The Graceful Skinny

A homeschool mom of one sharing my thoughts, curriculum reviews, organization techniques, and planning ideas with others in the homeschool community.

Weekly Update: Better Late Than Never April 25, 2011

Filed under: Road Blocks,The Weekly Check in — The Graceful Skinny @ 4:54 pm
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My wonderful readers, I am so very sorry for my inconsistent posting this past month. April has been a bit rough health wise and it has caused me to slack in other areas. I stared this blog as a way to be an encouragement to others and try to do my best to keep a positive outlook in my posts. However, this once I must ask your forgiveness if I come across as a bit negative and whiny, because today I just need a bit of time to vent.

I am tired of being tired. I am tired of medical issues and weight issues and fertility issues and pills and hormones. My issues with asthma and the steroids at the beginning of the month started a bit of a chain reaction.  Aunt Flo went weird (yet again). Provera was needed. And now I am left with 7ish pounds of weight that I am going to have to re-loose!

Though as run down as I am, if I stop for a minute and listen it becomes obvious that God is trying to teach me something through all of this.  And while this is something that I have known for years being able to step back and take peace in this knowledge is not all that easy.

It’s at times like these where I feel so run down and frustrated and find myself screaming out to God, “I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE!” It’s at these moments when I finally stop and really listen that I hear God gently whispering back to his reminder that I never could do it, nor was I ever supposed to, and as crappy as all this is to deal with, there is something unbelievably freeing at this reminder.

God is there watching over us and taking control over everything.  When I stop and think about how easy it is to slip into the grind of the daily life and trudge through it all, it is these moments that cause us to break that really bring us closer to God.  And as crappy as they might be to get through, as much as I would LOVE to push the fast forward button on life just to skip all of this, I wouldn’t trade a single piece of it because God has truly used it all to bring us closer to him.

So while I may have my moments of acting like an exhausted two year old, in the end its all good because God is in control and for that I am ever grateful!

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Cautionary Tales and Reading Between the Lines February 24, 2011

Filed under: FYI,Revalations along the way — The Graceful Skinny @ 3:34 pm
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Caution diet "Weight loss" "Thyroid issues" "medical issues" hernia IBS PCOS "Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome" blog life lifestyle "corn sugar" myths "diet myths and facts"

 

 

So here on my blog I have no problems sharing my view point and all that I have learned. This is especially true when it comes to High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).  But recently I was watching some tv with one of the kids that I nanny and yet another of those stupid “Corn Sugar” adds came on.  Well, this ad and my skeptical annoyance at it raised the curiosity of the teen and she decided to poke around and investigate further.

 

In her poking she found the following website that can be found HERE .

 

At first glance my alarm bells started going off. It is very apparent that this is a commercially produced blog like sight. Yet when we looked for a name to see who runs the site we found that it is run by some official looking agency called The Center for Consumer Freedom. Their website can be found HERE .

 

They raise interesting claims that all of the hype about HFCS is false.  And on the Sweet Scam site under the Myths and Facts Section there are a lot of very broad statements about what is myth and very specific word bending with the counter point facts.

 

Still the sites do bring up the question, who in the end is right and how much of what they say is indeed true?

 

The big key for me is both sites repeated statements of any sweetener is fine moderation.  But the big issue here is, HFCS has found its way into every food imaginable.  It’s in so much that if you don’t do your very best to avoid it you quickly become inundated with this said harmless “Corn Sugar”. To avoid this junk all together you either have to spend a fortune buying expensive high end organics or you starve.  And for someone on my kind of budget high end anything really just isn’t an option for daily life.  You have to fight for moderation.

 

So dear readers, what are your thoughts on sites like these? In your opinion who is indeed the real “sweet scam”?

 

I for one will take the words of caution from my many doctors and my nutritionist as well as the many articles I have found myself, including an article done by Princeton. (If you missed that Blog post, you can find it HERE . The more I look into these new sites the more I see the falsity in them.

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I Laugh In The Face of Illness! December 15, 2010

Filed under: FYI,Revalations along the way — The Graceful Skinny @ 5:02 pm
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There are so many people who are so confused when they see me laughing and joking about bad news. So why do I laugh?  I laugh so I don’t cry. Because if I did not laugh the only other option is to let the stress get to me and cause more issues.  I laugh because everything is always easier to handle if you throw a joke at it. I have always felt that laughter was good for us, but recently I have come across an article that verified just how good laughter is for us.

 

Did you know that laughter doesn’t just affect us mentally but it has physical benefits as well? Apparently when we laugh it not only increases serotonin but it also decreases stress hormones. By decreasing our stress hormones our immune system works better.  Laughter also improves the heart by increasing blood flow and helping to decrease cholesterol and blood pressure.

 

It also works your stomach. And because it takes muscles to laugh and smile you are burning calories while you boost your mood.

 

I have found that it is just so much easier to keep a clear head and deal with all that is coming at me when I can find a way to laugh at it.  Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of stress. Laugh your way out and life will look so much better.  I promise!

 

So while you are going through all of the stress of Christmas Craziness, give it a try. Let out a laugh. You will be amazed at how much better you will feel.

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Vegetables at Breakfast? December 9, 2010

Filed under: FYI — The Graceful Skinny @ 5:25 pm
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In last week’s post I told you about the ins and outs of my diet. Like a lot of you, when I first started the diet I thought that my instructions to eat a veggie at every meal including breakfast was a strange one.

A few days into my diet it dawned on me that people eat spinach and egg quiche for breakfast all the time.  That is when I decided to try adding spinach to my breakfast.

The result was a wonderful Spinach and Egg Muffin  that is tasty at home but is also easy to grab and go with.  This is how I make it:

Ingredients and Supplies:

 

~ Large Handful of Spinach

~  1 Egg

~1 English Muffin

~Cooking Spray ( I like to use Olive Oil Cooking Spray. Its a little healthier for you!)

~ Small amount of Margrine

 

 

 

 

 

Step One:

Spinach Cooking

Spray a very light coating of cooking spray in your pan and turn your burner on to medium- medium high heat.

Put in your spinach.

{Note: I know this looks like a lot of spinach for one person, but Spinach cooks down significantly!}

 

Step Two:

Spinach Cooking breakfast

When your spinach looks like this go ahead and put your English muffin in the toaster.

 

Step Three:

Spinach Cooking Breakfast

When the Spinach is done cooking shape it into a circle and form a small divot in the middle, as seen above.

 

Step 4:

Spinach Eggs Cooking Breakfast

Crack the egg right into the middle and sprinkle a tiny pinch of salt now.

{I like to use kosher salt. You can use less and get more flavor out of it!}

Let the egg cook for a few seconds.

 

Step 5:

Spinach eggs cooking breakfast

Use your spatula to gently break up the egg yolk.

 

Step 6:

Spinach eggs cooking Breakfast

Gently fold and flip the spinach and eggs. Taking care to Shape your patty as you go.

 

Step 7:

Spinach Eggs Cooking Breakfast

Make sure to mash down on the spinach and eggs as you are forming your patty. This ensures that all of the raw egg gets cooked.

 

Step 8:

Spinach eggs cooking Breakfast

Once the egg is cooked through remove pan from heat.

 

Step 9:

Spinach Eggs Cooking Breakfast

Pull your English muffin from the toaster and lightly butter it.

Slide your spinach and egg patty on to the muffin and fold back over.

 

Finished Product:

Cooking Breakfast diet wholesome

 

Enjoy! Just make sure that you get a fruit to go with that on the side!



 

What A Twisted World! November 18, 2010

Filed under: FYI,Revalations along the way,Venting Frustrations — The Graceful Skinny @ 4:35 pm
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Body image issues. I don’t know a single woman who hasn’t struggled with them at least once in their life. For most, it is a chronic poison that seeps into our every thought and action. Why is it that we ladies find it so easy to forget the beauty in the form that God gave us?

We are so surrounded by poisonous images that we have almost become numb to their effects. I love the Dove commercial because in a few quick seconds it brings to light how twisted our culture is. The images we are surrounded by have been edited to the point that most of the time the images we see can get so extreme that the images aren’t even possible in a healthy body.

To make matters worse, the plague of body image issues and warped senses of reality is getting younger and younger. This past week I was working with the 3rd grade girls that I disciple, and it was uncovered that even they have issues with their bodies. Third grade! It breaks my heart.

But those who are surrounded by the eyes of girls beware! It is not just the media that infect our girls. Those young minds look up to you and see you as their example of beauty. They watch us stare into the mirror and find faults with ourselves.  They watch us beat ourselves up and convince ourselves we are fat. They take that and reflect that back on themselves.

Another danger for them is our diets.  Impressionable minds make it even more important to not only eat right but to eat right for the right reasons.  In losing weight it is so easy to slip into the weight game.  But let me tell you, focusing on the pounds and the dress sizes gets dangerous. If you focus on only on where you need to go next and not the achievement in how far you have come so far, you will lose sight of the positive and it will eat you alive.

Before I could successfully go on this diet I had to stop and find the beauty in my body the way it was.  I had to come to terms with the fact that I was beautiful the way God made me no matter the size that I am.  And while I may be enjoying the fact that I am slimming down, by no means is that my focus for what I am doing.

I have been asked so many times what I am doing different. My response, I am not on a diet. I made a lifestyle change to help control the symptoms of my hiatal hernia and my thyroid issues. The weight loss is just a pleasant side effect of the change.  The difference is I am focusing on my health. I want to get healthy. I want to put a stop to the nausea and other symptoms that have been making my life unlivable.  I am not losing weight to improve my image. I am beautiful the way I am now.

When I forget that I turn back to the bible, and I remember what I am always telling my girls, “You are a creation of God. The bible tells us that God sees all of his creations as beautiful.  God never makes mistakes, so who are we to argue against God?”

“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.”

Palms 139:14-15

 

“So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.”

Genesis 1:27

For those out there who struggle for one reason or another with the beauty in themselves,  I send out a reminder. You are not alone.  And for those trying to lose weight, whatever you do, don’t go on a diet.  Diets are temporary. Eventually you will go off of it and go back to the habits that caused you to gain the weight in the first place and before you know it you will be back at the starting point.  So I challenge you, don’t diet, change your lifestyle! Step up and make a permanent change. And WHATEVER you do, don’t lose weight for the sake of getting skinny or looking better. Lose weight for your health, not beauty because you are beautiful just the way you are!

 

A Small Aha Moment November 9, 2010

Filed under: Revalations along the way — The Graceful Skinny @ 1:56 am
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While losing weight it is so easy to trivialize the significance of the weight you have already lost. I realized yesterday that this has been happening with me.  With so much weight to loose, twenty pounds seems to be only scratching the surface.  That is until yesterday morning when I sat down to teach my third grade discipleship group.

While walking to our classroom, the girls and I were talking about many different things. Somehow, the girls got on to the topic of how much they weigh. A few of them started to announce that they weigh between 44-47 pounds. Without truly realizing the significance of my statement I told them how in the two months I have been on my diet I have lost half their body weight.

It took me a moment but, when the girls looked back at me with awed surprise I realized the significance of what I just said.  That’s right folks! In the two months I have been dieting I have lost half of an eight- nine year old child! I am not sure what made that moment better, my revelation or their adorable reaction to it. Some of them actually decided to break out into applause. Needless to say, I won’t be thinking of twenty pounds as a small amount again.

So tell me, what are things that you know of that are twenty pounds?