Vitality

Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force - that thoughts rule the world.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Take time to pet the kitty..."

The Evening 

And the Morning

...were the first day of Spring!

Aha...I thought there would be more winter, but 55-65  degree weather
for a week just about had me fooled.  Just about.  I was highly suspicious we
 had more winter coming.

Noun

1.

vital force - (biology) a hypothetical force (not physical or chemical) once thought by Henri Bergson to cause the evolution and development of organisms elan vital, life force, vitality biological science, biology - the science that studies living organisms force - (physics) the influence that produces a change in a physical quantity; "force equals mass times acceleration"

Noun

1.

vital force - (biology) a hypothetical force (not physical or chemical) once thought by Henri Bergson to cause the evolution and development of organisms

elan vital, life force, vitality

biological science, biology - the science that studies living organisms

force - (physics) the influence that produces a change in a physical quantity; "force equals mass times acceleration"

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2011 Princeton University, Farlex Inc. 

            vital force

 

                              noun

                          the force that animates and perpetuates living beings and organisms.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vital+force?s=t 

"I urge you to practice acting in spite of fear, practice acting in spite of inconvenience,

 practice acting in spite of discomfort, and 

practice acting even when you’re not in the mood."T. Harv. Eker  

Winter Hangs On

Yay for the Dump Run! Yikes, got an ow-wee from a sharp piece of tin.

Inside Work~the area being built for a laundry hookup.
(Taking more time than anticipated, as usual.)

Lenience will operate with greater force, in some instances than rigor. It is therefore my first wish to have all of my conduct distinguished by it.
George Washington

Okay...thinking about this statement.  What did he mean exactly?  

Aromatic Basil

      Had a visit with my daughter this week about eating.  Because I'm a mother, my kids' nutrition has always been my business, and while there's not much I can do about it these days, I am still very concerned. When she's been training for a marathon, she is aware of "tasting" a meal that she's eaten 4 days before.  The stress of running is nicely balanced by the great endorphin's, the result of accomplishing a sufficient level of effort, when your body relaxes with a sort of "ahhh!".  How much better when combined victoriously with healthy eating!  The goal!  Ahhh!

        Jerry loves ice cream and has a bowl of it every night, and it doesn't seem to have a negative impact on his weight. In fact, he's taken his belt in three notches in the last couple of years which is completely annoying!  Sometimes I think if he gets a treat, I should too!  He tries to help by reminding me that I don't "need" a snack.  Having been a child who experienced some "food battles" at the table, having someone tell me what to eat leaves me slightly out of sorts!  "I do it myself!"

        Food battles are still on! One of my kids is listening, and two of my kids expressed strong opinions about so-called fad diets, both skeptical and negative, translating to NO support for the Paleo Diet from them.  I understand skepticism.  I'm quite good at it myself.

      Food was a battle in our house, one which my dad usually won.  Mom was often weighing in at TOPS or Weight Watchers, while Dad served milk shakes, adored homemade bread and rolls, and at the table insisted we eat what was served.  Our taste buds were "refined" as children's often are, and we weren't open to much variety, and definitely turned up our noses at healthy food.  I don't suppose that gave Mom and Dad much confidence in our choices.  

     Having our own homes changed that.  My sister and I were both the chief cook, so we had to expand our food repertoire.  Betty Crocker...how many "mom in the kitchen" daughters has she taught to cook?  Can't blame Betty Crocker for a monochromatic spread of  pasty, pale biscuits, and grainy homemade macaroni and cheese casserole that I served one evening.  It was just that I had been through the cookbook and was running out of new ideas, after three weeks of cooking every day. Eventually bought a Natural Foods Cookbook. Bean-stuffed Eggplant sounded interesting, but we could hardly eat it.  There are other recipes these days.  Love Cooking Lite.  It's not always "Lite" but almost always good.

      Then my sister started cooking really new things, gourmet style food, beautiful dishes with elegant presentation and, to my mind, expensive.  She lost me there. I wasn't ready for goat cheese, arugula, and Brie. Especially when my kids wouldn't eat it and I didn't know how to pronounce it!

     I settled on some tasty favorites, like tacos, and hamburgers and fried chicken, and found recipes for a few things we liked in restaurants, Spagetti Carbonera Magdalena, and Chicken  Vernonique'.  Jerry wasn't a meat and potatoes type of eater, but loved casseroles and chinese food, especially Sweet and Sour Pork, and Lemon Chicken.  I like Mandarin Beef and Rice Pilaf and my mom's Soy Glazed Chicken.  I began experimenting with soups to save grocery dollars, and learned to eat Split Pea Soup, and to tolerate Ham and Bean Soup and to pass on Lentil Soup. I fixed chicken doused in flour and fried in shortening, southern-style with potatoes and gravy, then using the leftover meat in a stir-fry, and finally cooking the carcass for Chicken Noodle Soup.  Imagine the satisfaction of extending a $4 chicken for three meals for five people! 

       I was becoming more uneasy about warnings we kept hearing about prepared foods, and I didn't want my kids eating things that might have unpleasant hidden surprises, so I made the bread for sandwiches and baked from scratch and cooked our own meat.  I tried to master cinnamon rolls like Grandma, but it was one failure after another, besides they dried out too fast.  I gained "fluff" that I didn't want anyway, so gave up on cinnamon rolls.  We ate whole wheat homemade pancakes with butter and syrup every morning.  I'd never been at my ideal fitness and weight, and I was always "dieting", mostly with little real success.

      Then we went to Europe, and I discovered chocolate.   I started a quest for the perfect piece of chocolate, and despite plenty of effort, I have yet to repeat the tasty, mouth satisfying, zing of truly great chocolate.  Thinking that somehow the smooth melting of the perfect piece of chocolate, if I could find it, will somehow relieve the pressure of an emotional emergency, the quest became an act of repeated disappointment!  Telling myself that a reasonable substitue will suffice, I reach again and again for chocolate, melting many different brands on my tongue like a wine connoisseur.   It works...at least for a couple of minutes, until the super-duper guilt trips appear.  How is it I don't remember that part when I'm indulging?  I heard about Krispy Kreme Donuts. Their stock was soaring, business was growing, and I had to try one and see what the fuss was about.  Well, sure enough, they were pretty good.  Soon I was indulging every time there was an opportunity, over my husband's derisive heckling, and thinking it was a trend that couldn't last.  Too many unhealthy calories.

       I did  a type of Zone Diet while doing Crossfit, and that went great for awhile. Can't eat donuts and do Crossfit, can you?  Jerry is very interested in any information I can share with him when I learn new things. I can talk for hours and he'll listen and implement almost any new idea.  The latest "new idea" that we are discovering has to do with genetically modified food, an issue that I'm finally taking seriously. This topic comes up in conversations, and there are plenty of highly uneducated, mostly unbalanced opinions.  I recently downloaded Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis on my Kindle. His experience indicates that genetically modified wheat is causing a lot of problems for people.  Well, that's pretty straightforward. right?  So what's the problem here?

   Eating tacos with a wrap of lettuce leaves instead of a soft, white, tortilla shell tastes clean and good, and makes me feel better afterwards. Okay, it might not be that old familiar, warm, soft shell.  I just have to deal with it. Leaving the bun off the hamburger eliminates the bloat and makes me feel victorious!  Don't miss it, except while I watch Jerry enjoy his.  I will endure those few moments and emerge victorious at the gym. I can make a salad in a jar, and cut up extra celery and carrots for my snacks when I put them in Jerry's lunch.  Something quick to grab and go...instead of making peanut butter and honey on a piece of whole wheat bread and downing it with a glass of milk because there's nothing easy and quick when I've been focused on my work all morning and didn't want to stop for lunch, and NOW I'm hungry.

     

           Recently I learned that when we want to lose weight, that we often think we need to get more exercise, but that what we eat is 70% of our problem, and exercise is 30 %. I also picked up the interesting information that in Okinawa, they practice Hara Hachi Bu, which means "eat until you are 8 parts full."   Eighty percent full.  I can do that.  Hara Hachi Bu.

    The best motivation is seeing my daughter struggle with food issues, and keeping up her running. She goes from getting up at 4:30 a.m.,  not having a lunch break during the day, to arriving home famished at 6:30 at night, to eating late, because preparing meals takes time!  She spends a lot of time with people she enjoys, and who can't live without sweets.. It's just a great reminder that I need to make my own decisions about what fuels my body, and what is good for me.  We can make choices. I can make the right choices!  I have...in the distant past, eliminated sugar from my diet.  Felt great.  Can do it again.

  

The desire to heal and the enthusiasm should be there all the time. The idea that "I can do it" should be totally eliminated from your mind. There is a time when you will feel secure with your knowledge, and that is the time when you start losing it.  GeorgeVithoulkas

http://www.vithoulkas.com/en/writings/2161.html

Baby Blue Skies of Spring