Good Health for Good Works is travelling this week, but did not want to miss the opportunity to share a previous post containing a healthy Thanksgiving salad recipe! You may want to consider including this salad on your holiday menu for a healthier and more colorful Thanksgiving feast! Thanksgiving is almost here! Whether we are hosting the big dinner at home or going to dinner elsewhere, this is about the time that we are starting to think about the Thanksgiving dinner menu. While turkey generally takes center stage on the Thanksgiving table, for me, it is really all about the side dishes. That is where we can add some variety to the traditional Thanksgiving menu by including side dishes that are both creative and healthy.
I don’t know about you, but I enjoy taking down Christmas decorations just as much as I enjoy putting them up. Why? Because: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) From Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year’s is the season of celebration. We enjoy colorful decorations, gathering with and buying gifts for friends and family and special foods in abundance. But by the end of December it can all seem to be “a bit much” and so, come January, a transition takes place. We take down the decorations, clean out the refrigerator, decrease the commitments on our budget and our calendar and return to our simple routines because we know that seasons of even healthy abundance and revelry are only good for us for limited periods of time. The return to simple routines keeps us grounded, focused and healthy! In this first week of January, I’d like to suggest a few things that you may want to do in order to quickly and effectively make that transition back to some simple routines for the sake of good health. Eat: This week would be a great time to clean out the refrigerator, freezer and pantry for the purpose of getting rid of any leftover holiday food that you cannot incorporate into a healthy meal at a later time. Cranberries, turkey, ham and candied nuts can all be used to enhance a healthy meal. But eggnog, pastries, sugar cookies, and candies should probably go. After all, they won’t be special if you don’t reserve them only for a specific time of year. Also, if you got some great fruit for Christmas, now is the time to eat it, include it in a recipe or freeze it before it goes bad. This may be a good time to return to a more simple way of eating. Consider making your grocery shopping list to include staples that will help you to use this formula for putting together a simple, healthy meal: Healthy meal = 1 protein source + 2 vegetables/fruits + 1 whole grain As opposed to a complicated diet plan, this simple formula will enable you to put together a healthy meal at home, at a restaurant or even in another part of the world – no elaborate recipe, menu, exotic ingredients or master cooking skills required. Move: This week would be a great time to get back on track with staying in touch with your current level of fitness. With all the time off with family and friends over the holidays, we often spend more time than usual in PJ’s and sweat pants. This week may be a good time to make the transition back to wearing structured work clothes (with non-stretch material and a solid waistband) so that you can assess how your clothes are currently fitting. If your exercise routine got off kilter with holiday activities, now is a good time to put recurring exercise sessions on your calendar so that you schedule other things around them. If it has been a few weeks since a good workout, your first few workouts of the year may be a bit harder than you think they should be, so pay attention to your body and regain your fitness level over time. Cope: With all the activity of the holidays, you may have started to feel like your calendar and To Do list have been running you instead of you running them. With a fresh and clean 2018 calendar in front of you, take an hour and schedule important recurring activities (exercise, quiet times, date nights, family dinner nights, lunch with friends) and important one-time activities (birthdays, medical appointments, vacation days). This is also a good time to make sure that your daily To Do list has a place for clearly defining your top 3 priorities for the day. Also, the holidays have a way of bringing up emotions or issues that we have denied or swept under the rug. Things like unresolved family issues, strained family relationships, unpleasant truths and unprocessed grief may have shown up in your life in the past few weeks and addressing these issues may need to become part of your daily routine in 2018. Whether it is through prayer, reading, seeking wise counsel, support groups or medical intervention, now is a good time to make a decision and an appointment with yourself or others to add some routines related to effectively coping with difficult emotional issues. Rest: Days off during the holidays often include staying up late and sleeping in. No doubt that the break in the usual routine is a gift of the holiday season. But now is a good time to get back on track with consistent times to go to bed and wake up in the morning. Equally important is re-establishing the “wind down” routine before bed (such as reading, bathing, writing in a gratitude journal, turning off all screens) and the “get focused” routine before the day starts in earnest (morning coffee, bible reading, prayer/meditation, eating a healthy breakfast and defining the top priorities for the day). This is also a good time to make a rough draft plan for your vacation days for the year. Many people leave vacation days unused because they planned to make a vacation plan only after things calmed down at work. To counteract this unhealthy mindset, please see the previous post called “Rest Even During…” There is a time to break from the normal routine and enjoy some healthy revelry and there is a time to get back in the race. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…” (Hebrews 12:1) Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24) The above scripture verses refer to running the race of faith though which we are able to be and do and have all that God has planned for us. And this race of faith requires engagement of our whole being - our body and our mind as well as our spirit. As the mom of a former cross country runner, I can tell you that races are won because of what happens behind the scene - the consistent practice of a few simple, well-chosen routines. Happy New Year! If you have a question or comment about this blog post or any other information on this website, please click here.
Christmas is only a few days away! As we are making final preparations for our Christmas celebrations, I feel it is important to ask one very important question: When will you stop? When will you bring to a halt your Christmas preparations so that you can actually enter into the experience of celebrating God’s best gifts to us - our Savior and time with loved ones? Let me be more specific: What is the exact date and time that you will stop shopping for the perfect gift, wrapping presents, cooking and baking food for gatherings and writing and sending Christmas cards? When is the time that you will choose to live with things as they are, even if you have not done everything as much as you wanted or as well as you wanted? I guess what I am saying is, “Don’t miss it!” Don’t let Christmas sail by without stopping to worship, remember, savor and be a full participant in this meaningful season of celebration. In Luke 10:38-42, we are reminded of the two sisters, Mary and Martha, both of whom had the opportunity to fellowship with Jesus in their own home. Martha is described as “worried and upset about many things” as she was “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” Mary is described as having “chosen what is better” as she “sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he had said.” Notice that, as Jesus speaks to Martha, the issue at hand is not that she was making preparations, but rather that she was allowing her activity to distract her from something more valuable and important – fellowship with Jesus and others. Over the next few days, as we cook meals and host gatherings, may we focus on choosing “what is better.” Our willingness to do a “holiday halt” may be the key to a merry and meaningful Christmas celebration as well as preserving our own health and sanity. It may also serve as a great example to others of the importance of making choices for the sake of higher and more meaningful priorities. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7) May you have a very merry and meaningful Christmas! If you have a question or comment about this blog post or any other information on this website, please click here.
Where is your mind this Christmas season? Let’s face it - this can be a tough time of year for many of us because, in addition to the usual daily challenges of life, we now face additional pressure created by a list of expectations that center around our preparations to celebrate Christmas with our families. These expectations are based on:
After all, God never set forth a specific celebration or tradition to remember or celebrate the birth of His Son. Christmas, as meaningful as it may be, is a man-made holiday. What God does ask us to remember is the sacrificial death of His Son for our benefit. The way we are instructed to do this is through the practice of communion (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). So, by all means, let’s enjoy celebrating Christmas, but not to the exclusion of what God has asked us to remember – the sacrificial death of Jesus which opens the door to a relationship with God, a new way of thinking and an abundant and eternal life. Still, I believe that Christmas celebrations are meaningful and beneficial because they help me focus on a very important truth: The God who redeemed me through the death of His perfect Son can also identify with me. ...an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:20-25) Jesus once wore skin like I do and so He is not as far removed from my experience as I am sometimes tempted to think. Because of this, I can rest in and act on the fact that Jesus is not only willing to help me, but He can help me with understanding. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16). The Oxford Dictionary defines the word empathize as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Where is your mind this Christmas season? Are you focused on your list of man-made expectations that leave us feeling too busy to focus on the why behind what we are doing? Or are you focused on giving thanks for and celebrating the gift that has been given to you? Through the celebration of Christmas, we are reminded that God gave us Emmanuel who is more than a Redeemer. He is also The Empathizer. He has the ability to understand and share our feelings. And His ability to empathize moves Him to help us. If you are stressed out and facing tough challenges this Christmas season, you can know that He gets it and because He gets it, we can come to Him with confidence knowing that we will receive mercy and grace to help us help in our time of need. Now that is a reason to give thanks and celebrate! Oh come let us adore Him! If you have a question or comment about this blog post or any other information on this website, please click here.
Thanksgiving is almost here! Whether we are hosting the big dinner at home or going to dinner elsewhere, this is about the time that we are starting to think about the Thanksgiving dinner menu. While turkey generally takes center stage on the Thanksgiving table, for me, it is really all about the side dishes. That is where we can add some variety to the traditional Thanksgiving menu by including side dishes that are both creative and healthy. Tradition is great, but why not celebrate God’s abundant provision by including some non-traditional foods as well? After all, God’s abundance goes way beyond just potatoes, corn, squash, pumpkin, cranberries and green beans! Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. (Genesis 1:29) In fact, the greater variety of fruits and vegetable, the better, because they contain important micronutrients. While macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fats) provide us with energy and are the building blocks of our body’s structure, micronutrients are just as important! Fruits and vegetables contain the micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, trace elements, phytochemicals and antioxidants) necessary to keep our body systems running optimally. Often we take these compounds with the big fancy names (such as cancer fighting isothiocyanates) for granted. I encourage you to add some healthy variety to your Thanksgiving dinner menu and I have a great recipe to help you do that! It is a wonderful green salad that is always a hit at my Thanksgiving table alongside the turkey and other traditional foods. A green salad at Thanksgiving? You bet! And I love it for the following reasons:
This is a Thanksgiving side dish that you just won’t want to miss! I hope that you will try it and I hope that you will make it your own by making some additions to it with your favorite salad vegetables. The possibilities are endless! I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to include foods that acknowledge God’s abundant blessings and honor Him by staying healthy so that we can serve Him with energy, enthusiasm and excellence! Sweet Potato & Pomegranate Salad Source: https://www.loveandlemons.com/sweet-potato-pomegranate-salad/ Serves: 6-8 Ingredients: Salad: 2 medium sweet potatoes, cubed, plus olive oil, salt & pepper for roasting 2 cups baby salad greens (baby kale, spinach, arugula, etc.) 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese 1/4 cup toasted pistachios, toasted & chopped handful of chopped cilantro 2-3 chopped scallions, white and green parts Dressing: 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 clove minced garlic 2 teaspoons honey 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar salt & pepper, to taste Directions: Salad: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Remove skin and chop the sweet potato into bite sized cubes. Drizzle with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until they start to edges start to turn a darker brown. Once cooled, assemble all salad ingredients Dressing: Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, honey, garlic, salt & pepper. Pour over salad, toss and serve. Enjoy! If you have a question or comment about this blog post or any other information on this website, please click here.
|
About the AuthorHello! My name is Ginger Hill and I am a Christ follower and a n employee wellness professional. I am passionate about helping myself and others to live a healthy lifestyle and I believe that good health is essential in helping us to do the good works that God has called us to do. Because I am a work in progress, I write these blog posts to encourage myself and I share them with others in the hope that they may be encouraged as well.
|
"But the godly will flourish...Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green."
Psalm 92:12,14 (NLT)
All Contents Copyrighted © Ginger Hill and Good Health for Good Works 2017-2022. No part of this website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted,
unless otherwise indicated. You may share this website by any of the following means:
1. Provide a back-link or the URL of the content you wish to disseminate.
2. Quote extracts (with context) from the website with attribution to www.goodhealthforgoodworks.org
Psalm 92:12,14 (NLT)
All Contents Copyrighted © Ginger Hill and Good Health for Good Works 2017-2022. No part of this website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted,
unless otherwise indicated. You may share this website by any of the following means:
1. Provide a back-link or the URL of the content you wish to disseminate.
2. Quote extracts (with context) from the website with attribution to www.goodhealthforgoodworks.org