Friday Food - Family and Friends

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while know that on Fridays I usually post something about family or friends. This week, I'm adding "FOOD" to the topic menu for Friday posting. I'll get things started today by combining all three topics.

Last week, I celebrated my 56th birthday. Let me say "thanks" to my family and friends for all the wonderful cards and gifts. The gift I received from my wife was a Magic Bullet Blender. She knew it was something I've been wanting to get for a few months. Let me tell you why.

By the end of 2011, my weight had reached an all-time high. This is pretty typical for people who have Burkum for a last name. Thankfully, my three sons seem to have escaped the curse (thanks, no doubt, to being lucky enough to favor Carlson, Emrich, and Longnecker DNA). It may also, however, have quite a lot to do with the way eat!

Anyway, I determined that with some faith, discipline, and the support of Christian friends, I would make some serious changes in 2012. Since February, I've been eating better, enjoying food more, exercising consistently, and have somehow lost 35lbs. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the next five months.

Several things have been very important to me in this process of changing my health and nutrition habits.

First, we started a group at Valley Christian Church called Weigh and Pray. We meet for about a half-hour each week to just weigh-in, share ideas, empathize, encourage, and pray with each other. The support and comradeship of these friends has been priceless as we bring health stewardship into the context of our faith community.

Something else that has helped is a pact I made with another friend from church. He has been helping me with accountability and consistency in regard to my daily exercise goals. We exchange short emails every day, letting each other know that we've done what we said we would do. In the process, we also get lots of chances to throw in a couple sentences about how we're doing in general, which has been good for friendship and for being a prayer and life support for each other.

Another important part of my dietary reformation process has been using what I learned in Joel Furhman's book, Eat to Live. The information about food and nutrition has been a tremendous help to me. Learning to stock my fridge and kitchen, doing more cooking, and changing my choices has been very good. Now, thanks to my wife, Cheri, I get to try some new recipes with my new bullet blender. LIKE THIS ONE.

So look for more food and nutrition posts to appear on Fridays!

Dr. Fuhrman’s Skinny Shake

Ingredients:
4 ounces pomegranate juice
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup of ice
Squeeze of lemon
Directions: Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender.

Our Family Strawberry Picking Day 2011.