Change Your Mind Change Your Life 30 Day Challenge Day 25

Well, here we are Day 25 of your 30 Day Challenge! 5 more days to go!! You've come a long way baby! (I've always wanted to say that). Can We Talk?!

I want to hear all about your successes and struggles on this journey. Some people in the community have already sent email, twitter, text, and facebook messages about their progress. What have you learned? What can you take away from this experience? Hopefully, you will plan your own 30 day challenge in the weeks and months to come until we do it again. Yes, we will do it again!

You might start a personal 30 day challenge to help you get rid of habit like smoking or drinking, help you to strengthen your marriage by being kind, loving and attentive to your mate, or help you tame your tongue by only speaking words that uplift, encourage, and empower for 30 days. Think about it, pray about it and start your own 30 day challenge. The outcome will be a BETTER YOU that glorfies the Father and only He knows who you will bless along the way.

We have been talking about eating healthy and sharing recipes during the challenge. What about people who prefer not to cook? Remember we talked about a lifestyle change and how what we decide to do, must work for our lifestyle or we can't sustain it. I was also talking to someone the other night about the cost of eating healthy. It can be expensive. I wanted to share the comments from Janice in our community. She is excited about the change she experienced during the challenge and she is eager to share it.

Dear Aqua

I'm hanging in there on the 30 day challenge. I have noticed a different mindset within me as I take this walk. It took me a while to settle on what I would do for the challenge, but I finally settled on picking up my meals from My Fit Foods & exercising 5 days a week. I've fallen a few times, but that is where God gets the glory! Usually when I get off track, I enjoy the unhealthy food & find it hard to get back on track, well during the challenge, I have found that I'm enjoying unhealthy food less & less! I've been praying for God to give me a craving for healthy foods & a "want to" stick to healthy behavior. I feel that my prayers are being answered!

My health tip for the challenge is my source for healthy meals, My Fit Foods. This is a growing chain of healthy fast food. The stores consist of large refrigerators from which you come pick healthy meals to go. Simply microwave & eat! I pick up my meals at the beginning of the week & keep them in the refrigerator. No cooking, cleaning up or heating up the kitchen for me! I actually find it to be more economical than the grocery store. Good luck to all!

Janice

Dear Janice

Thank you so much friend! I am excited about what God is going to do with you and through you as you journey with Him to a healthier you! All praise be unto Him!! When we started this passion project back in March we said that to change our bodies and eating habits we have to change our mind! Old ways of thinking will keep us bound to old habits and old ways of living. God's Word tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. I'm so happy for you Jan and proud of you for sticking with it! You are well on your way sistah!

Your body is the temple of the Living God! Live Well in His Name!

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How Am I Doing? 30 Day Challenge Day 20

Can you believe it? Just 10 more days to go on your 30 Day Challenge! Stay with it. Don't give up now. Press into Jesus and press through these next 10 days fully committed to the work you started. Can We Talk?!

Ask yourself...how am I doing on this challenge? Be honest! Nobody is looking but you and God. Maybe you ate something you said you wouldn't during this 30 days. Maybe you didn't wake up every morning and have that quiet time with God. Maybe you celebrated too much and gave into that piece of cake or glass of wine. Seriously, it is not the end of the world and more importantly God doesn't love you any less.

What I hope you get from this 30 days is that through Christ you have the strength and power to change your life. If you recognized that you overindulged, haven't been in fellowship with the Lord, or that you skipped a workout AND you sought to rectify that you are achieving success on this journey. Remember when you had no recognition. You were just eating any and everything whenever you wanted it and exercise was not even an afterthought? You prayed only on Sunday at church, but longed for a conversation with God during the week. Remember that time? Well, now it is long gone and you started a new life! You had a breakthrough. Look at you Overcomer!

I hope that you are learning to discipline yourself spiritually, physically, and emotionally during this last 20 days to deal with what's eating you so you can deal with what and how much you are eating. Maybe you have a heatlthy diet but you just don't like exercising. I feel you. Trust me. When I first started this journey I questioned God about every session. Are you sure Lord? Now I look forward to working out (most days that is). I hope this 20 days has given you a passion for moving your body!

Let's face it folks, we are getting older and it is in our best interest to move our bodies as much as we can while we still can. The earlier we start the better. Teach your children the value of a good healthy lifestyle that includes exercise. I'm praying that the Lord will give us a long healthy active life until we meet Jesus on the other side. Hopefully, another benefit of this 30 day challenge is that your children have seen you and you are setting a good example of how to live a healthy life that honors and glorifies our God.

As I have been talking to people throughout this 30 days I have made some interesting observations about what people think about health, food, and fitness. I want to share them with you in case you hold some of these ideas too.

•  Thin does not equate to healthy. Exercise has more benefits than just weight loss.
• You cannot out exercise a bad diet. Period. You have to add exercise to your life and you have to make some changes in food choices.
• Vegetarian is not synonymous with healthy. 
• Just because a food package has healthy, wheat, or organic on it doesn't make it true. Read the label and ingredients.
• There is a mountain of information and how to tips out there. Be a careful consumer. Not every diet and exercise tip is going to work for you or fit into your lifestyle. To maintain the new tip it has to work for you or you have to make changes to make it work.
• It is implausible to believe that you will never overindulge again or have something fattening that you have given up once you start eating healthy. It is going to happen so don't beat yourself up about it.

What's For Dinner?

Here are the recipes I promised. Also made some great fish tacos. Let me know if you want the recipe. Picture below.

Praise-Worthy Pepper Crusted Tuna

• ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
• ¼ teaspoon paprika

• ¼ cayenne pepper

• 2 (6-oz) Ahi steak, about 1 1/2" thick

• 2 tbsp fresh coarsely ground black pepper

• Olive oil

• Field greens

• Fresh Fruit

• 2 Tbsp Salad dressing (light vinaigrette)

In a small bowl combine the spice mixture…combine salt, coriander, paprika, and cayenne pepper. Lightly coat fish in olive oil so that pepper and seasoning stay on the fish. Lay the tuna steaks out on a plate, and sprinkle the spice mixture evenly on both sides. Then roll the tuna in the ground pepper (coating the sides of the tuna) and gently press it in so that it adheres to the surface, being careful not to smash the flesh. Place tuna in a very hot lightly olive oil coated skillet. Cook until desired temp. 2-4 minutes of each side. Rare tuna ~ 2 mins. More medium rare ~4 mins. Add the tuna to your favorite salad combination. Here I paired the tuna with field greens, strawberries, cucumbers and red onions.

Heaven Oven Roasted Veggies (Before)



Heavenly Oven Roasted Veggies (After)

Take your favorite fresh veggies, coat them lightly with olive oil, your favorite herbs, and seasonings then roast them at 450-500 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Here I used corn, asparagus, tomatoes, red onions, green beans, carrots, garlic and, red and green peppers. Vegetables should all be relatively the same size for even roasting. I seasoned with kosher salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, coriander, rosemary, thyme, and basil.

Wholly Halibut Fish Taco

Your body is the temple of the Living God. Live well in Him.

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What's For Dinner Tonight? 30 Day Challenge Day 9

When we start eating healthier we have to learn how to cook our favorite foods in healthier ways. Yeah, no more ham hocks in the beans and bacon in the greens. Don't kill the messenger! Sometimes we miss the gravy and sauces that were staples in our diets and we can get bored with grilled, sauteed, pan-seared. We want something hearty. So many times, it is NOT what we are eating it is how it is prepared. Can We Talk?! 

On this journey to discovering the healthy you that has been screaming to get out, we have to change the way we think about food. I told you this before. This is not a diet, it is a way of life. So, the question is how do I incorporate the foods I like into my new way of thinking and living? Well, only you can really answer that question, because you know what you like. I will give you some observations that I discovered over the past 2 years and you can tweak them and build on them based on your lifestyle.

You don't have to use pork fat to season your food. I know that is a tough one for some of us. But trust me, you can give this up. You can start with using smoked turkey and then gradually work your way to nothing, if that is what you desire. For the 30 Day Challenge I have been eating vegetarian and adding new fruits and veggies to my diet. I did not use any meat to season my food this time.

I like to cook, but I don't like spending all day in the kitchen. I like meals that can be cooked quickly and easily with little effort, but at the same time I want something filling, hearty, and delicious. I discovered that the crockpot is a healthy girls' best friend! Check out these two recipes. I'm a kitchen sink or kitchen pantry sort of cook. I throw everything in pray something good comes from it. Most of time I get it right. I like trying different combinations of seasonings. Don't be afraid to experiment!

 Believer’s Braised Kale

Ingredients

• ½ cup chopped peppers (Tricolor)

• ½ cup chopped onions

• ½ teaspoon Kosher salt

• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes or 2 dashes of cayenne pepper

• 1 tablespoon minced garlic

• 2 bunches of kale (cleaned and torn into pieces)

• 2 cups low sodium chicken, beef, or vegetable stock

• Capful of apple cider vinegar

• ½ cup of red wine

• 2 bay leaves

                                 • 3 sprigs of thyme

Directions

Wash Kale in a sink of cold water, filling the sink several times until the bottom of the sink is clean. Place all ingredients in the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. Greens should be tender.

Switch It Up: If you don't like Kale you can substitute any greens you like. The cooking time will decrease for greens like Swiss Chard. Mustard greens and collard greens will be about the same time.

Spirited Spicy Navy Beans

Ingredients

• 2 cups of Navy beans rinsed and drained

• ½ cup chopped peppers (Tricolor)

• ½ cup chopped onions and celery

• ½ teaspoon Kosher salt

• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 dashes each of ground coriander, ginger, oregano, cumin, chili powder
• 4 gloves of chopped garlic
• 3 cups low sodium chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 sprigs of thyme
• 1 – 8 ounce can of chopped chipotle tomatoes
Directions
Place all ingredients in the crock pot on low for 9-10 hours or on high for 7-8 hours. Beans should be tender and broth should start to thicken. Serve with brown rice.

Switch It Up: Don't like navy beans, try pinto beans or your favorite type of beans. Add some ground turkey, chicken, or beef to the beans. Use a smoked turkey leg to season the beans. Use tomatoes with no flavor for less heat. Add 1 cup chopped (large chunks) carrots.

Some other observations:

Swiss Chard reminds me of spinach in both taste and texture.

Kale doesn't remind me of anything I've ever eaten before. Except for when I was a kid eating grass. Haha! It's good though. I promise.

Eating vegetarian and getting in the proper amount of daily protein is challenging.

The first time I had vegetable stir I really missed meat. Not so much the meat  itself, but the fat from the meat marrying with the veggies when cooked together.

Drinking 90 ounces of water a day is VERY challenging. (We'll talk about H20 consumption later)

Think you're eating healthy? Before that first bite "google" what you are eating to find out how many calories and calories from fat you will be consuming. For example...How many calories in a cup of brocolli and cheese soup from Jason's deli? or How many calories in a subway meatball sub or How many calories in a piece of fried chicken? You just might make other choices.

You have recipes or observations that you would like to share? Love to share them with the community.

Ask me how to make these dishes.

Heavenly Oven Roasted Veggies

Before Roasting

After Roasting

Praise-Worthy Pepper-Crusted Tuna Salad

 Your body is the temple of the Living God! Live Well in His Name!



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