You Can Be A Winner At Life!

The Fairy Tale Came True- “Congratulations, Mr. President Barack Obama!”

2009-01-21T17:47:00.004-05:00

Somebody pinch me! I thank God I have lived to see the day that Dr. King’s riveting prophecy has come to fruition: “…He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land.”

We as Americans have so much to be grateful for! Barack Obama’s election as the first African-American president is truly monumental and divinely ordained. Just as the ancient Hebrews were set free from 430 years of oppression, African-Americans have been vindicated approximately 400 years since their ancestors set foot in chains on American soil in 1619. Who but God could change the hearts and minds of the ancestors of former slave owners and slaves? America is now approaching the day when all men and women will be judged by the content of their character, and not the color of their skin, gender or nationality.

Yes, change has come to America and the world. As President Obama says, “change comes from the bottom up.” Barack has given us the vision, but we must carry out the mission. We can do so by starting with ourselves, our families, schools, churches, temples, and synagogues. Let us start by finding solutions to the following questions: How can we individually and collectively make this a better world? How can we as Americans conserve energy, our natural resources and protect our families? How can we be the change that we want to see in our life? How can we become our brother’s keeper?

Yes, I know we are in a recession, but how can we take our lemons and make lemonade out of them? Remember, this is the country where fairy tales can come true! Only in America can you have an Obama, an Oprah, a Chris Gardner or an Andrew Carnegie. We must use what’s in our hands like they did. By that I mean we must use our latent and dominant gifts, talents and skills. All of them started out at the bottom, but they developed a strong work ethic, a “yes I can” attitude and persisted until their gifts and talents were realized.

George Bernard Shaw once said, “Some men see things as they are and say 'why'? Others dream things that never were and say 'why not'?" A Native American elder offered advice that is applicable to many individuals as he described his own inner struggles: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. "When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

Which dog are you feeding? What dream do you respond to, - the one that says, “I think a can,” like The Little Engine That Could©, or are you feeding the evil dog in you that says fairy tales can’t come true? The choice is yours.

Again, congratulations President Barack Obama and all the dreamers that say, “Yes we can!”

C. Joyce Farrar-Rosemon
www.womensempowermentseminars.com

BLACK IN AMERICA- ARE WE VICTIMS, WHO IS REALLY RESPONSIBLE?

2008-07-24T11:48:00.001-04:00

from cryptaniteat12

Response to "CNN Presents: Black in America" a six-hour television event"

There’s a story about a young newlywed bride who is cooking a ham dinner. She prepares it by cutting both ends of the ham off before she puts it into the pot. The groom asks the wife why she cut both ends off. The daughter then asks her mother and she replies that was how her mother taught her. At that point the grandmother comes in and she is asked why both ends are cut off. The grandmother replied that she didn’t have a big enough pot.

Black America when do we take responsibility for our condition? How long will we keep cutting off both ends of the ham? You may ask- how do we keep cutting off both ends? Let me give just 13 examples of dysfunctional behavior that some of us perpetuate:

1) Refusing to finish at a minimum high school
2) Failure to turn the television off
3) Failure to choose healthy foods
4) Failure to exercise
5) Choosing consumerism over education
6) Failure to adopt a global perspective, understand our history and world history
7) Using racism and sexism as an excuse for not achieving
8) Living in denial versus confronting our deficiencies and institutional societal wrongs including racism and sexism inside and outside of the church
9) Choosing an underachieving noncommittal black man because he is black
10) Failure to get tested for HIV/AIDS, wear a condom or have your partner wear one
11) Limiting your choice to only black men
12) Forgetting the ancient landmarks that allowed our ancestors to survive slavery
13) Refusal to accept the need for and release ourselves to a higher power in our lives

Black America no one is going to save us, but ourselves. Let’s stop cutting off both ends of the ham because it is comfortable and everyone else is supposedly doing the same. (By the way is ham still a staple in your diet?)

Leave me some comments as to how we can think outside the box rather than cutting off both ends through black homicide, HIV/AIDS (the number one killer of Black women aged 25-34), under and unemployment, disproportionally high school dropout rate, 50% black single parental rate etc.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce
P.S. I'm glad Barack Obama's parents didn’t cut off both ends of the ham!
www.womensempowermentseminars.com

Women's Empowerment Seminars by C. Joyce Farrar-Rosemon

2008-07-03T12:45:00.009-04:00

From: youcanbeawinneratlife.com

Hello all,

Life is much more complicated these days. I have had some ups and downs lately, but as the song goes, "all of my good days outweigh my bads days, I won't complain!" I hope all is well with you and yours. I have been busy working on a National Women's Empowerment Seminar that will tour the U.S. in 2009. Click on the previous link and listen to the interview above and it will give you an idea of what you can expect. More details will follow in a few days.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

The 20 Worst Foods in America #10

2008-05-06T14:00:00.002-04:00

The U.S. food industry has declared war on your waistline. Here's how to disarm its weapons of mass inflation

By Matt Goulding

#10. Worst Breakfast
Bob Evans Caramel Banana Pecan Cream Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes

1,540 calories 77 g fat (9 g trans fat) 198 g carbs(109 g sugars) Five Egg McMuffins yield the same caloric cost as these sugar-stuffed flapjacks.

Order This Instead: The Western Omelet has 654 calories and 44 grams of protein.

My friends if you are starting off your day with this morning delight, you are already off to a bad start. Do you realize that this breakfast contains enough calories for the whole day? This is one of the fastest ways to ensure that you will be paying your doctor ongoing costly visits in the years to come.

We must choose wisely if we want to be Winners at life. Why not invest some time and research and learn about the nutritional value in different foods. If your mother is still with you, give the gift of life by making sure she is eating nutritious foods. Better yet why not cook for her on Mother's Day and take her for a walk.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BARACK

2008-05-05T08:33:00.003-04:00

From: Humanitainment (youtube)

I wanted to share a great video with you for those who love action, politics and a good laugh. Only in America could these dynamics be played out on television and in our lives. Regardless of who wins this election, politics in America will never be the same.

We have seen the good, the bad and the ugly during this election season. Now it is time for someone to step up to the plate and with sincerity strike back with effective decisions, sound judgment and an honest commitment to change America and the world. We all can be Winners at life, if we keep our focus on what’s best for the American people.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

What President Barack Obama Would Mean to Black Youth- Thanks To White America!

2008-05-02T08:40:00.007-04:00

Obama- The truth about suspending the "Gas Tax"

from youtube: spookytom

As I lay in bed early this morning I contemplated what Barack as president, an African-American male would mean to African-American youth, thanks to White America. These are the thoughts that came to me:

1) African-Americans could no longer pull the race card as an immediate defense.

2) I believe we would start to see a decline in the gang-banging mentality among African-American youth, females included.

3) Single moms (black and white) would have a role model for their African-American children to look up to.

4) African-American youth would be inspired to finish at least high school, if not college.

5) African-American males would be challenged to consummate their manhood in a monogamous relationship as opposed to being someone's "baby's daddy".

6) African-American youth would be challenged to end and lower the rates of teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, under and unemployment, poverty, crime, drug, alcohol and sexual abuse, and racism towards ourselves and whites.

7) African-American youth would be challenged to think and work with non-blacks on ways we can creatively find solutions to global warming, use our natural resources more responsibly to harness energy, lower gas emissions and use technology to produce more efficient crops, cars and jobs for all Americans.

I want to personally thank the thousands, if not millions of White Americans that voted for and will vote for Barack. I want to thank those who put aside Barack's race and saw as Dr. King insisted that we must do, the content of Barack's character, his judgement when faced with opposition and his hope for America.

Change does come from the bottom up and the annals of history will record that your judgement was right in choosing not a African-American or a man, but a person of character that wants to bring about a positive change for all Americans and the world. I truly believe we can all be Winners at life when we lay aside our differences and embrace what makes us stronger as a nation.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Saving Our Youth- Who Is Really Responsible?

2008-04-30T08:15:00.006-04:00

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from warfa210

This child is like a sheep being led to the slaughter house. In a few years, if proper intervention is not made, this young boy will end up as another statistic- a young black male doomed to spend the gift of life in prison. What is proper intervention? Beating him won't change the fact that he has poor impulse control- it will only harden him and teach him that he is bad. He said himself that he likes doing bad things.

The problem is a generational one of poor parenting and a lack of morals. Where are the parents that conceived this child? Why does the grandmother have guardianship?

Barack is right when he says that change is needed from the bottom up. America is losing a generation of young people because of our rebellious hearts. Wrong is becoming right as long as you have the money to afford a good attorney.

If we are so advanced as a country, why do we have such high rates of teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, juvenile delinquency, obesity, depression, high blood pressure, cholesterol, etc?

The Bible says to train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old, he will not depart. What's happened to the Judeo-Christian values this country was founded on? Perhaps we need to revisit them.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

The 20 Worst Foods in America #11

2008-04-22T12:00:00.003-04:00

The U.S. food industry has declared war on your waistline. Here's how to disarm its weapons of mass inflation
By: Matt Goulding

11. Worst Steak
Lonestar 20 oz T-bone
1,540 calories
124 g fat

Add a baked potato and Lonestar's Signature Lettuce Wedge, and this is a 2,700-calorie blowout. Make the Cut: Stick to fillets and sirloins in steakhouses—they're the two leanest cuts of beef.

Hi guys,

It's time to exercise control over our lives by carefully choosing what we take not only into our mouths, but our minds. Eating nowadays can not be a casual decision. In the past we could pick fruit from a tree and not worry about the health care implications. Today we practically need a dictionary to decipher the contents of a product.

If we want to live a long and quality life if is incumbent upon us to be more discerning. Advertisers spend millions of dollars annually trying to figure out how they can package a food product so that we will buy it. We have to be wise and not buy food that initially appeals to our senses, but later causes us pain, high medical bills and poor health.

One of the best gifts we can pass on to our offspring is the ability to read, comprehend, decipher and make appropriate decisions based on that analysis that promote life. Let's empower the next generation to use these life skills so that they can leave a footprint that enhances the quality of life for generations yet unborn. When we collectively do this, then we truly will be Winners at life.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Click On The Link To Find The Cheapest Gas In Your Area!

2008-04-14T14:52:00.009-04:00

Hey Guys,
I found a great link to find out where the cheapest gas is by zip code nationwide. To find out where the cheapest gas is in your area click on the link and enter your zip code. How easy is that. Pass this link along to others who want or need to save money. I want to give a special shout out to Chandra, one of my readers for passing on this money-saving idea.

If you know of any other money-saving, life-saving or enhancing ideas, please let me know and I will definitely post. Remember, together we can all be Winners at life.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Reduce Your Risk Of Cancer By Changing Your Diet

2008-04-10T11:57:00.004-04:00

Our Diet Must Change To Cut Cancer Risk, Experts Urge
ScienceDaily (Nov. 2, 2007) — A new report published recently by the World Cancer Research Fund will show how much our diet needs to change if we are to reduce the risk of cancer.

In the British Medical Journal, Professor Tim Key from the Cancer Research UK unit at the University of Oxford discusses what would be needed to achieve the report's goals.

The report concludes that obesity increases the risk of cancer of the oesophagus, colorectum, pancreas, breast, endometrium, and kidney. Its goal is for the average body mass index of the population to be between 21 and 23.

Yet, mean body mass index in adults in the UK is now about 27 and has not fallen into the target range since the 1940s, says Professor Key. Enormous efforts by individuals, society, and government will therefore be needed to reverse the current trend.

The report also shows that alcohol increases the risk of cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, colorectum, and breast and also causes cirrhosis, which predisposes to liver cancer. It recommends much lower drinking limits than currently advised in Britain, so a substantial shift in drinking habits would be needed to achieve these goals.

Evidence for a protective effect of fruit and vegetables is less convincing. Nevertheless, the report recommends that people should eat at least five portions of vegetables and fruits each day.

To meet this individual recommendation, the average consumption in the population would need to be about 7.5 portions a day. The average consumption in Britain is currently about three portions a day, says Professor Key, so the consumption of fruit and vegetables would need to be more than doubled.

The major new conclusion in the report is that red and processed meat convincingly cause colorectal cancer. This is based on results from several studies showing that, on average, people who ate the most red or processed meat had about a 30% increased risk compared with those who ate the least. The report therefore recommends that the average intake of red and processed meat in the population should be no more than 300g each week.

In most regions of the world, total meat consumption is well above this goal. In Britain, the current mean intake is about 970g a week in men and about 550g a week in women, so reaching this goal would require a large reduction in meat consumption.

The report identified several foods and nutrients for which some evidence exists of a beneficial effect on the risk of cancer. For example, foods rich in folate may reduce the risk for cancer of the pancreas, and diets rich in calcium may reduce the risk for colorectal cancer.

Professor Key believes that, while the effects of obesity and excessive alcohol consumption are clear, the goal for intake of fruit and vegetables has financial and environmental implications and requires careful consideration.

It may be better to concentrate efforts on increasing the consumption of plant foods such as cereals and beans, which supply energy and protein and can therefore partially replace meat, he concludes.

These wider questions will be dealt with in the WCRF's policy report, due to be published next year.

Adapted from materials provided by BMJ-British Medical Journal, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Hi Guys,
I want to pass on this research concerning the relation between diet and cancer. Maybe it's me, but it seems like within the past four decades there has been a significant increase in the occurrence of cancer. I haven't personally done any research, I'm just going by anecdotes and news reports.

Either way, if it is factual or whether it's just this information age that allows us to have world wide access to current events, it's important that we pay attention and change our lifestyle. Ignorance is not bliss when your life is jeopardized by a serious health challenge.

Let's govern our food choices and control our destiny by eating wisely so that we can truly be Winners at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

An Interview With Rick Warren Author Of The Purpose Driven Life

2008-04-09T12:43:00.005-04:00

Hi guys,
I want to share with you a candid interview with Rick Warren, the author of the "PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE" that was sent to me by a reader named Chandra. Rick Warren reflects on his wife’s bout with cancer and his response to his new "wealth" from the book sales. Let’s pray and declare healing in the name of Jesus for Mrs. Warren and comfort and strength for her husband who has given so much to others. The Word says that there “is nothing too hard for God and that with God all things are possible!”

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California, Rick said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.

We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.

If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,"which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.

It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.

That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.

NOW. PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS

The 20 Worst Foods in America- #12

2008-04-08T10:03:00.004-04:00

The 20 Worst Foods in America-#12
The U.S. food industry has declared war on your waistline. Here's how to disarm its weapons of mass inflation
By: Matt Goulding

12. Worst Burger
Carl's Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger
1,520 calories
111 g fat

Carl's brags about this, but also provides convenient nutrition info on its Web site—so ignorance is no excuse for eating it.

A Simple Solution: The Low Carb Six Dollar Burger has just 490 calories.
Five Egg McMuffins yield the same caloric cost as these sugar-stuffed flapjacks.
Order This Instead: The Western Omelet has 654 calories and 44 grams of protein.

For dozens of food and nutrition tips—not to mention restaurant
secrets that will shock the weight off of you—sign up for your
FREE WEEKLY EAT THIS, NOT THAT! NEWSLETTER!

Hello guys,
Let's eat to live and live a long life. I hope this article above makes you aware of your responsibility to keep yourself healthy, wise and strong. 1,520 calories is too much for any man or woman at one meal! If you want to lower your blood pressure, cholesterol and weight, start by choosing wisely now, so that you won't have to pay for it later with pills, doctor visits and operations.

Let's demonstrate our love for ourselves by pampering our bodies with healthy foods that say "I love by body temple" and I won't abuse it or let anyone else abuse it. This will empower you and your descendants to live a quality life. The Bible tells us to choose life so that we and our seed will live and not die. Let's exercise our right to be Winners at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

YES, THEY CAN! - HOPE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

2008-04-07T09:43:00.003-04:00

Bronx students discuss Obama's race speech

From: BarackObamadotcom

Hi guys,
I came across this video and I was impressed by these students’ intense interest and views about politics in light of the Obama/Clinton race. What inspired me more was the hope and belief in the indomitable spirit of mankind and the American dream for all of its citizens.

This election has given me hope that King’s 40 year old prophetic dream that America will judge its citizens by their character and not their race or gender is about to be realized. Metaphysically 40 signifies completion. Remarkably, it is significant in Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and other Middle Eastern traditions; it can also represent a rough calculation, a huge sum of units, or simply put a lot of something:

-"Forty days and forty nights" describes the period for which rain fell during Noah's flood
-"Forty days" was the length of the period that the twelve spies explored the Promised Land
-"Forty years" was the length of Israel's wandering in the wilderness. This period of years represents a generation, that is, the time it takes for a new generation to arise.
-Moses' life is divided into three 40-year segments, separated by his fleeing from Egypt, and his return to lead the people out.
-Several Israelite leaders and kings are said to have ruled for "forty years", that is, a generation. (Examples: Eli, Saul, David, Solomon.)
-According to the Midrash, Moses spent three consecutive periods of "forty days and forty nights" on Mount Sinai.
-Rabbi Akiva, the greatest expositor of the Oral Torah, only began learning how to read Hebrew when he was 40 years old
-"Forty days and forty nights" was the period Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness, after which he was tempted by Satan.
-Forty days was the period from Jesus' resurrection till his ascension into heaven.
-In modern Christian practice, Lent consists of the 40 days preceding Easter. -The dead are usually mourned for forty days in Muslim cultures
-Muhammad is said to be forty years old when he first received the revelation delivered by an angel.
-In the Yazidi faith, The Chermera temple (meaning “40 Men” in the Yazidi dialect) is so old that no one remembers how it came to have that name but it is believed to derive from the burial of 40 men on the mountaintop site.
-In Hinduism, some popular religious prayers consist of forty shlokas or dohas (couplets, stanzas).

Finally after 40 years, or essentially a generation later, Dr. King’s dream is being realized. It seems pretty clear that America will have a female or an African American as president. Let us learn from this historical moment the importance of instilling in the next generation the importance of not only the American dream, but their individual dreams. Although it may take time for us to realize our dreams, we must never give up on a heartfelt dream that benefits mankind. Defeat is not an option- when we persist through adversity, we will be Winners at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

The 20 Worst Foods in America- #13

2008-04-03T08:23:00.002-04:00

The 20 Worst Foods in America
The U.S. food industry has declared war on your waistline. Here's how to disarm its weapons of mass inflation By: Matt Goulding

13. Worst Salad
On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Taco Beef
1,450 calories 102 g fat 78 g carbs 2,410 mg sodium This isn't an anomaly: Five different On the Border salads on the menu contain more than 1,100 calories each. The Salad for You: The Sizzling Chicken Fajita Salad supplies an acceptable 760 calories.But remember to choose a noncaloric beverage, such as water or unsweetened iced tea.

Hello Guys,

Two days to go before the week is up. Have you decided what's for lunch already? Take a look at what's in this salad. Can you believe it- 1,450 calories? I understand why they call it "Grande"- it is a meal that can carry you all through the day and night, especially if you add a beverage to it.

There is a reason why Bill Cosby says, "come on people!" You do the math- guess where the calories go and stay? If you want to be a Winner at life you must learn how to add, subtract and say "no thanks" and move away from the table or bring your own lunch!

Let's start today by saying "no" to things that deplete our energy, weaken our immune system and leave us bloated and depressed. This monosyllabic word contains only two letters in the alphabet, but it will empower you to accomplish things in life that you never thought were possible. Saying "no" is the best way you can love yourself, because by doing so, you are saying you are entitled to a fulfilled and abundant life!

Stay Blessed!

Joyce

A Time To Laugh- Part II

2008-04-02T08:44:00.005-04:00

Kerri Pomarolli: Clean Christian Comedy

From: b13ed

Hey Guys,
I couldn't get enough of Kerri, her comedy is infectious so I will share another one of her clips today. I'm sure you like me could benefit from a good laugh that's guaranteed to raise your endorphin level. And it will not cost you a thing, just a click of the mouse below. If you combine it with a walk in the park, an uplifting song, meditation, some fruits and vegetables and a little Quaker Oatmeal you may be able to throw away your bottles of statins and antedepressants.(hmmm) It works for me- let me know what you think. Let's all strive to be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

A Time To Laugh

2008-04-01T08:56:00.003-04:00

Clean Christian Comedy

From: b13ed

To every thing there is a season,and a time to every purpose under the heaven:.. a time to weep, and a time to laugh. Today my friends I encourage you to have a good laugh. It is important that we acknowledge the negative, disappointing things that may happen to us in life, but we don't stay there.

The good news is that we have a choice and with the gift of life we can change the apparent deficiencies we encounter in life. This is the amazing power that is within man, the capacity to think, create and change our environment by our thoughts and actions.

I encourage you today to use your creative abilities so that you can laugh, build up others and bring about peace and unity in the world. Take a moment to view this video by Kerri Pomarolli to see how she uses the gift of humor to do good while she is here on earth. Let's choose to be a Winner at life and enjoy today!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

The 20 Worst Foods in America- #14

2008-03-31T08:52:00.006-04:00

The 20 Worst Foods in America
The U.S. food industry has declared war on your waistline. Here's how to disarm its weapons of mass inflation By: Matt Goulding

14. Worst Sandwich
Quizno's Classic Italian (large)
1,510 calories 82 g fat 3,750 mg sodium 106 g carbs A large homemade sandwich would more likely provide about 500 calories. Cut the Calories: Isn't it obvious? Order a small—or save half for later.

Good Morning Guys,

Monday morning- it's back to work. I'm thankful I have another opportunity to work on my dreams and make them a reality. I realize that in order to do so, I must take care of my body temple. I love Italian subs, so you can how dismayed I was to find out that this one pictured above has 1,510 calories! That's enough calories for a whole day.

Since I'm no longer in my twenties, I have to join all the other health conscious individuals over 30 and follow the above advice. It is hard to pass up the whole sub, but I've learned that if I don't it will show up on my thighs and other places that don't look or feel attractive. How do I do it you ask? Exercise, determination, prayer, talking to myself and telling myself that I deserve to look my best and stay healthy. My compromise it to occasionally have one for lunch, eat half, or if I have the whole sub, I have fruit or vegetables for dinner.

I hope this advice helps as you decide what you will have for lunch today. Remember that being a Winner at life requires sacrifice and passing up on some things or foods that initially look satisfying, but the end result has consequences that may be detrimental to our well being.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

The Healing Power of Water

2008-03-28T09:17:00.006-04:00

TGIF guys!
I have been slacking off on my blog since the death of my mom on February 29, 2008. I want to thank one of my readers, Anuj Agarwal for sending me a link to his website and allowing me to use today's slideshow.

One of the ways that I deal with loss and depression is to go outside and enjoy nature. A simple walk in the park has a way of lifting my spirit. It allows me to commune with God, enjoy this wonderful planet that we share and gives me the assurance that whatever I'm going through will pass!

This slideshow is for those of you who can't get away and enjoy God's marvelous creation today. Take a few moments and play a game with your mind and pretend you are
there. I guarantee that your blood pressure will go down and your spirits will be lifted like mine. Thanks again Anuj for making my day!

Enjoy your weekend everyone and Stay Blessed!
Joyce

The 20 Worst Foods in America- #15

2008-03-24T13:05:00.007-04:00

The U.S. food industry has declared war on your waistline.

Here's how to disarm its weapons of mass inflation.
By: Matt Goulding

#15. Worst Kids' Meal

Macaroni Grill Double Macaroni 'n' Cheese
1,210 calories
62 g fat
3,450 mg sodium
It's like feeding your kid one and a half boxes of Kraft mac 'n' cheese.

Your Best Option: The 390-calorie Grilled Chicken and Broccoli.

Hi Guys,

Let's not forget to watch over what we are feeding our children. Many future health problems can be avoided if we feed our children the right foods and take the time to present them to kids in an attractive way. We must educate our children ourselves and not rely on the schools, television or the media to tell us what is best. You have been given a mandate as a parent to discern and decipher what's best for your children until they become of age. One of the best ways to do this, is to practice what we preach. If we eat right, I think they will eventually get the message.

Stay Blessed!

Joyce

The 20 Worst Foods in America- #16

2008-03-21T12:27:00.003-04:00

The 20 Worst Foods in America
The U.S. food industry has declared war on your waistline. Here's how to disarm its weapons of mass inflation.
By: Matt Goulding

16. Worst Mexican Entree
Chipotle Mexican Grilled Chicken Burrito

1,179 calories
7 g fat
125 g carbs
2,656 mg sodium

Despite a reputation for using healthy, fresh ingredients, Chipotle's menu is limited to king-size burritos, overstuffed tacos, and gigantic salads—all of which lead to a humongous waistline.

Make Over the Menu:

There are two ways to make a Chipotle burrito healthy enough to eat:

(1) 86 the rice and tortilla and request your meat, vegetables, and beans served in a bowl, or
(2) Bring a friend and saw the burrito in half.

Hi Guys,
Can you believe this- 1,179 calories in one meal sitting? It's no wonder that obesity is becoming one of America's fastest health challenges not only for adults, but unfortunately for children. Let's be more mindful of what we eat and remember to eat to live and not live to eat. If we do that we are on our way to becoming Winners at life. Enjoy your weekend.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Supermarket Buying Guide

2008-03-20T09:29:00.003-04:00

Hi guys,
I want to share with you a great guide to help you stay on course and be a Winner at life. It is true that we are what we eat, so let's show our love for ourselves by making better choices as to what we put in our body temple. To my readers if you know of any helpful articles, please email them to me and I will consider posting them. Thanks goes out to Chandra for yesterday's Obama video.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Supermarket Buying Guide
Courtesy of EatingWell.com

How to stay on course in the 6 major aisles of the supermarket.

1. Produce
Let yourself be seduced here; fill your cart with plenty of colorful produce. Aim to try something new each week — an exotic fruit, or a vegetable you've never seen before — even if it costs a little more. You might discover a new healthy passion. Likewise, prewashed, ready-to-eat produce like salad mixes, baby carrots and broccoli/cauliflower florets may seem a splurge, but not if they get you to grab them instead of chips when you're craving a snack. (Admit it: would you pinch pennies so vigorously in the snack-food aisle?)

2. Poultry/Fish/Meat
If convenience is all-important, go for skinless poultry cuts and boneless for quickest cooking. You'll save some calories and fat by choosing white meat over dark, too — but don't sweat the difference if you're planning to broil or grill; most of the fat will drip off anyway. For ground chicken or turkey, make sure you're getting lean breast meat without skin added (read the label).

In the fish department, you can opt for white-fleshed fish for fewest calories, but don't forget fatty fish like salmon or tuna, which contain omega-3 fatty acids that dramatically lower your risk of heart attack and stroke if eaten regularly; just choose a moderate portion to keep a lid on calories. Ask which fish is freshest (or check the Date Packed if it's precut) and reject anything that looks suspect or smells fishy (if it's wrapped in plastic, fillets should be firm to the touch, with no liquid in the package — a sign of improper thawing). Frozen fish is just fine — and sometimes it's the "freshest" choice. Just be sure to thaw it properly: overnight in the refrigerator.

Many successful weight-loss veterans make red meat a special-occasion rather than daily purchase, since it's higher in saturated fat. Look for cuts with "loin" or "round" in the title, and select well-trimmed cuts with the least visible fat. Choose ground beef labeled "90% lean" or higher.

3. Dairy
Seek out dairy products that get 30 percent or fewer calories from fat. When choosing milk, opt for "skim," "fat-free/nonfat" or "1 percent." (Avoid the misleadingly labeled "reduced-fat" 2 percent milk; about 36 percent of its calories come from fat.) However, "low-fat" (1 percent) or "nonfat" yogurts, cottage cheese and sour cream are all worth trying. If you're buying soy or rice "milk," check the label to make sure it's fortified with calcium and vitamin D-and to make sure you're aware of any added sugars.

Don't be afraid to experiment with lower-fat cheeses like part-skim mozzarella or Jarlsberg or reduced-fat Cheddars; they've improved greatly in recent years. (You can always blend them with a little full-fat cheese to boost flavor and texture.) Buy full-fat cheeses with strong flavors, like feta, blue, Parmesan or aged Cheddar — and count on just a little bit going a long way. If you buy butter, plan on using it sparingly — slice off a half-stick and store the rest in the freezer. Or if you prefer a buttery spread, read labels to find one that's free of heart-threatening trans fats. Don't forget the eggs — at 75 calories apiece, they're a diet-friendly protein source (and, contrary to popular belief, don't raise most people's blood cholesterol noticeably, since their saturated-fat content is fairly low). Fat-free egg substitutes (mostly consisting of egg white) are an even better calorie bargain; they're only about 30 calories per 1/4-cup serving, though you might find them a bit bland compared to whole eggs.

4. Freezer
Stock up on plain frozen vegetables (shun the ones with sauce or butter) so that you've always got some veggies on hand. Most are frozen right after picking to preserve nutrients and flavor, so you don't have to feel you're compromising. You might also find some "healthy" frozen entrees-great "fallback" meal insurance, if you like how they taste (check labels to ensure they're really "healthy," and watch the sodium). Pick up some 100 percent fruit juice concentrates and, for semi-indulgent treats, stock up on low-fat ice milks, yogurts and/or sorbets. Look for single-serving packages that allow you to eat a fixed amount.

5. Canned/Packaged Food
While these sections can be a minefield of temptations, there are plenty of healthy staples to be found. Choose whole-grain pastas (there are some astonishingly tasty brands now available) and brown rice, as well as "quick" whole grains like whole-wheat couscous, quinoa and quick-cooking barley. Look for canned fruits packed in water or their own juices, and vegetables canned without salt. For convenient protein fixes, try canned beans, water-packed tuna, canned salmon and sardines — and reduced-sodium soups based on broth or beans.

Looking for a good salad dressing? Focus on flavor rather than worrying too much about the fat content, since the whole point of dressing is to get you to eat more salads. "Reduced-fat" and "fat-free" dressings often contain similar amounts of calories and might not be worth the flavor trade-off. Don't forget to pick up some interesting vinegars, which add calorie-free flavor to just about anything; try balsamic, sherry and apple cider vinegars.

In the cereal aisle, seek out brands labeled "whole-grain" (with whole grains as the first ingredient) and with at least 8 grams of fiber per serving. Check the label to avoid added sugars; you can always add sweetness with your own sliced fresh fruit. In the snack section, best options include whole-grain snack crackers, whole-wheat pretzels, brown rice cakes, whole-grain crispbreads and popcorn (choose "light" microwave variety or — even better — pop it yourself in an air popper or on the stove, in a heart-healthy oil like peanut or canola).

6. Bakery
Since sandwich bread is a staple, be choosy: you'll want one that gives you plenty of whole grains in a tasty package. Look for breads, English muffins, bagels and rolls labeled "100 percent whole-wheat," with at least 3 grams of fiber apiece (the first ingredient in the list should begin with the word "whole"). Try "lunch"-size rolls for burgers and sandwiches; you'll get a more reasonable portion. Store bread in the freezer to keep it fresher longer; just thaw on the counter as needed. Whole-wheat versions of pita and flour tortillas can usually be found here, too, along with corn tortillas; keep them to a 7-inch diameter or less.

Among the cookies and cakes, best choices for a splurge are those in bite-size portions, such as brownie bites, mini muffins or flavored meringues. Be wary of "fat-free" bakery treats, which often have as many or even more calories than their "regular" counterparts. Don't waste your calories on anything that doesn't taste fabulous.

Visit EatingWell.com to learn more.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The EatingWell Diet. Copyright 2007 by Eating Well, Inc.

Obama Speech: 'A More Perfect Union'

2008-03-19T09:37:00.005-04:00

From: BarackObamadotcom

In case you missed Barack's historic speech- here it is! The annals of America's text books will record this as one of the greatest speeches in the history of America and the world.

Truly a house divided can not stand. There is power in unity. It is time that we unite not just for a better America, but for a better world! Science tells us that underneath our skin, we are truly one kind,- human kind.

It is time for us to fulfill God's mandate to be our brother's keeper, to lay down our weapons of warfare, to replenish and not deplete the earth and to be fruitful and multiply.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

'We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.'

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution – a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.

This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one.

Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.

This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either “too black” or “not black enough.” We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.

And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.

On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way

But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:

“People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend’s voice up into the rafters….And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories tha t we didn’t need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild.”

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What’s remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn’t make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicia ns, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright’s sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committ ed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy – particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

There is one story in particularly that I’d like to leave you with today – a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King’s birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother’s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn’t. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they’re supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he’s there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am here because of Ashley.”

“I’m here because of Ashley.” By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.

Foodborne Illnesses-The 10 Dirtiest Foods On Our Plates

2008-03-05T07:57:00.005-05:00

There's an old saying that rings true year after year, "igonorance is bliss." I want to share with you an excellent article by Jim Gorman that will awaken you to the need to be proactive when it comes to choosing and eating foods.

Did you know that under current labeling laws, grocers are under no obligation to list the country of origin of any produce item. Simply choosing produced in the U.S.A. is not a safe alternative either. Unfortunately there are foods produced in the U.S. that are unsafe and we are being served and we served them to our loved ones everyday.

Change must come from the bottom up. Relying on our "political leaders" to do something that we should be doing ourselves is not acceptable. You were made to be the Head and not the Tail, but you must act! There are many things you can do individually to safeguard the quality of your life. If you want to be a Winner at life, you must be informed and then take the necessary actions.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Foodborne Illness
Beware the Funky Chicken

Our First World food supply is often cursed with Third World cleanliness -- and the results can be pretty gruesome. Here, a rogue's gallery of the 10 dirtiest foods on our plates By: Jim Gorman.

On October 6, 2003, Jeff Cook took his family out to dinner at the Chi-Chi's Restaurant in the Beaver Valley Mall, north of Pittsburgh. When his chicken-and-steak fajitas arrived at the table, they were accompanied by the obvious -- sauted peppers, onions, sour cream -- and the invisible -- a helping of hepatitis A. Cook, 38, healthy and energetic on that autumn evening, died of acute liver failure a month later.

Hepatitis A may have been the disease that ended up sickening 575 Chi-Chi's patrons and employees -- and killing three -- but a batch of green onions was the carrier. Dirty food. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that every day, 200,000 Americans contract food poisoning. But Philip Tierno, Ph.D., a microbiologist at New York University medical center and author of The Secret Life of Germs, pegs the true eat-'em-and-weep rate at around 800,000 a day. "Everyone in this country will have at least one incident of sickness this year attributable to a foodborne virus, bacteria, or toxin," Tierno says. Except that most of us won't know what hit us; we'll chalk up the usually mild symptoms -- nausea, diarrhea, cramping -- to "that stomach flu that's going around."

Scientists currently know of only one 100 percent foolproof way to prevent foodborne illness: Stop eating. Or, almost as effective, obsess over every morsel you bring to your mouth and whether it might be staring back at you. But assuming you'd rather not die of slow starvation or, worse, live like Nick Nolte, we present you with a third, saner solution: Identify and sanitize the 10 dirtiest foods.

After considering incidence of foodborne outbreaks, relative danger of the dirt, and how often the carrier is found on our forks, we came up with a list of the edibles most likely to send your day spiraling down the crapper. We then assembled simple strategies for decontaminating the prime suspects -- from the supermarket to the supper table -- without worrying yourself sick. And what if, as with Jeff Cook, someone else does the cooking? We'll also tell you how to spot a dirty restaurant. Add it all up and what we're giving you is a recipe -- for clean living.

Chicken
The dirt: Never mind cigarettes; the Surgeon General should slap a warning label on chicken. Recent nationwide testing by Consumers Union, the advocacy group behind Consumer Reports, notes that of the 484 raw broilers examined, 42 percent were infected by Campylobacter jejuni, and 12 percent by Salmonella enterides.

The latest USDA research notes similar Salmonella levels. Now add in the fact that we each consume about 70 pounds of chicken a year -- more than our intake of beef, pork, or turkey -- and it's a wonder broilers don't come with barf bags.

At the supermarket: Look for birds labeled "free range." Close quarters in the henhouse give bad bugs the chance to spread, as do high-volume processing operations. Free-range chickens, which are given more room to roost and are usually slaughtered in smaller numbers, present a potentially safer option. For example, Ranger chickens, a free-range brand sold in the Pacific Northwest, came up negative for Salmonella and Campylobacter in Consumers Union's tests.

At home: To help prevent foodborne illness, bypass rinsing your raw bird in the sink, and instead put it directly into a baking dish or pan. This shortcut reduces the odds of sullying counters and other foods, says Janet B. Anderson, R.D., director of the Safe Food Institute in North Logan, Utah. If you used a cutting board, clean it (and the knife) with a mild, dilute bleach solution. As for your heat treatment, cook breasts and other cuts until the temperature hits 180°F. (If it's a whole bird, take the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh.) "Poking the chicken or judging by juice color is risky," says Anderson.

Ground Beef
The dirt: Even a little ground chuck can make you upchuck. When USDA inspectors last tested hamburger meat, they looked at 563 sources nationwide and discovered Clostridium perfringens in 53 percent of the batches, Staphylococcus in 30 percent, and Listeria monocytogenes in 12 percent. Interestingly, the USDA found no trace of Escherichia coli 0157:H7, a.k.a. E. coli, one of the desperadoes of foodborne illness. Despite this finding, if slaughterhouse safeguards fail (and they sometimes do), E. coli could potentially pop up in your next patty.

At the supermarket: Choose ground cow that's been nuked. "Find a grocery store that sells irradiated ground beef," says Donald W. Schaffner, Ph.D., an extension specialist in food science at Rutgers University. The package will bear the words "treated by irradiation." Schaffner gives the safety of the treatment a glowing review: "The amount of induced radioactivity is 200,000 times smaller than the level of radioactivity naturally present in all foods."

At home: Add fresh oregano to your burgers and meat loaf. When researchers at Kansas State University mixed a variety of common household spices into ground beef to test their antibacterial properties, oregano tested as one of the best at wiping out E. coli . Use at least 1 tablespoon per pound of meat. Just as important, flatten your patties -- thick burgers will char on the outside before the interior reaches the required 160°F.

Ground Turkey
The dirt: Potentially one of the foulest of the fowl. A USDA survey showed that the odds are better than one in four that your ground gobbler contains Listeria, Campylobacter, Clostridium, or some combination of the three. What's more, in a separate study by the FDA and the University of Maryland, 24 percent of the ground turkey sampled came back positive for Salmonella. And some of that Salmonella was resistant to antibiotics.

At the supermarket: Hunt for organic turkey. Most commercial turkey processors pump up their birds with antibiotics, a practice that may have encouraged the rise of resistant bacteria. Organic outfits, on the other hand, say no to drugs. When you reach the checkout, insist that the turkey be slipped into its own plastic bag and then placed in a meat-only shopping bag. This rule applies to beef and chicken, too: Otherwise, meat drippings might contaminate other groceries.

At home: "Change your mind-set about poultry. Start by thinking of it as being contaminated," says Schaffner. Immediately retire to the dishwasher any platter that has come in contact with raw ground turkey. (Use the hottest setting.) Serve cooked turkey burgers (180°F) on a clean plate. And wipe up any spillage with a paper towel instead of a sponge. "The sponge is the most dangerous item in the house because of the organisms potentially living in it," says Tierno.

Raw Oysters
The dirt: Oysters' power as an aphrodisiac is overblown, but their power as a diarrheic when slurped raw is not. These filters for ocean waste can contain the norovirus (a pathogen notorious for nixing ocean cruises), Campylobacter, and Vibrio vulnificus. University of Arizona researchers who studied oysters from so-called certified-safe beds discovered that 9 percent were contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. Still hungry? "We found E. coli in 100 percent of Gulf Coast locations, and in high amounts," says Lynn Joens, Ph.D., the study author.

At the supermarket: Buy from the same beds that a chef stakes his reputation on. Sandy Ingber, executive chef and seafood buyer for Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York City, buys Blue Point, Chincoteague, Glidden Point, Narragansett Bay, Pemaquid, and Wellfleet oysters in the winter months. During summer, he buys Coromandel oysters from New Zealand. The reason for the seasonal shift: More than three-quarters of outbreaks involving raw oysters occur in the Northern Hemisphere's warm-water months.

At home: Very simple: Eat only thoroughly cooked oysters. If you must slurp, do so only after following the buying advice above.

Eggs
The dirt: Which is dirtier, the chicken or the egg? The chicken, by a long shot, or so it seems at first. More widespread pasteurization has reduced the rate of Salmonella contamination in eggs to only one in 20,000. But that still leaves more than two million hazardous eggs in circulation each year. Food poisoning linked to eggs sickens an estimated 660,000 people annually and kills 300. "Often, dishes made at restaurants are from pooled eggs," which increases the risk, says Schaffner. "It's really a matter of statistics. Eat an egg sunny-side up and your risk of salmonella is one in 10,000. Eat an undercooked omelette made from a mix of 100 eggs, and the risk is significantly higher."

At the supermarket: Check the egg cartons. You're looking for one word -- "pasteurized" -- and four numbers -- the expiration date. Then remove each egg and look for cracks; germs can enter after pasteurization.

At home: Ignore the egg keeper on the refrigerator door. Instead, keep the eggs in their carton and stow it in the coldest part of your fridge (usually the back of the lowest shelf). Then, after you crack one open, wash your hands. In her study of household food preparation, Utah State's Anderson reports that 60 percent of people failed to wash their hands after handling raw eggs. Finally, cook your eggs -- thoroughly (or, if they're an ingredient in a dish, to 160°F).

Cantaloupe
The dirt: File this under "Who knew?" When the FDA sampled domestically grown cantaloupe, it found that 3.5 percent of the melons carried Salmonella and Shigella, the latter a bacteria normally passed person-to-person. Among imported cantaloupe, 7 percent tested positive for both bugs. And because you eat melons raw, the bacteria go right down your gullet. That's a big part of the reason why from 1990 to 2001, produce in general has sickened as many people as have beef and poultry combined.

At the supermarket: Dents or bruising on the fruit can provide a path in for pathogens. But don't think precut cantaloupe is safer. "I've been in several supermarkets where the produce was cut by personnel who didn't wash their hands after handling eggs and other items," says Anderson.

At home: Because cantaloupe grows on the ground and has a netted exterior, it's easy for Salmonella to sneak on, and once on, it's hard to clean off. Scrub the fruit with a dab of mild dishwashing liquid for 15 to 30 seconds under running water. And make sure you buy a scrub brush that you use exclusively to clean fruits and vegetables; otherwise it could become cross-contaminated.

Peaches
The dirt: Being pretty as a peach comes at a price. The fruit is doused with pesticides in the weeks prior to harvest to ensure blemish-free skin. By the time it arrives in your produce department, the typical peach can be coated with up to nine different pesticides, according to USDA sampling. And while apples tote a wider variety of pesticides, the sheer amount and strength of those on peaches sets the fuzzy fruit apart. On an index of pesticide toxicity devised by Consumers Union, peaches rank highest.

At the supermarket: Fill your plastic produce bag with peaches that wear a "USDA Organic" sticker. And since apples, grapes, pears, and green beans occupy top spots on the Toxicity Index, too, you may want to opt for organic here as well. Just know that organic produce also contains some pesticide residues, but in minuscule amounts.

At home: Wax on, wax off. "A lot of produce has a natural wax coating that holds pesticides, so wash with a sponge or scrub brush and a dab of mild dishwashing detergent. This can eliminate more than half of the residues," says Edward Groth III, Ph.D., a senior scientist with Consumers Union. Got kids? Play it extra safe, and wash and pare peaches, apples, and pears.

Prepackaged Lettuce
The dirt: Don't look now, but the lettuce on a burger could cause you more grief than the beef. Outbreaks of E. coli sickened 36 people in San Diego in September 2003 and sent 29 people reeling in eastern Washington in July 2002. In both cases, prepackaged lettuce was to blame. And according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, lettuce accounted for 11 percent of reported food-poisoning outbreaks linked to produce from 1990 to 2002, and "salad" accounted for 28 percent.

At the supermarket: Prepackaged salad mix is not inherently more hazardous than loose greens or a head of lettuce. It's the claims of being "triple washed" that lull consumers into complacency. "Just because something is wrapped in cellophane doesn't mean it's free of pathogens," says J. Glenn Morris, M.D., chairman of epidemiology and preventive medicine at the University of Maryland school of medicine.

At home: Rinse salad greens one leaf at a time under running water before eating. Beware of cross-contamination, too. "People know it's risky to put salad in the same colander they washed chicken in," says Anderson, "but they think nothing of touching a towel used to wipe up poultry juice, then making a salad."

Cold Cuts
The dirt: Germs don't take a number in the deli; cold cuts have been labeled at "high risk" of causing listeriosis by a joint team of researchers from the USDA, FDA, and CDC. While only 3 percent of the deli meats sampled contained Listeria at the point of purchase, the bacteria's rapid growth rate on cuts stored even under ideal conditions concerned researchers. Combine that with the fact that cold cuts are, well, eaten cold, and you've got trouble; Listeria thrives at refrigerator temperatures that stun other foodborne pathogens.

At the supermarket: Turns out the most likely source of Listeria-contaminated cold cuts is the deli slicer. Without regular cleaning, the blade can transfer bacteria from roast beef to turkey to pastrami and back. But aside from asking the clerk to stop and clean the slicer before handling your order, the best you can do is avoid delis that are obviously dirty and stick with those that are annoyingly busy. Meats that rotate through a deli quickly have less opportunity to bloom with Listeria.

At home: From now on, skip the sniff test and trash whatever meat you haven't eaten in a week. When you're ready to build your sandwich, slather on the mustard. Researchers at Washington State University killed off 90 percent of three potent pathogens -- Listeria, E. coli, and Salmonella -- within 2 hours of exposing them to a mustard compound.

Scallions
The dirt: Scallions play a bit part in most dishes, but a little goes a long way, as evidenced by the massive hepatitis A outbreak at that Chi-Chi's last October. Dirty scallions have also triggered small hep A outbreaks in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Other bugs known to have grabbed a ride on green onions include the parasite Cryptosporidium, Shigella, and the ever-present Salmonella. In FDA tests, U.S.-grown scallions carried Salmonella or Shigella in 3 percent of samples, nearly twice the number detected in imported samples.

At the supermarket: Forget trying to weed out U.S. or Mexican scallions. Given current labeling laws, grocers are under no obligation to list the country of origin of any produce item. More important, buy refrigerated scallions; room temperature can trigger a bacterial explosion.

At home: Turn on your faucet full force to blast away visible dirt. As you rinse, remove the outer sheath to expose lingering microorganisms, but realize that any step short of thorough cooking is only a partial solution. "More and more, pathogens are entering produce like scallions at a cellular level," says Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
2008 RODALE INC. ALL rights reserved

Food Safety: A Safer Salad

2008-03-04T08:32:00.005-05:00

Do you guys remember the spinach outbreak we had recently? I do, and in my quest to eat healthier I want to make sure that what I eat is in fact truly good for me. This is particularly important since food is imported from different countries. The other day I bought some garlic and when I got home I saw that it was produced in China. There was another brand made in the U.S. that was slightly more expensive, but I went for the cheaper brand. I now look for foods in general produced in the U.S. even if they are more expensive. My reason for buying American produce is explained in the research article below by Katy Gagnon.

Take a moment to read it and I think it will convince you as well of the need to monitor where your food is purchased. Once you get your salad ingredients home it explains additional steps you can take to insure its safety. I always wondered why older cooks would put vinegar in their greens. I thought the greens were bitter enough, why add vinegar? Now I know the preventive benefits of adding it.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Eating a salad a day may help you live longer -- just make sure it's safe
By: Katy Gagnon
Devouring more vegetables will help you live longer, according to new research, unless of course they're teeming with deadly bacteria. Since 1995, there have been 19 E. coli outbreaks linked to a variety of leafy greens, including the outbreak that sickened 200 bagged spinach buyers earlier this year. The reason? "As a head of lettuce grows, it brings in soil with each layer of leaves," says Philip Tierno, Ph.D., a microbiologist at New York University and author of The Secret Life of Germs. If the soil is tainted with bacteria from manure-contaminated water -- as it was in the case of the recent outbreak -- then bacteria becomes nestled deeper and deeper inside the developing plant.

Once befouled, it's nearly impossible to remove pathogens from the leaves thanks to a sticky "biofilm" that coats them, says Scott Martin, Ph.D., a food science and nutrition professor at the University of Illinois. That film is probably the reason why E. coli survived the triple washing that most spinach is subjected to at processing plants. And while boiling kills E. Coli, it would also reduce your salad to mush. Instead, rid your greens of tagalong critters with this plan of attack.

FOOD SAFETY TIPS:
Check the date.
You don't have to frequent the local farmer's market to avoid contaminated produce, just pick produce with the freshest "Best Buy" date (health officials assure all bagged spinach with dates after October 1, 2006 are safe). The fresher the produce the least likely it is that it experienced temperature abuse, which could lead to bacteria growth, Martin says.

Make an acid wash.
Just running them under water doesn't work, you need to go after the "nooks and crannies," Tierno says. Target them with this approach:

1. Fill a large pot with cold water and add a tablespoon of white vinegar or a vitamin-C tablet. The acidity from either will help break up debris. Then add the greens.

2. Stir the water with your hand or spoon, and let the dirt settle on the bottom. If the water still looks dirty, repeat the whole process again with a new pot of water.

3. Scoop the greens out of the water with a strainer. Resist the urge to pour the entire pot into a strainer, which mixes the dirt back in with the greens.

4. Rinse each individual leaf under running water and pat dry.

Scrub before you peel.
Use a vegetable brush to remove dirt on hard produce before you peel. Shaving a carrot or potato without washing it will transfer any dirt from the outside of the vegetable into the edible portion.

Douse everything with vinaigrette.
Adding a vinegary salad dressing to your greens could reduce the amount of pathogens, says Larry Beuchat, Ph.D., food science professor at the University of Georgia. Any dressing will work, but those high in vinegar, such as Italian or Balsamic vinaigrette, are the most effective because their high acid content kills germs, Beuchat says.

What’s In Your Salad?

2008-03-03T08:52:00.003-05:00

I came across a nutrition article that I wanted to share with you from MensHealth.com. One of my resolutions this year is to eat healthier. But more importantly my goal is to make sure that what actually appears to be good nutritionally is in fact healthy. Here’s a guide below to follow so that you can insure that your salad is in fact healthy and low in calories.

My mom died last Friday so I will try to continue to submit articles this week, but they will probably be brief. If you can help me out by emailing me articles of interest, I would greatly appreciate it. Keep me in your prayers as well.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Avoid the Iceberg
18 salad-bar survival tips
By: Jennifer Haigh, Photographs by: Mark Seelon

Mushrooms
Not poisonous, hallucinogenic, or nutritious.

Creamy salads
A.k.a. the white death. If you must have some slaw or, worse, macaroni salad (3/4 cup = 26 grams of fat!), at least place it over raw vegetables. The mayo will double as salad dressing.

Radishes
No matter how you slice 'em, these are roots. What's worse, they're roots without a nutritional leg to stand on. You'd need to eat half a cup to take in a gram (g) of fiber, which isn't enough to keep even a rabbit regular.

Alfalfa sprouts
Don't bother with these little health-food frauds. Half a cup provides only traces of nutrients. But they are virtually calorie-free, so if you actually like their dank flavor, knock yourself out.

Carrots
Shredding gives raw carrots a whole new quality: They become edible. Mix, don't top, your salad with a quarter cup of them, and you'll be eating nearly a whole day's worth of beta-carotene.

Cauliflower
Broccoli's bleached cousin has only a fraction of the vitamin C and beta-carotene. You're better off doubling up on broccoli and skipping this pale imitator.

Sunflower seeds
A few spoonfuls have potassium and magnesium to lower blood pressure, plus folate to help prevent heart disease.

Black olives
While these little fat bombs won't hurt your heart, they won't help it much either. You'd need to eat 10 to get just 3 g of cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated fat.

Chickpeas
Despite the name, this isn't something you'd find in Penthouse. Half a cup has 6 g of protein, 5 g of fiber, and some B vitamins.

Hard-boiled eggs
One has 6 g of protein and some lutein and zeaxanthin, phytochemicals that may cut your risk of age-related vision loss.

Cherry tomatoes
Ounce for ounce, these little suckers have as much prostate-protecting lycopene as their big brothers.

Cucumbers
Low in nutrients, fiber, and taste. Maybe that's why people drown 'em in vinegar and call them pickles.

Iceberg lettuce, mesclun salad greens
Nutrient-wise, iceberg lettuce helps your diet as much as real icebergs helped the Titanic. But mesclun greens contain folate, to fight heart disease, and fiber, to spit shine your colon walls.

Cottage cheese
The best cheese choice on the bar. Half a cup of the full-fat stuff has only 108 calories and 5 g of fat, and gives you 13 g of protein.

Broccoli
Six florets give you a day's worth of vitamin C and 20 percent of your beta-carotene. Bonus: Broccoli is rich in a number of polysyllabic compounds that seem to have anticancer properties. Eat all you can stand.

Shredded Cheddar cheese
One half cup of shredded Cheddar has 19 g of fat--about what you'd get in a fast-food taco. Try to limit yourself to a tablespoon.

Mysterious extras (bacon bits, croutons, Chinese noodles)
They're salty, they're crunchy, they're more like pretzels than vegetables. Of the three, the croutons are best. Ten croutons add up to about 50 calories and 2 g of fat. Chinese noodles tend to be greasier. And bacon bits? Well, they're bacon, and we all know how healthy that is.

Dressing
Low-fat dressing isn't low-cal, so go easy on it. A better bet? Canola oil and red wine vinegar. The oil contains omega-3 fatty acids to reduce your heart-disease risk. The vinegar adds flavonoids to keep your blood flowing smoothly.

2008 RODALE INC. ALL rights reserved

The 20 Worst Foods in America- #17

2008-02-29T08:43:00.003-05:00

The 20 Worst Foods in America
The U.S. food industry has declared war on your waistline. Here's how to disarm its weapons of mass inflation

By: Matt Goulding 17. Worst "Healthy" Burger
Ruby Tuesday Bella Turkey Burger

1,145 calories
71 g fat
56 g carbs

We chose this burger for more than its calorie payload: Its name implies that it's healthy.

The Truly Healthy Choice: Skip burgers entirely (few at Ruby Tuesday come in under 1,000 calories). Instead, order a 9-ounce sirloin with a side of steamed vegetables.

TGIF guys,
Can you believe this guys- 1,145 calories, and that’s only for one meal! They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Take a look at this video below and I think it will give you some insight into why the Standard American Diet is SAD.
I hope it will convince you that we must be proactive when it comes to what we eat. I think you will be amazed by how we are subtly affected by advertisers, commercials and packaging. There is a reason why the average American waistline is growing larger and consequently why our health is declining as a nation

Yes, this is a beautiful world filled with wonderful, delicious foods. The choice is ours- we must exercise wisdom and choose to live a healthy lifestyle. The extra time we take to eat right, exercise will have great dividends in the end. Our bodies are not designed to be abused or mistreated. Eventually they will rebel in the form of sickness or disease. Let’s commit to make good choices so that we can be Winners at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Beauty Food

From: EatRealFood

Obama on The Run?

2008-02-28T08:41:00.002-05:00

Obama on the Run

From: snideTV

Hi Guys,
I just had to add some humor to your day. Only in America can you find this type of parody. Watch this video below and you see what I mean. It is important to laugh at ourselves once in a while- it is better than crying. Hopefully when this election is over we will have a president that can initiate some real change in this country.

One thing Obama says that I do agree with is that change must come from the bottom up. We must be initiators of change if we want to leave this world better off than how we found it. It starts with being the best person we can be and teaching our children the importance of following the Golden Rule, studying hard and being a help and not a hindrance to society and our fellow man.

Enjoy your day and remember to laugh.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Six Strategies for Savvy Ordering in a Restaurant

2008-02-27T11:44:00.005-05:00

I found some great information on how to eat smart when you are dining out that I want to pass along. It is very difficult to stay trim and healthy with the busy schedules that we keep from day to day. Knowledge is key and follow through and discipline is critical if we want to stay fit.

Take a look at this guide and try to make it a habit as much as you can. It will enable you to exert some control over the unknown calories that may be lurking in an appetizing-looking dish. Let's work together on being Winners at life.

Stay Blessed & Bon Appétit!
Joyce

Six Strategies for Savvy Ordering in a Restaurant
Courtesy of EatingWell.com
How to stay on track when you're eating out.

1. Read the whole menu. Get a feel for what's available and estimate the calories before you make a decision about what to order.

2. Be the first to order. That way you won't be tempted to go along when the rest of the gang orders more than you'd like to eat.

3. Consider a la carte. Try getting a soup or salad and an appetizer, or a couple of side dishes, instead of an overly large entree. Many restaurants these days offer smaller "tasting" plates or tapas-size portions too. They are worth a try and often just right in size.

4. Split the difference. If an entree sounds like too much food, see if one of your dining companions would like to share it with you. Or set aside half of the food as soon as it arrives and ask the waiter to wrap it up for you.

5. Ask for sauces and dressings on the side. Most restaurants use a heavy hand with toppings; they just can't help themselves. When they're on the side you can control the amount without having to miss out. Rather than pouring them on, dip the tip of your fork into the dressing or sauce, then take a bite of food, so you'll get a little taste in every bite.

6. Ask questions. Request that food be prepared your way, within reason (asking for a salad on the side instead of chips is reasonable; asking to have the fish and chips special steamed instead of fried is not). Ask politely but unapologetically; remember, restaurants are in the service business. Most are more than willing to accommodate your request — after all, you're paying!

Visit EatingWell.com to learn more.

THE STANDARD AMERICAN DIET= SAD

2008-02-26T12:46:00.004-05:00

STANDARD AMERICAN DIET(SAD)

AskDr.Sears.com stated the following about the American diet:

“If you were to list the factors that increase the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, intestinal disorders – just about any illness – the standard American diet has them all:

• High in animal fats
• High in unhealthy fats: saturated, hydrogenated
• Low in fiber
• High in processed foods
• Low in complex carbohydrates
• Low in plant-based foods

The striking fact is that cultures that eat the reverse of the standard American diet – low fat, high in complex carbohydrates, plant-based, and high in fiber – have a lower incidence of cancer and coronary artery disease (CAD). What's even more sad is that countries whose populations can afford to eat the healthiest disease-preventing foods don't. The United States has spent more money on cancer research than any country in the world, yet the American diet contributes to the very diseases we are spending money to prevent.”

Yes my friends it’s sad, but it’s true. We Americans in general are unhealthy eaters. Perhaps instead of worrying so much about the enemies outside of us, we should focus a little more attention on the enemies (inner mes) within us that we consume everyday.

I hope you have not forgotten your New Year’s resolution to eat better. For starters why not begin with a healthy bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon sprinkled on it. I’ve been working on the Quaker Oatmeal 30 Day Challenge and my cholesterol has gone down.

Remember my friends we have a race to run in this life and we need every ounce of physical, mental and emotional energy to get to the finish line so that we can be Winners at life.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

An Unsung Hero of Black History: Bayard Rustin

2008-02-25T10:22:00.011-05:00

I want to thank a reader by the name of Joan Hervey who sent me this information about an unsung hero who also had a dream and who was instrumental and critical to the implementation of Dr. King’s dream. It’s written by Jennifer Vanasco and I have copied and pasted it below.

I hope you will see as I have discovered in my walk through life that it is important to focus on what binds us together as one instead of what separates us. Regardless of your political or religious views, what really matters is whether you have love for one another as Jesus instructed us to have.

I submit that the true test of what’s in your heart is whether you are truly your brother’s or sister’s keeper. Can you be that Good Samaritan that accepts someone from a different race, class or orientation, not because of legislation, but because of what’s in your heart? If we want to be Winners at life, we must focus on what builds up the human race not because it is politically correct, but because love is the more excellent way.

I Cor. 13 says it best:
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up …. thinketh no evil;…And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Bayard Rustin had a dream, too

He Had a Dream
by Jennifer Vanasco, 365gay.com

He organized the 1963 March on Washington. He helped arrange the Montgomery, Ala. Bus boycott. He debated Malcolm X, learned non-violence directly from Gandhi's followers, went to jail for his civil rights protests, and is considered one of the architects of the black civil rights movement.

He was Bayard Rustin. He was gay. And he is all but forgotten during our country's annual January commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rustin was 17 years older than King, and had been working for the cause since leaving college. Born into a Quaker family in 1912 in a town where the Klu Klux Klan paraded proudly down the street on holidays and where blacks weren't able to take a seat in white restaurants or theaters, Rustin was soon convinced that non-violence was the answer to winning black civil rights. He traveled the country with the Fellowship of Reconcilliation, calling on "angelic troublemakers" to use their bodies to protest unfair conditions.

Rustin was athletic, polite and handsome. He was also completely unashamed of being gay. He met his first partner, Davis Platt, at a conference at Bryn Mawr College.

In the documentary "Brother Outsider," Platt recalls what Rustin was like: "Such intelligence, such a love of life, such a sense of humor, really a lot of wisdom. And he had absolutely no shame about being gay."

That comfort with his gayness ended in 1953 in Padadena, Calif., when he was caught by the police in the backseat of a car with two other men. His conviction for "sexual perversion" was to haunt him the rest of his life. It convinced him to tone down his sexuality in public, and was used by foes of the civil rights movement - notably Sen. Strom Thurmond (R- SC) - to try to convince the public that King was working with moral deviants.

Rustin was a long-time advisor to King - the documentary says that it was Rustin who really taught King the practical application of non-violence. Though all was not rosy, usually because of King's fears that Rustin would subvert the civil rights movement with his homosexuality. Though they were later reconciled, Rustin's strongest falling out with King, according to the documentary, came when Sen. Adam Clayton Powell threatened that he would accuse King and Rustin of having a sexual affair. King blinked, and friends recall Rustin as feeling personally betrayed.

While King inspired, Rustin's genius lay in the actual organizing of people and events. Rustin set up phone banks and transportation for the 1963 March on Washington, making the impossible possible. He insured that African-Americans around the country knew about the march, that every group that wanted a bus to Washington got one, and that no buses got lost.

King and Rustin were hoping for a crowd of 100,000 - instead, over 200,000 people from around the country packed the Washington Mall to hear King give his soaring "I Have a Dream" speech.

For the rest of his life, Rustin would continue his activism, working to end nuclear war, advocating on behalf of Soviet Jews and Israel, visiting refugee camps, and working with the gay and lesbian civil rights movement.

In 1977, Rustin met Walter Naegle in Times Square - they would be parters until R ustin's death of a ruptured appendix in 1987. Perhaps it was this relationship - and the changing times - that spurred him once again to be open about being gay.

Toward the end of his life, in 1986, Rustin said, "Indeed, if you want to know whether today people believe in democracy, if you want to know whether they are true democrats, if you want to know whether they are human rights activists, the question to ask is, 'What about gay people?' Because that is now the litmus paper by which this democracy is to be judged."

Bayard Rustin. An activist for civil rights for all.

.

The 20 Worst Foods in America- #18

2008-02-22T13:22:00.003-05:00

The U.S. food industry has declared war on your waistline. Here's how to disarm its weapons of mass inflation.
By: Matt Goulding

18. Worst Supermarket Meal
Pepperidge Farm Roasted Chicken Pot Pie (whole pie)

1,020 calories
64 g fat
86 g carbs

The label may say this pie serves two, but who ever divided a small pot pie in half? Once you crack the crust, there will be no stopping.

Pick a Better Pie: Swanson's pot pie has just 400 calories

TGIF guys!
I want to share a post from a viewer named Julie struggling with weight problems and also reference a website she mentioned in the body of her post:

"Dear Joyce,
Thank you for the blog and the info about the Jamba Juice. I used to love them especially the Mango-A-Gogo but after I found out how many calories are in one of those things I gave them up...

God has been so good in helping me start to work on my health. I had used excuses of a bad childhood, an unhappy marriage, job stress and every excuse under the sun to blame others for my lack of self-discipline but through prayer and a support program. I am working "it" one day at a time...

The You Are a CEO program helped me first become aware that I was not disciplined with my health and maybe this will help others that find it hard to say no to sweets and high calorie treats www.youareaceo.com."

Thanks again Julie. I'm passing the info along. And to my other readers, if you have a website that will empower others please post it to my blog so that together we can be Winners at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

The 20 Worst Foods in America- #19

2008-02-19T10:09:00.003-05:00

The U.S. food industry has declared war on your waistline. Here's how to disarm its weapons of mass inflation By: Matt Goulding

19. Worst Drink
Jamba Juice Chocolate Moo'd Power Smoothie (30 fl oz)

900 calories
10 g fat
183 g carbs
(166 g sugar)

Jamba Juice calls it a smoothie; we call it a milk shake. In fact, this beverage contains more sugar than two pints of Ben and Jerry's Butter Pecan ice cream.

Turn Down the Power: Seventy-five percent of this chain's "power smoothies" contain in excess of 100 grams of sugar.

Stick to Jamba's lower-calorie All Fruit Smoothies, which are the only menu items that contain no added sugar. And always opt for the 16-ounce "small."

The saying "it's tight, but it's right!" is definitely apropos. My readers I hope you can see clearly that not all smoothies are alike. We must choose life and our destiny. No one else can do this for you. As a child, your parents or caretakers made decisions for you. But now that you are of age, you must decipher, analyse and make decisions for yourself. A little sugar is fine, but too much and too often can be deadly.

Why not make your own smoothie this evening for dessert. Yes, pass up the double fudge brownie and treat yourself to a real healthy dessert that will extend and not shorten your life. This is how you can love yourself and be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!

Joyce

The 20 Worst Foods in America- #20

2008-02-18T16:01:00.005-05:00

As promised I want to share with you the 20 Worst Foods in America according to menshealth.com. Today I will spotlight #20. The author, Matt Goulding declares the following: The U.S. food industry has declared war on your waistline. Here's how to disarm its weapons of mass inflation by.

#20. Worst Fast-Food Chicken Meal
Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips from McDonald's (5 pieces) with creamy ranch sauce
830 calories
55g fat (4. 5g trans fat)
48 g carbs

The only thing "premium" about these strips is the caloric price you pay. Add a large fries and regular soda and this seemingly innocuous chicken meal tops out at 1,710 calories.

Change Your Chicken
McNuggets have the same impact. Instead, choose Mickey D's six-piece offering with BBQ sauce and save yourself 530 calories.

I hope you were amazed and shocked as I was upon reading the caloric and fat content. 1,710 calories is enough subsistence to carry you the whole day. My friends let’s begin to make healthy and smart choices.

The bottom line is you will pay for it now or later. We must discipline ourselves to say one simple word, -“no.” Do you realize that by saying no to foods that are self-destructive, you are saying “yes” to life? You are not only empowering yourself, but your offspring. You are putting money in the bank and assuring that you won’t have to spend it on doctor bills, medications, time off from work or play.

I’ve never seen a consummate athlete downing a plate of fried chicken on a regular basis. Study the diets of athletes; they know that they are what they eat. It’s time to come out of denial and look yourself in the mirror. You can be a Winner at life, when you take the first step and act like one!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Laugh Your Way To Health- Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T08:46:00.006-05:00

Good Morning my friends,

Yes, indeed it is a good one! I awoke with health, strength, a roof over my head and a determination to make this day my best one. I want to share with you 3 things to show my love for you:

The first is a free downloadable book by Suze Orman on Oprah.com entitled, "Women and Money: Owning The Power to Control Your Destiny." The offer expires this afternoon.

The second is the article below by Steve Goodier on the medicinal benefits of laughter, called, A Healthy Dose of Laughter.

And lastly, I double dare you not to get a huge belly laugh when you watch the youtube video below, Top 3 Laughing Babies.

My friends know that you are loved by God and that He wants you to be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

A Healthy Dose of Laughter

"I read that a child laughs 400 times a day on the average, while an adult laughs only 15 times each day. Which is puzzling since laughter feels so good and is so good for us!

You may know the benefits of laughter on the mind and spirit, but are you aware of how much a good laugh can help you physically? Norman Cousins used to say that laughter is so beneficial for your body that it is like “inner jogging.”

Mayo Clinic (Mayo Clinic Health Letter, March 1993) reports that laughter aids breathing by disrupting your normal respiration pattern and increasing your breathing rate. It can even help clear mucus from your lungs.

Laughter is also good for your heart. It increases circulation and improves the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to tissues throughout your body.

A good laugh helps your immune system fight off colds, flu and sinus problems by increasing the concentration of immunoglobulin A in your saliva. And it may help control pain by raising the levels of certain brain chemicals (endorphins).

Furthermore, it is a natural stress reliever. Have you ever laughed so hard that you doubled over, fell off your chair, spit out your food or wet your pants? You cannot maintain muscle tension when you are laughing!

The good news is that you are allowed more than 15 laughs a day! Go ahead and double the dose and make it 30 times today. (You may begin to notice immediate improvement in your relationships!) Then double it again! You are bound to feel better, you will cope with problems more effectively and people will enjoy being around you. Laughter: it’s just good medicine!"

by Steve Goodier

From: mjpsp youtube.com (Top 3 Laughing Babies)

“Change is Gonna Come”

2008-02-13T08:13:00.002-05:00

Change is Gonna Come (From: DesertRatDan youtube.com)

Yes, my friends we need a change- a real change! It’s time to unite as Americans, not as Blacks, Whites, Asians, Native Americans, but one nation under God. Science has empirically told us that underneath the skin we are the same. The animal kingdom does not discriminate among themselves because of the different hues that a butterfly, a dog, a cat possesses, etc. Why do we?

It’s about saving our natural resources- it’s been said that if we don’t learn to live together as one race- the human race, we shall perish as fools. We have been given the mandate to be fruitful and multiply the Earth. Not destroy it with toxic landfills, polluted waters, cities and neighborhoods on the verge of foreclosure and bankruptcy, students that can’t read or write, but have their own cell phones and I-pods. Who are they calling--the children in Africa, Asia, India that are starving, that would love the opportunity to attend school and eat the food that our children turn their noses up at? Parents- what are you teaching your children that will leave a legacy of goodwill and empowerment for the next generation?

It’s about not just saving America- but the world. It’s time for world leaders to come together and work collectively as one force for good. One man, one President is not the answer. We can elect someone who embodies this message, but the real change is needed within the heart and actions of each and every individual on this planet.

If you want to see things differently, if you want a better world, start with yourself and then the collective energy of others will form a synergism that will truly change the world. We must put down our weapons of warfare and pick up the mantle of peace, negotiation, compromise, love and forgiveness and share this Earth that all men and women are entitled to by their divine birthright. God told us that when my people who call upon his name would humble themselves and seek His face, then He would heal the land.

Yes we do need change, and a “change is gonna come,” but we must be the initiators in order to be Winners at life. Barack is right; change does come from the bottom to the top.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Somewhere- We’ll Find A New Way Of Living

2008-02-12T08:25:00.001-05:00

Somewhere with Anita Baker and David Koz (From: fasho305)

Perseverance is the name of the game. As you can see below, I love Anita Baker and when you add David Koz on the sax it is absolutely heavenly! Click on the link below to listen and enjoy as the two of them take you to a place that will lift you above the cares of this world. Their music and melody will inspire you to overcome whatever obstacles you may be facing today.

Tomorrow always offers the prospect that a rainbow will appear to cast out the storms and discouragements of the past. The key is to take one small step at a time if necessary and never, never, give up. You see the race is not given to the strong, but to those who persevere to the end.

The word persevere means “to persist in anything undertaken; maintain a purpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement; continue steadfastly.” By definition it means going through the severe times, the “mean” times in our life. Do you know what I like about life and God? It’s amazing that He would give us a rainbow right after the storm and before our desire has manifested to let us know that whatever we are going through,- that this too shall pass!

The race is not given to the swift either, so don’t give up- rest if you must, but don’t you quit! You see there is always a rainbow on the horizon that will cast its reflection and let you know all is well. As you continue to fight the good fight of faith in this vast universe, your time will eventually come, and you will be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

This Too Shall Pass- “Ain’t No Need To Worry!”

2008-02-11T07:52:00.000-05:00

This current real estate market is unlike any that has occurred in the last 50 years or more. I have good news though for my fellow real estate agents, loan officers and other service related professionals that feed off the real estate industry. This too shall pass! The question that arises is- what do I do in the meantime?

I have some suggestions as to what you can do in these "mean" times. This is what works for me and how and why I keep smiling:

1) Pray
2) Listen to songs like this one by Anita Baker & the Winans
3) Exercise
4) Find a job even if it is beneath you. (I did BPOs for a company and got paid $65 for each one. Every agent knows that this is no money, but it kept be busy and fought off depression. Out of the blue one day I got a call from a REO company that asked me to handle their REOs)
5) Sell or do anything legally that can make you money. Can you bake delicious cookies? Encourage and motivate children? Write newspaper articles? What untapped talents do you have that will allow you to make money?
6) Pray for supernatural intervention so that you can connect with someone that can elevate you to the next level. (I was blessed to find a buyer for a commercial building that allowed me to pay off all my debts and have money left over to weather this storm.)
7) Watch your expenses- bring your lunch, make lunch for your husband and kids, buy a whole chicken and bake it yourself. Use the leftovers for sandwiches.
8) Watch a funny movie and continue to count your blessings.

Until tomorrow, remember to keep smiling and continue to release those healthy endorphins to strengthen your immune system so that you can be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Anita Baker & The Winans - Ain't No Need To Worry- (from: MissyMonet76)

Keep Smiling- That's What Friends Are For!

2008-02-08T07:46:00.001-05:00

That's What Friends Are For (from Bozang youtube.com)

TGIF guys,
We’ve made it through another week. Thank God we are alive and if you can see and read this blog or listen to the video below you are blessed. You could be in a hospital, prison or homeless, living under a bridge.

Let’s continue to keep smiling, believing the best and encouraging and challenging others to pursue and achieve their dreams. This is a daunting task to love through the good and bad times. It is said that a friend sticketh closer than a brother.

If you have one or two close friends you are doubly blessed. Why not call your friend(s) today and give them their roses while they can still smell them. Let your friends know that you love and appreciate them. Don’t be afraid to love- it’s love that makes the world go round.

If you don’t have any friends, then become the friend that you want others to be to you and I guarantee that you will keep smiling and you will be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

How To Get To The Palace From Your Prison!

2008-02-07T13:21:00.002-05:00

Hello guys,
It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood. My cholesterol is done and I am counting my blessings one by one. I am particularly excited about sharing with you the release of a powerful, life impacting, and motivational book. It is entitled, How To Get To The Palace From Your Prison! Joseph’s 14-Step Program to Overcome Loneliness, Depression, Discrimination, Barrenness & Abuse written by yours truly.

A synopsis of the book is as follows: “The Biblical story of Joseph is used to uncover a 14-Step Recovery Plan to overcome loneliness, depression, discrimination, barrenness and abuse. The author’s spiritual and psychological analysis of Joseph’s trials, tribulations, and triumphs reveals to the reader how to achieve the promises of God and arrive at that place of shalom, the Hebrew word for peace. Farrar-Rosemon defines the word to mean “nothing missing and nothing broken” in the reader’s life.

The author draws on her background as a broker and psychiatric social worker and shares how her personal tragedies and those of other individuals and groups were resolved using this 14-Step Program. This book details statistics on depression, unemployment, abuse, addictions, miscarriage, abortion, HIV/AIDS, discrimination and other timely social and psychological ills. The Appendix contains national toll-free 800 resource numbers for individuals and groups to connect with so that they can begin the healing process.” For a free preview click on, How To Get To The Palace From Your Prison!
Remember it’s important that you don’t let others define who you are and what you can become. Stir up the gifts and talents that God has placed in you. Encourage yourself when no one else will. You have been fearfully and wonderfully made and it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. He wants to make you a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

What's For Dinner Mom? (Low Calorie Baked Chicken)

2008-02-06T08:44:00.000-05:00

Good Morning guys,
In my ongoing commitment to improve the quality of my health for myself and love ones, I have selected today a low calorie recipe that I want to try this evening. I plan on varying it by using a whole chicken and stuffing it with a crabmeat stuffing that’s available in Kroger’s frozen food section. (I’m not sure of the fat or calorie content in it, but I’m rewarding myself for getting my cholesterol level under 200.) If you are not there yet, I would stick to the basic recipe.

I also selected a humorous video that I feel will bring a smile on your face and will raise your endorphin levels. I need a break and perhaps you do too from all this past Super Bowl and Super Tuesday Election day coverage on television. Why not watch it while you prepare your healthy dinner this evening? And make sure you don’t forget to add steamed veggies,a baked potato (hold the butter and sour cream) or salad.

Remember to be a Winner at life we must continue to develop our mind, body and spirit. I’m off for now- time to exercise and meditate.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

LOW CALORIE BAKED CHICKEN
Printed from COOKS.COM

Fryer chicken parts or halves, washed and salted and peppered
Layer in 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Sprinkle with paprika and dry parsley flakes. Add about 1/4 cup water in pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a small shallow pan of water on lower shelf of oven underneath pan of chicken. Cook for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes or until done (do not cover chicken pan). This chicken has a wonderful brown crust and is tender and juicy. (Barbecue sauce can be brushed on about 20 to 25 minutes before done, if desired). The pan of water method can also be used with other meats to keep them juicy.

From: Kitti1 (youtube.com)

Stroke 101: How To Prevent It From Happening To You

2008-02-05T09:36:00.000-05:00

Let’s take a proactive stance by choosing preventive measures to avoid having a stroke. First of all, let me define what a stroke is. The most common form of a stroke is the result of a sudden disruption of the flow of blood to parts of the brain. When blood cannot reach parts of the brain, the oxygen supply to those areas is cut off and the brain cells die. Functions normally controlled by these damaged brain areas are affected. In many cases, unconsciousness and/or partial paralysis, or death may occur. This is often the immediate outward sign that a Stroke has occurred.

The Stroke Recovery Association NSW reports the following two types of strokes:
Ischaemic Stroke
In the case of Stroke, however, clots are dangerous because they can block arteries and cut off blood flow. Ischaemic Stroke is the most common type of Stroke (80% - 85% of Strokes are ischaemic). An Ischaemic Stroke is caused when a clot blocks or ‘plugs’ a blood vessel in the brain. There are two ways that a clot Stroke can occur.
• An embolic Stroke occurs when a blood clot forms somewhere in the body and travels through the blood stream to the brain.
• A thrombotic Stroke occurs when blood vessels narrow as a result of blood fat, cholesterol or calcium which grow to completely block the blood vessel.

Haemorrhagic Stroke
A haemorrhagic Stroke is caused when a blood vessel in the brain breaks or ‘erupts’. There are two types of haemorrhagic Stroke. A subarachnoid haemorrhage and an intracerebral haemorrhage.
• An intracerebral haemorrhage, which is the more common form, involves bleeding within the brain tissue itself.
• With a subarachnoid haemorrhage the bleeding occurs in the space around the brain. This is often due to an aneurysm - a thin or weak spot on a blood vessel wall.

Now that we have defined what a stroke is, let’s focus on how to prevent it. Stroke is the third-leading cause of death among African Americans, and more than 100,000 will suffer one this year. This is Black History Month, a time to recognize the greatness of our past, but it is imperative that we focus on the greatest threat to African Americans: stroke.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s message of freedom was reiterated through the words of his daughter, the late Yolanda King: “We will only be truly free when we reach down to the inner depths of our own being and sign with the pen and ink of assertive selfhood, our own emancipation proclamation. No civil rights, no voting rights, no equal rights, no immigration rights are worth fighting for if we are dying from heart disease and stroke,” she said shortly after her mother, the late Coretta Scott King, suffered a stroke. Ironically, it appears that Yolanda also suffered from heart disease like her mother.

We can heed Yolanda’s words by taking the following steps to prevent the occurrence of a stroke for ourselves or loved ones and become Winners at life:

1) Adopting a healthy lifestyle can help you reduce your risk for a stroke or heart disease.
2) Choose healthy foods. You are what you eat.
3) Make Exercise & Fitness a daily part of your routine: Swimming, cycling, jogging, skiing, dancing, walking and dozens of other activities can help your heart. Whether it is included in a structured exercise program or just part of your daily routine, all physical activity adds up to a healthier heart
4) Manage Your Weight: Taking control of your lifestyle will help you to better manage your weight and reduce your risk for heart attack.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Count Your Blessings And Lower Your Cholesterol

2008-02-04T22:22:00.000-05:00

The refrain of a popular gospel song contains the words, “count your blessings, name them one by one…” I found an updated version below with the same old fashioned message. This song came to mind as I received my doctor’s report that my cholesterol level was under 200.

Yes, payday has finally arrived. My steady regimen of exercising 30 minutes a day, eating low-fat meals has paid off and has caused me to reap a harvest of good health. There’s no price you can put on your health. If you don’t believe me ask the millionaire with a diagnosis of terminal cancer which would he prefer- another million dollars or the restitution of his health?

I do believe in counting my blessings and naming them one by one to see what God has done in my life. Why don’t you try the power of praise in your life? Not only is laughter good medicine for the soul, but so is a spirit of optimism and praise. An article by the Ririan project lists 10 benefits of laughter.

Included in the research were findings that state that there is a link between optimistic attitudes and good health. Overall, scientists found that optimistic people are healthier. Their biological makeup is different and they have a more robust immune system.

In the same article, the writer reports that according to some recent research published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, elderly optimistic people were 71 percent less likely to die than the pessimists!

So my friends if you want to live longer learn how to smile and see the glass of life as half full rather than half empty. When you do this, you will become a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Click on the link below as you meditate on this song of encouragement by Dietrick Haddon and remember to smile throughout the day.

From: UnitynLove (youtube)

What's For Dinner Mom?- Make A Healthy Choice!

2008-02-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

TGIF Guys!
I hope you will not make a choice like the one pictured in this caption(smile)this evening. Seriously, I've got a great recipe for all my readers that are committed to a lifestyle of taking off the weight, eating healthy and living longer. It's part of a 1500 low calorie, low fat diet plan designed for people like myself with high cholesterol. To find it and other recipes click on Crestor. Now that you have a delicious low fat entree, why not add a baked sweet potatoe and some tasty veggies and you are on your way to a healthy lifestyle?

Don't forget you can also make a choice and vote today! In some counties the polls stay open to 7pm this evening. I'm going to take my car in for an oil change today and walk to the polls. If you are like me and you don't like lines, click on this link to find out where you can vote today in your county. Remember all you have do is make one choice at a time to be a Winner at life- have a great weekend!
Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Baked Parmesan Chicken

½ cup seasoned bread crumbs
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
4, 6 oz (1.5 lbs) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Nonstick vegetable cooking spray

Nutrient content per serving:
Total calories: 277
Protein: 42g
Carbohydrates: 8g
Fat: 7g
Calories from fat: 24% Cholesterol: 102mg
Sodium: 466mg
Fiber: 1g
Saturated fat: 2g

Instructions:
In a medium-size bowl combine seasoned bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and salt. Mix well. With a paper towel pat chicken breasts dry. Lay chicken on a plate and coat with olive oil. Cover chicken with bread crumb mixture, coating all sides, and place in a baking dish sprayed with vegetable cooking spray. Sprinkle remaining crumbs over chicken. Bake uncovered at 375°F for 35 to 45 minutes or until done. Makes 4 servings.

Laugh More And Live A Longer, Healthier Life

2008-01-31T07:52:00.000-05:00

I felt a good way to end this month would be on a light note. The Bible tells us that a “merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones” (Proverbs 17:22). My friends do you know that science is now showing us empirically how laughter positively effects the body, immune system and promotes life. Take a look at this article below by two California researchers and you will be amazed at what laughter can do. I’ve included some cartoons and some dumb stupid jokes to keep you on the road to a healthier you so that you won't dry out. Let's continue to laugh, eat right, exercise, and take care of our emotions so that we can truly be Winners at life.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Therapeutic Benefits of Laughter

"Dr. Lee Berk and fellow researcher Dr. Stanley Tan of Loma Linda University in California have been studying the effects of laughter on the immune system. To date their published studies have shown that laughing lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle flexion, and boosts immune function by raising levels of infection-fighting T-cells, disease-fighting proteins called Gamma-interferon and B-cells, which produce disease-destroying antibodies. Laughter also triggers the release of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, and produces a general sense of well-being….
Research results indicate that, after exposure to humor, there is a general increase in activity within the immune system, including:

An increase in the number and activity level of natural killer cells that attack viral infected cells and some types of cancer and tumor cells.

An increase in activated T cells (T lymphocytes). There are many T cells that await activation. Laughter appears to tell the immune system to "turn it up a notch."

An increase in the antibody IgA (immunoglobulin A), which fights upper respiratory tract insults and infections.

An increase in gamma interferon, which tells various components of the immune system to "turn on."

An increase in IgB, the immunoglobulin produced in the greatest quantity in body, as well as an increase in Complement 3, which helps antibodies to pierce dysfunctional or infected cells. The increase in both substances was not only present while subjects watched a humor video; there also was a lingering effect that continued to show increased levels the next day."

http://www.holisticonline.com/Humor_Therapy/humor_therapy_benefits.htm

DUMB, STUPID JOKES

JOKE # 1) How do you catch a "UNIQUE RABBIT"?
ANSWER--YOU -- NIQUE up on it!
JOKE # 2) How do you catch a "TAME RABBIT"?
ANSWER--TAME WAY!
JOKE # 3) How do you"TOP' A CAR?
ANSWER--TEP ON THE BWAKE! NOW DO YOU FEEL ---TUPID

For Men Only: The 10 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating

2008-01-30T07:41:00.000-05:00

Ladies we must remember that if weren’t for men, none of us would be here. I want to share an article with you a WebMD Feature from "Men's Health" Magazine that can help keep that significant man in your life healthy and strong. Yes, my sisters we have to help the men in our life defy the statistics so that they don’t prematurely die.

After all the longer they live, the longer we can continue to use their money to go shopping (smile). I’m just kidding, you know I’m an independent woman and I like to make my own money. That’s true, but I’m not a fool- his money is as good as mine, if not better. I do have a sense of humor.

Seriously, if we want to be a Winner at life, we must eat well and also keep the significant ones in our life healthy and fit. Read the article below and discover ways you can improve the quality of life for your family.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Want to do your body a world of good? It's as easy as expanding your grocery list. Although some guys aren't opposed to smoking some weed, most wouldn't think of eating one. It's a shame, really, since a succulent weed named purslane is not only delicious but also among the world's healthiest foods.

Of course, there are many superfoods that never see the inside of a shopping cart. Some you've never heard of, and others you've simply forgotten about. That's why we've rounded up the best of the bunch. Make a place for them on your table and you'll instantly upgrade your health -- without a prescription.

1. Beets
These grungy-looking roots are naturally sweeter than any other vegetable, which means they pack tons of flavor underneath their rugged exterior.

Why they're healthy: Think of beets as red spinach. Just like Popeye's powerfood, this crimson vegetable is one of the best sources of both folate and betaine. These two nutrients work together to lower your blood levels of homocysteine, an inflammatory compound that can damage your arteries and increase your risk of heart disease. Plus, the natural pigments -- called betacyanins -- that give beets their color have been proved to be potent cancer fighters in laboratory mice.

How to eat them: Fresh and raw, not from a jar. Heating beets actually decreases their antioxidant power. For a simple single-serving salad, wash and peel one beet, and then grate it on the widest blade of a box grater. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon.
You can eat the leaves and stems, which are also packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Simply cut off the stems just below the point where the leaves start, and wash thoroughly. They're now ready to be used in a salad. Or, for a side dish, sauté the leaves, along with a minced clove of garlic and a tablespoon of olive oil, in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Cook until the leaves are wilted and the stems are tender. Season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice, and sprinkle with fresh Parmesan cheese.

2. Cabbage
Absent from most American kitchens, this cruciferous vegetable is a major player in European and Asian diets.

Why it's healthy: One cup of chopped cabbage has just 22 calories, and it's loaded with valuable nutrients. At the top of the list is sulforaphane, a chemical that increases your body's production of enzymes that disarm cell-damaging free radicals and reduce your risk of cancer. In fact, Stanford University scientists determined that sulforaphane boosts your levels of these cancer-fighting enzymes higher than any other plant chemical.

How to eat it: Put cabbage on your burgers to add a satisfying crunch. Or, for an even better sandwich topping or side salad, try an Asian-style slaw. Here's what you'll need.
4 Tbsp peanut or canola oil
Juice of two limes
1 Tbsp sriracha, an Asian chili sauce you can find in the international section of your grocery store
1 head napa cabbage, finely chopped or shredded
1/4 cup toasted peanuts
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Whisk together the oil, lime juice, and sriracha. Combine the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss with the dressing to coat. Refrigerate for 20 minutes before serving. The slaw will keep in your fridge for 2 days.

3. Guava
Guava is an obscure tropical fruit that's subtly acidic, with sweetness that intensifies as you eat your way to the center.

Why it's healthy: Guava has a higher concentration of lycopene -- an antioxidant that fights prostate cancer -- than any other plant food, including tomatoes and watermelon. In addition, 1 cup of the stuff provides 688 milligrams (mg) of potassium, which is 63 percent more than you'll find in a medium banana. And guava may be the ultimate high-fiber food: There's almost 9 grams (g) of fiber in every cup.

How to eat it: Down the entire fruit, from the rind to the seeds. It's all edible -- and nutritious. The rind alone has more vitamin C than you'd find in the flesh of an orange. You can score guava in the produce section of higher-end supermarkets or in Latin grocery stores.

4. Swiss chard
Hidden in the leafy-greens cooler of your market, you'll find this slightly bitter, salty vegetable, which is actually native to the Mediterranean.

Why it's healthy: A half cup of cooked Swiss chard provides a huge amount of both lutein and zeaxanthin, supplying 10 mg each. These plant chemicals, known as carotenoids, protect your retinas from the damage of aging, according to Harvard researchers. That's because both nutrients, which are actually pigments, appear to accumulate in your retinas, where they absorb the type of shortwave light rays that can damage your eyes. So the more lutein and zeaxanthin you eat, the better your internal eye protection will be.

How to eat it: Chard goes great with grilled steaks and chicken, and it also works well as a bed for pan-seared fish. Wash and dry a bunch of Swiss chard, and then chop the leaves and stems into 1-inch pieces. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauté pan or wok, and add two garlic cloves that you've peeled and lightly crushed. When the oil smokes lightly, add the chard. Sauté for 5 to 7 minutes, until the leaves wilt and the stems are tender. Remove the garlic cloves and season the chard with salt and pepper.

5. Cinnamon
This old-world spice usually reaches most men's stomachs only when it's mixed with sugar and stuck to a roll.

Why it's healthy: Cinnamon helps control your blood sugar, which influences your risk of heart disease. In fact, USDA researchers found that people with type-2 diabetes who consumed 1 g of cinnamon a day for 6 weeks (about 1/4 teaspoon each day) significantly reduced not only their blood sugar but also their triglycerides and LDL (bad) cholesterol. Credit the spice's active ingredients, methylhydroxychalcone polymers, which increase your cells' ability to metabolize sugar by up to 20 times.

How to eat it: You don't need the fancy oils and extracts sold at vitamin stores; just sprinkle the stuff that's in your spice rack (or in the shaker at Starbucks) into your coffee or on your oatmeal.

6. Purslane
Although the FDA classifies purslane as a broad-leaved weed, it's a popular vegetable and herb in many other countries, including China, Mexico, and Greece.

Why it's healthy: Purslane has the highest amount of heart-healthy omega-3 fats of any edible plant, according to researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The scientists also report that this herb has 10 to 20 times more melatonin -- an antioxidant that may inhibit cancer growth -- than any other fruit or vegetable tested.

How to eat it: In a salad. Think of purslane as a great alternative or addition to lettuce: The leaves and stems are crisp, chewy, and succulent, and they have a mild lemony taste. Look for it at your local farmer's market, or Chinese or Mexican market. It's also available at some Whole Foods stores, as an individual leafy green or in premade salad mixes.

7. Pomegranate juice
A popular drink for decades in the Middle East, pomegranate juice has become widely available only recently in the United States.

Why it's healthy: Israeli scientists discovered that men who downed just 2 ounces of pomegranate juice daily for a year decreased their systolic (top number) blood pressure by 21 percent and significantly improved bloodflow to their hearts. What's more, 4 ounces provides 50 percent of your daily vitamin C needs.

How to drink it: Try 100 percent pomegranate juice from Pom Wonderful. It contains no added sugars, and because it's so powerful, a small glassful is all you need. (For a list of retailers, go to www.pomwonderful.com.)

8. Goji berries
These raisin-size fruits are chewy and taste like a cross between a cranberry and a cherry. More important, these potent berries have been used as a medicinal food in Tibet for over 1,700 years.

Why they're healthy: Goji berries have one of the highest ORAC ratings -- a method of gauging antioxidant power -- of any fruit, according to Tufts University researchers. And although modern scientists began to study this ancient berry only recently, they've found that the sugars that make goji berries sweet reduce insulin resistance -- a risk factor of diabetes -- in rats.

How to eat them: Mix dried or fresh goji berries with a cup of plain yogurt, sprinkle them on your oatmeal or cold cereal, or enjoy a handful by themselves. You can find them at specialty supermarkets or at gojiberries.us.

9. Dried plums
You may know these better by the moniker "prunes," which are indelibly linked with nursing homes and bathroom habits. And that explains why, in an effort to revive this delicious fruit's image, producers now market them under another name.

Why they're healthy: Prunes contain high amounts of neochlorogenic and chlorogenic acids, antioxidants that are particularly effective at combating the "superoxide anion radical." This nasty free radical causes structural damage to your cells, and such damage is thought to be one of the primary causes of cancer.

How to eat them: As an appetizer. Wrap a paper-thin slice of prosciutto around each dried plum and secure with a toothpick. Bake in a 400°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until the plums are soft and the prosciutto is crispy. Most of the fat will cook off, and you'll be left with a decadent-tasting treat that's sweet, savory, and healthy.

10. Pumpkin seeds
These jack-o'-lantern waste products are the most nutritious part of the pumpkin.

Why they're healthy: Downing pumpkin seeds is the easiest way to consume more magnesium. That's important because French researchers recently determined that men with the highest levels of magnesium in their blood have a 40 percent lower risk of early death than those with the lowest levels. And on average, men consume 353 mg of the mineral daily, well under the 420 mg minimum recommended by the USDA.

How to eat them: Whole, shells and all. (The shells provide extra fiber.) Roasted pumpkin seeds contain 150 mg of magnesium per ounce; add them to your regular diet and you'll easily hit your daily target of 420 mg. Look for them in the snack or health-food section of your grocery store, next to the peanuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds.

Antioxidants, Explained

The science is clear: Plant foods are good for you. And the credit often goes to chemicals they produce called antioxidants. Just as the name suggests, antioxidants help protect your cells against oxidation. Think of oxidation as rust. This rust is caused by free radicals, which are unstable oxygen atoms that attack your cells, inducing DNA damage that leads to cancer. Thankfully, antioxidants help stabilize free radicals, which keeps the rogue atoms from harming your cells.
So by eating more antioxidant-rich foods, you'll boost the amount of the disease-fighting chemicals floating in your bloodstream. The result: Every bite fortifies your body with all-natural preventive medicine.

Copyright© 2006 Rodale Inc. All rights reserved. Men's Health is a Registered Trademark of Rodale Inc. ©2005-2007 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved. WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Life Saving And Restorative Power Of Food

2008-01-29T09:25:00.000-05:00

In my ongoing commitment to share with you timely information to keep you and your family healthy I want to pass along a chart that was emailed to me on the health benefits of food. Since you are what you eat, I think it’s important to eat smart so that we can be Winners at life. We make a choice each time we put something in our mouth- will we eat healthy, of the tree of life, or will we eat foods that break down our natural immune system and weaken our emotional and psychological well being as well?

Now is the time to choose life, not when we are sick. The Creator has given us foods to keep us on the track of health and wholeness, but we must make the decision to eat right. There is no getting around it; our bodies are not designed to survive on junk food. It’s fine if we eat them occasionally.

Take a look at this chart below. I think you will be amazed at how the Creator in his foreknowledge has designed certain foods to keep us healthy, combat and prevent diseases. Truly this is a loving Creator that wants us to have life and that more abundantly.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Life Saving Food Chart

apples- Protects your heart prevents constipation Blocks diarrhea Improves lung capacity Cushions joints

apricots- Combats cancer Controls blood pressure Saves your eyesight Shields against Alzheimer's Slows aging process

artichokes- Aids digestion Lowers cholesterol Protects your heart Stabilizes blood sugar Guards against liver disease

avocados-- Battles diabetes Lowers cholesterol Helps stops strokes Controls blood pressure Smoothes skin

bananas- Protects your heart Quiets a cough Strengthens bones Controls blood pressure Blocks diarrhea

beans- Prevents constipation Helps hemorrhoids Lowers cholesterol Combats cancer Stabilizes blood sugar

beets- Controls blood pressure Combats cancer Strengthens bones Protects your heart Aids weight loss

blueberries- Combats cancer Protects your heart Stabilizes blood sugar Boosts memory Prevents constipation

broccoli- Strengthens bones Saves eyesight Combats cancer Protects your heart Controls blood pressure

cabbage-Combats cancer Prevents constipation Promotes weight loss Protects your heart Helps hemorrhoids

cantaloupe- Saves eyesight Controls blood pressure Lowers cholesterol Combats cancer Supports immune system

carrots- Saves eyesight Protects your heart Prevents constipation Combats cancer Promotes weight loss

cauliflower- Protects against Prostate Cancer Combats Breast Cancer Strengthens bones Banishes bruises Guards against heart disease

cherries- Protects your heart Combats Cancer Ends insomnia Slows aging process Shields against Alzheimer's

chestnuts- Promotes weight loss Protects your heart Lowers cholesterol Combats Cancer Controls blood pressure

chili peppers- Aids digestion Soothes sore throat Clears sinuses Combats Cancer Boosts immune system

figs- Promotes weight loss Helps stops strokes Lowers cholesterol Combats Cancer Controls blood pressure

fish- Protects your heart Boosts memory Protects your heart Combats Cancer Supports immune system

flax- Aids digestion Battles diabetes Protects your heart Improves mental health Boosts immune system

garlic- Lowers cholesterol Controls blood pressure Combats cancer kills bacteria Fights fungus

grapefruit- Protects against heart attacks Promotes Weight loss Helps stops strokes Combats Prostate Cancer Lowers cholesterol

grapes- saves eyesight Conquers kidney stones Combats cancer Enhances blood flow Protects your heart

green tea- Combats cancer Protects your heart Helps stops strokes Promotes Weight loss Kills bacteria

honey- Heals wounds Aids digestion Guards against ulcers Increases energy Fights allergies

lemons- Combats cancer Protects your heart Controls blood pressure Smoothes skin Stops scurvy

limes- Combats cancer Protects your heart Controls blood pressure Smoothes skin Stops scurvy

mangoes- Combats cancer Boosts memory Regulates thyroid aids digestion Shields against Alzheimer's

mushrooms- Controls blood pressure Lowers cholesterol Kills bacteria Combats cancer Strengthens bones

oats-Lowers cholesterol Combats cancer Battles diabetes prevents constipation Smoothes skin

olive oil- Protects your heart Promotes Weight loss Combats cancer Battles diabetes Smoothes skin

onions- Reduce risk of heart attack Combats cancer Kills bacteria Lowers cholesterol Fights fungus

oranges- Supports immune systems Combats cancer Protects your heart Straightens respiration

peaches- Prevents constipation Combats cancer Helps stops strokes aids digestion Helps hemorrhoids

peanuts- Protects against heart disease Promotes Weight loss Combats Prostate Cancer Lowers cholesterol Aggravates diverticulitis

pineapple- Strengthens bones Relieves colds Aids digestion Dissolves warts Blocks diarrhea

prunes- Slows aging process prevents constipation boosts memory Lowers cholesterol Protects against heart disease

rice- Protects your heart Battles diabetes Conquers kidney stones Combats cancer Helps stops strokes

strawberries- Combats cancer Protects your heart boosts memory Calms stress

sweet potatoes- Saves your eyesight Lifts mood Combats cancer Strengthens bones

tomatoes- Protects prostate Combats cancer Lowers cholesterol Protects your heart

walnuts- Lowers cholesterol Combats cancer boosts memory Lifts mood Protects against heart disease

water- Promotes Weight loss Combats cancer Conquers kidney stones Smoothes skin

watermelon- Protects prostate Promotes Weight loss Lowers cholesterol
Helps stops strokes Controls blood pressure

wheat germ- Combats Colon Cancer prevents constipation Lowers cholesterol Helps stops strokes improves digestion

wheat bran Combats Colon Cancer prevents constipation Lowers cholesterol Helps stops strokes improves digestion

...

Save A Life: Know The Signs of a Stroke

2008-01-28T08:59:00.000-05:00

My mom recently suffered a 4th stroke. Fortunately she was in a nursing home and not by herself, so someone intervened when they realized that something was wrong with her. She is still alive thank God, but can not walk or use her right arm. The prayer of family members and friends is that her health will be restored.
The effects of a stroke can be devastating and deadly. I’d like to pass along this helpful information which may help you save the life of a loved one, friend or stranger. It was emailed to me and it originated from a nurse.

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters.... S.T.R.

If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. Seriously...

Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) ....she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die.... they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this...
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR. Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE.
T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(i.e. It is sunny out today)
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue:

NOTE: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue... If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.
According to snopes.com, the "sticking the tongue out" is probably a true test, but more than likely not as reliable as the first three (Smile, Talk, Raise both arms.)

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved. Let’s remember to be our brother’s and sister’s keeper so that we all can be Winners at life.
Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Don’t Give Up On Your Dream!

2008-01-25T07:37:00.000-05:00

TGIF guys!

As we come to the close of this fourth week in January 2008, I hope your year has gotten off to a great start. I trust you have been working on your goals and dreams for 2008. If you have been following my blog, you know that the end of this week is a beginning of a new day. It’s an opportunity to enjoy life, count your blessings, and realize that you are four weeks closer to your dream.

If you have already experienced some challenges this year, you are learning how to turn your lemons into lemonade. You are learning how to take if necessary, small, but significant steps towards your dream. Defeat is not in your vocabulary because you were created to be the Head and not the tail. You are learning as well to love yourself which means taking proper care of your body temple- exercising, eating right and getting the proper amount of rest.

Right now I want you to steal away to a secret place and give yourself a big hug. Tell yourself that you are loved, wonderfully, and fearfully made in the image and likeness of God. This is the truth about you- God did not make any junk. He loves you and his promise is to never leave or forsake you.

Take a deep breath and let it out. Practice relaxing and as you let your breath out release to God the burdens that are too great for you to bear. He wants to be those unseen footprints in the sands of your life, but you must invite Him in. When you do this, then you will overcome as others have done and He will make you a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Martin Luther King "I have a dream" from: superjsuh (youtube.com)

Dream Big And Take The First Step!

2008-01-24T11:58:00.000-05:00

Often the hardest step to achieving your dream is the first step. Success is a journey that is composed of failed attempts by someone or a group that refuses to give up. Yes, to succeed at your dream you must have an undying passion and commitment to accomplish your goal.

You are what you think. You attract into your life what you think you are deserving of. Once you decide in your mind what you want, you must unwaveringly and consciously choose to reject anything that does not line up with the fulfillment of your dream.

If your goal this year is to become alcohol free, then you of course don’t want to hang out in a singles bar. Likewise, if you want to finish college, you can’t party every weekend and choose cramming as a method of studying for your finals.

Typically what prevents us from achieving our goals is an unwillingness to sacrifice, endure pain or practice self-denial. When you get serious about your dream and take the necessary steps, the universe will respond and you will draw into your life the components that are necessary to make your dream a reality. Click on the link below and meditate on how you can start attracting into your life the desires of your heart. Once you take these, even if they are small baby steps, you will become a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

An Inspirational Video 1 - The Law Of Attraction from: soniari (youtube.com)

What Is Your Impossible Dream?

2008-01-23T12:07:00.000-05:00

Now is the time to make your dream a reality! You must do it now, even if you have to do it afraid. The question is not will I succeed, but can I dare to do it afraid, penniless, alone or with no support? Is your dream of a nature that it will benefit mankind and bring some good into the world for all humanity? If you answered yes, then do something today to actualize your dreams and the forces of nature and creativity will meet you at your door and propel you toward the fulfillment of your dream.

You see as you start to plant good seeds into the soil of life, you can only reap a good harvest. Just as there are physical laws, there are irrefutable spiritual laws that have no choice but to work in your favor. Yes, there will be weeds along the way that you will have to pull and destroy. The Word says that the wheat and the tares must go up together. There is nothing you can do about this, but learn how to coexist and stay true to your identity.

God is not a respecter of person, He has given everyone gifts and talents. It worked for Helen Keller, Dr. King, Tiger Woods, Oprah, Harriet Tubman, Mother Teresa and many others. And guess what it even worked for little oh me and propelled me from Boston’s inner city housing project steps to greatness! Click on the link below and listen to how you too can be a Winner at life if you start today!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

The Impossible Dream by Fantasia, Kelly and n'em from: readyornot79 (youtube.com)

He That Wants To Be A King Must Be A Servant First!

2008-01-22T07:45:00.000-05:00

Love is the key to making this world a better place for our children’s children. Mother Teresa exemplified this love by stepping out of her comfort zone and choosing to work among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Amazingly with no funds, she depended on God, and started an open-air school for slum children. Soon she was joined by voluntary helpers, and financial support was also forthcoming. This made it possible for her to extend the scope of her work.

In 1950 Mother Teresa started her own order called, The Missionaries of Charity, whose primary task was to love and care for those persons nobody was prepared to look after. Her society has since evolved into The Society of Missionaries that have spread all over the world, including the former Soviet Union, Eastern European, Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, Europe and Australia.

Mother Teresa's work has been recognized and acclaimed throughout the world and she has received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971) and the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding (1972). She also received the Balzan Prize (1979) and the Templeton and Magsaysay awards.

Until we have individuals that are willing like Mother Teresa to step out of their comfort zone, the status quo will continue. Mother Teresa did not wait until all her ducks were in a row. With only a desire and a passion in her heart to help the bruised and the broken hearted, Mother Teresa stepped out on faith and as she went along, help and support fell into place.

Rosa Parks, Dr. King and Mrs. King, Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln and many others with only a dream and prayer stepped out on faith. Likewise, we must take our cues from them and use whatever is in our hands to bring our dreams into fruition. When we do this, then the forces of justice in the universe will align themselves and bring our dream(s)into fruition and make us Winners at life.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Click on the link below and reflect on Dr. King's definition of greatness.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.(To Serve) from: andyvivanco (youtube.com)

Dr. King Responded To A Macedonian Call- What Is Yours?

2008-01-21T17:18:00.000-05:00

Dr. King, like Paul received a Macedonian call to come and help the bruised, the broken hearted and the captive prisoners. Paul was called to Macedonia, a Greek country much like the U.S. which was steeped in refinement, learning, wealth and culture. Although the Macedonians were religious, they had no knowledge of Jesus Christ.

It is one thing to know of Christ, and it is another to actually follow his teachings. Such was the case during the Civil Rights era. Many of our laws were in opposition to the Word of God that challenges us to love our neighbors and to be a Good Samaritan. Dr. King like Paul was sent to jail after receiving his call. Both Paul and Dr. King accomplished their missions and their sacrificial acts made it possible for many to know Christ and have a more meaningful life.

Have you heard your Macedonian call to help those who are bound in physical, emotional and financial chains? I challenge you to listen with your heart, to steal away to a secret place where God can reveal his specific plan for your life. He may not speak to you in a cathedral. It may be a homeless shelter, a prison or a classroom. It doesn’t matter where he chooses to speak to you. What’s important is that you know that it is His voice.

One thing you can be certain of is that His call won’t be a bed of roses, but the rewards are priceless and eternal. I guarantee you that when you respond to your Macedonian call you will be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Click on the link below as you reflect on how you can answer someone’s Macedonian call for help and be a resource for someone who is yearning to be free.

Nina Simone - I wish I knew how it would fell to be free from: scottie1989 (youtube.com)

Dr. King’s Use of Music To Overcome Depression & Adversities

2008-01-18T07:52:00.001-05:00

Science is now verifying empirically what the Bible has long ago stated in anecdotes. Some of you may recall the story of how David used music to calm the beast in King Saul who wanted to kill him.

Intrinsic in the Civil Rights movement was the use of freedom songs that help bind the protestors together. It gave believers hope that the status quo would change and reflect the true meaning of America’s Constitution and its Judeo-Christian principals upon which this country was founded. It also inspired hope that the descendants of slaves, freedom fighters and those who had fought in America’s wars would be free in the land of their birth and have the same rights and privileges of any other American regardless of their race, color, national origin, or gender.

I want to share with you an article from About.com that scientifically confirms how the use of music can be used to overcome pain, depression, disability and increased the participants’ feelings of power:

Listening to Music Can Reduce Chronic Pain and Depression
From About.com
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by Kate Grossman,MD.
A study published in the June 2006 issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing found that listening to music daily reduced chronic pain, made people feel more in control of their pain, reduced depression, and made people feel less disabled by their condition.

How the Study Worked
Researchers conducted a controlled clinical trial with 60 people who were recruited from pain and chiropractic clinics in Ohio. Participants had been suffering from a range of painful conditions (including osteoarthritis, disc problems and rheumatoid arthritis) for an average of six and a half years.

•Participants were divided into three groups of 20.
•Two of the groups listened to music on a headset for an hour a day.
•The third group did not listen to music and served as the control group.
•All three groups kept a pain diary.
•The first music group chose their favorite music to listen to. Choices included pop, rock, slow, melodious and nature sounds.
•The second music group was given relaxing music selected by the researchers.
Before the study began, the participants reported their average pain to be just under six on a zero to ten scale, with their worst pain exceeding nine. Ninety percent experienced pain in more than one part of their body and 95 percent said their pain was continuous.

Results of the Study
•The music groups reported a 12 to 21 percent reduction in pain. The control group reported that their pain had increased by one to two percent.
•The music groups reported 19 to 25 percent less depression than the control group.
•The music groups reported feeling nine to 18 percent less disabled than the control group.
•The music groups felt they had five to eight percent more power over their pain than the control group.

In a press release from the Journal of Advanced Nursing, Dr. Sandra L. Siedlecki, nurse researcher at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, stated, “Our results show that listening to music had a statistically significant effect on the two experimental groups, reducing pain, depression and disability and increasing feelings of power. There were some small differences between the two music groups, but they both showed consistent improvements in each category when compared to the control group.

“Non-malignant pain remains a major health problem and sufferers continue to report high levels of unrelieved pain despite using medication. So anything that can provide relief is to be welcomed.”

Co-author Professor Marion Good from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio added, “Listening to music has already been shown to promote a number of positive benefits and this research adds to the growing body of evidence that it has an important role to play in modern healthcare”

Sources:
Siedlecki, Sandra L. and Good, Marion. “Effect of music on power, pain, depression and disability.” Journal of Advanced Nursing Vol. 54.5. June, 2006: 553-562. Journal of Advanced Nursing Press Release, 5/24/06 This About.com page has been optimized for print. To view this page in its original form, please visit: http://chronicfatigue.about.com/od/research/a/musicstudy.htm. ©2007 About.com, Inc., a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.

Why don’t you start off your weekend by reaping the benefits of listening to this relaxing music by Wintley Phipps entitled, "Amazing Grace History/"Amazing Grace". Remember you have the power within you to be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

From: hoover4000 (youtube.com)

How Dr. King Overcame Adversities

2008-01-17T09:50:00.000-05:00

It is interesting to study the past, particularly biographies of great men like Dr. King to see how they dealt with unjust situations. In a Playboy Interview Dr. King was asked the following in reference to being the acknowledged leader of the Civil Rights Movement and chief spokesman for the nation's then twenty million Blacks: “Are there ever any moments when you feel awed by this burden of responsibility, or inadequate to its demands?”

Dr. King responded, “… Sometimes I am uncertain, and I must look to God for guidance. There was one morning I recall, when I was in a Birmingham jail, in solitary, with not even my lawyers permitted to visit, and I was in a nightmare of despair. The very future of our movement hung in the balance, depending upon capricious turns of events over which I could have no control there, incommunicado, in an utterly dark dungeon…. It was then that President Kennedy telephoned my wife, Coretta. After that, my jail conditions were relaxed….The next day, word came to me from New York that Harry Belafonte had raised fifty thousand dollars…and if more was needed, he would raise that. I cannot express what I felt, but I knew at that moment that God’s presence had never left me, that He had been with me there in solitary.”

My friends, you too can overcome adversities by using the secret that Dr. King used. Actually it’s not a secret; it has been around since the beginning of time. It’s God in our midst who created the universe. A good father leaves an inheritance and a legacy to his children. The secret, the legacy is the Word of God, by which you are enabled and empowered to be the Head and not the tail!

It worked for Dr. King, Gandhi, Moses, Joseph, Jacob, Paul, Madame C J Walker, Helen Keller, myself and countless others. The choice is yours- if you trust him He will take your hand in the midst of your storms and make you a Winner at life! Click on the link below and meditate on this song that Dr. King loved and gave him strength to go on when all hope was lost.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

From: ArchieB9876 (Youtube.com)

You Can Be King Or A Gandhi

2008-01-16T09:06:00.000-05:00

Do you want to be great? Do you want to leave a legacy of love that impacts generations yet unborn? Do you want to leave an enduring footprint of peace, hope and goodwill towards all men? If your answer is yes, then you must be the first to serve others.

You see when you use your talents to serve and build up mankind you automatically become great, because you are uniting with the Creator who said, “be fruitful and multiply.” During this King celebratory season think of what you were put on this earth to do that will promote love and goodwill towards men.

What is your assignment- to clean up the environment, find a cure for cancer, HIV/AIDS, pray for the sick, sing love songs, encourage the lonely, or bring peace to the Middle East? What is your passion? What can you do that promotes peace? Will your memorial read that you made a decision to study war no more and chose to pursue peace? Deuteronomy 30:19 says to “choose life, so that you and your children may live.”

Click on the link below and enjoy Dinah Shore and Mahalia Jackson’s version of “Down By The Riverside” as you reflect on how you can be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

From: gomezparkinson (youtube.com)

Happy Birthday Dr. King!

2008-01-15T09:13:00.000-05:00

Thank you Dr. King for standing for truth, justice and the Word of God during a time when these beliefs were not embraced by the status quo. Thank you Dr. King for sacrificing your life and demanding that America live up to its Constitution for all its citizens. Thank you Dr. King for standing up for human rights for all of God’s citizens the world over.

Thank you for enduring those long, lonely nights away from the comforts of your family and home. Thank you Dr. King for refusing to render violence for violence in the face of hurling rocks, racial epithets, attack dogs and water hoses.

Your dream, your legacy lives on in the hearts, minds and souls of individuals all over the world. You have inspired me to greatness, to dream and do the impossible. I too believe that “the universe is on the side of justice, because of our cosmic companionship with God who is on the side of truth and justice.”

May we all strive to be like Dr. King and not judge individuals by their outward appearance, but by the content of their character. When we lay down our weapons of warfare and usher in truth and justice, we then will have peace in our homes, cities and the world. By laying down our weapons we will have fulfilled the command to be fruitful and multiply and will then become Winners at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

From: eekabostatic (youtube.com)

What Is It That You Need To Overcome?

2008-01-14T10:43:00.000-05:00

Good Morning guys,

What is it that plagues you? What is it that you tried and tried to put behind you that keeps showing up like an ugly weed? Do you realize that you have the power within you to overcome any adversity in life?

At times in the course of life it is necessary to join hands with others to overcome adversities, particularly when they are of a deeply entrenched political nature steeped in unjust societal laws. Such was the case during the Civil Rights Era. But that is the past.

Now is the time to join hands and pray and fight for the lives and souls of our children and the children of the world. It is time to usher in righteousness (right living) if we want peace in our lives. Dr. King was right- you reap what you sow.

If you want to overcome addictions of any type you must take a stand and be willing to endure criticism, hurt, and pain to achieve your goal. What is it that you need to personally overcome in your life- depression, loneliness, discrimination, drug addiction, obesity, alcoholism, sexual addictions, unemployment, or under employment?

My friends I guarantee that if you join hands with the power of Christ within, you too will overcome any challenge you may face in life. Dr. King was right, we shall overcome, but there are some challenges in life that only a higher power can break the yoke of oppression. Listen and reflect on what this video tells us about our past, as you contemplate on your potential for greatness in the here and now. My friends I guarantee that if you trust God, he will empower you to become a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

From: riesen2b (youtube.com)

How To Lower Your Risk Of Getting Alzheimer’s Disease

2008-01-11T08:47:00.000-05:00

TGIF guys,
I hope your week has gone well. I want to share with you an article on the role of diet and its effect on our ability to enjoy a qualitative life. This subject is very dear to me because my mom is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. One of my reasons for changing my dietary habits (see January 10, 2008 blog) has to do with witnessing the effect Alzheimer’s Disease has on my mom and family. This disease is a very slow, progressive illness where your loved one gradually loses mental functions and capacities and slips away from you.

It is painful to watch at times, but what I have garnered from being an observer is that you learn to treasure your memories, and enjoy the now. I thank God every time I can still get a smile from her or a brief remembrance and utterance of my name or one of my siblings. I treasure the present as well and my mom’s satisfaction in having her hair combed or in eating her favorite- raspberry and lime sherbet.

The good news is that advances in medicine, diet and exercise can ward off the effects of this disease. Take a moment and read this USA TODAY article below and find out how you can stay healthy, lower your risk of being affected by this disease and be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Diet Link To Alzheimer's Deepens
By Kathleen Fackelmann, USA TODAY

A vegetable stir-fry and a glass of red wine might go a long way toward preventing the formation of the brain gunk that can lead to Alzheimer's disease, studies report Monday.

The findings involving experiments with mice add to an increasing body of evidence, including human studies, that suggest the high-fat Western-style diet might lead not just to heart attacks but also to Alzheimer's, a disease expected to afflict up to 16 million people in the USA by 2050.

But if new research by Narayan Bhat of the Medical University of South Carolina and others pans out, Americans might be able to change that future in part by steering clear of artery-clogging foods.

Bhat took healthy lab mice and fed them a diet with lots of saturated fat and cholesterol. After two months, he gave the mice, which were middle-aged by then, a memory test and found that those fed the bad diet flunked: They made errors finding their way around a water maze.

Mice eating the bad diet also had an increase in a toxic brain protein called beta amyloid, Bhat says. Many scientists believe that beta amyloid deposits in the brain lead to the symptoms of Alzheimer's.

Bhat presented the results on Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Atlanta. The findings raise the hope that a diet low in saturated fat might prevent that build-up of beta amyloid — and Alzheimer's disease.

A study posted online this month suggests just that: The report in the Archives of Neurology found that people eating a Mediterranean-style diet — low in saturated-fat animal products and high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains — had a lower risk of Alzheimer's than people eating standard American fare.

Italians and others who live around the Mediterranean often drink red wine with dinner, and a second study at the neuroscience meeting adds to evidence suggesting that something in red wine or grapes might offer protection against Alzheimer's.

Giulio Pasinetti of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York gave mice that had been genetically altered to develop Alzheimer's a small dose of red wine every day for 11 months. Then Pasinetti gave a memory test to the wine-fed mice and a control group that received no wine.

The Alzheimer's mice that were given no wine faltered on the test. But the mice that had been drinking small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon found their way around the maze surely and swiftly, a sign that they still had a sharp memory, Pasinetti says.

Alcohol consumption can cause many health problems. So people who already drink should limit their consumption to about a single glass of red a day, Pasinetti says. And don't expect wine or any other single food to compensate for a diet that has lots of unhealthful fat, says P. Murali Doraiswamy, an Alzheimer's expert at Duke University: "You can't wash down a double cheeseburger with a glass of red and expect to get a brain benefit."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-10-15-alzheimers-diet_x.htm
Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

What’s For Dinner Mom? - Trick Your Tummy: Eat BeforeYou Eat by Nanci Hellmich

2008-01-10T08:16:00.000-05:00

Good Morning guys,
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight. The other day I took an honest look in the mirror and decided that yes I, need to watch my waistline. A sedentary lifestyle was starting to affect me. Perhaps I’ve been blogging too much instead of exercising (smile).

As you probably know everyone has a special diet that “guarantees” to make you lose weight, but can you keep it off? That’s where there is no guarantee. I did some research and I want to share with you some sensible advice for those who want to lose weight, keep it off and not have to pay an arm and a leg for it, join a special group, eat certain foods etc. The article I found below is entitled, “Trick your tummy: Eat before you eat”, by Nanci Hellmich. What I like best about is that it is based on scientific studies and common sense.

I will let you know how I fare on this sensible eating plan as time goes on. The article does not mention adding exercise to your daily regiment, but of course we all know that 20-30 minutes a day of exercise based on your health status is extremely beneficial. This is the only body we have and we must take care of it if we want to be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Trick your tummy: Eat before you eat
By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY
If you want to cut calories without going hungry, consider eating an apple, low-calorie salad or broth-based soup before meals.
These are ways that have been scientifically proven to work by nutrition researchers at Pennsylvania State University. Their studies show that:
• People who eat an apple about 15 minutes before lunch consume an average of 187 fewer calories at the meal than when they have applesauce, apple juice or nothing at all. This calorie savings includes the calories from the apple.
ARCHIVE: An apple a day keeps the calories at bay
• Men and women who have 1½ to 2 cups of vegetable soup before a meal consume about 134 calories less at the meal than when they don't have a bowl of the broth-based soup. That includes the soup calories.
• Women who eat a large salad (about 3 cups) before lunch consume 12% fewer calories at the meal (salad calories included) than when they don't have the salad beforehand.
'IN DEFENSE OF FOOD': Author stresses veggies, 'real' ingredients
"The trick is to make sure that first course only contains about 100 to 150 calories," says Barbara Rolls, a professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State and author of The Volumetrics Eating Plan.
Julie Flood, a nutrition researcher who worked on the studies with apples and soup, agrees that dieters have to be careful. "If you run out and order broccoli cheddar soup or a salad loaded with meat, cheese and high-fat dressing, this is not going to work."
Rolls has conducted other studies that show people can feel full on fewer calories if fiber-rich or water-filled fruits and vegetables are added to standard recipes and menu plans. That way, the same-size portions they'd normally eat contain fewer calories. This is called lowering the energy density of foods.
In practical terms this means:
•Adding vegetables such as spinach, zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, carrots, peppers and onions to lasagna, casseroles, pasta dishes and pizza.
•Increasing the proportion of vegetables in stir-fry dishes, broth-based soups and stews.
•Snacking on fresh fruit rather than dried fruit. One-fourth cup of raisins has the same calories as 1⅔ cups of grapes.
•Adding extra vegetables to sandwiches.
A growing body of evidence shows that eating enough fish, chicken, lean meat, low-fat dairy, beans, nuts or other protein-rich foods helps ward off hunger and helps people feel full longer.
More research needs to be done on protein's effect on satiety, Rolls says. But in the meantime, she suggests making sure you have a good source of low-fat protein at most meals.
It could be low-fat milk with your cereal, water-packed tuna for lunch, or chicken or legumes for dinner. It's also good to find protein-rich snacks, she says, such as yogurt, low-fat string mozzarella cheese, black bean dip or hummus with vegetables

Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2008-01-08-no-hunger-diet_N.htm

Is America Ready For A Black President?

2008-01-09T08:23:00.001-05:00

from BarackObamadotcom

Good Morning guys,
I want to share with you an article about how Europe sees Presidential candidate Obama. This is a historic time in our history and I think it is important to be cognizant of it and also to make your children aware of this great moment in time. Written by Troy McMullen it reads as follows:

Obama Takes Europe by Storm
After Iowa, Obama Becomes Candidate to Watch in Europe
By TROY MCMULLEN
BERLIN, Germany, Jan. 8, 2008 —
Americans enthralled by Barack Obama's sudden rise to the top of the political heap will have plenty of company when they tune in later today for the New Hampshire primary results.
Europeans, who typically have little interest in U.S. presidential primary contests, are likely to tune in as well.
"After Iowa much of Europe wants to know more about Barack Obama," said Christoph von Marschall, Washington bureau chief for Germany's Der Tagesspiegel newspaper and author of the book "Barack Obama, The Black Kennedy."
"Most Europeans and certainly many Germans know very little about Obama, but he's really captured their imaginations."
Obama's popularity has soared in Europe since his startling win in Iowa, with European newspapers and television networks from Stockholm to Berlin to London now filled with images of the Illinois senator.
In Paris, stories about Obama replaced President Nicolas Sarkozy's love life on the front pages of the newspapers Le Figaro, Libération and Le Monde, which on the day after the Iowa caucuses proclaimed: "The Greater America opts for the New Man."
At a news conference today in Paris, Sarkozy said he's also following the U.S. elections closely. In between fielding questions about his romance with French model Carla Bruni, Sarkozy said he has met with Obama, but would not hint at who he was backing. "It's not me who decides," he told reporters.
London dailies followed suit. "Race reshaped by the son of Kenyan goatherd," blared The Times of London, which, along with the Daily Telegraph, The Independent and The Guardian, featured large photos of Obama in front-page articles. Multipage spreads adorned the inside of top-selling British newspapers.
Here in Germany, where many were surprised to see Sen. Hillary Clinton place third in Iowa, major newspapers printed headlines comparing Obama with John F. Kennedy, still a revered figure in Germany and particularly in Berlin. A headline in The Berliner Morgenpost this weekend screamed "The New Kennedy." The tabloid newspaper Bild, the largest selling news daily in the country, went with, "This Black American Has Become the New Kennedy!"
As long lines of tourists gathered outside Berlin's Reichstag building today for daily tours, many people seemed eager to discuss U.S. politics.
"I think he is doing something quite special in America," Kerstin Schafer, a 38-year-old housewife from the eastern German city of Dessau, said of Obama. "I think many Germans see him as a better candidate than the others."
Anselm Unger, a 52-year-old machinist from Berlin, says he thinks Obama is exciting to watch, but said, "Mrs. Clinton is a very strong person with a lot of experience in these situations, so it may be too soon to say if Mr. Barack will win."
Although Obama's newfound popularity in western Europe underscores his broad appeal, it is somewhat surprising. According to his staff, he has made just three trips abroad while in the Senate, visiting a total of 14 countries. That included one visit to western or central Europe a brief stopover in London.
But Obama routinely addresses America's declining popularity in the world. "The day I'm inaugurated, America will look at itself differently, and the world will look at America differently," he said Monday while campaigning in New Hampshire.
Observers say his sharp rise in popularity in Europe is fueled by more than his staunch opposition to the war in Iraq, which has long been unpopular in Europe.
Gary Smith, executive director of the American Academy in Berlin, says that although Obama is still far from the White House, he's accentuating what's good in American politics if not in America itself, particularly as the end of the Bush era looms.
"Europeans are tired of the image of a divided America," said Smith. Obama's rise "gives a sense of hope and optimism of a more inclusive America that is likely to mend fences abroad, particularly in Europe."
Europeans have long followed U.S. presidential elections closely and polls here consistently show that they believe a change at the White House will have a positive effect on the United States and on America's relationships with other countries. Germans, in particular, have kept a watchful eye on U.S. political events after the rise of American influence after World War II.
But many people note a real surge of interest in this year's primary contests, mainly because several presidential contenders come to the race with global recognition.
Rudy Giuliani's international profile soared after the attacks on New York on Sept. 11, 2001. Because Bill Clinton was universally loved in much of Europe, Hillary Clinton attained instant star status when she declared her candidacy for the White House. And now Barack Obama, the strongest black candidate for president in decades, is catching on in Europe because many here are startled to see a black candidate do well in American politics.
Indeed, much of the buzz surrounding Obama centers on his race.
"Iowa is a U.S. state that has never elected an African-American to any office," the Berlin daily Die Tageszeitung wrote in an opinion piece. The paper's front page included a large photo of Obama beneath the headline "Whites select black."
Obama's race "is the kind of the thing that will certainly arouse interest" in Europe, says von Marschall, the German author and journalist. He says the fact that America is considering electing a black president is striking for Europeans who often view the United States and sometimes their own countries as still racially divided. By voting for a minority candidate, "Americans are closer to doing something that is still unimaginable in much of Europe."
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures

Is America ready for a Black President? You have a chance to decide when you go to the polls. I have found in life that it is not what others think about you, it’s what’s you think about yourself. Clearly Obama should be applauded for having a vision, a dream and the strength and passion to pursue it. Muhammad Ali had this same passion and convinced the world that he was the greatest!

What are you working on in your life- what is your passion? You can’t wait until the world says it’s time for your debut on stage. You have the power to decide. Only you know what gifts, talents and desires God has placed in you. Is America or the world ready to see your greatness? It’s up to you- do it afraid, but you must take the first step! Write your vision, your dream down on paper, ask for guidance from God and run with it until you get to the finish line. It will be 2009 before you know it. Like Obama, Ali, Helen Keller, and many others you too can be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Do You Feel Like You Are Going Insane?

2008-01-08T07:46:00.000-05:00

Like most people you probably answered “no” immediately. I used to work with individuals at GMHI (Georgia Mental Health Institute) who had been diagnosed as insane. I can recall one young homicidal man that was so deranged that we needed at least five individuals to bring him his meal for fear that he might strike out and kill one of us. This is probably what most people think of when they hear the word insane.

But my friends, if you keep doing the same thing and you get the same results; your behavior meets the definition of insanity. One of the definitions of insanity is behavior that is “utterly foolish or unreasonable.” If there is some addictive behavior that has a stronghold on your life and you tried and tried to release it and you can’t- that’s insanity. It's a stronghold, a yoke that has you tied up. Depression, poverty, unemployment, underemployment, compulsive spending, risky sexual behavior, smoking, drug addiction, negative thinking, etc. - these are all strongholds.

The good news is that these strongholds can be overcome, but they must be confronted with “sane” responses if you want to destroy this behavior and not self-destruct. For individuals struggling with various addictions click on http://www.12step.org/Versions-of-the-12-Steps.html. This site has links to various versions of Alcohol Anonymous’ world acclaimed 12-Step program for all types of addictive behavior.

When I’m struggling with a stronghold I resort to these steps and modify them according to the challenge I’m facing. The first three steps are as follows:

1) I admitted that I was powerless over (I fill in the blank with whatever my challenge is)—that my life had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than myself could restore me to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as I understood Him.

Another method I use to overcome the strongholds in my life is to listen to music like the Biblical King Saul did to soothe the beast in him. Yes, my friends if we want to be the Head and not the tail, we must confront our weaknesses and take reasonable actions. Click on the link below and Let Go and Let God make you the Winner at life that you were designed to be.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Dewayne Woods "Let Go" (From: kennysw23 youtube.com)

Did Someone Drop You In Your Infancy?

2008-01-07T08:43:00.000-05:00

Good Morning guys,
My title may have thrown you off guard. But I think if you honestly think about the question, you will have to say, “Yes, somewhere through the course of life I have been dropped, like Mephibosheth.” For those of you who are not familiar with the story found in 2 Samuel 4, in a nutshell it is as follows: Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan was dropped by his nurse and was crippled for life. The story ends with Mephibosheth being cared for by King David and ate from his table for life.

Many of us have been dropped in life. It may have been a relative or friend that abused or neglected us during our childhood. Sometimes we are dropped by a loved one who promised to love us ‘til death do we part. Others may have been dropped by a business partner, a deal or relationship that went sour. Others have been dropped or not even considered because of race, color, gender or exterior appearance.

The “Good News” tells us that if we fight the good fight of faith, partner with the Davids in our life, we like Mephibosheth will eat from the King’s table. If you don’t believe me, read the Bible for yourself. It states clearly in Deuteronomy 28:13 that by following the Word, we will be the “Head” and not the tail.

Yes, God will lift us up on his shoulders and get us through our midnight experiences. He will turn our failures into successes. God wants to be our bridge over troubled waters. He is able to strengthen our lame legs and provide all of our needs like He did for Mephibosheth. “Our time has come to shine, all our dreams are on the way!” Click on the link below, listen to Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel (Bridge Over Troubled Waters) and meditate on how you can be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Bridge Over Troubled Waters by cloud2100 (youtube.com)

The Secret To Success By C. Joyce Farrar-Rosemon

2008-01-04T08:41:00.000-05:00

Good Morning guys,
As promised, I will share with you today my secret to success. It’s as old as the Bible; as a matter of fact its secrets are contained in the Bible. These archaic words are the second set of footprints that accompany me when I dare to lose sight of the shore. It is a mysterious force, a presence that’s hard to put a finger on, but amazingly can be heard or felt at times.

It’s an unknown presence that I sometimes get a glimpse of in the smile of a baby. Sometimes I see it in the rainbow after a storm. Other times I see it when the first buds form on a tree. It’s sort of like the ocean waves that push against me. Each caress of the waves tells me that I am loved. They tell me that this beautiful creation was put here by a beautiful Creator that wants all of us to enjoy life and all of its seasons.

Yes, sometimes the seasons bring inclement weather, but the storms always past. When I’m feeling down, depressed and tired the following verse brings me comfort and tells me that whatever storm I’m going through, that it too will pass. It is found in Isaiah 49:15-16 NIV:

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me."

This verse has gotten me through the midnights in my life to daybreak. It has turned my failures into success. It beckons me to come up higher and tells me that I am stronger than I think I am. It raises my consciousness and tells me that I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. Yes, I am strong when I am on His shoulder. He has raised me up to be more than I can be.

Music is another resource that has gotten me through my midnights to daybreak. Click on the link below and listen to Josh Groban’s, “You Raise Me Up.” Truly, we are created to be Winners at life!

Have a great weekend and Stay Blessed!
Joyce

(oceanflower1-youtube.com)

Now Is Not The Time To Quit!

2008-01-03T08:56:00.000-05:00

Good Morning guys!
I have decided that one of the major keys to success is simply having a mindset that refuses to give up. Plain and simple- the race is not given to the swift, but to those that endure to the end. We out of all the animals in the animal kingdom have the ability to reshape our world and destiny. A horse will always be a horse, a cow, a cow, etc. I’m sure you get what I mean.

True enough, your funds may be low and your debts may be too embarrassing or nerve-racking to mention, but this is not the truth about your situation. The truth is that you have the ability to reshape your life and destiny. Your FEAR of achieving your goal is simply (F)alse (E)vidence (A)ppearing as (R)eal.

What is real is that you as a human are fearfully and wonderfully made. The only true obstacle to your success is yourself. Yes, there are challenges that you will face in life, but you have an incredible mind that will allow you to get out of all the mazes in your life. If a laboratory rat can do it- what’s your excuse? Excuses are simply a reason to give up. As long as there is breath in your body, don’t give up! There are many who would like to be in your shoes. Your obstacle can be someone else’s opportunity for greatness.

Christopher Columbus said, “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Tomorrow I will share with you my secret to success, the unseen partner, the second set of footprints that accompany me when I dare to lose sight of the shore. For now, click on this link below- it will inspire you to fight on until victory is achieved. You can be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

The Don't Quit Poem (Inspirationalvideos-youtube.com)

What's For Dinner Mom?

2008-01-02T09:27:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have been following my column, you probably know that I am a transplanted Yankee. One of the things I miss about Boston is the diversity and the exchange of foods and different cultures. I want to share with you a scrumptious, nutritional and low fat recipe for Portuguese beans and rice that I had misplaced, but thankfully I found at http://www.recipezaar.com.

I’m on a mission this year to improve my diet and stay in shape. If you have any low fat recipes (they must be delicious!) please send them to me and I will post them. Together we can be Winners at life!
Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Jagacida (Jag) - Beans and Rice from Cape Verde Recipe #134997
by justcallmetoni
© 2007 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com

12 servings 42 min 12 min prep
2 tablespoons oil
1 medium onion
3 cups rice
6 cups water
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans
1 tablespoon smokey paprika
2 bay leaves
salt
pepper
1. Cut up onions in a 2 quart pan and simmer until golden brown in oil.
2. Add 6 cups of water to onions, paprika, and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Bring to a boil and add 3 cups of rice. Lower heat, add beans (), cover pan and simmer for 25 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice is cooked.
4. Turn off stove and let stand.
© 2007 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com

Nutrition Facts
Calculated for 1 serving (214g)
Recipe makes 12 servings
Calories 230
Calories from Fat 25 (11%)
Amount Per Serving %DV
Total Fat 2.8g 4%
Saturated Fat 0.4g 2%
Polyunsat. Fat 1.4g
Monounsat. Fat 0.8g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 108mg 4%
Potassium 152mg 4%
Total Carbohydrate 45.1g 15%
Dietary Fiber 2.5g 10%
Sugars 1.1g
Protein 5.2g 10%
Vitamin A 304mcg 6%
Vitamin B6 0.1mg 6%
Vitamin B12 0.0mcg 0%
Vitamin C 1mg 2%
Vitamin E 0mcg 1%
Calcium 21mg 2%
Magnesium 29mg 7%
Iron 2mg 15%
Alcohol 0.0g Caffeine 0.0mg

You Can Be Great in 2008!

2008-01-01T09:27:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!
Are you ready to achieve greatness in your life? Do you truly want to be the Head and not the Tail? If so, then hopefully you have taken the first step I outlined yesterday (see December 31, 2007 post) and have given yourself and others a forgiveness treatment. Let the past be the past. It’s gone like 2007- there is absolutely nothing you can do to bring it back. It is time to forgive yourself and others. Let go of the emotional drama and baggage of the past that causes you to feel depressed, lonely, an underachiever, etc.

You are made for greatness because you are made in the image and likeness of God. Look around, do you see any junk that God has made? Everything has a purpose and an interrelationship in the universe. We as co-creators of God are charged to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth.

Because we have the gift of imagination, we can visualize good as well as evil. The problem most of us have is that we sometimes choose to see ourselves through negative lens that diminish our self-esteem. Our greatest enemy is often ourselves! During the early 1900s Madame C. J. Walker became a millionaire because she took an idea, a dream, and relentlessly pursued it until her passion became her miracle.

Today is the only day you have. Write your vision down now and next to it write what steps you will take today to achieve it. If your vision is to lose weight, write down the healthy foods you will eat today. Visualize yourself saying “no” to that second piece of cheesecake and eating an apple instead. As you make it a normal part of your routine with daily exercise you will become stronger. Soon you will find that you don’t crave the cheesecake any longer and will choose an apple without any thought or reservation. This is a way of loving yourself and treating yourself like the king and queen you were created to be.

As God found Jacob in a desert land, he will find and keep you as the apple of his eye (Deuteronomy 32:10). Know that you are loved! I guarantee that if you draw near to God He will draw near to you (James 4:8). The sun arose today because you are loved. It was not a coincidence.

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

P. S.
I came across this video (“ebufford” youtube.com) that hopefully inspires you to greatness and to accomplish things of enduring value.

Free Extreme Makeover Treatment By Joyce

2007-12-31T09:54:00.000-05:00

Good Morning guys,
I have a special free gift for my readers this last day in 2007 designed to 1) give you a free makeover, 2) make you the Head in your (relationships, profession, and outlook on life) and 3) give you peace of mind. This exercise is a snapshot of what I do in my seminars. It is guaranteed to extend your life, make you look years younger and make you a Winner at life!

Happy New Year and Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Joyce’s Free Extreme Makeover Treatment©2007

1) I now forgive myself for not living up to my full potential. I forgive myself for harboring unkind thoughts or for any unkind acts I have committed against __________________. I take personal responsibility for my thoughts and actions.
I also forgive those enemies that are lodged within the “inner me” named __________________________________.

2) I now forgive the following persons for any offenses real or perceived offenses committed against me: ___________________________________________________

3) I choose to die to any of the following that hinders my spiritual, physical, emotional and financial progress:
______ jealousy ____drug addiction _____lasciviousness
______ envy ____sexual perversion _____fear
______ covetousness ____fornication _____greed
______ anger ____adultery _____hate
______ overeating ____alcoholism _____unforgiveness

4) I choose God’s more excellent way and I agree that I am made in the image and likeness of God and as such I demonstrate in my life the following:
____ love ____goodness _____wisdom ____gentleness
____ joy ____faith _____intelligence _____prosperity
____ peace of mind ____meekness _____creativity _____forgiveness
____ longsuffering ____temperance _____persistence _____wealth
_____health ____wholeness

5) Fully restored my goals for 2008 are as follows: ___________________________________________________

6) I take the following action steps today towards my goals:

___________________________________________________

The Value Of Time

2007-12-28T09:09:00.000-05:00

Good Morning guys,
It rained last night in Georgia and I am grateful to God for that. Do you ever wonder where the rain comes from? Ask a 5th grader about the rain cycle and you will be amazed. Sorry for digressing, but I just had to talk about the rain last night. It was wonderful to hear it, very calming, reassuring- like being rocked in a cradle. God is good!

I want to share with you a poem called, “The Value of Time” that was forwarded to me. As we reflect on what this year has brought us, let us begin to focus and plan to make 2008 our best year yet. Please continue to send me your thoughts, poems, questions, articles, etc. and if appropriate, I will post them. Let’s work together so that we all can be Winners at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

The Value of Time

To realize

The value of a sister
Ask someone
Who doesn't have one.

To realize
The value of 10 years:
Ask a newly Divorced couple.

To realize
The value of 4 years:
Ask a graduate.

To realize
The value of 1 year:
Ask a student who Has failed a final exam.

To realize
The value of 9 months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

To realize
The value of 1 month:
Ask a mother who has given birth to
A premature baby.

To realize
The value of 1 week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize
The value of 1 minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize
The value of 1 second:
Ask a person Who has survived an accident.

Time waits for no one.
Treasure every moment you have.
You will treasure it even more when you can share it with someone special.

To realize the value of a friend or family member:
LOSE ONE.

The origin of this letter is unknown,
But it brings good luck to everyone who passes it on.

A Guide to Handling The Famines In Your Life

2007-12-27T21:31:00.000-05:00

Are you experiencing a famine in your life? A shortage of healthy relationships, money, energy, health, joy, peace of mind, under or unemployment, to name a few?

Guess what this is a blessing in disguise! This is an opportunity for you to experience fulfillment in your life. Like the Wise Old Man (see December 13 post) who chose to be happy in advance, let’s take a positive attitude and say to the famines in our life like the Biblical Joseph, “you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”

Here is my recipe for handling the famines I encounter in life. Here’s how you can take a negative- FAMINES and turn it into a positive:

Have (F)aith in God’s promise, that He made you to be the Head and not the Tail. Practice forgiveness and love unconditionally.
Develop an (A)ppetite for healthy foods that promote life and build your immune system.
Listen to (M)usic daily that is uplifting and inspires you to achieve greatness.
(I)ncrease your knowledge base, never stop learning and trying new things. Take a course, go back to school or finish your degree.
Don’t (N)eglect your needs and be moderate with your desires. Leave something behind for the gleaners. Be honest with yourself.
(E)xercise- daily meditate on God’s Word and pray without ceasing. Physically work out 30 minutes at least 4-5 times a week.
(S)et goals that stretch you. Find a mentor or group that you can be accountable to.

If you confront your famines in a positive way as I have outlined, I guarantee that you will be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

How To Handle The Holiday Bills And Stay Sane!

2007-12-26T11:58:00.000-05:00

Now that Christmas is over, unfortunately the bills along with anxiety, depression, shortness of temper, fear, and loneliness will roll in like the New Year. Consumer Credit Card Counseling Services (CCCS) reports the following statistics:

It is estimated that, on average, 20% of Americans have “maxed out” their credit cards.
About 25% of adults in the United States have a history of credit problems.
Americans’ average credit card debt is $8400 per household.
Roughly 24% of personal expenditures in the United States are made using bank credit cards, retail cards, and debit cards.
In the first quarter of 2002, total credit debt was $660 billion. Total credit card debt was approximately $60 billion.
Approximately 185 million American consumers have at least one credit card.
Of those 185 million consumers with credit cards, 1.3 million credit card holders declared bankruptcy in 2002.
Americans pay, on average, an 18.9% interest rate on credit cards.
The average household pays $83.33 in credit card interest per month.
On average, the typical credit card purchase is 112% higher than if using cash.
More than 40% of American families spend more than they earn. (Federal Reserve).
As of 1995, 92% of American family disposable income is spent on paying debts, up from 65% in 1975. (Federal Reserve)
An $8,000 debt, at a rate of 18% interest, will take over 25 years to pay off and cost more than $24,000 in the long run. [1]

One of the things I am most grateful for this year is getting out of debt (see my December 21 post). It was very anxiety provoking for me to go to the mailbox and hold my breath while I opened my bills and wondered if the payment I sent arrived in time. The spiral effect of sending in a late payment escalating the interest rates on my other debts including my mortgage(s) loomed heavily in my mind.

What worked for me was 1) faith in God, praying, 2) thanking God for what I did have (food, health, shelter, family and friends), 3) tithing (yes, giving 10% to the church, even when I didn’t have enough to pay all my bills), 4) giving an offering, 5) paying my bills even if it was the minimum amount and 6) working at whatever opportunity that came my way.

I know many individuals lack the discipline to persevere when it seems like all hope is gone. It is difficult to pay your bills when friends are buying every new gadget that comes on the market and you sometimes feel you are not a good parent if you don’t buy your child that expensive toy that every kid wants. But, look at the statistics above. Would you rather disappoint your child or yourself now or later when you tell them you have to move because your house is facing foreclosure? What legacy will you then leave for your children?

For those who don’t have the discipline, I would recommend that you contact CCCS. It is a nationwide nonprofit service that offers free and confidential budget, credit, and housing counseling plus debt repayment plans. They have been in business since 1964 helping people pay their bills.

CCCS professional counselors offer individual, confidential advice for developing budgets, managing money, using credit wisely and building a savings plan. Their advisors will review your current situation and collaborate with you to determine the best possible financial strategies, offering solutions to your current financial problems as well as personalized plans for preventing financial pitfalls in the years to come.

For individuals and families who are overextended, CCCS offers assistance through its Debt Management Plan (DMP). The DMP is a systematic way to pay down your outstanding debt through monthly deposits to CCCS, which in turn distributes these funds to your creditors. CCCS works with clients and creditors alike to design a debt repayment program that will minimize monthly payments, interest and related fees, providing a manageable, tailored plan for each of its clients.

By participating in this program, you may benefit from reduced or waived finance charges and fewer collection calls, and when you have completed your payments, we'll help you reestablish your credit. Ultimately, DMPs serve the dual purpose of helping you repay debts and helping your creditors receive the money owed them.

This service, which is available in English or Spanish, will help you develop and manage your own plan so that you can do more with what you have. Call toll-free for a free budget counseling session today at 1-800-251-CCCS (2227). If you want our help in stopping collector calls and dropping interest rates, if you want peace of mind knowing that you have a plan to get out of debt, call CCCS or start an online counseling session immediately at http://www.cccsatl.org/.

Let’s start the New Year off right and become the Winner at life you were designed to be.
Stay Blessed!
Joyce
.
[1] http://creditcounselingbiz.com/credit_counseling_statistics.htm

A Message From Shirley Caesar and C. Joyce Farrar-Rosemon

2007-12-25T19:29:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas to all!
This song and video exemplifies what Christmas means to me. The greatest gift we can receive at any time during our lifetime is the gift God gave to us through his Son, Jesus- the gift of forgiveness, redemption, health, wholeness, peace of mind and life eternal. All at no charge! By Jesus’ stripes we are already healed and no weapon formed against us will prosper! Click, listen and enjoy. You can be a Winner at life!
Stay Blessed!
Joyce

By codewit-(youtube.com)

What's Wrong With Saying Merry Christmas?

2007-12-24T09:39:00.000-05:00

When I was growing up one of the holidays I looked forward to was Christmas. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I grew up in Boston and Northerners are said to be as cold as ice. But during the Christmas season, this holiday melted many a personality and it seemed everywhere you went people greeted and wished you a “Merry Christmas.”

During the late ‘60s there emerged a political correctness era, but even then if you wished someone a “Merry Christmas” who was not a Christian, they were not offended and you apologetically responded back with a Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwaanza or Happy Holiday greeting.

As the world becomes smaller and smaller, we must stay true to our identity like the three Hebrew boys, but also see the common denominator in all religions and cultural celebrations. If we look at the major religious belief systems, the common denominator is - God is love. Let us focus on what binds us as opposed to what separates and divides us. Let’s finds ways to heal the broken hearted, feed the hungry, and protect the environment.

As we close out this year I want to wish everyone a Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwaanza or Happy Holiday greeting. You can be a Winner at Life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

In A Time Of Famine God Delivered Me From My Fiery Furnace!

2007-12-21T09:25:00.000-05:00

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are not the only individuals that have gone through fiery situations and have come out unscathed. This year during a severe real estate famine my husband and I sold a property for more than four times what we paid for it. With the sale of the property all of our debts have been paid off, except for good debt on properties that are appreciating in value while we write off the mortgage interest.

Now that God has removed the burden of debt (which was a form of economic slavery) from my shoulders, I am free to mentor others. This website is one way I want to empower others to release their emotional, financial, spiritual and physical shackles.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego used the power of prayer and diet to overcome their oppressive situations. My support came as well from diet, exercise, prayer and the efficacious teachings of Pastor Dale C. Bronner of Word of Faith Family Cathedral in Atlanta, Georgia.

During this Holiday Season I personally invite you to come out and hear and experience a prophet that has a message of hope and empowerment to set you free from whatever spiritual, financial, emotional or physical burdens that bind you. If you live outside of the Atlanta area, you can go online at http://www.dalebronner.com/ and hear and download these inspirational messages.

But for the best deal, come out and experience in person the synergy and joy that flows through this place. It’s well worth the trip. I guarantee that you will never be the same and that you can be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

A Low Fat Diet To Overcome Stress That's Guaranteed To Work!

2007-12-20T10:21:00.000-05:00

Good Morning Guys!
Guess what, I tried out the Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry recipe (December 18 post) last night and it was a blast as well as nutritious. The meal was very delicious and appealing. The colors- red, green, and orange took on a festive look. My 12 year old son was impressed, ate all his vegetables, but wanted a little more chicken.

Yes, we here in America do like our meat, myself included, but do we need it during the stressful times we live in? I was reminded of the Biblical story of Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. During a time of captivity, opposition and discrimination they dealt with stress by choosing to eat a diet consisting of vegetables and water instead of the King’s royal diet of choice food and wine. At the end of 10 days, these four guys were healthier and better nourished than those that ate the royal food. They were later promoted by the King because they possessed ten times more wisdom and understanding than all the others.

Another secret that these men possessed was the power of prayer that enabled them to withstand fiery situations like the Lion’s Den and come out unscathed and unharmed. They say there is nothing new under the sun. Science is now verifying that a vegetarian diet and meditation (including prayer) has a beneficial effect on the body including lowering your blood pressure and cholesterol level, maintaining a healthy weight, clear thinking, etc.

As we approach the New Year, let’s try to eat smart and live right. If you have any low fat recipes you would like to share, please send them to me, so that together we can be Winners at Life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

How To Handle The Kids During The Christmas Break

2007-12-19T09:41:00.000-05:00

For many parents the kids will be home for close to two and half weeks during the Christmas school break. I know many of you are wondering what can I do that is fun, creative, educational and won’t tear up my house. I have some suggestions from a great book that I pull out each year. It’s called, The Twelve Blessings of Christmas, by T. J. Mills. I love this book; it explains the heartfelt meaning of Christmas, contains numerous fun activities for kids that reinforce in a concrete way what Christmas is truly about.

I like to invite the cousins, nieces and nephews over and do several of the activities. One of my favorites is making Sand Art Brownies. It resembles the sand art projects kids do in school, but it is actually the ingredients for brownies, including decorative M&Ms, pecans to reflect the holiday colors packaged in a quart jar that kids can give away to relatives and teachers as gifts. This is a genuine recipe and the kids learn the importance of measuring exact proportions of a 1/3 cup of cocoa, 2/3 cup of sugar, etc. so that their brownies will come out tasty and delicious.

Other projects include recipes for Birdseed Balls (it teaches kids to take care of our fine feathered friends), Pomander Christmas tree Ornaments, and Jesus’ Birthday Cake (it teaches the kids about forgiveness, redemption, and everlasting life). Community projects include visiting nursing homes, Christmas caroling in the neighborhood, etc.

This colorful book also has some wonderful poems like this one written by T.J. Mills:

Tomorrow stands before us now
What will the New Year bring?
It brings the song that’s in our hearts
And the tune we choose to sing.

In spite of all the negativity, yes, there is more good, love and peace in the world. We as a human race have much to be happy about. The gift of life and how we choose to sing our song determines our destiny. We can be a blessing to others and a Winner at life- it’s all in our hands!

Stay Blessed!

Joyce

What's For Dinner Mom?

2007-12-18T09:04:00.000-05:00

How many times have you heard that question and wondered- "What can I serve that is healthy for and attractive to the kids, low fat and low calorie for me and low cholesterol for my husband?" Well guys here's one I found at this great website: http://www.crestor.com/c/home.aspx. I'm going to try it this week. I love ginger and green onions, so hopefully this will go over well. Try it with me, and let me know what your family thinks about it. Remember you can be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!

Joyce

Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry
· 2 tbsp cornstarch
· 1 tbsp brown sugar
· 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
· 3 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
· 1 cup water
· Nonstick vegetable cooking spray
· 1 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
· 1 1/2 lb chicken breasts, boneless, skinned, cut into thin strips
· 4 green onions, diagonally sliced (optional)
· 1 cup red bell peppers, cut into strips (optional)
· 1 cup carrots, diagonally sliced thin
· 2 cups snow peas
· 2 cups small broccoli florets
· 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice, cooked without salt or fat
· 1/3 cup slivered blanched almonds

Nutrient content per serving:
Total calories: 619Protein: 49gCarbohydrates: 75gFat: 12gCalories from fat: 18%
Cholesterol: 99mgSodium: 456mgFiber: 5gSaturated fat: 2g

Instructions:
In a medium bowl, combine cornstarch, brown sugar, grated fresh ginger, soy sauce, and water. Set aside. In a large skillet sprayed with nonstick vegetable cooking spray add 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil. When hot, add strips of chicken and stir-fry 3 to 5 minutes until done. Remove from skillet. Set aside. Add remaining 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil, green onions (optional), and red bell peppers (optional). Stir-fry 2 minutes and add carrots, snow peas, and broccoli florets. Stir-fry 5 to 6 minutes adding 1 to 2 tbsp water and covering to cook vegetables until they are tender. Add chicken back to skillet and add the well-stirred ginger-soy sauce mixture. Stir constantly to thicken sauce and heat through. Serve over hot cooked rice and top with slivered blanched almonds. Makes 4 servings.
[1]

[1] http://www.crestor.com/c/mealplanner/step2.aspx

How To Conquer The Holiday Blues

2007-12-17T10:39:00.000-05:00

“Once again the holidays are upon us, which means it's time for festive partying with friends and family, sharing gifts and laughter -- and getting depressed. That's right. For many people, the holidays bring on feelings of sadness and anxiety that can be hard to shake.
According to the National Mental Health Association, reasons for feeling blue around the holidays are numerous. They range from fatigue -- a result of all of the increased holiday activity -- to financial limitations and family tensions. Experts say one of the fastest routes to holiday depression is unrealistic expectations…[1]
This article above has suggestions on how to cure the Holiday blues and includes a resource number for those suffering with depression. For my readers I have written an exercise below that will allow you to focus on eternal things of value and substance that will last long after the decorations have been taken down. I personally guarantee that my HOLIDAY BLUES EXERCISE will increase your endorphin levels, lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, cause you to lose weight and put a smile on your face as well as someone’s else.

Honor this season by giving love, joy, peace and forgiveness to others.
Open your heart to a stranger and find a way to be a Good Samaritan.
Listen to music that relaxes you. Take a warm candle lit bath.
Increase your intake of water, fruits, vegetables and protein and decrease your carbohydrates.[2]
Delight yourself in the Lord; write down the blessings that He has given you.
Act like this is your last day on Earth. Write down your goals and action plan for next year.
Yearn to leave a legacy that will empower others to prosper and experience peace on earth.

Bless others by giving away good clothes in your closet that you know you can’t or won't wear.
Lend a hand at a homeless shelter; donate time at a food kitchen.
Unpack the negative images in your mind by writing a list of people you forgive.
Enjoy the outside; take a walk along a nature trail or in the park.
Sing songs that uplift your spirit and focus on positive life affirming thoughts.

Remember to have fun, rest, count your blessings and remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. You can be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce
[1] http://www.umm.edu/features/holiday_blues.htm
[2] http://www.namastecafe.com/edu/body_signal.htm

What Helen Keller Saw And Heard Without Any Eyes Or Ears

2007-12-14T08:58:00.000-05:00

Hello my friends,
I want to share with you a poem written by Helen Keller, affectionately called the First Lady of Courage:

They took away what should have been my eyes
(But I remembered Milton's Paradise).
They took away what should have been my ears,
(Beethoven came and wiped away my tears).
They took away what should have been my tongue,
(But I had talked with God when I was young).
He would not let them take away my soul –
Possessing that, I still possess the whole. [1]

I am so impressed by this woman who in spite of tremendous obstacles and disadvantages was able to graduate from Harvard’s sister school, Radcliff College. Ms. Keller spent her adult life drawing awareness to the blind and deaf community. She traveled to 30 different countries to demonstrate that blind and deaf people could still function in society. She became one of the world’s leading women. The last public appearance she made was in 1961 at a Lion's meeting. She was presented with an award for her service to humanity over her life.

Helen Keller received many awards during the course of her life. Among them the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Brazil's Order of the Southern Cross, the Philippines' Golden Heart, Japan's Sacred Treasure, and in 1991, was named one of the most important people of the twentieth century by Life magazine.

Ladies and Gents, I think it is time for us to rise up and realize the greatness that is in us! Let’s work together to support and encourage one another to make our dreams become a reality. We have been given the gift of life, which is a miracle in and of itself. Let’s begin to search our soul and learn from mentors like Helen Keller and the “Wise Old Man” (see "Happiness Is Something I Choose In Advance" entry) how we can achieve happiness in spite of any real or perceived disabilities.

Helen Keller’s childhood dream was to attend and graduate from college. What’s yours? The new year, 2008 is right around the corner- have you written your vision, your business plan? Do you remember how we anxiously waited for the year 2000? How did seven years go by so quickly? Time waits for no one. Proverbs 29:18 instructs us that, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” I guarantee you that if you start today and refuse to give up, you can be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce
[1] http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b4hkeller_p1cg.htm

Happiness Is Something I Choose In Advance...

2007-12-13T08:42:00.000-05:00

Thank you my friends for responding. I want to pass along an email (by "migg1012- youtube.com) that was forwarded to me. It is very profound. I understand why it is said that life is wasted on the youth. The wise and aged have a lot to teach us- they have wisdom and we have seemingly unlimited energy, time and creativity. We must learn how to properly exchange our gifts and talents so that when the baton of life is passed the wisdom of the ages is not lost. Click on this link below and take a tour through this short video and you will see what I mean. Learn from this “Wise Old Man” how you can be a Winner at Life!
Stay Blessed!
Joyce

What Have You Done For Someone Lately?

2007-12-12T08:53:00.000-05:00

Good morning guys!
I have some questions to pose. What random act of kindness have you done to keep someone’s feet off the ground? How can we make this last month of 2007 special for someone else? I invite you to write and tell me your answers and suggestions. What are your New Year’s resolutions- lose weight, go back to school, or get a job? Let me hear from you about creative ways to make 2008 your best year yet.

Guess what if we don’t have a vision and act on it daily we could possibly waste the opportunity to make 2008 our best year ever. Let’s embrace the gift of life we have and challenge ourselves to persevere in spite of any real or perceived enemies. Habakkuk 2:2-3 says, “…write the vision and make it plain…that he may run that readeth it, for the vision is yet for an appointed time, but in the end it shall speak and not lie...”

So my friends, if you start now and write your vision, your business plan for 2008, you can be the early bird that catches the worm. You see, life is like running a race. You must condition not only your mind, but your body and emotions. As you head towards your vision, be prepared to walk some, run some and climb the Heartbreak Hills that you will encounter on the way. If there is no pain, there is no serious gain!

The gains I’m talking about come to determined individuals like Madame C.J. Walker, Michael Jordan, Helen Keller, and Mahatma Gandhi. These are victorious overcomers that had a vision and honed their skills night and day while others were taking it easy. Decide today what your legacy will be and do it afraid if necessary. But you must take the first step and write it down on paper and in your heart.

My vision is to develop this site as a resource center to help others get their feet off the ground. My passion is to help individuals be the best they can be. Help me to help others by writing in with your suggestions. I’m waiting to hear from you. Remember you can be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!

Joyce

My Feet Are Off The Ground by Tyler Perry

2007-12-11T08:23:00.000-05:00

Good Morning guys,

I want to share with you this email below that was forwarded to me from a friend named Chandra. She is an overcomer that has TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) as a result of a car accident. Check out her website at http://www.thesoulofasurvivor.org/ and click this link http://capwiz.com/bia/issues/alert/?alertid=10641746&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id to find out more information about how you can get Congress to enact Omnibus Appropriations Bill to support modest increases for TBI and other health programs at stake.
If your feet are off the ground like Tyler’s, let’s get the focus off ourselves and help put a smile on someone else’s face. You can be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!

Joyce

MY FEET ARE OFF THE GROUND

"My Feet Are Off The Ground"

From Tyler Perry:

writer and actor

From Tyler :

This morning I awoke and was so frustrated about all of the stuff that I'm
dealing with in trying to get this studio open. I was about to open my mouth
and start complaining when I remembered something that happened to me about
a year ago.

I was walking to my car when this woman who appeared to be homeless started
walking towards me. I'm ashamed to say this but I thought, "I don't feel
like being hustled today." Then I got quickly convicted. I felt guilty so I
started digging in my pocket for some money. As she got closer I noticed
that she had the kindest eyes that I had ever seen. As I was reaching into
my pocket she started to speak. I thought, "Here goes the sales pitch". She
said "Excuse me sir, I need some shoes. Can you help me?" My eyes filled
with water because I remember being out on the streets and having only one
pair of run over shoes. I was taken aback for a second.

I took her inside the studio and had my wardrobe people find shoes in her
size. As she put the shoes on she started crying, praising God and thanking
Jesus, and saying, "My feet are off the ground! My feet are off the ground!"
Several of the wardrobe people started crying. I was crying. But I never
forgot those words. "My feet are off the ground!" I thought, "Wow! All she
wanted was some shoes." She quickly disappeared and never asked me for a
dime. I realized that I still had the money in my hand so I went out looking
for her. She was gone just that quick so I looked all around the
neighborhood for her. I found her standing on a corner looking down at her
shoes, still crying. I was so touched. I asked her how she had gotten
homeless. She told me that she had AIDS and that she was waiting to get into
a shelter. She said that her family had turned their backs on her and that
she had no place to go, but she knew that God would make a way for her. I
said to myself, "He just did." Her faith and her praise moved me. I took her
to a nearby hotel and put her up until she was able to get on her feet. I
had someone that worked for me to check on her from time to time and to make
sure that she had food and clothes. After about a month or so we lost touch,
but I never forgot her.

This past summer I was shooting "Daddy's Little Girls" and this woman walks
up to me smiling. I didn't recognize her face, but her eyes were familiar.
She had on a really nice dress and her hair was done. It was her! She told
me that the little help that I had given her had changed her life. She was
in a house now and doing very well.

I said all of that to say this. After I met this woman, every time I think
about complaining and mumbling I remember, "My feet are off the ground!"

I wanted to share this with you just to let you know that when I say that I
am thankful for you, I mean it. And when I say that you are a blessing to
me, I mean it. We take so much for granted sometimes that I just wanted all
of you to know that I am grateful to God for you everyday. Thank you for
being in my life.

~Tyler Perry

How Do You Handle Monday Mornings?

2007-12-10T09:09:00.000-05:00

Mondays mornings can be difficult for many people. For some it may be because they worked the previous weekend and are not fully rested. For others it may signal the end of fun and frolic and now it’s time to get back to their “J- O- B.” If you find it hard to get up on Mondays, make a decision to change your thoughts, attitude and most important your destiny. Statistics show that more people commit suicide or fall sick on Sunday than on any other day. Could it be that they dreaded getting back to a job that they felt was not fully utilizing their talents or was low paying?

You were created to be a winner! As we approach the end of 2007 and the beginning of a new year, let’s make a commitment together that 2008 will be our best year yet. In spite of what the media says about the economy, employment opportunities, the environment, let’s make a pack that we will work together to find new opportunities, relationships, partnerships so that we can be the cream that rises to the top. Let’s strive to be like Madame C. J. Walker who became a millionaire during the Depression.

I need to hear from you. Send me a blog and tell me what your concerns are and together we will find a solution. I invite my readers to use this platform to share with other readers what has and has not worked for you. There is strength in unity! Help me to help others rise to the top. Let’s spread the word- please forward this blog to someone who needs to know that they are loved!

You can be a Winner at life- Stay Blessed!

Joyce

Finding Inner Peace in the Midst of the Storm

2007-12-07T08:21:00.000-05:00

I make a choice today to make it a good one! I start out by counting my blessings and expressing thanks for the little things in life: eyesight, health, family, friends, food, clothing and shelter. Guess what- I’m truly blessed! Let’s choose today to focus on the positive and make a decision to share what you have. It can be as simple as calling up someone who will be alone during the holidays and inviting them over for dinner.

Don’t worry about trying to solve the global warming issue, gang violence, crime, pollution, unemployment, the high foreclosure rate, or who you should or shouldn’t buy a Christmas present for. If what you do today does not come from the heart, it’s all for naught. Today is the only day you have, so make it a good one! Don’t let the sun set without doing one small act of kindness for someone today. You can be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce

Defeat Is Not An Option!

2007-12-06T13:21:00.000-05:00

Defeat is not an option! You have been created to be the Head and not the Tail! Regardless of what adversities you face in life, as long as you have breath in your body, there is hope. If your flesh is cut, your body will immediately discharge cells to heal that part of your body that has been violated. Likewise in the spirit realm if your emotions have been hurt, your spiritual DNA will seek to bring peace to your inner being.

This blog is designed to help you find that inner peace, to learn how to trigger your spiritual cells so that the wholeness that you had in the beginning is restored. Let’s journey together so that we can arrive at that place of shalom (peace) in our mind, body and spirit.

As we go along I will share with you useful information on how to obtain inner peace in spite of where you find yourself in life- in a house all alone, prison, difficult marriage, unemployed, underemployed, poverty stricken or in a board meeting.

You have been fearfully and wonderfully made to be a Winner at life!

Stay Blessed!
Joyce, B.A., S.M.
Author, Motivational Speaker, Broker, Wife, Mom & Friend

How to Be The Head And Not The Tail: A Christian Manifesto For Making Six Figures
How to Get to The Palace From Your Prison: Joseph’s 14 Step Program To Overcome Loneliness, Depression, Discrimination, Barrenness & Abuse

www.howtobethehead.com

Click on the link below and enjoy this version of "Born Free" by neravaira at youtube.com.