Week 40, Tuesday, Diet with Dianna

Daniel 1:8-15. But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods. 9 Now God had given the chief of staff both respect and affection for Daniel. 10 But he responded, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has ordered that you eat this food and wine. If you become pale and thin compared to the other youths your age, I am afraid the king will have me beheaded.” 11 Daniel spoke with the attendant who had been appointed by the chief of staff to look after Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 12 “Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water,” Daniel said. 13 “At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the king’s food. Then make your decision in light of what you see.” 14 The attendant agreed to Daniel’s suggestion and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king. 16 So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables instead of the food and wine provided for the others.

God wants us to be healthy -- spiritually and physically.  Just like Daniel in the Bible reference above; the right thing is to choose healthy choices for ourselves.  The right thing is to satisfy our deepest desires and needs with God and not food, or sex, or drugs, or alcohol... It is a choice, just like Daniel, to resist the temptation of unhealthy foods and to concentrate on God and eating healthy. It is a good choice to walk on the path willingly of discipline in the area of food choices. Make those good, positive, healthy choices again, and again, and again!


You don't have to go through the journey alone. Satan wants you to think that you are defeated, isolated, and a failure. GOD says we are victorious, powerful, more than conquerors! We can do ALL things through Christ who gives us strength. With God ALL things are possible. Choose to focus on God and not cravings for the unhealthy choices. Pray for success. Focus on victory with God as your partner and biggest supporter.

Week 40, Monday, Diet with Dianna

Galatians 5:22-24. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

We had a beautiful Spring day. Mid 70's! AWESOME! Thank you Lord for your beauty.


 I started out with a nice workout of mowing the yard, front and back, then sweeping. Whew! It wasn't walking 3 miles, but I definitely used all the muscle groups. It took about forty-five minutes to mow and another twenty minutes to sweep. I figure it was the equivalent of 1.5 miles...maybe 2.


Next I was off to wash the car and vacuum the inside. I dried the outside, vacuumed the interior, and washed the windows, inside and out. That really worked up a sweat. I suppose that would be about another quarter mile. 


When I got home I finished up the laundry and cleaned the kitchen...that added a small fraction of energy burn.  I most certainly kept active and burned up some calories.


Tomorrow, I will work on core muscle strengthening. Maybe I'll throw in a walk too.


Menu:


For lunch I ate a small salad and three small, Extra thin & crispy slices of pizza...really small slices. If I put them all together, they would have formed a normal single slice of pizza. I drank some tea with lemon.


For dinner I had a beef taco and some salsa and a glass of sugar free orange tea.


Later for a snack I had some mixed nuts and a few raisins and cup of coffee!


Oops, forgot about breakfast...a Multi-grain, whole wheat 3 inch waffle, about one tablespoon of sf syrup, one egg and one turkey sausage patty. Cup of coffee.

**************** I Could Never Give Up That!  Self-control is hard. We don’t like to deny ourselves. We just don’t think it’s necessary. We make excuses and declare, “That’s nice for someone else, but I could never give that up!” If we’re relying on ourselves, that excuse may be true. But there’s another level to self-control that too few of us find. Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” [Matthew 19:23-24] If you study this verse in context, it actually means, “With human effort alone, it can seem impossible to deny yourself. With human effort alone, it can seem impossible to make sacrifices. With human effort alone, it can seem impossible to have self-control. But with God, all self-control, all sacrifices, all effort is possible.” Rather than giving in to the foods we crave, we can have God’s self-control to make completely different decisions—decisions for health, decisions for renewed energy, decisions for confidence and peace. Most importantly, decisions that honor both our bodies and God! Lysa TerKeurst – Made to Crave Devotional – 60 days to Craving God, Not Food.

Week 40, Sunday, Diet with Dianna

Job 7:1-3 “Is not all human life a struggle? Our lives are like that of a hired hand, like a worker who longs for the shade, like a servant waiting to be paid. 
 I, too, have been assigned months of futility, long and weary nights of misery.
****************


My life is far, far, far from that of Job's in the Bible. Truly, he was in sad, sad shape; spiritually and physically. It was a tragic, tragic story!
I am so blessed to NOT be in his shoes! I am not at all comparing my life to Job's. Thank the Lord--I am NOT living a life like Job's. AMEN!


However, I feel frustrated, and irritated, and angry, and tired of battling this plateau of non-weight loss. I use the words that Job said, 'months of futility, long and weary...waiting on the plateau to end and weight loss to begin, again!


My weight seems to be in a constant 'YO-YO' state, at this point. I am doing so much better. Really, I have nothing to complain about. God has so richly blessed my life. I have health, the love of my best friend-husband, great children, a free country, worshiping God -- my way, and much, much more! I am healed of sickness! I've grown spiritually because I am studying the Word more and looking to the deeper reasons for not craving food but craving God. All things are good! Really, I have no complaints with my life.


I am exercising more, eating right, exercising more...exercising more. I am walking and jogging over 3 miles nearly every day!  


For the last three weeks, I have quit all carbonated beverages and I'm drinking more water...I actually like it, now. I have added some fruit, [emphasis on 'some'] in it's natural state. I don't eat more than a 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of fruit and only then I eat it every other day. I have eaten less carbs, avoiding processed foods, and added fish [which I really do not like most fish].


I stopped the eating every three hours because I just was so full all the time. I felt that that could possibly be the reason I was at a plateau. STILL NO additional weight loss! I don't understand why the weight loss has stalled? I've been so good at watching what I eat; even though temptation is EVERYWHERE! 


WHAT IS GOING ON?


*Sigh*

Week 40, Saturday, Diet with Dianna

Proverbs 25:16 Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!

EXTREME DIETING - Omitting fats from your diet can be harmful!




Be careful if you are continually selecting low-fat or fat-free foods at the grocery store. By exchanging a "no fat" diet plan for a diet that contains 'moderate essential fats', you might be sabotaging your weight-loss efforts. Unfortunately, so many of the "no fat" or "low fat" foods are processed and have added sugar as a replacement for the taste of fat. Even more horrible is that you are still eating the same amount of calories, carbohydrates and sodium than that of the similar original full-fat product. Researchers, dietitians, and heart surgeons have determined that the public have been duped and tend to believe these "low fat" or "no fat" foods are "freebies". Be that the case these dieters will over indulge in these fat free processed foods thinking they're healthier or even lower in calories when they are anything but.

When that fat is missing from your diet your appetite may signal for you to eat sooner. Good fats will actually carry flavor in your foods which leads to a full and more satisfied feeling. What does this mean to you? It means you can stave off hunger a bit longer on just a mere snack or light meal without feeling the need to eat again too soon.

Just as eating too few calories can hurt your weight-loss efforts, a diet too low in fat can hurt your health, too. Enjoy a moderate amount of fat daily with the peace of mind that you are protecting your heart, brain and your body with every bite, Diets that are too low in fats...the good kind... can cause a HUGE amount of health problems. Just as eating too much fat. Some of the health risks of not eating enough good fats are:

• HDL (good cholesterol) levels get too low! 
• Overeating (not enough of good fats will cause you to not feel full and get hungry quicker) 
• Causes Poor vitamin absorption, 
• Depression 
• Increased Cancer risk 

Moderation is the key! Most of us understand the importance of applying it to exercise, eating and setting goals. Still, there's one thing that many of us fear so much that we forgo moderation and head to extremes: fat. The residual effects of the low-fat craze of the 1990s linger, causing many people to believe that less is more when it comes to fat.

We live in an all or nothing society. Being conscious of your dietary fat intake is definitely a good thing, especially when you're trying to reduce your risk of heart disease or lose weight. But if you take it too far, you could be putting your health in jeopardy.

Article excerpts taken from: SparkPeople.com

Reference Guide for Fats

American Heart Association: Know your fats!

Good fats vs. Bad fats

Risks of Low Fat Diets

Week 40, Thursday & Friday

2 Corinthians 7:1. Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.

The Mighty Spinach Leaf

Watching a mountain of fresh spinach reduce in a matter of a couple minutes to only a shadow of its former dimensions is one of my favorite cookery tasks. I add spinach to lots of dishes – sometimes raw and sometimes briefly sauteed. Adding more and more of the beautiful green leaves to my meals was an easy decision. It’s delicious, filling, and versatile. One cup of raw spinach has only a few calories and it rocks the nutrition charts in calcium, fiber, iron, manganese, magnesium, niacin, phosphorous, potassium, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamins A, B6, C, and zinc. Spinach is also firmly packed with the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin.

Lutein and zeaxanthin are the “eye vitamins” that the ophthalmologist told me to take because of a family history of macular degeneration. The American Macular Degeneration Foundation has a great article referencing a few excellent studies on the connection between nutrition and eye health. This article from the US National Library of Medicine at the National Institute for Health says that for best absorption of your eye nutrients, eat uncooked spinach. If macular degeneration runs in your family, give these articles a read.

The more I read about spinach, the more convinced I was that it was the perfect veggie to add to every single meal I could. [Calorie Count Web Site] by Jannid

An interesting sidenote regarding the power of eating a food like spinach and losing weight. Your body has primarily two ways to inform you that it is full. One of those ways is mechanical. Your stomach fills up with a whole lot of food and your body screams, I’m full! Eat too much on Thanksgiving and you will know exactly what I’m talking about.

The other approach is chemical. This way, your body tells you that your full, not because you have eaten to much but rather, because you’ve gotten all the vitamins and nutrients. The spinach nutritional benefits are one of the absolute most powerful approaches to attaining this other level of being full. This is by far the healthiest and most beneficial methodology of achieving satiation that you could ever imagine. If you are seriously interested in controlling your appetite then eating green foods like kale and spinach is the total way to go. 

OK, so, whether you've watched your Saturday morning cartoons or not I imagine you are beginning to realize why spinach nutritional benefits are one of the top metabolism boosters and beyond. If you only eat spinach for it’s ability to keep you full and satiated then there is nothing wrong with that. However, just put a big smile on your face in knowing that you will be taking part in a wide variety of extra positive side benefits.

[Metabolism Booster]