On hold...

I'm sorry there haven't been any posts lately.  It seems I am on hold for this month because of the many activities that are consuming my thoughts and energy.  I am going to a mining convention with my honey, traveling to our son-in-law's ordination (we are SO excited for him and our daughter as they train to be church planters), writing and teaching a Bible study, hosting a weekly Financial Peace University class with a young couple we are mentoring, attending a weekend pre-marriage class and a weekend marriage retreat where we will be mentors.  Oh, and our lifegroup started up again for the fall semester.  We keep asking our young couples if they feel like we are cramping their style, but they just don't want to cut us loose. We feel loved! Which reminds me - I better figure out what we are having for lifegroup dinner Saturday night...

How did I ever have time to work?!

Now that we are in our 50s, all our good eating has caught up with us.  My cholesterol is high and my blood pressure was slightly elevated.  I would love to drop 30 pounds.  My honey is losing weight and needs to lower his blood pressure.  We've been eating healthier and counting calories but not getting the results we want.

Then our neighbor came over one afternoon and told us that he had been diagnosed with cancer a year ago and decided he didn't want to go through chemo.  We had wondered about his weight loss because he is skinny!  But, it's not because of cancer.  It's because he went on a whole-food, plant-based diet and plans to stay on it for the rest of his life because his cancer is gone!  He told us about a video on Netflix called, Forks Over Knives.  Of course, we watched it! 

I have to tell you that we both commented on how skinny everyone was in the video.  My honey said he kinda thought they looked unhealthy.  I thought about that and asked him if it was because we are so used to seeing fat people, including us, that we think skinny looks unhealthy.  He thought that was a good point!

We have adopted the same eating lifestyle as our neighbor (I went to our library and checked out a bunch of cookbooks, picking out recipes and writing them on recipe cards - that took a week!) and my blood pressure was back down to a very healthy level in three weeks.  Yea!  I am going to make an appointment to get my cholesterol checked in a couple of weeks and fully expect it to be down to normal levels as well.  I am feeling better and have more energy than I have had in years.  That is a REALLY big deal for me!  An added bonus - no more heartburn.

We are in the process of trying out all the recipes I found and will weed out the ones we don't like as we go.  So far, we've liked everything we've tried.

Peaches and Polenta
Serves 2
This is one of our favorite new breakfasts and it is simple and quick to make.

1 1/2 cups almond milk
1/2 cup corn grits
dash of salt
15 oz can sliced peaches in 100% juice
2 Tbsp pure maple syrup

Bring almond milk to a slow boil in a medium saucepan.  Have the grits measured out and ready to whisk into the milk.

When the almond milk reaches a slow boil, turn the heat down to low and slowly whisk in the grits.  Continue to whisk until thickened.

Pour into two bowls and top each one with half the peaches and one Tbsp maple syrup.  Enjoy!

Each serving is 282 calories.