Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Hand Designed

Last night I received this poem from a friend, and I would like to share it with everyone. This poem, for women, can bring understanding and hope to life. Though we know we go through hard things, forever, we can always rely on our loving Heavenly Father to be there.

There are a few verses in here that came with the poem, that I challenge you to look up. Also some of these things may or may not fit into your life. change it to fit you PERSONALLY and find more verses that point out the Lords truth of who He is in your life as your Creator and Father. Remember that the bible is our truth and the Lords love for us shines through and we can always trust and rely on the truth of who our Father is and what He has for us.

I added a few verses at the end and added a few lines of my own because I knew that there was more the Lord was speaking to me as I was reading this poem.

Read the poem through at least once... maybe twice... maybe more. Print it out and keep it up or in your bible or somewhere you can pull it out later when you need it.

Read it as though God is speaking right to you...

Hand Designed
By Your Heavenly Father

I made her... She is different, She's unique,
With love I formed her in her mother's womb.
I fashioned her with great joy.
I remember, with great pleasure, the day I created her. (Psalm 139:13-16)
I love her smile.
I love her ways.
I love to hear her laugh.
And the silly things she says and does.
She bring me great please.
This is how i made her. (Psalm 139:17)
I made her pretty and not beautiful,
Because I knew her heart,
And knew she would be vain...
I wanted her to search out her heart
And to learn that it would be ME in her
That would draw friends to her. (1 Peter 3:3-5)
I made her in such a way that she would need Me.
I made her a little more lonesome than she would like to be...
Only because I want her to turn to Me in her lonliness...
Only because I want her to learn and depend on Me.
I know her heart, I know if I had not made her like this,
She would go her own chosen way
And forget Me, her Creator. (Psalm 62:5-8)
I have given her many good and happy things...
Because I love her. (Psalm 84:11 and Romans 8:32)
Because I love her
I have seen her broken heart.
And the tears she's cried alone.
I have cried with her,
And had a broken heart too. (Psalm 56:8)
Many times she has stumbled and fallen alone
Only because she would not hold My hand.
So many lessons she's learned the hard way
Because she would not listen
To my voice. (Isaiah 53:6)
So many times I have sat back
And sadly watched her go her merry way alone,
Only to watch her return to My Arms,
Sad and broken. (Isaiah 65:2)
And now she is Mine again...
I made her, and then I bought her,
Because I love her. (Romans 5:8)
I have to reshape and remold her,
To renew her to what I had planned for her to be.
It has not been easy for her or for Me, (Jeremiah 29:11)
I want her to be conformed to My Image...
This high goal I have set for her,
BECAUSE I LOVE HER. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

A few additions for my life and for me to remember:
I want her to know she is perfect and beautiful to Me because I made her from myself. (Genesis 1:27)
Therefore she will know and be perfect when she finds herself in Me. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
I have wonderful plans for her, but she needs to be humble and follow Me because my plans have greater purpose than her own. (Proverbs 11:2)
Through her worries and the chaos of life I provide rest and joy because her emotions steer her wrong. (Matthew 11:28-30 and Nehemiah 8)
I designed her to share my love with others because I overwhelm her with my love. (1 John 4:19)

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Eat out!

When you're on a diet and eating limited foods it seems to be really hard to eat out. It's nice to save money when you don't eat it, but it's not always plausible to not eat out at all. If you are going to eat out, plan ahead. You don't have to cheat and break your new eating habits and feel terrible about it after. Planning helps so that you know where you are going and can set a meal that you are going to order. If it's a new place, think about what foods you can eat, and what you could get at a similar restaurant. Also talk to the server, they know their menu. Take out what you can't eat and customize your meal to fit you! I've worked at a restaurant before and it's possible to customize a meal for a customer. Though it sounds annoying when your ordering, it's quite common and very helpful for the customer! If you can beforehand, look up their menu and choose what you are going to order on the way, this will cause you less stress when deciding, for those of us that can't deal with making choices easily.

For example on my raw food plus meat diet I went to Rubios and when looking at the board I thought there was nothing I could get. I planned on just eating my packed snacks while those I was with ate. But when talking to the gentleman at the counter I explained the basics of what I could eat and he gave me recommendations. It worked! I was about to order something small and eat it with my packed snacks. This worked great for me because I ordered grilled chicken and added salsa from Rubios with avocado and tomatoes topped with lime! It was soo good!

So if you Want to eat out, you can!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Snack Attack!

I love to snack... all the time!
I love to have a handful of something to munch on (or the whole bag). The hard part about snacking, is keeping the portion small. Usually when we start to snack, we don't stop.

Snacking has many health benefits for our bodies. When we eat something small every 3-5 hours it allows our metabolism to keep going. This is good for you because it allows for you to have continual energy throughout the day. When we don't snack, and we are hungry we usually eat more than we need later because by the time we do eat we are starving and feel the need to consume large amounts of food, and usually we don't spend time making something that is healthy or what our bodies really need, we stop and pick something up or microwave whatever, because we are so hungry we cannot wait to eat. We also crave more sugar and salt when we are more hungry (which is why we don't eat as healthy). But by planning out our snacking for the day we allow ourselves to have more control over what we eat and then we minimize the amount that we eat, because our bodies don't usually need the amounts of food we give it. Also like I have mentioned before, drinking lots of liquids (especially water) and keeping ourselves hydrated throughout the day, will also help with our hunger.

We need to learn to listen to our bodies so that we only give it what it needs and really wants. This will help us control our hunger. Eat when you are hungry. Don't wait! Your hunger doesn't go away, it will just become more hungry and start to use your stored energy. When we are eating or snacking we also need to listen to our bodies to know when we are full. Here are some helpful hints:
Signs of being full:
1. Taking a deep breath.
2. When you get really thirsty.
3. Sitting back in your chair.

Our bodies will let us know what it wants and needs when we listen, but we have to learn to listen.
Take some time to understand your body more, do research for your blood type, body type, digestive system ect. All of our bodies are different and react differently to foods. This is why diets are terrible, because one diet that works for one person, will be completely different for another. And this is why we cannot all eat the same foods and quantities. The more you know about your body the better prepared you will be to take care of it.

It is hard to plan what we are going to eat throughout the day, but when we have something on hand that we know we will want to eat, it makes it easier. I keep snacks in my purse, car, and desk drawer. That way when I need something, almost no matter where I am, I have something to snack on. And when I am almost out, I make sure to replenish my stash. (When I am not eating raw food, I also like to keep little sugary snacks available too! Fulfilling our sweet tooth with a bit size chocolate is also very helpful so we don't need to eat the whole tub of ice cream later that night) Some times the few extra minutes at night or first thing in the morning to grab something, can help us in the long run...

Some yummy snacks:
* Almonds (or any kind of nuts/mixes)
* Fruit and vegetables
* Chia Seeds
* A small salad
* Crackers
* Bars
* Fruit snacks

Monday, May 7, 2012

Spicy life...

This new recipe going to seem weird, and different but it has turned out as one of my favorite meals so far....
http://www.rawfoodrecipes.com/recipes/spicy-thai-vegetable-wraps.html

Thai Stuffed Peppers:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped raw cashews
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup Agave nectar
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped ginger
1 tablespoon chipped red chile, seeds included
1 1/2 tablespoons nama shoyu
1 head of lettuce
Large broccoli head
1 large carrot
1 Table spoon of garlic
1/4 cup onions
4 Red Pepperss (You can use any color pepper and any size. Number of peppers depends on how much stuffing you prepare)

Preparation:
1. Chop and prepare all ingredients.
2. Mix cashews, oil, nectar, lemon juice, ginger, chile, and nama shoyu in one bowl and let sit.

3. Mix Lettuce, broccoli, onions and carrots.
4. Add the first mixture to the vegetable and stirr all together.
5. Let ingredients sit and continue tossing every few minutes for 15 minutes- This allow all the different flavors to mix together. The Longer this mixture sits the more the flavors mix!
6. Open the tops of the Red Peppers (only remove the stem)
7. Slice a small opening to enlarge the top opening
8. Clean out pepper.
9. Stuff pepper with mixed ingredients.
10. Enjoy!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Wrap it up!

So before I share the next recipe I must confess that I cheated...a little. I got a chocolate peanut butter shake at pepper tree the other night, and though it tasted so good I could only eat a few bites because it was soo sweet. After eating raw for almost a week my taste buds are already getting used to the food. It also didn't make me feel too good because of all the dairy and sugar. Our bodies seem to adjust so quickly to the foods we are giving it because it needs to adapt in order to process and function.

I like to experiment a lot with food and how they mix and taste together, and I also like to use whatever is in the refrigerator and putt different things together. This recipe turned out to be both of these things.

Salmon Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients:
Salmon
Lettuce
Avocado
Tomato
Hummus (you can use any kind you want. I used chipotle)

Preparation:
1. Cook the salmon on the grill
2. Clean the lettuce and choose the large open leaves
3. Cut the avocado in slices
4. Cut the tomato in slices

Putting it all together:
1. Depending on how many people are eating place 3 leaves of lettuce on each plate.
2. Place salmon in the middle of the lettuce leaf. (see picture 1)
3. Spread the hummus over the salmon.
4. 3-4 slice of avocado and tomato.

And enjoy!!

Eat it!

It's good for you...

Being on a raw food diet and being lazy or crazy busy can be hard. Throwing together a salad or just eating fruit becomes the normal and can quickly become boring. But this time I committed to putting time and effort as much as I can to create tasty, healthy, interesting and new meals to keep me going for the whole month and maybe longer.

My first thing to do was to research raw food eating plans and recipes. There are tons of great resources on the Internet to use. I found dietary tips, nutritional facts, How To's and more. I wanted to read as much as I could before I started. When eating raw food, one of the most interesting things I learned, is you are able to intake more nutrition than when you cook the food. On the other hand, you have to eat larger quantities to really feel full and be satisfied. Therefore, most meal plans included eating about 5 times a day. For those of you that know me, I like to eat twice most days and I thought this was going to be the hardest part for me. But it turns out, when your body is hungry it will let you know, and the best thing to do it feed it! The best time to eat is when you feel hungry and your body is giving you signs. Many times, as Americans, we eat whenever we want, however much we want, as much as we want! This is not a good habit to get in to.

Keeping our bodies hydrated is REALLY important. It helps our digestive system and evens out our hunger.Also, many times when we feel hungry or want a snack, our bodies actually just want some old fashion H2O- so try that next time you are snooping through the cabinets just because.

The Food Network and Raw Food Recipes I found to be my two favorite recipe resources so far and I am still on the hunt for more!

One thing I like about recipes is you are given a great idea of where to start. I dislike following recipes exactly for two reasons: 1. Because I like to make it my own and improvise a little. I also just like to use whatever is in my house instead of getting every specific thing on the list (I get this from my Dad). 2. Because there is no such thing as exact measurements (I get this from my Grandmothers) "A pinch" or "A handful" or "A little bit of this and that". Therefore you will see in the posts to come the recipe I got the idea from and how I did it differently (but I will try to give abouts for measurements when I give my recipes).

Day 2: On the Menu
Leek and Zucchini Pasta Salad
http://www.rawfoodrecipes.com/recipes/leek-succhini-pasta-salad.html

My version:
Vegetable Pasta Salad:
2 Zucchinis
2 Avocados
1/2 Stalk of Lettuce
1/2 cup of Onions
1 Table Spoon Garlic
1 Handful of Sunflower Seeds
Lemon Juice- Lightly coat
A little Oil
REMEMBER: None of these measurements are exact
Preparation:
Chop all ingredients add in a large bowl. Add oil and lemon juice. Mix all together. Let sit for at least 10 minutes to allow all the flavors to blend.

Chicken:
Coconut Oil (used because it is better for your health than regular oil and is not as greasy)
Lemon Juice
Chicken Breast
Preparation:
Heat coconut oil in pan (enough to coat the bottom). Chop chicken in bite sized pieces. Add chicken over medium/high heat when coconut oil is melted completely. Cover the pan and rotate chicken as needed. Allow all sides to cook lightly. Add lemon juice (1/2 way covering the chicken). Turn down the heat to low/simmer and cover. Allow the chicken to simmer for at least 10-15 minutes, mixing up the chicken every few minutes. Empty the lemon juice and add a little more coconut oil. Lightly brown all sides of the chicken.

Hummus:Spicy Spinach and Pesto Hummus
This hummus was homemade by my cousin. Therefore I don't have the recipe but it was good!

Add all three to your plate and ENJOY! Dip your chicken into the hummus and even try all 3 together. (As you can see in the picture, I completely separate all my food because I don't want them to touch until I'm ready to dip it, but that is just me)

Mine made enough for 3 to eat, have seconds and to enough for leftovers the next day!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Post-its

Why? That is a great question.
My answer: 'Why not?'

I have never been much of a writer. Growing up I always tried to keep a journal, because that's what my friends did, but I would write in it for two or three days straight, then forget about it, and try again a couple months to a year later. And every time I would tell myself 'This time you are going to keep up with it!' And here I am years later and still haven't kept it up.

But having purpose and something to say was always my problem. I didn't want to write about my day, or what someone said, because I was living it and didn't feel the need to write it down (and it wasn't always that exciting). But there were a few exciting times in my life where I felt compelled to write everything down so that one day I could remember it all. And I did. Those were the times I was travelling and never wanted to forget the things I saw, felt and thought.

So, here I am, feeling compelled to write things down for two reasons:

1. Working with High School girls for about three years now has made me realize more and more how much brokenness there is in this world. This has pushed me towards God to find hope. Writing about how beautiful EVERY girls is because of her heavenly creator is very important to me. Showing our need for a savior and a real Father because I have been there, looked at myself that way, and still do sometimes. This robs us of the truth and the joy that God wants for us.

2. Being sick a lot in the last 6 months has made me take a double look at how I eat, sleep and exercise. My immune system sucks! And I dislike it. I don't get sick for a few days and get to watch TV all day at home like when I was in High School. I loved getting sick back then. But now, it's different. I don't want to stop and do nothing for a few days, plus I don't have time to. So I keep going and ignore it, which usually makes it worse. Lame.

This is where I am going to start. For the second time this year, I have started a raw food + meat + coffee eating style. The last time was for fun, to kick off the new year. But it came with so many positive effects: building my immune system, feeling healthy, focusing on nutrition and being healthy, and not being sick.

For the month of May I am going to go all out with eating raw + meat + coffee. I am eating meat because protein is good for you- duh! And once I stop eating meat it's hard to stop again so I just won't stop. I am drink coffee because it is goooood and I don't want to stop. Raw does not mean, salads and fruit only. I want to share with you some of the fun things I get to put together to make eating exciting and really healthy and along the way, other things I am learning and want to share because I am now a blogger :). 

I hope you enjoy!