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This page is for victories, successes, excellence,
congratulations and anything that deserves recognition or just an appreciative
mention – all those helpful, imaginative and inventive things that make life
pleasanter, put a spring in our step and
brighten our days. They inspire us, give a boost to our energy as we face possibly less than
helpful circumstances, and can make good days even better.
THE Victory
Without these two victories, you can forget all the
others:
"I have told you these things, so
that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 (NIV)
"I have told you these things, so that
in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you
have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of
good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I
have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you
and have conquered it for you." John 16:33 (Amplified version)
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"For everyone born of God overcomes
the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our
faith." 1 John 5:4 (NIV)
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Creativity
Folkestone artists let loose on unusual canvases:
wooden collage on boards in front of scaffolding during refurbishment of
The Old High Street and a cheered up container in the
harbour, at the east end of the The Stade, by the breakwater.
Congratulations to the painters for their skill and for beautifying their home
town.
Excellence
Emmanuel Parish Church, Plynlimmon Road, Hastings – Ten out of ten
to the workman who repointed part of the perimeter wall, absolutely
perfect and as smooth as the beach washed by high tide. Well done,
thou true and faithful servant!
Persistence
The score here is: Concrete Driveway: 0,
Crocus: 1.
Given enough time, the concrete will be shattered and the crocuses
multiplied and thriving.
Slowed but not stopped:
Boxing Day Victory
In the garden – Victory of life over the death of
winter:
Weight Loss Victory
I congratulate not myself but all those
people who have provided the information needed for this particular
victory:
After a lifetime of half-hearted diets started
in sheer ignorance and underserved trust, at age 40 my aim was
to improve my energy level and clear my head. I had already cut out
all sugar (including that hidden in non-sweet foods), but
wanted to further improve my eating habits and attitudes. Encouraged
by a good friend, I started with food
combining followed by juicing. I avoided junk and non-nutritional foods and
increased fruit and vegetables. I achieved my goal,
and also lost 2 stone of excess weight as a bonus. I never
pine for the addictive junk food/junk ingredients I used to eat, and my previous
limited energy to enjoy walking and other activities is just a distant memory that seems to
belong to someone else. I never starved myself at any time, or had
an aim to get stick-thin. I cycle up most hills and they
seem to get flatter all the time. This approach has worked for me:
- Take an interest in nutrition and health
care
- Act on what you learn
- Examine your motives each time you eat –
don't sleepwalk into the kitchen
- Examine the
motives and claims of those offering junk or other foods/ingredients,
diets and quick
fixes
- Your body, your appetite and indeed fat
itself are not your enemies
- Old habits and ignorance will be your
jailers, if you let them
- Read the ingredient labels as if your
health/life/future depended on it – they do!
Your friends may prefer you to join them on
an eating binge and they may say, "You're just not the
same." The correct answer is of course, "Spot on, my friend. Watch this
space!"
Red for STOP: stop being overweight.
Green for GO: go out and buy some slim clothes.
Weight Loss Record Charts
It is not necessary to weigh: your energy levels and your clothes
will tell you what is happening just as effectively. But I find it
motivational to see weight loss as it occurs, as well as preventing
a reverse slide through complacency:
Download Weight
Loss Charts PDF 88 KB
Download
Weight Loss Charts ZIP 497 KB, containing the PDF and the charts as JPGs (there are 2 pages/jpgs, one with the instructions at
bottom left, and one without)
It is unfortunate that the same word "fat" is
used to describe the substance, and is also used to describe
overweight. You need fat in/on your body, your brain is made of
it! You could lose excess
fat but gain some muscle, and so weigh more. Those muscles are
working for you and burning food; the fat is keeping
you padded and warm, and some of it may be storing toxins so that you
stay alive. I prefer padding and warmth that is removable (clothes)
and I am not happy to provide a home for the toxins – doing all
their damage again as soon as they are released from the fat and
causing that desperate eat-a-mountain starvation. I believe this
effect also occurs during any type of dieting, as the body becomes
deprived of the food that it needs.
My own excess weight was caused by ignorance of
the processes involved, inertia (both physical and mental) and a
lifetime habit of emotional eating – eating when the body does not need
it, i.e. over-eating. Curves are natural for women but carrying several
stones of fat insinuates itself into all your
plans and thinking, until walking anywhere seems to be an
unreasonable and unnecessary effort. The excess weight I used to
drag around (2 stones) is now equivalent to me strapping my bicycle on
my back and taking it with me everywhere, 24 hours a day. Sometimes I
just lift the bike up a bit, as a reminder and in gratitude for what I
am no longer burdened with.
Clothes that swathe versus
clothes-I-like!
Who is that girl in green? Is that really me? (late 1980's I think). Is it harsh lighting
or unfortunate posture? Did she eat a biscuit (or six) because she
deserved it, because it was Friday, because it was there? (Yes, she
did, all the time, often a whole packet.) Not my
favourite picture but the two taken together are praiseworthy, so I think
that fulfils the page criteria. However, the praise goes to friends
and authors who shared their knowledge with me.
Outsmarting the Female
Fat Cell, by Debra Waterhouse, ISBN 0-340-58813-6
This book explains the behaviour of the fat
cell in a simple and easy-to-understand way, and gives give you the
key to the whole process, knowledge that finally puts you in
control. The author explains that fat cells cannot be starved into
submission, and encourages you to abandon the dieting mentality and
its harmful effects. You can get fitter and trimmer without
suffering dieting starvation, being deprived of your favourite
foods, or rationing your intake to below what your body is asking
for. The eating strategies will help avoid further fat gain, and the
moderate exercise recommended will help lose what is already there.
Gaining this knowledge is like coming out of a dark tunnel into
clear daylight, and I am so glad I came across this book. On the
shelf it looks like all the other "diet" books but I can assure you
it is not!
Juicer:
I use a Breville (Anthony Worrall Thompson) juicer – it's quick and
powerful, with rubber feet to stop it walking across the table. Just
scrub, top and tail the veg and feed into the long wide tube, with no
need to cut most things up. It's not quiet, but it's only on for a
minute, and very easy to clean. Do not force it down too hard – you
will get less juice and damage the motor. My daily staple is
carrots, celery, beetroot and red peppers (the tasteless variety,
not the hot sort). Nowadays I dilute it and have it all day inbetween
meals, in order to spread out the sugars contained in it, but overall it's best to drink it sooner rather than later.
You can juice your fruit but you may unwittingly overdo the fruit sugar, which
will give you false hunger soon afterwards. I think you are better
off eating fruit normally – however, your own juiced fruit drinks
are better than buying the processed stuff, smoothies even better as
you get the fibre as well.
The seeds of victory are
right in front of you – smile-shaped!
There is no wisdom, no
insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. The horse is
made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.
(Proverbs 21:30)
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