Getting Healthy through Reading

#MommaRita and son, #GarrettCobbs during tutoring time...

We had also just worked out lol...

Reading is something I was not interested in growing up through high school. Then in college an English teaching opened the world of reading for me. I haven't been able to get enough since. Throughout the week, Garrett and I practice reading, but on Fridays we spend quality time, reading, writing, doing spelling words, counting money and practicing computer skills. He loves to read Archie comics and if he does well on all the areas we work on, then we read a comic book. 

For the past two-weeks, we have read two comic books that have had Archie running around the subject of fitness. This week there was a guy on the beach that was a body builder obviously and the girls told Archie he was just jealous when he made some "pillow" comments about the guys body. When Garrett read it, I had to record it...watch it, then we will talk about reading and fitness...it's too funny! I may play it when I am feeling this way lol...

#GarrettCobbs: about jealousy!

Laughing is the a great way to relieve stress so is reading. When you can't sleep, reading something that is encouraging, praise worthy or uplifting will bring your mind to a place of peace so that you can fall asleep. I have never understood why someone watches something or read a frightening book before bed and then try to go to sleep. Read the Bible, the book of Psalm or Proverbs. Pick up a book of poems that encourage. Poetry can give you great directions that you never thought possible. Quotes that are funny but carry a point that you will remember later. Short stories from books that hold inspirational themes of people that have come from areas of life to be successful and happy.

Then there is reading to seek a better way to eat and workout. Thinking about eating in a way that the first ingredient is managing food rather than taking pills or requiring surgery is a great book to read. Then cookbooks that really emphasize clean eating and healthier choices; realizing these may make you hungry, watch the warning signs and skip cookbooks. Workout books energize and encourage you to move. This is what you want. Inside these books are excellent tips for workout not only on the street, in your home or in the gym but also in everyday sittings like in your office chair. My favorite tip once from a fitness book I was reading was simply drinking water. 

Another excellent thing about reading is, like with Garrett, use bedtime reading to your children to include a devotional, Bible reading and include fitness inspiration in this as well. There are plenty of stories and things written to equip you and your family to live a healthy life-style. We are living a life with no limits, no boundaries, plenty of resources to make it easy to live healthy, strong and fit for our bodies, minds, souls and lives as a whole. 

We have changed our home so much in the past three-years, not just since 2011. No sodas, no gluten, adding a water cooler, focusing on protein and fresh vegetables, fitness twice daily, daily Bible reading/devotionals and at least eight hours of sleep. Those are just a few things we have done. I challenge you to live with no excuses to move toward a healthier life-style. Reading. Find the things that inspire you today to live better tomorrow. 

Hugs, Rita

Football, Menus, Clothing, Fun...

#RitaHutchesonCobbs and I think #RalphLauren

This time of year is one of my favorite seasons. Fall brings hot chocolate, popcorn balls, chili, soups, the county fair, outdoor concerts, campfires and football. I never was much into football until last October. Garrett and I were gifted tickets to the first college football game we had been to together. We had a bit of experience attending and got to be on the sidelines. However, standing there with thousands of people surrounding the whole stadium was energizing and such an amazing experience. I fell in love with football. Garrett made sure I had Alabama shirts, even too big, but I had them. Friends brought me shirts and a ball cap. 

However, the most fun I have had began about two-years ago, when the first Alabama football game of the season, I treated Garrett to a half-time buffet full of fun foods from egg rolls, sausage balls to chips and salsa. It was suppose to be a one-time thing when the next Friday rolled around that he came up to me and politely said, "Momma, tomorrow is an Alabama game, what are we going to have at half-time this week?" It was then the tradition began. It became fun to go to the gym and ask the front desk, what is Garrett having this week for his half-time party?  This year, I am still trying to find the Burrito Bowl recipe?!

So, when I saw these outfit and accessory items in a magazine yesterday, I flipped with rockin' awesome excitement! I think Garrett would be impressed with his momma rocking these hounds-tooth items, of course, maybe not all together at the same time, but oh my goodness...can you imagine? It is so much fun to watch his excitement over football, from Alabama to the Falcons then hit the baseball season with the Braves. 

Now, to think about shopping ((gulp)) something this momma doesn't do...maybe I will just consider the menu instead and skip the clothes shopping... Send me your ideas for half-time buffets... I am "game" to try most anything! Recipes to come...

Hugs, Rita

Chili Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

I remember growing up with Sundays being one of three Southern Sunday dinners, at noon, if the preacher let us out in time that is. The dinners would be my mother's fried chicken or oven baked pork chops, two-inches thick steak style, or we would go to Big Bob Gibson's. Regardless we had a dessert with our meals at home or at Bib Bob's. Today, my son, Garrett, and I live a bit differently. After church, he gets his personal pizza and a bit of shopping at Target then we go home and I make supper. This works well for us and makes him happy. Family gatherings still happen, but at a different time of the week. This past Sunday, we had chicken, but a bit different. I am planning foods for the "half-time" buffet for football season. Here is one of the recipes we will be having:

Chili Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

6 small boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 small onion, chopped finely

1 can of black beans, not drained

1 can of black beans, drained

2 cans of seasoned diced tomatoes

2 cans tomato sauce

1 large jar salsa

1 can mild hot peppers

1 teaspoon cilantro

1 teaspoon chili powder

Directions:

Place all the ingredients in a crockpot sprayed with cooking spray. 

Cook for 6 (six) hours on medium.

Remove the chicken breasts and cut into cubes, put back in soup, stir.

Cook thirty-minutes longer.

Serve over tortilla chips, top with shredded cheese and sour cream.

** Tip...for leftovers, add prepared rice, stir well, place in a baking dish and top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes for a great casserole. 

Enjoy,

Hugs, Rita

Feathering Things in the Grace...

#RitaHutchesonCobbs

I have this amazing friend that I met through social media who is an amazing quilter. The great "pond" separates us. I have said a thousand times that one day, I am going to get on my broom and fly over, walk into her shop one day to surprise the thread out of her stitching! When I was on the golf course with Garrett and the Special Olympic team as they practiced last week, I found a white perfect feather. I had to take a photo of it. My friend posted that she had seen so many feather this past week and I replied that it was a sign for her to design a feather themed quilt. When I gave the feather I found to Garrett and he quoted the verse, somewhat, of "Eagles wings..." When I went to find the verse to put with the photograph, I came across Psalm 91:4, "He will come you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield..." Taking the imagery of a mother bird and her babies within a carefully constructed nest is the way God is with us. We can't be plucked from His refuge if we believe and put our faith in Him. 

Over the past few weeks, I have talked with many people about their life journeys and decisions to get healthy. The stories are vast and reasoning to make a difference in their lives will encourage others like a ripple in a stream as pebble is skipped across the waters. That is the way the witness of anything we do in our lives should be, to encourage and press others toward their goals and dreams. 

One story is of a woman who lived through a tragedy that I will tell you now will be difficult to hear, read or write. You may want to leave now. As the story unfolds, she was thirteen at the time, living in a subdivision in an upper income neighborhood. The people had lived there most of her life and her family knew they all well. On this particular afternoon, she had been riding her bike and stopped in the driveway of an older couple's house. The drive was to the side of their home which was on the corner of two streets. As they chatted, the wife went into the house and the older man walked over to her bike and before she realized what was happening, he pulled her off her bike, hand over her mouth, leaving it in the driveway and pulled her behind the house. Threatening her, he raped her. When he was done, he simply left her there and went into the house. When she was able to get her clothes back on, she made it to her bike and walked home. When she went into the backdoor of her house, she walked into a heated argument between her parents with her mother crying. The young girl, broken and not sure what to do, went to the bathroom, cleaned up and went back outside.

When I found my voice, I asked, "What did you do?" It was chilling to know that there was no voice to never telling what has happened to not this one but so many. She didn't tell of the experience and the man never acknowledged what he had done. When she went outside, she knew she had a choice to let it take up space in her head or let it go because her home life wasn't stable nor did she thing anyone would believe her. Then she said, "While I was being raped, I prayed for God to protect me. It was the strangest thing that at that moment I saw a bright light and don't remember all the details of what he did not even to this day. One thing I knew, I trusted in Christ that very moment with my life, heart and soul." As an adult she told her mother about what happened to her, just as she thought, her mother didn't believe her nor did her siblings. The man died long before her telling her story. However, feathering things in grace multiplies like the grass under our feet when we trust Him for our protection and with our very lives.

Once again, I see forgiveness, grace and living in peace. We have a choice to allow crises and circumstances to rent space in our heads, live in chains, prisons and bondage or we can take the key we hold in our hands and use it at anytime. Freedom is ours, the door can be open, chains can be broken and prisons can be released. We live with no excuses for wallowing in our on whining, bitterness, pasts or circumstances. It is a choice. Why allow anything to take up residence even for a second within our being other than what is joyful, good and godly? Living forgiveness, grace and love is living a life free, with no excuses. It's time to live a healthy lifestyle and it begins with breaking free without and within our being.

Break the chains that hold you from freedom...

Live a life with no excuses...

Hugs, Rita

Cloud Rainbows are the Best...

#RitaHutchesonCobbs at #PointMallard #DecaturAlabama

If is a really big word. However, I have to think that "if" I had thought my options through as a child to teenager, would I might have made other choices in what I would have been when I grew up to be an adult. When asked as a child, I would tell my Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Alexander, every single Sunday that, one, we were moving back to Phil Campbell, Alabama to our family farm, and, two, I was going to be mayor when I grew up. Then regardless who you were or what "test" I took that asked me what my big dream was for the future it was to be a wife and mother to which I succeeded at both. The wife part lasted thirty-four years at least but the mom part is a lifetime even when a child might want a different mother, heard a child say that to his mother one day. With all THAT said, I think I would have studied clouds. I have taken so many photographs of them over the years. As a child and then as a mom with my sons, I would watch them, making up stories about them as they floated overheard.

Garrett loves to say, "Puffy clouds" this or that when referring to rain coming or the possibility of a change of weather other than a warm sunny day. This is usually when he can't play golf. Puffy clouds come our way beyond the weather. They come in situations, circumstances, people, places and things. It is how we handle the puffy clouds that determines the inner ability to deal with them and experience continued joy and peace. If we don't have a well deep in abundance of peace and joy stored up then we can't deal with puffy clouds and what they may bring our way. It is easier to watch them pass over when we have water plenty within our wells.

This mom that had her child say, "I hate you! I want a different Mother!" told me how it broker her heart when he was a child and said this, but then when he said it again as a teenager, she begin to realize, he meant it. Thinking he would someday out grow it, she sees now that he hasn't. I asked her how she was handling this and she replied, "I have so much peace about the situation, knowing that someday, he will make the decision to turn around." The rest of the story is that he was also verbally abusive and due to the already domestic violence in the home, the husband, the boy's father, did nothing to correct the son in his behavior. The boy grew up, educated, good job and a family of his own, but estranged from his mother. To this she said, "I have apologized for my part in the breakup of our relationship and let him know he is welcome to come home." She showed me a box, white and not decorated, the top folded into itself. She gently opened it with hands shaking a bit. As I looked inside, there were cards in envelopes, gifts wrapped and then items laid inside. I asked her what they were for and she replied, "Each holiday or on a random day, I put something in this box so that when my son comes home, he will know I have loved him all this time and that more than me, God loves him."

Tears came to my eyes. Without excuse, we live forgiveness. There is nothing that can or will be done to me or you that can't be covered in grace, love, and forgiveness. One day, we will come face to face with the One who gave the ultimate grace of all wrapped in love and nailed with forgiveness with a cross, nails, a tomb and eternity. There is nothing I can do more than what He has done for me. When I asked this mom what she would say to her son when he comes home, she said, "I will say that I love him and for him to forgive me." I was again wrapped around the words. Nothing in those words of the past. Nothing in those words of forgiving him. Nothing in those words of "if". Nothing in those words but grace. Nothing more than no excuses. 

Regardless if this son comes home to this mother, she is living grace and she is living peace. She isn't walking in regret or unforgiveness. She is walking a healthy mindset of what life is now, not worrying about what could have been or what will be. She isn't living in what ifs either. She is living a life with no excuses. It is ironic how I know about a life living with no excuses and my greatest desires is to please Him by living grace, living love, living forgiven.

Maybe it's time we open the box and release the gifts it holds...

the gifts from our Father...

He has been holding them so long for us to come Home.

Hugs, Rita

Routines and tips to make them better...

#MamawHutty with #RitaHutchesonCobbs during Saturday's Outings

When it comes to my daily schedule, well come to think of it, my month's calendar as a whole, I am pretty much a routine kind of girl. I love routine, but yet I am flexible enough to multi-task when needed as well as move things around when needed. However, when it comes to individuals with disabilities such as Alzheimer's or Autism, you pretty much stick with the normal schedule and routine. I love that about the two people I care for regardless of our care situation or it just be age, we had pretty much the same activities daily.

Sundays are set aside to worship and lunch at my son's favorite pizza. Then on Monday through Wednesday, we share among these days bowling, swimming and golf. Thursday and Friday, we focus on running and tutoring even though we still do those throughout the week. Saturday is Mamaw day where she gets pampered. Woven in those events is fitness, work, a tiny bit of grocery shopping (lol) and coffee with Garrett's regulars and then dinner with his Special Olympic friends once a week. Life get's busy even with a routine, but it is worth it for these amazing people to have their time of special moments that I will cherish for the rest of my life. 

It is with routines that we can get into ruts or we can use them as positive challenges. Planning for snacks, meals and eating out is important to maintain a healthy life style regardless what we are doing. Here are some suggestions when life is busy and you are having to be out and about:

*  Meal prep. Take a weekly or monthly calendar and at a glance think about meals you may want for suppers. go ahead and prepare freezer meals or do the chopping and dicing that needs to be done so that time is cut in half for those meals. When I bring groceries in, I go ahead and prep my food to save time. My meats go in the freezer with tenderizer and marinate. 

*  Eating out monies and menus. Make an envelope, putting designated monies inside for those time you need to eat out, planned and impromptu. Then look at the menus for those restaurants online to see what foods are healthy, the calorie content and ingredients so that you can stay within your food choices and the calories you have burned from the daily workout.

*  Workout times.  Regardless if you have one-hour or five-minutes, take the time to do it! Take the stairs where you are rather than the elevator. Park as far from the department stores or mall as you can and walk. Do wall pushups every time you go to the bathroom. Stand, march in place, then do four squats as you get up to march and as you sit back down, when commercials play on television especially now that football season is starting. Volunteer for Special Olympics in your favorite sport, they will love you, but please stay faithful and committed when you do.

*  Automobile care.  Saturday nights go fill up your cars for the week. Make sure you schedule automobile services every 3k miles especially if you are on the road often. During these times of waiting, walk their parking lots or seek a place that is buy or within a grocery store so that you can multi-task while the job is done. 

* Lists. Make lists for the grocery store so that you save money and time. My little family is great about the grocery list which hangs on the fridge. When the last package is opened, that item goes on the list so that it can be replaced. Paper products is about the only thing we stock pile now. We eat fresh vegetables and fruits most of the time. Make a list of errands to save gas and time. 

*  Gift Buying. Each week or at least every other week, purchase a gift for someone. If you have three girlfriends that you buy birthday presents for, a safe gift to get are candles. If my family reads that, they may chock I typed it...candles are something I normally don't buy for a reason lol. However, Christmas gifts for me were always bought by August 1st. I have a box of items that I keep because I have someone in mind for each item. Baby showers, I get diapers and wipes then place the receipt in the card in case the baby is allergic or the mom wants to get something else. Shop early, shop wise, save money.

More suggestions:

* Pack Lunches on Sunday for the week. I wrote a blog about this...

* Clean one thing every day and declutter one thing every day...wrote about this last week too...

*  I have a cleaning schedule as well..it rocks and makes my life easier: Monday, clean kitchen; Tuesday, clean bathrooms; Wednesday, change bedding; Thursday, dust; Friday, clean floors. I will be changing this soon, but this is a general idea of how it goes. 

* When you are out and about, always have a bag with you that contains a book, notepad, pen/pencil, and maybe something artistic, I take crochet...these things will help should you get stuck somewhere or have to wait for a long period of time. I make gifts for a neonatal unit and I use these times to crochet blankets and hats. 

I hope this will help make your routine a bit better. When you can't sleep at night or you need something to help you relax, read scripture. It brings peace of mind and victory over stressful emotions. Our lives can be overwhelming when instead lives should be healthy and lived thankful. May yours be so this week.

Hugs, Rita

Reasons NOT to lose weight! Seriously...

The impossible things have to be so visible to us that when we actually see it, we are in shock that it actually is the reality in front of us. We take a photo of a rainbow and are in awe when we look at the photo again and see not only a solid, end to end rainbow, but we see two of them. We are in a heart felt state of thankfulness and a bit of emotional, heart rendering knowing that God is real regardless of how we may normally feel on a regular basis. I for one, believe.

I get this same reaction when people see my before and after photos of weight loss. They do a double take before the questions start pouring out of impossibilities and self-doubt of their ability to do it as well as a list of those they know who need to do the same thing. It amazes me, though, of the reason why people say they can't or won't lose weight to live a healthy life style. Here are a few I have heard:

"I don't want to get wrinkles." I immediately pulled the compact mirror from my purse for fear I had developed something really bad on my face since that morning makeup session in the privacy of my home.

"The Bible says, '...all the fat is the Lord's!" Yup, I was told this with a straight face... Enough said...lol... (Lev. 3:16)

"I don't want saggy skin and I don't want to work out to get bulky." Wow, that was one that I didn't see coming. Let me think... No, can't come up with anything for that one.  I love working out, leading a fitness class, reading running magazines. I know how much better I feel after I workout or run. I haven't gotten bulky from working out, but I want more muscle and think I would be fine with that type of body. After weighing 450lbs, I am going to have some skin left, but not near what I had full of fat!

"I don't have the money." This has expanded from buying healthy food to joining a gym, but food is the same price if you buy pre-packed, healthy foods or eat fast food to going in the gas station for snacks. Then working out can be purchased or free! The road is free, parks are free and simply going to the mailbox ten times in a row is free! Climbing steps anywhere is free! Money shouldn't be a hindrance. God says that He will provide all your needs. My grandmother use to say that if it's a hindrance, He could remove it. Food for thought, sorry for the pun.

"I don't want to lose my bottom or my boobs." Seriously!? Don't you want them to be firm rather than sagging? That's my thinking... Don't ask your spouse...just don't. It's not nice to put your partner in the place of answering questions you already know the answer. They love you regardless and if they criticize any part of your body, mind or soul, then run! Run fast. If anyone is negative about you in any way that is untrue then you need to move away from them because more than likely their panties are too tight and they have deeper issues within themselves to get help with. Now if you are lazy, have habits, hangups or other problems that you know are truths, then get help...

Everything if Possible and I am living proof of that as well as knowing there is no excuse to live healthy. The benefits of doing so is joy, happiness, peace and hope. I can't explain how the stresses seem easier, bills coming in the mail don't seem so bad, people don't bother you as much. Then there is the endurance you feel physically as well as the oxygen to the brain to make clearer decisions and think better. These things can't be explained unless you make the decision to change your eating habits and add a workout routine. I challenge you to do so for thirty-days. Simple. What do you have to lose? Thirty-days! That's it, no cheating, no excuses, no compromise, just do it!

Hugs, Rita

"Muscle Bound" beyond the Body to a Life Style!

#GarrettCobbs and I tutoring workout terms during reading...

It was a busy day, people were racing from one station to another, grabbing items obviously on paper lists that they brought with them or ones from memory. Few people had time to smile, say anything, only time to rush their baskets squeezing wheels forward toward the end destination to checkout and get home or wherever they needed to be. It was in the checkout line that I met her, a woman about my age with a shopping cart overflowing with grocery items and household needs. She looked tired, overwhelmed and ready to melt into the floor. I smiled and mentioned what a nice day it had been, offering words of encouragement. She looked at me like a deer caught in headlights, as we as southerners say.

It was all it took, as it usually does. My sons have teased me for years, that I can find out about everyone in the grocery line and the clerk by simply saying, "Hello" and looking in their shopping cart. It's a gift I suppose. This particular woman began telling me her life story so I listened. Her husband had walked out and recently moved in with the woman she thought was her best friend. Those groceries were the first she had been able to buy because she had finally got alimony. He refused to help with their two daughters who both had Autism and were over the legal age for child support. Then she went on to tell me how her health was in serious condition due to the stress. I tried to keep my eyes focused on her face, but they slipped to her shopping cart. It was then she said, "I know, I need to eat better and exercise, but I just don't have time." It as then, I took a deep breath, said a prayer and opened my mouth...

I have said a thousand times, deciding to live healthy is a choice. You an't sit by me and offer a single excuse not to live a healthy life style.  For the same amount she was buying what was in her grocery cart, she could have made a difference in her life and in her home. Her focus had to change to, let the man go, he isn't worth the time he is occupying in her head... Then I made some daily suggestions to help her daily, one step in front of the other, and soon she would see the courage that lives deep within her to move forward in her life.

Simple Tips for "Muscle Bound" 

within Daily Living:

1.  First thing in the morning, make your bed! It sounds simple, but there is something about walking in your bedroom and seeing the bed made, pillows propped up and then when you crawl in the sheets at night from being made that morning.
2.  Get up an hour earlier than normal, even if you don't feel like it, meditate. Take this time to mediate, read scripture, list at least three things you are grateful for, read devotionals, pray, focus on your breathing, read positive influences. Do not pick up the newspaper or turn on the news! Have this quiet time before the rest of the house gets up.
3.  Walk at least 1 mile everyday. This can be at lunch or while you are waiting on the kids practice at soccer. Use downtime or while you waiting for someone or something.
4.  Drink 8 glasses of 8 ounces of water every day then add two more. Can't stand water? Then add lemon juice or lime. Move away from sodas, beer, wine, any other beverages that exceed water. If I have coffee, my other beverage, I have three 8 ounce waters for 1 cup of water. I drink more water than that, but I do make sure I have at least that much.
5.  Don't journal? Write down what God has taught you about life that day.
6.  Get dressed everyday, preferably first thing in the morning, wash your face, comb your hair, whatever, but get dressed!
7.  Clean on thing everyday. Declutter something everyday too. It takes less than a minute to dust a table and you can clean the shower while you are in it! Decluttering an area can take as long as you want, but doing one spot a day will get your home more relaxing easily in 30 days!
8.  Send someone a nice note via snail mail! While you are waiting in the carpool line or at the doctors office, write a quick note and drop it in the mail. This can change the course of someone's day.
9.  Start a workout routine and do it even when you don't want to. Everyday, Garrett and I do some type of activity even though it may surround Special Olympics. I also run, workout at the gym, hike and walk. Garrett participates as well. We are active.
10.  Get involved in a group of people that share moral and disciples that you are passionate about. It is important to me that church be a part of my life. My friends are my small group from Sunday mornings. Then I have in addition to that a Bible study group that share the same principles I do about raising Garrett and creating a home sharing love and happiness.

When I was tutoring Garrett last week, we looked ahead at one of our reading projects. The comic book portion of our reading, Archie, the opening segment was about working out. I can't wait for us to read this week about Archie and his friends adventure. Garrett and I read a chapter book and he has spelling words to go with our study. At this time we are studying how to have a healthy body in hopes that he will grasp a better understanding of diet and exercise.

We all can look too much at the negative in our lives, situations that make up our realities. However, we have to get to the point that simple things we do everyday can give us a bit more confidence in bringing us joy so that we can live in hope, peace and courage when stresses come our way. It is proven that when we eat better, workout and live a healthy life style that when crises happen, we are better prepared emotionally to handle it. Try these tips for thirty-days and see how you feel.

Hugs, Rita

Sometimes it is Breakfast for Supper! Gluten-free Peach Buttermilk Pancakes Recipe...

#RitaHutchesonCobbs from the #KitchenWithAHouseAttached 

Thursday night, I had plans to attend a women's worship service and already planned the egg breakfast casserole, but I also had peaches I needed to use as well. As I went through my day, I thought about peach pancakes and how I could make them. Of course, I could have looked up a recipe, but I needed a gluten-free recipe with a low fat as possible. They turned out light and fluffy. I added maple syrup warmed in a bit of boiled water. Then I fried some homegrown eggs using cooking spray rather than butter or oil. Delicious!

Peach Buttermilk Pancake Recipes

2 cups of 1-for-1 gluten free flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon honey

2 eggs, beaten well (or use egg substitues)

2 cups of fat-free buttermilk

1 teaspoon real vanilla

2 large peaches, peeled, seeded, diced

Directions:

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray generously.
Using an electric mixer, put all the liquid ingredients in the mixing bowl and blend well on low.
Add the remaining ingredients and mix well including the peaches.
* If the batter is not thick but dripping from the spoon, add a bit more buttermilk to the batter and mix for one minute.
Heat the skillet to medium heat and test a tiny dot of the batter to see if it fluffs up. If so, you are ready to make each pancakes!! Pour about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Depending on how large your skillet is will depend on how many you can make at a time. It takes about a minute on each side until they are golden brown for them to be completely done all the way through. Transfer each on to a plate to cool and serve warm.

Enjoy...

As my children were growing up, we had pancakes at least once a week and varied them from chocolate chip to blueberry. The toppings might be whip cream or warmed maple syrup. Each morning, we had a grand breakfast and the favorite was always eggs and bacon. Today, Christmas Eve is the traditional southern breakfast with all the trimmings of ham, biscuits, gravy and other fun items on the menu that due to living healthy the rest of the year, we normally don't have.

Cooking spray, fat-free milks, egg substitutes, fresh fruits are just a few ways to change the way we eat breakfast, such as pancakes, to create less calories.

Hugs, Rita

Loving others...

 

#RitaHutchesonCobbs with #GarrettCobbs

Sundays are a rockin' awesome day of the week for Garrett and me. We love to spend our mornings having breakfast together, getting ready for church, going to Decatur Baptist for services and then to our favorite place for lunch. Each week, Garrett wants us to get our selfie and I have one for every single Sunday morning that we have been at church. He will say, "Pizza!" for the photograph, which is what he eats for lunch on Sundays. He is way too cute about it. 

It amazes me that during the past three-years, Garrett comes out of Sunday School telling me all about the lesson he has learned. Then he goes home to tell his grandmother about the sermon, scripture and the basic outline of Bro. Doug's theme. What is so great about these things? Garrett's reading and writing is on a limited scale. Garrett is also learning that there is a difference in who have love and those who don't. In this he has expressed examples of the difference in someone having Christlike behavior and those who don't. I want everyone to live in peace, love, hope and joy. However, when others have experienced that Garrett and I have, it's hard to explain to them and especially a child, that there is love in people's negative choices especially when they are contrary to God's Word. 

Then there is Garrett. He looks at things black and white; there is no straddling the fence. People either love each other or they don't. He wastes no time and verbalizing that a person doesn't love another and why they don't. When he shared his opinion about a situation recently, I was about to encourage him another direction when the person who was listening lifted their hand as not to stop me. Then they told Garrett, "You are old enough to have your on opinion about this and we can learn from what you have to say."

Indeed, why isn't loving others clear as this? Why isn't it obvious. God's Word says it clearly to love others as we would love ourselves. Why isn't Garrett's definition of how someone would show love to others not be true? You either do show them in every way or you don't. Garrett and I have lived situations that nobody should ever have to live. We have lived abandoned, we have lived loved. We have lived rejected, we have lived redeemed. We have lived in fear, we have lived by faith. Regardless what you may experience, you have a choice to live in love for this is what we are suppose to do. We have no excuse not to live life healthier by living loved as well as loving others. There is so much more happiness in deciding to love others regardless where they are in our lives even if they aren't ever present, praying for them and knowing that it isn't our battle to fight, but God's. We can press on toward the mark He has for us, sharing the faith of the gospel which is eternal life, the hope and the love, He has for us. Garrett has the right idea, love has no boundaries, but it is completely defined in the realities of our actions and how we live it. 

Remember, you are loved regardless. 

Hugs, Rita

Fake it til you make it? I don't think so...

 

#RitaHutchesonCobbs 2009 to 2017 and minus over 300lbs

I have heard a lot of different quotes to inspire and encourage one's self through various situations of crises to reaching their life goals. However, one I try to forget, but then find myself quoting is, "Fake it until you make it." Why? I will be honest as to why, here, now, upfront. I spent too many years, faking and masking the realities of life for too long. I realize there are times and places to express the truth and exhibit it on your face and with body expressions, but then there are times to not share everything you are feeling. Also, there are people in your life that you need to boldly and with confidence share your concerns, burdens, joys and struggles with and others you should not. God built our community of people in our lives this way on purpose. I just learned this a few years ago.

I was taught by family that because I was a minister's wife, I was to hold things in, hide problems, mask situations and smile all the time. It wasn't hard for me because part of me lived happy anyway. However, as one friend described me about three-years ago, "You were wound up like a top and it was as if someone had you on strings as a puppet." Do you feel as if you are wound too tight? What about feelings of puppet strings, leaving you out of control of your own performance?

Living a healthy lifestyle, may mean removing a mask or taking the smile off in a safe place with people that are truly trust worthy with how you feel or what you are going through. Feelings are just that, feelings. You can't trust them, but they don't always have to be fixed. You just need someone to listen, not justify, condemn or advise you or the feelings you have. I didn't know my own feelings because I was trying to fight back with words, to stand up for myself, when you shouldn't have to stand up for yourself in relationships of friendships, marriage or family at all. There should be no masking at anytime. 

The thing that can make a difference and even though it may seem fake or masking is smiling. When all else seems bad and when you don't really feel like doing it, smile. The one thing that takes less muscle power and leaves you with fewer wrinkles is smiling. For some reason, smiling lifts your spirits and encourages you from within as you go through your morning and your day. It changes your mood while you are alone because you have nobody to impress but yourself and God. Then as you pass a mirror, you notice how much better you look. When you pass someone, they may smile back. We have no idea how a smile toward someone can change their day. People have written how a smile saved their lives! 

Save your mask for parties or holidays to wear as an accessory. Let's put them away, take a deep breath, cleanse within and let it all out. Wash our face, pat it dry and smile at the person we see in the mirror. There is a God living with in if you believe and He needs us to be real and exhibit the gospel of His Son and demonstrate the reality of the Holy Spirit and it could begin with a smile, then add the words. 

Today, that same friend that said my life was controlled by a top and a puppeteer, says that she likes me better today. I am living true, but free. My life is still demonstrating joy and happiness, but I am not as wound up as in my past. I am living out of the bondage of masking. Breaking the chains takes time, but the freedom in the healing is so worth it. Live a healthy lifestyle with no excuses in the freedom of spirit, soul and body. Smile. 

Hugs, Rita

Living by Example during Weight Loss...

#RitaHutchesonCobbs loving cell phone apps lol

Why is living by example in what we eat so important?

There are so many things that I love about technology. My son, Garrett, I love to take photographs and put them on various avenues of social media that I belong to. Once, while at my favorite coffee shop, a friend came through the drive-thru, asked the bistro, who was knew ((oh dear)), to have me come out for our "selfie." Bless him, he didn't know! She came into the shop and the poor guy was blown away by the seriousness of our "selfie album." It was started as a joke, but now, it's a reminder of friendship and the love or relationships we share with our wide world of community. So, now that Garrett has discovered my 35mm camera...he likes for me to add them to fun frames and shapes. 

Stay with me... Garrett has watched the warmth and developing friendships from the "selfies" I have taken over the years. He has seen the relationships develop that now, he wants us to take our selfies wherever we are and whatever we are doing. Every Sunday morning, we have to take our selfie prior to worship. He wants his photo taken with community helpers, with his friends, trying something new, working out with his friends, bowling or playing golf. 

Recently, Garrett said, I needed to start a "Salad Selfie" Album. Apparently living by example has inspired the friends from our workout group with the Special Olympic team to hold me accountable for what I eat. One night a week, the team eats out together and usually it's a fast food location in town. They workout prior to swim practice so they burn the calories for eating out in this environment. One night, I told them, "I am so excited we are eating out tonight (naming the place)!" From behind me, one of Garrett's best friends replied, "Ma'am, can I help your order?" I told him that I would be happy for him to help me order, thinking I would get a nice juicy fried sandwich and fries...nope, when I asked him what I was going to get, he quickly said, "Ma'am, you are getting a salad, cause you are on a diet!" When we got to the restaurant, who was behind me...you guessed it, I ordered a salad lol. 

This past week, we went to celebrate Garrett's birthday and another of his best friend's birthday. Again, this amazing guy came and asked me if he could help me order. Of course, I let him and once again, he picked the best salad for me, a strawberry mango salad that had the best orange salad! I did get chocolate ice cream, he told me that was alright, "Just this once!" When I asked him, "What am I going to eat the week we go to state games?" He replied, "Salads, Ma'am. cause you are still on a diet." I will eat salads too because I love this guy and all of Garrett's friends.

#RitaHutchesonCobbs loving salads...

Whatever we do, we live by example. When we eat, drink or workout, we are living by example. We may want to influence those around us with words when actions teach volumes. Live faithfully the changed lifestyle of eating healthy, a workout routine and being thankful, others will see it and want what you have. It may take one day, but it may take years. The one thing you cannot do, is enable others. If you think your daughter or grandson needs to lose weight or your husband needs to start a workout program, then don't sign them up for a weight loss program and pay for it...don't give them a gym membership. Why? Because they have to make the choice for themselves. If they pay for it, they will be motivated to go and do. Live by example because you have to be accountable to yourself and testimony to others. Life faithful with no excuses. 

It is ironic, because I rarely eat salads at home. I do eat gluten-free, primarily proteins and vegetables. Water is my choice of beverage with a cup or two ((gulp)) of coffee thrown in to the mix. I measure every food I eat and I weigh especially my meats, after they are cooked. We have to get to the point that we are accountable to ourselves in knowing what goes in our mouth, every bite, lick and taste (BLT), as well as if it is what is healthy for us. This is the only body we will ever have and it is the one we will spend eternity with, best take good care of it. Our character is also something that needs to be cared for, by this we will influence others to living a healthy lifestyle especially those we love and care about.

Live life by example with no excuses!

Hugs, Rita

Daily Prayer Journal...avenues with weight loss and fitness...

#RitaHutchesonCobbs at the Decatur Public Library

During the my school years, elementary through high school, I never enjoyed reading. Looking back, I think it was because they were assigned reading materials. I never minding being told what to do, it might have been more productive for my progressive for me if I had been able to pick things I enjoyed reading. In college, I discovered reading because of an animated English 101 teachers. She was fantastic in teaching everything from writing a complete sentence to reading books. I couldn't read enough. In 2011, we had a severe tornado come through our area, hitting our house. It was time to tear down and rebuild. Books were everywhere, probably holding up the walls and three-thousand books found new homes from being donated to being given away. I repented of that...all the people that could be reading them after we had finished with them from homeschooling to pure enjoyment. 

Now, I have both an ereader and actual books, but other than a few classics, books I treasure, collections of cookbooks and Bibles (don't even ask), I pass on the books I finish with and hope they enjoy them as much as I did. I checkout books from two local libraries and use my ereader to checkout books as well. Both of the local libraries have what I call a re-sale store. Inside are books donated by the community and books the library has removed from their shelves. There are recordings, DVDs, tapes, magazines, plus other items related to reading or listening. I get items for $.25 to $1.00. I am selective, however, and then pass them on.

This particular day, I went to renew my library card which is required once a year. I went to the re-sale room and as I thumbed through the books, I found this prayer journal. It was the prefect size for my gratitude journal. I write one word to a sentence for things I am thankful for several times each day. Each one fits perfectly in my bag, purse or in places at home. I opened the book to July 6 and July 7. A few pages into the prayer journal the year was noted for 1982. I was encouraged to see the inspiration and encouragement this unknown owner left on each page. It was verses that inspired and people that was with them when it happened. 

Just as this person wrote down these words, it is the same for living a healthy lifestyle. When you write down every bite, lick and taste (BLT) that goes in your mouth, you have accountability to yourself and then to another person when you hit a wall in weight loss. Also, when you write down your fitness routine, you see the weight amount you have lifted or used on a particular machine, remember how many times you did one particular workout and then there is writing down how much water you have drank compared to other beverages. I have an account of all this plus my prayer requests, praises, and thanksgivings. I write out my prayers, journal and list various things.

I hear often, "I don't have time for all this!" Then I have to ask, "Do you have fifteen-minutes to give me?" Then when I see them, I have them do nothing more than write down everything thing they do on two days of the week, a weekday and a Sunday. After they finish this timeline, I show them where they can make time for a weight loss plan, fitness plan and even one-hour to journal in every way. It is amazing when we create just a BLT journal and a timeline journal for thirty-days, we see how much we waste in foods and time. We are not happy when people point out the realities and truths of our lives; however, this needs to happen so that we live not only a blameless life, but also one of example to all those around us, our children, our spouse, our neighbors and our co-workers. How do you live before your mirror, to yourself, much less to those you see first thing in the morning or the last person you see at night? God is watching.

With today's technology, you can make your life of accountability much easier and stronger so that you too can live a life that is fit, healthy, strong, positive and joyful. It's time to live real. I know what is like to take the door of the closet, remove the curtain from the windows, allowing myself as well as others see inside from the pain to the love, from the sadness to the joy. Through writing down just what we eat and drink, we see where our addictions and habitual eating and drinking are and the changes we need to make. After almost six-years, I still journal every BLT. I may take photographs of my plate, but I have accountability of what I eat and drink. That is why on my social media you will see food and drink photographs.

Consider what you can do to make this change in your life. You won't need anything fancy to write these things down. A subject notebooks would work just as well. If you want a beautiful journal, fine, or you can make your own (see video below). Whatever inspires you to write down or keep track of your daily life, then do it for nobody other than yourself. If you want to send me copies, I will be your accountability partner. Life is worth the small changes and it looks for the best in yourself and in others. You can be the encouragement that someone is looking for. What if, like this book I found, in years to come, someone reads your journals...will they find encouragement by the goals you are reaching for? I hope so.

Hugs, Rita

Happy Birthday today to my son, #GarrettCobbs!

#RitaHutchesonCobbs

Me? Leading a Fitness Class? Seriously happening!

#RitaHutchesonCobbs at #BendersGymHartselle

Silver Sneaker Classic and Yoga Chair Exercise Classes

Let's go  back to October of 2010, when I sat down, prayed for God to help me succeed in taking over my health. Then during the month of December of that same year, every day of that month, I prayed, "Father God, help me be successful in getting my health and weight pleasing to you." Now your weight and health may be pleasing and happy for you and to Him, but it wasn't for me. I began my journey on January 1, 2011 with beverages and then changed my foods on February 1, 2011. It wasn't until August of 2012 that I added activity. When someone asks me now, "How do I start?" One of the first things I tell them is to balance a fitness routine with your change in food choices. Losing weight or maintaining it has to be done with some type of fitness program. I didn't do that and it would have been much better had it done so.

Each year, I have either made a challenge for myself or be given one by a friend. In 2015, my goal was to join a gym. My friend, Anna, told me about Bender's Gym hiring people for various positions. When I called the owner, Amanda Bender, she invited me down the the Elite facility to see it and to interview. We talked about management to cleaning and I asked for cleaning. She almost didn't hire me because, "You are over qualified for this position." I laughed, shouldn't have but did, because I wanted to clean, it was moving. I began in the Hartselle facility and since then I have done almost every job offered through Benders. In a matter of months, I will have been with Benders for three-years. Now, I am one of the fitness instructors working with our Silver Sneaker program, to which I am very passionate about!

#RitaHutchesonCobbs

The struggle I had in the past was that I couldn't succeed at anything. When I was asked to be certified as a fitness instructor, I was uncertain that I could pass the test. I began studying and while doing so, was afraid to take the online test. I went to the training for Silver Sneakers which just brought my passion for this program and getting those my age and older active even stronger. Then as I drove home, I began thinking about how great these classes were for new gym members or those never attending a class to those overweight and needing a place to start! My ideas were so in fast thought motion so much so that our lead instructor had to say, "Lead your first class and keep practicing." Lol, I am a long way from being a leader, I am still a student. 

In my past, as I struggled to try new things, to succeed at something with very little confidence and self-esteem, it would end in failure. I labeled it as such because of the lack of empowerment I felt inside as well as being beat down by others. The thing I have learned from this is that those failures weren't really failures at all, but instead they were opportunities for me to grow. I had a choice to allow them and the people to control me in the today and in the future or to move past them. When you understand that you don't have to answer for their choices to beat you down or beat you up, then you can live in joy and press toward the plans God has for you. 

How has this experience changed my life?  In leading this fitness class, I am gaining so much joy in being in front of people. I have carried a fear of being in front of people. I am great with a few people or my one-to-three minute selfie conversations, but I don't do well as a sit down and let's have lunch conversationalist. Second, I have learned to listen and process both the good and the bad things people say to me regarding my leading and the class it self. In the past, I took things personal because I was taught this by those around me. I realized how much I had grown in the past few years, when I was listening to one of our precious ladies make a suggestion regarding my leading and I was taking it in collectively not critical. It was a successful step in my arriving in that growth moment. Go Me! Another area this has taught me is that I have a solid foundation in knowing that if anyone can lose over three-hundred-pounds, keep it off and have a workout routing both indoors and outdoors as I do, then you are beyond successful. 

People that leave your life, needed to go. People that are in your life, living in a negative whiny dramatic character, but in the body of someone you feel you owe your soul too, needs to be re-evaluated. I pray constantly, "Father God, please bring relationships into my life that live for You, positive and in joy, binding the enemy from those friendships." I don't want to be around jealousy, control, unhappiness, drama or whining. There is a difference in someone going through something and listening and habitually walking through life crises. Moving to working out and eating healthy, gives you new desires to be around people that live a character striving for Christlikeness. This is the life I am striving for. Not a perfect life, a one that loves others and serves. God wants to use your life to reach others and for the good of others. 

The one thing I want you to get is that we have no excuse to make the choice to live a healthier life-style. Our relationships will change when we set our minds on healthier things and when we chose to live a healthier life-style with no excuses. You begin to think clearer, walk further, feel better and sleep deeper. Life is seen clearer and faith becomes stronger. Hope is there for the taking but you have to take the first step and it can begin with a class like the one I lead. Come sit by me, I will go to class with you, help you make the right food choices, even be your friend. We are without excuses; we are full of motivations, just pick one. 

Hugs, Rita

Blessed are those who need...

#RitaHutchesonCobbs w/#GarrettCobbs at #DBCLife

To simply say, my life has been forever changed, brings tears of joy to my eyes. I rejoice and feel so happy as the powerpoint rolls through my mind of all the ways that I have been blessed in the past three-years alone.  When you get to the point of being needy and you plant the seed of need deep in a soil that looks barren, water it with prayer and tears of promises you know to be true, He brings a harvest of thanksgiving that you can't possible list for you to see His handiwork. 

Many of shared the dependency of a chair, trusting it as we sit down without even thinking. When people ask me how I have walked through each day without losing hope, it is just as simple as sitting in a chair. I trust hope; I trust love; I trust knowing that through everything I am being taught the exact things I am trusting in...hope, love, and to trust in God.  Also, I am learning to be thankful and to be filled with gratitude regardless if I feel like it or if I want to do so.

On February 25, 2015, one of the things I told God was, "I need a home church!" I heard him that night in my bedroom just as clear as my son calling my name. He said, "Decatur Baptist." I was like, "Are you sure? I've never been there before!" So, the following Sunday, I dressed in my not so Sunday clothes and even wore my running shoes, left my hair wire curly, thinking they won't want me and drove myself to the church for Sunday School and preaching. A beautiful woman, Sandra, met me at the education building door and I told her I had never been there before and in one sentence I told her what brought me there. She took me to a ladies Sunday School class and they were amazing. I felt welcome regardless how I was dressed. I sat in the outside circle from the U-shaped table in the center. After the announcements, another class joined us, a lady close to my age and very pretty blond sat next to me, while a lady six-feet tall, model thin and short hair shared her story of being a cancer survivor. I was in awe.

After Sunday School, I have no idea how I made it to worship. There were other things that happen, people I ran into that I knew, but I sat by myself until the pretty blond came and sat with me. I cried throughout worship because I became one with God not because of my circumstance or anything, but because He came inside and took over. I asked her if it was like this every Sunday, she replied, "Yes, it is!" I was excited.

After church, the pretty blond took me to meet the pastor, to see where their class met and then to a special needs adult Sunday School class. I was hooked. The following Sunday, I asked Garrett to go with me and we have been attending this rockin' awesome church ever since. God came, changed my home, my life and we aren't the same. He has been allowed to change my home, my family and me. Having a community of people that encourage you makes a huge difference in helping you as well.

When you are need and God is all you have, He not only is enough and all you need is Him, but He will provide, He will use your need to grow you spiritually, physically and emotionally. Also, He will bring you to where you can help others through that need. When you are walking through that need regardless the simplicity to the severity, He can handle it. You just need to trust Him as you would your chair or the bed you sleep in to hold you up when you get in it.

If trust is hard, then it can begin with 

praise and thanksgiving...it is that simple

in moving toward living a healthy lifestyle. 

Hugs, Rita

Abandoned to Abundant...Living in the blessings

#RitaHutchesonCobbs w/#DodgeCaravan 2004

Bought at 11kMiles and here at 317KMiles...then...

...this past week, she clicked over to 319kMiles!

Want to lose weight and keep it off...

We have to face our face our "issues" and change our way of thinking.

Living a life joyful and happy regardless of our circumstance is easy for someone to say to our face then to go home and actually live it. When Facebook first began it was open to college students and younger, but when it opened to the public, I became friends with people I went to school with over four schools I attended from elementary through high-school. Bullying was a hot topic once and I asked many of them, "Did we have bullying when we were in school? If so, I don't remember it." They replied randomly with stories and like, "Yes! Where were you...oh wait...we are talking to Rita...she lived in her own bubble..." That pretty much describes how I float through life, in my happy place, this bubble of hope, positive atmosphere, happiness. It is easy for me to forgive instead of getting revenge, to love rather than hold bitterness, to hope rather than live in regrets. I am not perfect, but I would rather live as a victor and not a victim of my circumstance or my past. I live in my blessings and what I have seen God do in my life rather than the bad things that have happened.

This van I own is a perfect example of a bundle of blessings. When I got this van, it was a  program vehicle. My previous van had been totaled due to someone doing a U-turn and not seeing me on the right away. I got the "Silver Bullet" when she had eleven-thousand miles on her. She is a 2004 Dodge Caravan Anniversary Edition fully loaded with DVD player, cassette player, CD, hook ups for iPod, gaming units, plug ins (like to put a curling iron or laptop...don't ask) and electric doors and windows. Everything still works on this van except on electric door and a window. She has all the original parts including engine and transmission. I don't drive her other than in the city I live and to Huntsville or Athens on occasion. I have a fantastic mechanic who is on speed-dial, text messaging should something critical ever happen. Once I was in a nearby city for work and it suddenly overheated. I pulled into a repair shop and when they told me what was wrong, quoting me an unbudgeted amount for repairs, I texted him He called me and got them on the phone. When he returned to me, he said, "Rita, I am sending a tow truck to pick you and the van up, it will be ready in the morning at 1/4 what they are going to charge. I've got this."

Just like Duck, I will call him, God blessed me with people in my life, like he and his wife along with the shop that services my vehicles, to help me after a serious life-experience. When I was saving for another car, I waited. Then someone at church came to me with a car that was perfect for me. The price was completely unbelievable and the car was in mint condition. Once again, God blessed me and I not only didn't have to get a loan for a car, but I had another car to drive to work and one to transport Garrett and his equipment. My home, wow, a lady at much church told me about this house not five-minutes in a complete circle to all that we did on a daily basis. We were prepared to move when a professional mover called me and, the short of it...yet another God story, moved us completely in one day. Last winter, I needed to buy Garrett a coat. He is a large football player size. I couldn't find an Alabama jacket in his size, but I found a Falcon's jacket. It was out of my budget, but I stepped out on faith and ordered it. I was at Target cafe ordering my drink, telling the clerk about the jacket and acting on faith. When I went back to my table to enjoy a few moments of quiet time, I opened my book and the cash in the exact amount of the jacket fell out. I saw nobody around the cafe. When I needed clothes, a bag showed up at my front door without explanation. When I moved in my house, I didn't have a bed in my room. I slept on the floor. One day, I got a delivery...  I have a neighbor that is beyond a blessing...he has been mowing my grass since I moved in and won't take anything for it ((so I bake))!

I could go on with times that blessings have come my way. Protection to provisions are the abundance of His graces and mercies that flow when I hope and trust in Him. Being abandoned, left in a situation that we can't see clearly how we are going to manage, care for ourselves, pay bills, buy food or manage our home, we have to grow up and clean the glasses. There has to come a point where we decide to live in the abundance, the promises that have come to us in the past rather than the bad or negative things of the past. Too often we overlook the best things and the goodness of our life-experiences and dwell of the hurt and develop bitterness as a result. Through the ugliness we become depressed, angry, hateful, and can't see a future. The reality of the gospel, the cross, the resurrection and our eternal home is to choose to live in abundance, His blessings, His promises, to be thankful, grateful and grow up beyond self-centered emotions and ourselves. Blunt, but honest.

Like the Silver Bullet, she is rewarded for taking good care of my family. She is serviced ever three-thousand miles. She gets washed often. The tires are what I call mileless. She goes to worship every Sunday and Garrett loves her. He doesn't want to replace her, but he is praying for a red Toyota 4Runner, ((Lord, help us!  I have no idea where this prayer request came from!)) Just like the van, if we faithfully and continuously live thankful in what we have abundantly been blessed with, our lives are forever changed to a healthier life-style. When I did this, I wanted to continue to eat healthy, make my fitness routine better, run further, keep my goals and challenges in front of me and to keep my eyes on the prize of tomorrow. My life moved past everything that I was tired of, what I knew before to what God had for me today and for the future. We were made for more than this; we were made for an abundant life. Live in the blessings. 

Hugs, Rita

Let's talk oils and fats...

#RitaHutchesonCobbs

from the #KitchenWithAHouseAttached

In the photograph above there are other fat ingredients that we can live without.

 Can you spot them?

It is the most creative thing I have ever heard. Then again, maybe it's the kindest way a person can simply say it. Then again, maybe we need the straight forward truth...but let me back up a bit...

Don't you love run on sentences?! My favorite English teacher in the world from my first year in college would die on the spot if she ever read my stuff now, I am sure of it. When I first hear the word fat, it was in a physical education class actually in college. I was taking a class that I was going to have lead a segment of aerobics teaching the class to do something which was a portion of my final grade. Fat wasn't the word I heard, it was obese. I was labeled and defined. I didn't do that assignment lol, nope, not happening! Regardless of the assignment and the mental image of what that would actually look like, I discovered that obesity was a reality of definition in the dictionary, many books popping up written on the subject, but it was on my medical chart. 

What I can't figure out, is why is it not on our food labels? Can you imagine, "No Obesity" in this product! No, that wouldn't go over very well. So, we substitute obesity with other words rather than even saying fat, we use BMI, maybe out of context, but then we use, my favorite of all time, fluffy. 

Garrett uses the word "fluffy," but he will say, "Momma, you were the "f" word." People look at him curiously. When we got a dog that was five-pounds over weight, he said, "Momma, he is the "f" word, but I don't want to hurt his feelings." This is what I meant by the kindest person in the world. He never wants to hurt someone's feelings even thought he himself has a few extra pounds, but...if you try to pinch even an inch on that boy's legs, you can't do it. He is muscle all over, but the areas he actually does need to lose weight. 

Regardless, how you say it, label it, define it, fat is fat. It doesn't look good on your thighs, mine or on our blood work or on the scales. We can call this food or that oil "good fat" all we want, but I would rather put those calories to better use else where than in any fat calories recommended to me. I apologize to all those who have spent money on research, advertisement, manufacturing and even the consumers to justify something that is simply fattening and bringing more heart-attacks and obesity to our society, but...I won't do it. 

So, how to we substitute the fats in our diet or our lives?

 Here are some tips to help:

*  Remove all cooking oils and use cooking spray.

*  Don't use butters or margarine, use fat-free spray butter if you need any at all.

*  Change to fat-free salad dressings rather than regular dressings, try Italian.

*  Use lemon juice or lime juice instead of dressings or seasoning.

*  Experience homemade peanut butter or soy butter that requires no oil.

*  Read labels: picked up apple sauce the other day that said "natural" but had oil and corn syrup in it.

*  Baking cakes or breads, use apple sauce instead of oils (try going without breads and desserts)/

*  Make your own broths using vegetables rather than meat based.

*  Broil or grill meats rather than fry or pan bake meats.

*  Cook at home...I suggest as a family too. Save eating out for planned times.

These are just a few ideas. It is time to think about the foods we put in our bodies. We have only one. The waiting lists are long for body parts that can be replaced. Let's get real. Let's get honest. When we stand before God there are only two thinks we wills stand before Him with: our body and our character. These are why we are to take care of the temple and be more Christlike. Eternity will be so much easier don't you think if we start now? Something to think about...

Fat, fluffy, obese or the "f" word...It will get someone's attention. In the photograph above there are other fat ingredients that we can live without. Can you spot them? Living healthy is a learning process and over the past six-plus-years, I am still a process moving forward, but I am living proof you too can do it. There are no excuses and that is what you will carry into eternity. 

Hugs, Rita