It is now the season of gratitude! SoĀ I’veĀ decided to blog about things Iām thankful for this month. Iām not promising to blog something Iām thankful for once a day or even once a week āIāll just blog when I get around to it. š
Today Iām feeling thankful for two things that Iām normally complaining about. The first one is my body. Normally Iām not too grateful for my body because Iām quite large āobese according to the BMI charts which I donāt put a lot of stock in those charts but it is true that Iām quite overweight. But as Iāve been learning more about health and wellness and working towards becoming healthier Iāve learned a lot about the body and I have to tell you āitās pretty darn amazing. God knew what he was doing when he created me (and everyone else too)! The body has an innate ability to take care of itself āit has a liver and a kidney which do a great job of getting rid of toxins that are harmful to the body, it has a wonderful immune system that can help kill bad bacteria that enter the body and can help the body heal when it has gotten sick, and the list can go on and on but Iām not a scientist and donāt want to attempt to get into all of it. Basically what Iām trying to say is that God created our bodies to be able to take care of themselves (in most cases) as long as we are giving them the proper nutrients and avoiding things that will harm them (our bodies will have to deal with harmful substances anyway āthereās no need to give it to them on purpose).
My wonderful body does have quite a few problems to deal with right now (obesity, hypothyroidism, celiac disease, PCOS) because of heredity and becauseĀ I’veĀ unknowingly exposed it to extra toxins and not given it all of the nutrients that it needs over the years. So itās no wonder itās not functioning optimally. But itās better than it could be and itās only getting better! Iām also grateful for the wealth of knowledge online and in books about health and wellness thatĀ I’veĀ been able to find so I can help my body heal. I have no doubt that as I put the thingsĀ I’veĀ learned in to practice that my body will eventually be functioning much closer to they way it was designed to function (mostly with the help ofĀ holisticĀ nutrition and natural healing and in some situations maybe even modern medicine). And Iām looking forward to that day!
But in the meantime my body was still created by God because he loves me and my body is beautiful just how it is. Recently I was able to go to Time Out For Women in Salt Lake with my mother-in-law and two of my sisters-in-law. One of the speakers (Brad Wilcox) said that he was talking to one of his friends who used to be a member of our church but no longer lives the way that weāre taught to live. He believes in God but not necessarily the gospel. His friend said something along the lines of āLook āGod loves me just the way I am! I know he does because I asked him!ā and Brad Wilcox responded kind of like this āYouāre right. God loves you just the way you are just as I love my grandson just the way he is. But thatĀ doesn’tĀ mean I donāt want him to learn how to read.ā I thought that was so profound. Yes, God loves us just the way we are but thatĀ doesn’tĀ mean heĀ doesn’tĀ want us to continue to progress. Because he loves us so much he wants good things for us and that requires progression. I want to feel that way about me (physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally). I am beautiful inside and out just the way I am. I am a child of God and I have divine nature. But thatĀ doesn’tĀ mean IĀ shouldn’tĀ be improving. š
The other thing Iām thankful for goes right along with the first. Iām thankful for my love of food. I love all kinds of food āin fact there are only a few foods I can think of that I donāt love āgreen peas and melons (Iām sure there are others, I just canāt think of them right now). In the past my love of food has gotten me into a lot of trouble because if it looked good, smelled good, and tasted good (which to me was almost everything) then I would eat it. IĀ didn’tĀ need to be hungry, the food just needed to be there. However, as I have started living a healthier lifestyle my love of all kinds of food has become more of a blessing because I love all kinds of healthy food too!
And not only do I love healthy food but I delight in creating delicious combinations of healthy food! I love eating a whole foods diet because it takes more preparation to create the food I eat but because of the work I put into it I feel a lot more accomplished whenĀ I’veĀ created something delicious and that makes me enjoy it that much more! For example, on Halloween I chose not to eat any processed candy but IĀ wasn’tĀ going to let the evening pass without treating myself in some way. So my dessert ended up being homemade chocolate milk. The other day I made chocolate syrup using ingredients I had around the house (raw honey, unsweetened cocoa powder, water, sea salt, and pure vanilla extract). It is still a āsometimes foodā but itĀ doesn’tĀ have any ingredients in it that are harmful to my body like the chocolate syrup I can buy at the store. And it was really easy to make but because I made it myself every time I pull it out to use it I just canāt help but smile. It gives me such pleasure to discover all the simple things I can make myself! I made my chocolate milk with goatās milk, a little bit of chocolate syrup, and a drop of peppermint essential oil and I enjoyed every sip of it way more than I would have enjoyed a bunch of candy!
And one last thing Iām thankful for āanyone who read my entire post! Sorry it was so long and thank you for reading if you did! What are you thankful for today?