Eating, but not necessarily healthy eating

We've been eating, eating, eating since we landed in Kansas City on Monday night, which isn't really a good thing.  However, we have enjoyed spending time over breakfast, lunch and dinner with family and friends.

Here's the list so far:

Jumpin' Catfish with my dad
La Fuente with the Yallaly's
Egg and I with Sheryl 
Don Chilitos with the Rhoades
Spin Pizza with Stephen
Hereford House with David and Michael (two of Stephen's brothers and wives)
Joe's KC BBQ with Mark and David (two of Stephen's brothers and wives)

There are still breakfasts, lunches and dinners to come!  

Denise, Michael, me and Stephen
(Hereford House)

David, Mandy and Haley
Hereford House

Me, Stephen, Mark and Tonia
(Joe's Kansas City BBQ)

Healthy Eating + Exercise = Results

I've decided that weight gain is one of the most insidious results of poor eating habits combined with an inactive lifestyle.  The only thing that is worse is believing that your eating habits aren't really that poor and/or that your lifestyle isn't really that inactive.  Rewind 10 years:  I remember my weight because in the fall of 2004 I was buying a dress for Daniel/Shannon's wedding.  Fast forward 10 years:  insidious weight gain--a measly 3 pounds per year, but "oh, what a total!"  Maybe I could let myself off the hook if the weight I gained was evenly spread out over the 10 years.  In reality, I probably added 10-12 in the first couple of years and then held steady for awhile.  That was followed by another 10-12 in the first year or so after we moved to El Salvador (I blamed that on eating out weeks at a time while on mission trips out of the country.) The final few pounds came about as a result of visiting the states and having the opportunity to enjoy all the restaurants/food we miss living in Central America.  I admit that I've used that as an excuse to justify my overeating.

I started on the Daniel Plan journey to healthy eating and a more active lifestyle after being in the states for 3 weeks at Christmas.  Of course, when in the states we "eat" more and do "less."  That sentence would be more truthful if the pronoun was "I" instead of "we."  Stephen never fails to run wherever he is.  If you'd asked me whether I led a sedentary lifestyle, I would have answered, "no."  However, I received a FitBit in February and have been faithfully wearing it.  The suggested goal is to walk 10,000 steps per day.  Oh my goodness, I didn't realize just how much time I spent sitting.  I assumed that if I went for a 25-30 minute walk, I wouldn't be too far off that 10,000 step goal.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  In fact, my 30-minute walk is only good for about 4000 steps, meaning, unless I want to go on an hour and a half walk, I have to intentionally be more active during the day.  It has proved to be difficult to add more steps into my day when I spend the day at home.  We have a very little condo--10-12 steps from the kitchen to the living room; 30 steps from the living room to the bedroom.  If I find myself on the couch for more than a half hour, I take a walking break and do a quick lap around our little neighborhood.  I look at trips to the grocery store as a way of getting in my steps!  I don't reach my goal everyday, but I'm up and moving so much more now than I was.

Anyway, this post was supposed to be about positive results!  I am happy to say that today I am 20 pounds lighter than I was in January.  Of course, I'm not finished yet, but it does feel good to reach this milestone.  At this point, I don't feel comfortable with the before/after picture thing.  Seems like at they show are baggy clothes!  Guess I'd rather surprise you the next time I see you.  

How did I celebrate?  Two eggs for breakfast, half an apple with 12 almonds for a mid-morning snack, chicken salad with grapes and two cantaloupe wedges for lunch.  Dinner (vegetable beef stew) is in the crockpot so I'm good to go!

We leave for Managua this Friday which means a week of eating out.  I'm determined to make better food choices while we're gone . . . . more about that later.  

It's working

And by that I mean that the change to a healthy diet and a more active lifestyle are working.  Yesterday's lunch was known as "eating the colors of the rainbow."  See for yourself:

Turkey, zucchini and tomato stuffed red and yellow peppers and a purple cabbage "steak." Stephen told me after dinner that he didn't prefer this type of "steak." Maybe my taste buds have changed because I thought it was really tasty.

Dinner last night was almost as colorful.  I made Denise's (my sister-in-law) gazpacho recipe.  For those who don't recognize this word, gazpacho is a cold vegetable soup which involves slicing and dicing cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, onions and celery.  The veggies are mixed in a base of tomato or V-8 juice with a few other ingredients that spice up the soup.  We definitely got in our 5 servings of vegetables yesterday.  

This morning I was happy to see that my scale has noticed that "it" is working, as well.  Glad to be rid of some of my unwanted weight.  Since this is a lifestyle change, not a diet, I recognize that this one of many steps on the path to being healthier.

It's about the talk, not the walk

Before anyone jumps to the conclusion that I typed the title backwards, let me say that the reversal of the words was intentional.  While I agree that the age-old adage to "walk the walk" is more essential and, likely, more important than to "talk the talk," today's post comes from a different point of view. 

****If you just want to know the answer to the riddle, skip to the last paragraph.

If you are interested in the whole story, read on.  While in Kansas City during the holidays, I had my annual physical.  Although nothing was greatly amiss, the numbers were increasing and by numbers I mean weight, cholesterol, including triglycerides, blood pressure, etc.  It could be argued that most of them were not greatly outside the normal range for a woman my age; but, nevertheless, my doctor suggested it was time to halt the increases and, even better, reverse this trend.  Before we left Kansas City, I purchased the book, "The Daniel Plan" written by Pastor Rick Warren from Saddleback Church in California.   One of the things about that particular book that grabbed my attention was that it doesn't identify itself as a "diet"book, but rather a as a multi-faceted "get healthy" book.  In fact, the book suggests that a healthy lifestyle requires all five of the following:  faith, food, fitness, focus and friendship. 

I will admit that the whole concept was very convicting.  Here's a quote from the first chapter:

"Before you can make any healthy changes in your life, you must first believe those changes are possible.  Even more important, if you want God's help you must trust him to give you his power to change.  Jesus said, 'According to your faith let it be done to you' (Matthew 9:29).  If you don't trust God to help you get healthy, all you are left with is willpower--and you know from experience that willpower doesn't usually last very long."

There's so much more in the book on this subject, but a little taste is all I wanted to provide.   As a result, after returning from the states in January, I embarked on a journey to get healthy.  On January 10, I started following the food and fitness recommendations in the book.  I am still working to wrap my head around the concept that this is a new lifestyle, not a diet, and that I need to set more long-term goals than short-term goals.  So far, the food part has been easy, well, except for the extra prep work that is required here.  Two examples come to mind.  First, all fresh vegetables and fruits have to be washed and disinfected (15-20 minutes) before they are ready to be consumed and second, some items have to be "homemade" (almond milk, almond butter, applesauce, vegetable broth) because they are not available here.  

In the chapter on fitness, Pastor Warren suggests that a person is more likely to start (and continue) with a type of exercise they really enjoy, i.e. bike riding, dancing, aerobics, basketball.  That sounded great, but there wasn't anything on his list (and it was comprehensive) that sparked my interest.  As a result, I defaulted to something that everyone can do, that's easy and that costs nothing--walking.  My son and daughter-in-law gave me a Fitbit for Christmas (in February) and it has become a great motivator.  I've now realized that my day does include time to exercise, and I'm trying to make choices to walk instead of sit.

My morning now includes a walk around our safe, gated neighborhood.  I don't have a iPod or other .mp3 player, so I found walking alone relatively boring.  Then I realized that it was the perfect time to "talk" with my creator. Why hadn't I thought of this before?  Why have I struggled with prayer time and been so easily distracted by every single thing going on in my house when all it took to start talking was walking.  Let me tell you that there's nothing better than talking to someone who wants to hear every word, who is infinitely interested in everything you do and say and who loves you more than anyone else.  That's the answer to the riddle--my daily "walk" is about the "talk."  How long do I walk?  So far, at least 30 minutes, but longer if my Father and I have more to discuss.  I think, perhaps, that my higher numbers were God's way of encouraging me to find time to talk to Him.