Day Eight- Proverbs 3:6

1Corinthians 6:19-20

"What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? Which ye have of God. For ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

May God's word give you courage and inspiration today to fill your body with wonderful, colorful, fresh, tasty creations! Created by Him, not man!

God Bless! Love, Julie

**7 Simple Strategies to Stop Eating Processed Foods

1 Seek True Satisfaction-Grab that peach or strawberry, examine its color, sniff it, and take a bite. Give yourself time to enjoy the genuine flavors. For comparison, nibble a starburst fruit candy or a strawberry fruit roll up. Notice that you mainly taste sweet with very little complexity. Why, because fat, sugar and salt have all been added to processed foods to mask the metallic taste of artificial preservatives, sweeteners and other chemical additives. Author of 7 simple strategies should know because he used to test recipes for packaged food companies and tinker with ingredients to get the appropriate taste and texture. Processed foods are also made to dissolve quickly in your mouth….this encourages you to eat faster and consume more, just what the manufacturing companies want!!!
2. Read labels wisely-You can find “real” food in the grocery, you just have to read the labels wisely. Foods containing items you can buy on your own, like tomatoes, potatoes, olive oil, garlic….these are all fine…But, those that have preservatives, like BHT, thickeners like guar gum, or artificial flavors are just that; artificial or fake…Also when reading labels, a good rule of thumb: if it will take you more than 20 seconds to read the entire list…steer clear!!!
3 Relish what’s on your plate-This is all about devoting time to enjoy the good food God provided for you. In other words, sit down with that piece of dark chocolate and cup of coffee and spend a quiet moment enjoying and savoring every bite, instead of eating while sitting at your desk, or walking down the hallway of your office or work place….Eat at the table, not in front of the T.V. Eating without other distractions helps you to enjoy the tastes, textures and true pleasures of eating…You may also find that you eat less!
4 Begin to wean yourself off fat, sugar, and salt-As you begin to eat more fresh and whole foods this will come automatically but it helps to know what my daily requirements are in these areas too: Sodium: 1500mg/day Did you know that 1 tsp of table salt has 2300mg of sodium??? Drop the salt shaker we are exceeding our sodium intake every day…Avg person takes in 3000-4000 mg per day! Sugar: 20-30 g/day (12g/day for children!!!) Some single servings of drinks and cereals have more than this! Rule to remember: It’s not the natural sugars that are causing obesity and other chronic diseases so quick worrying about the sugar in an orange! Fat- 20-25 g/day… Start implementing strong spices like garlic, pepper and oregano, for flavor and smaller amounts of extra virgin olive oil can take the place of butter in many recipes!
5 Give your taste buds time to change-And trust that they will. Have you ever kicked a habit only to not fully believe you would ever stop craving it? Pop, tea, cigarettes?? The same is true for fried foods and sweets, it just takes time and faith!!!! Trust in God’s promises here Mt 21:22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
6 Go for high quality foods-You don’t have to shop organic or only at Farmers Markets, although this is ideal, just look for foods that have a few processed ingredients as possible….choosing whole grain rices, breads and cereals is a great place to start, fresh produce in the grocery, include a fruit in every meal this week!
7 Treat yourself one time daily-not several This ensures you will thoroughly enjoy that chocolate at the end of the day without deadening your taste buds by having had pieces of chocolate all day long! Enjoy your ice cream in a small bowl with a small spoon…It lasts longer and satisfies more!

**Information adapted from "Real Food Has Curves" Author: Bruce Weinstein