It’s not my opinion, it’s Science!

Hank has been experiencing quite a bit of joint pain during the last few weeks or so. When he was telling me (aka complaining) about it, I suggested that he try a Genesis/paleo/primal diet to see if that would help.

As we were driving home from work the other day, he said, “I know that you have to convince me that you know what you’re talking about and you were right about the dietary changes I needed to make. My joints don’t seem to be hurting as badly as they were.”

Food is more than calories. It’s nutrition and information.  Some foods reduce inflammation which causes anything that ends in “itis.” Other foods cause inflammation.

According to the Arthritis Foundation, these foods cause inflammation……

• Sugar – processed sugars trigger the release of inflammatory messengers called cytokines.
• Saturated Fats –  saturated fats trigger adipose (fat tissue) inflammation, which is not only an indicator for heart disease but it also worsens arthritis inflammation.
• Trans Fats -Known to trigger systemic inflammation, trans fat can be found in fast foods and other fried products, processed snack foods, frozen breakfast products, cookies, donuts, crackers and most stick margarines.
• Omega 6 Fatty Acids – excess consumption of omega-6s can trigger the body to produce pro-inflammatory chemicals.

• Refined Carbohydrates – processed carbohydrates may trump fats as the main driver of escalating rates of obesity and other chronic conditions. These high-glycemic index foods fuel the production of advanced glycation end (AGE) products that stimulate inflammation.

• MSG – this chemical can trigger two important pathways of chronic inflammation, and affect liver health.
• Gluten & Casien – common allergens like gluten and casein (proteins found in dairy and wheat) may also promote inflammation.
• Aspartame –  It is a neurotoxin, which means it affects the brain. If you are sensitive to this chemical, your immune system will react to the “foreign substance” by attacking the chemical, which in return, will trigger an inflammatory response.
• Alcohol – excessive use weakens liver function and disrupts other multi-organ interactions and can cause inflammation.

Now the question is what foods reduce inflammation in the body…..

I think a good rule of thumb when it comes to eating is this……

 

PICK IT!

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.”

CATCH IT!

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”

KILL IT!

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.”

Crowder sings,

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way…
That He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves.

The lyrics of this song are so true…. regret requires maintenance through remembering.

Allow me to be creative with this song and change the words a little…..

I don’t have time to nurse these grudges
when I think about the way that He loves ME.

I don’t have time to hate myself
when I think about the way that He loves ME.

I don’t have time feed my fear
when I think about the way that He loves ME.

I don’t have time to waste being angry
when I think about the way that He loves ME.

You try it…..

 

Waiting for God

I love British humor. And I like to watch their comedies on BBC America. I loved As Time Goes By starring Judith Dench. And I thoroughly enjoyed Waiting for God. (If you’ve never seen these shows, follow the links to see them on YouTube.)

Waiting for God is about seniors living in a retirement home and the shenanigans they get into. If you watch the videos, you’ll notice that the main characters are not sitting in their recliners to wait for God to call them home.  No, they have decided to make living life to the fullest their number one priority.  With these seniors, they seem to find even more joy in their mischief if they can frustrate, annoy, and irritate the management of the center along with their adult children.

How are you going to Wait for God?

Are you going to live life to the fullest? Maybe find a few shenanigans to get into? Are you going to go on adventures? Are you going to make your adult children wonder where you are and what you’re up to?

Let me ask you again. How are you going to Wait for God?

Sitting in a recliner, watching television, and hoping that you die in your sleep?

If you want to live life to the fullest in your senior years then you’ve got to invest a heck of a lot more than money into your retirement plan. You’ve got to invest good nutrition, regular exercise, and sleep now to reap the benefit later.

 

You may remember the story. Four starving lepers are sitting outside the city’s gate. And they  ask each other the same question I’m about to ask you….

“Why are we sitting here until we die?”

The lepers above reasoned that they are going to die one way or another and maybe, just maybe, they can postpone death for a wee bit longer.  They decide to risk the suffering they’re enduring to find something to eat with the hopes that they can postpone death by at least a few days.  (If you know the story then you know that they find more than enough for themselves…. they find enough to feed an entire nation.)

I know far too many people who are metaphorically sitting at the city’s gate and doing their best to endure to the end. These men and women are being held hostage by the lie that there is nothing that can be done to improve their spirit, soul, or body so they’re just going to sit still and wait for death to make it’s appearance.

And, like the lepers, they’re right. Eventually death is going to come.

But how are you going to greet it? Are you going to live life to the fullest so that death has to chase you down? Or are you going to continue to sit in your recliner waiting for it to arrive?

Save

The other day I wrote about the Lord’s prayer. In this prayer we are taught to ask God to forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.

I think Jesus knew that his disciples didn’t quite grasp forgiving others. So, he decided that he would show them what forgiveness in action looks like.

And he chose to do it while hanging on the cross by saying,

“Father, forgive them; they don’t understand what they are doing.”

Are you refusing to forgive someone because they don’t understand how much you were hurt? Maybe today is a good day to say the same prayer that Jesus prayed…….

Here are a few examples to get you started……..

Forgive my parents for _________________ because they didn’t understand just how much it would hurt me.

Forgive my spouse for _____________________ because he/she didn’t understand how it would affect me.

Forgive my children for ____________________ because they didn’t understand how disappointed I would be.

Forgive  _________________ for ______________ because he/she didn’t understand that I would deal with the hurt and shame for the rest of my life.

 

 

 

This passage was in my morning reading….

And Peter followed at a distance.  The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter joined them there.  A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she said, “This man was one of Jesus’ followers!”
But Peter denied it. “Woman,” he said, “I don’t even know him!”
 After a while someone else looked at him and said, “You must be one of them!”,
“No, man, I’m not!” Peter retorted.
About an hour later someone else insisted, “This must be one of them, because he is a Galilean, too.”
 But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.

While I’m the first to admit that denying Jesus is a big deal, I want to think about this another way.

Remember, he had just recently declared that Jesus was more than a teacher and much more than a friend, he was indeed the Messiah.  (Matthew 16:16)

When questioned, he’s not just denying the man known as Jesus. He’s not denying the carpenter he took fishing. Or the guy that he had dinner with last night. He’s denying the truth that was revealed to him by God.

Now you might be thinking that you would never deny truth of Jesus Christ as boldly as Peter did. But what about those little truths that God has whispered into your spirit?

Jesus said that, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

What if you're so busy denying the truth that it can't set you free? 

Since this is a blog about aligning spirit, soul/mind, and body. Then I’ve got to ask you these questions….

• What do you know that you should be doing to take care of yourself but you’re not?
• Are you holding a grudge?
• Is there some stinking thinking that you need to change?
• Are you eating things that you know are harmful to your health and self-esteem?
• Do you find excuses to get out of daily exercise?
• Is there someone you need to forgive?

 

 

 

hard testing

In my daily reading today, I came across these two Jesus statements…..

Luke 22:⁴⁰ When he arrived, he said to them, “Pray that you won’t be put to the test.” 

 ⁴⁶ He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you won’t be put to the test!”

As I’ve mentioned before, I am currently reading the Complete Jewish Bible. Take a moment and read the Lord’s prayer in this version…..

 You, therefore, pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven!  May your Name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us the food we need today. Forgive us what we have done wrong, as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us. And do not lead us into hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One. For kingship, power and glory are yours forever. Amen.’

How do we apply these scriptures to the alignment of spirit, soul/mind, and body?

Because it’s always easier for me to focus on the body, I’d say that it’s high time that we quit putting our self-control to the test because you and I both know that there are areas in our lives where we lose all control. If you’re a sugar addict like I am, then stop buying processed foods filled with sugar. Yes, I know that your children, grandchildren, and husband love those things. But you know what? They love you more! Make a decision today to exercise whether you feel like it or not. And make a bedtime! Set your television to turn itself off at 10 pm and go to bed!

And then there’s the hard testing of the soul/mind. Paul tells us,

For although we do live in the world, we do not wage war in a worldly way;  because the weapons we use to wage war are not worldly. On the contrary, they have God’s power for demolishing strongholds. We demolish arguments  and every arrogance that raises itself up against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey the Messiah.  2 Corinthians 5:3-5

It’s important that we do not allow our spirits to be led into times of hard testing either. For me the best way to do that is to remind myself everyday that I believe that God is the creator of heaven and earth, Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected so that I can be a daughter of the living God, and that I am filled with the Holy Spirit.

When I say the Lord’s prayer (and I do so quite often), I pray…..

Our Father who dwells in heaven, who created heaven and earth, and created me in his image. Holy and wonderful is your name. Your name is love, peace, protection, mercy and grace (my favorite two characteristics), provision, and healing. May your will be done in, to, and through my life. May my life be a physical representation of heaven above. May I be as quick to obey you as your angels. Give me everything that you have provided for me and don’t let me miss a single opportunity to be grateful for all that you do for me. Forgive me for my sins even as I forgive others. Help me to remember that my perceptions of how other people treat me may be wrong so that I’m quicker to forgive offenses. Do not let me be led by temptation into places I don’t want to go. And don’t let me be led into times of hard testing.

Google doesn’t know everything

Our local radio station here plays The Intentional Life with Randy Carlson for at least two hours everyday. So, whether I intentionally want to listen to him or not, if I’m in the car during those two hours I tend to tune in.

The other day he was talking about Millennial parenting. He said that this is the first generation of parents to seek the advice of their peers instead of their elders. He went on to say that most Millennials are more comfortable asking Google what to do with their screaming two year old than their own parents…..

Since I’m a grandparent whose friends are grandparents I know that this is too often too true.

But you know what else I’ve noticed? We who are now the elders are not as comfortable as the generation before us in sharing what we think and feel.

I don’t know about you but I had about 10 people in my life who were never hesitant to share what they thought no matter how much it might hurt my feelings…..And you know why they did that? Because they loved me and wanted to help not make the mistakes that they had made in their lives! 

Back to Intentional Living and the Millennials. They’re getting advice from their peers and Google while we are keeping our mouths shut so that we don’t offend them. Or maybe, truth be told, it’s because we’re intimidated by this generation who is so much smarter than we were at that age. It’s hard not to be intimidated when they are better educated, have access to more information, and are so comfortable posting their lives on the internet.

But that’s a mistake on our part. It’s our responsibility to help this generation avoid the mistakes that we made. Sometimes we don’t need to give advice but we need to be willing to share failure.

Now the reason I’m thinking about this is a little passage in 1 Kings 12:

⁶ Then King Rehoboam discussed the matter with the older men who had counseled his father, Solomon. “What is your advice?” he asked. “How should I answer these people?” ⁷ The older counselors replied, “If you are willing to be a servant to these people today and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects.”

⁸ But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisers. ⁹ “What is your advice?” he asked them. “How should I answer these people who want me to lighten the burdens imposed by my father?”

This didn’t turn out very well for Rehoboam and you can read it for yourself here.

I don’t think things will turn out as well as they could for our kids if we continue to keep our mouths shut. Now, I’m not giving you permission to stick your nose into their business. I am asking you to be transparent about your own experiences.

We don’t need to tell them what to do as much as we need to tell them what we wish we would have done or (ouch!) what we wish we would never have done.