Category: type II diabetes

A New Adventure

This picture of Old Faithful in Yellowstone was taken the other day by my brother Don. Right about now, he’s headed home from a two-week trip throughout the Great Plains. Yesterday, I wrote about how, when I’m having a bad day, I often daydream about Tuscany. I guess if I were to ask my brother, he’d choose the great outdoors, fishing, hiking and camping. I think the key to it all is finding your happy place, and getting to it as often as possible, if not physically, then at least in your mind.

I’m really excited about a new adventure I’m embarking on. Tomorrow morning, a group of faith leaders from my county will gather to discuss ways we can fight diabetes. There’s supposed to be about fifty of us, and your’s truly is acting as the MC.

Somehow, I even got myself appointed Co-Chair of the future Action Committee which will hopefully be an outcome of this initial meeting. Not that I’m looking for more to do, but this issue is vitally important, not only in my community, but in yours too.

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Setting Goals

The other day, someone sent me an email asking how I get so much accomplished. If they could only see my office 🙂

Well, that question got me thinking. Now that summer is over, my busy time is set to begin. And this year, in addition to my usual responsibilities, I’ve added a bunch more, including this blog.

I had no idea there would be as many people as there are reading my postings each day. Thanks to everyone for all the encouragement. Of course, this just makes me want to get better and better with it, and this will take a lot of time and effort.

Then I have the Faith Fighting Diabetes initiative that will be starting next month. I know there will be a lot of good that will come from this, and it’s only just beginning. I’m very excited about the wonderful encouragement I’ve received from many people who want to team up with me and bring this to my community. Please say some prayer for it’s success!

My list could go on and on, just as I’m sure yours could as well. So, all this got me thinking. How can I be more effective, more efficient, and more energized? Today, I think I found the answer.

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Mindfulness

Happy Labor Day!

I hope you have the chance to relax today! I would be remise if I didn’t remind you to keep all the many, many folks who are unemployed in your prayers. These are difficult times.

This weekend, I’ve been reading Life Is An Attitude, written by Dottie Billington. It’s a little self-help book that was mentioned by someone in an on-line course I’m taking, and I thought I’d check it out. So far, I like what I’ve read.

Inspiration type II diabetes Vegan Vegetarian

Want To Get Healthy?

This weekend will mark the end of the summer. Even though school started today in my area, I’ve always felt like summer hangs on until Labor Day. After that, the leaves start falling, cool weather returns, and I start thinking about soups, stews, and heartier fare. I can’t wait! Don’t get me wrong, I love summer. But fall is my favorite time of the year.

About this time last year, I learned about a great program called the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart. Produced by a team of experts led by Dr. Neal Barnard, the kickstart is a great way to explore changing your diet. There are on-line cooking demonstrations, meal plans, recipes, and basic health tips that will change the way you look at food. I participated last year, and I continue to reap the benefits of this new way of eating. Please look around their website.

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Wow

Post author By seedthrower1
Post date 08/20/2010
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Today was a great day for me, and I hope you had a great one too. First off, I had a meeting with some folks to discuss the possibility of making Faith Fighting Diabetes a reality here in Carroll County. As I gave them the background of this heartfelt desire I have, I could see the concept was resonating with them. It was awesome.

Just to fill you in, I was away on retreat at the beginning of the summer. I was a bit bored one day (it happens on silent retreats), and I started flipping through a magazine in the retreat center library. I saw a small advertisement for an organization called Faith Fights Diabetes.

Although I probably shouldn’t have, I ripped the ad out, and put it in my wallet. When I got home, one of the first things I did was jump on-line to check this organization’s website out. I was really impressed with what I saw. In a nutshell, the website was all about encouraging the leaders of faith communities to educate their congregations about diabetes. Statistics show that people trust their faith leaders more than they do their doctors. Go figure.

Continue reading “Wow”

Inspiration type II diabetes Vegan Vegetarian

Watch What You Eat

Several weeks ago, I was shopping at a Walmart Supercenter with a college student. He was helping me buy food for a college retreat we were setting up. This young man has several relatives with diabetes in his immediate family, and he’s become more aware of the importance to taking care of himself. It’s been great for me, since I bounce a lot of stuff off him, including the feel of this blog. He has great insights.

As we were picking up things on our shopping list, we both paid close attention to the food labels, choosing healthier and less prepared items. At one point, we stopped and I asked him to look around at the people with us in the store. If there was a person there who was not overweight, we didn’t see them. Both of us were shocked. I’m quite sure if you did this little experiment in a grocery store or mall near you, the scene would be pretty much the same. What has happened?

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Persistence Pays Off

Did you know that it took Thomas Edison thousands of failed experiments over decades before he invented a long-lasting incandescent light bulb that revolutionized the world? He never stopped trying, he never saw himself a failure. His persistence paid off.

Did you know that over a span of thirty years, Abraham Lincoln repeatedly failed at business, love and politics before becoming the President of the United States? He never stopped trying, he never saw himself a failure. His persistence paid off.

It seems to me that persistence has become like a dirty word nowadays. Many people throw in the towel before they even start, thinking whatever task is before them is simply too difficult to overcome. There’s a lot of folks that, once beaten down, never get up again. They lose hope and give up trying. Persistence is no longer part of their vocabulary, if it ever was.

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Summer Evenings and Baby Eggplant

Post author By seedthrower1
Post date 08/08/2010
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Lately, it’s been too hot and humid to sit outside in the evenings. I guess I’ve just gotten too used to air conditioning:( Last night, the weather being nice, I had the chance to have dinner under my pergola with some friends. Just about everything we ate came from my local farmer’s market, and it was all delicious. The red wine was a gift from a previous guest. It complemented the food perfectly.

As I was contemplating becoming a vegetarian, I worried that I would never eat good food again. I thought that I would get bored really quickly and go back to eating meat. As everyone who follows my blog knows, this decision was as much spiritual as it was health-related. That it was the right decision for me I have no doubt.

When you go without something you like, I think you savor what you do have even more. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the baby eggplants I found on one of the farmer’s tables. I’m just sorry I can’t remember the name! They were lavender in color, just about three inches long and about an inch wide. I cut them down the middle, doused them in olive oil, and sprinkled some garlic powder all over. They cooked on the grill quickly, less than two minutes on each side. I served them as an appetizer, and let me tell you, they were fantastic. My dinner companions enjoyed them as much as I did. What fun to try something new and unusual.

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Balancing Act

Do you ever feel like this donkey? You’re plugging away, doing the best you can to keep your balance, and then…

It seems like life is just one big balancing act. Whether it’s trying to balance work and family, good eating and unhealthy eating, exercising too much and not exercising at all, watching your spending and putting everything on a credit card. Whatever the situation may be for you, I know the balancing act isn’t easy.

But when our bodies start talking to us, reminding us that we’re not taking care of ourselves, we have to pay attention. When we change our diets, we have to be sure we’re getting balanced nutrition.

This morning, I was reading an online article in the Los Angeles Times about a vegan couple. On the surface, you would think that they were paying attention to what they were eating, and that they were choosing the right blend of foods to keep themselves in peak shape. But they weren’t, as the article tells us (be sure to read it). Yes, a bag of potato chips might be considered vegetarian, but that doesn’t mean that’s all you have for lunch. Or that you’re taking care of yourself by just eating bean burritos from Taco Bell. Dumb.

So, keeping ourselves in proper balance, body, mind and spirit can make all the difference. You have to work on it, every day. If you messed up yesterday, get yourself back on track. Whatever you do, don’t give up! What needs to get balanced out in your life?

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Good Things Are Happening

Post author By seedthrower1
Post date 07/22/2010
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I feel like I’ve been on a crazy amusement park ride the past week, one with plenty of fun but lots of twists and turns. I’m ready for a little r and r, and hopefully things will settle down a bit. I have a lot of things to catch up on.

A couple of days ago, I met with some local healthcare folks, and they loved the idea of an outreach linking faith communities to diabetes education. I could sense the excitement in the air as the meeting broke up. We could all see the potential in this, and how it could greatly benefit our community.

Plenty of groundwork has to be laid first, but it was a very promising first step.

One of the things that I was most happy about this past week was a conversation I had with a college student. I’ve known him for several years now, and he’s matured into a terrific young man. Because diabetes runs in his family, he’s been trying to get himself on track to avoid the disease, but he also wants to help his family eat a little healthier.

So, earlier this week, he had the chance to share my zucchini-corn quesadilla recipe with his grandmother, and they whipped up a batch together. To me, these types of “sacred feasts” really excite me, because it validates to me that this blog is touching people in a positive way.

Over the next several weeks, I’m going to be making some important changes to my blog. As my knowledge base expands, I can see how my posts can be presented more clearly, more consistently, and more on target with my overall goal of helping people transform their lives.

Any input that you would like to give on this would be most appreciated and welcomed 🙂