CRV Worship

Haaaaaapy Friday!

So a little over a week ago I took my car into get an oil change and figure out why the dreaded check engine light came. I came out with a $1600 estimate of things wrong with my piece of crap car. After talking with my mom, we decided it was best to go ahead and trade it in rather than sinking money into a car that could need more work and doesn't even suit my needs.

Say hello to Bonnie Blue! Oops wrong Bonnie Blue.

There you go!

In case you are wondering Bonnie Blue was the daughter of these two...

I don't think you can get much more Southern than Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler! 

One of the features I was ridiculously excited about was an auxiliary input for my phone! Last night on my way home I had my phone on shuffle every song. Let me just tell you some oldies came on that had me worshiping up in my CRV!

I remember being in 5th grade when Jesus Freak came out and listening to it on repeat. I actually bought their live album "Welcome to the Freak Show." It's such a good album and the epitome of 90s Christian music! 

Project 86's Little Green Men! This song is from their concept album Truthless Heros that,  "takes you through the protagonist's attempts to gratify himself and fill his deepest needs as a person through fame, fortune, lust, whatever." says Andrew Schwab of Project 86. <- that sentence sounds like something from a term paper, lol! This was probably the first hardcore band I listened to which then led into more hardcore stuff. ;)

On the other complete side of the spectrum was Eisley's Marvelous Things. This band is actually from my home town and is a family gig. Back in the day...when I was in high school and saw them live they were Mos Eisley, for you non Star Wars geeks, it is a spaceport on Tatooine. Yes I am a Star Wars geek. They had to drop the Mos do to copyright issues. They are still my favorite Indie Rock band. 

What random old school songs is in your music collection?

Belle

Psalm 59:16

Off with her head!

Headaches are nothing new to me. I've had them since I was a little girl. Even had two surgeries to correct them, I still get the occasional headache. Yesterday however, I woke up with the worst headache! One of those where you moved the slightest and you can feel the blood in your veins throbbing in your head. I seriously would have welcomed yelling "Off with her head!"

Source

I took some RX meds and headed to work, the receptionist job. When I go to my receptionist job I always pack my breakfast...which was a BIG mistake yesterday...since you are suppose to eat with such meds. The whole ride in I felt so nauseous! To make matters worse my route was jammed packed with people and took me and extra 20 minutes to get to work. Quickly after I ate I felt fine, off the rest of the day, but not like I was about to lose my lunch.

I didn't really think too much of my headache, just chalked it up to my occasional really bad headache. Mid-afternoon it struck me...could my headache be from lack of sugar? After a quick Google search, headaches are apart of sugar withdrawal. Why was I going through sugar withdrawal you ask? Because I have decided to cut sugar out of my diet. Yes once again I have lost my mind!

Ok quick science lesson. Sugar is in a lot of foods and comes in different forms. Things like carbs (bread, pasta, grains) and fruit have "good for you" sugars. Things like Twizzlers, brownies, coffee creamers, alcohol, juices (most of them have a TON of sugar added), and sodas have what I like to call "Good for your soul" sugars. Basically natural sugar vs. things were sugar is an additive. 

Now let's get something straight, I am a believer in eating all foods. That we need to eat more balanced diets; proper portions of carbs, protein, vegs, fruit, and fat. That things like grabbing dessert with a friend or picking up fast food should be the rarity, not the norm in our lives. 

Ok now that we are on the same page let me explain about cutting sugar out of my diet. Now there are some sugar free diets out  there that require you to cut out ALL forms of sugar. No carbs, fruits, or your favorite desert. Hmmm no fruits or carbs? Not so healthy. We get enough natural sugar in our diets to be healthy. All that extra "good for the soul" sugar is either to preserve food or for taste. Cutting that out I can get behind...for a little bit. 

As I had examined my tendency to overeat I came to the conclusion that I still eat WAY too much "good for your soul" sugar. We can eat with our calorie count or WW points, in my case, and be consuming too much sugar. They may not be 1lbs bags of Twizzlers but 100 calorie packs of cookies, either way it's still too much sugar. Also still to this day "good for your soul" sugar is still a trigger food for me. So with those two things in mind for the next two months I will be cutting out "good for your soul" sugar from my diet, as well as artificial sweeteners. I'm cutting the artificial sweeteners too because I want my taste buds to not be used to even the fake stuff. Then after that I will be more cautious of when and what sugars I eat. 

My Google search was interesting. Some scientist think that there is a physiological addiction to sugar, while others believe it is all psychological. I also read some people's experience of cutting sugar out of their diets. Some cut all forms of sugar out, some like me just cut "good for your soul" sugar. Both groups said that they experienced headaches and fatigue. While it takes two days for a body to adjust to no caffeine, these people noted that it was two weeks before their "symptoms" were gone. IDK if yesterday was a result of the lack of sugar in my system but I guess we will see in the coming weeks how my body reacts. Whether it's physiological, psychological, or a mixture of both I do know this isn't going to be easy.

Belle

Psalm 59:16

This is who I am: Overeater

I recently had a conversation with a friend telling her, "Sometimes I feel like an addict but I can't get away from my drug...I need food to survive." Then I read a little about Compulsive Overeating...the signs sounds very similar. The part that didn't really shock me is that part states; "During binges, compulsive overeaters may consume from 5000 to 15,000 food calories daily, resulting in a temporary release from psychological stress through an addictive high not unlike that experienced through drug abuse." I don't necessarily think that Compulsive Overeating is as hard to overcome as a true drug abuse. I do believe that it is hard to overcome and has its own set of issues.

Ok this next part is something I've only shared with one person. I can remember being in college and running to the CVS right next to campus and picking up a one pound bag of Twizzlers and a Dr. Pepper. I would then proceed to stuff them in my purse so that when I came home my roommates wouldn't see. It. I'd then sit in my room, watch TV, and consume them in a matter of hours. Prior to losing the weight ,I wouldn't have admitted to being a binge eater or to the fact have that I was obese...I just had some extra fluff. Like so many of us I was an emotional eater. Whether I was happy, sad, or stressed; I ate to respond to that emotion.

Like other addicts, I had tried stopping so many times. How many times was I going to start working out? How many times did I try counting calories? How many times did I try eating the same foods but just eating half portions?

While I've never been diagnosed as a Compulsive Overeater, I do show a lot of the signs as such. If you notice the treatment is dealing with the emotions that go along with overeating via therapy. I'm a believer of therapy, that talking things out and learning alternative habits is possible. Ultimately though healing is going to come via Christ.

Even though I am now a trainer which provides me understanding of food and exercise than I had before, emotional eating and working out is still a struggle. Sometimes we need to daily admit to the Lord our struggles and ask for the strength to overcome them.

So what do we chose? To be caught in the endless cycle of diets, self hatred, and a slave to food? I chose Romans 6:17-18.

Heart + Soul

When I quit youth ministry I knew that whatever I ended up doing was going to be a ministry of some kind...where you are is where your ministry is at. Training for me has always been a way of ministering to people.

Conversations like this happen: 

"How did you lose the weight?"

"Well see we are all sinners..."

Ok that's an over exaggeration. While yes we are all sinners, we also have issues in our life. Whether hurts from the past or you are currently going through something those issues needed to be laid at the cross. In a nut shell that's how I lost the weight. I laid my issues at the foot of the cross, then being able to rely on God instead of food for comfort. 

I had the idea for an opportunity to do bootcamps at churches, mom's who after dropping their kids off at the church's pre-school then went and worked out. Once again nothing earthshaking, most churches offer bootcamps but not during the day when mom's can attend. A couple weeks later during Sunday School I had a vision for my company; 45 minute workout, 15 minute devotional. We are not a talking a warm and fuzzy, makes you feel good type devotional. While yes that can happen but conviction and healing is not always warm and fuzzy. We would deal with the issues that may have caused them to over eat, this isn't just an over weight person problem either. It could be a place that people who might not be willing to go to church on Sunday but would be willing to work out and get the chance to hear the Gospel. The goal of the devotions is to heal hearts and save souls. 

So that is the Heart + Soul of Southern Belle Training. I am super excited about to be done with planning and actually open for business! For more information about all of the types of training SBT offers head over to our "Get fit...Stay Chic" link. 

Belle 

Psalm 59:16