Guest Post by Rebecca Regnier – 52 Mondays – Short Attention Span Dieting

I’m delighted to include TV personality Rebecca Regnier’s 52 Mondays – Short Attention Span Dieting program to readers…enjoy, laugh, and learn a little too!

Gain a little weight on vacation? No you didn’t. Here’s some denial affirmations we tell ourselves.

1. It’s not fat it’s sand trapped in my suit.
2. It’s not fat it’s my new necklace made of shells.
3. Since it’s on my back and I can’t see it it doesn’t exist, thus, it’s not fat.
4. It’s not fat it’s “carry on” luggage. It will store underneath my seat conveniently out of sight.
5. I gained muscle from all the walking.
6. It’s not fat it’s the happiness and contentment I found on vacation that I’ve crammed into my soul.
7. My body is still on Pacific Time and my scale is on Eastern Standard so it’s just a 3 pound time difference.
8. It’s not official weight gain until one week AFTER vacation ends.
9. It’s still cold here so I need the extra weight for warmth.
10. The scale calls it three extra pounds, I call it a souvenir.

Sorrow: Facing Difficult Situations with Courage, Strength, and Fearlessness

Almost three years ago, our family experienced the joys of watching our oldest daughter get married while sorrowing that my father in law was dying of cancer. To be sure, this was a summer of extreme highs/lows…below is how I recall those final precious days with my father in law.

“Sorrow can go only as deep as love. And always, always, love is the ground beneath sorrow as well as the sky above it.” Gregory Floyd in A Grief Unveiled

Life is fragile and I can prove it. During the past few weeks, two distinctively unique experiences invaded my “life is frail” consciousness. All this by way of a car crash and a relative’s terminal illness. In the space of a few hours, I witnessed two cars smash headlong into each other like two tin cans being crushed under a malevolent foot. My heart stopped. My stomach lurched. Amazingly, no one was badly injured. Thankfully, these families and all who love them were spared the sudden finality of death. Fast forward to a brief, but soulful conversation with my father-in-law about the day’s activities: getting dressed, getting down food and medicine, getting ready for radiation treatment, getting back home for hospice nurse visit, getting down more food and medicine. Getting tired, getting ready for bed and getting a good night’s sleep.

Seems his days are all about getting ready. But in reality, he’s already, ready. He is; he’s farther along in this journey of life than we are and he knows it. He’s accepted it and he wants us to accept it too. Since we’re all going to die, this isn’t a news-breaking revelation. And still, I wonder if any of us is prepared to lose someone we love?

For our family, we’ve been “given notice” so to speak. Someone we love dearly isn’t going to recover, is likely to suffer, and we can’t fix it. When we first received the news, we were still grieving over the loss of two other family members who’d recently passed away. This newest blow hurt us deeply. Stunned us. Blind-sided us. And set us scurrying to make sense of yet another personal loss of life. This news caused an ache so real we felt it physically.

Then time stepped in. And faith. We slowly wrapped our minds around the truth and our emotions started to catch up with the hard facts. It still ached and our tears spilled over at inopportune moments, embarrassing us and others who helplessly looked on.

Then we turned another corner. We accepted it. In tiny, halting baby steps, we slowly began to see this “advance notice” as a blessed gift to spend time together. To talk. Laugh. Pray. Eat. Reflect. Just be together enjoying the simplest of life’s pleasures means everything now. It is a good day to be alive.

Then we began to see, really “see.” What’s important. What’s not. What lasts. What won’t. And those things that fall into the “what won’t last” are what we spend the bulk of our days chasing. Money. Careers. Achievement. Possessions. More money. Just stuff, really. Insignificant. Fleeting. Distractions. Not worth a single cent in eternity. Not one. Only God and people are forever. That’s it, that’s the end of the story.

Or not? Conversations are turning more and more to the life after this one, and we’ve discovered in the midst of the emotional pain that a sure and certain hope is a wonderful thing. And it’s real. Substantial. Peace-inviting, anxiety-nixing gift straight from the hand of God. Selah….peace. From the inside out, may you find it today.

Takeaway Action Thought: It is not selfish to take care of you in the midst of sorrowful situations, it is necessary and it is smart.

Weight Bearing Exercises
During those seasons of loss and sorrow, one of the first things relegated to the bottom of a woman’s to-do list is self-care. While life and its accompanying emotional pain presses in on her…a woman frequently forfeits one of her strongest coping commodities, her physical and emotional well being by simple neglect. Women, as the givers of care, must be proactive in daily self-care in order to most effectively cope and deal with the many layers of grief that come part and parcel with sorrow and loss.

COURAGE – Facing facts and doing something about them. When sorrows tally up, women need to harness and guard their emotional strength by reminding themselves of the following.
· Balance work, home, and relaxation; don’t take on new responsibilities during this time.
· Talk with trusted friends about what you’re feeling; as you do, you’ll find the weight of sorrow is shared as it is distributed some amongst people who care.
· Understand your limitations; listen to what others are observing in you and heed their counsel.

STRENGTH – Making sure you’re fit for what’s coming. When sorrow makes its presence known day after day, women need to build up and maintain their physical strength.
· Exercise daily; set (and maintain) your routine of getting a minimum of 20 minutes/3 times per week.
· Get enough sleep; factor in 7 – 8 hours of nighttime rest every night.
· Take vitamin supplements daily and eat for optimal health to offset the extra emotional pressures.

FEARLESSNESS – Moving forward even when the outcome is uncertain. When the worst is over, women need to decide what they believe, why they believe, and how their beliefs will equip them to face the future, here they develop their spiritual strength.
· Revisit and re-evaluate former belief systems; ask yourself how what you say you believe about life/death/suffering makes a difference?
· What did you learn about yourself and about how you handle loss and sorrow?
· Contemplate tomorrow in the aftermath of today’s painful circumstance. What can you do to be better prepared for future challenges?

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Psalm 56: 8

Doubt: Knowing Who and What to Trust

“Is it possible that doubt might be one of those unwelcome guests of life that is sometimes, in the right circumstances, good for you?”
John Ortberg in Faith & Doubt

Have you ever considered the upside of doubt? When you’re not certain about something or someone, you take a step back and do some contemplating; some weighing out of the facts (or fiction) presented you. We all recognize there are times when doubting makes plain good sense and in some circles, doubt even has a friendlier connotation and its name is discretion. This so named valuable asset, this ability to be discerning enough to tread carefully, can in reality, offer a woman much by way of protective buffers.

The woman who exercises a measure of discretion (by not trusting everything she’s told) is demonstrating both knowledge and good judgment. She’s tuned in to seeing behind the obvious and looking for those telltale signs of either truth or falsehood. But she’s not a cynic and she’s rarely bitter. No, she’s simply honed that skill of gathering the evidence, thinking through the objections and weighing the consequences before moving ahead. In so doing, she’s saved herself and those around her from disasters ranging anywhere from the miniscule to those mistaken judgment calls of potentially catastrophic proportions.

There will always be room for doubt, as there must be. For truly, doubt is trust’s intrinsic flipside. No one fully trusts without first putting something (a belief system, a person, or a choice) through a series of mental paces. We might not consciously recognize this process, but all the same, we exercise it countless times a day. Our thoughts continually wrestle with and endure an inner give/take motion whenever we are presented with the unfamiliar or untested. What we conclude determines the next step, rightly so. This truism is worked out most visibly in the personal relationship arena.

Author John Ortberg offers this look-see into the give and take process that occurs daily between people in every sort of social and work situation. “When I trust you, I take a little piece of myself – my stuff, my money, my time, my heart – and put it in your hands. And then I’m vulnerable. Then you respond, and I find out whether you are trustworthy and dependable. I give you the gift of my trust, and you give me the gift of your faithfulness.” It is exactly at this key juncture, in this difficult yet essential “finding out” realm that individuals make discoveries about themselves and those they’ve trusted. The dynamic interplay that takes place between people will change everyone involved, even when trust is broken, maybe especially then.

No doubt. Whether a person puts her faith in people, a process, or a plan, doubt will be a close kin to all. There will be ebbs and flows, highs and lows, glimpses of understanding and long slow stretches of darkness, where we mentally take ourselves by the hand and walk ourselves back to what we know to be trustworthy and true. By and by, we’ll get there. To be sure, we’ll recognize how both doubt and trust played their roles in helping us arrive safely. Final word, “Test everything. Hold on to the good.”

Takeaway Action Thought: When in doubt, stop, pause, consider. If something is right, it can stand the wait.

Weight Bearing Exercises

There’s that old saying, “When in doubt, don’t,” and in truth, this catchall phrase makes perfect sense most of the time, but there’s at least one area of exception to this old adage and it applies to your physical health. Whenever you have a doubt, never take the “don’t” route. Rather, “do” something proactive and health protective to get the information you need. Do – call your physician, check with your pharmacist, and locate answers to your questions. Whether you’re in need of an immediate reply or are simply looking ahead, there are answers to be found and help available. You just need to know where to go and whom to trust.

Information is only as good as its source: As there are literally thousands of Internet sources available for medical information, consumers need to be leery of what they are reading (and believing). Unfortunately, a significant amount of purported medical advice is merely unsubstantiated personal opinion and sadly, flagrant misinformation abounds. Ask yourself if the site you’re researching on might have hidden agendas? Does the site’s advertising parent company also sponsor the topic you are reading about? Or is the medical advice in reality an advertisement hidden in the guise of a “scientific” article?

Private-sector sites you can trust. There are many good sources of accurate information for medical consumers on the Internet. Check out these sites for health-related topics applicable to both women and men: WebMD.com, HealthCentral.com and WrongDiagnosis.com. Try the HealthyWomen.org site for a broad range of women’s health issues and which is physician approved.

Governmental websites that are useful. The National Institutes of Health site at health.nih.gov is a good general information site with links to specific women’s health issues as well as many other useful resources.
1. Peruse the hrsa.gov the US Department of Health and Human Services web site to locate links to available health care regardless of your ability to pay.
2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at cdc.gov is an excellent resource for health and safety issues. This is the place to look for information on food borne illness and any current outbreaks of this type.
3. For a listing of state health agencies go to the FDA’s website at fda.gov/oca/sthealth.htm.
4. Local health information should be obtained through your county health department.

The Right to Give Life: An Insider’s Perspective on Organ Donation (via Burdens Do a Body Good)

During the rush of the holiday season, I had the privilege of sharing coffee and a great conversation with a procurement coordinator from Columbus, Ohio. Jeff Blitz and I sat at a local Starbucks and I listened, took notes, and taped our interview on his experience as an organ donation coordinator. What impressed me most was the personal level of care brought to this highly developed "system" by Jeff and his colleagues. This story ran in the Tole … Read More

via Burdens Do a Body Good

Novel, New, and Necessary…………..Products, Services, and Other Fun Stuff for Everyday Smart Living

Novel, New, and Necessary…………..Products, Services, and Other Fun Stuff for Everyday Smart Living — Where we test/review on a weekly basis a wide variety of Food-Health-Beauty-Inspirational-Travel-Websites (you name it)—whatever helps women live smart…

In the works

In the develoment stage now, we’re working on setting up a weekly forum where we’ll be testing and then offering a review of various “living smart” products and services. Each week, we’ll offer either something (or multiple things) that fall under the Novel, New or Necessary (which pretty much means the sky’s the limit).

Our goal is to save women time and steps by gathering some of the best new product offerings out there into one stopping place. So…be watching for developments and be thinking about what you’d like to see offered here.

Contact me with any questions (suggestions) here or on FB.