summer holiday eating

Memorial Day is approaching.  Although it's not officially summer as yet, it traditionally is the first picnic barbecue of the 'cuing' season.  And if you want to stay on track, you better be prepared.  You know there is going to be a lot of healthy cooking.  You just can't go wrong with grilled food.  But the sauces, the creams, and the sodas...BEWARE!

They are out there and you know you can't resist them.  So don't punish yourself trying.  Just be smart, remember portions.  Measurement is the key.  If you don't want to whip out your food scale, measuring spoons and cups, or your portion plate, then get to know the visual equivalents that you can compare to your hand.  Ribs will be tricky.  I can't tell you what to eat.  But I will suggest that you spread out the fixings over the course of the day.  If you're allowed to box and bag, then eat from small cocktail plate and take the rest home.  You want to sample the sweets.  Three teaspoons...that's enough.  Same goes for potato salads and slaws.  Macaroni and Cheese is uber-dangerous.  Same thing, 1, 2, 3.  No more.  You don't have to eat until you pass out.  If you're an every three hour eater, and the even will last over 3 hours.  Start with your fruit and veggies, and then make your rounds to the 'meat center' aka beans, franks, ribs, and chicken.

Soda.  Why even bother.  The weather is hot, it only makes you more thirsty.  How about sparkling green tea?  You can make your own if you own one of those fancy-shmancy Soda Streams.  They're expensive.  So just opt for iced green or any one of your favorite teas.  Make it ahead of time, and keep it cool, and be on your way.

Don't forget the hat, the bugs spray, and the sunblock.  But above all, don't forget you have a goal to keep up with. So don't completely shatter your progress by overindulging.  Have a safe...

do black women hate to exercise? or just hate to sweat?

The first time I saw a youtube video featuring this, I was immediately taken aback.  I defended it to no end, because all of the black women I know do some form of exercise and try to make conscious decisions about their eating. The men are in serious trouble, but that's another story.

In the last 10 months since I re committed to exercising with a 40 year old's vengeance, I've noticed that the black population at Planet Fitness is made up primarily of black men, and very few black women.  Shocking!

And what I've found is that black women (some white) are abhorred to sweat. It may be for different reasons.

Black women fear ruining their hair styles.  I know this to be one of the prevailing issues, because it was once an issue for me.  Back when I was on the creamy crack, I'd spend hours doing my hair and I didn't want to sweat it out.  So I'd creatively schedule my hair appointments on the days I didn't exercise.   It was doable to some degree.  But still I had to maintain my hair over the duration of those 'relief' days.

I'm a natural now, so that isn't an issue. I just go!  Now a few years ago in 2008 I was on point physically.  But a series of stressful events (decisions I made that went against God's plan) sent me into a tailspin free fall.  I wound up living in a very stressful situation, financially was taken full advantage of, never knowing if I would be homeless one week to the next.  It was as if the world hated the freedom I had and envied my vitality.  The devil wanted to break me and he put up one hell of a fight.  People in the business of making money often get distracted by their own envy and greed, and forget that the goal is profit.  You have profited nothing if you've gained the world and lost your soul.  In the end, the devil lost.

You'd be surprised how many disciples of the devil seek to destroy strength and positive energy. People simply envy those whose lives they want, never knowing or fully understanding the sacrifice and trials it took to be in that condition.

My life hasn't been perfect, but I have co-authored it. I have never been one to simply let life happen. I want to be in control, on top of things, and behind the wheel, steering my own vessel, God as the co-pilot.

On your victorious way, devil will dispatch his disciples to undertake and overthrow your campaign.  Don't let him! Gird your loins! In the simplest way imaginable, rid yourself of forces, people, or conditions that will destroy you.

I have had so many destructive people come my way.  People will literally curse themselves trying to destroy you and they never realize how they've done it.  But you will find them, recognize them, and employ the words that we are responsible for our own self-destruction. Remember, it's really not them...it's the devil.  He's filthy, and he uses those around you to do his bidding.

People wonder why I live alone.  Why? Keeps the devil out.  Do you know that your greatest source of weakness lays within the people who are closest to you? I mean, I literally had to use the Trojan Horse method to usurp the devils power.  I'm pretty good at it now.  Being alone helps to teach you how to war in the face in the enemy.  You basically have to show him defeat on the surface, so that he backs off and leaves you alone.  See as long as he thinks you're a failure he keeps it moving.  He's too busy working on defeating the overtly strong that he has no time to keep kicking you whom he declares the defeated.

And then just when he thinks you are down, you rebound! You rise like a phoenix, you kiss bullshit goodbye, and you let him know by your rise that he's been snared by his own trap.

Now he won't like your battle maneuver so he'll keep showing up and pretend he's your friend, or even harass you to throw you off your game...don't worry, distance is the greatest navigation tool to victory!  He can't touch you, if he can't reach you!

Often, you will find familiars pouting, blaming you, even trying to be glib about your distance and lack of access to them.  Don't worry, keep it moving.  Sociopaths always blame people who fail to be their victim just as they blame those for who fall for their their schemes.  It's their mantra.

In your effort to be victorious, don't associate with negative people or people who you know are mistreating others and boasting about it.  Hey, you can't change people, but you change who you spend time with.  I'm a Maverick in that regard. I don't need a lot of company to be happy.  I'm good on my own. Some people require the energy of others, but not me.  I have a unique ability to stir up my own energy and motivate myself to do what I need to do.

Self-motivation doesn't require you to send out invites or sell tickets.  Just build it and they will come, or not.  The point is, do it!

Talking is so cheap, and I hear it's a bargain thrift price in some cities.  So don't waste your time telling people what you are going to do, how you are going to do it, and then placing very little to no action behind the words. The more we speak and then follow it up with no action, the less people become motivated to listen or act upon what we say.

Hence, Pavlov and cry wolf theories.

Vision.  Scope out what you want to do, then devise a plan to do. Seek info from those you know can help you. Don't waste time asking someone obese, who smokes, drinks excessively, and doesn't exercise about good health. Who are you kidding? Yourself?