Justice and Health in food

I've been learning about food and my body and the injustice all over the world surrounding food and about my strong, albeit clueless, tendency to be a consumer.  I've just begun, or maybe have been beginning for awhile now.  But here's a few tidbits worthy of saying I've been learning:

1.  People that love good food and are creative and talented in knowing what to do with it - we should let them in our kitchen and have their way.  They remind us how good food can be and how each ingredient and process is special for a reason.  I have eaten the same masterpiece that a friend showed me where to purchase the ingredients and how to put it together...every day this week.  It's so so good.  And I'd never have known it existed without her.  I am awakened to good food, and shop at the farmers market each week now. 

2.  Eating well and knowing where your food comes from are more than a hippie and trendy idea.  Those of you that know this are wondering why it took me this long to figure this out.  Some of us are slow learners in differing areas.  Have grace.  And celebrate my new awakening.  And...acknowledge that you may suck at educating the rest of us.  Rolling your eyes, refusing to eat the food I make you, and talking to me as if I'm stupid - haven't been real helpful in my awakening to this idea.  It's been coming on for a little over 2 years now.  It takes time to learn and be swayed to consider such an idea.  And I have so much more to learn.  Examples...just a touch, there are a zillion more and better ones:

- We only get one body, the God-given role and rule over it is to treat it well.  We reap our own consequences when we don't.  Knowing what ingredients and how they work in your body and what kind of vitamins, minerals, and excellent foods do for your body is a great way to see it start to work well.  Or at least to avoid sickness and see depression lift and have more energy.  I say yes to those things.  I only get one body - I've hated the fertility part of her for most of my life.  I might as well embrace the rest of her.  She's the only one I've got and she's ended up serving me pretty well and helping me get to all the places God has led me.

- Knowing where your food comes from is part of justice.  Not knowing makes us a consumer who just wants calories because we are too busy to plan for what we eat and just want our tummy to stop growling.  I've been learning....albeit slowly and am still mostly stupid in this area....of the companies of foods I love that actually use child slaves to make this food.  WTF??  How can I not know this?  How can I not care?  Why isn't this written on the gosh darn label???????????  I don't know.  But I know when I learn, I care.  And then I choose something different. 

3.  Sometimes it's not that a company uses child labor that sets my mind ablaze either.  I started reading nutrition labels since my son got diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.  I read them of course before and was mildly interested in ingredients such a foods with high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient.  A preschool I directed 12 years ago used to have healthy snack notices we'd put in lunchboxes for parents (after the child had eaten of course and was out playing) to educate them if the snack they provided was nutritional or not.  They got tagged if they put fruit juice in that wasn't 100% juice (so many juices out there are all processed sugar).  Or if they put candy or sweets in there.  The point wasn't to be rude, the point was to educate.  And gradually over the course of a year or two, parents started getting creative with food and reading labels.  Lovely and loving. 

Last week I decided rather than goldfish being served in children's ministry, why not something more healthy that won't turn half the parents away or confirm for the others that we don't really value children's health all that much.  Goldfish is cheap and kids like it.  Check.  Too bad it's full of mostly crap that isn't nutritious for kids and 1/2 the kids coming probably eat mostly crap at home too.  Goldfish isn't the enemy (unless they use child slaves and I haven't found out about it yet :)), and some here and there is fine of course.  But when it's the best we can think of as a church to feed hungry kids...something in me starts twisting.  Why aren't we leading the way in church as to how to eat better and care for our body?  We're modeling consumerism perhaps when we go to Costco and buy the large box of goldfish to feed our children on Sundays.  It's just an hour we say.  It's just kids.  So I went and bought organic snacks made with all natural ingredients.  Better. 

Then this week I got challenged more on this idea.  I was at the farmers market and realized, why don't the kids deserve fresh food rather than always boxed?  So I was all excited to buy some fresh pita bread from the local stand for our kids this week.  Then my husband suggested I take it a bit further and find out the name of the farmer/baker that sells it and let people know that he/she is a person, who is making a living this way.  Bam...suddenly we are caring about not only what goes into our bodies but also about the people making the food for us and helping them live and thrive so that it continues. 

This makes me smile.  In worship.  Of a great God who is every slowly and persistently working on my heart.  I want to honor him in all, not just the segmented pieces of me.  So this week I acknowledge Christian, the young man selling hand-made authentic afghan pita bread at the Ventura farmer's market.  It's a family owned business that started with an Afghan woman and her family's struggle in the search for a better life.  They've grown it into quite a business providing quality, exotic and tasty food.  Christian is a soul that God loves and is pursuing.  And our church helped his family a little this week.  And perhaps if we get to know him as a person...we could see so much more develop.  Meanwhile the kids will have fresh pumpkin in their bellies this week that has 224% of their daily Vit A requirement in it and hear about a family that makes this special bread. 

 Disjointed thoughts - reminiscent of my new beginning in becoming more hippie with food and other things.  Onward!

Foreverland

This is the best piece on the subject of betrayal that I've seen yet.  Written by a woman I find to be full of love and wisdom.


http://storyinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2011/12/neverland.html

A year and a month

A year ago December I started becoming healthier than I've ever been. One year and a month ago I started drinking Shakeology every single day and exercising intentionally.  And, in that time I have realized some things that feel important for me to write down:

- I haven't been sick.  Not once.  I usually am a 3-5 times a year sickness kind of person.  I'm good for a rough flu that lasts at least a week and has me bed bound for part or all of it, a good bout with either strep or bronchitis that require antibiotics, and at least a couple colds that zap my energy and leave me miserable for 2-5 days.  And that doesn't include an occasional bladder infection or sinus infection that i get in on top of whatever else, that also usually require antibiotics.  I'd say I usually need antibiotics at least once year, but that's on a good year. Typically it's about 3x a year.  But this year...sickness just didn't come.  Not less of it, but none of it.  I have not been sick.  At all.  And I just can't believe it.  One whole year and a month, and no sickness. 

- I poop.  All of us do I realize, but what is different for me this last year is that I do so regularly and without pain or issue.  This is important as I've had to be careful to add more fiber and water to my diet over the years because I'm just not a good pooper.  And poop is not a topic that anyone wants to address but talk to a nutritionist or doctor and they are very interested in poop.  Pooping is good.  As parents we freak out if our kids don't poop.  We should freak out if we don't either, because that simple biological function is indicative of so much more.  I poop now and it is all well and good.  My grandfather is nearing the end of his life and he has severe issues "down there" in the pooping category.  Painful surgery worthy type issues.  And I am wondering to myself now....is my new nutrition saving me from that particular woe in my elderly years?  I hope so. 

- My face is happy, no acne issues like I used to have.  My fingernails are strong - no more brittle tearing snagging ones.  This year they've been strong and white and good.  My hair is healthy and growing a ton.  All little things but, nevertheless, ones that I have noticed.  But probably my happiest result yet is that my tummy is calm.  I've had bloating issues for years.  Painful and sometimes protruding out to the point where I look pregnant.  I've had to lay down and moan and take Tums over the years.  But for one year and a month...I haven't had to do that at all.  Hello probiotics and all the other fabulous ingredients packed into my dear Shakeology...you have worked to do something new to me in my belly.  It is simply...quiet.  I eat and it feels good. 

- And finally, but not least, is the weight and fit issue.  For one year now I have been back to my college weight.  All the exercise I do actually shows off muscle and tone now because I am not fighting off the pounds of calories I very much prefer to eat.  I exercise for my muscles and heart now.  Not for keeping pounds off.  This little shake of mine does something there....I'm still learning the science behind it.  Though it's all natural ingredients and whole foods at that.  So it seems the science is simply...good nutrition.  Feed the body well and it likes you back.  Though something in this shake keeps me full.  For hours.  Not only are the calories low in it, but it keeps me full past lunch time.  Which is amazing for me the great grazer.  The combination has worked its way in my body where I just am not gaining weight anymore.  I eat a light lunch, and good sized dinner after my morning shake.  And that's kept my eating down, way down to a normal caloric intake.  :)  Earlier in the year I would make a 1/2 a shake at night or even have one for dinner sometimes just to make sure I stayed full and didn't eat a bunch of junk.  Once I learned what was in the shake, it was hard to figure out what to cook that would be any better nutritionally for me than that.  But of course I do not want to drink only shakes - I love me some real hot comforting food.  But on the days where I think maybe we should just have pizza for dinner, I find I'm much happier drinking a shake and snacking on some things instead.  and wham...college weight.  Amazing. 

The shakes are chocolate (other flavors too, Tropical coming out this month) which is my personal fav and delight.  To which I add peanut butter, honey and coconut shavings as well.  All this helps is my cravings because - I love chocolate.  And if I can drink something that tastes like a milk shake, that is actually full of more super food nutrition than anything I've ever heard of and makes me feel the way I have for the last year with no sickness....I will.  :) 

Thank you Darin Olien and Isabelle Daikler for creating this thing called Shakeology.  I look forward to continue following your research and education on the ingredients including what they do for my body, and where you found them and who I am helping by buying them.  But mostly I am enjoying living a healthy life with a body that just works smoothly on all cylinders now.  Not counting calories all the time or worrying about what vitamins I should be taking.  Shakeology has replaced my multivitamins and has helped me enjoy exercise thoroughly again. 

And Sis...I would have never known about this had you not hounded me incessantly insisting that it would change my body for the better.  You are the best fitness instructor I know and have helped me be the fit and healthy older sister that you knew I should be.  I'm very proud of the Beachbody coach you have become and very much enjoy being one with you. 

May next year I be as healthy as I've been this year. 

If any of you are interested in sampling Shakeology or learning more about it, contact me and I can get you some.  I am also starting a challenge group this month for any friends (or acquaintences) that are ready to begin your year of health.  Beachbody's got a great deal for Shakeolgy and a workout dvd combined - and a group of us commit to doing it together.  Let me know if you'd like to do it with me. 

Our beach home

Loyalty and Kindness

i have taken to reading proverbs again.  i imagine i'll be reading it again and again for a long while.  much to be learned there.  have you read it?  i mean, you know, chapter by chapter really took it in taking notes on your own life as you do?  it's a real hoot.  last time around i underlined so much and was so overwhelmed that by the time i finished i took a break for awhile. a long while.  saturday i started it over again.  here i go into the business of learning wisdom and seeing how little of it i may have.  but i keep reading.  because the word says that if you treasure it...He will give it to you.  I am learning to treasure.  

in chapter 2,

"My child, listen to what i say, and treasure my commands.  Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.  Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.  Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.  Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God.  For the LORD grants wisdom!  From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.  He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest." 

wow.  may he grant "common sense" to me.  :)   Proverbs is so brutal. 

i am just on chapter 3 now.  these chapters only take 30 seconds to read some of them.  so you really could fly through it.  but...the one liners find me somewhere deep all too often.  i end up stopping on one for a few days, or longer, before i can move on.  here is the beginning of proverbs 3:

"Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!  Tie them around your neck as a reminder.  Write them deep within your heart.  Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation." 

and that's it.  that's as far as i've gotten.  no sense moving on for now.  scripture is fascinating to me in this way.  a line that i know i've read, know that i've (thought i) understood and i even LIKE... can suddenly stick out and say something different than ever before.

i think of myself as a loyal and kind person in general.  so it surprised me that this verse stuck out like it did.  but somehow i had this vision that these were life words.  words that tell us how to live.  and realized that Solomon found this truth in his life and the Lord prompted him to live by these two words... saying TIE THEM AROUND YOUR NECK.  that's intense. 

these words, kindness and loyalty, are apparently the simplest things of what i am to live and be.  these are the words that i should pass on to those younger than me.  these words are the ones that if i narrow it all down and become them, would encapsulate so much of the gospel.  these words are living words.  and i want to live them.  do i? 

Loyalty.

that word is loaded.  especially when you've experienced betrayal, which has a way of destroying loyalty.  betrayal makes a mockery of loyalty and makes you feel a fool.  when you've walked through the confusion and hurt of the betrayal of friendship...you don't ever want to walk through it again.  and yet God says...to let loyalty never leave you.  to be loyal anyway.


i've thought a lot about what loyalty is.  i believe it means saying yes when someone that has hurt me comes back around, not to be abused or be a doormat, but to be loyal.  it means to stand for someone when things go down.  not to be silent.  but to stand up with them, shoulder to shoulder.  but in it's best definition, to be a person full of loyalty means people can count on us.  and we are for them. 

which is just brilliant that kindness is the other word.  when you really unpack loyalty and all that costs us and disturbs in us...it makes a sort of sense to me that kindness is the other word.  because i can be loyal without being kind.  i do what i need to do to be for someone...but if i have been hurt, threatened or some warning goes off in my head or heart regarding them....i.....tolerate them.  i do this.  do you?  i can tolerate a difficult person and be for them in the sense that i am loyal and will show up and back them.  but i do not necessarily tend to be kind about it.  which is my way of protecting myself.  but apparently God has less interest in our protecting ourselves and more interest in our giving of ourselves.  we are simply to be loyal to others and to be kind to them in the living of it. 

i am to give myself to loyalty and kindness, which feels like being asked to live vulnerably.  i've been taught to protect and move slowly, and not commit too soon, etc.  and yet Proverbs says i am to tie Loyalty and Kindness around my neck.  to live them.  deeply.  daily.  I am to be a person of loyalty.  both to my God and to the people He places in my life.  they might betray and do any manner of ill-willed obnoxious things.  that doesn't change my call.  and i am to be kind.  to look people in the eye and smile, and be empathetic even when they've been their most horrible version of themselves.

to wear these words.  intentionally and boldly and honestly.  to become them. 

she is a person of loyalty and kindness.  i cannot imagine a better compliment.  and i can contentedly spend my life pursuing those qualities until the compliment bearer finds them fulfilled.  it's ok that it'll take that long.

Some things I need to know

This is a post from a mom of four boys, three of which have Type 1 diabetes (if you can believe that).  And I love it.  Thank you Meri.

A year ago I wrote a blog post called, "I want you to know something." It is one of Our Diabetic Life's most visited posts, still to this day. I feel strongly I need to add some things to the list. I feel strongly that today, there is something you need to know...

You need to know that when you check your child's blood sugar, no matter what the number...you are winning.

You need to know that the worry you keep in your heart all day long is only proof that you are a good pancreas.

You need to know that when your child lashes out against diabetes, he or she isn't lashing out against you.

You need to know that you can switch endos if your endo isn't listening or if your endo doesn't give you good advice. If your child's A1C stays in the upper stratosphere with no hope of returning to earth...you can move on. It is ok.

You need to know that your child's blood sugars will never be 100% perfect all the time.

You need to know that you are stronger than you think you are.

You need to know that on the hardest of days, the fact that you don't give up counts for more than you know.

You need to know that most people don't know what Type 1 Diabetes is. Please don't take it personally when they confuse it with Type 2.

You need to know that it is ok to cry sometimes.

You need to know that site changes are not something you are doing to hurt your child, they are something you are doing to help your child.

You need to know that your child loves you more than you think. You need to know your child doesn't blame you for all of this.

You need to know that you can't compare your child's diabetes with another child's diabetes. Everyone treats differently. Everyone's body is different.

You need to know that some children can easily acquire good A1C's, and others can't.

You need to know diabetes is hard. You are amazing for doing as much as you do, as well as you do.

You need to know that restricting portions at a carb-o-polooza buffet is something that all parents should do, not just parents of children with diabetes. Don't feel guilty when you have to say no to that third bowl of ice cream, or that second cookie.

You need to know that picking a pump, or a way to manage your child's diabetes is a very personal choice. Don't let other parents make if for you.

You need to know that it is ok to ask your husband or your family for help. It is ok to expect it.

You need to know that there are angels waiting to help, you just need to listen for their promptings.

You need to know that if today is a bad day, chances are tomorrow, or the next...it will be better.

You need to know that you need to do something for you. You are important...your needs are important too.

You need to know that there isn't a reason for everything. If there is a high blood sugar, and you can't figure out why...it is probably because they have diabetes...not something you did.

You need to know that there is a way to live this life with joy. It is up to you to find it.

You need to know that forgetting something doesn't mean you are an idiot. It means you are human and your swelly brain can't remember everything all the time.

You need to know you are loved.

You need to know I pray for you every night.

You need to know that in time...things will get better.

You need to know you are reading this for a reason. You need to know I mean every word.

You need to know that one day your child will be doing this all on their own, and you find a way to trust their decisions.

You need to know that you aren't alone in all of this. I know there are days when you FEEL alone. I know there are days when you FEEL like you fail. You are not alone...you are not failing.

You are not failing...

You are not failing...

I feel really strongly you just need to know that. You NEED to know...you are NOT failing your child. Your best is good enough. Keep moving forward.

You need to know the best is yet to come.

I love you my fun, crazy and loving boy.  Let's keep up this journey until we win.

when the oceans rage

there was a song this morning that had a line about when the oceans rage.  something about feeling at peace within the storm knowing He is for us. 

and when I heard it everything in me went quiet.  still.  it struck a chord.  my chord. 

the thing is i've heard that kind of line in songs for 20 years.  it's a popular line.  rightly so.  life is full of "storms" and God by nature and person is above the weather.  but it's something whole other when you've had your own personal raging ocean in the story you are living and you know...deeply know, that peace. 

it's a strange peace and not the fluffy, light and song worthy one i've often thought that it would be.  no, in the raging-ness that doesn't let up and just when you think it's starting to, another set comes...there is no tranquility.  this peace... is rather a solid place.  and the firmness of this place stopped everything in me this morning because i remembered.  and remembering hurts. 

and then.  then, just then when you thought the remembering of the pain of the raging was too much, memory goes a step further and saves the day.  i remembered that solid place where everything went still and quiet.  the hurt was all around and everywhere and the unknowns massive.  but in it, not all the time, but sometimes...there was nothing but feelings like:  sure. loved. known. believed in. safe. hope. truth. Him. sure.

that place.  that crazy place that so many songs are written about, is real.  it's a real cheesy line unless you live it.  but when you are in the living of it, it's powerful to remember the solid place.  it exists.  and in it, there is nothing that you cannot endure.