Pamela Koefoed's Blog, page 9

Something That’s Been on My Heart

Tonight, I won’t be talking about exercise. Don’t worry! I’m not slacking; each time I rise from my chair, for the first ten steps or so I walk as though my legs are strapped to boards. My sore thigh and abdominal muscles testify that I’ve worked them pretty hard.

Neither Vern nor I stretched out enough after Faithful Workout’s killer leg and abdominal routine that we whole-heartedly participated in Saturday evening. And now, we’re paying the price for our oversight and learning a good lesson–after putting them through their paces, muscles need some T.L.C.

There’s something of greater importance on my heart than exercise and nutrition that I want to talk with you about.

Many years ago, I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, possibly the result of the Epstein Barr virus of which I tested positive.

For five years, my energy level was so low that a simple activity like brushing my teeth drained the little strength that I had. During that season, I visited doctors, a nutritionist, and I spent hundreds of dollars on health products.

Eventually, I found a nutritional supplement that alleviated my suffering. But if I stopped taking it, my energy level did a nosedive into a dark and scary pit.

I wish I could describe the intense joy that I experienced on the day when the Chronic Fatigue suddenly vanished. It was as if someone gave me a second chance at living.

Nutrition, lots of good water, exercise, some sunshine, and rest were beneficial, but these things didn’t cure me.

How did I get well? My miracle came from the Lord as a direct answer to prayer.

If you have chronic poor health and have done all that you can to find a cure, I want you to be encouraged. Miracles happen for other people, and they can happen to you.

Put your trust in the Lord and pray. A person who learns how to pray and to rest in the knowledge that God hears prayer is a person who has learned to be without fear.

Fear, anxiety, and worry–typical conditions of modern society–contribute to disease. At the opposite end of the spectrum is faith. Trusting in God contributes to improved quality of living, and is beneficial for this life and for the one to come (1 Timothy 4:8).

So, as we each pursue better health, let’s remember to keep going after God.

Wishing you all the best,

Pamela

Muffin Top

We had to go to the city today. To remodel homes older than 1980, Vern was required by the state of Oregon to take a lead-based paint certification course. I went along to keep him company on the hundred-mile drive.

Sticking to a “diet” while traveling is tough at best. How do you find something on a restaurant menu that isn’t fried, baked, or sautéed in unhealthy oil or drenched in cheese, seasoned with bacon, or blended with cream?

Knowing this, we opted to take our own lunches. Vern made avocado and cheese sandwiches on healthy bread for himself. But he had no idea of where to begin with a lunch for me. I didn’t want the mayo, or the cheese, or the bread.

Until this morning, the idea of brown bagging a lunch sounded adventurous. We could park anywhere, choose a spot with a view of the snow dusted mountains, and enjoy our meal without restaurant noise. It would be just the two of us and our food, just the way we like it.

All I could come up with, however, was a salad. A plain, ordinary green salad. I threw lettuce, spinach and tomatoes together, plopped the mixture into a quart sized mason jar, and hurried out the door.

After finding a view spot, we parked the car, and we pulled out our lunches. The very second that Vern bit into his sandwich, the aroma from the cheese–it’s one of my favorites with little bits of spicy peppers throughout it–filed our car’s interior with a mouth watering, tanginess. My poor salad, lay limp at the bottom of the jar; the romaine and spinach leaves had wilted and shrunk to half their original size. I ate it without complaint.

Having an afternoon without demands on my attention was a gift from God. I could do anything–shop, visit interesting sights, anything. I left Vern at the college and headed for a newly opened coffee house. For the next two-hours, I lost myself in writing, The experience, a tonic for my soul, produced a rush of deep contentment and euphoria. It was pure bliss.

Every now and then, I paused and rested my hand, and searched my mind for a particular verb or for a better way to express a concept. Across from me, a bakery window with three shelves of pastries caught my glance. After wondering what sort of goodies were available, I pulled my eyes back to my project and resumed writing.

Then I paused, stared at the “forbidden fruit,” and pondered my latest sentence. Could a strong verb replace the adjective? Could my latest concept be made more concise?

“Can I get you something?” A young waitress said, breaking my concentration. “Would you like something else?” She smiled down at my empty tea glass.

For the next few moments, I learned about each of the sweet delicacies on those shelves. The owner made everything from scratch, the waitress told me. There were donuts filled with cream, donuts with a sprinkling of crisp bacon, fritters the size of dinner plates, and freshly baked muffins.

“These are muffin tops,” she pointed at the little cakes. “They aren’t deep fat fried,” she said. (Less cholesterol, I reasoned.) And since they’re only one-fourth the size of the average muffin, they have only one-fourth the calories of the average muffin. (I rationalized some more.) They’re apple cinnamon. Apples are good for just about everything. And cinnamon will even out my blood sugar.

I rolled it around and around in my mind until I knew what I must do. The waitress, an excellent salesperson, obviously wanted me to buy something from the window, and how could I disappoint her?

She and the muffin top won.

Late Night Stretch

I’m determined to keep to my commitment of exercising six-days per week. Today has been one of those days when everything runs behind schedule.

The first meeting of the day ran a little later than expected. The next meeting began fifteen-minutes later than it should’ve (due to the other meeting).

Vern and I made chicken-vegetable soup and the soup made dinner an hour later than usual. (Well, the soup’s cook was running a little slow tonight.) Then there was the phone. A family emergency. And now I finally have time to exercise when I should be in bed. Oh yeah, that’s where Vern is. My exercise partner gave up while I was on the phone with his mom. I found him under the covers, lights out.

Just in case you’re following along with us, here’s the link to tonight’s exercise work out, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNtz_...

I’ve picked a six-minute stretch video with Faithful Workouts for the ideal way to slow down at the end of a busy day. Since I really need to be in bed where my wise husband is soundly sleeping, tonight’s exercise routine will be short and sweet. I’ll make up for it tomorrow.

Happy Stretching,

Pamela

Clown Aerobics ~ Repost

pamelakoefoed:

I ran into a challenge with this blog post’s distribution. I’m reposting it to make sure it gets through the gobbledy-gook this time, and hopefully it will arrive where it’s intended without incident. Ahhh, the joys of cyberspace.

Originally posted on Pamela Koefoed:

This evening, Vern and I exercised to an aerobics video. It’s a good thing we were the only ones in the room. We looked like a couple of clowns doing a comedy routine. But we got our heart rates up, and that was the goal. Before I write further about this, I’ll share what has inspired us to begin the New Year with an exercise program.

(Originally posted Monday, 1/05/2015)

I’m on a quest to understand cholesterol and to find a natural way to bring my LDL number into a healthy range. Since my doctor wants me to go on a statin (cholesterol lowing medication), and I’m uncomfortable with the idea, I researched options. I asked the Lord what I should do and I was led to exercise 30 minutes a day, six days a week.

Moderate exercise is something that we all should add to our daily routines. Movement…

View original 452 more words

Simple and Delicious Recipes

Day 3 of my four-month personal challenge:

This morning, I’m sharing with you three simple recipes that Vern and I used yesterday for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you decide to give these a whirl and don’t have an ingredient or if you don’t like something that we used, substitute it for something else in the same category or just leave it out. That’s one of the fun things about preparing meals, you can re-create recipes and come up with something new; maybe it will be even tastier than what I’ve shared.

Breakfast, whole grain oatmeal, made by my thoughtful husband. 

Whole grains: 1/4 cup of each ~ barley, oats, and triticale (simmered over med. heat until soft)
Add about a cup of old fashioned oats (stir in and simmer for 15 minutes)
Add 1/2 cup of raw, unsalted sunflower seeds.
Serve steaming hot on top of chopped green and red apples.
Sprinkle with cinnamon to taste. (This tasty spice is super good for leveling out blood sugar.)

Lunch, pinto beans that we washed, soaked over night, and then cooked on our wood stove. Canned food is loaded with chemicals from the inside of the can. Beans are inexpensive and easy to prepare the day before and store in the frig. This simple recipe is for one serving. 

We enjoy beans with about 2 tsp. of Braggs Liquid Aminos stirred into each bowl. I know the name of this product sounds a bit weird, but it’s delicious and very nutritious. It can be found at the health food section of most large grocery stores or from Vitacost.com.
Chopped onions, add to taste.
Diced tomatoes, about 1/4 cup each.
A dab of sour cream (small dab for me, big dab for Vern. His cholesterol numbers are excellent.)
Vern had cheese on top of his. (No cheese for me. That little dab of sour cream had about 1.7 grams of saturated fat, a very tiny amount. We need to have some fat in our diets. Completely fat free diets are actually unsafe. Maybe I’ll write a bit more about that in another post.)

Dinner, chicken garden salad. Recipe is listed here for each bowl. Instead of making salad in a large container, I make it as individual servings.

Organic romaine lettuce, washed and torn into bite sized pieces, enough to fill two large bowls about 2/3 full.
Add  6 – 8 cherry tomatoes, washed and halved.
Add about 4 tbl. cilantro, washed and chopped.
Chicken, about 1/4 cup, cut into pieces, and added to each bowl.
1/2 avocado, sliced. (Avocado provides you with healthy fat, the kind that actually helps you burn calories.)
2 tbl. Feta cheese.
Olive oil infused with garlic, drizzled over the salad.
Organic apple cider vinegar, sprinkled over the salad.
Organic vegetable seasoning.
Mixed in their individual bowls and served.

We live in a community with only one grocery store. Some of the ingredients that we use in our cooking are ordered through Azure Standard, a co-op based in Oregon. Other items are picked up when we make the hundred-mile drive to the nearest city.

I’m eager to try new recipes and I look forward to sharing them with you during this four-month journey to stronger health.

Have a blessed day~

Pamela Koefoed

Clown Aerobics ~ Repost

Photo, free public domain

This evening, Vern and I exercised to an aerobics video. It’s a good thing we were the only ones in the room. We looked like a couple of clowns doing a comedy routine. But we got our heart rates up, and that was the goal. Before I write further about this, I’ll share what has inspired us to begin the New Year with an exercise program.

(Originally posted Monday, 1/05/2015)

I’m on a quest to understand cholesterol and to find a natural way to bring my LDL number into a healthy range. Since my doctor wants me to go on a statin (cholesterol lowing medication), and I’m uncomfortable with the idea, I researched options. I asked the Lord what I should do and I was led to exercise 30 minutes a day, six days a week.

Moderate exercise is something that we all should add to our daily routines. Movement makes us feel better, and when we feel better, our perspectives on life improve. There’s a lot of science behind what the benefits are to getting your heart rate up. This leads to the honest question, Why wouldn’t you want to exercise? It’s free. It’s probably one of the best ways to feel better. Studies indicate that it adds days and weeks and even years to lifespans.

Yesterday, I walked and jogged for a little under 30 minutes. Really, I get bored pretty fast walking around the ranch. It’s the same scenery, the same routine, the same pavement, the same fence lines. I think you get the point. But while walking / jogging at home can be a bit monotonous, I’m also grateful to the Lord to live in such a beautiful and serene place, and I admire the beauty, and use the time to talk to Him.

I’ve wanted to try aerobics again, but in our rural community exercise programs are limited to Zumba, Pilates, weight training, and a small local gym. Years ago, I took a step aerobics class with a group of women and enjoyed it. So, this evening, my husband and I found an aerobics workout routine on Youtube, and for 35 minutes we clumsily followed the agile and coordinated instructor.

The music was a fast tempo with Christian lyrics. Our exercising resembled clowns jumping, kicking in all directions, and jogging in place while trying to move their arms and knees in sync with the instructor’s movements.  We flailed, but we moved, and we took in great quantities of oxygen, and our heart rates increased. We also laughed, but not at each other (I say with a wink. Vern was really quite funny. I’m sure I was, too).

We decided to give this aerobics thing another try. It was far too much fun to not do it again. And, who knows, we might even figure out how to move like our instructor. It never hurts to try.

If you’d like to join us, here’s a link to the routine that we’ll work out to tomorrow. There are four levels on it, super slow, slow, medium fast, and super fast. At some point, the instructor works certain muscle groups with a long stretchy band. Vern and I used hand weights because we didn’t have giant rubber band things, like those on the video. Hope you have as much fun with this as we did. Here’s the link to Faithful Workouts Fitness Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSwzC...

The point of all of this is to share some ideas with you in the hopes of encouraging you to pursue a healthier lifestyle. And remember to practice gratitude and keep going after God. He loves you beyond words.

Pamela Koefoed

Where are you going?

Originally posted on Pamela Koefoed:

Scripture shows us that the plan of God for you was set into motion before you were born (Jeremiah 1:5). Can you accept this?

This is a very exciting fact. It means that you were a planned pregnancy. Whether or not your parents intended to conceive you, God planned for you. Since this is true, then He also prepared you for a special purpose.

I want to ask some questions–Where are you going?

Are you following God’s leading? Are you headed in another direction? Or are your travel bags stowed away in your closet because you have decided to stay put?

Read the Bible and you soon discover that God really likes His people to get up and get going. He sends them packing, leaving home to worship Him and to learn from Him in a congregational setting, traveling through new territory, taking land, helping people in need, establishing godly…

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