  I write it out on index cards—yes you should do it on nicer Recipe Cards–but until I find those….index cards will have to do:)

Sometimes I like to add a packet of tea that I enjoy drinking.  You can put in a packet of seeds, a prayer card, anything small and unexpected.

If you don’t have the time to write a lengthy letter, write short encouraging letters to friends that you know might be going through a hard time.  Give them some verses of encouragement and let them know you are praying for them.

I know for myself personally, this is something that can easily get forgotten in my life.  I have just recently marked it on my calendar twice a month on my Office days to write a letter to a friend.  I know what a blessing it is and how much WE need to have encouragement from our friends something besides the internet or our own Bibles.  We need tangible evidence from friends to know that the Lord is working through people to encourage and love us through all of our tough times.

Think of someone whom you can send a letter to this week, and I challenge that you continue on with this practice for life.

 

TIME

Now that you know what to do, how about doing it??  Where do we find the time to do all of this? As I have stated in some of my videos, you just have to MAKE THE TIME.  Think about all of the hours wasted, doing nothing?  Think of the countless minutes, just sitting with babies on the floor?  Times when you are on the phone doing nothing.  Utilize all of your extra minutes and do something with your body.  If you will sit at night for hours or in the morning while checking internet things, you can surely spend 30 of those minutes improving your health.

We all make the time for the things that matter the most to us.

You need to decide that your health IS important to you.  Do you want to be strong and healthy for your children?  How about for your grandchildren?  Here is a stretch–how about those great-grandchildren?  Do you want to spend the second half of your life unable to move in a chair, or being an active participant in life?    What type of lifestyle do you want for your future?  Do you want to be dependent upon medication to help “regulate” your bodies?  Do you want to be a “slave” to medical doctors and the drug industry?  Or do you want to be able to enjoy  a sugar filled snack occasionally in your old age without worrying if it will put you in a sugar induced coma?  We should worry about being moderate in what we eat now, so that in the future we can still enjoy the occasional treats.

DIET

I believe in eating foods as close to their natural state as possible.  We don’t completely eat that way, we do enjoy some great homemade foods and treats.  But while I am attempting to lose some extra pounds, I limit my intake of certain foods.  I have to say to myself, in order for me to enjoy those foods later on without feeling guilty for eating them, right now I am going to deny myself them so that I can get control of my eating habits.

When I am losing weight, I like to eat only whole foods.  What I mean by “whole foods’ is —foods as close to the way that God intended.  What I like to do is get my cravings under control.  For the first day, I like to do a water fast.  It is a great thing to do and if you have been indulging yourself, it isn’t that hard physically to do as your body has much excess food to use up.  But mentally it can be challenging until you get over that hump of okay only a few more hours until bedtime.  The next day I like to begin eating simply.

If you want to try one of those expensive cleansing tonics. You can spend an arm and a leg on them or make your own.  It is a different mentality that I didn’t think much about before, but when I experienced it, I was amazed at how much better I felt.  It basically cleans your body from the inside out.  Our bodies put up with a lot of toxins from what we eat to our environment and there are natural, healthy ways to eliminate them especially as a way to kick start our bodies into a healthy state. Foods with artificial colors and flavors and preservatives contain toxins that build up in your body over time and can cause ill health effects on our health.  This is a great way to get your body on the right track.  As you are trying to lose the weight, your body is still fighting with how to burn off and eliminate all of the toxins that you are constantly throwing in it.  This body cleanse is great for getting rid of and then being able to start fresh on your healthy eating.  Why would you trust anyone else with what your are going to cleanse your system with?  They may take some getting used to but a great way to flush out the toxins from your body.

Cleanse #1

This is a famous “Master cleanse”  drink that says if you drink it for 10 days you will lose weight.  Yes I agree if you drank only this you would lose weight. I wouldn’t recommend days, but I would recommend one day.  Keep a water container full of this all day and sip continually to cleanse your body of toxins.  You can do an individual internet study of the health benefits of all of the ingredients.  Become informed learn what they all do.

• 2 T lemon juice
• 2 T maple syrup
• 1 t cayenne pepper
• Mix in 24 ounces of water

Cleanse #2

Another cleanse you can do is a Water cleanse.  You choose to eat and drink all things that are filled with basically water:)  Any fruit or vegetables may be eaten.  Steamed or raw.  I would recommend mostly raw for the roughage in helping clean out your colon.  Drink plenty of water as well.

Cleanse #3

This is a pretty intense tasting one.  Definitely one to get used to, I would recommend doing the other 2 first and then for the bolder ones, try this concoction.  Again do some research and learn about all the health benefits from each ingredient.

I like to fill up my water bottle which is 24 ounces and then add the following:

• 2 T Apple cider vinegar.  A powerful digestive aid and is an old timey cure for heart burn and indigestion. It is a powerful detox tool and improves bowel function.
• 1 T Ginger powder.  It is up at the top of the list with the most potent anti-inflammatory supplements on God’s green earth and can relieve common aches and pains and even help with more serious arthritic conditions.
• 2 T lemon juice–another great flushing out toxins from your body.  Aids in digestion, helping regulate the functions.
• 2 T pure maple syrup or honey–2 great natural sweeteners with great digestive properties
• 1 T sea salt.   It helps the body to create digestive juices so that the foods you eat are digested faster, and it helps to prevent buildup in the digestive tract, which eventually can lead to constipation and weight gain.

This is a typically stronger cleanse and myself I can only handle about 1 water bottle of this per day.  The other times, I drink pure water.

These cleanses are great to use for your “kick off” to lose some weight.  Try one of them for at least 1 day.  If you can do 1-3 days that would be awesome!  But we are looking at doing something rather than nothing right now.  Gotta start somewhere.

FOODS

Here are the foods that I generally eat on my weight loss.  I like something that doesn’t take time because I do not have much.  I need things that I can easily make without requiring a lot of prep work.

**note I have removed my videos from here so that I can make updated versions of them.

Here is a typical breakfast scenerio:

I keep it simple oatmeal.

Here is a typical lunch scenerio:

I again, keep it simple spinach salad.

Here are my “filler foods”  cabbage vegetable soup and if I feel the need to snack on anything, I pop some air popped popcorn and lightly spray with butter spray and use sea salt for flavoring.  You can eat a HUGE bowl of that and it is almost nothing in calories.

Here is a dinner meal:

Brown rice, vegetables, soy sauce, and sesame oil

Now I don’t eat like this for the whole time I am losing weight.  This is just a typical sample menu.  If you need more variety in your diet, then search out and make it.  I need simple and easy and that is why I choose this one.  If I am needing more protein and iron, I will hard boil some eggs and grab one to eat during the day. I will take some of the beans, red meat, or chicken from our family dinner and add some to my rice and vegetables.   Just a simple way to eat that doesn’t require a lot of extra preparation, because I do not have the time for that.

My drinks are simple—–Water.  No fancy drinks, just water with a peppermint teabag in it.  I constantly fill it up and sip most all of the day.  Keeping fluids handy is a good habit when it is water or something equally healthy or light in calories.  The problem is that most Americans guzzle sugar or other carb sweetened beverages all day long.  How many need an energy pick me up, or sweetened flavored water, or a can of Coke, I mean Diet Coke?  Glucose is flushed into the blood stream on a constant basis. Liquid carbs are the most dangerous of all high glycemic, insulin spiking, fat flooding, health enemies that we face.  Keep it simple—-Water.

Some thoughts….How easy is it for us to look at someone else and think that they need better “self -control” in their life.  Maybe its an alcoholic or a drug addict and you think, “Just put down the drugs and you will be better.”  Sounds easy right?  Did you know that putting down the drugs might even be easier than putting down that donut and getting off the couch??

How easy is it to assume that the drug addict has a worse addiction then us who are being gluttonous and lazy.  I feel like I can only say that because that was me.  It was easy to look at someone who I felt needed to change their lifestyle in order to “honor God”  but for myself I didn’t think it was a big deal that I was overweight and shoving “junk” into my mouth.  My life was no different.  Change starts with us.

We all need self-control.  Especially in the things that we put into our bodies.

It begins with our willingness to want more out of life.  Our diet and lifestyle choices has a huge impact on how we will feel for the rest of our lives.  You have to decide what it is you want out of life.  Do you want to honor God by taking care of your temple?  Or giving excuses the rest of your life?

You can read my original post about how I lost 70 lbs twice in 2 years and 12 dress sizes.