Sweet Meditation

I'm convinced that most of the stress we experience in our lives is from trying to live primarily out of our heads rather than out of our spirits, which is the true core of our being. People were not designed to live according to their own finite understanding, and it's exhausing when we try to do so. Decisions that continually come from own limited knowledge will often be flawed and take us in the wrong direction.
All this means that we tend to live stressed out lives trying to fix the messes we've gotten into or figuring out how to stay out of them in the first place!
Unfortunately, I've been schooled very proficiently in figuring things out and relying on my own understanding. If I were to draw a picture comparing the strength and size of my mind and my spirit, my mind would be grossly out of proportion to everything else because it gets so much exercise! It goes and goes and goes, like the Energizer Bunny, and only gets a break when I fall asleep.
On the other hand, my spirit doesn't get nearly as much exercise in a typical day. The Holy Spirit brought this thought to my attention recently, and I was faced with this startling fact: As a new creation in Christ, with my heart indwelt by the Holy Spirit, my spirit contains limitless resources to draw on. Why would I rely so much on my limited understanding and ignore the riches of wisdom residing within me?
Only because I would have to admit I don't know how to access that knowledge consistently. How can I exercise my spirit so I will rely on it more often rather than relying on my own thinking?
Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is our Helper, so when I feel stumped, that's the Person I go to for help. The answer I got was a simple instruction that anyone can do and which can easily fit into any person's schedule. God is so practical! 

Oh, the joys of those who do not
    follow the advice of the wicked,
    or stand around with sinners,
    or join in with mockers.
2 But they delight in the law of the Lord,
    meditating on it day and night.
3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
    bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither,    and they prosper in all they do. (Psalm 1:1-3 NLT; see also Joshua 1:8)

God's instructions are to meditate on His Word as much as possible, and the promise is to prosper in all that I do. Meditation is not memorizing Scripture or having Bible study. It's not prayer, as good as all of those spiritual disciplines are. It can best be described as savoring the Word of God -- chewing a small piece of it slowly and getting all of the nutrition and nourishment and taste out of it as possible. Just as someone can savor and enjoy a fine wine or a delectable dessert, you can savor and get the most out of what God wants to speak to you each day and make it personally nourshing to you.
I don't want to give you a formula, but I will share how this exercise works for me. In the morning after first awakening, I get into a comfortable position and close my eyes. (Best to do this after being well rested!) I ask the Holy Spirit what He wants to speak to me from His word. I quiet my mind and look inside my heart ... and wait. Before too long, words will float up to my mind. Sometimes they will be a verse I've read -- even from a long time ago -- or sometimes just a phrase.  
I repeat those words to myself several times, letting them roll around in my heart. I am not trying to analyze them or memorize them (that takes too much brain power), just let them say what they need to say to me. During this time I feel as though the Holy Spirit and I are sharing a secret. He is imparting to me things on His heart about the Word of God that He knows I will need for my journey. It is a relaxing time with Him. There is no pressure to perform, no goal I have to meet. My mind gets a much-needed rest, and I can feel my spirit being exercised and gaining strength through use.
It's the easiest, most pain-free, exercise I've ever done! 
Throughout the day, when my mind is free from other things, such as when I am driving, I let my thoughts return to those words. I find it helpful to write them down in a journal to refer to them again. Sometimes I will look up what some of the words mean in the original language in order to get more "food" to meditate on (this is easy to do using internet tools, such as Strong's Concordance). Before I fall asleep at night, I try to repeat my exercise of the morning with these same words from heaven. It's a wonderful way to fall asleep in peace! 
If you have ever gone without food for an extended time and then eaten a delicious meal, you will get an idea of the satisfaction that this type of spiritual exercise brings. For someone who has overworked her brain for so many years, it is a much needed rest that has brought a new level of peace and serenity to my life.  
Isn't it just like our loving Father to make spiritual exercise an absolutely delightful experience?
During the next few weeks, I'll share some verses that I have been meditating on and some of the nourishment I have received while doing so. I invite you to join me. My prayer is that you will begin asking the Holy Spirit how you can meditate in God's Word and enjoy these benefits for yourself!

Without a Doubt

Ever hear the saying, "Doubt and go without"?

I think that Jesus originated that saying. You might recognize it better in context. He said in Mark's Gospel, chapter 11, after cursing the fig tree. "Have faith in God!"

Then:
"I can guarantee this truth: This is what will be done for someone who doesn’t doubt but believes what he says will happen: He can say to this mountain, ‘Be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it will be done for him. That’s why I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours."

A promise that even mountains will obey my words -- wow! That sounds too good to be true. There must be a catch.

There isn't a catch, but for many years, the part of Jesus' words that tripped me up was what He said about doubt. Anytime I tried to believe God's promises and then later experienced thoughts of doubt and fear in my mind, I thought I had lost my faith and gave up on my request. It was discouraging because it seemed I couldn't keep those doubtful thoughts from coming, so I always had to keep starting over in my petitions to God. 

But that is not what Jesus is saying. Another passage about doubt in the book of James (chapter 1) is helpful. James defines doubt as wavering back and forth between two decisions instead of staying fixed on one direction. If you started down a path toward your destination, and then halfway along decided to stop or turn around and go back the way you came, you would never get to where you're supposed to be going.

That's what happens when we start out believing God and then allow doubt to derail us.

The opposite of wavering, then, is to be focused on your goal with determination. Faith means to stay the course, no matter what it looks like, seems like or feels like. It's up to us whether we decide to keep going forward or not.

When it comes to impossibilities happening in our lives, that resolute path means we keep going in the same direction as what we first affirmed, both with our words and our actions. The way we talk and the way we act should be aligned with what we say we believe. Our emotions may be screaming, "It's not working! God didn't hear you!" Our will may want to give up the fight. Our minds may be full of questions. It doesn't matter. We can say, like the Apostle Paul, "None of these things move me." We can focus instead on what God has promised, knowing that He cannot lie, and continue to move in the direction we started without giving up or letting go. 

Faith and doubt, then, are not so much uncontrollable feelings as they are attitudes inside us that determine if we will keep going or if we will draw back.

If we stay on the path of our belief in God's goodness and His promises, eventually those things that we continue to say will come into existence. Our words will be fulfilled.

It cannot be otherwise. Jesus promised.

Many Ways to God?

We've all heard the argument for diversity when it comes to a person's spiritual life: There are many ways to God, people say.

But God Himself put an end to that discussion when Jesus asked in the Garden of Gethsemane, before He was betrayed: "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me ..." (Matthew 26:39)

In other words, Jesus literally begged, "Father, if there's any other way to do this, please don't let this happen to me."

If the only way for me to rescue a person who was ready to perish was for my own child to die, I would be searching frantically for another way to get the job done. I would leave no stone unturned in my quest to spare my child suffering and death.

If the mighty, all-powerful God, who can do anything, said there is no other way to do this -- as He watched His Son sweat great drops of blood in agony -- then there is no other way.

If there was any way God could have kept His Son from dying going to hell, and still erase our sin and bring us to heaven, He would have done it.

But there wasn't any other way.

With Love, From Iloilo, Part 5

On a hot Monday morning, we met up with Mark and Yen Cabag, both natives Filipinos who pastor in Iloilo. I liked the couple immediately. They both had warm smiles, joy exuding out of them mixed with unconditional love and acceptance. They were taking us to the Dorcas House, an orphanage founded about 40 years ago by a Baptist missionary. The Cabages' youngest son, Samuel, whose adoption is being finalized, had been abandoned an an infant before finding his way to Dorcas House where Mark and Yen first met him. He had somehow survived the first two weeks of his life on only the water that rice had been boiled in before receiving love and care at the Dorcas House.

Pastor Mark had not always been interested in fostering or adopting children. The couple already had one son born to them. Then God gave Mark a vivid dream where a boy was floating down a river, in danger of drowning. Mark was able to reach out and rescue him, which left a profound impact on him. The couple decided to begin pursuing adoption of orphans.

Mark and Yen's old van had no air con (as the Filipinos call a/c), but there was a pretty good breeze through the lowered windows as we traveled far out into the countryside. First, though, we stopped at a roadside restaurant that was owned by someone in their congregation. They had called ahead and ordered us authentic Philippine cuisine, including some soup (it was hard to eat soup in such heat!), chicken feet (Zak, of course, tried it), and some halo-halo for dessert, a mixture of shaved ice, evaporated milk and various boiled sweet beans, fruit and cheese. It was a little too many diverse tastes and textures in one place for Jessika and me to enjoy. Zak loved it, although he had to fight off the flies that were contending for our food in our outdoor seating.

We arrived at the orphanage shortly afterward. The pastors had brought snacks for the children, which would help them warm up to the many white people they would be seeing that day. There were six of us Americans in all.

The older children were in school, leaving only the toddlers and babies. Unlike most children I am accustomed to, these children were extremely shy and non-inquisitive. Their passivity told me that they had either been abused or neglected before coming to the orphanage, which Yen confirmed.

I did not want to frighten any of the children, so I didn’t approach them but hoped they would eventually come toward me. For a long time that didn’t look like it would happen, although I got to hold an infant for a bit, until Jessika commandeered him. Finally, after about 90 minutes, one of the 18-month-old twin girls that I had been smiling at, finally got close enough for me to gently scoop her up and hold her. She did not resist. It was time to eat the spaghetti, hotdogs and ice cream that Mark and Yen had brought, so I sat her on my lap at the table to feed her. She didn’t reach out and grab everything within her grasp as you would expect a normal toddler to. She had serious brown eyes, far too big for her face that looked at me solemnly as she slowly slurped up the spaghetti or the ice cream I offered her. I wondered what kind of trauma she and her sister had experienced in their short lives, and I was glad they were getting love and nurture now. I prayed for the right family to come into their lives.

In direct contrast to these children, the kids we saw both at the Sonshine Center and the Hope Center at Calajunan were energetic and warmed up to us immediately. It was refreshing to see children enjoying playtime without phones, iPads or other electronic devices in front of their faces. When we were at the Sonshine Center waiting for the Saturday children’s service to start, they played outside on the swings, in made-up games that needed no equipment, basketball or plain old tag. They were happy children, for the most part, and appreciative as well.

During the service, there was lots of high energy singing and dancing, with everybody sweating buckets. At the teaching time, the 100-plus children sat on the floor with hands in their laps, listening or responding to questions. There were no multi-media presentations, just a simple object lesson from an animated group of teen-age and adult leaders. Children who weren’t paying attention were reminded to do so by the other teens who were on the perimeter “working the crowd.” Any child who didn’t heed their first or second warning to pay attention was taken out of the room for a conversation. The children obviously knew it was a privilege for them to come to the Sonshine Center because they could be asked to not return if they did not cooperate.

Each child left with a bag of rice and a bag of chicken gumbo-type of concoction. They bit a tiny hole in the bottom of the bag to suck the soup. When I tried it, I accidentally bit a hole in two corners and so made a huge mess with chicken soup dripping everywhere. I tried to clean up my mess, but Filipinos don’t believe in paper towels, and the napkins they use for eating are miniscule! It was not a pretty sight for me to wipe up the floor with the little pieces of paper.

Fortunately, we were getting ready to go to the ocean for the youth baptism, so I would soon be able to divest myself of chicken broth that had run down my arms ...

The ever-present Jeepneys took us to the beach where 27 young people were pledging their decision to follow Christ through water baptism.

We enjoyed a home-cooked chicken gumbo meal and then listened to Pastor Brenda, the youth leader, talk to the young people about what baptism means. Both Zak and Jessika got to share their testimonies about their own journeys of coming to Christ, with Zak getting to relate his story of having been baptized only a few months earlier in the States.

Then it was time to go out to the water where the baptismal candidates were immersed one by one by those who had been discipling them. These were teens not much older or the same age as those being baptized. Everyone shouted and clapped as the follower was immersed and came out of the water, smiling happily and praising God. Their joy and excitement was contagious, and Natalie said it must be what heaven is like.

To see photos of the event, go to http://natalieamattes.blogspot.com/.

With Love, From Iloilo, Part 4

Picking up where we left off in Calajunan: The missions team from Grace Church was trying to avoid a downpour at the city dump/squatter village, while I was secretly thanking God for the rain. It meant we didn’t have to go any further on our tour and endure the flies and unbearable stench of the trash.

Abigael, our guide, was ushering us quickly toward the road. It was a long walk, so she hailed a couple of taxi trikes to get us further out where a Jeepney could take us all the way home. Our trike driver was a woman about my age and size. We climbed aboard and sped off so quickly  that even the rain drops felt cold and stinging in that hot climate. I noticed that some of the other trikes had plastic coverings for the driver, but ours did not. Although we passengers were mostly covered by the awning over us, our driver was exposed to all the elements -- the large, and increasingly heavier, raindrops splattering on her bare arms.

I thought about the lightweight rain jacket that I had brought for the trip. It was one of my favorite jackets and was fairly new, at least for me. (I don’t buy clothes that often.) Since it was the rainy season in the Philippines, we had been told to bring our umbrellas and rain jackets with us. It was balled up at the bottom of my backpack, which traveled with me everywhere I went, along with a small roll of toilet paper, a tube of hand sanitizer, and a constantly used water bottle.

I recognized the gentle tug of the Holy Spirit inside, encouraging me to help someone in need. “Not my favorite jacket, Lord!” I protested. By this time, the driver had delivered us to the main road and we were clambering out. I knew if I waited longer, I would miss my opportunity. While everyone else was looking for oncoming jeepneys, I lingered at the trike, pulled out the jacket and handed it to her. She looked confused. Then she slowly held out her hand, “For me?” she said in her careful English.

I nodded and hurried over to the others. When I looked back at her, another client had climbed aboard, ready to leave. I watched her slide the jacket over her arms, rev up her bike, then raise her eyes, locking her gaze with mine. I will never forget the wonder in her look as she nodded her head in my direction before she sped off.

I don’t know what happened to that jacket. I like to think of my driver friend wearing it in the rain and remembering that somebody saw her need and cared about her. It’s more likely that she sold the jacket soon afterward to buy something her family needed more urgently. It doesn’t matter, though. The look in her eyes of surprise and appreciation at an unexpected gift was worth it all to me. 

With Love, From Iloilo, Part 3

Thoughts from culture shock:

When I thought about missions work (prior to ever stepping foot off of U.S. soil), I thought it would be about helping people. I thought it would be about how noble I would feel about myself. I thought it would be about altruistic sentiments and alleviating guilt about having so much while the rest of the world has so little.

I didn't think very much about how hard it would be on my pampered flesh and how much I would dislike feeling sweaty all of the time, eating unfamiliar food, not having hot water to bathe in, or the smells of poverty assaulting my senses.

It’s very easy to be a Christian in America.

After I had been in Iloilo for a few days, I began to see how much my “uncomfortable-ness” was making me depend on God. And that was a good thing! How funny that I worked so hard so much of my life to be comfortable! I would fight you to stay in my comfort zone. And all the while those efforts could be thwarting God's purposes for my life.

I am pretty sure after what I have experienced that always trying to keep my flesh comfortable will take me out of the will of God. God’s will is not always easy on our flesh. Change is not comfortable, so if we are always comfortable it means we are not changing, which means we are not growing.

Ouch.

I know we should have the comfort of the Holy Spirit, but that’s different than having everything on the outside always feeling great and to my liking. What this means to me is that I am going to have to purposely take myself out of my comfort zone when I am back in my middle-class home of comfort and relative ease, where most of my fleshly desires are pretty easily satisfied. I will have to stretch myself on purpose so that I can remember how dependent I am on God. I will have to put my flesh under and make it my slave, like Paul said, in order to not be disqualified for the prize.

It’s very hard to be a Christian in America.

With Love, From Iloilo, part 2

Day one and two in Iloilo: The Faith Center is a church plant in the relocation site of San Isidro, a congregation of about 30 people, which began at the first of the year. They meet in what looks to be a lean-to building added to the side of one of the houses.

San Isidro inhabitants were placed at the site several years ago due to typhoon Frank in 2008 when they lost everything they had. Since then, little progress has been made by the government in moving the families out; instead more families have been added due to other natural disasters. Currently about 2,000 people live there with more to be added soon.

The Thursday afternoon prayer meeting drew about 10 people (including our missions team) and assorted children. Another missionary, who had been filling in as guitar player for the worship team while Natalie was in the States, led us in some songs. Natalie was greeted by many happy faces and hugs, especially from the children. She conversed with them fluently in Ilongo, although she kept apologizing that her accent was rusty from being in the States for two months. I was told many times while on my trip by those that she ministered to that Natalie was especially beloved because she spoke to them in their mother tongue.

Everyone at the prayer meeting made us feel welcome, but we were so tired, it was hard to focus. Pastora Rose spoke English fairly well, and we went to dinner with her afterward, but the heat combined with the jet lag was getting to me. I am sure I was incoherent in trying to talk to her, and I was thankful when Natalie said it was time to leave.

When we got home, Natalie told me that she heard disturbing news that one of the women she had been discipling in San Isidro was no longer coming to church. The unsaved husbands of these women often think the Center is a cult, so they persecute their wives, sometimes even beating them.

On Friday morning, I woke up knowing that we were going to go to one of the toughest destinations on our itinerary: Calajunan. I had heard the stories from my daughter and son who had been on previous trips about the people who live as squatters at the huge city dump in Iloilo, and how a visit there rocks your world.

I was not to be disappointed.

We traveled with Abegail, a Filipina, who works alongside her husband, Nate, a missionary from the U.S. They serve the people of Calajunan through a children’s ministry, a church and livelihood projects to show people alternative ways to make a living and provide food for their families.  Abigael was 7 months pregnant with her second child; they have been working at the dump site for several years.

You can see Calajunan a long way off – a huge mountain of trash, baking in the heat while also saturated by the recent rains. You can smell it almost as soon as you can see it. I never thought much about the smells of poverty before. The pictures I see in the World Vision magazine that arrive in my mailbox every month spare me the realities of the sickening stench that accompanies intense poverty.

Imagine the trash in your outdoor garbage can sitting in the hot sun for weeks on end, the flies multiplying and swarming around it, the rotting smell that makes you gag. Now multiply that about one thousand times. I tried to keep my face from screwing up in distaste as we went on the tour with Abegail. She explained how the people lived as we walked on the narrow path between the trash dump and the “homes” of the squatters along the perimeter. The people there who lived in ramshackle lean-to’s seemed oblivious to the smell as well as to the flies that swarmed around them everywhere, in their food, in their faces, buzzing relentlessly. They smiled politely at us and greeted us with friendliness. As for me, I was afraid to talk, thinking that if I opened my mouth I would swallow several flies.

We saw a number of children and adults sorting through the trash on various locations on the dump. Abegail explained that the garbage collectors already had sifted through and taken anything “valuable,” so what the squatters mined through was trash indeed. Once a human leg had been found in the dump; syringes also had been found. The children often do not wear shoes.

Just when I thought I couldn’t stand the sights and smells any longer, we came to an area where the recent heavy rains had caused a portion of the dividing wall to fall in, so that the trash was now strewn across the path and practically touching the homes located there. Here the flies appeared almost as a black blanket in front of us, thick and noisy. The stench was terrific. I wanted so badly for our “tour” to be over and return to the relative comfort of Natalie’s house.

I searched on the inside for some strength so I wouldn’t turn and start off in the other direction. I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Do you like being here?”

“No!” I shouted on the inside, almost before He could get the question out. “I want to leave!”

Without hesitating a second, Jesus said, “I love it here.” That shook me to the core. I knew it was because He loved the people here, people that He had died for. I wondered how I would respond if God asked me to serve these people every day, like he had asked of Nate and Abegail. Just then, we heard thunder and a hint of the smell of rain in the air. Natalie and Abegail both knew it was time to make our exit, or we could be caught in a deluge. I was thankful when we turned around and headed for the road.

I knew my heart had such a long way to go to be totally His.

With Love, From Iloilo

The short-term missions team from Grace Church (me, Jessika Martin and Zak Phillips) started our two-week adventure Monday, June 24, with a less than stellar beginning. Our flight from St. Louis to Los Angeles was delayed for three hours, causing us to miss our international connection to Korea on Monday night. My oldest daughter Natalie Mattes, missionary to Iloilo, who was coming from Dallas to meet us in LA and accompany us to the Philippines, purposely missed her flight so she could travel with us. That turned out to be a lifesaver as I had never traveled internationally before and had not been briefed on a lot of the things I would need to know to navigate the international airports.

The three days of travel were a blur of cramped seating on airplanes, waiting in terminals, snatching sleep with our backpacks as pillows, security checks, baggage checks, customs, Asian food in small portions, changing flight reservations, making unexpected hotel reservations, and the sing-song voices of the Korean flight attendants trying to make the 12-hour flight from Incheon Airport to Manila more bearable. The extra funds we had raised over our budget turned out to be essential as we incurred a number of expenses we hadn't planned for because of the delay.

We finally arrived in Iloilo after another two-hour delay in the Manila airport. We were able to make some good use of the time, though, by visiting the Cinnabon there and a fruit smoothie kiosk. I felt proud that I turned down cinnamon rolls for the fresh fruit smoothie, until Natalie told me how much sugar syrup they put in them to make them taste so good. For the record, Zak ate both high-calorie items!

At 6'4", Zak had his first encounter with an awestruck Filipino when the security officer at the Manila Airport kept shaking his head in wonder. "How old are you?" he asked. "How tall are you? What do you eat to make you grow so tall?" Zak handled it all in good humor. It was the first of numerous stares and jaw-dropping looks that he got, as he towered above all of the Filipinos we met.

Our first experience on the roads in the Philippines was in the taxi-van we used to get us and all of our stuff from the Iloilo airport to Natalie's house. It was now Thursday, June 27, a full four days after our journey had begun; (we "lost" a day crossing the international date line.)

Apparently there are no traffic signs or lights in Iloilo. There are no yield signs either. There were no speed limit signs that I could see. There were no signs at all! The van driver probably passed five cars at once, driving on the wrong side of the road, merrily beeping his horn as he went by everyone. Whoever got to the intersection first, or muscled their way in, had the right of way. Drivers made U-turns whenever and wherever they wanted. They also turned in either direction no matter what lane they were in. It was bewildering and harrowing to say the least, as they all appeared to be vying for spots in the Indy 500. I tried to watch out of the side window instead of looking ahead as we sped along the bumpy road. I was hoping Zak and Jessika, both new to driving at ages 16 and 15 respectively, weren't internalizing all of the bad habits they were witnessing.

As we arrived at her house, Natalie gave us the option of "jumping in" immediately or taking it easy. We could stay at her house and relax a little while, or we could go to the San Isidro relocation site, to the church plant she was involved with, and join them for their weekly prayer meeting on Thursday afternoon.

We decided to jump in. Why not?

More to come!!   

Re-evaluating: Bod for God, Part 4

Spiritually: Isaiah 40:29-31 ²⁹ He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. ³⁰ Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. ³¹ But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Through faith, God will give me new strength. I know that is referring to spiritual strength, but I don’t think it is stretching Scripture to also trust the Lord for emotional and physical strength. If I’ve let my body do what it wanted to for a long time, understandably, it will take some time and God’s strength to bring it back to control. It will also take God’s strength to keep my flesh in control. The promise remains…I can be strong in the LORD rather than my own strength.

Mentally: So far, you have increased your understanding of interval training, core training, and antioxidants. Maybe you’ve been doing all or part of this plan and are seeing good improvement in habits. Nice! 

If you have begun to let it slide and have that nagging feeling in the back of your mind that says, “I’ll never be able to keep this up three months from now…” do this. Just back off in intensity for a day or two or a few days, even a week. 

I spoke one day to a very fit and healthy older person and asked him, “How long do you plan on working out like this?” I’ll never forget his reply, “Oh, I’ll never stop; this is a way of life for me.” The greatest challenge I face is to change my thinking to something like,“I’ll fight muscle atrophy and unhealthy fat storage on my body all my life one day at a time…” and then change my habits to match that ideal. 

When I back off of intensity and simply focus on the habit of getting myself regularly in an environment for some kind of exercise – even if it is just walking – I win the habit battle for that day. Nearly every time I do that my body takes over and says, “Oh well, we’re here, might as well work out…”  It really works! 

Here’s a little video that is well worth the 10 minutes it takes to watch. It is great encouragement to do the one thing most of us can all do a few times a week. This is low intensity and helps when you just don’t have it for the higher intensity interval training. 

There are many studies confirming that just walking one mile (or 30 minutes) a few times a week will prevent type 2 diabetes (58%); strengthen the heart, bones, joints and muscles; help your brain; reduce depression (47%) and cancer risk (18% for breast cancer alone).  If you’re still not convinced check this out…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo

Schedule:  If you are sore, knock off the high intensity regimen and walk 30 minutes 4 or 5 times this week.  Let your body recover but stay in the habit of doing some kind of exercise.

If you are not sore, then this week you might challenge yourself to try my 50s workout.  You can do it 2-4 times this week.  It is really simple.  It doesn’t matter what exercise you do or which machines you use, just do 50 reps with as little rest as you can manage. 

When I crossed 40 years of age, I noticed I kept hurting myself on heavier weights. Then I’d have to rehab for several weeks – sometimes several months. I finally figured out that I was going too heavy too fast. So, I increased my reps significantly. 

Now, my first rep on any machine is never less than 20. I only go up slightly for the next 10-15 reps. By then I’ve got plenty of blood flowing through that muscle group I’m working and can go heavier for the last 10-15 reps.  Remember, no rest, or at least minimal rest in-between. Your goal is 50 straight – not the conventional “3 sets” most people promote.

This regimen has not only prevented injury but has helped rehab previous injuries. Wish I’d figured this out a long time ago. Not only is it a safer workout than the standard “3 sets of 6-10 reps going heavier each time,” but – if you minimize rest through your 50 – will give you quite a bit of aerobic value in your workout. 

You can do 50s with machines or body weight exercises like pushups, pull ups, etc. There are so many machines and exercises. Just figure out what will isolate each muscle group without unnatural pain given your current strength, health, body type and injury status. I try to do 50s on all the muscle groups with as little rest between machines as possible. Don’t go more than 40-50 minutes or so.  Get in and get out so you’ll go tomorrow and keep building positive habits. 

Eating:  Alright, here’s the biggie. Conquering the hunger monster. There is one thing that has helped me more than anything in getting to and maintaining healthy body weight.  After organized sports were over for me in my 20s, I noticed the familiar tire developing around my waist. So I played more basketball. When I was 30, my knees couldn’t take recreational basketball any more, so I started running. I ate more, so I had to run more…ad infinity.  You know the story.

Eventually my knees and back didn’t like the running either. Then I went to machines. I was a regular hamster or gerbil constantly running on a wheel.  The more I ate the more I had to get on a machine to work it off. And, I was losing the battle – both mentally and physically.  “Ah, what’s the use?” I began to think. 

Then I found protein. I knew about protein from sports and body building but I didn’t include it strategically in my diet – on purpose. 

What I was doing was trying to fight hunger. Most diets are about eating less. Of course pushing away from the table is part of the equation.  However, if you really want to win this battle…eat reasonable amounts of quality protein before anything else. Then your desire for other not-so-good-for-you foods (cake, ice cream, bad breads, etc.) will significantly lessen.  And, those foods are the major cause of unwanted weight gains.

The rule of thumb is, “Don’t fight hunger – feed it with what your body is craving – high quality proteins.”  Then the hunger will not only subside but will stay away for much longer periods of time. 

My dentist got me on oatmeal in the morning.  Oatmeal – not the “quick oats” in paper bags – but the old fashioned Quaker Oats that your gut has to work hard to digest. That’s the oatmeal that has good protein and makes your body work to assimilate it. I prepare it with skim milk, honey and cinnamon. And, it is fast.  Microwaves cook it in 2 minutes, it cools for 3 minutes, and 5 minutes to eat it.  Elementary, but don’t overlook the benefits, which are mainly that you won’t get hungry until late morning or even noon – meaning, you just beat hunger for half the day! 

I also use green protein and whey protein. Green is better because it is plant protein, but I also like a scoop of chocolate protein in milk before or after a workout. If you’re like me when I get hungry, I’ll eat anything on the table and then want to chew on the table. So I’ve learned to think ahead to ward off ravaging hunger with protein. 

Protein is also found in high concentrations in many plants. People poke fun at “rabbit food” (salads, nuts, berries, and fruits), but I’ve yet to see a slow, overweight rabbit! Nuts, berries, lean meats, etc. are all great sources of great proteins and good kinds of fat.  I throw all that in my salads with raisins and some dressing with extra virgin olive oil (more omegas). 

Anyhow, you get the idea…feed hunger first with protein then eat other foods if you still need or want. Here is a great shake. Of course, modify it to suit your tastes and needs. There are reasons for each ingredient but you can look up the health benefits on your own if you’re interested…

6 - 8 ounces of skim milk (can do water but I don’t like it with just water.) 

5 tablespoons whey protein isolate.  I use this one.  5 lbs last me 6-10 months for about $50…

http://www.supplementwarehouse.com/viewitem.asp?idproduct=4909

2 tablespoons natural apple cider vinegar with the mother (health food store, Wal-mart doesn’t carry this)

2 heaping tablespoons of yogurt

Couple sprinklings of cinnamon

1 tablespoon flaxseed oil (good fats packed with omegas!)

1 tablespoon safflower oil (good fats packed with omegas!)

2 tablespoons (or more) soy lecithin

1 teaspoon MSM powder (if I don’t have it already as a vitamin pill supplement)

1 teaspoon glutamine powder (If I’ve been working out)

Cup or more of frozen mixed fruit like blueberries, strawberries, etc. Find what you like. I love bananas but gag on this shake with banana for some reason. Frozen blueberries work the best for me.

Blend in a blender, but put the milk and frozen fruit in first so the powder doesn’t clog the blender. 

Report: I did not want to go workout this morning at all.  But just getting there seeing others work out stepped up my motivation, and I got in a good intense workout. Stepping back and taking time to review your goals one evening this week before you go to bed will also help to give you the motivation to continue toward progress.  Who have you given permission to to ask you about your habits? Have fun!

The information contained in this blog is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, it is provided for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider before starting any new treatment or discontinuing an existing treatment. Talk with your healthcare provider about any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Staying With It: Bod for God, Part 3

Spiritually: Galatians 5:22, 23 “…But the fruit of the Spirit is …self-control…” (NIV).

Grace-based health and nutrition is so much better than works-based.  In my experience, self-control is not the same as strong will-power.  Godly self-control is the God-given ability to control all my appetites.  The principle is -- and I guess the ideal is -- that I won’t be controlled by anything except God.  Fruit (of the spirit) has to have time to grow.  Once this fruit of self-control is developed, it will keep on carrying me long after any effort from my will-power has given up.  I like to think it is more about God’s power – not so much about my own.

Mentally: Find out what 80% of your heart rate is for your age, weight, etc.  If you have done the first two weeks of the plan, you should be ready to do this next step.  Understanding your training range is important.  Staying under that range won’t burn fat.  Going over that range will burn fat faster but is difficult to maintain.  I like using interval training pushing it to about 80% most of the time.

Schedule:  Getting your heart rate up to about 80% for one minute, then taking it down to 40 or 50% for one minute and repeating this for at least 12-30 minutes three or four times this week is interval training.  Then cool down for at least 5 minutes.  It doesn’t matter what machine you do it on, just so your heart rate gets up.  Sprints and jogging work, but I don’t recommend it because of the higher injury potential.  I blew both my heels out when I tried it on the track (Plantar Fasciitis) and it took me two painful years to recover.  The Stairmaster machine works the best for me.  Swimming is another good option.  Challenge yourself but don’t hurt yourself!

Eating:  The information below is on antioxidants. 

Report:  How’s it going?  This is week 3; any progress yet?  Are habits forming?  Who are two people you can talk to about what you’re doing?  It is amazing how we can inspire each other!

Antioxidants

After the age of 20, and more so after the age of 40, vital substances that protect our bodies begin to decline. In men, there is a decline in testosterone, which falls off dramatically after the age of 40 or 50. The same is true with the vital adrenal hormone DHEA that converts to testosterone.

At around 50, the presence of Coenzyme Q10 falls off dramatically. At the same time, the pineal gland starts to shut down at an increasing rate and leaves the body, and especially the brain, vulnerable to age-related degeneration and destruction. As these hormonal processes are taking place, our bodies also experience destructive assaults from outside. There is pollution in the air from chemicals emitted by manufacturing and from tobacco smoke.

There are pollutants and excess minerals in most of the water that we drink. Ultraviolet rays from sunlight damage and age our skin. Some chickens and beef are fed antibiotics and steroids to cause them to fatten quickly before they are marketed. When we ingest the flesh of these animals, we experience further assault. Fish, while otherwise having health benefits, may contain toxic mercury; plus, some mercury gets into the body from mercury-containing dental fillings. Fluoride from most drinking water and aluminum from various dietary sources also add to the body’s metal burden.

In addition, during the complex processes of living, our bodies produce substances which attack our cells. These products of our own bodies are called free radicals that result when we breathe oxygen and burn food for energy. Free radicals are produced in large quantities by strenuous energy-producing work or exercise. The free radicals are called such because each free radical is missing an electron which makes it unstable and sends it on a course of destruction seeking its missing electron from otherwise healthy cells.

Even our DNA can be attacked by free radicals — up to 100,000 free radicals per day. The rate of the most serious DNA damage by free radicals increases ten-fold from the age of 20 to the age of 65.  Dr. Bruce Ames at the University of California, Berkeley, has shown that the lack of antioxidant nutrients like selenium, vitamin C, vitamin E and others can result in DNA damage that mimics the same damage to DNA caused by exposure to atomic radiation.

It is these free radicals from within or without that cause a weakening of our cells and bring about the many conditions associated with aging and such increasingly frequent ailments as cancer, heart condition, atherosclerotic disease, and very possibly all the neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s). People use the term “rust out” to describe some of the processes of aging and the term is not too far off because it is oxidation that causes the rusting in metal and it is the oxidation brought about by free radicals that can cause gradual or very rapid aging in every human being.

According to the book by Klatz and Goldman, published by Keats Publishing, Inc., titled Stopping The Clock, “Over 100 studies have shown that people with a high level of beta carotene in their diet and blood are only about half as likely to develop cancer in the lungs, mouth, throat, esophagus, larynx, stomach, breasts, or bladder.

Harvard Research studying some 87,000 female nurses found that a high intake of vitamin C cut the risk of heart disease about 20 percent; high doses of vitamin E caused the risk to drop by 34 percent; and high levels of beta carotene cut heart disease risks by 22 percent. Moreover, high doses of all three vitamins slash the risk of heart disease by 50 percent. Coenzyme Q10 helps prevent atherosclerosis, angina, and heart attacks.” CoQ10 also helps prevent cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

To think that it is so simple and so inexpensive to prevent the ravages of aging! It is a mistake to think that aging is a disease or that the apparent effects of old age and senility are natural consequences of growing old.

You can read two excellent books, Stopping The Clock, (just mentioned), and Judy Lindberg McFarland’s, Aging Without Growing Old, published by Western Front, Ltd.  With a few simple vitamins and minerals you can clearly cut the risks of cancer, heart disease, hardening of the arteries, lesions of the skin, diabetes, and very possibly Alzheimer’s by regularly taking the following substances which can be obtained at any health food store.

1. Multivitamin. Your vitamin schedule should include a therapeutic multivitamin with minerals. The so-called minimum daily requirements of vitamins published by the government are frankly nonsense. This may be adequate to prevent pellagra and scurvy, but it hardly gives you the protection you need to maintain the cells of your body at peak performance.

Sometimes the therapeutic multivitamin and mineral preparation will include the necessary antioxidant vitamins and minerals without further supplementation. Supplement with larger quantities than even the high-potency multivitamins provide. A good multivitamin will contain the essential B-Complex vitamins, plus many of the trace minerals like copper, zinc, magnesium, calcium, etc., necessary for good health. Most women, after menopause, and adult men should avoid vitamins containing iron. Iron accumulates with aging and is one of the most powerful free radical generators known.

2. Vitamin E. Supplement the multivitamin with enough vitamin E to bring your daily intake up to between 400-800 IU per day. Vitamin E is considered the most effective biologic antioxidant. Vitamin E prevents the oxidation of cells and is a powerful antioxidant protecting against air pollution, damage against radiation, prevents clotting of blood vessels, prevents stroke, and strengthens the immune system. In addition, several studies have shown vitamin E’s protective effect against the neurodegenerative diseases. It is particularly helpful for any type of endurance athletics.

Some doctors have found that vitamin E returns an aging person’s immunity to almost youthful levels. In one test with vitamin E, white blood cells that fight infection were up 10-50 percent within thirty days. Some other immune functions were up 80-90 percent. The free radicals in chemical air pollution attack the cells of our lungs. Vitamin E short-circuits the creation of lipid peroxide molecules according to Drs. Klatz and Goldman. Vitamin E reduces clotting of the blood and, therefore, reduces the risk of stroke.

Most surgeons or dentists would recommend against taking vitamin E just prior to surgery because of their desire to minimize blood flow during those procedures. A  3 d-alpha tocopherol succinate is the best variety, followed by E composed of mixed tocopherols. However, avoid synthetic vitamin E (acetate) because it is poorly absorbed (especially in the brain) and has no effect on cancer.

3. Beta carotene. 10,000 IU per day. One doctor found, “Those physicians who took 50 milligrams (80,000 IU) of beta carotene as a supplement every other day had not quite half as many heart attacks, strokes, and deaths as those who did not.” Vitamin A not only protects against infection, but also seems to be one of the most important nutrients against cancer.

Vitamin A is helpful in stimulating an immune function that is suppressed by extensive surgery and can correct age-related immune dysfunction, returning immunity to a more youthful condition. It is said to limit oxidation-type reactions that neutralize free radicals inside the cells. (Beta-carotene produces vitamin A in the body without some of the dangerous side effects of taking vitamin A directly.

Vitamin A in very large doses has been found to be toxic, but usually that toxicity is in the 50,000 to 100,000 IU level of vitamin A a day, which is much higher than what is normally recommended.) Nevertheless, studies of beta carotene, which converts to vitamin A in the liver, found no toxicity at any concentration in all age groups, including children.

Beta carotene is part of a class of nutrients called carotenoids — 40 of which are in the human diet. Consider taking a supplement of mixed carotenoids that contains not only beta carotene, but substances like lutein, lycopene, and zeaxanthin. None of these converts to vitamin A and they are especially potent against cancer.

4. Vitamin C. The third in the trio of essential antioxidant vitamins is vitamin C. Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling recommends dosages as high as 17,000 milligrams. For therapeutic benefit, at least 1,000 milligrams, which could be split into two 500-milligram doses daily. If a cold or flu is coming on, step up to 5,000 milligrams twice a day. Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant to protect against cellular damage. It helps with wound healing and burns. It provides for the proper functioning of the nervous system and plays a role in protecting against excitotoxicity.

Excitotoxins are found in foods under names like aspartame (sweetener), monosodium glutamate (MSG), hydrolyzed protein and yeast extract. Excitotoxins can stimulate brain cells to death and produce huge numbers of free radicals, according to nutritional neuroscientist Dr. Russell Blaylock, author of Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills.

Vitamin C increases resistance to infections. It raises HDL (which is good cholesterol). It protects against industrial pollutants. It protects from cardiovascular disease and prevents the build-up of atherosclerotic plaque on the blood vessel walls. With absence of vitamin C there can be excessive bleeding, bruising, muscle weakness and painful joints, and very slow healing of wounds.

This vitamin also protects against the harmful nitrosamines produced by eating deli meats, sausage, and bacon. With vitamin C, make sure that it contains what is called a “citrus bioflavonoid complex” which is derived from the rind of citrus. The bioflavonoids are free radical scavengers, help prevent bruising, and decrease the permeability and fragility of blood vessels (which lead to varicose veins and hemorrhoids.) The bioflavonoids make vitamin C much more powerful.

Get 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C each, and 500 milligrams of bioflavonoids mixed together with the vitamin C. The bioflavonoids prolong the activity of the vitamin C in the bloodstream and help to control iron in the body. For some people, taking a buffered vitamin C may be preferable as this variety is easily absorbed and prevents stomach irritation. Many studies have indicated that vitamin C reduces the risk of cancers of the colon, pancreas, esophagus, rectum, and especially the stomach.

Vitamin C reverses the biological clock by rejuvenating white blood cells in the elderly. According to one study cited by Klatz and Goldman and conducted by researchers at the University of California/Los Angeles in 1992, of 11,000 people, men who consumed the most vitamin C (about 150 milligrams a day) had a 35 percent lower mortality rate than men who consumed only 30 milligrams a day. According to them, some 120 studies show that “Vitamin C is a virtual vaccination against cancer.”

The vitamin is also vital in protecting the brain, especially in conjunction with vitamin E. Alzheimer’s patients have very low brain vitamin C levels. Taken together, these principal antioxidant vitamins have a synergistic effect which clearly causes those who take them to have a much lower risk of debilitating disease, especially heart disease and cancer.

Considering how cheap and plentiful these vitamins are, it would be foolish not to take them sufficient quantities to maintain good health or reverse some of the effects of ill health. If your therapeutic multivitamin tablet is deficient, take supplemental beta-carotene (A), E, and C. There are three other essential antioxidants which can help reverse aging and bring about more radiant health.

5. Selenium.  The absence of a mineral called selenium can increase the risk of cancer and heart disease. Without selenium, neither vitamin E nor glutamine are nearly as effective. Even those who keep horses notice that the absence of selenium in pastures can lead to a wasting and sickness in horses. Regional studies found a correlation between the so-called “stroke belt” (Georgia and the Carolinas, where the stroke rate is by far the highest in the US) and low levels of selenium in the soil and water.

A landmark study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that a supplement of 200 micrograms of organically bound selenium (SelenoExcell is one) reduced the occurrence of virtually every form of cancer. There is some level of toxicity of selenium over 1,000 micrograms and, therefore, it is unwise to consider any more than 400 micrograms. Selenium is necessary for growth and protein synthesis, and it serves as an antioxidant for the cells to protect against oxygen exposure and exposure to toxic pollutants.

According to Drs. Klatz and Goldman, “Selenium works with the antioxidant glutathione (derived from glutamine) to bind the toxic heavy metals mercury, lead, and cadmium in a process called chelation. Selenium also helps detoxify peroxidized fats, alcohol, tobacco smoke, and drugs.”

6. Alpha Lipoic Acid. Christian physician, Dr. Charles Warne, says alpha lipoic acid will enhance physical performance and is described by Judy Lindberg McFarland as “an exciting antioxidant which is an important link in the vital antioxidant network and it is multifunctional.”

According to Judy in her excellent book, Aging Without Growing Old, alpha lipoic acid “has been shown to energize metabolism, to be a key compound for producing energy in the muscles, and it is important for everything we do from physical activity to thinking. Alpha lipoic acid unlocks energy from food calories and directs these calories away from fat production to energy production. The excitement about this nutrient can be seen in the many recent studies focusing on how alpha lipoic acid improves the physique, combats free radicals, protects our genetic material, slows aging, helps protect against heart disease, cancer, cataracts, and diabetes, and many other diseases.”

The body makes a small amount of lipoic acid, but you will need a supplement as you age. Between 100 and 200 milligrams, depending on your weight. Will do.  Alpha lipoic acid is available in health food stores. It is not recommended for pregnant women until further studies have been completed.

7. Coenzyme Q10. Coenzyme Q10, which is described by Drs. Klatz and Goldman as “the miracle heart medicine.” John Rea, who at age 49 came in third in the world in the 26-Hour Double Ironman Triathlon (just think 200 miles bicycling, 52 miles running, and 4 miles swimming — nonstop for twenty-six hours), said that one of his secrets was the continuous ingestion of the vitamins and minerals I have been recommending plus large quantities of Coenzyme Q10. CoQ10 is important to energy manufacturing in the human body and is found in the mitochondrial membranes where it manufactures adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

ATP is the basic energy molecule of the entire human body. It is needed in great quantities in cardiac tissue cells and also in the organ that purifies waste (the liver). According to Drs. Klatz and Goldman, “CoQ10 declines rapidly beginning at age 20, and dropping almost 80 percent at the end of middle age. Some researchers believe that the loss of CoQ10 is related to degenerative heart disease at the age of 50. Other possible reasons for the body’s depletion of this enzyme could be attributed to free radical damage to mitochondrial membranes or perhaps the process of lipid peroxidation — the same process that makes butter rancid, that damages other membranes in our cells.”

CoQ10 protects fat molecules from being oxidized by the free radicals that continually attack fat cells. It supports the activity of the mitochondria that burn oxygen to manufacture energy within cells. CoQ10 also dramatically boosts the immune function. CoQ10 has been recommended at between 60-90 milligrams a day. Some suggest 120-390 milligrams for those who wish to prevent signs of aging.

Judy Lindberg McFarland indicates that there seems to be virtually no side effects to CoQ10. According to her, “It is one of the safest substances ever tested, even in high dosages.” Take about 200 milligrams a day, but more if engaged in any kind of stressful athletic activity. It takes about three months of use for the beneficial effects of CoQ10 to begin to be demonstrated.

There is some thought that CoQ10 may be beneficial in such dreaded diseases as Lou Gehrig’s, and Judy McFarland says that in addition to its abilityto regenerate aging tissues and to alleviate the effects of many aging-related processes and age-associated diseases, CoQ10 is “effective in other areas such as periodontal disease (gum disease), hypertension or high blood pressure, muscular dystrophy, cancer, athletic performance, weight loss, anti-aging, and thyroid and thymus gland function.” 

4 books that will give a complete rundown on sports nutrition, vitamins, and minerals for maximum health.

1.    Bill Phillips of EAS, Sports Supplement Review-Sports and Weight Lifting, Mile High Publishers, Box 277, Golden, Colorado 80402.

2.    Judy Lindberg McFarland, Aging Without Growing Old, Lindberg Nutrition, 3804 Sepulveda Blvd.,Torrance, CA 90505.

3.    Drs. Klatz and Goldman, Stopping The Clock, Keats Publishing, 27 Pine Street, New Canaan, CT 66840.

4.    Dr. Russell Blaylock, Health and Nutrition Secrets That Can Save Your Life, Health Press, P.O. Box 1388, Santa Fe, NM, 87504.

      The information contained in this blog is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, it is provided for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider before starting any new treatment or discontinuing an existing treatment. Talk with your healthcare provider about any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.