Sugar Sugar, Honey Honey

The past couple of weeks in Family Foundations class we have been tasked with setting a health goal.  My goals were give up sugar for two weeks and walk 9 days within the two week period.  The walking I will accomplish.  However I've already blown the sugar goal.

You see, I live in Abu Dhabi.

Satan's Sweet Shoppe.

A short elevator downstairs brings me to Spinney's which is our mini/mart grocery store in our complex.  Not so mini however, that they don't have a full slate of British/Dutch/German chocolate bars, European cookies (or biscuits as they like to say here).  And that's just the pre-packaged stuff... they have freshly baked donuts and cakes, etc. in their small bakery section.  If that doesn't suit me, I can walk next door to Costa Coffee, which is the UAE version of Starbucks and there are shelves of muffins and tarts to go with the yummy hot cocoa.  Luckily I'm a little too cheap to indulge there.

Then there's the local grocery store/French super-Walmart store called Carrefour.  Carrefour has a little of everything, and since it's French... they don't just have a bakery, they have a PATISSERIE... yep, just saying the word Patisserie starts off my salivary glands.  It is surprisingly inexpensive.  You can get a whole tray of Arabic baklava for about 5 dirhams which is $1.35.  And if you want something a little more common than a French pastry, at the front of the grocery store is a Cinnabon and a Baskin Robbins.  Remember, this is just the grocery store.

Now let's move on to the malls.  And malls are everywhere in Abu Dhabi.  Malls have cheesecake kiosks.  Yes, kiosks... in addition to bakeries, and ice cream shoppes and gelato shoppes and donut stores and Belgian Waffle shoppes and the list goes on.  Candylicious is a big candy store chain here where they even make their own candy sticks and canes in all different flavors.  The candy-making lady was nice enough to pose for a picture.

All I'm saying is that Abu Dhabi is not exactly the easiest place in the world to conquer a sweet tooth.

And I really do want to conquer it.  Because I don't feel very good.  My joints ache (inflammation from sugar), if I eat too much I'm tired and it's hard to concentrate (carbo coma from sugar), and it makes me feel depressed!  So it should be easy to quit, given those reasons!  However, I still struggle.

I came across this quote today from Ezra Taft Benson:  "The condition of the physical body can affect the spirit. That’s why the Lord gave us the Word of Wisdom. He also said that we should retire to our beds early and arise early (see D&C 88:124), that we should not run faster than we have strength (see D&C 10:4), and that we should use moderation in all good things. In general, the more food we eat in its natural state and the less it is refined without additives, the healthier it will be for us. Food can affect the mind, and deficiencies in certain elements in the body can promote mental depression... Rest and physical exercise are essential, and a walk in the fresh air can refresh the spirit. Wholesome recreation is part of our religion, and a change of pace is necessary, and even its anticipation can lift the spirit."

Maybe instead of giving up sugar for two weeks, I just need to take it one day at a time... I've done it before so I know I'm capable of it.

I know Heavenly Father created me to be vibrant and healthy, and that Satan wants me droopy and sluggish feeling.  I'm not as effective in being an active participant in the work of the Lord when I don't feel my best, and I know that Satan is acutely aware of that fact.  So I will give it a go again, and again and again if I need to.  The Lord doesn't want or expect me to give up trying.

Philippians 4:13 is my go-to scripture... I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.

Lovely Women

This week in Family Foundations we're studying gender and eternal identity.  A quote that I read today left an impression on me:

“A woman not of our faith once wrote something to the effect that in her years of working with beautiful women she had seen several things they all had in common, and not one of them had anything to do with sizes and shapes. She said the loveliest women she had known had a glow of health, a warm personality, a love of learning, stability of character, and integrity. If we may add the sweet and gentle Spirit of the Lord carried by such a woman, then this describes the loveliness of women in any age or time, every element of which is emphasized in and attainable through the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. “  Jeffrey R. Holland, To The Young Women, October 2005 General Conference.

As this is a new year, and I am always looking for ways to improve myself, I think that while I have most of list of characteristics as described by Elder Holland, I can take his list and examine how I can improve upon these characteristics.  I have quite a way to go to get to the glow of health part!  There are many women in my life that are truly beautiful because they possess these particular qualities in abundance.  I remember when I was younger, a woman moved into my ward.  I'm ashamed to say my first impression of her was, "She is quite a homely woman."  As I got to know this person, her kindness and personality soon made her sparkle for me.  From the time she moved into the ward to the time she moved out, she became lovely in my eyes.  Physically, nothing really changed about her.  It was me that changed.  I was the beneficiary of her generous spirit and I was able to see her with new eyes - I think I caught a glimpse of how Heavenly Father saw her.  I realized then that beauty really does come from within.  We can all be lovely, every one of us.

This reminds me of the scripture in 1 Samuel 16:7, "...for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."

The Lovely Women of my family