One Mama Gets Fit

How in the world are we not all walking around at 500 pounds plus? This is something that I have been thinking about so much lately. I pay attention to what I eat. I like to look at how much sugar, fat, protein, saturated fats, calories, etc I am taking in. I like knowing if I am getting enough water in daily. I love moving and getting a good sweat in and feeling strong after I work out. Months back, I pulled up what I used to get at McDonalds for breakfast years ago. Around 1,000 calories.  Plus all the other ridiculous amounts of sugar, fat, sodium, etc. I almost threw up at that thought of what I was consuming FOR BREAKFAST ONLY. And then perhaps I could go out for dinner that night.  Or maybe lunch.  Or maybe I'm "good" and I eat at home for the other meals...maybe something like a sandwich on white bread with mayo spread on it and turkey and cheese.  With potato chips.  Maybe for dinner I'd do fish and some vegetables and a white potato wi...

Two recipes in one week? Yep. Tonight I had minced turkey I wanted to use and so I went through the kitchen looking for other items I could toss with it and make some meatballs.  We paired the meatballs with roasted broccoli & a bit of mashed sweet potato with cinnamon sprinkled on it. They turned out so good!  Here's what I did.  If you try them out, let me know what you think. Turkey Meatballs (made 12; 83 calories per meatball - if you want to know that info.  sorry i don't know the other stats yet) 1 pound minced turkey 1/2 onion, diced Couple cloves of garlic, minced 1/2 tsp ginger 1/4 cup diced apple Handful of arugula, chopped finely 1 egg 1/3 cup rolled oats (GF or not) Pinch of salt & pepper 1/4 tsp (or more depending on spice level) crushed red pepper Mix all together and roll into small to medium sized meatballs.  Bake at 350-375 until done or put on skillet and cook until done.  (Ha, I'm so official on the time - jus...

One of my resolutions was to blog once a week. With that in mind...I'm sharing a recipe that I have made I think 3 times in the past 4 weeks. It makes a lot so there will be plenty of leftovers. Pair it with a side of grilled asparagus or roasted broccoli!  Yum!  I also paired it with these amazing buffalo chicken sausages (thin n trim is the brand name - found them at Kroger).  Kind of a weird pairing - but one sausage link and a cup of this soup was a great lunch! If you make it, let me know what you think.  It's a good one for these cold days we've been experiencing in Indiana. SPINACH LENTIL SOUP 1 onion 3 or 4 large carrots (do 4) 4-5 cloves garlic 2 cups dry lentils (brown or green - i've been using green) 15 oz can diced tomatoes (or fresh.  i actually have been putting in a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes and this has been awesome!) 4 cups vegetable broth (or chicken or beef.  whatever you have on hand.) 3 cups water 5 oz spina...

Let's just lay this out.  My number one goal for 2016?  Get back to Kenya. Hands down that is my number one priority. Our family needs to be home in a routine.  I'm excited for so many things back in Nairobi.  I'm looking forward to greeting all our friends (ok, not looking forward to certain friends that will have already left the country or will be leaving the country!), meeting new people, going back to my Bible study group (oh ladies!  i have missed you deeply!), hosting folks in our home, and the list could go on and on. For Andrew, I'm excited for him to start school.  I think this kid will ROCK school.  He loves learning and soaks up everything he reads and hears.  Plus, just for him to be around his friends more often will be wonderful.  I know he has missed them so much (looking at you Matt, Jonathan, Emmanuel, Matthew, Joel, Aly, Ezzie, and Larsen)! For Nattie, I'm just so happy for her to have a bit of her own space.  ...

How was your 2015? I have been doing a lot of reflecting on this year - easy to do this time of year - and thinking about my goals and things I have my eyes set on for next year. To be honest, the past couple of days my mind and heart has been heavy at thinking of all the people I have known that have passed away this past year. Husbands, a wife, children...my own grandma.  All I can do is pray for these families that have lost a loved one. This year has been full.  For sure. We started off in Kenya and are closing out the year Stateside. Nattie traveled to the States for the first time. We all visited beautiful Switzerland for a missions conference and were thoroughly thrown off by the sun being out past 11pm. Kyle represented BlueSky and SIM at conferences and traveled to a couple different countries for meetings and trainings. We traveled to 18 different States in the fall while sharing with friends and churches about our work and life in Kenya. Andrew t...

I have gained 8 pounds in one week. Yes, you read that right. If you were with me at my doctor's appointment this morning when I saw that number on the scale - you would have seen me bawl my eyes out. I had another RA appointment today.  My doc wanted to go over how meds have been the first week, review more blood work done (which apparently I need to get used to...2 more rounds of blood work were ordered today), and go over the results of x-rays I had done last week. Diagnosis of RA was even more solidly confirmed today.  He put my level of severity of the disease on a scale of 1-10 at a 6 or 7. He also prescribed more medicine to take in addition to the ones I'm already taking. Swell.  (Yes, that is sarcasm.  Yes, I am using that.  Yes, generally I am against sarcasm.) Cue tears. I started to read a bit more on RA this past week.  I found a blog that I really like on this disease.  I have heard from so many folks that either have this...

I remember having chicken pox as a child. It was the only time growing up that I got to miss church.  I think my sister and I thought it was so amazing that we were still in our pajamas on a Sunday morning. Is chicken pox a disease? (I am no medical person but I'm putting it into that category for the sake of this post.) In Kenya, I have contracted malaria. That's nothing to joke about.  That disease is awful. Besides that, I've been generally healthy my whole life (well, if you exclude being obese.  And what a disease - epidemic that is in our nation.) But, yea, I've generally been able to stay away from doctor's office and hospitals. I am grateful. Since giving birth to Natalie, I've had numerous little things that have popped up that have affected my health. My knees giving me pain where I can't walk up or down stairs normally. Intense amounts of pain in my feet that I can't walk or move or workout or anything like that. I...an...