Puzzle Pieces

I was talking with a friend this morning about how frustrating it is to be able to get motivated to live healthier. We make our resolutions, but they just never come to be. Just think about all the  resolutions we make at the beginning of the year. We are already in May. How many of your New Year resolutions have you accomplished or are still working on? Most of us gave up on them the first week of January! So my friend was frustrated because everyday she decides to walk for one hour, but is never able to do it. I asked her if she could do 15 minutes. "That I could do" was her answer. So I encouraged her to get just 15 minutes of walking a few times a week. 15 minutes is better than one hour that never happens!

I was just reading how we need to take small steps if we want to succeed when changing our lifestyle. I believe it's true and  that's exactly what I've been doing. It wasn't what I wanted to do at first, but life has made me slow down and focus on the little puzzle pieces instead of the big final picture like I was doing. This has helped bring down my level of stress and frustration. I have an idea of what the big picture looks like, and I love it, it's beautiful! Can't wait to get there. But to get there I'll have to put together the puzzle, one small piece at a time, and that's going to take some work and patience!

For me, one of my small steps has been the choice to avoid processed foods. It may take a little bit more work, but I prefer to prepare the foods myself. In my pantry shelves, for the most part, there are no ingredients with names I can't pronounce, so those are the ones I prefer to use. 

 Another small step I've taken is to stretch when I wake up.

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Usually I just get up and go, but now I'm taking the time to stretch and get my muscles ready for the morning. Two days ago I started doing crunches after stretching. I just lay down on the floor, do 100 crunches, stretch at the end and off I go.

These are small steps I've been taking and you know, I can see things changing already. 2 lbs of me have disappeared and my mind is so much more clearer. Plus, I think I'm smiling more. It has to be because I feel better. All I know is that this motivates me to continue a little farther on this road to a better life.

What small step can you take to improve your life? What about eating breakfast, or organizing better your work space? Could be going outside everyday to breathe deeply the fresh morning or evening air. What about walking for just 15 minutes 2-3 times per week? It could be stretching in the morning or deciding to have dinner together as a family most nights of the week. Just anything that will help you have a more simple and healthier life. The big picture of the puzzle is not only about eating or exercising. It's about all the aspects of your life, the physical, the mental, and the spiritual. All those puzzle pieces put together will create a most beautiful picture because it will the picture of abundant life.

My next small step will be sleeping better. And on that note, I'm off to bed. 
Nite!

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(1) http://www.listofimages.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/stretching-cat-animal.jpg
(2) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Pc0OxIVGu5A-QQZ0gDCNuubNt87K_y-FvHrRRIrsGmG-KctaAvWJx-rZSyQARX3ahjzUEVei1Pzg_gq_4J1TGXCzdfZeMqdjgAi8guTMjviaVRY4LE7rR2xpINX_hTKWKpdN-av_1nE/s400/puzzle+pieces.jpg

Paying back $2.7 trillion!

There's no doubt that the world has changed a lot over the past 50 or 60 years. Things today are not the way they were back then.  This week I've been learning about two things that have changed dramatically in the US over the past several years: finances and food; and I must admit, I'm blown away by the numbers. 

Did you know that in 1929 only 2% of American homes had a mortgage? By 1962 only 2% did not have a mortgage! In 1980 there were about 500,000 bankruptcies. That number changed to 1,500,000 in 2002! In 1980 consumer debt was at $1.3 trillion. (1) Today that number is over $2.7 trillion!! (2) 

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This is crazy! How awful to see that when it comes to finances, we probably changed for the worse! Sure it's easy to get a home, a car, pay for college, but it can come at a terrible cost: debt. And debt is like a prison. A financial prison.

But finances is not the only thing that has seen a drastic change. According to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this is how some food has changed over the past 20 years: "Hamburgers have expanded by 23 percent; A plate of Mexican food is 27 percent bigger; Soft drinks have increased in size by 52 percent; Snacks, whether they be potato chips, pretzels or crackers, are 60 percent larger." (3) 

A study by Penn State University's College of Health and Human Development discovered that the more food is put in front of people, the more we eat! (3) Hmmmm... makes you think, doesn't it?

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Do you think these changes came with negative results? What about the rate of suicide caused by financial stress or the high percentage of marriages that end in divorce because of financial problems in the family? And what about the high rise in heart disease, diabetes, and stroke that so often result in poor quality of life and families being deprived way too soon from the company of their loved ones?

I don't really know why things have taken the direction they have. Maybe in the end it's a financial issue since there are a lot of people getting rich at the expense of the ones who keep borrowing and the ones who keep eating big food. It could also be because we've gone from a society that cared for each other to a society that cares only for "I". I don't know. What I know is this: it's time for a makeover!

It's time to go back to the basics. It's time to go back to living a simpler, healthier, and more abundant life. It's time to pay back the $2.7 trillion and gain back our freedom! Freedom from the financial prison, freedom from bigger waists and poor health. 

But how do we do that? Looking at the big number can be daunting. Consumer debt is off the charts. We step on the scale only to find out we have graduated to overweight or obese. How do we gain our freedom back? Well, just like we didn't gain the weight and poor health over night, we won't regain our freedom overnight either. It takes small, but extremely important, steps. Just like with finances you need to know where your money is going, so with health you need to know what is contributing to the weight gain and disease. You need a budget!

You could stop drinking soda when going out to eat. Water is cheaper and lets you enjoy your meal more. Play more with your children, walk your dog, don't have dessert every single day, strive to eat a salad daily, increase your amount of fruit intake, consume more fiber, cut down or eliminate caffeine, go to sleep early, read a good book instead of just watching TV. Those are all small changes that will pay big dividends.We may not have control over how much the total consumer debt is, but we can control our own spending. And we can't control how big the food offered is, but we can control how much of it we put in our mouth.

And just like taking control of your finances will help you slowly but surely leave the debt prison, by taking control of your health you will leave behind a life of disease, depression, and poor quality of life. Let's do this! Let's take control of our lives. Let's pay back the $2.7 trillion! We can do it! Let's start today!

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(1) Financial Peace Revisited, Dave Ramsey
(2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/07/us-consumer-debt-record_n_2260457.html
(3) http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=129685&page=1#.UYs0RoL187A
(4) http://www.genengnews.com/media/images/AnalysisAndInsight/Feb14_2012_13473732_DollarsIncreasing_BudgetFY13FDACDC_II1072658836.jpg
(5) http://www.ergo-plus.com/healthandsafetyblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/portion-distortion-visual.jpg 
(6) http://weightloss.mashangel.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/quick_healthy_weight_loss_tips.png

 

The hike

My family and I love hiking and exploring nature. There are always new things to see, new things to learn and discover. One of the trails we like to explore goes down to a valley and in the bottom there's a small creek. Well, we'd seen in the map that there's a creek, but hadn't seen the creek yet. The reason why is that it's a long trail, downhill, and most of the times we think that we've gone far enough and turn around and go back. We get tired or bored or unmotivated. We do have to go back up, so we just turn around. Sometimes we take a small loop that takes us back to the trail. Many times we look farther down and wonder what's behind the next curve, or what's past that big tree, or how close we are to the creek, but never take the time and effort to make it all the way down.

Deciding to live a healthier and simple life is like hiking that trail. We have a goal and know that it will be a good thing in the end, but it takes too much effort and we easily turn around and go back. We wonder what's on the other side of the curve, and what's past this one small change, but never make it all the way. We get too tired, too unmotivated, too pressed for time, or simply think it's not worth all the effort. Maybe we'll take this little loop so we can feel a little better about it, but in the end we just go back to the same place and to the same old habits. Nothing new, nothing better.

This past week, my husband and our son went down the trail. I was tired and stayed home. They had lots of fun exploring, following moose and fox tracks, and going around the little loop. But then they wondered, once again, what was past that next curve and decided to continue down. They kept hiking for a while knowing that at 5 p.m. they would turn around and go back. A little further down they noticed the ground leveled out. A few more steps the trail stopped and went either right or left. They had reached the end of the trail and sure enough, just a little further they saw it: the creek! It was 4:59 p.m. My son let out big chants of victory shouting loud "We did it!! We did it!!" It was so exciting! After hiking that trail so many times, they had finally reached their goal. How cool was that?! They explored the creek for a bit before returning home.

Living a better life truly comes down to our choices. I listened to a lady on the radio yesterday saying that at 400 lbs she had had enough! She was on blood pressure medications, cholesterol medications, and thought that she probably had diabetes. But it was time to change and she shared on the radio her plan to live a better life. In the end it will be so worth it! It takes work, patience, and perseverance, but done well you can even enjoy the hike there exploring and learning new things about the world we live in and about the person you are. Sometimes learning about others too or maybe even following their tracks for a while. When you get there, you'll be so excited I know you'll be shouting big chants of victory! The creek will be beautiful! 

That day I was too tired to join in on the hike, but seeing how excited they were for reaching their goal, I can't wait to go down myself so I can also sing victory! Surround yourself with people who will motivate you in your goal for a better life, people who have been there and who can tell you how worth it it is. It may be someone you know, but even online support can be great!

Unlike our trail, you won't have to go back. No going back to the old life and old habits. You can stay and explore the creek for a while and then turn either right or left, walking a new trail, making new decisions, improving your life even more. After all, God promised abundant life. I believe that's never staying where we are for a long time, but always walking towards more and better.  

Start on the trail for a better life today and go all the way!

Get this out of here!

Have you noticed how so much of the food we purchase at the store is not food at all? Sometimes I look at the ingredients and have no idea what they are. What am I putting in my mouth? And what will those "foods" do to my body and my mind? I wonder if many of the diseases we have are caused by all the chemicals we consume for our nutrition. 

When we lived in New Mexico we had an ant hill in our backyard, so I thought it would be good to study the ants with my son. There are lots of great lessons to be learned from the ants, and one has to do with food. We used to break tiny pieces of my homemade bread and put it around their nest. It was cool to see them grab those small pieces and carry them to their home. One day we used store brand bread that we had been purchasing. It was 100% whole wheat, so it should be healthier, right? I had never read the ingredients and at the time wasn't that interested in knowing them either. But the ants changed everything. We broke little pieces and waited to see our little bug friends start taking them to their nest, but they would not take them. We would move the bread right in front of the ants, but they would not pick them up! A few ants were brave enough to touch those little pieces of bread and carried them away from their home. Get this thing out of here!

Needless to say, that was the last time we bought store brand bread and started making homemade bread more often!

And that should be with anything we eat. If we are what we eat, what have we been? Food coloring, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, benzosomething?

Make a review of what you ate today and then strive to eat real food tomorrow.

 http://chelseablogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Depositphotos_1480737_L.jpg