in pursuit of wild things

Welcome to the start of my new blogging series on adjusting to a healthier lifestyle. In June I embarked on a journey with some fellow bloggers to lose weight and learn about making healthier choices in food and exercise. Since then I have lost 11 pounds and gone from a size eighteen to a fourteen. I hope to continue to gradually lose more weight and learn to take better care of myself and my family. I’ll be using the book “Life’s Too Short to Eat Bad Cheese…Nutritional and Life Lessons God Teaches Us” by Ellie Marrandette. Ellie writes over at New Creation Ministries and I encourage you to click on over and get to know her a little. (She is one of my very favorite bloggers and I am blessed to call her friend.)

At this point in my weight-loss journey I need help keeping focused on my goal. The newness of the endeavor has completely worn off. I believe committing myself to a weekly post and working through Ellie’s book will not only help me stay focused but also motivated. I’ll work and pray through a chapter each week and then come back here to share my thoughts. I also plan to share any helpful recipes, goals, weight, progress and even when I fail.

The book suggested I choose a verse from Scripture to motivate me. A verse I could turn to when I feel discouraged, tempted or worthless. I grew up feeling like garbage…as disposable…worthless. Every rejected desire for love and security from my parents drove those feelings deeper until they became a part of me. I think these feeling will always be somewhat permanent. This rejection is the root of my emotional eating. A void I have tried to fill with many things over the years including food. I’ve referred to it as the black hole in my soul. So, I wanted to choose a verse to confront this worthlessness. Ellie says that “God doesn’t make JUNK!”

My verse…well four verses actually is Psalm 139:13-16

For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.

I will meditate on these verses this week. While my kids practice their penmanship I will write these words. I will write them until they are seared on my heart.

I promised to share my smoothie recipe with you. I specifically chose anti inflammatory foods for my smoothie to combat arthritis in my hands and other effects of inflammation in my body. First I soak a teaspoon of chia seeds in water for about five minutes in the bottom of my blender’s one serving cup. Once those have gelled I add two apple juice and ginger ice cubes. (My smoothie machine is terrible and cannot blend the ginger root well. It left ginger threads in my smoothie…yuck. I borrowed my friends juicer and juiced the entire ginger root with just enough apples to fill two ice cube trays.) I then add half a frozen banana, handful of frozen blueberries, handful of pineapple chunks, and stuff the top with as much spinach as I can get into the cup. I then fill the it about half way with almond, soy, coconut or cashew milk…which ever one happened to be on sale. Once blended it is a very dark purple-black color. My kids call it the “Black Death” which I think is really funny…in a warped sort of way. This smoothie is usually my breakfast and I noticed after drinking it for about two weeks the swelling in my knuckles decreased and I do not take ibuprofen nearly as much for pain. It’s not just food it’s medicine.