Friday, February 25, 2011

How Am I?

Doctor: "How are you with tight spaces?"

Oh the joys of MRI's. I hope I don't freak out. I didn't last time. Hopefully they'll let me play my music, but listening to Mr. Bublé might make me want to jam out in the claustrophobic space.

I've been having tingling and pressure in the back of my head for the past two-ish years so I am having to continue my journey of finding out what that is.

I have my prayer warriors on it and God is with me.

See ya'll on the flipside!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Mostly Raw Day 1

I have an addiction to peanut butter. Somewhere I am sure there is a group that would take me in. PBOA (Peanut Butter Over-eaters Anonymous ) would be our group name. It's not the best nut butter out there, because apparently it's a fungus that grows on the ground (awesome right?), but my love affair will not wane!

Anyways can you tell I'm in a creative writing class right now? Pretty outrageous stuff.
Fo
r my first mostly raw day I had some Chia seed pudding. This stuff is amazing. When you soak it the little seeds puff up into a gel like substance. My pudding was yum!As you can see!

Raw 'Rice Pudding'
4-5 tbsp chia seed
2 cups almond milk
raw honey or agave syrup to taste

Combine the ingredients to your taste. Leave the chia to soak for at least 10 minutes before consuming. You can also add other flavours like vanilla, cinnamon or cardamom.
(Recipe from Raw Reform)

I love Lysa TerKeurst! She is the sweet woman who wrote my new favorite book Made to Crave! Buy it! It changes how you think about eating and what God says about food! I thought I would direct you guys over to a great blog for some encouragement. www.incourage.me


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

My Arch Enemy...the Treadmill

They look so innocent sitting there in the corner waiting to be turned on with a touch of a button. I hate them so! I wish I was the kind of person who enjoyed working out, but alas God gave me the joy of loving to paint and not sweat. I still do it, but I hate every moment of it. I've been trying to think of ways to change my attitude. It's not easy.



I praise God as I am running for the gift of being able to move my body. So much different than three or four years ago! Still I hate that treadmill.

Friday, February 18, 2011

A Step Forward

I've shared my desire (and subsequent failure) at eating raw foods before, but now it looks like I am returning to the land of the hippies. I've struggled after my previous battle with POTS and nervous system drama to find my ideal weight. Looking back at my high school years I don't feel like I was there either. I ate pretty horribly then and when I was sick with POTS. Now it feels like a huge DUH! moment. I should be eating the natural medicine and nutrients that God gave us (this doesn't mean I don't crave a good cinnamon roll or Cardiac fries, which are delicious little morsels of fry with cheese, bacon, and ranch) and not like I used to. After being sick I was very rigid about what I ate...then college snuck up on me. I have been praying about where God wants me to be. The world's standard of a size 0 is probably not going to be me. I come from a line of women with some curve. All in all I struggle with the desire to fit into the world and the desire to follow after God.

Anyways! Long tangent to say that I will be doing a raw food cleanse for about two weeks to hopefully lose those pesky college pounds! I am following the guidelines from Penni Shelton's Raw Food Cleanse book. The recipes look yummy!

I am also excited and blessed to say I am training for a 5k happening in March! Wooohoooo. Well wooooohoo that i'm doing this, not so much the actual training part.

The treadmill and I have a love/hate relationship. I hate it until I can get it off. Then I love it.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

A day of grace

This morning I got up at the unreasonable hour of 5:15 am. Unreasonable for two reasons (wait...I think that defeats the purpose of being unreasonable...oh well) 1. is that I am a night owl and I usually don't get up until 8 or 9 (gotta love the life of a college student) 2. is that when you wake up that early you have breakfast early then you want to have lunch at about 9:30. But this morning, before the birds even woke up, I got to hear two amazing Godly women talk about self image and true beauty when it comes to living in this world. Funnily enough Satan decided to hound me for the very healthy breakfast I was eating. His goal? To destroy me so I would be more focused on what I ate than on the important things that were going to be said.

Here are some of the truths that we learned today:
1. The factors involved in self esteem are: upbringing (good or bad), circumstances (again good or bad), your own perception of yourself, and the media.
2. The temptation is to believe these ideas about yourself.
3. TRUTH: No man, no pain, and no circumstance defines who you truly are...not even the mirror in your bathroom.
4. When we focus on ourselves and what we would change or how we don't measure up we are putting ourselves before God and making ourselves an idol.
5. We don't need anymore self help books. They pretty much all fail because they are relying on earthly power. What we need is Jesus Christ. We need to listen to him about what he says is beautiful and we can find that in the bible.
6. You become what you behold. If you are focused on what the media says about beauty or how you should be then that is what you will focus on and idolize.

Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.

This is so true. After we pull our eyes off of ourselves we need to focus on the things Jesus says is true.

Eph 2:10 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

I know the world bombards us with how we should look. One day it is ok to be curvy, the next it's better to be skinny. God created all body types and He created each of us. We need to remember these truths and rest in them. The world changes the standard of beauty daily. God always calls us beautiful because He is the ultimate Artist and Creator.

Now is the moment for me to choose countless times a day. Will I listen to the voice that tells me I already failed because I had a piece of chocolate or I didn't work out today? Or will I listen to the One who created me to enjoy food in moderation (as my counselor would say "He gave us taste buds didn't He?") and to run and walk and be outside and feel a peace about my life?

Love,

Katelyn