Shaking it Up

Andy and I are counting down the days on our two-week diet/cleansing plan. Amid the restrictive boundaries there have been some highlights and pleasant surprises. One of our favorites has been finding a new (for us) breakfast shake recipe from the "Fat Flush Plan" by Ann Louise Gittleman. It is low-carb, low-sugar, nutritious and best of all, it is super yummy:

Morning Shake

1 cup of fresh or frozen berries or peaches

2 heaping tablespoons whey protein powder

8 oz water or ice (use water if the fruit is frozen)

1/4 teaspoon Stevia Plus (natural no-sugar sweetener)

1 T. flaxseed oil or Udo's oil

Put it all in a blender and stir till rich and creamy

We are using Jay Robb Whey Protein Vanilla flavor and Udo's Oil (a balanced source of essential fatty acids), which we found at our local Whole Foods Market. The whey powder already has stevia in it, so none additional is needed. It also comes in a chocolate flavor, which I want to try as well. We are always a little leery of how a protein powder is going to taste, but this one makes it hard to believe you are drinking something that is good for you!

The ingredients are a little expensive but last a while, and this is super quick to make on mornings when we need to be out the door in a hurry.

Overall, we are making progress, feeling good and losing weight. I will post the final weigh-in and pounds lost in a few days!

Why am I so Afraid of Vegetables?

On a typical trip to the produce department of our grocery store, my first stop is right to the fruit. During the summertime, there is plenty of eye candy …fresh strawberries, cherries, watermelon! After picking out a wide selection, I turn to the vegetables. This is when I speed past “the section” – the rows of all those things I don’t know what to do with: collard greens, kale, fennel, turnips, beets, leeks and even the broccoli and cauliflower.

Nearly every time, I think to myself that someday I will cross the threshold to that section and start using some of those healthy things in my diet. The thought quickly vanishes as I push onward to the red bell peppers, pre-washed lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and other things that I am used to eating, and find are quick to prepare. If I am feeling ambitious, I grab a head of broccoli now and then. But, it usually goes in our refrigerator and lives a life of slow decay until I happen to clean out the refrigerator. “Oh yeah, I was going to steam broccoli!” goes through my head, shortly before I pitch it.

This was all before my husband, Andy, and I decided to embark on a two week cleansing diet with the bulk of it being vegetables. After looking at various books, we landed on the “Fat Flush” plan by Ann Louise Gittleman. For two weeks, it includes fruits, lean protein, and a whole lot of non-starchy vegetables. No beans, nuts, processed food of any kind, grains, or sugars.

As I looked at the menu plan in the book for our upcoming two weeks, I was overwhelmed to say the least. As I read the list of all the vegetables on the plan, my anxiety spiked. When I finally couldn’t read another page, I went upstairs to try and calm down, employing some deep breathing (don’t laugh, I’m not making this up). I wondered if someone had decided to call vegetables “veggies” to make them seem less scary, like Hammy the Squirrel in Over the Hedge when he named the intimidating bush “Steve”.

However, determination won out and a few days later I bravely made my way to “that section” of the grocery store. Here we were, after all these years. The “someday” had come when I would delve into using some of these foreign items. I picked up some kale, yellow squash, parsley, asparagus, and spaghetti squash.

Part of me was a little afraid these things might meet the same destiny of previous vegetables that had gone on before them. But I was about to learn something: When you feel like you are starving and one of the few things you can eat is vegetables, you find a way to eat them! (after all, this is probably how vegetable eating got started, in the early ages before grocery stores).

This week, we have had all those things – spaghetti squash, kale, squash, and more, and we are actually enjoying them! At last, I am making friends with “that section” which is no small victory, and even finding creative ways to eat and enjoy some of those long avoided vegetables. A few days ago, I bought a fennel – still have to see how that goes, as this is my most ambitious purchase yet.

So in a small way, this diet / cleansing plan has tremendously helped me face my fears and do something out of my comfort zone. And bonus: Andy and I are losing weight and feeling better. Maybe these things really are our friends! And maybe I’ll name the fennel I just bought “Steve”.

New Residents in Smith Refrigerator

My husband Andy and I are on a new veggie/ fruit/ protein diet.

Our refrigerator before:

And After.........................

Yes - a zucchinni has confiscated the spot for the wine. This is one of many big changes.

More to come on this new adventure!

The "Un" in Unemployment

My job has been threatening to come to a screeching halt for some time. I did not know exactly when, but at some point, the little company I worked for would eventually be transitioned to an office in another state. My husband and I are well rooted here in AZ, so the company would have to go on without me.

As I saw things winding down, I had been putting out resumes and networking to help provide some insurance from impending joblessness.

Working frantically to try to wrap things up to help transition operations to another office and work myself out of my job, I dreamed of the coming days when I would not have to work. The days when I would have a break from reality and could wile away the time sipping iced tea by our community pool, working to tan the white pale skin that only comes with working in an office nearly all daylight hours.

Things were looking promising. One company told me they would offer me a job as soon as they obtained approval for creating a new position. On my last day, as I shut down my computer for the last time and gathered my belongings, my sentimental regrets of saying goodbye were infused with optimism about the future.

Hello vacation!!! Whole days off .. no long drive, no constant pressures – a Monday without going to work! All this lay before me. The things I never had time for – unpacking, cleaning! I could go over to the gym and start getting in better physical shape! Try new recipes! Blog, do needlework, get to know my neighbors! Spend more time growing spiritually.

My first free Monday came. We had a busy weekend, and I was a little tired. After my husband was off to work (poor thing) I eased into my morning with the freedom of the retired. I got a little done, but celebrated my afternoon off with a 2 hour nap, after which I had some ice cream. I then topped off my day with a movie after which I rushed into the shower and got dressed just nearly when Andy came home at 9 pm. (He asked me, at this hour, what is the point? But I explained that I was now more pleasant to be around now in the waning minutes of the day and our time together). I felt a little regretful that I had not made it to the gym or had done more productive things, but decided my first day off it was ok.

Tuesday came. Time to get busy! I spent some time reading the Bible and a book, after which I ambitiously mapped out my to-do list for the day. I tackled our bathroom, cleaning the shower and tub until they sparkled. I am not fond of cleaning, but I love the results. Things were going productively, but as I went about my day, an unfamiliar feeling began to creep up on me, very subtly, but surely, until I was downright in a bad mood. I realized I was lonely! Lonely to the point that I turned on talk radio and started listening to Glenn Beck For the most part I loathe talk radio, but he was a person, and he was talking to me.

Once again, I made some progress that day, but didn’t make it to the pool, or to the gym, or blog, or get to several other things on my to-do list.

And now it is Wednesday, the day I am writing this. The house could not contain me. I needed some contact with humanity. So now as I write this, I am on my laptop in my mother’s living room, typing while she paints. Just having her around has given me the inspiration I finally need to write.

This time off has made me realize I do not get inspired in a vacuum. Time alone is great, but not hours on end. And I don’t really like going to the community pool by myself. I am impulsively checking my email to see if anyone responded to a resume I sent out, or if the one company has an update on the new position. I saw one neighbor from a distance one day as I drove past in my car, but her back was turned so I didn't wave. The machines at the gym have not been graced by my presence.

And so, I am finding unemployment to be a classic case of expectations versus reality. It is an opportunity to break out of my comfort zone; to do things that my busy schedule allowed me to nobly procrastinate and delay. Now there is no excuse. Before me lays another week to broach those comfort zone borders. And until that phone call with the job offer comes, there is still time to work on my tan.

Sarah Smith

Maybe it’s laziness, or maybe apathy toward culinary greatness. I am terrible about sharpening my kitchen knives. I have a nice collection of them –my husband and I have owned them for some time- but frankly, most of them are butter-knife dull.

It’s the situation where you are in a hurry in the morning, trying to make sandwiches for the day. You know, when you have to leave in 10, but find yourself sawing on a tomato to try to get your knife to enter through the skin and slice that thing? Finally, in frustration, I usually jab the skin with the tip of the knife to get it started (violent, I know, but we’re talking about a tomato).

There is one exception to my collection of dull kitchen knives. Someone gave us a peeler that came with a paring knife. This knife is SHARP, so sharp, that the sun glints off the blade. No sawing, no sighing. It does the job, and quickly. The tomato is sliced in no time, making me feel like one of those chefs on an infomercial. You blink, and he’s done chopping, dicing or whatever his pursuit. So despite my many other choices, this is THE knife I search for when I need to do some veggie slicing and dicing.

I wonder if God sometimes feels the same way. He sees all his children, and has many tasks for us to do, people to minister and reach out to, people for us to serve, as he would serve them; many needs to be met.

But some of us are dull. We are not sensitive to His leading. We’re not prepared and ready. Maybe we’re overwhelmed with a busy schedule. Maybe we are distracted by what the world offers, from material goods to adventure. Maybe we’re plain worn out. And maybe we’ve missed out on something bigger that God is calling us to.

Recently I have been reading “Search & Rescue” by Neil Cole. In the book, he tells a dramatic story how as a lifeguard, he rescued a small boy from drowning in the Pacific Ocean. Neil reflected, “This boy is a man today because I was busy doing the things that lifeguards are supposed to be doing. I was down on the wet sand, close enough to reach the boy before it was too late. If I had been up in the comfortable tower, removed from the sand and water, I am confident that I wouldn’t have made it in time to save this child. . . I never would have seen the boy if I hadn’t remembered my prime directive and scanned to see if there was anyone in the water who needed to be rescued”.

When God has something for us children to do, I want to be the one He searches out to use. I want to be sharp, ready, alert – prepared. I am by no means there, nor do I plan to lay out a plan for doing this. In fact, I can think of more times when I’ve been more distracted than ready. Like the time a friend stopped by my work to bring something to her husband (my co-worker). This woman and I had spent time together, had dinner together. She recently moved here and has been searching for a job. Yet, I was so focused on my work that I didn’t have the presence of mind to get up and say hi and see how she was doing (terrible, I know). I haven’t mastered it, and I’m running out of space to speculate as to how to get there.

But I have several ideas. And maybe you do too.

Challenge from a Stranger

One Saturday afternoon my sister and I met a friend for lunch. As we sat under the misters in the Arizona sun, we chatted about whatever was on our minds at the time: happenings in the lives of mutual friends, food, clothes, and other very deep topics (or at least entertaining to us!). After we had been there for several minutes, an older man came and sat at a table nearby ours. I looked at him curiously, as he was carrying a liter of 7 Up that was about a third full, a cup, and a string of large orange beads. He sat down and leaned back in his chair, appearing to be settling in for a relaxing time.

He did not seem interested in the menu, nor did he seem to have any intentions of ordering. Instead, he poured himself a bit of soda and began slowly sipping it. In his left hand, he held the string of beads, slowly playing with them in his hand, fingering each bead on the strand. A waiter came through and gave him a warm friendly hello – he seemed to know the man, or at least familiar with what may have been his regular presence at the restaurant. The waiter did not ask the man for an order or hand him a menu. When the waiter left, the man continued to sit, sip, and roll the beads in his left hand, as he looked off into the distance. He seemed resigned, yet content.

As I mentally distanced myself from our girlish chatter for a few moments, I observed this man and wondered. What was his story? Why did he have the beads? Were they a type of rosary and was he praying? Did he have memories at this restaurant that drew him there to enjoy the atmosphere, and perhaps remember? Why the 7 Up? (did he hate Coke?) My mind wandered as it explored various possibilities.

I would like to say that I had the courage to leave my table and ask the man some questions, and to find out his story. I wish I could piece my observations together with the actual facts. Instead, I stopped, observed, and then returned to the planned happenings of my day. However, seeing this man did not leave me wholly unchanged. In fact, in some ways, it left me challenged.

Do we take the time to understand people, to see beyond the surface? People are not just the friendly neighbor that waves, or the customer service representative that was rude on the phone, or a pesky telemarketer calling at dinner time, or a crabby customer that yelled at me on the phone. People are, well they are people.

They have feelings, struggles, insecurities, difficult circumstances, relationship issues, joys, people they deeply love and care about, the longing to be accepted and make a difference. A real and poignant example for me came up at work the other day. I learned that a woman that works for one of our vendors is a single mom working to support her children, while in treatment for a brain tumor. She is no longer just a person that helps me make things happen in my work. She is a person I can pray for and be caring toward.

In all ways, I want to see people beyond the surface, and learn more of their stories. To see people as God sees them, to reach into their lives, and to share with them my story too.