Empowerment Through the Power of Christ Mind, Body and Soul

Through many years of nursing experience I have had the opportunity to work with some phenomenal medical experts.  Here are a few things I have picked up from their expertise.

• In order to obtain weight loss you must have a caloric deficit.  Meaning that you must consume less calories than you utilize.  One provider had suggested to drink a half a glass of water prior to consuming meals.  He informed me this would decrease the room available to fill your stomach.  Then you want to only consume food until you are no longer hungry versus when you are stuffed.  Therefore decreasing the amount of calories you take in to satisfy your hunger.
• The combination of Green Tea extract and caffeine has been scientifically proven to improve weight loss and maintenance in people who were overweight and moderately obese.
• Smoothies are a great and delicious way to increase fruit and vegetable consumption while minimizing excess sugars and additives.  They are also super easy to make.  Dillon's, HEB, Walmart and so many other places have premade smoothie packs in the frozen fruits and vegetables area.  Just blend them with some V8 splash and you will have a delicious treat the whole family can enjoy!
• It is very important to have a well balanced diet.  With this being said it is also important to consider moderation. You need carbohydrates to function, but an excess could lead to lifelong health challenges as well as with fatty foods.  Taking fish oils daily can help with decreasing cholesterol levels, lower triglycerides, prevent plaque build up, and even help with brain function and depression.
• If you are wanting to increase muscle mass you should increase your protein intake.  Their are a variety of delicious high protein snacks that can assist accommodating that from Kind bars or protein pancakes to general protein shake mixes.  Just try different things until you find what works best for you.  Your goal should be 0.6-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight for muscle growth.
• Hydration is a critical component to a healthier lifestyle.  We are made of approximately 60% of water..  The average human adult should consume 2.7-3.7 Liters a day of water.  If you are increasing your protein intake you should increase your water and fiber intake as well to prevent constipation.  If you are one who does not like the taste of water I would suggest a Cirkul water bottle.  This will help increase water intake while minimizing excess sugars from other additives.  If you are an avid coffee drinker I would encourage you to drink more water.  Coffee is a natural diuretic that  expels water from your body.  One thing to consider is while increasing water intake you also need to maintain an adequate level of electrolytes.  I like getting the Gatorade powder at Walmart and adding some to my water once a day.
• Nutritional supplements can also be very beneficial.  Taking a multivitamin can help ensure you have adequate vitamins from fat soluble to water soluble vitamins.  The vitamins all help with a variety of disorders from skin health to energy levels.  There are also various IV spa's that may have a Lipolean injection.  The injections have nutrients, acids and minerals your body needs to effectively burn fat and use energy.
• Disclaimer!  All of these are just dietary recommendations.  These are things proven to help with weight loss but you should verify with your provider if they are beneficial for you.  Everyone is different with various diagnoses they need to take into consideration.

Matthew 4: 2-4 After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Everything you do from eating to sleeping and everything in between burns calories.  It is just a matter of getting our body to do what we want through knowledge, practice and discipline. 

• Posture is dependent on our skeletal system and muscular system working in the proper alignment.  To maintain good posture we have to identify our areas of muscle imbalances and work on correcting them.  This can include loosening tight muscle with stretching, yoga or using a muscle roller foam to relieve the tension while strengthening our weaker spots.  There are various signs that can help us identify our weak spots.  Contact us for more information.
• Warm up.  It is critical to warm up muscles prior to jumping in head first with extensive exercise.  This could be done from active stretching, yoga or various warm up activities (i.e. butt kicks, soldier kicks, arm swings, trunk twist, and so much more)
• Higher- intensity activities burn more calories from carbohydrates and usually expend more calories overall (i.e. weightlifting, weighted cross fit).  Doing these exercises first will burn up your carbohydrate storage and burn more calories overall making your workout more effective. Posture is critical when lifting heavy weights.  You need to ensure you are maintaining good body alignment or you pose the risk of injury.
•  If you are looking to tone and tighten you will want to use lighter weights with more repetitions (for example 5-15 pound dumbbells' with 3 cycles of 12 to 15 repetitions or movements.)  If your goal is to bulk up you should use heavier weights with fewer repetitions (100-200 lb squats 4 to five sets of 6-8 repetitions.)
• Lower intensity activities use a higher percentage of fat to fuel, but do not expend a large amount of calories overall.  I would suggest saving your cardiorespiratory activities (i.e. walking, running, bicycling, full body rowing) for after your weightlifting activities.  This way you burnup your carbohydrate stores and increase the efficiency of the fitness activities.  Do not over exert yourself right off the start.  This will decrease your motivation and could cripple your progress.  A great cardiovascular exercise activity that is low impact and can still burn significant calories is walking on the treadmill with an incline and speed that pushes you, but does not overexert you.
• Recovery is a critical component in a long-term  physical fitness journey.  Some beneficial ways to aid in recovery are rest, ice, creatine, and protein.  Protein and creatine help aid in muscle recovery they improve strength and increase muscle mass.  Don't forget if you are adding these to your diet you need to add adequate hydration as well.  Ice or cryotherapy will help release lactic acid build up in the muscles that is what causes stiff painful muscles after working out.  Rest is especially important.  Do not start off over doing yourself and denying your body the rest it needs to appreciate the work you are putting in.  Otherwise you could end up with injuries that will force you to stop and rest.
• Although, heat is very pleasant and relaxes our muscles it also increases blood flow which can increase inflammation.  If you are working out especially extensive exercise be weary of heat.  All forms of exercise can cause damage and pain.  I would suggest ice before heat. 
• Disclaimer!  All of these are just exercise recommendations.  These are things proven to help with weight loss and muscle definition, but you should verify with your provider if they are beneficial for you.  Everyone is different with various diagnoses they need to take into consideration.

1 Timothy 4:8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Everyone of us everyday face various obstacles. They may disguise themselves as ways of breaking free from reality.  This includes the movies we watch, music we listen to, and people we allow to influence us.  Yes, I say allow...  Because at the end of the day the choice is ours.  That is the beauty of Christ and God.  They do not force us to do anything.  They want us to choose them over evil.  I encourage you to surround yourself in Gods grace and continuously look for the beauty and grace in every storm or situation.

• Music is one way I set my spirit free.  But, I learned the type of music I listened to influenced my mood, emotions and desires.  Here are some artist I suggest that have a very powerful, yet graceful and humbling message of encouragement.  If you enjoy Rap music KB, Bryann T, Zauntee, Lecrae, NF, Dax, Kieran the Light, Tedashii, Toby Mac and  Trip Lee are some great artist to explore.  If you enjoy more simple and meaningful messages I would suggest Jeremy Camp, Tenth Avenue North, Brandon Lake, Unspoken, Sidewalk Prophets, and The Newsboys.  If you have more of a country style Rhett Walker, Colton Dixon, Anne Wilson have some great messages.  If you have more of a rock vibe Crowder, We The Kingdom, Rare of Breed and even some of Brandon Lake's music gets my blood pumping.  There are millions of artist that will feed your soul with God's words and wisdom and comfort you during your trails and challenges, just look for what speaks to you!
• Movies and TV shows have such an unexpected impact on our lives.  How we see the world around us and even builds insecurities.  This is all just the devil tempting us telling us we don't belong, we aren't this or that, we wont be happy until... etc.  What you feed in life is what controls you.  A few TV series I enjoy include The Chosen of course and also any superhero shows especially without super powers (like Batman, Bat Girl, or Krypton) just people facing challenges and using what ever they have at their disposal to defeat the enemy and free or save the innocent.  Movie wise I have seen countless movies with various phenomenal messages of Gods grace and overcoming obstacles a few that left a significant impact on me are The Shack, Ordinary Angel's, Facing the Giants, His Only Son, War Room, God's Not Dead, God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, The Book of Eli, Hacksaw Ridge, Fireproof, I can Only Imagine, and most importantly The Passion of the Christ.  There are a few apps with extra resources such as Pureflix and Angel Studios.  My best suggestion is to utilize these things as tools to help strengthen your faith.  But, also understand that these are created by other human beings just like you and me.  Don't look for the faults in it, but try to grasp the message that God may be sending to bring you closer to him.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's Temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst.  If anyone destroys God's Temple, God will destroy that person; for God's temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

We are all human with fleshy desires of acceptance and significant influence.  Its the human condition and one of Satan's greatest tools.  The fact of the matter is that we are all divinely and equally loved, although uniquely and beautifully created. There is not a single person on earth whose life is more meaningful than yours.  They may have more money, fame, prosperity, yes.  But at the end of the day none of that matters.  You can't take any of it with you so the devil drives us bonkers in attempts to cultivate more and more here on earth while we miss the fact that our lives are measured on the influences and impacts we left.  Not the materialistic things we accumulated. For me personally I knew the teachings of Christ and what he wanted, but I did not know how to put my emotions aside to see the bigger picture.  These are some Buddha principles that helped direct me in piecing together what God wanted me to do and how to do it. There are also some tips in here I have learned in my process of growth that have helped me regain my peace, compassion, and forgiveness even in the darkest circumstances.

• Listen twice as much as you speak.  Listen not only to the words that someone is saying but to their tone and delivery.  You can hear the insecurities and troubles others face even without the words.
• Don't let comments and attitudes of others dictate your life.  People have their own perceptions and levels of understanding.  Your story is sometimes outside of their experience level.  Focus on the now and finding your life through Christ because on judgement day no one will be standing beside you to justify or condemn you. Only you and your maker.
• Be prepared to accept the worse, but don't expect it.  Pain is certain in this life, but the suffering is optional.  It's almost like a seat belt. you strap it on in case of an accident.  But, you don't always need it in your trip to your destination.
• Don't be afraid of failing it is the only way to progress.  Whether it is learning to cook a new recipe or trying a new exercise.  Failure is just a solution on how not to do it next time.  But, you always need to get up, dust yourself off, and try again.  Besides it serves at great stories that everyone will enjoy and could inspire those looking up to you.
• Keep it simple find clarity in peace.  In today's society there is an abundance of noise and chaos.  Everyone continuously wanting to have a significant influence on who you should be, how you should do things, or what your life should look like.  Listen to your heart.  Do what makes you happy and with the influence of the teachings of Christ you can rest assured knowing it is what he would want for your unique, beautiful, and one of a kind soul he created.
• Practice humility, being peaceful, loving, and fearless.  Christ encouraged his disciple to be peacemakers.  This can be very difficult especially if you are being attacked at every angle.  Just try to remember we are all human. No one is perfect nor could we expect them to be without error. But, just like you and me Christ died for their discretions too.  We are not worthy to justify who deserves grace or judgement.  We are made to love, inspire, help, and support each other on this crazy ride called "life."
• Calming techniques can have a significant impact in life.  Some of my favorite are prayer meditation, deep breathing exercises, Godly affirmation meditations, yoga or physical exertion to release built up adrenaline (running or weight lifting), imagery meditation, or biblical searching.  When I say biblical searching I mean we literally have the instruction manual for life at our disposal.  We just need to learn how to utilize it.

Matthew 5: 43-44 You have heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemy.  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Although, it is important to have a support system in life to help guide protect and define you always remember we are all God's children.  He does not want a single one of us to parish, but we all make mistakes as well.  If you ground yourself in Christ's teaching's and God's Commandments' I can not promise you will never sin, again.  But, I can promise you will understand the love, mercy and grace he has for all of us and be able to see things more peacefully, compassionately, and gracefully.  At the end of the day in this hard adventure called life the one thing I know is that even in the darkness your shadow will leave you.  The only one who is with you every second of everyday is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Deuteronomy 31:8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.  Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.