spiphywarfare

Category: Excuses

  • Confessing My Personal Responsibility

    I’ve been going through a study on leading a surrendered life. The study today wasn’t necessarily about personal responsibility but the following line just jumped out at me.

    I’ve heard more stories than I care to relate to you about people who can’t or won’t take responsibility for what they’ve done.

    I’ve written before about principles. A firm understanding of fundamental truths will help us to enhance our physical, mental, and spiritual health. Truth enhances out lives. What does that have to do with the quote above?

    The author was talking about believers denying sin in their lives. I read it and thought about the fact that my weight, which had been the exact same every morning for five days, just shot up several pounds. I’d eaten some garbage and am paying the price.

    For each person will carry have to carry his own load. Gal 6:5

    One of the hardest hurdles for me to get over in changing my lifestyle was facing the fact that I was doing this to myself. I never had anyone holding me down and forcing the garbage I was eating down my throat. I always had plenty of excuses as to why I ate that way. Personal responsibility, something fading into the past, was required to change my habits. It was no ones fault but my own.

    It is not always easy to hear, but we are each individually responsible for what we put in our bodies. If I put garbage in my body, it’s because I choose to and for no other reason.

    This article was first published on July 13, 2015 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Eating Out

    Eating Out

    Honesty. A trait that seems to grow more elusive in our society with each passing day. I’m going to share a little right now though.

    Scale

    After catching a bug and spending an entire week feeling like life was happening to me, I’ve gained a few pounds. I’ve been out of town and ate poorly and had some days where it was eat fast food. Result? A weight gain of
    seven pounds.

    It’s not the end of the world. It’s not even a huge deal. Not right now.

    So why share it? I want to emphasize that what you put into your body matters. It’s so very easy to use those common excuses but in the end, what we do matters. Words are worth very little, action produces results. If I were to continue eating poorly, as I did for years, I have no doubt my weight would end up right back where it was for years.

    Trying to lose weight and live healthier? Do it. Don’t go on a diet, change your diet. Make it a permanent change in how you eat. It. Will. Work.

    Planning on doing it just as soon as _____? Your plans die when you die.

    This article was first published on April 7, 2015 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Strength in Adversity

    Strength in Adversity

    strengthWe all face adversity in our lives. Sometimes we face it with a coworker, a boss, or a subordinate. It may be a neighbor, a financial setback, loss of a job, or dealing with sorry customer service when you need it. Regardless of where or when you find it, anyone with any life experience knows that it will be found.

    In reading the book of Proverbs, I find that 24:10, in the HCSB, says:

    If you do nothing in a difficult time, your strength is limited.

    As happens once in a while I wanted to look this up in different versions for more clarification. Many different translations choose to translate צרה (tsarah) as adversity. The second half of the verse has varied translations. The YLT version words it thus:

    Thou hast shewed thyself weak in a day of adversity, Straitened is thy power,

    Straitened? Words such as this are the price of reading a translation 114 years old. Characterized by poverty is what you’ll find in the Oxford dictionary. Your strength being characterized by poverty does not have a very flattering sound to it. It sounds at least a little bit like something one should be embarrassed of.

    In the mid-eighteenth century John Gill wrote men who do nothing in the midst of adversity have “a lack of manliness” (definite source of embarrassment, if you’re male) in them and that they act like children. Maybe it’s my age showing but it seems that such behavior is growing more prevalent today in Western thought. It shows in the lengths to which politically correct speech has gone. While certainly some words are exceptionally offensive and should not be uttered, the amount of posturing and crying we in the modern world sometimes put on for hurt feelings is, at times, dumbfounding. I can’t help but think that reflects an impoverished strength.

    Is there a principle here to apply to our physical health? Adversity restated is difficulty. The fact is taking charge of your health is difficult. We are constantly bombarded with anti-health messages. Advertising works. Companies spend billions on it. When for-profit enterprises spends billions every year for ages on something, you can rest assured that happens only because it works.

    Take this constant barrage and combine it with the fact that being weak is easy and you have a pretty good blueprint for rampant chronic diseases. Why do I say being weak is easy? Read my former mantras below and see if they sound familiar:

    • Cook at home? I don’t know how.
    • Healthy lunch? I don’t have time.
    • Give up sugar? I don’t eat that much.
    • Buy unprocessed & fresh foods? Too expensive.

    Whether you’re talking about your health, your professional life, your social life, or some other aspect our existence here on earth, overcoming adversity always leads to greater rewards than fleeing from it. When you find yourself facing adversity, take comfort knowing they are temporary. Take heart knowing the choice to be characterized by impoverished power is yours.

    This article was first published on March 29, 2015 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Shut up & Act

    Shut up & Act

    Most people born in the early 1990’s or before will remember  JUST DO IT as an advertising campaign for Nike. It ran from 1988 to 1998 as an encouragement to take action. I thought of it this morning while reading my Bible.

    Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action.1 John 3:18

    This passage talks about how Christians should treat each other, to the point of laying down our lives for one another. That’s pretty serious love! Like all basic truths, this principle applies in all aspects of life.

    Do you spend time always talking about how much you should or need to do something? I need to lose weight. I need to eat less garbage. I need to be more active. I need to call so-and-so.

    Do you also find yourself frequently wondering where the week went? Sadly, time flies whether you’re having fun or not!

    Time Flies

    The word action in that verse is translated from the Greek word ἔργον (e’r-gon). Thayer’s Greek Lexicon first listed meaning for ἔργον is “business, employment, that with which anyone is occupied.” One of the first topics discussed when two people meet? “What do you do?” Typical answers are usually along the lines of, “I am a (firefighter, attorney, mechanic, etc.)” or “I work for/own (insert business name).”

    Rather than talking about love, it should be our business or employment. We should be known by it. That which you constantly pay lip service to? Begin doing. As if it were your livelihood. Apply that to all aspects of your life and you can accomplish amazing things!

    This article was first published on March 22, 2015 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Pan Grilled Tuna

    Pan Grilled Tuna

    One of the most frequently cited reasons for not eating healthier is “I can’t afford it.” That ranks right up there with not having the time or the know-how. I understand all of those. There is no magic formula to address them either. They can be overcome with a little effort and dedication if you are willing.

    But today, once again, I’m talking about affordability. Affordability doesn’t always line-up with ease. For one thing, the USDA recognizes that “produce prices tend to be more volatile” than prices for staple foods. I think this statement can extend beyond produce to any fresh food. Prices for food free of stabilizers, preservatives and other chemicals has a reduced shelf life and is effected more by seasonality. This reduced shelf life translates into lost profit for retailers if the product isn’t sold and with a little effort, you can turn this to your advantage. For instance…

    This package containing two tuna steaks was in the local markets sale area. If your on a tight budget, the slightly more than 40% reduction in price can move fresh tuna steaks from the realm of a special evening meal that needs planning to, “Hey, how about this for dinner?”

    On Sale Tuna

    The steaks in this particular package found their way into a grill-pan. Prior to that, they were briefly soaked in a whisked together mix of:

    • Olive oil
    • Sesame oil
    • Red wine
    • Red wine vinegar
    • Salt & pepper

    I spooned it over them while they were cooking in the pan.

    Tuna-Cooking

    Cooked for a little less than a minute on each side they were then put on a plate to rest.

    Cooked-tuna-on-plate

    I followed up with a little of the oil mixture above that had been set aside and a tiny bit of wasabi paste.

    End result, a delicious, affordable tuna steak for about half of what you would expect it to cost.

    When relying on cost-savers to eat healthy, you do have to put forth a little more effort to ensure you are still getting a quality product. I would recommend that you shy away from reduced-price meat that has been highly seasoned if you can avoid it. Firstly, there have been cases where grocers were accused of using lots of seasoning to hide meats that were about to go bad. Second, you can’t be sure what that seasoning contains and one goal of healthy eating is to get more control over what goes into your body. If you shop at a reputable grocer you should have no issues.

    Concerned over cost saver meats/poultry/seafood? Read more:

    This article was first published on October 19, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Veg-Heavy Stir Fry

    We were talking about a dinner we’d made and the wife pointed out that this was a myth-busting meal. Whether through ignorance or malice I cannot say, but low-carb diets are often maligned as not containing enough vegetables. So, I present to you a veg-heavy stir-fry.

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    We’ve turned food preparation time into family time together. Everyone gets in on prepping the ingredients before we start cooking two batches. We’re blessed to have two wok-style pans. That way I can add a little sausage and egg into mine as well as a little extra kick. We each took what we wanted and tossed it into a pan of hot oil.

    • jalapeños
    • bell pepper
    • cabbage
    • almonds
    • mushrooms
    • snow peas
    • broccoli
    • onions
    • zucchini
    • garlic
    • water chestnuts
    • sausage
    • eggs
    • sriracha
    • assorted oils
      • olive
      • sesame
      • chili

    Myth buster. Low-carb is not low-vegetables. Secondly all of the ingredients for this, allowing about $3.00 for the oils, cost about $15.00. These two pans worked out to six individual meals. Myth two busts an excuse too, at $2.50/meal it’s hard to claim eating healthy is too expensive.

    cura ut valeas

    This article was first published on October 9, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Why I Don’t Use a Menu

    Why I Don’t Use a Menu

    I spend less money buying loss leaders, sales, and clearances, instead of ingredients for a set menu. For example, these hunks of meat were being placed in the quick sale bin and half off regular price.

    SavedPicture-2014817141331.jpg

    These two large steaks provided protein and fats for several meals at a per meal cost that beat a meal of made of dollar menu items.

    Not only did we enjoy them as steaks, we had some steak with peppers, onions, and Havarti too. This is another way to defeat those excuses that pop so readily into our minds. I can’t afford to eat healthy.

    Steak with Peppers and Onion

    Steak with Peppers and Onion

    Horseradish Havarti Cheesesteak

    Horseradish Havarti Cheesesteak

    This article was first published on August 27, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.