Food Challenge #1

If you thought I left you hanging, I haven't. I hope that you are making changes to a healthy life.

Your first food challenge is what you are drinking. Uh-oh! Are you cringing at the thought of giving up your beloved coke, mountain dew, pepsi, etc??

Yeah, I know its hard, but this might be the easiest way for you to cut back on calories! Ok, here are some facts. Lets take Pepsi which is my favorite. If you drink 8oz, that is 100 calories. Who drinks just 8 oz. I know I sure don't. So, 20 oz is 250 calories. When I was really throwing back the pepsi, I had about 2-3 twenty ounce drinks a day. Which is 750 calories (if I did my math correctly). Did you know that 3500 calories equals one pound? What that means is that in about 5 days, just by drinking pepsi you can gain a pound. OR if you are a 3 twenty ounce a day person and you cut down to ZERO, you can lose a pound in 5 days.

Hmm, that sound pretty easy—right?? WRONG! If you are like me and love drinking these calorie laden drinks, stopping them could be hard. So here are my challenges to you. I have plenty so I think you can find one that works for you personally.

1.Stop drinking sodas all together. (This is the best option in my opinion but also the hardest for me)

2.Drink diet drinks only. However, there is research out there saying that diet drinks INCREASE your hunger which defeats the purpose of drinking a zero calorie drink.

3.Mix it up. Drink mostly diet with a regualr coke thrown in every once in a while. (This is the option that I seem to follow quite a bit.)

4.Coke Suicide. Yep, you remember this from when you were a kid. At the self serve fountains you would mix all the choices. WELL, same thought. Fill up your drink with 50/50 diet or regular. A personal favorite of mine is when cherry coke is an option. I will often fill my drink up with 75% diet and 25% cherry. This option is great for people who can not stand the taste of diet. The idea would be that you increase the amount of diet while decreasing the amount of regular until you are 100% diet. (PS my friend Tara taught me this a long time ago)

5.Decrease your amount. Figure out how much soda you drink in a day, and start cutting back. Replace a 20 oz with water or diet.

These are the options that I have come up with for decreasing the liquid calories that go into your body. The best option is to quit drinking sodas all together and drink water. Whatever option you choose, use that as your stepping stone, and work your way up to NO SODAS.
Hang in there people. Change is hard, but this is one battle we can over come!

Change is HARD

It truly is so hard to change! This past week and a half has been challenging. I did pretty good last week. There were a few days when foodwise I could have done tons better. This week food has pretty much stunk for me. It is hard to explain to people who don't know anything about addictions. Something welled up inside of me this week and I felt compelled to eat. I don't know if I didn't eat the right kinds of foods or what but it has just been down right horrible at times. Ihave even questioned myself as to why I'm trying to change and can I truly change!

I have been reading this book about Moses taking the slaves out Egypt and have just gotten to when Joshua finally has the go ahead after they wander for 40 years. It is a fictional book recounted by a demon who was one of the original angels that fell with Lucifer. Its interesting to take into account how satan places the right demons to whisper the right doubts into the Isrealites heads at the right time. I am amazed how it was so easy for God's people to say it would be better to go back to Egypt because even if they were slaves, they knew what to expect day in and day out. That life of bondage was comfortable and it might not have been worth living but it was THEIR LIFE. It was all they had ever known.

So when satan's demons put that doubt into their ear, it wasn't hard for them to want to go back. We know how the story ends, but they didn't. They didn't know all the goodness that God had waiting for them. If they did, they wouldn't have waited in the desert for 40 years due to their disbelief and disobedience! So, I've been mulling around in my head this strange war that we live in where just on the other side of the river God has such great things, but unbeknown to us demons are right there trying to get us to go back to what we have known. My friends, we must find the courage to resist what has been enslaving us! We must trust in God to lead us into the promised land. For me that is a land of good health with healthy eating habits!

mid week update

Have you spent the past few days thinking of why you are overweight/over eat? I really encourage you to do that exercise! Ever since I wrote that blog, I have moved onto a feeling of worry--feeling that I might not ever be able to truly succeed at this weight loss. After all I have even been on this very blog and proclaimed that I was going to kick the habit, but found myself right back in my old ways.
So how do we really make progress in this journey? First, I encourage each of you to find a prayer warrior. You need someone to interceed on your behalf especially for those days when you are not strong enough. God has provided me with that person. When I ask her to pray for me, I know that she does.
Second, I encourage you to find someone to hold you accountable to the very journey that you are on. It could be the same person as your prayer warrior. This needs to be a person who won't judge you when you fall into temptation, but will simply set you straight. This person won't make it easy on you either! God sent me this person over 3 years ago. I wish that I knew him better, but I will tell you what I know of him.
Andrew Henderson has been a personal trainer for quite some time here in Knoxville. When I first met him he was in the process of opening up his own personal training studio. I had met with him a few times prior to my father passing away, and I was quite surprised that he came to my dad's funeral. He was there to support me through a pretty hard time. Over the past 3 years, Andrew has randomly(I think of them as spirit led) texted, emailed, or called me to find out about my weight loss journey. He hasn't judged me. He has encouraged me when I was doing well. He has told me to get back with it when I have failed. He doesn't sugar coat things, but he doesn't make you feel like crap about yourself. You need someone like this in your life to tackle this journey that we are going on. (While he doesn't know I'm doing this, if you or someone you know is in Knoxville near Northshore or Hardin valley and needs a personal trainer, check out his studio here .)
So your homework is this...First be real with yourself about why you are overweight. Incidentally, those very reasons are the things that your prayer warrior should be interceding for you as those are the lies that Satan has placed in your heart and mind. Second, find a person that you know will pray for you. If you do not have anyone, then please give me the opportunity to pray for you. Last, you need that person who will hold you accountable and not allow you to fall off the beaten path.
Focus on these things this week. Let's get started!

I am overweight/I over eat because......

-I love food!
-it is all I have ever known
-it is my identity
-I can count on it to be there whenever I need it
-it is my excuse for feeling unlovable, ugly, and lonely
-I eat when I'm bored, stressed, happy, or sad
-food doesn't judge me
-its easy to be this way and SO hard to change
-I'm afraid of failing
-it is my drug of choice
-it protects me
-it is a constant in my life
-it prevents me from truly being seen
-it is my addiction
-it is my idol

Did it make you uncomfortable to read this? Could you identify with it? Could you replace overweight/over eat with your own sin in your life and relate to the reasons why it happens over and over again when you really don't want to be involved in this relationship with SIN anymore?
Recently, I read a fiction book about Celtic people. In that book, their wise men encourage people to name a land that may overwhelm them. They say that in naming something, it no longer can have a hold on you. I am calling this place in my life, ENTANGLEMENT. In Hebrews 12:1 it says “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.”
Yes, I did survive my rotational year, but I went back to my old ways because I was overwhelmed with life. I didn't lose the desire to change; I just got all tangled us again. I plan on revamping this blog and I am asking whoever reads this to please pass my blog along to other people who struggle specifically with obesity. Maybe you have already won this battle and I would love to have you email me and tell me about it so I can feature you here on this blog.
Over the next many months, I plan on sharing with you how God is working in my life, exercise tips, recipes, etc. For those of you coming across this blog and understanding this struggle, Christ is the answer. He is our saving Grace and He will be our healing power in this struggle. If you go on to read the rest of Hebrews 12, it speaks of resisting sin to the point of shedding blood. Christ did that for us. He went to the pits of hell and on the 3rd day He rose again. It won't be easy, if you are like me you have been ENTAGLED for quite some time. However, bit by bit, we will let go of the hold food has on us.
Feel free to email me anytime: ames121@bellsouth.net

Lifelong Dream Flattened and Squashed!!

Well, my dream of working at St. Judes has been flattened and officially squashed! For those of you who don't know, my last rotation for PA school was to be at St. Judes Children Hospital in Pediatric Oncology. When I was 8 years old I told my mom that someday I would work there. So the fact that I was actually going to spend 4 weeks there on rotation was SUPER COOL!
We had memorial day off. I had been in communication with my contact there many, many times over the past few months. I was told all my paper work was in. So, I started Tuesday and followed around a Nurse practitioner in the Leukemia/Lymphoma clinic. She rocks...she was doing Lumbar punctures and Bone Marrow Aspirates the whole day. I had no idea mid levels could do those with out a physician watching you. It seriously impressed me. So, at the end of the day, I met up with my contact to go and get my ID badge.
This is where my dream began to flatten. We turned in my paper work and they said I had to go through employee health. My contact had no idea. She had just had 2 students the month before and had not had to do that. So, emails were sent to important people. Hence, it was found out at that point that I had some paper work missing. I still don't know what the initial missing paper work was. So, I was told to come Wednesday and go to the library at St. Judes and watch online lectures.
I did that. I finished my day and then went to study. About 6 last night, I checked my email to find my contact just found out that I didn't have a background check on file and did I have one. NOPE, I sure don't. Well, it takes at least ONE WEEK to get those things back. For me that means at least a week and a half of not seeing patients. Normally, I would love that, but in this case, it could be even longer than that to get the background check done. Dream of being at St. Judes—SQUASHED!
As soon as I found out, I called my wonderful clinical coordinator who said she would get to work on it first thing tomorrow. I then emailed her assistant(not sure of her real title) to let her know what was going on, because her assistant is the person that makes things happen. As of 10 am central time, this morning they already have a lead on my placement so I can start there on Monday. Keep praying that everything will go smoothly! My main focus is to spend these last weeks in school learning as much about pediatrics as possible. I know God is in control and HE is going to get me through this. Pray for safe travels to wherever I am heading. Pray for smooth transition into a possibly new clinic. Praise Him for the 2 days I spent at St. Judes which is truly an amazing place!

OVERWHELMED!!

Well, it has been quite an interesting past 6 months. I started out in July on my rotational year in Internal Medicine living in London, KY. From there I lived in Williamsburg, KY and worked in Jellico, TN on my Geriatric rotation. Then I lived in Lancaster, KY and worked in Stanford, KY for my Family medicine rotation. Finally, before Christmas I was in Albany, KY for my surgery rotation. This week I just started rotations again and am in Hazard, KY in psychiatry. I haven't spotted the General Lee yet, but will let you guys now if I have.
This has been some of the most overwhelming times of my life. I do not recommend you younger readers waiting until you are in your late 20s to move away from home for the first time. Then to make matters worse, you move to a new place every 4 weeks or so. Moving to new places has been a lot more stressful than I thought it would. It has led me to an overwhelmed feeling!
I mean on top of having to learn how to put all my classroom work to practice and being nervous about trying not to kill anyone, I have to pack up my life and move to a new town. Many of you know that I do not handle change well. I have dealt with anxiety most of my life. It frustrates me to know end that I get nervous about little things like going to hang out with old friends that I haven't seen in a while much less going to a place where I know no one. Most of the time I make myself do the things that I fear the most because I know I will survive. And that is just how it has been for me during all my moving around. God has provided for me everywhere I have been.
I wish that I had better balance in my life. That when one area gets out of whack the rest wouldn't go to pot, but it has. I have gained about 20 pounds back which is quite disheartening!! Have no fear though because I haven't given up yet. I have been getting caught in the fact that for about 3 months I just had a microwave to cook meals with and couldn't figure out "healthy" things OR that I didn't really have to the time or energy to think about eating right. Well that needs to stop:) I came to a point where I remembered something that I have known all along. IT TOOK ME A LONG TIME TO PUT THE WEIGHT ON AND IT MAY TAKE A LONG TIME TO LOSE IT. That being said, I started thinking about what little change I could make that over a LONG period of time would possibly help me lose weight.
Here is what I came up with: 1. Drink at least 40 oz of water a day. (Yes, I know they recommend 64 oz, but when a doctor dictates when you get to pee, one must limit there water intake) 2. Eat a healthy breakfast everyday.
I can do those 2 things for the next month. I can control that even amongst feeling so overwhelmed with everything else I have going on. More importantly, I'm going to have to keep thinking of ways to balance things in my life. THIS is real life. My life doesn't get to slow down just because I have this huge desire to lose weight. I mean it should, but its just not that way. So for now, I'm taking baby steps. I mean after all you have to crawl before you can walk!!

Medical Missions Conference

I went to the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, KY this past Thursday through Saturday. It is the second time that I have been. As a future health care professional, the opportunities and possibilities that have been presented to me are truly amazing. Last year, I walked into the bottom floor of the exhibit hall to see the different organizations that were set up. Notice I said the bottom floor; there were 2 floors full of exhibitors (I’m guessing 200+ booths). For those of you that live in the southern Baptist world, you can understand that I was shocked to know that there were so many choices out there to serve God that weren’t the IMB. I would also guess that there were at least a thousand people from all over the world who had come to gather and rejoice and learn about missions and being health care providers. It was amazing!
God really encouraged my heart this weekend. As I went to the different sessions and heard people speak, I kept thinking about the passion of the people that I was listening too. One man started a clinic in Memphis, TN out of his residency and in the past decade has actually moved into the inner city to become a part of his community that he serves. I had the privilege of hearing Steve Saint (son of a missionary killed in End of the Spear) speak about his life as a boy, his mission now, and other amazing things. I also was completely blown away by our last speaker who was a very humble 92 year old physician who had dedicated his entire life to serving and furthering Jesus Christ. Each speaker was so passionate about the wonderful things God had done in their lives. It was evident that they weren't saying look at me, look at what I have done with God's help. The love that they had for Christ oozed out through their stories. The wonderful things that happened to them seemed to be byproducts of their love for Christ. And that is the challenge that I was given; I was shown that I should seek to love God with my whole heart. It really isn’t about the work they are doing or what they are getting accomplished, but rather loving God. Each of the speakers that I heard seemed to have accomplished so much out of simply loving Christ. From what I saw none of them were trying to reach X number of people or treat X number of patients, but they were seeking Christ daily and as a result were then reaching and treating people.
For me I sometimes get caught up in “all that needs to be done.” I keep asking Christ what it is that he wants me to do. When I graduate, I want to be put in the “right” practice or at the “right” ministry to begin serving him. I don’t want to miss THE boat that God wants me to get on. Well, I think somewhere along the way I forgot, “love the Lord your God with all your soul and all your might.” THE boat that I should be on is the one that has been set in the direction of loving God.
Honestly, I know I haven’t been doing my part. I am not seeking Christ in everything that I do. In fact, right now in PA school, I am solely concentrating on learning medicine. I have felt so overwhelmed in all that is required of becoming knowledgeable in treating patients that I have made it ok for myself not to go to church and not to spend time in the word. I say to myself, “God called me to PA school. For his glory I need to study and do the best that I can do. So that when I am finished I can be a great PA for Him. He will understand if I don’t make it to church on Sunday because I am exhausted from studying and want to sleep in a little and then study some more.”
Man, I have been foolish. Yes, I do believe that to whom much is given, much is required, but not at the sake of falling out of fellowship with Christ. The challenge that I found Christ gently whispering to me this weekend was that I need to get back to Him and everything else will fall into place. I have felt challenged to do this: Each day when I come home from work and get ready to study, I am going to pull out my bible first and spend no less than 15 minutes with Him. I know that you may be saying 15 minutes isn’t a lot, but I truly haven’t even spent one minute in His word in quite some time. I think I will be surprised at how much time I actually spend with Him, and I’m pretty sure my learning will more than likely be blessed by it!
My challenge to you would be to take a minute and evaluate all the “things” that you are doing for Christ. Why are you doing these things? Is it because you feel obligated? Is it because it is the “right” thing to do? Is it out of the obligation of a call you feel was placed in your life? Is it because it makes you look good while saying it is all for God’s glory? If you aren’t doing it as an overspilling of seeking to love Christ with your whole heart, you may need to make some adjustments in your life and your heart. I challenge you to love God first; take as long as you need and see what happens and where it leads you.