November 2018 – Page 2 – Andrea Arthur Owan

How to Prepare Your Heart to Give Thanks

They came to me through the mail. A surprise present from a precious friend for my BIG birthday this year. I hadn’t put in a request for them. They hadn’t even been on my radar as a possible present.

But they were perfect! And I cried when I opened the box and saw them.

Beads. Beautiful beads handmade into a special loop.

Prayer beads.

I do admit to an initial concern, since I try to avoid anything that resembles rote, repetitive prayer. Unless it’s the “Lord’s prayer” Jesus taught the disciples in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verses 9-13.

But then I read through the accompanying explanation pamphlet, which offered suggestions on how to use the beads to pray.

The beads actually start with the Cross, which reminds us of Christ’s act of salvation for us.

The next bead up from the cross has been called the Invitatory Bead, which can be used as a call to worship. Reciting the Lord’s Prayer is a suggested prayer to call you to worship God.

Then comes the Resurrection Bead that reminds us that Christ has conquered death. For believers, we rejoice in the Resurrection that gives us eternal life.

Then the 4 Cruciform Beads that form the shape of the cross. The number 4 is a reminder of the four Gospels.

The seven little beads between each cruciform beads are called “Week Beads” (the number 7 representing spiritual perfection) that can also remind us of the 7 days of Creation.

The total number of beads, 33, reminds us of the years Christ lived on earth.

Now back to the cruciform beads—

The first thing that struck me in the instructions was the order the cruciform beads take you through when praying.

And praying that way has had a profound effect on my prayer life.

It’s suggested that the first cruciform bead above the Resurrection Bead be used to acknowledge God. Who He is, how He loves, what He’s done for us.

The next cruciform bead, as you move counter-clockwise around the beads, is where you Confess your sins and ask for forgiveness.

The third cruciform bead is the bead of Thanksgiving.

The final cruciform bead is the Intercessory Bead or where you offer up your prayer requests.

If you want to return to the first cruciform bead, you can once again thank God for Who He is.

Did you notice the order?

I found it a bit unsettling to my heart and brain the first time I stumbled through praying with the beads.

But then the light bulb in my head went on: how focused and right it seemed to pray that way!

To spend the initial time identifying with the cross of my Savior—the beautiful and somber identity marker of love, forgiveness, sacrifice and hope. What started out as unnatural quickly became comfortable.

Then I moved to praying the Lord’s Prayer at the Invitation Bead.

And then on to the Resurrection Bead. And as I prayed this way, something rather miraculous happened.

I slowed down and focused on the Lord—who He is, what He means to me, and what He means to the body of Christ—the “our” and “us” so often repeated in the Lord’s Prayer. A reminder that although this praying is personal it’s also corporate. I am part of a great body of believers stretching back a couple of thousand years. I am not alone in my faith, or in my relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And then, instead of rushing on to my prayer requests and thank you’s, I had to focus on my faults. Those nasty transgressions that put a rift in my relationship with God, that stifle my spiritual health.

It struck me how those confessions came before the thank you and prayer request beads. And how important it is that I don’t skip this “step” before moving on.

It’s humbling. And freeing. To get it all out in the open, laid out and taken care of. So I can move forward.

Forgiven.

When I did move forward, I felt free and unencumbered to really thank God for all of His marvelous blessings, big and small! After the somber aura surrounding my heart and soul during the confession stage, the aura disappeared to be replaced by unearthly, saturating joy at the thanksgiving bead!

And then my heart was truly ready to put in my requests. After the preceding prayers, the conduit between the Lord and me seemed to be open and flowing. Joyful. Rejoicing.

Supremely blessed and fulfilled.

Residual blessings—

When the praying is over, I’ve found I’m more in tune to the Spirit and His leading throughout the day.

Those beads came with me on the Camino, carried in my backpack’s hip pocket and into every church we visited. They helped keep me centered and focused, grateful and awed as we traversed country boasting centuries of Christian faithfulness.

Required form?

Do you have to pray this way?

No.

The only “set” way Jesus gave as an example for prayer is in the prayer He taught the disciples to pray. But the Lord’s Prayer gives a template that sets the form for praying with the beads.

He wanted us to acknowledge God, who He is and His position in the Universe, and His position with us, His children.
He wanted us to recognize that it is God’s will that should drive our lives and decisions.
He wanted us to recognize the source of our daily physical sustenance and spiritual infusion, and seek it daily.
He wanted us to ask forgiveness for our trespasses, in accordance to the way we forgive others’ theirs.
And then he tells us evil exists and we need protection from it.

Using the prayer bead format to prepare your heart for Thanksgiving—

I think most, if not all of us, want to demonstrate grateful hearts on Thanksgiving Day, the ONE day a year set aside for it. Most of us are at least a little tuned into the meaning of the day rather than just on the feast and the shopping. (I do hope I’m right one that point!)

So how can we best prepare our hearts to give thanks? I’m talking about deeply felt thanks that moves your spirit to joy, and not just coming up with a quick list of things you’re grateful for.

Praying them, as the gratitude research indicates, is so life changing.

Don’t have prayer beads? No problem!

Even without your own prayer beads, you can do this. To get yourself focused and have something to follow, you may want to write down the order and take it into your “prayer room” with you.

Breathe deeply to normalize your breathing and settle your mind. When you’re engaged in purposeful, directed prayer, I find you’re far less likely to find your mind wandering. Always a bonus! And you’re also more open to the Spirit’s lead as He guides your thoughts in directions and to events and people you might not have had on your planned “prayer list.”

So well before the family and friends gather on Thursday, and you’re in crush-mode in the kitchen, I invite you to retreat to a quiet place—inside or out—with your prayer beads or prayer outline and be quieted, humbled, inspired and fulfilled!

In tune with your God.

More thankful in all ways and with all things and ready for your heart and soul to overflow with that thankfulness.

Let me know about your experience.

I will be praying that you have a joyful week, overflowing with gratefulness and Thanksgiving!

NEXT MONDAY we’ll head back to our regular gratitude posts.

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

The Art of Conscientious Eating: Healthful Meals plus Social Gatherings

Colors. Vibrant, fresh, appealing colors. Assorted textures and aromas. A feast for the senses.

That’s what we enjoyed on the Camino. Every day. And I’m not talking about the landscape.

I’m talking about food and meals. Especially dinner. Three courses nightly.

First things first—

Take a look at your lunch or dinner today. How many colors can you count in it? Reds, blues, dark greens. Purples or oranges, or both.

The healthiest diets include lots of colors, and usually six to eight simple ingredients. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of meeting these goals with my meal planning, but after eating on the Camino, I realized I wasn’t.

My meals were often boring and two or three-dimensional. And aside from our two-three times a week fish for dinner, it looked like the typical American plate:

Meat or protein focus surrounded by a small salad bowl side of salad, veggie, and grains, rice, or quinoa.

Scads of data is in, and the ugly truth is: a diet heavy on meat (including red, chicken, and pork) is deadly. But does that mean you have to take the leap to total vegetarianism to eat healthy?

No.

What you need to do is cut down on it. Way down. And I do mean w-a-y.

How much meat is enough?

No more than 3 oz. of it for any meal. And it’s even better if you can whittle that number down to 3 oz. of it for just one meal, like dinner.

The best choice, though, is to nix it for most of your meals and only consume it several times a month. Fish can be eaten more often.

We won’t go into the science behind it in today’s post, so, for now, you’ll need to take my word for it. But before you rant at your computer screen, or say, “No way will my husband give up his 6 oz. burger, Andrea!” let’s go for the baby steps. Starting with the statement I noted in this week’s Workout Wednesdays post:

“Start with the good and then weed out the bad.”

So how can you do that?

Applying the basics—

First, start by adding A LOT of variety to your meals. Tomatoes, carrots, onions, celery, garlic (garlic granules are actually the best way to go), spinach, leafy spring greens, power greens, kale, chard, romaine, roasted red peppers. Or broccoli and avocados. Crinkle cut sweet potatoes and hummus. Cucumbers, black-eyed peas, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), millet, quinoa and amaranth. Rolled oats, dried grapes, nuts, steel cut oats. Fresh grapes, oranges, bananas and pineapple. Apples of all colors, tart and sweet.

Then start assembling!

Select four or five ingredients for a LARGE salad or soup (like a carrot-ginger or butternut squash) as your first course. I’ll lay out two large dinner plates and spread mixed greens over each one. Sometimes it’s baby spinach alone (which I purchase in a bag or container), or a blend of power greens. (I’ve been avoiding Romaine lately due to the E. coli issue the United States has been experiencing with it.)

I’ll top the lettuce with fresh heirloom tomatoes, orange, red, dark red, or yellow or combinations. Organic, English or Persian cucumbers (yummy!), get added, and probably one avocado divided between the two of us. Sometimes carrot strips get sprinkled on, or garbanzo beans. You might add sliced strawberries for a sweet addition, but be careful about heavy-handedness with the dried fruit, like dried cranberries, which are all the rage right now. It’s too much sugar.

Top that with extra virgin olive oil and a little salt and garlic granules for the dressing. Or olive oil mixed with a little freshly squeezed lemon juice and salt. Sometimes I’ll add specialty salt, like Hawaiian, or Tai ginger salt. And when I’m growing fresh basil, I snip some leaves, roll them into little cigar shapes, cut and sprinkle that on the salad or blend it into the olive oil. Famous chef Julia Child said there was no reason to purchase salad dressing since it is so easy to make at home! Take her advice.

And voila! You have a substantial FIRST COURSE meal!

For the SECOND COURSE, make a ratatouille-like dish out of onions, carrots, celery, and eggplant in chicken broth. If you haven’t added garbanzos to your salad, consider adding them here. Or black-eyed peas (loaded with vitamins and protein). or white beans. Change the flavor by adding turmeric and ginger, powdered or root form. I sometimes make the base out of chicken broth, and add roasted red peppers I’ve pulverized in a blender or Bullet to add a little roasted sweetness. For thickener, I might add a little tomato paste, but not much.

BONUS: When you reduce your meat consumption, you’ll save a lot of money! Dollars you could use to purchase expensive organic fruits and veggies.

For the FINAL COURSE, or dessert, consider finishing off the meal with some figs or dried dates, or an orange. Or do as the French and top it off with assorted cheeses. Yum! Or skip the dessert altogether. Our family has never made dessert a must-have, so having dessert on the Camino everyday was an unusual treat.

And there you have it! A three-course meal that doesn’t take that long to make. Especially if you make sure you keep all of these fruit and veggie staples in your refrigerator or on your counter.

And if you do the smart thing and plate your meal before heading to the dinner table and put the remainder in a container in the refrigerator for the next day’s lunch or leftovers, you’ll be another step ahead!

When in Spain—

The Spaniards (at least the Northern residents) seem to love their meat, especially pork, and it was offered at every meal. But fish was plentiful. And the plate servings were substantial. So much so that you could get adequately full with the salad if you weren’t walking five to six hours a day.

So with all of that meat-eating, how does that country end up besting the United States by so many places in longevity?

Spain is tied for 4^th on the list along with Australia. The United States showed up way down the list at 31. (The standings/rankings change only slightly depending upon what list you reference.)

So, what’s their secret?

After really observing the French and Spanish culture in the areas we traveled through, I think I hit on at least one significant game-changing factor, aside from the fact that the physical contrast between these Europeans and Americans was dramatic to us when we returned. The Europeans looked healthier, slimmer and happier, while the Americans back home looked fat, frumpy and unhappy.

Very unhappy.

Turning a meal into a social extravaganza!

Did you know that ½ of Americans experience loneliness? They feel lonely most of the time. And that loneliness can drive people’s diseases and increase the death rate by 50% percent. Yes, loneliness is that powerful.

What a shame. In a world where we’re “more connected” to one another than we’ve ever been we aren’t truly connected, and we suffer loneliness.

Did you know that having social connections is the #1 indicator of whether you will live a longer, happy life.

And that’s one of the most significant things we experienced on the Camino:learning to take the time to enjoy your meal with family and friends.

Something we’d always done when our boys were younger but had lost the art of doing.

Who really knows what the Iberian Peninsula residents do during their siesta times, but after those siesta hours they hit the streets—to shop for dinner ingredients and gather together to smoke (and smoke and smoke), enjoy a glass of wine and talk and laugh and talk and laugh and talk and laugh. Before dinner. While mom and dad socialized and snacked with friends, the kids wheeled around the squares on their scooters or booted soccer balls between one another.

They were building and nurturing relationships, around eating.

How different that is from so many Americans who throw together a meal without paying attention to its life-robbing ingredients, or open up bags of fast food containers and spread that out on the kitchen table for everyone to grab and wolf down farm style.

With text messages clicking back and forth between friends, and parents reading newspapers, watching the news, or chatting on their phones. Or the family meal is skipped altogether for sports practice, and everyone ends up eating alone, or in the car.

My younger son said the Italians enjoy meals the same way as the Spaniards. If so, it shows. Italy ranks #7 in longevity. (The World Health Organization—WHO—lists different rankings for men and women.)

Scientists now know that eating while socializing actually changes your physiology, for the better.

It has a huge impact on our well-being.

We seriously need to rethink how we do food and dining in the United States!

Applying it to Thanksgiving and Christmas—

With these two food-laden celebrations upon us, how can you put some fo this knowledge to work and turn over a new food leaf now without waiting for the New Year to grind it out?

Here are some changes to start this year:

Buy a smaller turkey, so the meat isn’t the huge centerpiece of the meal.
Provide several selections of veggies, with colorful choices.
Have some cooked and raw vegetable selections.
Provide the fixings for a big salad. (Turkey slices on a salad are delicious!)
Keep any cream-based selections to a minimum.
Provide alternative selections to the heavy (overly sweetened desserts).
Set out good snacks, like grapes, nuts, cheeses, and berries for people to snack on before they eat.
Don’t fill the house up with sweets and cookies, in lieu of healthful food.

And make sure your friends, co-workers, and classmates have a place to spend the day. Treat them like you would family.

Do as much preparing before the day as possible in order to reduce the stress of the day. And take joy in the preparing you do do on that day.

Make sure everyone chips in to help in some way, so no single person feels burdened and alone in preparing.

And try to stretch the meal out as much as possible, with the meal resembling more of a 3-course or more meal. Guaranteed all of you will eat less and feel better nourished and more satisfied!

So until next Friday, when we’ll talk more about keeping the Camino going back home, take some time for that alternative planning and food purchasing.

And try NOT to make Costco or Sam’s Club your go-to supermercardo!

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Conscientious Eating Basics: Adding the Good and Weeding Out the Bad

Which of the following most describes your eating or meal experience?

A) I throw together 2 pieces of bland bread, lunchmeat, a slice of cheese, a limp strip of lettuce and a spread of mayo and mustard for lunch. Every -day.

B) I often eat while working at my desk and/or computer.

C) I eat while watching television or reading the mail, magazine or a book, or chatting on the phone or reading text messages.

D) I often stop at fast a food “restaurant” or pick up a pizza for dinner because it’s late, I don’t have anything at home to fix, or I’m too tired to prepare a meal.

E) Most of my meals are microwaved or come from frozen packages.

Relate to any of those? How about one or more of them?

Today we’re getting an introduction to several posts dedicated to conscientious eating. But before we get into specifics, let’s look at some dismal facts:

For a variety of reasons, our current medical system is based on people being sick and dying.
2/3 of Americans go to work with flu-like symptoms. (We really do live at work.)
The #1 reason for bankruptcy in the U.S. is medical bills that can’t afford to be paid.
Sitting and lack of activity is killing us, literally. Seven hours of TOTAL sitting time a day doubles your risk of death.
1/3 of Americans die before 65.
Most people don’t get enough sleep.
70% of your immune system is in your digestive tract.
Many experts believe all disease begins in the gut.
Even though we may be surrounded by people, we live and work in a very solitary way.
Since the beginning of time, plants and food have been our true medicine. We need to return to that foundation.
69% of Americans are overweight or obese.
SUGAR is now considered by many professionals to be poison.
While we are living longer thane ever, we are sicker than ever.
We grow our foods in the chemicals they use to make chemical weapons.
High fructose corn syrup is like crack to your body and brain.
We tend to treat separate symptoms rather than the whole person.
When you’re under stress, you crave sugar, fat, and salt, and there is no satiation (satisfaction met) point for these.
It is emotion that causes people to reach for the wrong kind of food.
90% of serotonin—a chemical and neurotransmitter that regulates mod, social behavior, digestion, appetite, sleep, memory, sexual function and desire—is manufactured in the digestive tract, not the brain as we once thought.
Wellness is really a diet and mental health lifestyle connection.
We really are living in a “food desert” that comes with a 5x the average death rate—death that comes from curable diseases.
Cultures that eat grains have a higher rate of dementia.

Important Takeaway—

Food does affect the body and mind, but most of us blindly eat whatever is put in front of us or opt for the quick and easy (boring) meal approach.

Conscientious eating—

As we explore conscientious eating, which goes beyond just being mindful of how you eat, we’ll focus on:

being more aware
being more mindful
taking back your health

As Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, said,

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

As we move rapidly into this busy holiday season, where we’re ramping up everything in our lives to an often frenzied, overspent schedule, I invite you to keep something very important in mind—

It can be self-destructive to not tend to yourself.

Please take a moment to let that statement sink in. Meditate on it.

To many of you, that truth runs contrary to what you think your religious faith teaches you. It might even sound as though it borders on sinful, contrary to God’s word.

But how does Jesus, the reason for this marvelous season and for our very lives, say we should approach our lives?

With a light burden. Not a weary or heavy-laden feeling.

I can hear many of saying right now: “What does that have to with conscientious eating, Andrea? Or eating in general?

Plenty.

The fact, as I already noted, is:

Emotion causes people to reach for the wrong kind of food.

Life is emotional. The holidays even more so.

Just as our physical choices, activity choices, lifestyle choices and career choices affect us profoundly, so do our food-style choices affect us. What it comes down to is:

Adding the good stuff and weeding out the bad. (In that order.)

As we go into Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year, we’ll be learning about food—God’s magnificent gift to us. A gift he created for our

enjoyment and pleasure
sustenance
mental and physical health and healing
social fulfillment

And as we go forth, keep those highlighted statements in mind:

**It can be self-destructive to not tend to yourself.**

Emotion causes people to reach for the wrong kind of food.

**You need to add the good stuff to your life and weed out the bad.**

It won’t happen immediately or all at once. Our goal will be to recognize what causes us to fail in this area and start the weeding process.

And we’ll accomplish it together!

Join me this Friday when I’ll talk about the art and health of social eating. It’s something I knew and really learned how to do while walking the Camino de Santiago. Actually, when I ate on the Camino. That post will give you a bonus to our conscientious eating discussions!

Until then,

Decide that you don’t want to be one of the dismal statistics.
Pray about what God might be saying to you in this area.
Find a good friend, or several, to be accountability buddies with you. Friends that want to embark on this life-changing journey with you, to support and encourage you. To be supported and encouraged.

Thank God for the bounty He has provided, and prepare to enjoy it in new ways. With family and friends.

PS I’m humbly requesting prayer for recovery from having a bone spur cut off my big toe. While the surgery wasn’t long or extensive, the recovery is painful, and I’m unable to get around as easily as they said I would. In fact, I’m not getting around much at all. That’s one of the reasons this post was scheduled so late. Thank you!!

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Photo by rawpixel on unsplash

How Do Religion and Prayer Affect Gratitude?

You may have wondered if religious people are more grateful than their unbelieving or agnostic peers. Maybe you’ve asked yourself if praying makes you a more grateful person, or if parenting styles encourages the development of grateful children.

Today on Meditation Mondays, we’ll look at those factors: what role does religion or faith or parenting play in gratitude.

What’s Religion Got to Do With It?

As it turns out, a lot.

In a 2003 study, people who were noted as being more grateful had a higher sense of engaging in religion for it’s own sake and a lower sense of engaging in religion for the sake of others. Like someone would if they engaged in religion simply for the sake of improving their social status. In other words: dishonest motive.

Other studies show positive correlations between gratitude and attirbutes typically associated with religion, such as:

frequently participating in religious practices
considering religion to be an important factor in life
having a personal relationship with God
experiencing spiritual transcendence—a perceived experience of the sacred that affects your feelings, goals, self-perception and ability to surpass, conquer or outshine your difficulties
being committed to your religion—a sense of and expressing your commitment

When studying young people ages 17 – 24, researchers found that this age group tends to feel gratitude when they—

have their prayers answered
experience a miracle
have religious friends

But there were behaviors not correlated with gratitude—

the religion a person was affiliated with
private devotion practice
actively participating in organized religion
having a belief in a spiritual world
how important religion is to your life
considering yourself to be spiritual

I found this list interesting. These results show that gratitude is not triggered or related to what religion you practice; whether or not you maintain a practice of doing devotions or having a time of devotions; being active in organized religion; just generally believing in the spiritual world; ranking religion as very important to your life; or considering yourself spiritual.

I find the last finding fascinating.

So often I have heard someone say, “I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual.” My internal eyeballs roll. Exactly what does that mean? I’m not sure they can answer that. But now I have some scientific ammunition for how flimsy that belief can be.

Evidently just being spiritual doesn’t make you grateful.

But what does affect your gratitude is praying and having your prayers answered!

And while both Christians and atheists put a high price tag on gratitude and the benefits that come with and from being grateful, it was the Christians that reported “significantly higher” levels of gratitude in terms of emotions that feel or emote gratitude than their unbelieving peers.

Religion, gratitude, and mental health—

Some interesting findings popped up in this category.

Older adults that tended be less grateful experienced depression with prolonged financial difficulties.

But church-attending older adults who believed that God intervened in their lives to help them overcome difficulties displayed greater gratitude over time.

And religious involvement has been linked to having a grateful disposition, regardless of negative or positive feelings or display of emotions.

Using your religion to deal with stress had a significant association with gratitude, and that has a high correlation to utilizing prayer to figure out what God is trying to tell you or teach you.

The takeaway is:

religion may help people maintain gratitude even in the face of emotional distress.
religion also offers social support, which triggers gratitude.
praying can stimulate gratitude, for achieving help or understanding (for you or others).
gratitude can help you view negative life events as lessons from the Almighty!

Effects of Praying on Gratitude—

Research has shown that if you are instructed to pray for your partner for a 4-week period of time, you will likely report having higher levels of gratitude for that person than someone who just thinks good or positive thoughts about their partner.

Ever have anyone say to you “I’ll be thinking good thoughts for you!”

When someone says that to me, it always leaves me feeling a little flat and uninspired. I always assumed that was because the person saying it was usually an atheist or agnostic. But maybe it’s because deep down inside my heart, I know “good thoughts” won’t cut it. Something deeper needs to be involved.

But don’t fall into the trap of simply egging someone on with adding religious-speak, either, like using the words “spirit,” “divine,” and “God.” Using those words fall just as flat. They don’t increase feelings of gratitude.

And do you think that having intrinsic religiousness and a trait of gratitude increases your gratitude for a favor? Evidently that power combo didn’t effect the expression of gratitude in response to a favor.

Men versus Men—

In the German men versus American men study I mentioned in last week’s post, the researchers also discovered that 1/3 of the American men in the study preferred to hide their gratitude.

None of the German men expressed that desire or need.

Gratitude and people around the world—

Far more than Americans, United Kingdom citizens tended to link gratitude with a host of negative emotions, like:

guilt
indebtedness
embarrassment
awkwardness

And kids?

American children were the most likely to express “concrete gratitude” (the desire to repay a gift or favor), when they were compared to children from Russia, Brazil, and China.

Which kids were the least likely to express it? Russian kids.

However, 11 to 14-year-old Russian kids expressed “connective gratitude” (taking into account the desires of the benefactor when repaying a gift or favor) than the other children.

What about parenting?

Drum roll? Brrrrrrrrrr. The answer is…?

Nothing. Not anything concrete, anyway.

What a researcher named Andrea Hussong did find and publish in 2017 was while 85% of parents encouraged their children to say “thank you,” only 39% of them to experience gratitude in ways other than saying those two words.

The question that still remains in the area of parent-taught gratitude, though, is how parenting choices influence how children think of and experience gratitude.

Researchers say it’s an area ripe for more research, and more study needs to be done on it.

NEXT WEEK we’ll take a break from looking at the research to explore more of gratitude in prayer. You won’t want to miss this post! It’ll provide you with great preparation for Thanksgiving, and a good Christmas present idea—for you or that special friend.

Until then, be thinking about how you pray and for whom you pray.

Who could you pray and increase your gratitude for?
How might you increase your children’s gratitude expressions through parenting?
As Thanksgiving approaches, who can you think of that would get a real boost from a show of gratitude?
How could you boost your own gratitude trait?

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Photo by rawpixel on unsplash

How the Camino de Santiago Changed My Daily Eating and Cooking Habits

I thought we were going to have to eat it for every meal while walking the Camino. All the books said we’d have to, that the Spaniards consume it for lunch and dinner, and that breakfast would only be a hard (read: stale) piece of bread for breakfast. Maybe you’d get lucky and find a place open early enough for a café con leche.

WELLLLL, it could be that we hit the jackpot, all of the Camino books I read were old and wrong, or the establishments are trying to meet the demands of more discriminating (and maybe demanding?) pilgrims.

Whatever it is, we didn’t have to eat the ubiquitous ham sandwich or pork dinner if we didn’t want to.

We weren’t stuck with ham and a sliver-of-cheese sandwich. We didn’t have only pork tenderloin for dinner.

Instead, we were treated to exquisitely fresh and varied meals for nearly every day of our journey.

A lot of it!

Fresh bananas, oranges and apples were prevalent. We often packed those along for a mid-morning snack with a hunk of delicious Basque cheese, since we elected not to get bogged down physically by a big breakfast.

Sometimes we’d treat ourselves to a HUGE flaky, buttery croissant, or one stuffed with dark chocolate (Chris’s personal fave) and cup of café con leche, but most of the time we waited until mid-morning to stop for a short break and nibble.

Then we’d usually walk through lunch and have a sandwich or more substantial snack after we stopped walking, around 2:00 – 3:00 in the afternoon. Sometimes the sandwich would be one we’d purchased that morning and saved, or was a fresh one we found at an open store. (When we arrived in a new city nearly all of the places were closed for siesta, so we had to wait until they re-opened. In some towns that was five-ish; in other places it was 6:00 or 7:00. You never could be too sure about what you’d encounter, so you learned to be prepared in the meal or snack-to-tide-you-over department.

And many of the towns had markets open early enough to enjoy a cafe con leche before heading out. One wonderful and noteworthy Lorca albergue we stayed in offered a nice breakfast selection.

3-Course Meals—

But nearly every dinner we enjoyed was a three-course meal affair, with several selections for each course.

The “Salad Mixta” was usually a large plate of greens, a sliced hard-boiled egg, tuna fish, fresh tomatoes, white asparagus and tomatoes (and sometimes roasted red pepper strips), maybe a sprinkling of cheese or corn kernels. A light coating of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt served as the dressing. I was usually full and adequately satisfied after the salad, which I always ordered.

Then the second course was an equally humongous plate of pork tenderloin, albondigas (meat and pork meatballs) in a delicious, mildly sweet roasted red pepper sauce, a pasta dish or a fresh fish dish. I lost count of how many plates of northern Spain sea bass tenderloin or bacalao (cod) with a pepper sauce coating I consumed. And I didn’t tire of it.

Dessert might have been flan (always offered), ice cream, cheesecake, tiramisu, or a choice of whole fruit. Occasionally a monstrous slab of chocolate fudge cake with mounds of whipped cream was a selection.

And the dessert (unless it was a ubiquitous Nestle concoction), didn’t taste as though it contained nearly as much sugar as our American varieties. So the ingredient flavors were not overpowered by the super sweet sugar.

Oh, and every dinner came with a full bottle of red wine. (The daily imbibing on the cheap motivates a lot of people to walk the Camino).

I can count on three fingers how many times I had wine, which includes a glass of rose in France, a sip of red somewhere in Spain, and enough to dampen end of my tongue at the famous Fuente del Vino (Fountain of Wine) at Bodegas Irache.

No way was I going to walk the Camino on a glass of wine, as some unfortunate pilgrims tried (and failed) to do successfully.

Energy to spare on reduced rations and exercise—

What we noticed was how physically and emotionally satisfied we felt with the meal strategy.

Although we consumed a lot of calories for dinner, walking five to six hours a day quickly burned that off.

But exercising on a primarily empty or lightly filled stomach allowed our bodies to more efficiently burn fuel without us feeling sluggish or uncomfortably stuffed.

It was something I used to practice religiously—not eating before exercising—but had abdicated, primarily in favor of convenience or meeting others’ schedules.

But now we’re back to it. And we feel SO much better! And physically lighter. Keeps the brain sharper too. That practice also fits into the popular Keto diet, where you’re running in caloric deficit and burning ketones.

Opting for fresh food—

Another thing we noticed was just how much more we enjoyed REALLY fresh (like right off the adjacent farm) food.

Anyone who had the joy of biting into a beefsteak tomato thirty years ago knows how disappointing our current overgrown, overproduced, GMO’d tomatoes we get today are.

In France and Spain, we once again enjoyed the real deal—plump, fresh, juicy, right-off-the-vine, organic tomatoes. Many tasted like heirloom varieties.

And we’re not going back to the tasteless type.

Shopping and cooking fresh—

Now I’m taking the time to shop frequently—about every other day—for fresh (and organic) everything:

Fresh fish
Fresh veggies
Fresh fruit
Fresh meat (which we rarely consume now)
Fresh milk
Fresh cheese
Fresh bread
You name it. It gets purchased fresh and consumed. Not much frozen anymore, except maybe berries.

Hello, farmers markets!

Chris and I are becoming weekend regulars at the local farmers market, returning to our favorite handpicked produce sellers, the adorable bread baker who kneads and molds her artisan bread with her gnarled rheumatoid arthritic hands. The former Wall Street worker who sold it all and moved to a Sonoita ranch (on the Arizona-Mexico border) to raise grass-fed cattle gets attention for her delicious ground meat and sausage (and hydrating purified rain water blended with rose water and 6 vital essential oils).

And I’m really enjoying the art of preparing and cooking, making a game out of seeing what I can combine for flavors. You’d be surprised what tastes good together!

I’ve even cracked open the Great Courses DVD and book The Everyday Gourmet: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Cooking compiled by The Culinary Institute of America. I started it a couple of years ago and am excited to re-start and finish it, improve my skills and cooking joy!

Cooking can be fun and relaxing. Something you can take pride in doing. Something that joggles the imagination and adds variety to life. It can also be a very social event, as when you and your hubby are chatting and chopping and stirring and laughing.

Makes me wonder when they’re going to get wise and re-introduce home economics back into the schools—for girls AND boys!

And all of that is reaping side benefits:

Enjoying my market and food shopping time—browsing the produce to see what’s available, planning my meals based on the available (and in-season) ingredients.
Getting exercise by moving around the kitchen more when I’m cooking, and more often in general, since I’m spending more time in food preparation.
Slowing down and enjoying the slower pace of life.
Getting outside in the fresh air to stroll through a farmers market and enjoy friendly conversation with vendors.
Enjoying meals more.
Spending less money on food because more gets eaten and less gets wasted!
Did I say saving money?
Except for dinner, which we’re trying to eat by 6:00 PM, we’re no longer married to specific times for breakfast and lunch. Sometimes we eat a late breakfast, skip lunch and then enjoy an early late lunch/early dinner. It certainly helps with the sleep!

NEXT WEEK I’ll add something to this topic that will help you emotionally, physically and spiritually. (Especially through the holidays!)

Until then, happy farmers market browsing!

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Photo by Dane Deaner on unsplash