Arm, arms, arms...and Cheesy Black Bean and Avocado Salad!

Happy Monday everyone! I can't believe there are less than 2 weeks until December! This is my favorite time of year and I am definitely already listening to Christmas music and enjoying seeing all the decorations! :) This morning started out pretty typical. I woke up, spent some time with the Lord, and decided on what I wanted to do for my workout. "Workout" is a general term, since I have basically had to stopped all activity including my legs :( My hip and knee injury has progressed to a point where walking causes strain, pain, and even numbness. I am hoping to see an orthopedic in a few weeks and figure this out once and for all!

I had a hard-boiled egg while I searched YouTube for some arm routines...

...and lo and behold my favorite trainers popped up as the first hit! I had never seen this TIU workout before, and I was so relieved that it didn't involve my legs. I did this workout (about 8 minutes long), followed by some boxing punches with my 3 lb weights, making my workout a total of 13 minutes long. Even though it is not my usual 6 mile run, I am grateful for the fact that I can still MOVE and do some sort of workout. But I honestly cannot WAIT to incorporate my runs back into the toning routines I have been doing!

I made myself a kale, sausage, and egg white scramble around 10:30 as a mid-morning snack. Yes, the scramble was my snack :) I always try to make my snacks protein and veggie packed in order to get as much nutrition as possible!

This scramble definitely kept me full until almost 2pm, which is when I whipped up this delicious Cheesy Black Bean and Avocado salad! I knew I didn't want to go shopping or eat out; I've been very committed to using up whatever is in the house lately. This is probably because I am still studying for my RD exam and have yet to find a job, but it is also very smart and leads to less food waste and usually much healthier choices! Anyway, I'm so happy I stayed in for lunch, because this salad tasted great!

The base of this salad was romaine, kale, tomatoes, yellow pepper, and carrots:

I used the Cuban Black Beans from Trader Joe's because they have a spicy kick to them! I melted a little pinch of light mozzarella cheese (also from TJ's) in the microwave until it became a cheesy and creamy consistency!

While the beans and cheese were melting away, I mixed half of an avocado with some pico de gallo to make an avocado-y type of salsa! I left it pretty chunky because I love my salsa chunky, but you could definitely mash it until it reaches whatever consistency you enjoy!

I added the avocado salsa to one side of my salad, and the cheesy beans to the other! And here is the finished product!

This salad was so refreshing and filling! I absolutely LOVED the flavor of the beans with the cheese, and the avocado addition was perfection. I hope you all get to enjoy this salad soon!

After lunch, I continued studying (of course). I just took a break now to ice my knees and hips while blogging! I am so excited to be making tabbouleh with my mama tonight for dinner, which one of our favorite recipes! I have that recipe posted if anyone is interested!

I hope you all have had a great beginning of your week!

New Shoes and Workout Routine!

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope you all have had a great start to the week. I woke up this morning certain it was either Wednesday or Thursday, but no, it's only Tuesday (sigh). Oh well! 

I thought I'd write this post as an update to my hip/knee injury journey. I was lucky enough to have my cousin Jimmy, who is a Certified Athletic Trainer, come and take a look at me yesterday to try and figure out why I have been experiencing these aches and pains lately. We went to a running store near my house, where I learned that I should have changed by shoes once I hit the 300 mile mark, which was a while back since I have ran at least 650-700 miles in my current running shoes! This could definitely have contributed to my aches and pains! I tried on a variety of running shoes and finally picked one that seemed to work for me (more on this later). After we got the shoes, Jimmy did a few tests on me and realized that I am incredibly tight. I have very little flexibility in my hamstrings, quads, and hips, which contributes to an increased risk of the injuries I have been experiencing. So here is confession time:

I am a horrible stretcher. As in, I NEVER stretch. Once I'm done with my run, I get lazy and just decide to head home. I've tried to get myself to stretch in the past, but my motivation only lasts about 2-3 days, and then I get back into my old, harmful, injury-provoking habits. Talking with Jimmy last night helped me realize how VITAL stretching is to my fitness and health, and how important it is to incorporate it into my daily routine if I want to run the mileage and distances that I am used to.

SO! Jimmy gave me 3-5 stretches to do each day to help loosen up my muscles and get me back to running form soon. I am also going to lay off the elliptical for the next couple weeks and just do some easy walking in order to loosen my muscles and not put any added stress on my already tight joints. I started my new "routine" this morning, and it went pretty well! I laced up my new running shoes and had a banana and some nuts before heading to the gym:

I bought a pair of New Balance running shoes that are light and easy to walk in. At the running store, we learned that my usual Brooke's were over correcting my feet. They are made for those that pronate, and, even though I slightly pronate, I don't pronate nearly enough to use the Brooke's shoes. I decided on the New Balance because they didn't hurt my hip while I was walking around the store, and are made for those with regular, "medium" arches, which is me! I was excited to break these in this morning, even if it was for a short and light walk.

I walked 2 miles on the treadmill, on a 3.5-3.7 mph (NO incline!), which took about 35 minutes. Walking was a little painful at the beginning, but once my body loosened up, it felt great! I followed my walk with about 15-20 minutes of stretching, which is a HUGE accomplishment for me! I was so proud of myself for being able to stretch for this long and really be patient with the process. After stretching, I did the TIU Short and Sweet Shoulder routine, which has grown to be my favorite shoulder workout! 

Overall, I had a great morning and a great workout. I am currently icing all my hurting parts and snacking on some strawberries and a peanut butter wrap.

Side note: I tried cutting out the inflammatory foods for a few days, but it kinda made me cranky and didn't help the pain. So I decided to go back to my "a little bit of everything, what works for me, I love healthy food" mindset! :)

I am hoping this process of walking, stretching, and icing will help correct my tightness and help me get back to the level of running I want to be at, while being more balanced, flexible, and not hurting myself in the process! :)

Have a great Tuesday everyone! 

Take My Thoughts Captive

Lately, I have been trying to be more intentional about my thoughts. My thought life is very jumpy and inconsistent. I tend to have full-faith about things one moment, then be crippled with anxiety and worry the next. I turn to the Lord during these times, but it is very difficult to keep my eyes and mind fixed on God when there are constant distractions and problems coming my way. Anyone else? I feel like life is always going to throw us waves, and I would love to just swim in the storms that come at me knowing the Lord is with me even in the turmoil. I think having this type of peace starts with have captive thoughts. I use this phrase a lot and it is often a staple in my prayers during times of worry, anxiety, or feelings of defeat. This concept of "captive thoughts" was first brought to my attention while reading 2 Corinthians 10. Verses 3-5 jumped out at me:

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

I've memorized this verse because it has become a constant companion for me in times of distress. I love the promise that God equips us with weapons to demolish our strongholds. Strongholds are anything that take us "captive" and consume us whether it is work, school, family, striving for good health, worry, anxiety, etc. Many of these things aren't bad by themselves (for example, being healthy is great! Having a good job to support your family is wonderful!) But, anything, even good things, can become a stronghold if they take the place of God is our lives. Psalm 18:2 states, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold" (emphasis mine). God is the only one that can secure us as our fortress, deliverer, rock, shield, and stronghold. But isn't it so like us humans to get swept up in our thoughts, problems, and lives that we turn these into our focus, our motivations for security, and essentially our strongholds? These thoughts, as 2 Corinthians states, can set themselves up against the knowledge of God. Thoughts like "if I have that job, car, dress, significant other, etc, my life will be so much better and complete" can often turn our motivations upside-down and cause us to focus on "worldly-things" instead of "God-things."

But! Thank the Lord He has equipped us with weapons to demolish these strongholds! We can tear down these "arguments" and "pretensions" in our heads that place worldly things before our relationship with God. When worries and anxieties come, which, let's face it, they inevitably will, we can turn to the Lord and ask Him to equip us with weapons that demolish these thoughts. We can put on the full armor of God. Ephesians 6:13-18 states,

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."

These verses seem pretty dense, but they are basically telling us to take up the armor that God freely gives us through His promises, forgiveness, grace, and WORD. The more we know about God, the more we can use these weapons against our destructive thoughts. And how do we know more about God? By taking the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" and becoming so familiar with who God is, what He promises, and what He has done for us, which is all recorded in His word!

Knowing more truths about God will help us focus on who HE is in times of anxiety and worry. When these times come, we can ask him to take all of our thoughts captive and make them obedient to HIM! God has equipped us with the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8), and we can use this power. We can ask God for wisdom and believe that He will give it to us (James 1:5). Galatians 5:1 states, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." God set us free to be and live like we are a FREE people, not to still be captive to destructive and anxiety-driven thoughts.

However, we cannot have captive thoughts that are obedient to Christ without the help and power of the Holy Spirit. We must ASK God to help us in our thought-lives. We must acknowledge that the Lord's thoughts and ways are greater than any of our worries, problems, or even aspirations and dreams. Isaiah 55: 8-9 state: "“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." We have to trust that God has a better plan for us because His ways are higher than we can ever imagine! Trust me, this is SO hard for me. It is difficult to focus on what God is doing at times when things just seem so overwhelming you can't fathom how it will all work out for your good. But the Bible even has something to say about that :) Romans 8:28 states: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

I am trying so hard to be more intentional about what I think about. We simply have to believe what the Lord says. Believe that we can demolish strongholds by asking for the weapons that God has promised to us. Believe that we can ask God to take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. And lastly, believe that God will work all things together for our good! :)

Think About Such Things

"Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable; if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things." Philippians 4:8 (NIV) I have a confession to make. I struggle in my thought life. A LOT! I find it very easy to get down on myself, get stressed out, focus on all I have to do and all I am not doing, and just bask in all my worries. My mom shared this verse with me recently and, even though I am very familiar with it in the "memorize-in-Christian-elementary-school" type way, I had never truly reflected on it until now.

Most of the time, I want a practical, clear cut way to apply the verses of the Bible to my life. When someone says "trust the Lord with it!" and dismisses my thoughts, as if all my worries will disappear, I often want to know a practical, step-by-step approach to trusting the Lord, as well as what it actually looks like strategically to trust God. How is that lived out on a day-to-day basis? How does that look to those around me? These verses in Philippians seemed to finally answer these questions for me this morning.

Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy...THINK ABOUT SUCH THINGS! It's pretty clean cut, simple, and practical if you ask me. We have a lot more say about where our minds travel than we think we do. After all, why would Paul (through the power of the Holy Spirit) instruct, even command us to think about such things? That implies that we have some say in the matter, doesn't it?

I want to claim this God-given strength that I have over my thought life! I want God to take all of my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Him (2 Corinthians 10:5). But how does this actually work? Practically? :)

I believe that we flat out have to ask God to give us the strength to glorify Him with our thoughts. We can't do this alone. Our human mind is one scary place...or at least mine is! I know I can't focus on what is true, noble, pure, right, etc without His power working in me. In those moments when life gets tough and we are so quick to be negative and get down on ourselves, a quick prayer of "Lord, I need You. Take control of my thoughts and help me focus on what is pure and right and praiseworthy!" could make a huge difference in the direction our hour, day, week, or even life goes.

I also believe that prayer is not a magic formula where you plug in all the right words and BOOM God comes through. If it worked like that, we would only rely on our abilities. I believe prayer is a state of mind where, all day every day, you are in tune with the Holy Spirit, realizing that God is God and you are not, and turning over all the day's activities, thoughts, and worries to the Lord. Acknowledging that only God can help us "think about such things" will help us rely on Him instead of our usual human reaction which is typically "just suck it up," "get over it," or "distract yourself." We need to get comfortable with being a little uncomfortable in the moment, take that discomfort to God, and let him turn our harmful, worrisome, and destructive thoughts into beautiful thoughts and words that He will use for His glory.

"...for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose." Philippians 2:13