Update - I am still here!

Hello my friends! I have not completely disappeared! I am still here, just so very busy with life right now. I hope to have a new recipe up very soon! I have ideas rolling around up there....just need to find a little time.....

My last post was all about hospital food and I touched on my moms hospitalization. I am thankful to say that she is out now and recovering at home. It has been quite a journey for her, but she is making progress each day. I am believing she is going to be even better than before she had this infection! She will be restored to wholeness!! “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. ¹⁴ I will put My ^[Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord.’”

Through this whole ordeal I have come learned some lessons.

One, THM is really such a blessing. My moms issues are due to diabetes getting out of control, I have now seen the ravages of this disease when it goes unchecked first hand. It's horrible.

Two,  the importance of controlling our blood sugar has become quite real to me. It's so easy to ignore it and pretend we are not really damaging our bodies when we flood it with sugary foods and see no real affect other than a sugar high and the crash that comes after. It's easy to think that's it, no damage done. It's easy to be in denial. The reality? You could lose your life. It's that simple. It will kill you if you let it go and fail to take care of it. For me, THM is for life. A healthy life.

Three, it's a beautifully humbling thing to reach out to friends to help you through difficult times. It's so easy to be the one to always be there for others. To come to everyone elses aid, to be the one others can lean on. Boy, it's such a different thing to admit that I am not able to do it all and I need help. I have beautiful friends and I am so blessed. I had friends come to the hospital with me when my mom first went in. I had friends and my AMAZING son help get my mom home when I was unable to. Her care was given freely by dear friends in her first few days at home and the rest of her care was provided through dear friends recommendations. Amazing. Truly, so amazing.

Four, God is in control. This has been the biggest lesson I have received this year. The weekend my mom was discharged from the hospital was the weekend my husband and I went away to our conference. I was so conflicted, part of me felt I should definitely stay and help my mom, everyone else, including my mom insisted I go away for our trip. Such a hard thing to do. We left Friday morning, about an hour into the 4.5 hour drive I received that call that she was being discharged! I had hoped they would keep her at the hospital over the weekend, but nope, she was coming home! Thank God for cell phones. I spent the next couple of hours coordinating care for my mom and helping as much as I could by phone. My 19 year old son stepped up in an incredible way. He picked his grandma up from the hospital, learned home care from the nurses, coordinated all needed extras for her and made phone calls to those who could come and help him. He was truly amazing. This young man stepped in and handled the whole situation with such incredible maturity. I am so proud as you can imagine. Because I was absent and not able to be here to manage everything, I was able to see God's hand at work. Others, such as my amazing son and precious friends, were able to step up and shine, to show the skills they have and the opportunity to bless my mom. I cannot do it all, I am not God. It was a wonderful reminder. Truthfully, in my absence, everything was handled, my moms care was not lacking and so many people were able to come and show their love for my family and my mom. It's such a blessing to see that and a reminder that we are not alone. It's good to step away and allow God space to work. I miss His hand working when I am so busy moving my own. He has been so good to us.

Five, Surrender. Four leads me to my main lesson that God has been teaching me. Surrender. It is what I am working on. Completely surrendering to God and His will. While at the conference we visited with a dear friend we only see every few years. We had a lovely talk and he told me I needed to surrender to find shalom. I have since been praying about surrendering. My friend also told me to go and read Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord;  And He will give you the desires of your heart." At first I was not sure why he gave me this verse, now I understand. I have been asking the Lord to help me find shalom for my soul through life's ups and downs, that is the true desire of my heart. I am now giving Him the first part of my day even before I reach for my phone or my feet hit the ground. I am delighting myself first in Him each day and remembering Him each night as I drift off to sleep. He is my delight and He is giving me my desire, the ability to surrender to His will. It's been an incredible journey for me, and I am in awe of how He continually works in my life. I have spent so long struggling to be free when all I had to do was let go and surrender. I feel like I was Jacob wrestling an opponent I could never defeat, why did I struggle so long? Now that I surrendered, I am feeling free in a way I have never experienced before. <3 I pray my walk will forever be changed and obvious to all who see me.

So, for now, I have been learning how to coordinate caregivers schedules, learn how to do payroll, plan THM meals for both my family and my mom. I have been able to see my mom a lot and get to know some pretty incredible people. Caregivers are a unique group of folks, beautiful hearts, their job is to not only take care of the physical needs but so far, from what I have seen, they really are there to also LOVE people. To give their hearts and their love to people in need of care.

It's a beautiful thing.

With joy ~ Tina

Hospital Food and Trim Healthy Mama

Sadly, last week my mom got very sick and had to go into the hospital. She had a major infection and was in need of a lot of care. Thankfully, I can say she is improving each day and we are hopeful she may be out of the hospital either later this week or early next week. I am so thankful for that as well as the love and care and the many prayers people have offered. Truly feeling blessed.

As you can see by the picture above, I am sharing with you the foods offered at the hospital where my mom is staying. They list both the sodium and the carb count of foods next to them. My mom is a diabetic as well, so she was having serious issue with her blood sugar being too high. My mom was eating the hospital approved, diabetic nutritionist approved diet plan. Her numbers were still way too high. About her third day in the hospital she asked me to help her implement THM again. I took her menu and put a star by everything she could have on plan. I also brought in drinks for her, Vitamin Water Zeros, Zevias, Kombucha and protein shakes. She was drinking the hospital approved light lemonade, after I did a little research I realized the "light" drink was made with high fructose corn syrup! We couldn't believe it! Hence, my purchase and bringing in her own drinks. She didn't need any of that!

Within 24 hours of implementing THM foods as best as she could with the options available, her numbers dropped 100 points! We were all thrilled! Including her doctor who told her to keep on doing whatever it was I told her to do because it was working so well!! Talk about a great testimony! My mom is now convinced I need to have a meeting with the hospital nutrition department so they can be educated properly!! LOL! I just LOVED that!!

So, with all that said, if you need to be in the hospital or you have a loved one needing care, there are ways to support them with good food choices during the stay. I found the lowest carb food options I could find, as well as whole grain and fruit options, asked for sandwich fillings such as the turkey, tuna etc in a bowl instead of on bread. They did have a brown rice option, lean protein options such as salmon and chicken breast. Vegetables were all steamed with no added fat so they could be added to any fuel type, although I have not been as concerned that she is not having crossovers, but rather eating the best foods she is able to during this season.

By purchasing her own drinks, bringing in protein drinks and I also left her a couple of Quest protein bars, she has snack options that are on plan and aiding in her healing.

We also brought in her vitamins, fish oils and probiotics. All I had to do was talk to the doctor and he will write an official prescription for them and she will now be able to receive these added nutrients daily until she is released.

As for what I ate, I just did my best to plan ahead. Thankfully I had rolls on hand and was able to make quick sandwiches to take, light string cheese, cashews. I also had baked oatmeal bars and made sure to make up GGMS or singing canary to take with me each day. I just brought my little lunch bag and was able to stay on plan each day and keep my own health up to more fully support my mom!

I'm always so thankful for THM and the knowledge I have gained through implementing the plan in my own life and helping others on plan as well. I was prepared to help my mom through this medical crises in my own way, through supporting her body and healing through nutrition. I love my mom. :)

With Joy ~ Tina

Energizing Oat Pancakes! EGG FREE! DAIRY FREE!

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This is such a simple and inexpensive recipe. I try to make these fairly often. When I am tired of eating oats, this is a definite go to! My whole family enjoys them and I hope you do too!

Energizing Oat Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 Cup Oat Flour (grind your own or I buy mine already ground for convenience)
2 teaspoons Super Sweet (1 Tablespoon any other plan approved sweetener)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup liquid of your choice, water or on plan milk
1 Tablespoon melted coconut oil (you can omit if you want them fat free, texture will be slightly chewier)


Directions:
Combine the dry ingredients.
Add in the liquid and melted coconut oil, mix until combined.

Allow this to sit for a few minutes to thicken up.

Cook in on a griddle or preheated fry pan set to medium, if you have a good non stick you shouldn't need any extra fat, I cook mine on a dry skillet. These do not bubble like a traditional pancake, so after a few minutes I peek, if it is becoming golden, I flip and cook a few more minutes.

2 Pancakes is a serving. I add a FP trimmaccino to this for boosted protein. It isn't necessary as oats can stand alone for breakfast, but Im a busy mama and need the little bit of extra these days.

In other news, I am opening my own THM STORE!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!! I am just so thrilled, it is an exciting season in my life and I am very much looking forward to this new adventure. I will try to take some pictures when my inventory arrives and share a bit of this new phase in my life. God has been so good to me. I am blessed.

With joy ~ Tina