Less Than God’s Best

How long have you been living inside of a body that you really aren’t pleased with?  If you would have started living a healthier lifestyle when you first realized it, would you be where you are right now, or would you be in better shape?

It’s foolish to continue to live unhealthily while you hope for better results.  To live our best life now, we must make changes to improve ourselves; otherwise down the road we’ll be just continue to be discontent.

What is so exciting about beginning to live a healthier lifestyle now, is that you will be living the best you are capable of for this moment with the body you currently have.  As you continue to live healthier, your body will keep improving, getting stronger, more vivacious and energetic, and your quality of life will just keep getting better!

When we don’t exercise properly, eat healthy foods in small portions throughout the day, and when we don’t get enough sleep, it limits our ability to live our best life now.

How can we complain about our physical wellbeing when we don’t do our part?  We can’t feed our body low quality junk foods for nutritional energy and expect a healthy, strong, lean and energetic body. We are what we eat.  Junk in will produce junkie health.

Are you doing your part? Are you feeding yourself good nutrition?  Have you been eating correct portion sizes, or have you been downing the keg and complaining because you don’t have six pack abs?

The only way we can have our healthiest life now is to care enough about ourselves to make what we eat, the amount of sleep we get and exercising a priority.  Start loving yourself enough to make yourself a priority; and start taking good care of you.  Often we take care of others but not ourselves.

Having a healthy body is up to you.  No one can do it for you. There is no magic pill.

The choice is yours, Are you going to live your best life now or are you going to settle for less than God’s best for yourself

Mexican Goulash

When I created this, the flavor and texture turned out better than I thought it would.

1 (15-ounce) can fat-free chili (made with turkey.)

1 (16-ounce) can fat-free refried beans

1 (12-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

1 1/2 cups salsa

1 cup fat-free fancy shredded cheddar cheese, optional

5 (10-inch) fat-free flour tortillas

• Spray a slow cooker with nonfat cooking spray.
• In a large bowl stir together the chili, refried beans, corn, and salsa until well mixed.
• Lay one tortilla flat on the bottom of the slow cooker.
• Pour one-fifth of the mixture on top.
• Continue layering the tortillas and the remaining four-fifths of the mixture until all the ingredients are used.
• Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.
• Using a sharp knife (a steak knife works well) cut through all the layers, making a checkerboard design on top. Each cut should be about 1-inch apart. (The cut-up tortillas will taste a lot like pasta when the recipe is finished.)
• With a large spoon stir the entire dish to mix the cut-up tortilla pieces.
• Serve in soup bowls.
• Sprinkle lightly with additional fat-free cheddar cheese, if desired.

Yield: 8 servings, Calories: 232, Fat: 2 grams (7% fat), Cholesterol: 7mg, Carbohydrate: 42g, Dietary Fiber: 7g, Protein: 11g, Sodium: 968mg Menu idea: A tossed salad rounds out this meal and sugar-free vanilla pudding ends it nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Carbohydrate Overload”

Eating low-fat not only helps prevent cancer, heart disease and diabetes as well as other health problems, but Dr. Dean Ornish teaches in his book, “Eat More Weigh Less” through his medical studies and scientific research that eating a low fat diet can even reverse heart disease.  This is wonderful news for people like me who have a family history of heart disease and cancer on both sides of the family!

In the 1980’s when low fat became more prevalent manufactures jumped on the bandwagon selling all kinds of products lower in fats, and even fat-free, however these processed products were packed with simple carbohydrates known as sugars. These products are a better alternative than the high fat processed foods, if eaten in moderation occasionally.  However, they are a terrible substitute for God’s healthy foods such as whole grains, fresh fruits, vegetables and lean proteins.

Sorry to say, many people had the mindset that if it is fat free it’s okay to eat till their heart’s content, (at times over indulging because it tastes so good) without any concern to portion control. Ouch! This kind of thinking made Americans more over weight, out of shape and feeling fatigued than ever before.  To top it off, people’s hunger pangs kicked into high gear and we often felt more hungry shortly after we’d eaten a bunch of processed, fat-free, compact carbohydrate foods, than if we’d eaten nothing at all.

Having always eaten low fat, I too became a little heavier than I felt was my ideal body weight. I decided to join a weight loss group to be accountable to: First place, listed in phone book.  It is a national, Biblically focused weight loss and maintenance self help support group that I absolutely loved!  I lost 8 pounds of unhealthy, unwanted fat in 12 weeks and gained awareness that I’d been on what I called a “Carbohydrate Overload”!  Simply put, I was eating too many processed foods with white flour and sugar, which made me feel hungrier throughout the day.

I cut back on flour and sugar, continued eating low fat, healthy proteins along with all food groups such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and etcetera.  Sorry folks, white flour, sugar, candy and fried foods are not the major food groups.  Those things in limited moderation once in a while when you want to splurge are fine, but not the daily norm.  Click Here for more great information and delicious recipes from Dawn Hall

Fast & Frugal Meals Help Save Money!

Drive down your street and count ten houses. Seven of them represent a family living paycheck to paycheck in America.  – Dave Ramsey

In my opinion, living paycheck to paycheck is like gambling with our financial well being.  It’s not worth gambling with our peace of mind.  We can buy a lot of things, but we can’t buy peace of mind.

Having less spending $$ for extras (shopping, eating out, going out) does not necessarily mean you have to have less peace of mind or enjoy life less.

I drive a 13 year old car (which I love) and scaled down from a 6 bedroom house in the country to a house 1/3 the size in the city so that I do not have a car or house payment.  It’s small and comfy, all I need.  I haven’t eaten out for a while, I discontinued my cable TV and haven’t even spent a penny on a coffee at a gas station in over 2 months.  At the same time I am SO grateful for the peace that comes with knowing I am living within my means! That is a gift we give our self!

I still enjoy eating nice meals, but they are at home with low cost ingredients instead of at a restaurant.  I easily make delicious dinners and cheap healthy recipes, but my dinner guests aren’t thinking about the cost of the ingredients.  (If they are, then they have a problem!)  The most important thing is being together and enjoying healthy, delicious and nutritious food.  I simply cook great tasting and delicious looking frugal meals with inexpensive ingredients.

We can save a LOT of money eating ingredients that not expensive!  It can look like a million bucks, but I want it fast, easy and inexpensive!

Easy meal planning of fast and easy recipes is super simple with Busy People’s Fast and Frugal Cookbook andBusy People’s Super Simple 30-Minute Menus Cookbook because there is only one set of time-line instructions to follow in order to make the entire menu of recipes in 30-minutes or less, PLUS a grocery list is provided!  Each features cookbook meals loaded with low cost family dinner recipes (over 250 each) that are low fat, too!

Is it time for a change? Is it time to cook even more frugal? If so, have no fear, I am here to help!

Try these many free recipes from Busy People’s Cookbooks on my Cooking for Busy People website to see if my fast, easy and low fat home style recipes are just what you’ve been looking for!

Join our Cooking for Busy People Facebook fan page, too! We share lots of fast and frugal ideas to help each other out!  Together we are stronger united.

God bless you~