Friday, June 24, 2011

It Starts as a Whisper...

Do you listen to that voice within, that guides, reproves, and warns you before you are about to go done the wrong path?  It starts out as a whisper and then it gets louder.  Some call it your conscious, self-accusing spirit, or the God within. I heard Oprah say that everday your life is speaking to you, what is it saying?  Be still and listen.  Let us not ignore the warning, it is mercy from God.  That is just how much He loves us. He will give us a warning through a warner to give us a chance to redeem ourselves. 

Lately, I have really been in a reflective mode.  I want to live my best life and the only way to do that is to submit my will entirely to the will of God.  I am learning how to do that.  Self-improvement is the basis for community development.  In the words of Michael Jackson, "I'm starting with the man in the mirror". 

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

What does it mean to live your best life? Part 2


In my last post, I asked the question, does the what we eat affect the way that we think? The answer to that question is emphatically YES! The foods that we eat not only affect the way that we think, they also affect our mood.  If we want to live our best lives, it is very important that we eat the best of foods so that we can think right.  A wise man said that our brains are created to think right.  When we think wrong, it is like rubbing sandpaper against our brains.  Not a pretty picture!

Did you know that when you have a diet filled with bad, unhealthy foods that are loaded with sugary carbohydrates, that you are more likely to suffer from memory loss, a depressed mood, and  accelerated weight gain?  From studying and from experience, I found that what we need is a diet filled with complex carbohydrates, (such as beans, whole grain rice, fruits and vegetables) and adequate protein.  With this type of healthy diet, you are likely to experience an improved mood, be able to focus better, and loose weight quickly.  I can bear witness to this because when I had a diet that consisted of strictly navy bean soup, fresh organic fruits and vegetables, juicing, and I removed ALL sugar from my diet, I was happier, felt lighter, and was in the best shape of my life. My weight dropped down to a nice 120lbs.!   Now that I know what works best for me, I MUST get back to that.  I am not writing this blog because I have mastered what I am sharing with you.  I am writing this because as I study and grow, I want to share what I learn with you, with the intention that it helps you also.

The food we eat has alot to do with how we feel and the type of life that we will live.  There are foods that make you sleepy, foods that make you depressed, foods that increase sexual arousal, and foods that make you more alert.  Maybe I should go into those types of foods in another blog post.  Let me know if you would like to know more about that. I will say this, one ingredient that is mostly found in junk foods and fast foods, that we must stay away from, at all costs, is monosodium glutamate (aka MSG).  The Mayo Clinic warning cites the following list of possible reactions to MSG:
  • Headache, sometimes called MSG headache
  • Flushing
  • Sweating
  • Sense of facial pressure or tightness
  • Numbness, tingling or burning in or around the mouth
  • Rapid, fluttering heartbeats (heart palpitations)
  • Chest pain
  • Shortness of breath
  • Nausea
  • Weakness
This ingredient, which I know that is found in Cheetos, Doritos, and several other junk foods that we eat, is an excitotoxin.  Excitotoxins over stimulate the neurons in the brain causing many different symptoms, one being depression.  If you feel depressed all the time, look at what you are eating and it is probably the culprit.

If we want to live our best life and have life more abundantly, we MUST eat the right foods at the proper time; eating at the proper time is another subject in and of itself. 

Until next time,
Live, laugh, love...

And Eat Healthy Foods!

Friday, May 13, 2011

What does it mean to live your best life?? Part 1


What does it really mean when your hear people say "live your best life?"  Well, let's look at the words and break them down to find out what it really means.

The word live, according to dictionary.com means to have life, as an organism; to be alive; be capable of vital functions; remain alive; to continue in existence. 

Your is used to indicate that one belonging to oneself or any person.

The word best means of the highest quality, excellence, or standing.

The word life means the animate existence or period of animate existence of an individual.

OK, now that we have defined these words, let's delve into what it means to live your best life.  When I read the definition to each word, to me, live your best life means to be alive, in existence, in the moment, and live it with excellence! 100%!  It means to me, to not be mediocre.  As we are taught in our lessons that mistakes shall not exist, this does not mean that mistakes shall not be made but once we make the mistake we are to learn the lesson and not let it happen again.

If we are to live our lives with excellence and with the highest quality, what does it take to do that?  Would that require that we eat the best of foods? Would that require that we think right?  Does what we eat affect the way that we think?  Would we need a certain knowledge in order to live our best lives?  These are questions that we must ask ourselves if we truly want to live our best live.  People say this but most don't give a blueprint of how to do that. Stay tuned for part two; I will get more into how to live our best life starting with the foods that we eat...as the saying goes you are what you eat.

Until next time,
Live, laugh, love~