Monday Devotional - Heart Disease

OK so this isn't a devotional per say but this is what we talked about in Joy the week before last:
Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."

As women it is important for us to keep our bodies strong and healthy to be able to care for our families. God has given us one life and one body and we need to make the best of that life and body. Your life is a gift from God and your heart is what keeps that life going - so take care of it! Heart Disease is the number one killer among women in the united states. The reason for this is that many women do not have the "atypical" symptoms of heart disease. It is much harder to diagnose heart disease in a woman than it is in a man and oft' times it goes unnoticed or misdiagnosed. Heredity, obesity and weight related health problems are directly related to heart disease. You can help prevent heart disease by maintaining a healthy weight, eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and high in fiber, and getting plenty of exercise.

Here are some facts about heart disease:
1. Heart disease is the number 1 killer among women in the United States.
2. 1 in 3 women will die of heart disease.
3. About 6 million American women have heart disease.
4. 38% of women will die within one year of having an initial recognized heart attack.
5. About 35% of women who have had a heart attack will have another within 6 years.
6. Heart disease is not ageless; the risks can start as early as the teen years and increase dramatically in mid-life.
7. Heart disease is also very preventable and treatable with lifestyle changes and paying attention to your own body signals.
If you would like to read more facts about heart disease then click here to download the pdf file - you can also find this pdf, along with a heart rate pdf, on the right hand side of this blog under "printable weight loss tools."

To keep your heart healthy we all know that you should eat right and get plenty of exercise but did you know that you can also help prevent heart disease before it happens by keeping in tune to your body? You can do this by knowing your blood pressure levels and when they are elevated, checking your resting heart rate - a higher resting heart rate could mean a symptom of heart disease - having your cholesterol checked and being aware of the uncommon symptoms of heart disease such as pain in the back instead of down the arms and jaw or pain that is similar to indigestion and upset stomach. Rarely is a heart attack like it is seen on tv with a sudden collapse and clenching of the chest. This is especially so for women. If you ever have the slightest doubt about the way you are feeling do not hesitate to have your symptoms checked out. It is better to be a little embarrassed about going to the doctor than to lose your life over something preventable!
Click here to download a pdf file that shows how to check your heart rate and what resting heart rate and blood pressure levels should be.

Here are some links that discuss heart disease in women:
Women Heart
American Heart Association
Womens Heart Foundation
For Woman
Women's Health

Remember: 3 John 1:2 "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."

Ok don't shoot me but....

I made an executive decision and made some changes to the design of the J.O.Y. shirt. I've already placed the order so I really really hope you all will like it. I made several changes including changing the dancing woman on the back to a woman kneeling in prayer. I thought this was more suited to the theme of our group - also I realized that the woman dancing was not exactly what I was looking for (I'll explain that later lol). I also changed the front to have a cross on it instead of flowers to make the whole design of the shirt more unified. Now here's the big change I made and you'll have to hear me out to understand why I made this decision - I changed the colors from pink and purple to brown and pink. The main reason I made this decision was for our modesty and the fact that brown will be less likely to show stains. I was very afraid that the pale pink color would be too see through and show dirt and stains more easily. We want to keep these fairly expensive shirts nice for a long time lol. I decided on the brown and pink versus other colors because our main Joy color is still pink and also I know that a lot of you really like brown and pink together. It's a unique combination and gives the shirts more of a "special" look. I was going to go with a light purple (violet) with dark purple print but I wasn't sure how many of you would actually like those colors together. In my heart I felt that brown and pink was the most neutral way to go. I did not make this decision lightly and I literally fretted over this all day (I started working on this at 10 O'clock this morning and just now placed the order). I never felt like the pink and purple was 100% right. The brown and pink may not be 100% right either but I felt the most comfortable with that decision. This is not something that we will be wearing all the time so if you really truly don't like it then maybe you can hold out until next year when we order again and possibly change the design. Here is the new design - let me know what you think....or not lol:

I still have 24 hours to change my mind so if you really don't like this design please let me know. If enough of you don't like it then I may still be able to change it to another color - probably the purple. If you are interested in seeing the other colors send me a message before tomorrow.

Thursday 13 - Reasons to get healthy

1. You'll feel better.
2. Your life depends on it.
3. For the sake of your family.
4. You'll look better.
5. You'll have more confidence.
6. Clothes shopping will be a much more enjoyable experience.
7. Because God commands us to take care of our bodies: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
8. Do it for yourself.
9. Because we are only given one body, and one life and we should make the best of that life.
10. Eating healthy foods and exercising is certainly much cheaper AND easier than going to the doctor for medical problems that are related to not taking care of your body.
11. To serve God more readily. It's difficult to be able to be used in God's service when you can't even get up from your seat.
12. To never have to be ashamed or embarrassed by your own weight or health problems.
13. Because we are the light of the world. If we are keeping ourselves hid behind weight, health, or emotional problems then how can we ever shine to the world and let them know the true goodness of God?

Wordless Wednesday

Tasty Tuesday - Pineapple Angel Food Cake

This is a super easy cake recipe and is about 130 calories per piece. The pieces are actually pretty large. Just divide the cake into 12 squares.

1 box 1 step angel food cake mix
1 large can crushed pineapple (12 oz or larger) do not drain!

Preheat oven to 350. This is very important - completely ignore all instructions on the cake mix. Mix angel food cake with undrained pineapple - do NOT add anything else like water or eggs. Lightly coat a cake pan with cooking spray. (I usually use a 9x13 pan but you could use a bundt pan or any pan you choose. Just remember that the smaller the pan you use, the thicker the cake will be and it will divide into less pieces.) Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until it is golden brown and slightly crispy on top. You can top this with fat free sugar free pudding, low calorie vanilla ice cream or my personal favorite fat free cool whip.

Joy Announcement and a blog schedule

Hey everyone I just wanted to let you know that Joy will be cancelled on Tuesday the 25th due to the passing and funeral of Sister Elsie. Please keep her family in your prayers and I hope to see you all again at JOY in April.
--Don't forget that I need the money for t-shirts by the end of next week!!! I will be placing the order on the 28th!--

I also wanted to announce a new schedule I am making for this blog. It is just a little thing to help keep me organized and on track with posting to this blog. Life got a little hectic and I haven't been able to keep up with the blog like I've wanted too but I am hoping that by having a schedule it will help keep me on track and let you all know what to expect from this blog. Here is the schedule (I will also post this on the right hand side as well):

Mondays - Diet Devotional of the week (The Devotional will also be what we talked about in JOy the previous week) and Weekly Bible Verse.
Tuesdays - Tasty Tuesday (Recipes)
Wednesdays - Wordless Wednesday (An inspiriational, or funny picture)
Thursdays - Thursday 13 (13 diet / health / exercise related topics)
Fridays - Friday Food Review (A new food will be reviewed)
Weekends - Due to my very busy church schedule on weekends (we have a saturday evening, sunday morning and evening service) there will be little to no posts over the weekend except for urgent announcements and occasional interesting tidbits.
Anytime posts - Interesting articles, quotes, bible verses or any other tidbit that is diet related will be posted at various times.
The last Tuesday of the month - This will be reserved for posting about my personal progress and may or may not include a picture :-).

I am always on the search for new and interesting things to add to the blog. If you have any pictures, quotes, articles, funny things, or even recipes that you would like to see posted then feel free to email me at: joyfuldieter@yahoo.com

God Bless!

Joy Announcement

There is a huge storm system coming in this evening and tomorrow with possible freezing rain, wind and snow (aka an ice storm). If the weather is too bad for our JOY meeting at M.'s house then we will try again on either wednesday or friday. Please let me know what day is better for all of you, if the weather is bad tomorrow. If it's just raining then we will still be on for tomorrow night.

Also I wanted to send out an apology to my readers for not updating this blog (or my others) in a while. I promise I will try to get back to doing the devotions and the other stuff on a regular schedule again. My back and neck was all haywire again for about a month and a half and sitting at the computer for more than 10 minutes at a time was too much for me. By the time I would get finished checking email, updating my daughters school and catching up on news and stuff I would be done for the day. For those of you that don't know I have scoliosis and sometimes my back pain is more than I can handle. Sitting at the computer seems to be a culprit in aggrivating it further. Just keep me in your prayers. I have hope yet that God can make this ol' crooked spine straight again :o).