The Best Way to Lose that Belly

Vigorous exercise practiced most days of the week is the best way to lose that belly. You can have a slimmer, better toned tummy without spending hours doing crunches. The key is to shed the fat that covers up your ab muscles. Two habits can help you shed those unwanted pounds, and keep them off!

First you have to get in the habit of eating healthy foods - in moderation. Enjoy at least three servings of veggies every day. And plenty of fruits too. On the days you exercise - start your day off right with some protein! Have an egg white omelet! Mix in some green peppers, peas, spinach, and onions if you like. Take a piece of whole grain wheat bread and a banana along with you for a mid morning snack.

Skip the drive-thru and have a healthy lunch. Sweeten up your salad greens with a no-fat lemon-lime spritzer! Try to include a variety of colors in your salad. Tomatoes in the Summer are plentiful and good for you! Toss a handful of red beans in your salad as well. Maybe an avocado and a few walnuts for some healthy omega fats!

Pass on the soda - and the beer - stick with water. Lots of water!

Make a pact with yourself to avoid pre-processed foods as much as possible. Avoid the white flour and sugar based stuff so many of us grew up with. Stick with whole grains and fresh fruits and veggies if you can. Enjoy some salmon a couple times a week.

No body slimming effort will succeed without habit number 2. A variety of vigorous, heart-pumping exercises to help you burn more calories - and keep burning them long after your workout! If you do the same thing every day - you can achieve some success losing weight. A variety of cardio and strength training exercise will help you get rid of belly fat much faster!

A good rule of thumb is at least five days of aerobic exercise and three days of resistance workouts every week. Try new and different workouts. Lots of people are finding Yoga a helpful way to reduce stress and maintain stronger, healthier muscles!

Work your body hard and you'll see results sooner. Get a jump rope - and a good pair of running shoes. Do as many sets of push ups as you can muster every other day. A variety of intense exercise will work more muscles and help tone your body!

The best way to lose belly fat is with intense exercise and eating healthy foods!

Healthy Living

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Psalm 23: 2-3

What are the most valuable lessons we might share with our beloved children? Certainly how to love and respect one another. How to treat others like we would like to be treated. How to have fun.

Most children are healthiest and happiest when they have a sense of optimism and self control. Sports and physical activity enhance a child's positive feelings about her self. Encourage your little ones to play - and have fun.

A child needs plenty of sleep. Some say - depending on the child's age - they require at least nine or ten hours of sleep a night. Sleep helps restore their brains and their strength! Sleep re-energizes them! ( As though they need any more! )

In addition to the love we give them perhaps teaching our children healthy habits might be a worthwhile endeavor! Giving them the countless benefits of healthy living. Encourage them to enjoy a variety of sports. Teach them to love and appreciate the abundance of healthy natural foods we are so blessed with. Spend some time showing them how to prepare and enjoy eating healthy foods!

Many parenting experts have suggested that - to a child - love is frequently spelled "t-i-m-e". Time spent with our children and loved ones is the best, and most memorable time of our lives. And theirs! Give your child the gift of love - spend time with your child and enjoy happy, healthy pursuits!


From an old French work on Devotions:
"Do not hesitate to ask for temporal blessings, better health, intellect, success. I can bestow them, and never fail to do so, where they tend to make the soul more holy. What wouldst thou this day, My child?... If thou didst but know how I long to bless thee!"

Lessons for my Son

Never separate yourself from God. How sweet it is to live always near those who love us!

You cannot see God, but He is there; just as if some friend were separated from you by a curtain, which does not prevent his seeing you, and which at any moment may unfold and disclose him to your view.

When the soul is unstained by sin, and if we remain still and recollected, we can perceive God's presence in the heart, just as we see daylight penetrating a room. We may not be always conscious of this Presence, but imperceptibly it influences all our actions. Oh! however heavy may be the burden you have to bear, does it not at once become light beneath the gaze of that Father's eye?

The thought of God is never wearisome; why not always cherish it? Go on, without trembling, beneath the Eye of God; never fear to smile, love, hope, and enjoy all that makes life sweet.

God rejoices in our pleasures as a mother in the joys of her child.

What is contrary to God's Will, grieves Him, and does you harm, that alone you need fear,—the thought that will stain your soul; the wish that troubles your heart; that unwholesome action, that will weaken your intellect, and destroy your peace.

Never long for what God sees fit to deny.

God, beside you, will repair your blunders, provide means whereby you may atone for that sinful action by one more virtuous, wipe away the tears caused by some unmerited reproof or unkind word.

You have only to close your eyes for a moment, examine yourself, and softly murmur, "Lord, help me!"

Can you not hear God's Voice speaking to you? What! when He says: Bear this, I am here to aid thee; will you refuse?

Trust in the Lord Always. And Share Your Love with others as often as you can!

Love and Self Esteem

"Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me." Mark 9:37 (King James Version)

If a child feels loved she or he is far more likely to feel safe and secure. To have healthy self esteem and eventually succeed in this lifetime. How can we share more love with our children? How can we show our children we love them? Those three words are easy to say. And just maybe we can supplement the verbal assurance with acts of love! Sometimes actions really do speak louder than words!

“Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth.” — 1 John 3:18

Communication is essential to the expression of love and indeed to life itself. Where there is love, there must be communication, because love can never be passive and inactive. Love inevitably expresses itself and moves out toward others. When communication breaks down, love is blocked.

A brief story of 2 families.

In one, the parents helped their children work through their difficulties with each other, thus assuming a shared, two-way dialogue and responsibility for what happened between them. In late teenhood, each child in turn became a person in his own right who had achieved a relatively mature, congenial, and loving relation with every other member of the family.

In the second family, the parents could not face the conflicts inevitable to human nature in a growing family, and pretended a quality of relationship that did not exist between them. When their children became late teen-agers and older, a smoldering antagonism existed between them which occasionally broke out in venomous quarrels. The parents of this second family had not assumed any shared or 2-way responsibility for the content of their family life, with the result that the interaction between the growing person and his environment was not creative.

One objective of love is to provide a relationship of firmness and tolerance within which a child may become autonomous and acquire a sense of self-control, self-esteem, and relationship with others. Otherwise he may suffer loss of confidence in himself and become skeptical of others, a result which can be the fruit of either restrictive discipline or unstructured freedom.

One key outcome of a healthy love enables our children to emerge with such a power of being as a person that they shall be able to face the complexities, pressures, deprivations, and dangers of modern life. Our aim is to help the child become a responsible participant in the crucial issues of life, and to preserve his integrity as a deciding person. The answer to his questions, Who am I? and Who are you?, will then be: I am what I will, and you are what you will!

Summer Fun

Children love to play hard. How can you direct your child's energy into a lifelong love of physical activity? For many children, biking to the playground and playing kickball in the backyard have given way to watching television, playing video games and spending hours online. But it's never too late to get your kids off the couch.

They say that what you do speaks volumes louder than what we say! So, if we show them that we enjoy playing outside they are far more likely to embrace the notion! If we participate in sports and other healthy pursuits our children are far more likely to want to join in.

Even when the weather is 90 degrees outside, we can get out and work up a good sweat rather quickly. Be sure to bring along a big jug of water. Skip the soda during these hot Summer months. You can avoid some useless calories and show them the joys of drinking refreshing water! Get a water filter if the water out of your tap isn't that great.

The benefits of more play and less TV are numerous -

Regular physical activity may help lower cholesterol and blood pressure. It may also lower your odds of having heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or cancer. Research shows that people who are overweight, active, and fit live longer than people who are not overweight but are inactive and unfit. Also, physical activity lifts your spirits and gives you more energy.

Sign up for a tennis or basketball league this summer. Or go to the local pool and swim your way to better fitness! You don't have to spend a fortune at the local gym. Go to the park - its free! Bring along a basketball or a couple tennis racquets. Basketball is a great sport for the whole family to enjoy! Encourage your children to adopt healthy habits.

Alms given in secret

"Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.

Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way."
Proverbs 23: 12-19

Alms given in secret; that is the charity which brings a blessing.

What sweet enjoyment to be able to shed a little happiness around us!

What an easy and agreeable task is that of trying to render others happy.

Father! if I try to please and imitate Thee thus, wilt Thou indeed bless me? Thanks! thanks! be unto Thee.

Acts of Kindness

Some timeless wisdom from an old French book -

"A young girl, in one of those moments when the heart seems to overflow with devotion, wrote thus in her journal: "If I dared, I would ask God why I am placed in the world; what have I to do? I know not; my days are idly spent, and I do not even regret them.... If I might but do some good to myself or another, if only for the short space of a minute in each day!." A few days later, when in a calmer mood she re-read these lines, she added, "Why, nothing is easier! I have but to give a cup of cold water to one of Christ's little ones."

Even less than that: a word of advice; something lent to another; a little vexation patiently borne; a prayer for a friend offered to God; the fault or thoughtlessness of another repaired without his knowledge—God will recompense it all a thousand-fold!

Alms given in secret; that is the charity which brings a blessing.

What sweet enjoyment to be able to shed a little happiness around us!

What an easy and agreeable task is that of trying to render others happy.

The work of the Sower is given to each of us in this world, and we fall short of our duty when we let those with whom we are brought in contact leave us without having given them a kind thought or pious impression.

Nothing is so sad as the cry, "I am useless!" Happily none need ever be so.

A kind word, a gentle act, a modest demeanor, a loving smile, are as so many seeds that we can scatter every moment of our lives, and which will always spring up and bear fruit.

Happy are those who have many around them ... they are rich in opportunities, and may sow plenteously."

Good Will

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" Luke 2:14

This wonderful verse - so famous around the Holidays - is worth sharing year round isn't it? If we can share but a few lessons with our youth - perhaps this tiny little piece of wisdom might be at or near the top of any list.

Glory to God - whatever you perceive him to be. Kindness and good will towards others!

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." John 13:34

"When the Spirit of God really dwells within, there is a baptism of love which evinces itself not only in the household, and to those naturally lovable, but goes out to all the world, and embraces in its tenderness such as have no natural traits of beauty. Thus the soft waters of the Southern Ocean lap against unsightly rocks and stretches of bare shingle.

Where love reigns in the inner chamber of the soul, doors do not slam, bells are not jerked violently, soft tones modulate the speech, gentle steps tread the highways of the world, bent on the beautiful work of the messengers of peace, and the very atmosphere of the life is warm and sunny as an aureole. There is no doubt of the indwelling Spirit where there is this outgoing love."
F.B. Meyer 1898

Improving Your Life

Dear Heavenly Father, how can we find words in which to express the tenderness awakened in Thine Heart, by a word of love from one of Thy little ones! That Heart, so tender, gentle, sensitive, and loving!

An Act of Love demands but a few moments. The whole of the day, even in the midst of labor, we can multiply it infinitely, and what wonders are wrought by each Act!

Jesus Himself is glorified, and He sheds abundant grace upon the earth.

Our Guardian Angel, beholding us, listens, draws nearer, and makes us feel we have done right.

The Angels above experience a sudden joy, and look upon us tenderly.

Evil spirits feel their power diminished, and there is a moment of rest from the temptation that surrounds us.

The choir of saints above renew their songs of praise.

Each soul on earth feels the peace Divine.

Ah! which of us each day would not renew these Acts of Love to God!

Ah! all who read these lines, pause for one moment, and from the bottom of your heart exclaim, "My God, I love Thee! My God, I love Thee!"

Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day

Grant that my lips may speak comforting words and give forth cheering smiles, that I may be as the well by the roadside, where the weary traveller stops to drink, as the shade of the tree whose branches laden with fruit are extended over all that pass beneath.

O Jesus! to Whom all Thy children are so dear, and whatever they may be Thou carest for them, and rememberest they are the much-loved children of God! Oh! grant that in all my intercourse with others, I may only see, love, and care for their souls,

How May We Help

The airwaves are filled with unsettling news. Job losses and economic worries have many scared and unsure of their future. What can we do to help those in need of a little encouragement and resources?

True virtue goes quietly through the world, scattering good around, and performing noble deeds, without even the knowledge that what it does is heroic

The work of the Sower is given to each of us in this world, and we fall short of our duty when we let those with whom we are brought in contact leave us without having given them a kind thought or pious impression.

Nothing is so sad as the cry, "I am useless!" Happily none need ever be so.

A kind word, a gentle act, a modest demeanor, a loving smile, are as so many seeds that we can scatter every moment of our lives, and which will always spring up and bear fruit.

Happy are those who have many around them ... they are rich in opportunities, and may sow plenteously.

"He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver.
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work"
2 Corinthians 9: 6-8

The Purpose Driven® Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? )