Works For Me Wednesday: Getting Healthy

By MAD21

Most people who read my blog or have hung around me on Twitter for very long know that I used to be terribly over weight.  At my heaviest, I was 240 pounds, and miserable, to say the least. After my second daughter was born, I made a concerted effort to not just lose the weight, but to get healthy. I know several skinny people who aren't very healthy, so it had to be about more than just losing the weight.

I did a ton of research over the 18 months it took me to get to a healthy body. I did not want to "diet." I did not want to just follow the latest fads regarding weight loss, most of them make you cut certain foods out of your diet, and I didn't want to do that. I like food too much. Plus, I personally don't think it's healthy to cut anything completely out of your diet. Our bodies need everything in moderation.

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Tasty Bites: The Tomatillo Test

By Candy, RN (Steele the Day)

Tasty Bites is a guinea pig this week.

Up until this week, I’ve never had a tomatillo. I was a casual observer at the grocery store the other day when I curiously watched two women arguing over the tomatillo bin. They were probably discussing something other than a little Mexican tomato, but I grabbed a few out of curiosity and purchased them. Then I went home to figure out what to do with these little “Barbie” tomatoes. They are strange little fruits, with a papery skin and once that is removed, they have sort of a sticky coating. They smell a bit like a green tomato, though they are only a distant cousin and more closely related to the ground cherry.

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Exercise For The Spirit

By Pat

To keep a body in shape, strong, fit and healthy, a person must have a exercise regime of some sort. The body needs to be taken care of to stay strong. The gyms are filled with people using equipment of all sorts to make sure their muscles stay tones and firm. Inactivity is the body's enemy.

The same is true of our walk with the Lord. In order to stay strong in our faith, we need to exercise our spiritual selves with daily prayer and frequent use of the best piece of equipment of all, the Bible. In it we find everything we need to keep our spiritual bodies strong and fit, and our heart and mind focused on God.

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Tasty Bites: Snackin' Chickpeas

By Candy, RN (Steele the Day)

Chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) are low in calories and a good source of dietary fiber, protein, vitamin B6, folate, and manganese. You often see them in soups and salads, but they can make a great healthy snack when roasted in the oven. You can use about any spices to flavor them, depending if you like them a little sweet or more savory. One of my favorites is using a Moroccan spice blend with a kick of cayenne pepper. These are great as a snack, or put on salads.

This sweet and spicy version is a sweet snack, and they disappear very fast at my house.

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Survivor's Guilt

By MAD21

There are people who come in and out of your life at unexpected times. And you never really know the full impact of their friendship until after a number of years, and in this situation after an illness threatens to take their life.

Around 1994, I was teaching a children's class at our church and I needed some help. I asked one of the parents of the kids in my class if he'd be interested in coming every week to help us out. He gladly accepted. Little did I know how that decision would impact both of our lives.

Roger worked with me until I changed positions in the ministry about a year and a half later. He then moved on to help another teacher for several years after that. He served many people in children's ministry including the special needs ministry, and was also elected and served as a Deacon. The kids, their parents, and many, many others came to love Roger over the years, including myself. But even more important, Roger developed a close relationship with Christ.

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