Fast life, Slow Cooker

Part of the challenge to eating better is the challenge all of it's own...making time to prepare good meals in a fast paced world. I get it, there isn't much time for some folks to be in the kitchen. But there is a lot of value in taking even 10 minutes at the start to each week to plan even a few days out. If you aren't in the habit yet of doing this, I encourage you this weekend to sit down, write down a few meals, make your grocery list, and get your stuff before Monday rolls around. Stock up just like you did before the challenge started and know that a little planning can get you out of the kitchen during the week much easier then getting you out of the habit of eating well.

Having good meals doesn't mean spending all day in the kitchen to present the family or yourself with a gourmet meal. While having gourmet is not a bad thing, it is not necessary! Practical, realistic, family friendly meals is our goal here! Especially for our on the go challengers and families.

If you have forgotten about this little must-have...dust it off and pull it out to sit on your counters. This just might be your meal planning for a bit! And who doesn't love coming home to a house that smells yummy and ready for dinner!?

A few easy Crock-Pot Meals for any night of the week!

1.) 3-4 fresh chicken breasts (or bag of frozen chicken breasts), finely cut up fresh pineapple, 1/2 jar of BBQ sauce (Hy-Vee has a no-sugar added kind). Put in crock-pot all day on low. Serve over brown rice! Add some broccoli for a side.

2.) 3-4 chicken breasts, Italian dressing, Sweet potatoes, carrots. Put this in your crock-pot on low 6-8 hours.

3.) Ribeye steaks (or lean beef cuts), fresh mushrooms, brown gravy packet, 1 Cup water. Cook on low 66-8 hours. serve over brown rice or whole wheat noodles. Fresh green beans taste yummy with this!

Have another easy crock-pot recipe to share? Leave it in the comment box!

feeling hungry?

It's snack time and I'm hungry. Browsing through my kitchen I look for something good, but really all I want is something GOOD. You know, like a bowl of ice-cream with bananas cut up on it or a big bowl of buttery popcorn or a bag of tortilla chips with some fresh guacamole...prepared with the extra stuff! I used to indulge in the good tasting stuff and I found that temporary craving was usually only satisfied for a short time and I usually found myself hungry once again.

I see a similar cycle in the way I feed my soul's hunger. I avoid anything good and natural and bite into the things that only bring me temporary fullness. And fullness of life can not be sustained through heavy servings of empty calories. From the very beginning, we were temped by the evil fruits. Even with a garden full of natural and whole choices made just for us, we chose what we weren't supposed to have. It looked better, it tasted better, we thought it would be better. Our eyes can lead us astray. Our stomachs can trick us into being hungry for something we don't need. But here is the thing... what may look appealing to our eyes and may even fill our hunger spots for a short while, will never fully fill us. You can not build a full life on empty foods.

How do we feel full? We eat from the good trees. We choose the good fruits that have been made to really sustain our bodies. We feed our souls with His words, His love, His grace. We stop and really look at what we are choosing to consume instead of grabbing the easy and empty things. And we trust that we can be fed through the simple and the basic and the clean fruits of His labor. And that maybe, just maybe, He knows the way to our heart as well as satisfying our hunger.

Do you want to lose that hungry feeling? Keep eating well. Choose good and filling over bad and empty. Like anything good, we must cast away our natural desires to crave what is not made for our bodies or our hearts. Fill yourself with good things and His words. Take time to find a healthy snack and time with Him. Let Him feed you, really feed you and then believe that what He has given you can heal your hunger pains.

So next time you are hungry remember this..."I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35

Believe that He can feed you...and will feed you. Believe that you can be fed well and live a full life! And at that next snack time, choose what may not look the most tasty, but will really help you get what you actually need to live fully right where you are.

change it up

"I can not eat more raw veggies". I have heard this from a few challengers :) I get it, new foods or same foods over and over get...well, boring. Cleaner and healthier eating doesn't have to taste bland or be boring or something to never look forward to. Get creative in the kitchen! Try stuff and be willing to let your body find it's new cravings and enjoyment when it comes to filling both your hunger and satisfaction. It's hard to feel full when you didn't enjoy what you just ate.

A tasty option to getting your fresh veggies in is sauteing. Instead of cold veggies, try heating them up. Get acquainted with olive oil or coconut oil and just start mixing it up. Literally. One of my most favorite dishes is garden veggies cooked on my stove top.

Here's a few hints... during the week you've maybe made some side veggies... broccoli with dinner one night, carrots with lunch one day, beans for taco salads, brown rice or quinoa as a side one night... all these little things can make up a yummy meal together! When you cook or use that stuff during the week, don't throw out those little left-overs. Tuck them away in your fridge and just add a few slices of, well, anything... squash, zucchini, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, shredded left-over chicken, snow peas... get the idea? You can't mess this up! And seriously, one squash can go a long way. This time of year you drive by many fresh veggies sitting at the edge of town people's yards with a free sign. Most gardeners have more than they can consume and gladly give away their extras. Don't be afraid to stop and grab one or two of what they have. It can go a long way in your meal prepping! And don't forget your local Farmer's Market is a gem of a place to stock up on a few different things.

Simply use 1-2 Tbsp of olive or coconut oil. Let it warm up in a stick free skillet. Add your more dense veggies first (squash, mushrooms, cauliflower, carrots type). After a few minutes throw in your softer veggies (snow peas, tomatoes, black beans for example). Then finally add some precooked brown rice, precooked quinoa, or left-over chicken pieces if you want. I like to throw in some pine nuts or almond slices sometimes too. Sprinkle with your favorite seasoning and you've got a tasty hot meal loaded with your raw veggies! Need some carbs? Fill a whole wheat wrap, roll it up, and enjoy!

Part of changing habits is changing the way we look at food. It will feel like extra work at first. But this will become your new norm and eventually you will be heating up the skillet to make lunch just as easy as you were throwing a processed pre-made frozen meal in the microwave. Go ahead, change it up. Remember, new habits is leading to a new you!

are you changing?

At Day 15 of our challenge  most of us can feel it... change. It probably looks different for all of us, but we each are in a season of changing. And so it goes with change...do we open our hands and take hold of what could be around the corner... or do we close our fists and turn away from what is happening? Opening our hands means we might hurt a bit, closing our eyes to change means we might hurt a bit. Either way, it is going to be hard... to stay in the place we started and not let ourselves be what we could be... or earn some stretch marks but leave the scars only for a better way of being. A better way of living.

Change. Have you been embracing it? Are you suffering through it? Can you feel a change happening? Have you set yourself up to fail by putting ridiculous rules around your new habits? Or have you poured yourself grace along the way and given yourself some new tools to make these new new habits a living reality for your days ahead? At Day 15 I think it safe to say that it is time to start thinking about day 25. You know, that day after 24 when all this challenge stuff will be done and this team will be done and you will be on your own. But with Him. And with your own team of people. Have you decided what you and He and them could do together? What you could be together?

Changing for the better. That has been our hope for all of us. And I am looking ahead wanting to take what I am learning now and making it the way I do these years better... Better, cleaner eating...honoring what He has blessed me with. Better caring for my body...more grace for just being who God made me to be... seeing, thanking, repeating... passing it on. Loving more, judging less...including myself.

Day 24 is coming up. What will your Day 25 look like?

keep running

The biggest challenges in life are not the ones that we come out the other side carrying a big trophy for all to see our accomplishments. Like a race with rows lined up with cheering people and a winner's tape to be broken as we cross the finish of yet another treacherous run in life. The biggest challenges are the ones we sweat through often times by ourselves...and they happen on the inside, where nobody can really see. Just us. And Him. And we run the race of our lives...alone. There may be a spectator or two or three or five along the way, cheering us on...but mostly we must go on by ourselves. The really cool thing though about running alone is that we often times run into others along the way. Others who are running the same path, different paces but on the same road. And you don't know where they came from for they were not there when you started, but they are here now. They run a lot like you.

There is victory in running alone. Because when you are alone you have to find Him to see the finish line. To finish well. You may lean on others as you stumble and fall...or stop all together. But they can not carry you across the finish line. They can only help you dust yourself off and point you in the right direction again. Choosing to run...by yourself...is the only way you can learn your pace, your rhythm, your song to run to. You will look different and sweat different and stumble different and soar different. From everybody else. So congrats, challengers, on choosing to do this alone. Choosing is the first step to trying. And you never know if you never try.

But running alone here doesn't mean nobody else is on the coarse. So find your team. Not just us who are challenging right along side you, but your very own team. The ones who know you are in the race. The ones who show up on the sides to cheer you on. The ones who come onto the road sometimes to pick you up, sweaty and broken and fallen...and point you to the finish again. Because every hard race will be just that...hard. But anything worth running towards will never feel like a walk in the park. So keep running, even if you've tripped and fallen...keep running. Let your side line people know where you are...let them help you...let them cheer for you. And keep your eyes fixed on Him as you run a new race.... a race that will let you finish not carrying the shiniest trophy, but wearing a different heart...and going back to help others come to the finish too.

Look ahead... how do you want to walk away from the finish line? Day 24. It's not far away. Keep running, keep leaning, keep looking for Him. Keep helping along the way. You just might walk away with the best prize you've ever earned... a brand new way to live for you. And what's a shiney trophy that just collects dust when you can wear a new heart for people to see every day for the rest of your life?

Top 5 Why's

Top 5 Reasons Why I would do This Again!

Our cleanse phase is done and we are moving into our max phase...get strong time! I've learned a lot about myself, about nutrition stuff I didn't know before, and about my heart. So for today, my top five why's...

1.) Even though I ate fairly healthy before, I didn't eat properly. Too much of this, not enough of that sort of thing. This has helped me tremendously in the sustaining my own energy department. More protein, less yogurt for this girl.

2.) Snacks are important. Good snacks. My mid-morning sluggish time and my mid-afternoon sluggish time have been much better as I learned that eating every few hours is really good for my body to sustain good energy...and make my body use the nutrients properly to keep me alert and balanced. When we started this I never ate much for snacks. I now make sure I have a good solid snack twice a day. My blood-sugar level and my brain are thanking me for it!

3.) Eating better means sleeping better. That little to no sugar thing is awesome. And sugar sneaks in many places you wouldn't think!

4.) I clean up my kid's plates. Or I used to. A lot. I hate throwing food out, so as I clean up dishes I often would snack or graze off my kids plates.  Portion control is key and that means keeping to my plate and not cleaning up after my kids anymore!!

5.) It's how I feel that matters, not what size I wear. This cleansing has been a good reminder that I should honor my body the way it was made. I would rather feel strong in a healthy body that can do much, then a weak too small body that is too tired to finish a day. Skinny is not my goal, strong is.

What about you? Would you do this again?

how do you measure?

We have finished our first full week of our 24 day challenge. You have finished 8 full days! The results are slowly starting to take shape. And yet I can't help but feel this tug on my heart that tells me that results aren't the only thing that I need to see or hear to make me feel like I have accomplished or won this challenge or even done it well.

Most of us have our own reason for committing to this challenge. Whether it be for more energy, more weight loss, inches lost, better health, a better nutrition plan, helping our cholesterol, or whatever your reason might be...we all arrived here from different channels. Yet, we each came to the start with a similar tune. That some where in all our wanting better, we feel like we haven't measured up. We don't have the energy we need or we don't have the pant size we think we need or we don't have the tools to know how to eat well or we don't exercise enough or we don't...and we don't... and so we don't. We think we don't measure up. And most days it is just easier to stay in that place. Because once we think we don't measure up, that doubting place loves to keep us down there. Doubting ourselves paralyzes us, when really...He wants you to be energized by the way you measure yourself.

Nobody else is made the way you are. Fearfully. Wonderfully. In all your shapes and styles and dancing. It's true. You can't look like or run like or be like anybody else. You can only be you. And being you means measuring yourself the way He does. Let grace lay on you today. And love from that place. Be from that place.

What if when you measured yourself today, after a full week of challenging yourself you saw this...

 ...instead of the numbers? 

Would you believe it? Would you let yourself be you today? Would you keep choosing the best for your body if you knew how very much He meant for you to live in that skin and do it well for Him? 

I know some of you are stepping on that scale every day. Plus working so hard to see it change. And if seeing it change brings you joy to be a better you, then keep that joy wrapped around you... but know that weighing yourself with Him will always look more like this...

Our bodies are the tools we've been blessed with to use. Use for Him. Use for our families. Use for our friends. Use for ourselves. We need to take care of our tools and this challenge is a change most of us have needed to help us do that in a better way then we have been. But this challenge isn't meant to tell you where you don't measure up...where you don't weigh in. Because no matter what, you are loved. You are you, there is no one who could be you better then you. Measure yourself, weight yourself...but know nobody but you and He are looking. And nobody else is standing on your scale. And what you see through His eyes is what matters. See today, really see. Count your gifts of grace, starting with you. And continue to challenge yourself to be a better version of yourself. Always. Because when you get out of that doubting place and that tired place and that can't keep up place and the I don't measure place...you just might see how very much you do measure up. And perhaps you will now have the measuring strip you need to see just where your numbers are. 

Embrace the changes coming with this challenge, but mostly embrace the change in your heart that is telling you that you are wonderful just being you today. Use that truth to keep being a better you tomorrow... and while you let yourself be measured and weighed in through His eyes, pay it forward to the next person who is also trying to figure out how to stretch that tape measure around all the way.