Giving: A Show of Gratitude

As Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, we tend to look beyond ourselves and think about giving. Webster's Dictionary defines give: to make a present of... However, give is just a word with no feeling behind it. We add the emotion from something in our heart. A genuine attitude for giving might best be offered with gratitude: a feeling of appreciation or thanks.

Attitude is one of my roots of health and one way to improve your attitude is to show gratitude. Volunteer your time to the less fortunate. Giving to others helps us forget ourselves and our troubles. It tends to reinforce a thankful feeling within.

At this time of year one favorite family tradition has been to fill a shoebox with goodies and items for a child living in a third-world country who lives in dire circumstances and a seemingly hopeless situation. We accomplish this through Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan's Purse.

What is Operation Christmas Child?

Through a simple gift of a shoebox filled with everyday items, we can share the love of Jesus with a child on the other side of the world. Pack the box with toys, school supplies, toothbrush, soap, etc. Add a picture of your family and even a letter to the child. A tracking code may be added to let you know the destination country of your shoebox.

In 2007 I volunteered at an Operation Christmas Child processing center in Southern California and learned that boys ages 10 to 14 are under-represented in shoebox gifts. From that point on we always pack a box for a boy in that age range.

The Dollar Store offers lots of great items to include in a shoebox. For an older boy, I always include duct tape. Having been to a third-world country, I've seen what the children create out of empty liter bottles, aluminum cans and string or wire. Duct tape can be creative magic for them.

In addition to a t-shirt, here's what we put in our box:

Need a bit of instruction? Maybe this video will help... or at least give you a chuckle:



What kind of holiday family traditions do you have for showing gratitude?

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Fish Chowder

I'm a modified vegan—I don't do dairy (except occasional goat cheese and organic eggs) and the only meat I eat is wild-caught fish. When I found this chowder recipe, I got excited. This soup is delicious. You're going to love it. 

Want something to warm your tummy this fall? Make up a double recipe so you have plenty to freeze for more than one meal.

Fish Chowder

from Whole Foods

yield 8 servings

category Soup

cuisine Pescatarian

ingredients

3 celery stalks, diced (plus leaves for garnish)

1 red bell pepper, chopped small

1 small yellow onion, diced

2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 C vegetable stock

1/4 C quinoa flour

6 C organic unsweetened plain soymilk

6 medium red potatoes (~1 1/4 lbs) cubed

1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

12 oz wild-caught white fish (mahi mahi, monkfish, etc) cut into 1" pieces

1 C yellow corn (fresh or frozen)

1/4 C finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

directions

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add vegetables and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown (6 - 8 minutes).

2. Add stock and cook, scraping up any browned bits until reduced by 2/3 (~2 minutes).

3. Add flour and cook, stirring often (1 minute). Then whisk in soymilk.

4. Stir in potatoes, thyme, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover and simmer until fragment, thickened and potatoes are almost tender (~7 minutes).

5. Stir in fish and corn then cook until fish is cooked through (6 - 8 minutes).

6. Stir in parsley and serve, garnishing with celelry leaves.

Give this recipe a try and let me know how you like it.

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6 Steps to Avoiding Holiday Temptation

Here you are at the edge of the holiday season—staring down piles of leftover halloween candy or worse, sneaking pieces of your son or daughter's stash, while telling yourself you're saving them from eating too much candy.

You’ve told yourself you’re making the switch to healthier eating, but you see food all around you—tempting holiday food that you know isn’t good for you. What can you do to deal with the temptation?

You need a plan.

Start with your home—that will be the hardest—especially if your house is full of hungry grouches (I say this endearingly) who don’t see eye-to-eye with you on eating healthy.

Here are things you can do to make things go smoother.

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Have a Healthy Halloween

I love the dress-up part of Halloween. When our son was young, I enjoyed coming up with fun costumes. One year I made a tyrannosaurus rex costume and my husband and I dressed as cave man and woman. We won best group costume at our community Halloween Festival as the Prehistoric Family.

What I don't like is all the candy.

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Wisdom Wednesday

Health Tip:
More food for thought on the Death By Sugar post. Pass this on to anyone receiving conventional cancer treatments.

What do they use to "light up" cancer in the body during a CT Scan? That's right! Sugar! Glucose is used to carry the radioactive material to any sights with cancer. It's known that cancer feeds on sugar. So why would oncologists NOT tell their cancer patients they need to eliminate sugar in their diets to help starve the tumor? And why do they serve sugary treats to patients receiving their chemo infusions?

Did you know that most cancer patients don't die of cancer? They die of starvation. Doesn't it all make sense? If you feed the cancer with a diet of sugar (from breads & pastas, products with added sugar, desserts, sodas, etc.) you do so at the expense of healthy cells.

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Death By Sugar—6 Ways Sugar Damages Your Body

Sugar Will Kill You

Sugar can be as addictive as cocaine. It activates the brain’s reward system causing pleasure-inducing chemicals (dopamine) to flood the body. The result is a craving for more… and more.

Sugar damages your health on several levels. For starters we now know that fructose/sugar elevates blood pressure and potentially damages your kidneys. It increases uric acid which leads to chronic, low-level inflammation—the foundation for most disease. For example, chronically inflamed blood vessels can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Let's look at the what happens in the body when you consume a 20 oz soda:

Within 20 minutes— Your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar (17 teaspoons full on average) into fat.

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Wisdom Wednesday

Tip:
I hate to burst anyones' bubble, but I must set the record straight about chocolate. The news regularly reports that chocolate is healthy for you... BUT that is NOT the whole story. What is healthy for you is the raw form of chocolate called cacao, which is dried and unsweetened. Cacao nibs are cacao bean pieces that can be ground to make a powder for recipes.

Known as a super food, the health benefits of raw cacao include:

• Powerful antioxidant—high in resveratrol, the potent antioxidant found in red wine.
• Rich in minerals—magnesium, iron, potassium, calcium, zinc, copper and manganese.
• Boosts your mood.
• Reduces your risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Cocoa, the basis of virtually all chocolate sold including the unsweetened powder you buy for baking, is the result of roasting cacao, which destroys the enzymes and reduces the nutritional value. No more super food. :(

Don't fall for the idea you can eat lots of chocolate because you read that its good for you. That chocolate you're eating is loaded with sugar, which negates even further the healthy goodness of what started as raw cacao.

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Life is Fragile—Live It with No Regrets

Have you ever listened to Tim McGraw's song Live Like You Were Dyin' and wondered what it meant to you? McGraw's song speaks of skydiving, mechanical bull riding and dispensing forgiveness previously denied. Living a life of optimum wellness encompasses living a life with no regrets.

Bronnie Ware, a hospice nurse for many years, discovered that people faced with death experienced many emotions, but eventually came to an acceptance and peace. When asked if there were regrets or things they would do differently, she found five common themes.

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October is National Vegetarian Month

Whatever it takes to eat more veggies, whether that's eating vegan (no dairy or processed foods), cutting out meat (vegetarian), adding another serving of veggies each day or like me (vegan, but eat wild fish, organic eggs and occasionally goat cheese), eat like your life depends on it. Because it does!

Your mind will clear, the scales will dip, your skin will look amazing, you'll sleep better and you can say good-bye to those pesky colds and flues.

Graphic Source: Fix.com

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