You Are What You Eat!

"You are what you eat." Or as another common phrase puts it: "You are what you repeatedly do."

These well-known, but oft overlooked, sayings may hold more truth than we realize. Most folks believe that the foods they eat, particularly fruits and vegetables, are sustaining their bodies, building their immune system, and giving them all necessary nutrients. But, inevitably they aren't eating doctors' recommended 7-13 servings a day. And if you're like me, you have the best of intentions, but still wind up with bad produce at the end of the week.

Did you know that every year 97% of your body is replaced, reconstructed from the foods you eat? Thinking about it that way makes me want to put the best possible natural foods into my body to yield the best outcome! I want to be 85 and still traveling the world, hiking, kayaking, exploring and living life to the fullest! It's gonna take me at least that long to see half the places on my bucket list! And I know I'm not alone! As a population in general:

• We do not eat enough fruits and vegetables.
• We cannot always get seasonal, fresh produce.
• The soil and our foods can be very nutrient deficient.
• We do not eat the dense nutritious fruits and vegetables.  If we do, we cook them and destroy a large part of the necessary  enzymes, vitamins, and minerals. Keep in mind frozen, processed, and canned foods can be deficient, to say nothing of foods that are shipped in from distant places that are losing their nutrient value.
• We do not eat a variety of fruits and vegetables.
• Fruits and vegetables are necessary for everybody throughout their lifetime.  
• The known and unknown synergistic nutrients are in whole foods - fruits and vegetables.  They are not in man made supplements.

And honestly that's why I started taking Juice Plus+ fruit and vegetable supplements. You're probably wondering how we get fruits and vegetables in a capsule.  Juice Plus+® is not dehydrated fruits and vegetables.  It is the concentrated, fresh juice powders.  If  you remove all the water from a glass of pure orange juice, what would be left is the powder, which is the concentrate, still chock full of the essential vitamins and nutrients! To me it's a win-win that I can get the benefits of whole fruits in vegetables in a convenient, affordable form that will enable me to age a little more gracefully and keep me tackling new adventures! Leave me a comment or send me an email mslape@gmail.com if you wanna hear more!

Turkey Take Two!

 

Camp Olive Grove Participants

Three years ago, I had the privilege to spend two weeks doing short-term missions in Istanbul, Turkey. Following that amazing, eye-opening trip, I came back to the states with a bigger heart for people, God and for the role of workers in the field (missionaries). However, I didn't think God would be calling me back to Turkey or to mission anytime in the near future, if ever...but man was I wrong! Some say God has a sense of humor - I know He does!

To explain: A little over a week ago I found myself at my new church here The Austin Stone just minding my own business, a regular Sunday if you will, and upon innocently looking at the weekly program I noticed an urgent need for camp counselors to go to Turkey this summer. As my eyes scanned the words before me my heart leapt in my chest, not a little hiccup, a full out bounce! I tried to dismiss it and focus on worship and the sermon, but my mind kept drifting drifting back to those words. To calm my anxious heart I made a deal with myself that I'd follow-up with the opportunity via email the next day "just to get the details", the receipt of which I was sure would discourage my interest. WRONG! The more I learned, the more it was confirmed that this is exactly what God wants me to do this summer. And finally, I caved....took a deep breath and jumped all in. I am now set to go to Antalya, Turkey June 14-July 6 at Camp Olive Grove! You see, b/c of the last minute nature of this opportunity, (all the positions were supposed to be filled by March), I have a mere 2.5 weeks to raise $2,500 (approx $150/day) -- but even this did not deter me. Maybe I'm crazy or maybe my spiritual gift of faith is overflowing at the moment, but I am confident that if the Lord wills something He will provide!

One of my favorite Bible verses has always been Proverbs 16:9 "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." And that's exactly what has happened. If you would have asked me a few mos ago what "my plans" were for this summer they would have been drastically different. Yet, when your heart is set upon Him, you cannot go astray.

I'm looking forward to this new adventure - working with the youth in Turkey and making a positive difference in their lives - and will be keeping you all updated via http://msolivegrove.yolasite.com/. A website I created to raise financial and prayer support for my trip. I will have a blog on there as I go and will be adding pics as well from the camp.

Anyone else been on missions? To Turkey? Have advice? All are welcome!