Healthy Eating -- Brought to you by Lisa M.

Everyone eats therefore everyone is his or her own nutritionist. Would you agree with that statement? How do you know if you are eating a healthy diet?

One simple tool that most dietitians use to teach healthy eating is the plate method. If you think of your plate, half of your plate should consist of non-starchy vegetables! That equals about two to three servings of vegetables. The other half of the plate should be divided between meats and starches that include a small amount of fat. Then add a small serving of fruit and a serving of milk or yogurt to round out the meal. Does your lunch and dinner meal look like this most of the time? If you are not eating this way, then you would want to make changes in your eating habits to move closer to this pattern of eating.

As your own nutritionist do your body a favor; review what you eat, what you need to change and get started! Here are a couple of excellent websites for balanced, healthy eating:

http://www.mypyramid.gov/
http://www.nutrition.gov/
http://www.eatright.org/

Check them out!

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Thanks to Lisa for her contribution this week!

Now's your chance! This is long, but it's worth it...

On Tuesday, July 20, we have the chance to vote in the primaries for our area. I’ve always felt that the primaries are more important than many might think: it’s in the primary voting that we narrow down who will be in the main election. This is your big chance to really have a say in who makes it to the real deal… and weed out those you don’t want!

I feel so blessed to belong to a church that does not dictate political stances but rather encourages us to individually research and choose candidates of integrity that stand for what we personally value and believe in. As I was researching for this post, I was inspired by the statements in the LDS Newsroom and in D&C Section 134. Check them out!

So how do we research and choose? Here are some ideas and steps for making your vote count (click on the words in white to go to a website with the information mentioned):

1) Check the status of your registration and poll location by visiting the Secretary of State’s "MVP" voter info website. You can also see a complete ballot for our area! Wow!

2) Review the candidates and positions open for voting. If you don’t know what a certain job entails, learn more about Georgia government.

3) Study the issues, the candidates, and their opinions. This is where it gets a little tricky because so much information can be biased or incomplete. Here are a few sites that may help provide a more complete picture:

• Side-by-side comparison of issues and candidates’ positions, also descriptions of the position responsibilities (uses the responses of candidates):
• Non-partisan reviews of candidates’ comments looking for truthfulness and accuracy
• Searchable database of Congressional voting records
• Information on national and state candidates’ records
• Current issues and who supports and opposes them

Of course, following the local papers and ongoing news reports of local representatives is a great way to see trends and challenges, but since we only have till Tuesday, this should help you for now!

4) If you just want to learn more, study other general information at the following sites:

• Voting FAQs
• List of Non-partisan voter information websites (so you can sort through on your own!), sponsored by GeorgiaInfo/Galileo website
• Georgia’s Elections Division (from Secretary of State), including overall information and links to other helpful sites

5) Make your choices! It's great to write them down in advance so you don't have to remember and can get through the voting process faster at the polling location. (NOTE: In the primaries you DO have to choose one party or another because you are voting for your choice of candidate within that party that will go on to the main election. You do NOT have to vote party line in the main elections.)

I love the electoral process and am so grateful for the freedoms we enjoy and the fact that our votes really do count. Don't let yours go to waste!

Finally, PLEASE note that I am NOT advocating any one party, information site, or stance. I have tried to provide places for you to find the information you want and make your own decisions.

Happy voting!

Thanks to Carolyn M. for her knowledge and experience, for opening the doors to finding much of this information!

A guaranteed boost

Can you think of a time you tried or learned something new? What was it? More importantly, how did you FEEL? Isn't it a great feeling to say, "I did it!"? Or just to know you've had experience with just that much more in this world? I think there's no better self-esteem boost than studying or learning something new. Let's do it together! We can all use as much of a boost as possible.

These next two months we're going to be featuring the ideas, resources, and expertise of different sisters in our ward to explore areas we might not be as familiar with. Or maybe just information we'd like to learn a little more about. So stay tuned! To "sweeten the deal" a bit, I promise a treat every Sunday you continue to check in each week! As always, comments are welcome, but I'll be thrilled if you're just reading, too.

Here's a thought to ponder for today, from D&C Section 88:

78 Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;


79 Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms—

80 That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you.
D&C 88: 78-80

The sky's the limit on what we can be learning. Have fun, and feel good knowing the Lord will be pleased with your efforts!

I'm back!

Just a quick thanks to everyone for your patience as I've taken this last month "off" to focus on other family matters. Many thanks to all of you for your support through my mother's passing and the events that followed. I'm looking forward to moving ahead with you in the months to come... and letting literacy light up our lives even more! Stay tuned!