Diet

How To LOVE Practicing The Healthy Habits You Currently Hate! (Healthy Habits Part 1)

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

Last time I discussed Ten Keystone Habits that allowed me to stay within my recommended weight range my entire life.

I know, I know. At first glance, these habits seem hard, terrible, uninviting. These habits, if you actually did them all, would kill you, you assume.

To prove you wrong (and why else would we write?) I will be starting a series of blog posts on healthy habits.

These posts will outline how you too, can learn to LOVE practicing healthy habits OR how to at least delude yourself into thinking you enjoy healthy habits. What’s the difference?

First of all, it’s good to know yourself and understand what motivates you. I’m actually the kind of person, for example, who hates it when people tell me what to do.

I figured this out one afternoon when I was frothing at the mouth and making myself some tea. “How DARE they tell me when to drink this tea?”, I thought, fuming. “I’ll drink it in the afternoon instead, just to spite them!” The tea was called English BREAKFAST tea. BREAKFAST.

I guess you’re supposed to drink it at BREAKFAST. How dare they!

Ok, so I know I should probably get counselling about this. And I do get counselling but my hard-working counsellor hasn’t gotten this far down the list of priority items that I need remediation for yet.

I know I could have been, actually a lot more successful in life if I had taken people’s advice a little more easily. You can check out my daughter’s blog for that. For example, in this post, she mentions some stuff she learned from me. I’m sure she’ll go far.

Anyway, we are what we are.

Therefore, none of these Ten Keystone Habits are things you CAN’T do. If I had habits that forced me to NOT do certain things, I’d rather not live, okay?!

This blog post series will describe how to ENJOY the healthy habits that help us maintain a healthy weight, and allow us to have more energy to complete the calling God has for each of our lives. (This stuff matters more than we realize).

For example, check out this ancient quote:

Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.

Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.

But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.

The Message

What more can be said than that?

The second post in this Healthy Habits series, How To LOVE Drinking Nothing But Water! will be posted soon!

Ten Keystone Habits To Achieve A Healthy Weight And Stay There

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

“Well, that must be nice for you,” they spit at me. (Wait, I know you don’t spit, either. We talked about that in another post. But it ruins the effect, if I don’t keep that part. You can’t expect perfect truth in every blog post.)

Anyway, my mouth was full of chocolate, some of it dripping from the corners of my mouth. “Huh?” I asked.

She continued, “Well, you can obviously eat whatever you want.”

I guessed she was referring to the fact that I am a healthy weight and my mouth was currently full of chocolate – overfull actually.

But what she didn’t see were the habits I (ir)regularly follow behind the scenes.

Here they are.

A caveat before we begin is that I’ve never had professional training as a nutritionist. But I’ve read a ton on the side about food and health. And like a boxer in a ring, who has been fighting her entire life with someone about the same strength as her, I have maintained a healthy weight my entire life.

This didn’t come easy.

I’m still fighting.

(Following God’s direction and a neurologist’s advice, I also prepared the food that healed my kid’s learning disabilities, but that is a discussion for another time).

This is what I do to fight the temptations and the cultural normalcy of food that is anything but normal or healthy.

I made my own point system, and give myself two points daily for each healthy habit completed. One point if I grew in habit development that day.

Here are my top ten habits. The total maximum points in a day is 20 points.

1. Two points for drinking the recommended water allocation in a day.

2. Two points for doing one hour of exercise. Must break a sweat to get two points.

3. Two points for eating a green smoothie in the morning.

4. Two points for having a salad for lunch.

5. Two points for having cut-up veggies and a yummy dip available so these can be snacked on during the day.

6. Two points for eating one plate of food and then waiting 20 minutes before having seconds.

7. Two points for having a cup of chamomile tea with honey and nothing else after dinner.

8. Two points for not eating breakfast till 10:00 am.

9. Two points for having an energy ball (fruit and cheese, or fruit and nuts can be substituted in a pinch) in mid-afternoon.

10. This is my favourite habit and I will explain why when I describe it in a minute. Two points for not having any dessert if today is a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

The happy side effect of this habit is that since dessert is allowed on Sunday, we get two points for eating dessert on Sunday! Stuff your face with chocolate on Sunday, let it drip from the corners of your mouth (Why does that happen so often to me?) and watch them bemoan the fact that you’ve never even tried, yet you are a healthy weight.

Ha! The joke’s on them.

Why growing in these habits can eventually become an absolute delight will be discussed next time.

I Choose Slow Death! Now, Go Away!

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

We are not seeking perfection on our journeys but progress.

And progress always begins with honesty.

The food that we eat is probably crap.

People in Canada consume almost 50% of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods . . .

Highly processed foods accounted for two-thirds of the calories consumed by youth. . .

We all may need to change our diets a bit.

No!

We hold our hands over our eyes! We don’t want to see! We sneak an ultra-processed potato chip into our mouth. Hmmm… heaven. Potato chip heaven.

I know that you know and that I know that, “Ultra-processed food is probably bad for us.” And we agree with our friends. We all argue on the same side of the debate. We all argue for less processed food. Yes, processed food is ridiculous! We agree.

We leave their house and stop on the way to the grocery store to pick up Doritos, Nestle chocolate chip cookies, chocolate bars, and pop. Why?

Our hearts.

Our brains know a little.

Enough to spout off the assurances that WE KNOW that ultra-processed food is probably bad for us, at least too much of it is. And who eats too much? The person down the street, the one who looks less healthy than us and who rarely leaves her house probably eats too much processed food, we ascertain. But not me. I eat less, we reason and so I’m fine.

Do we live in denial?

Our hearts do not REALLY agree with our minds. And our minds only know one or two facts about processed foods. We haven’t dug into the literature, sat there for a while, and let it really sink in.

Why? Because our eyes are closed. We don’t WANT to see. We like Cheezies, chicken nuggets, and Mars bars. GO AWAY.

We flip the channel and forget about this conversation. Our TV show is only infrequently interrupted by upbeat, colorful ads suggesting we enjoy Mcdonalds, Wendy’s, and A&W. That looks good, we think without thinking. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have lunch there. The program resumes, and we feel refreshed as we tumble into bed.

What if we are asleep before we climb into bed? What if we have been asleep our entire lives?

What if the food we crave doesn’t really taste GOOD, but we are addicted to sugar, processed fat, and salt?

What if enjoying healthy food is a learned skill?

What if, in two years, we remember what we eat regularly now, and that food makes us feel ill?

Because it probably should.

Because it probably is making us ill.

Ready, listening?

Ready for a journey, friend? Every journey begins with the first step. We have a long road ahead of us. But there are friends, here, in this community to cheer us on, to celebrate our first steps.

We have been there too, and are holding your arm, cheering with you as you learn to walk a little more securely and stably on your own, as you then help your child along, to make one more right choice, to choose life instead of death.

Ready to set aside your cola for a few hours? Come join us, friend, as we take steps, together, toward our future health. Food is one of the very few places where every person has influence. Let your light shine, helping others to walk a little further before sitting down with a full box of Oreos.

No one here judges us. But every journey starts with a first step. And the best first step is to peel our hands off of our eyes. Are you ready to see, yet, how you have been deceived?

It’s time we find a better way, together, and learn to soar, friend.

Come . . . —buy and eat! …Why do you spend your money on junk food, your hard-earned cash on cotton candy? Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best, fill yourself with only the finest. The Message

God, how may we be blind regarding honesty in our food habits? Can you please help us to WANT to choose that which brings life, both with physical and spiritual food?