Spiritual Spa #15: The Ten Condiments

“He is wooing you from the jaws of distress
   to a spacious place free from restriction,
   to the comfort of your table laden with choice food."
                                                               Job 36, 16
Dear family in the Lord!

What a beautiful verse! Guess who is talking here? It is Job's friend Elihu, missing the point, but still stating a truth about God. Your health got you in distress? Well, come to the table of the Lord laden with choice food!

Let's be inspired today to learn more about a spacious place free from restriction...... your fridge!
Thinking about someones fridge, who is near and very dear to me, I had a revelation. In an attempt to translate the peace and order I feel in my heart and mind into reality I cleaned out my mother-in-law's refrigerator. And, oh what I found! I came across bagged and thoroughly molded limes, a whole bunch of sauces and dressing way past their best days (the award went to Steak Sauce dated 04/2001), besides that most of these were made from terrible ingredients, boxed up left overs of once fancied meals,..... let me wrap it up by pointing out; There were thoughts about getting a second fridge, "because we could not fit everything inside." 

When I was done with my spring cleaning we could fit a whole ham and a whole turkey into the same fridge.

Now, it's not my job to guilt anyone into conviction. But you can put one and one together and realize effortlessly that you are wasting money, space and health by this kind of a lifestyle. That is what leads me to share The Ten Condiments with you. The "Thou shalt not" is not really my place- let me share with you what thou shalt!

THE TEN CONDIMENTS

1. Only buy what you are going to eat. Yes, this involves a little planning ahead.

2. Only prepare what you are going to eat. 

3. Use the convenience of a fridge as a tool of for the cool by preparing healthy foods over the weekend to serve you as a quicker meal during the week. Like grilled chicken breast, steak or a stir fry. No need for harsh preservatives out of Frankenstein's chem lab if you make it yourself and eat it in time!

4. If you like dressing for your salad or sauces for your meat always go for quality. Buy and use one condiment at a time, with the least ingredients that exclude High Fructose Corn Syrup, Mono Sodium Glutamate, Artificial Colors or Artificial Flavors. Be aware that "Fat free" option defy the purpose of adding fat to your consumption of Vitamins. Did you ever try Organic Flax Seed/ Cold Pressed Olive Oil as dressing?

5. Buy one or two jams you really like. Or not. Jams or jelly usually drop a sugar bomb into your system, setting you up for a growth of more sweet teeth in your mouth. Ever considered making your own jam and adding only hints of Sucanat instead of cups of refined sugar?

6. Buy only organic and unsalted butter. You eat it daily, it is worth the extra $2.

7. Cheese should have 5 ingredients or less. Same with String Cheese or Shredded Cheese. Swiss Cheese or Mozzarella tend to be a better choice than Cheddar or mixes that are made with artificial colors.

8.  Always have Kale, Carrots, Onions, Peppers and Pre-shred Cole Slaw (without sauce!) in your veggie drawer. They make for a super quick super nutritious supper. That is- if you are going to eat these power foods!

9. A condiment you might find on top of your fridge: Salt. Throw out all table salt, especially the iodine fortified ones. They come with synthetic minerals that pose a real thread to thyroids and with that hormone household Exchange those with Salt that comes with real Minerals like Pink Himalayan Salt or Celtic Sea Salt. Found at Trader Joe's or Wayzata.

10. Always have 100% lemon juice in your fridge. It works as a quick sauce for grilling chicken with or you can add it to water or salads. 

With all that said, dear family in the Lord, I release you back into your day and hope you were inspired today to honor and value food as we know it comes from the Lord. Keeping a clean house in your fridge will help you experience the spacious places without restrictions, helping you with not forgetting about left overs, veggies or sauces, enabling you to purchase the quality food your body deserves.


Be blessed abundantly!

Spiritual Spa #14: A fair ground called blood sugar

And Jesus said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” John 1:51


Dear family in the Lord Jesus!

How is everybody doing? I mean you, and you and you! And how are the people near and dear to you?
I hope you are in a season of life right now that will lead to greater growth in every aspect.

After my very first own designed five week class on Nutritional Education (held at inFIT) I have seen fruits and changes in my clients like I could not have imagined. Some really caught "the spirit!" I am talking about the spirit of catching a glimpse of your own value. You will look at life differently when you realize that you have value.

Some of my clients started to speak out of this new conviction. They would mention that they went shopping and did not stop to look at the soda/pop aisle. They realized their bodies deserved better. They would share how they have gone past soda to, excitedly, drink half their body weight in ounces of water ever day and they shared that new knowledge with others. It started to dawn on them that they don't have to get french fries while on the run and that there are great salads out there, hidden in those fast food restaurants. 

What does that have to do with today's Bible verse? Well I dare say that, just like Jesus' disciples caught the spirit of who Jesus is and the authority He carries, my clients have started to get an idea of the quality of life that can come with well chosen nutrition. I want to go even a step further and say that this is similar to Jesus declaring an open heaven and angels ascending and descending, which I believe speaks about God's presence, plans and purposes being done on earth as it is in heaven. Now, I am not saying that what we eat will open the heavens like Jesus' authority can, but I do want to say that when we treat our bodies as good stewards, nourished for a day of serving Him in what ever shape or form, we are obedient to treating our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit and that comes with great blessing.

Guess what you don't want to see ascending and descending in your life though - your blood sugar.

I came to the conviction that cravings for junk food or sweets, fatigue, depression, you name it, can be the result of a blood sugar index that looks more like a heart beat chart after a spin class. In case you didn't know- we are truly made of sugar! My Dad would tell me that I am NOT made of sugar when I would not want to ride my bike to school on a rainy day but he was wrong - I guess I should call him up one of these days and rub this in his hairy face! The fact is that we are so greatly made of sugar that our bodies react to too much sugar or too little sugar in an instant.

Elevated high blood sugar levels (I like to call them "spikes") are called hyperglycemia and can lead to diabetes. Depressed blood sugar levels ("dips") go by the name hypoglycemia. Spikes in the blood sugar are to be taken very seriously. Since the blood sugar is regulated (I am talking as a personal trainer here, so don't base your doctoral theses on what I say!) by a hormone called insulin you can grow resistant to it. That leads to the dire need to get insulin from other sources; like what the diabetes doctor would have to offer. Blood sugar "dips" should not be treated with little concern either- you are basically running on an empty fuel pump when your blood sugar is low. Talk to my father-in-law if you want to learn how bad that is!

Now, you might object by saying that your days of drowning bags of M&Ms and Twizzlers down your throat are over and you barely eat sugar now. But the truth is that there is sugar, or a form of sugar, in pretty much everything we consume. Even if it comes right from nature. The food group is called "carbohydrates" and refers to all forms of sugar, syrup, grains, veggies and fruits. The popular "low carb diet" usually involves the instruction to just lessen your intake of grains, when you should be told to drastically bump up our fruit/veggie intake as a replacement for most other carbohydrates (like Pasta, Bread, Crackers etc.) in your diet.

Are you prepared to hear about the biggest shocker of the day? You have probably seen those TV adds made by the makers of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) telling you that HFCS acts just like other sugar in your body and your body cannot tell the difference - sugar is sugar, right? Well.
I used to think they were lying bluntly into my face, but now I know that they were actually speaking the truth - a partial truth, that is. It is sugar, that's the truth, but what they don't say is that HFCS affects hormones (and, with that, blood sugar or vice versa) more than regular refined sugar. It spikes your blood sugar more; it affects your metabolism more. This is information you almost never hear from an official site though. Why? Guess what? It all comes back to government subsidies of corn production. HFCS is subsidized and, therefore, cheap to produce.

But with all that said, if you know me you know I like to stay away from any kind of refined sugar all together. When I made up my mind to do this, life became so much easier, I became so much lighter, my sleep got so much deeper, and my health got so much better.
 
So how should your blood sugar level look? Ideally you want to be able to sustain a moderate level all through the day. How is that possible? Well, let me start out by stating, "It is not impossible!" My clients have started to implement something that has brought them great success in this area and that little something is called PLANNING AHEAD!

You need to go grocery shopping with the attitude of being a valuable human being. It is usually rich people that say things like "If only I could buy health," but, at the same time, we regular people are so busy running the rat race that we don't realize we are putting our health at greater risk every day by trying to save money by buying cheaper processed foods and drinks. In other words, buy food that is good for you. The only food you eat should have a mother or come from the ground or trees and have under gone as little processing as possible. Like Ezekiel Bread.


You need to start your day with water and have breakfast within the first 30 minutes of waking.


You should eat every two to four hours throughout the day; breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid- day snack, and dinner.


If you really want to see changes to the better in how you feel, avoid refined sugar. Obvious sugars like in desert and hidden sugars, added to your processed meals. Don't set yourself up for the roller coaster ride! There is nothing fun about being addicted to sugar.


Avoid dips in your blood sugar by carrying an apple and string cheese in your purse to tied you over until the next meal. People suffering from hypoglycemia can do and say horrible things. My husband has episodes of this every once in a while (we are working on his nutrition) and I know now to forgive him for he doesn't know what he is doing.


You need to be aware that processed grains act in your body just like sugar. They give you the spikes that will cause you to reach for those cookies. So NO MORE EXCUSES for buying white flour or enriched flour. If you are eating grains, which doesn't have to be a whole lot, go 100% whole wheat and, even better, organic 100% whole wheat.

With all that said, I will release you back into your day with the hope that you caught the spirit and the truth that you are valuable and worth the effort it takes to become a good steward of your body! I hope that all that you see ascending and descending in your life would be those angels of God :)

Be blessed abundantly