Faith - Fitness - Food

Day 8: Faith - Fitness - Food

BBQ's and parties always throw monkey wrenches in most of our "diet" plans. Cookies, cupcakes, alcohol, PASTA, chips and dip...all the things that you need to eat in moderation are always heavily prevalent at parties and BBQ's. I know for myself currently, and most assuredly in the past, I would use parties or any get together as a reason to fall off the bandwagon of any diet. Why? We use these as reasons to self sabotage and "cheat" cause that is the easy way. I'm not going to say that eating "good" is easy, but it certainly isn't hard when you are out with friends and family. 

This past weekend, Memorial Day Weekend, we had quite a few days where we were eating out. We had a small group special dinner out to stimulate the economy, then actual small group, next we went to my sister-in-law's house for a pool party and then completed the long weekend following day at my best friend's house for a cook-out. All four of these food events, it came down to a choice. I CHOSE to eat good or bad. I CHOSE whether it derails my "diet" or not. Did I always chose to eat healthy, absolutely not. I LOVE FOOD!! But I didn't let eating "bad" be a reason to not continue on my health journey. There is no reason for this to derail me unless I let it.

I think the same can be said for our faith journey as well. God told us we would face trials along our long lives. In 1 Thessalonians 3:3 it says...

...so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them.

He never said it would be easy. But, I find that we often find it easy for these bumps in the road to derail our faith in God. So later in the same chapter, 1 Thessalonians 3:5

...For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about  your faith. I was afraid in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.

 We are constantly tempted to allow these setbacks to through off our faith, be it in a spiritual nature where we let our trials turn us away from God's teachings, or in a personal nature of faith where we allow the tempest to win and give up because it's easier than to admit that we made an unhealthy choice and rectify it. For me, I don't tend to let faith bumps derail me, but health bumps are always detrimental. This is where I'm hoping that by working on both journeys together that God will work wonders on my heart and mind to get me to realize that these paths go hand in hand. My faith that my heavenly father will guide me in all things, means that he is helping me to lead my life back to being the best ME he can imagine me to be. If both portions of myself are based in HIS glory, then I can't fail. 

In the end it comes down to fitness. Faith Fitness & Food Fitness. I have been working daily to increase my faith fitness, and I will be completely transparent right now and say it is hard. Sure, I have these plans in my bible app, but there are just some days I have absolutely no interest in reading the bible. I know that I need to hear some portion of God's word every day if my faith journey is going to progress to help me along my path, but it's just hard sometimes to get the correct motivation. 

The same goes for my food fitness, we all know that actual fitness is hard for some people, but I can say that again it is a struggle.Going to the actual box gym or working out in the backyard. I have been very consistent lately with walking with my BFF and then half the time coming home to go on another walk with Andy, but is that enough? Some would say no, but at this point in my fitness journey, this is as good as it gets right now.

I really need to work on the food aspect of food fitness next. Sure, I like my breads and pastas, but I lack an interest in cooked veggies, and I'll be honest again, I HATE CLEANING VEGGIES! Let's be frank here, after we've been working 8+ hours a day, gone for at least 1 if not 2 one hour walks (or working out if that's your thing), making dinner for the family and hopefully even some type of family activity (ours happens to be spike-ball almost nightly), who whats to wash and clean veggies so that you have easy healthy snacks to grab on your way out the door. Heck, who even wants to cook a balanced meal?? Anyone have any quick fixes? This is where my journey comes really hard to stay the path. This is where the bump seem to be more like mountains that I just can't scale. But, with all these journeys that I have going on, I'm going to utilize my faith journey to spur my food fitness journey and keep trudging along.

Few more days and my Plexus should show up...pink drink here I come :)