A note from Joyce Meyer

"Even when we are in a place of obedience to God, we often have no natural way of knowing for sure whether we are right or wrong. We have nothing more than faith to help us take that first step. We may not be certain that what we are doing is the right thing until after we have done it and then look back to see if God's grace was there to cause our efforts to bear good fruit.

Sometimes we may be wrong. That thought seems frightening at, so we think I had better just stay here where it is safe. But if we do that, we will soon be miserable if God truly has told us to move forward.

If our hearts are right and we do our best when we hear from Him, God will redeem us and honor our steps of obedience. If we move with childlike trust to obey what we believe in our hearts He has told us to do, even if that decision is wrong, God will take that mistake and work it out for our good. I know this is true because Romans 8:28 says that all tings work together and fit into God's plan for good for those of us who are called according to His purpose.

Many people are afraid to move because they think that if they make a mistake, God will be angry with them. But this is where trusting His character is so vital to walking in faith. People who are too afraid to obey are so miserable anyways that they cannot get any worse off by stepping out and trying to do what God is telling them to do.

I once had a ministry position at our home church. I loved it, but felt God was leading me to step out into something new. I did leave, but not because I wanted to. I left because God's anointing and power for me to be there had lifted, and I became miserable until I obeyed Him. I realized I would find peace only if I left my "safety zone" and tested what I believed He told me to do. That was the only way to find out if I was right or wrong about hearing his voice. I had to step out to find out!

I exhort you with this truth: Do not spend all your life playing it safe! Safety is very comfortable, but it may keep you from God's perfect plan for your life. Trust His Word and keep your heart willing and ready to obey. You will find throughout your life that God regularly calls us out of our comfort zones and into new places of faith and growth in Him."

-TAKEN FROM JOYCE MEYER'S AMPLIFIED BIBLE COMMENTARY NOTE

P.S. My good friend over at Biskit's Blog has given me this sweet award!

And I would like to pass it on to my parents (becuz they BOTH just started blogging!!)

My mom at "Tea Time" and my dad at "Random Ramblings"

PLEASE CHECK THEM BOTH OUT!!

The Shack

This morning I finished my latest "good read", "The Shack" by WM. Paul Young. When I told my mom I was reading it she told me that people either love it or hate it. She was absolutely right and I personally was amongst the "love it" crowd! This book really makes you stop and go, "what?!" and often go back and reread a paragraph to try to understand what the heck the author just said! It is a very emotional and heart-changing book and I highly recommend it to ANYONE! It is a must read! You can click on the picture or the title to visit the website to learn more.

Back of the book reads:

" Mackenzie Allen Philip's youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in the midst of his Great Sadness, mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.

Against his better judgement he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever.

In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant THE SHACK wrestles with the timeless question: Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain? Then answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book!"

Happy Earth Day

Hey all! This is a lil late but the soonest that I had 5 minutes to sit down and do a post! However I wanted to do a post in honor of Earth Day!! So I am putting my top 3 tips of easy practical ways to be Earth-Friendly!! I do all 3 of these and if I can do it so can you! So here we go...

1. Keep plants in your house that are natural air filters! Certain plants naturally help clean your air - this will help out your air filters a lil bit!! And help any members of your family that may be prone to allergies!

Here's a list of house plants that are natural air-filters:
1. English Ivy (Hedera helix)
2. Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
3. Golden pothos or Devil's ivy (Scindapsus aures or Epipremnum aureum)
4. Peace lily (Spathiphyllum 'Mauna Loa')
5. Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema modestum)
6. Bamboo palm or reed palm (Chamaedorea sefritzii)
7. Snake plant or mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata 'Laurentii')
8. Heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron oxycardium, syn. Philodendron cordatum)
9. Selloum philodendron (Philodendron bipinnatifidum, syn. Philodendron selloum)
10. Elephant ear philodendron (Philodendron domesticum)
11. Red-edged dracaena (Dracaena marginata)
12. Cornstalk dracaena (Dracaena fragans 'Massangeana')
13. Janet Craig dracaena (Dracaena deremensis 'Janet Craig')
14. Warneck dracaena (Dracaena deremensis 'Warneckii')
15. Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina)
16. Gerbera Daisy or Barberton daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)
17. Pot Mum or Florist's Chrysanthemum (Chrysantheium morifolium)
18. Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica)

(Here are some pics of my kiddos planting some seeds for Earth Day - they are on our kitchen table right now and Tyler is learning that flowers take a LONG time to grow, hehe!)

Scooping out the potting soil...

Planting the seeds...

Givin' em a lil fresh water!

2. Use earth-friendly cleaning products! And you want a testimony? Cuz I have one!! My toilets were building up yellow stains right where the top of the water was and I kept trying to clean it, scrub it everything and nothing was working. I bought probably 4 different types of cleaners and finally even poured straight bleach into my toilet!! NONE of which did anything to this stain! My sister-in-law came for vacation and brought with her a bunch of her fave natural cleaning products for me to try and one was Ecover Toilet Bowl Cleaner. I thought well why not - what's one more? I put it in and left it for about 5 minutes and I'm not kidding - came back and TOTAL WHITE! The stain just went away!! And BLEACH couldn't even do that!! It is an INCREDIBLE product! A few other fave's of mine are: Mrs. Meyer's All-Purpose Cleaner (comes in handy spray bottle), Ecover Liquid Laundry Detergent, and Mrs. Meyer's Lavender Dryer Sheets. 7th Generation Bathroom cleaners are pretty good too!

My amazing toilet cleaner! If you are a woman -

you understand me being excited over toilet cleaner right?!

3. Use reusable shopping bags! At first I kept forgetting so I would buy a couple more on those trips so I could still use them and now have like 12-14 of them. I carry my bundle into Krogers every week now and usually have extra left over after ALL my groceries are in them. They are so nice to use! They are big and extra sturdy so a LOT more groceries, in one bag easier to handle = a lot less stress unloading groceries!

So what did you do for Earth Day?

Anti-Inflammatory Diet Part #4

So I just spent the time yesterday trying to sum up the diet and then I checked Dr. Perricone's blog (yes he has a blog too - click here if interested in it!)...And come to find out there had just been a post of the overview of the Acne Diet on there, and of course more professional sounding and easier to understand than me, so I decided to simply copy the entire post here for your reading! Enjoy!


TAKEN FROM DR. PERRICONE'S DAILY BLOG:

Acne Diet - More Than Skin Deep
Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 4:40:12 PM Editor

Think beautiful skin starts in a bottle? Think again. Beautiful skin starts in your kitchen and has everything to do with what you put into your body.
Your skin is a direct reflection of what’s happening digestively; I like to tell our clients to think of their skin as their intestines turned inside out. So when my clients come to me wanting clear skin yet are washing down their Doritos with Diet Coke, well…there’s work to be done in the education process.


A large part of our nutritional practice at the Flagship involves treating people with acne. And guess what? 90-95% of our clients with acne have either been on the Pill, on antibiotics, or some combination of both. This causes an overgrowth of unhealthy bacteria, and depletes the good bacteria present. And acne is the residual after-effect of this imbalance. The work we do to correct the imbalance is with a yeast-free, sugar-free diet rich in essential fatty acids and protein. This in effect will rebuild the digestive system and restore luminous, clear skin.


PRIMO PROTEINS
Protein helps repair the skin and supports liver detoxification and hormonal balance (another culprit of acne). The best choices include: wild Alaskan salmon and other cold-water fatty fish, chicken, turkey, eggs, Greek yogurt, whey protein, and grass-fed meats. Choose 2-4 ounces per meal.

SUITABLE STARCHES
Since carbohydrates have the greatest impact on blood sugar and inflammation, choose them wisely. Fruits and vegetables should be the base of your diet; you can incorporate ½ cup cooked of the following per day: barley, beans and legumes, brown rice, rolled or steel-cut oats, winter squash, sweet potato, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, and millet.


FABULOUS FATS
The right fats can literally make or break your health, and we all need them to survive. Go for avocados, raw nuts and seeds, nut butters and tahini, olives and olive oil, ground flaxseeds, raw coconut and coconut oil, and grape seed oil. They’ll correct dry chicken skin and regulate sebum production. Incorporate at least 2 tsp of fat per meal.


STEER CLEAR
…When you’re working hard to eat healthfully, the following can quickly undo all your efforts: white flour and sugar (pasta, bread, muffins, cake, and cookies—and no, whole wheat is not any better), fruit juices and dried fruits, aged cheeses, milk, soy, vinegar, alcohol, and mushrooms.
Cleaning up your act in the kitchen will ultimately help clear up your skin. Give your body 3-6 months for all the changes to take place. You’ll be glad you did!



Esther Blum,MS,RD,CDN,CNS
Registered Dietitian
NV Perricone, MD
Flagship791
Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10065
212.734.2537

Anti-Inflammatory Diet Part #3

Okay so I'm in the car, half spaced out on what the radio is saying but can still hear it none-the-less and I'm listening to our local Christian Station, KSBJ. They are in Nashville for the Gospel Music Awards and are interviewing different Christian artists. Big Daddy Weave had just come on and they started asking him about how his diet has been going, apparently knowing he had made a commitment to lose weight this year. They ask him how it is going and what he is doing to meet his goal.

He says that he made a goal to lose 90 pounds in '09 and it all came about from one of his songs about "what if I had given everything, instead of just going through the motions." I'm sure you may have heard this song playing on the radio it is a HUGE hit right now. Anyways his weight had always been an issue and he has struggled back and forth with it so he decided he was going to finally just do it and no more going through the motions.

So to my point...they ask him if the diet has a name that he is on and he says "Well it all about removing inflammation for your body" I cocked me head, jaw dropped and my hand immediately turned up the volume to listen INTENTLY now! He went on to tell a few things e wasn't allowed to have while on the diet and it was very similar to mine. He had even gone a step further however and was excluding most dairy products and also was trying to eat everything raw - or the closest to how God created it, in his exact words.

It was so cool and apparently he has this on his website where you can sign up to be a part of making a goal for this year to be a healthier you! Participants will have healthy recipes, wellness information and even exercise tips made available to them! There is TONS of people that have posted comments on the challenge page and I only read a few and was like WOW! You gotta check it out! And if you struggle with weight - maybe consider joining the adventure, you will never regret taking better care of your body! PROMISE!! Just click here to see Big Daddy Weave's 90 in '09 Challenge! (or click on the title)

Now to add a short blib on this post ABOUT the diet since it's been awhile I've decided to give the roughest overview possible of what the don'ts are in this way of eating! (I admit the reason it's been awhile since my last post on it is because I lent the book to one of my youth and I haven't gotten it back yet - so I feel a little lost!)

THE ANTI-INFLAMMATION DIET In a Nutshell:
- No sugar
- No starches
- No fried foods
- No breads, pastas or rice
- No potatoes, mangoes, bananas or peas
- Drink at LEAST six 8 oz. glasses f water a day! Calm down that's like 3 water bottles worth!

You may eat meats but eat mostly fish, shellfish, chicken, turkey, tofu and yes you can have a little red meat (just don't overdue it!)

Wild Atlantic Salmon is one of the BEST things you can eat for your skin!

Rules for Mealtime:
1. Eat Protein FIRST!
2. Follow with deep colored veggies or fruit
3. Make sure you have a fatty acid somewhere in your meal (avocados, nuts, flax seed, salmon, etc...)

EASY WAY TO FIGURE IF IT'S SAFE: Look it up on the Glycemic Index!! If it is under 50 it is safe. Above 50 will cause inflammation. If it causes a sugar-insulin response (hope I said that right!) then it will cause inflammation. Click Here for a GREAT site to check if something is inflammatory or not!!

Silent Sundays

Here are a few pics from my Easter in New Mexico with my parents!

Please join us for Silent Sundays!

Tummy Comfort Tea

This post idea came from a conversation with my mom. I was telling her that I bought this tea for my kids that is "tummy-ache" tea. Well I haven't needed it much for my kids, thankfully because they are very healthy and hardly ever sick - so I had a lot of this tea and one night my stomach turned in knots! I was bloated and feeling horrible. So I thought well I'll try this tea first before I take any meds. So I brewed me a cup and I am NOT exaggerating, by the end of the cup I was totally fine and felt better than ever! No stomach pain, bloating, nothing! It was awesome!! So whether for your kids or YOU I wanted to pass on my recommendation for this wonderful tea called "Tummy Comfort Tea"!

p.s. I found a website that has the tea for sale for only $4, the title of this post is linked to it!

AND....just to add a bit for my Anti-Inflammation Series: Green Tea is highly recommended on this diet. Pretty easy to know why - tons of antioxidants!! Which are of course anti-inflammatory. It is GREAT tea for your health and for anti-inflammation. And just as a tidbit, I was reading a magazine this last week that had facts on tea and apparently it is the most consumed beverage behind water! WOW! I surely thought this Starbucks world would have coffee as the second largest choice, but nope - tea has stood the test of time! So drink up everyone!!

Anti-Inflammatory Diet Part #1

I'm sorry it took me awhile to do another post on here about Dr. Perricone's Anti-Inflammatory Diet however my Internet went on the blink for a good part of last week and so I just had to wait! Today I wanted to share the idea of anti-inflammatory and just how easy it is to follow. I will do quite a few posts about the diet and then eventually move on to the supplements and topical treatments as well. And maybe throw in a yoga post - which I have recently started doing. Yoga is a funny thing to me - I have not taken a class just read how to do the positions, and so thus far this is my summary of Yoga: You feel like you are posing weird ways and stretching with others but afterwards you feel like you just had a major workout! My muscles are sore and I FEEL what its doing for me, very crazy. And I also found I probably SHOULD take a class or get a video or something because breathing is a big part of yoga and apparently I'm not good at breathing! lol, silly as it sounds it's true!

Okay anyways, this is NOT the yoga post so....

First I will start with the argument most have that diet doesn't effect acne. Where did this come from? Well a group of dermatologists got together 2 groups of teenagers. One group was given candy bars with high amounts of chocolate. The other group was given candy bars with high amounts of vegetable oils. Okay even for a non-scientist do you see the flaws in this study?

1. We have no clue what their diets consisted of before OR during the study besides these candy bars.
2. They were already suffering from acne - so it still isn't an accurate reading on how acne is CAUSED.

How in the world with JUST those two flaws can this be considered a controlled study?

Okay so apparently that saying isn't from the most reliable source. With that being said, "inflammation is at the basis of many diverse disease processes in the body, ranging from cancer to heart disease, acne to Alzheimer's, diabetes to the aging process in general." When Dr. Perricone is referring to inflammation he means it in the entire spectrum of it - such as not just the kind we can see with our eyes but cellular and molecular also. Although it can't be seen inflammation is working in our cells every day damaging our vital organs which results in things such as disease and aging. Perricone found this in school while looking through a microscope viewing cells with various forms of disease or age - yet young disease free skin had no inflammation present. He knew there had to be something there!

Perricone later became fascinated with nutrition and studying some nontraditional nutritionists and following their recommendations found he had incredible increase in energy, his general health improved as well as his athletic performance. The best part of nutritional therapies is it treats the entire body and not just the symptoms - which always results in a much healthier patient in ALL areas. So through all this he learned the best way to control cellular inflammation is through diet.

"Most old adages have stood the test of time because they hold more than a glimmer of truth - from "fish is brain food" (one of the truest aphorisms ever spoken) to "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." "

Keep reading for more on the anti-inflammatory diet: Post #2 = "The Sugar-Inflammation Connection"

Quotes taken from Dr. Perricone in "The Acne Prescription"