Monthly Archives: July 2013
Wordless Wednesday: Having My Say
Practicing Gratitude
Gratitude is a pretty crazy thing… It can change a person’s whole outlook on things… on life even… Recently in a book I was reading I came across the concept of practicing gratitude. In the book it was a simple task of wearing a gratitude bracelet which reminded the wearer to be thankful whenever they noticed the band… it could have been for something big or small, it didn’t matter it was just about taking a moment to stop and be thankful.
Sometimes I think I forget this… I forget to stop and smell the roses so to speak, every now and then it hits me and I am seriously thankful for heaps of things, but then in a moment it can all be gone… back to normal, back to woe is me, or my day sucks… Practicing gratitude is something that I have been trying really hard to do this year, with some success, but not that much… I know it is something that I need to keep working on so that gratitude and seeing the good in a situation is my first response not my last… I want it to be my default position… a heart that is open to seeing the best, not the worst, to appreciating, not taking for granted… and not only noticing the massive life changing things, but being thankful for all the tiny things in between. So to try and help me do this I added it to the list… right at number 38… ‘make a gratitude jar and use it’. I used a jar idea that I found on Pinterest which means it also crosses no. 46 off the list as well, but the jar is there for me to add to… big and small… and I think it has been working to a certain extent… sometimes I forget about it and it’s weeks before I add to it, but other times I am madly scribbling things I am thankful for onto strips of paper ready for the jar. These little strips get folded into little origami stars (no. 40) and popped in the jar so that when I am feeling a little down one quick look at the jar makes me feel happy, thanks to the stars, coloured paper and the pretty fabric lid that I got from Mum’s work, but also quickly reminds me there are so many things I can be thankful for. And if I need more convincing I can always unfold a star and read what I wrote.
I am hoping that by the end of the year I will be so good at practicing gratitude that my jar will be full… and that it will be a daily habit, where I am always looking for the good and positive. That soon I will be able to say I practice gratitude regularly… and I am truly grateful, coz lets face it, gratitude and happiness are much better than bitterness and worry.
‘Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart’
Colossians 4:2 (NLT)
Jake Turns 21
So today is a pretty big milestone for my family, my youngest sibling, my brother Jacob, turns 21. That means we are all pretty much grown up (in the age sense of the word, maturity is another story). And even though we have spent pretty much all weekend celebrating him and the person he is. I just wanted to add my two cents here… I am so proud of Jake and all that he has accomplished. I am so glad he has found his feet and he most definitely different from me, and his own unique person. And even though I have often tried to palm him off as my annoying little brother, I really do love being his big sister! I have loved teaching him things, hanging out with him, fighting with him, playing Nintendo with him, watching Disney movies with him, looking after him and watching him grow up. But I am also loving the fact that he has always taught me to be proud of who I am, to not be afraid of standing out or having different interests and hobbies (even if they are a little weird) and to embrace life even when it gets a little bumpy. I am really excited to see what’s next for Jake, and what his future has in store because I know that God has big plans for him.
So Happy 21st Jake! I love you so much and I am super proud of you!
The Truth About… Green Juice
There are lots of new diet fads popping up all the time, some good, some bad, some indifferent… Usually they have all been spruced before… Just like fashion trends, diets come and go, some last a little longer and some are gone almost as soon as they were in.
The truth is, lots of these diets are actually based around a little bit of truth, but their promotion and advertising, usually done by those who don’t understand the research or science behind the idea, often promise miraculous results and mind blowing efficiency.
One such diet that I have been watching for a while now, is actually not so much a diet, but a food buzz around something in particular… Green Juice…
A quick google search will quickly offer you a number of benefits from this magic drink. From curing cancer, detoxing and cleansing, to goodness delivered straight to your cells because of decreased digestion… But the reality is, they are not all they are cracked up to be… and in some ways they can actually be more of a hinderance then good…. but before we get that, lets just clear a few things up:
- There is no diet/juice/miracle food that will curer cancer. Believe me I have looked and if there was, I would tell everyone… and I would be very rich. Good nutrition is important to maintain strength and wellbeing during cancer treatment, and in some cases good nutrition can assist in preventing cancer, but there is no one food that will magically take it away. I wish there was, but there isn’t, green juices are not the exception to this rule.
- Juice does’t cleans or detox The jury is still out on detoxing, but the reality is regardless of what we eat our food is broken down through the same system. Our gastrointestinal tract… it has one liver and some kidneys whose greatest purpose in life is to detox the body… and you guessed it, they do this to the green juice too. Juice cannot not actually remove any toxins itself, and depending on how concentrated it is can actually just make your body work harder than if you had eaten the ingredient raw. As a side note, because the ingredients of green juice are… juiced… they also loose some of their ability to cleanse and clean out. This idea is basically looking at a good bowel… making sure what goes in, comes out and does so regularly this system relies on fibre to work and much of the fibre from the ingredients in green juice are removed or prematuraly broken down during the juicing process.
- Green Juice is Digested… As you may have guessed from number 2… Green juice is in fact digested. Everything we consume is digested, in fact the act of chewing or in the case of drinking… swallowing is part of the digestion process… these nutrients are delivered to the cells of the body the same way everything else is… via digestion. If something went straight to our cells we wouldn’t need to drink it… we could simply bath in it to get the full affect… but that’s not what happens, we drink, we digest, and the nutrients are delivered just as efficiently as any other food.
There are a few other things about Green Juice that worry me just a little. While they do contain lots of vitamins and minerals they are deficient in key macro-nutritients that our bodies require to function. These are called macro-nutrients because we require ‘macro’ or larger amounts of them, than the micronutrients offered by a juice. So when a juice is regularly used as a meal replacement, we miss out on protein and fat that we need (yes, fat is an essential part of the diet).
If we consume the juice with a meal, e.g. as part of breakfast we also get the additional energy provided by the juice… (an average cup of green juice contains somewhere between 335kJ and 502kJ (80 and 120 calories) this is roughly equivalent to a tub of low fat yogurt (427kJ)). Extra energy in, if not burnt. will eventually lead to weight gain, so the addition of green juice to an individual’s regular diet will not assist with weight loss…
Generally speaking Australian’s struggle to get enough fibre in the diet. Good bowel health is important for so much more than regality, and fibre is crucial to this. While you may be able to fit the volume of 3 serves of vegetables into a green juice, because of the fibre lost through juicing, it will only ever be equivalent to 1 serve of veg… thats a lot of work for 1 serve.
So what’s the alternative… well there is a place for the occasional juice, especially for the fussier few who don’t really include any vegetables, as juiced vegetables are better than none at all… but can you get the same amount of vitamins and minerals without juice? Of course! How? Well you eat the greens (and other vegetables) normally, include them as a regular part of the diet. The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating recommends that women consume 5 serves of veg and 2 serves of fruit daily, for Men it’s 6 serves of Veg (19-50yrs) and 2 fruits… What’s a serve? 1/2 cup of cooked veg, or a 1 cup of salad. A nice way to work towards this is to aim to have half of your dinner plate vegetables.
Remember that the vitamins and minerals are not enhanced by juicing, they are always there in the food… Make sure you include fruits and veg at every meal because the reality is, one great day of intake doesn’t give you your vitamins for the week… if you don’t need these extra vitamins on the day, your body will dispose of them anyway. Most of them aren’t stored up for a rainy day, they need to be consumed daily… so just eat your greens… and oranges… and yellows… and reds… and purples… get a little bit of everything and you’ll actually find you will have all you need.
It’s not magic,
It’s not special,
It’s just regular food…
Em – your friendly Accredited Practicing Dietitian (APD).
Wordless Wednesday: Internet Shopping
Beating Breakfast
Ok… so this is my first attempt and practicing what I preach and sharing that journey with you, I have decided to set out with a little structure, just so that it is clear what to do and what not to do… because trust me, just because I am currently doing it, doesn’t mean it is ok… So here is how it will work… I will let you in on my secret bad food habits, tell you why it is bad and what needs to be done instead and then tell you my plan… coz lets face it accountability is what makes the world go round…
Em’s Bad Food Habit no. 1
Breakfast is something that I am constantly telling my clients is important, but unfortunately it is also my worst meal of the day… I just find it really hard… so hard that last year I had 3 breakfast specific items on my list and this years list includes a breakfast ultimatum… coming in at no. 8 is ‘Stop buying breakfast regularly’… it’s time to break my bad breakky habits, which include skipping it altogether, allowing chocolate to be an appropriate choice and various forms of liquid breakfast including up & go and ice breaks. Now if you want me to I can justify all of these choices, but the reality is its not ok… I need to start the day right… and that means a nutritious and regular breakfast.
So why is breakfast so important?
Well there are a couple of reasons…
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Our bodies work with a feedback system, telling us when to eat and when we are full, the second part of that feedback isn’t as quick as the first, but regular meals can help the body better regulate these systems to make them more effective.
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Our brains need fuel to work… no breakfast usually means a slower brain, well not exactly but you know what I mean, concentration is hard without food.
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Breakfast can help with weight control… research tells us that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight or obese than those who skip this meal regularly!
Basically having breakfast has no downside… it helps maintain a healthy weight, regulates our body and makes us work better… what is there to lose… The good news is it doesn’t have to be gourmet or fancy… your best bet is a high fibre, low GI choice… from a cereal to multi-grain toast to a breaky muffin (not the store brought variety)… the hardest bit is actually doing it… or maybe that’s just me.
My goal…
Well it is pretty much what is on the list… stop buying breakfast… when I buy breakfast I make bad choices… usually an ice break from 7-11… it not only expensive… but just lazy… since I have started my new job I have been making a concerted effort to have breakfast before I leave the house so that I have no reason to stop… and so I don’t buy rubbish… and so far there have been some good days, but some of my old habits have snuck back in. I have often stuffed up and brought an ice break, but there has still been a whole lot more eating breakfast at home than I have done probably in the last 4 years… so as a little encouragement for me to stop, and a deterrent from going back… I have done some maths for my weekday breakfasts… an ice break from 7-11 costs $3.80, that’s at the very least $19 (if I don’t get tempted by all the other goodies available) which is $912 a year… wow… which also comes out of my pocket money which I could be using for much more exciting things… compared to having breaky at home… lets take some Weetbix, just as an example… 3 Weetbix with a cup of low fat milk costs about 68cents… that’s $3.40 a week… or $163.2 a year… so by just having breakfast at home I can save $749… that’s CRAZY!
So not only will I save a bunch of money… but I will be setting myself up for the day, helping improve my intake (coz lets face it, everyone knows Weetbix are better for you than iced coffee) and hopefully my weight… but more importantly I will be practicing what I preach… walking the talk… and being better for it…
Catching the Trend
As I have been working through my list for this year I have learnt something… well I suppose that’s kind of the point… but it was something unexpected… I have learnt that there is some benefit for jumping on a trend at the last minute. Usually I am a little slow to get into things… or way too fast (as in before it is considered potentially cool… which by default, makes it uncool). Either way, I usually want to let it be tested by others for a while first… for example, Wicked the musical had been playing for about a year in Melbourne before I went for the first time… then I loved it and went back at least 5 times. Or fluro anything… I was convinced it would pass, but now that it’s been around for a while (I still know it will pass eventually), I have jumped in feet first… I have fluro sneakers which I am pretty proud of… and some most of my other work out gear also has a touch of fluro.
Well it turns out the same things go for books, as part of this years list I have challenged myself to read at least 12 books, that’s twice as many as last year and I am currently on my 6th book… so I need to lift my game a little… As a little extra challenge to myself, I also decided that I would try some different books, not just authors I knew, but some randoms… enter Marissa Meyer and ‘The Lunar Chronicles’. I choose the first book ‘Cinder’ because it intrigued me… it was the fairy-tale story of Cinderella, set in the future, in a world full of all things sci-fi… my Disney love and nerd interior rejoiced at the possible combination. I noticed ‘The Lunar Chronicles’ written at the top of the page, but I didn’t think much of it, I didn’t really know all that much about the books… so I just assumed the whole series was available when ever I needed it… At the end of book one it became clear that while some aspects of the story had finished the bigger story was just beginning, so I downloaded on to my kindle the next book… ‘Scarlet’… soon enough this was also finished and I need the next one… but I couldn’t find it on Amazon… a little perplexed I googled the author only to discover that series had only been half written, the 4 book chronicles was incomplete at the moment… the third and forth books were still to be written… planned but not available… so now I have had to move on… despite the fact that I feel a little incomplete myself… I wished I had not started the series until all the books had been written… I wished I had jumped on the ‘Cinder’ bandwagon much later… when I could have it all… I don’t want to wait to find out what happens… I want to no now… this is the down side of finding a good new series before its been finished… or even tested by others… If I had waited for it to be recommended I would have known about the wait,and the gap… I would have seen it coming, instead I pioneered something new and now I have to wait… until 2014… for the next book.
Jesus Christ Superstar
I’m not sure that if Jesus had started his ministry today I would have followed… and it worries me. I would like to think I would, but I am just not sure… in fact I am a little worried I would have been just another Pharisee blinded by religion… Don’t get me wrong I haven’t changed my beliefs at all, I am still a Christian and that hasn’t changed, but a few weeks ago, when Dave and I saw Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar I was really challenged about how Jesus would appear, behave and move people if he had come now, rather than 2000 years ago and I actually found it really scary.
This particular version was a re-imagined or updated version of the musical, set now, and it was confronting. The 12 disciples and Jesus were portrayed as working class revolutionaries… their slogan was ‘Follow the 12’ and the they looked almost like the ‘occupy movements’, they were different, radical and in some ways extreme. The thing is I am a rule follower, a go with the flow kind of person, someone who does the right thing because that’s what you are supposed to do… even when breaking the rule won’t hurt anyone… it’s just the way I am wired. I figure that rules are there for a reason, so I follow them, some people think that’s a bit boring and it probably is, but that’s ok… I like the order and clear boundaries it gives me.
Often when I watch the news, from my relatively comfortable position in life, I see things like the occupy protestors and understand their motives, but wonder if creating a tent city and fighting people is the best way to go… I often dismiss passionate protestors as crazy and go about my business with out much thought. Now I don’t think Jesus would have been a law breaker… or fighter… most of the time, his teachings are about love for God and love for each other… but I can see why Llyod Webber has made this link… they are counter cultural, not letting the powers of the world dictate the way of the world. Now in the musical, Jesus didn’t damage property or people, he was the same as I imagine in bible times, doing his father’s work where ever he went, changing lives, and healing the hurting, but he was peaceful. But when I think about social movements of today, even great social movements like fair trade and anti-traffiking my response is at best underwhelming. I am happy for these things to change, but I am not passionately seeking out ways to make it happen… just passively waiting for it to happen without me… and it makes me wonder if it were Jesus, would I just ride him off as a loony? Wait passively for the him to change the world around me? Or be annoyed because he was rocking the boat I was quite happy traveling in.
To be honest I am actually glad that I was born now rather than back when Jesus was around… and that even though I know Jesus is coming back, I already know and believe in him… and I would like to think that by his grace I would recognise him when he comes… I don’t have to um and ahh about whether or not he is the real deal because I already know that to be true… but it also challenges me to think about how Christlike my life actually is? Am I still more of a Pharisee with my rules and regulations, or am I open to change when it is in love and equality… I don’t know… but it’s got me thinking.
Wordless Wednesday: Ready for Lunch
The Most Curious George 