Choose Life 8 comments
This is a beautiful video called 99 balloons. Thanks to Crystal for sharing it on her blog so I could view it first. Grab the tissues:
Good Fat Old Folks No comments yet
One of my first blog posts, the one when you click here, talked about the message we send our children when we, as moms, constantly talk about our bodies, our weight and our clothes in negative ways.
Since I wrote that post I’ve been kind of “on alert” to listen to ladies, daughters, etc., to see how often these comments come out as well as tune in to how the young ladies are talking when referring to food, weight, clothing, other people, etc.
It’s pretty amazing. It’s pretty sad, actually. But it’s no surprise in this day and age that high school and college age girls are completely obsessed with being thin. Look at what they view in a typical day. And look at what their peers and their moms are saying about themselves. Unfortunately now you see and hear it in younger girls too. That’s pretty scary.
But here is an interesting post that I stumbled on today on the Junkfood Science Blog that talks about obesity in people as they get older. Here’s just a brief quote to pique your interest:
“There is considerable evidence, they wrote, that in very old people, low blood pressure, low cholesterol and low weight or weight loss are associated with increased risk of dementia and higher mortality rates.” Click here to read more of the article.
Fascinating stuff. And once again, not surprising that in a world where millions of dollars per year are made in the diet and weight loss industry that some of the people conducting these studies actually work very hard to cover up the real stats. Here’s another quote from the Junk food blog article:
“They then reanalyzed the data using several different modelings and were unable to remove the favorable associations between higher weights and preservation of cognitive function. They further adjusted for illnesses, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, and still the association didn’t change substantially. Finally, they eliminated 1,010 of the participants from their analysis to exclude those with low scores on one of the tests (MMSE) and only then were able to make the associations between BMI and cognitive decline statistically not significant.”
Woah…could there really maybe perhaps be something GOOD about having a little bit of excess on the bones?
Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not into the whole “fat is beautiful” thing. I think we still need to be healthy, eat well, walk rather than drive whenever we can, etc. But what if there was this wonderful movement among moms where we finally stopped “dieting” and talking about how fat we are and just rejoiced every morning because we’re alive?
Thoughts?
Here are a couple of book suggestions that, I think, would support the notion of eating well but not being consumed with “thin”. Both books would actually recommend eating *gasp* real butter instead of processed margarines, WHOLE (raw if possible) milk, and … don’t fall over in shock - the entire egg, not just the egg white. And both books have some pretty hard hitting evidence to support their claims that eating this way is actually healthier than what is being touted by most people.
Reasons to Not Watch TV - a Thursday Thirteen 12 comments
Here are 13 reasons why I don’t watch television:
13. Really….what is there good to watch anyway? Think about it. Most of the time when I watch the chatter on twitter or forums about watching tv it’s a lot of how bad the shows are. I’m sure there’s some good programming on but honestly I don’t have the energy to wade through the muck to find a leeeeetle bitty bit of fresh water.
12. It’s another screen! I spend about 70-80% of my waking hours in front of the computer screen. Why in the world would I want to put my eyes through another hour or two of screen torture?
11. My hips. Need I say more??? That time could be spent taking a walk or using one of my exercise machines. (Could be - didn’t say it IS).
10. It’s expensive. I don’t know about you but not having to pay a cable bill every month helps us to go out for a nice dinner together as a family once a month. Now I know that these days you can roll your internet, long distance and cable into one bill but for us it still saves us a good chunk of change not to have cable. (plus who needs 563 channels).
9. I see very little of my husband anyway. Why would I want to spend time that I could be chatting and snuggling with him watching some goofy sitcom. That’s not to say we don’t watch movies on our “big screen” occasionally. Actually we have our family Pizza Movie night every Friday night.
8. Think of all the things that one can get done with the hour of time that one usually spends watching a TV program. Even if you have one of those Tivo things - you’re still just sitting there.
7. I can’t stand the commercials. Except for the occasional giggle generator (I do like the beer commercial where the men go to the opera the first time - but hey, I found that one on youtube so I didn’t even need TV to get the giggle) commercials stink.
6. The television news is biased - that could be a Thursday Thirteen in itself. And if you think they’re not, you’ve been watching too much TV!
5. Modesty - let’s face it. Shows after the family hours are full of things I don’t want my kids’ minds dwelling on - or me for that matter. Even the shows during the prime time hours when my kids are awake are filled with kids and teens that are immodest and disrespectful to their parents. My kids can see enough of that just going to the local mall or the grocery store. I don’t need it either.
4. Creativity - I have very little time to spend on crafting (I love stamping and scrapbooking) and so rather than put on the box, I’d rather be doing those types of creative outlets to release from the day.
3. It’s Mind-Numbing: I don’t want my mind to go numb and honestly when I’ve been “in” the tv in the past it has been. I found this quote on the web: “…in the early 1980’s, researchers in Australia found that the left-brain ’sort of went to sleep’ once TV was switched on, but the right brain was busy ’storing information in its memory bank.’ What these studies show is that the right side of the brain may be dutifully absorbing all the images from your television screen, but the left side is lulled into a stupor by the television’s flicker. This makes analysis of the images difficult. It also makes it difficult to remember exactly what you have been watching. Furthermore, the research suggests that the left side of the brain may remain in a stupor even after you turn the TV off.” (from this site). Who knows if that’s true but it sure makes sense to me and I know I do go numb after about the first 15 minutes if the tv program or movie isn’t somewhat engaging.
2. I’d rather pick up a good book anyway. One of my new favorite old quotes is by Groucho Marx “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book”. Yep. That’s me for the most part.
1. It’s not plugged in!
This is one of the best sermons…. No comments yet
…you’ll ever hear!
A couple of years ago my husband went to a Uniting Church and Family conference and heard this man speak a similar sermon to the one you’ll hear if you click the link below. It’s a tremendous sermon with more “meat” in a half hour span of time than you’ll find in most churches in a year. Definitely worth the time to sit and listen and really hear what he’s saying.
One warning, wives. Please listen WITH your husbands or let them hear it first if possible.
Click HERE to listen to Voddie Baucham’s sermon “The Centrality of the Home.
Wow…this doesn’t happen much anymore! No comments yet
We had the privilege of attending a beautiful wedding this past weekend.
Mind you - I’ve never really been to a non-beautiful wedding, but this one was exceptionally beautiful, not just because of the music, the dresses, the flowers and the bride, but because of the God honoring way that the couple came together.
This was no love at first site, date for a while, get engaged and then get hitched situation. This was a courtship - and a unique one at that. The couple met when their families started attending church together. The two families quickly developed a friendship and all the kids (there were lots on both sides) developed friendships as well. And one day, the oldest son of one family talked to the father of the other family - expressing his interest in courting their oldest daughter. A few months earlier that same father told his wife that he knew this young man would make someone a fine husband some day - never thinking it might be one of his girls that the young man would marry.
The dad said yes and the courtship began. It wasn’t long before they knew that this was a “go” and the engagement happened. Here’s where it gets very unique. The couple together with their parents, determined that there would be no physical contact between the two at all - no touching, no hand holding, no kissing… nothing. They did a lot together, even traveled with each other’s families on vacations during this time. But they stayed true to their commitment. Had to have been hard at times, don’t you think?
The bride proudly wore white at the wedding. Now most brides do, but the white is supposed to symbolize something - purity… should most brides really be wearing white? Probably not but this one did and could. She wore white gloves - symbolizing modesty and the fact that her hands had not yet touched the hands of her future husband. Her dad removed the gloves at the alter and placed her hand lovingly into her fiance’s hand for the first time. Their very first kiss was in front of 400 people when the minister said “you may kiss your bride”. Yep, it was a little awkward (note to self, give our girls hints on which way to tilt their heads on their wedding day) but it was sweet and lovely … and beautiful.
What a gift these two young folks gave each other - no wondering, all purity. It was beautiful, transparent and a huge example to our family. My girls were moved and already I can hear in their talk that they too will be completely pure when they walk down the aisle. I’ll be praying for God’s protection over them in that regard, as well as protection over their future husbands - even now.
Think before you speak - what message are you sending your daughters 5 comments
I had a nice lunch today with my good friend. She’s a lovely lady, about 5 years older than me and very “hip”. I enjoy her company very much…except for one thing.
Every time we’re together there is at least one comment that she makes about the fact that she’s “fat”. Now, mind you, she’s a size 8 at most and looks great in everything she wears - she’s very attractive and in great shape. Yet no matter what we’re doing, whether sipping coffee, eating out, sitting in the park watching the kids on the swings - every time the conversation somehow turns to how overweight she is or how big her hips are or how she needs to stop eating so much because she’ll not be able to fit into her clothes much longer, etc. And it frustrates me.
I don’t take it personally. I honestly don’t. Even though on a good day I’m happy to squeeze into a size 16. But in a way I do take it personally. I mean, if she thinks a size 6 or 8 is fat, then I must be a whale in her eyes. Of course, she would never say that and I honestly don’t think she means that when she’s making her comments.
But I fear what she and many other women are doing is perpetuating this “skinny is beautiful” mentality. And it’s not healthy for our daughters. Even though my friend may not believe she’s saying “wow, you’re fat” to me or any other person tipping the scales at over 150, that’s definitely what our younger daughters are hearing. “If Mrs. Jones says she’s fat and she can fit in my clothes, wow, Mrs. Smith must be super fat.”
Is it any wonder that our girls are growing up thinking skinny is the end all to life? How can we, as moms and Titus 2 women, help stop the madness when it comes to this? I think that it can start with each of us changing our word choices for one:
Replace “I’m so fat” with “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”
Replace “I really shouldn’t eat this burger - it’ll go straight to my thunder thighs” with “Yum, a burger sounds great!” or “Hmmm I had a burger last night - maybe I’ll get a salad instead.”
Replace “I gotta start exercising! I’m getting so fat” with “I think I’ll feel better if I get some activity. Wanna join me for a walk sweetie?”
Replace “Man that cheesecake looks good but if I get it I’ll never fit into my pants in the morning” with “Wanna split dessert?” or “Can I just steal a bite of yours dear I’m really not that hungry anymore.”
Replace “I’ve got to go on a diet! My clothes don’t fit anymore!” with … nothing… why does anyone really need to know that?
Do you see the difference in the message that these word choices would send to your daughters? What do you think?