Jesus Saves!

Jokes: The Lion Family

Soy: The Myth and The Truth

Soy: The Myth and The Truth
I was talking to my mother the other day and I was very surprised to find out that soy is not quite as good for you as the dieting and health trends would have you believe. Soy has many negative affects that should be taken seriously before including it in your daily life or diet.

Soy vs. Weight Loss
Soy is often toted as the golden boy of weight loss and healthy drinking. But in reality, soy can act as an thyroid & endocrine blocker, in laymen’s terms, that means it can slow your metabolism and actually make you gain weight. I have read of many cases where people have removed soy from their diet, whether vegetarian or dieting or just trying to eat healthier and they’ve recognized a noticeable affect in their body chemistry. One woman with a thyroid disease worked very hard to stay healthy by exercising and adopting what she thought was a healthy diet of soy products like soy milk, soy sausage, soy cheese etc. and she couldn’t figure out why she was gaining weight. The truth was the soy was actually 1.)making her thyroid condition worse and 2.) was making her gain upwards of 100 lbs. regardless of what she did. So she did what anyone faced with this fact would do, she threw out all those products and lost upwards of 40 lbs in a short time period.

The dangerous thing about soy when it comes to the growing health & diet culture is it is hyped. It comes in a variety of products like milk, cheese, sausage, bread, etc. and its seen as a weight loss inducing, green, healthy alternative. Don’t believe the hype. Reading up on the a site promoting soy they said that soy is good for you, saying that Asians have included it in their diets for centuries. But the fact to face here is this, the food industry that we support changes and alters our foods in so many ways. They add chemicals and unnatural substances to the growing and processing portions of the product that often change a normal, healthy product into an unhealthy one.

Hidden sources of soy:
* Oil used to fry packaged chips and crackers
* Commercial nut or hemp milks
* Packaged organic meals

Good Soy vs. Bad Soy
There is good soy and there is bad soy. Yes, its not all evil, you weren’t completely deceived. Nutritionists and doctors familiar with soy all recommend fermented soy.

According to the Donna Gates, a body ecology expert:
“To take your healthy lifestyle to the next level it is important that fermented foods and health benefits from a supplement diet are fully incorporated into your daily regimen. Some people underestimate the importance of fermented foods and health benefits that you can experience include lower cholesterol, efficient digestive functioning and a stronger immune system.”

The fact of the matter is soy isn’t bad for you. But once its processed and additives are put in it makes it a danger for our body chemistry. Unfermented soy is the form most commonly used and the type that is the cheapest. This is why it is so prevalent in any health or diet related forum. It’s high in protein and contains less carbs but its what they don’t tell you that can hurt you in the long run.

Important!
Never eat raw soy beans, they are very dangerous!

Advice Corner:
You want to know what you’re putting in your body. Read labels, educate yourself on those technical words like isoflavones, know the difference between saturated fat and unsaturated fats etc. You are your last line of defense.

Soy vs. Men
I was actually in shock to hear that soy has certain affects on men and the chemical balance in our bodies. I wanted to know more of course, I love Silk Milk, and this is what I found.

Apparently the isoflavones in soy products can create the effects of estrogen on the body. It can, in larger doses, create breast enlargement, testosterone reduction and also in a Harvard study, it was found that it reduces sperm count.

Once again, take steps in your soy intake, soy has been found to reduce the chances of prostate cancer and be preventive against heart disease. You must make sure you are consuming fermented soy products.

Conclusion
In researching as a consumer I have found so many mixed reviews about this product. Much has been done to cover up the less inviting effects of soy by publicizing the positive effects. I caution you to do your research. Feel free to check the sources and I hope that you will stay healthy.

LifeMed
A way of Life. A way of Living.

Sources:
http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/no-joy.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/complaints.html
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/weightloss/12/soy-and-weight-loss-hype-or-hope/
http://www.skrewtips.com/2008/02/08/oh-soy-bad-how-we-are-mislead-about-the-benefits-of-soy/
http://www.bodyecology.com/fermented-foods-health-benefits.php
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/soy-consumption-effects-on-men.html
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-dangers-of-soy-for-men.htm

Listen and Wait: The Art of Hearing God

By | Pastor Sybil Bull

Many times we focus on the wrong things while we wait. Time becomes a focus, the discomfort we feel, and the doubt we begin to think about. We must fight not to focus on the things that we feel or see but rather on the things that faith reveals.

The truth about waiting is that it yields more value in our life than we give it credit for. While we wait we gain more than we ever acknowledge. What was delayed caused me to grow in endurance, and at times helped me to be long suffering. The process can be trying but the results are eternal. If I learn to wait I also learn to succeed and not fail. While I wait the mind has to be focused on the things that are not yet more than the things that are now!

I am reminded of Abraham and Sarah waiting on the promise of Isaac to happen, it appeared that while they waited they were only getting older. While focusing on the natural, God was doing the supernatural behind the scene. If you follow the story, you will see that Abraham got a covenant that was symbolic to that of the coming messiah. Sarah and Abraham were chosen to bring forth an heir that would affect all people for eternity. They were being established for all times and they were chosen for supernatural transfer. It looked like all they wanted was a child and God was giving them seed which would produce an everlasting harvest for generations to come. In the time of their travel from the first word to the last Abraham and his wife were becoming more and more wealthy and inheriting land and possessing things. Isaac was just a portion of the promise not the whole promise. If we read the story again we will see that God said he would give them land and he did, he would give them seed and He did; He would make him a father of all nations and He did; He would establish Abraham and his seed and He did. God always speaks more than we listen and we tend to focus on part and not all of the promise.

Next time you are waiting or even look back on the past times you waited on God, you may have to repent for not seeing how much you gain while you had to wait. James 1 says when patience has had her perfect work we will be mature and not lacking anything. When you think of waiting get excited and start thinking about all you are about to gain.

Honey, I shrunk the Argument

Article | Honey, I Shrunk the Argument by Gretchen Reynolds

Credit | Oprah.com

The art of making a molehill out of a mountain.

Lisa Diamond’s research associate keeps her voice deliberately neutral as she talks through a microphone to a couple in the next room. The man, Tim, slumped on a couch, and the woman, Stacey, sitting upright on a wing chair, have been wired with monitors that measure their heart rate and respiration, as well as the flow of electrical currents across their skin—all of which are indicators of nervous system activity. An unobtrusive video camera records the couple’s every twitch and flitting smile. Earlier, they were shown a series of innocuous photographs of landscapes while their baseline pulse rates and other measurements were recorded. Now they’re being asked to argue.

“The source of conflict that Tim chose,” the researcher is telling them, “is ‘You treat me like you’re my mom.’” At this, Stacey, an elegant 30-year-old operations manager for a nonprofit in Salt Lake City, stiffens. Tim, her tall, lean 29-year-old photographer boyfriend, smiles awkwardly, abashed. With his slouchy T-shirt, clunky black glasses, and floppy hair, he’s a study in nerdy chic. He looks at the floor. “Tim, you should explain what you mean by this particular conflict,” the researcher continues, “and then both of you try to resolve it. You’ll have four minutes.”

“Um—” Tim says, by way of starting.

“What do you mean by that?” Stacey cuts in.

And they’re off.

For the past year, Diamond, the associate professor of psychology at the University of Utah in whose laboratory Stacey and Tim now snipe, has been studying how couples argue—specifically, studying the measurable changes that occur in their bodies as they fight. It’s a tricky business, though not because she has difficulty eliciting spats. (That part is almost comically easy: Just ask each half of the pair to write down a gripe against the other.) The tougher part is getting the couples to stop squabbling after the researchers have gathered their data.

And the deepest challenge is teasing out the complex interplays between wrath and respiration, heartache and heart rate. Diamond is trying to quantify the role the body and nervous system play in relationships and conflict. In the process, she’s uncovering lessons—some practical, some poetic—about how small gestures can lessen the damage of big arguments, and about how even a minor reconsideration of what’s really happening between you can tamp down, metaphorically and physiologically, all that furious heat.
“Men and women typically experience the same relationship very differently,” Diamond tells me as we sit in her laboratory watching Tim and Stacey spar. The author of Sexual Fluidity, a study of female desire, Diamond is a small woman with darting energy and masses of black hair. “We know from some large epidemiological studies that the long-term health benefits of marriage traditionally have been greater for men than for women,” she says. “Presumably this has been because women are often the relationship maintainers. They’re the ones putting in much of the work. Men have gotten the benefits of a relationship without as much of the heavy lifting.”

In the small room where Tim and Stacey are arguing, the atmosphere has turned icy. “It’s not like I wrote down the worst problem I have,” Tim is saying, his eyes downcast. “I mean, um, you’re bossy.”

“Yes, I’m bossy,” Stacey snaps back. “I like to control my situation. I offer suggestions. It’s not like I’m being a mom. Tell me one time I acted like a mom.”

“Um, I don’t know,” Tim says. “My mind is blank. I… ” His voice trails off.

“The classic pattern you see is the demand-withdrawal dynamic,” Diamond whispers, referring to a pattern in which the woman makes demands and the man, in response, shuts down. It turns out that each behavior has striking corollaries within the body. “The man usually finds it calming to withdraw from the conflict,” Diamond says. His heart rate drops. His breathing slows. Yet, as he pulls away, “the woman watches in growing frustration. She’s thinking, ‘Why won’t he talk to me?’” Her heart rate rises. Her breathing becomes shallow and short. “The more he withdraws, the more physiologically aroused she becomes.”

If you’re the demanding partner in this dynamic, your best response at this point is surprisingly simple: Listen to your heart, literally. Monitor your physiology. If your heart is racing, your breathing ragged, your eyes ablaze, step back and take a deep breath. Close your eyes. Calm down. This small action can be surprisingly consequential, even profound. “The body is so fundamentally involved in our relationships,” Diamond says. “But few of us pay attention to it.”

Your own body’s cues aren’t the only ones worth paying attention to, however. The most important small gesture you can make toward your partner is to empathize. Consider that the very behavior making you nuts—his mumbling and emotional retreat—is calming for him, Diamond says. “It’s quite possible that he can’t respond in any other way. Our conflict styles develop over a lifetime.” So don’t raise your voice and demand that he continue engaging in that persistent fight about money or housework or friendships or sex (topics that recur constantly in Diamond’s work). Let him withdraw.
Then, when you’re calmer, go after him with a smile. “Humor is very important in defusing tension,” Diamond says. She describes one couple whose argument in the lab had grown extremely heated. A lab assistant intervened, suggesting they move on to the second chosen topic of conflict. And that topic was, as Diamond recalls, “the neighbor’s cow.” The two combatants looked at each other, dissolved into giggles, and left, minutes afterward, arm in arm. “We never found out what that source of conflict was supposed to be about,” Diamond says. Whatever it was, it didn’t make them angry anymore. It made them laugh. It restored their shared affection. “It’s always reassuring when we see couples start to laugh.”

Back in the observation room, Tim is squirming on the couch and Stacey’s stare is glacial. The lab assistant, directing the interaction toward resolution, suggests that they tell each other something positive.

Tim looks at Stacey and smiles. “I think we have fun most of the time,” he says. “We make each other laugh.”

Stacey’s pursed lips slowly relax. “Well, there was the time you wore that really tight pair of underwear.” She smiles, too. “That was funny.”

The research associate unhooks them from the various machines. They rise, take each other’s hands—another important small gesture—and leave.

“It would be interesting to hear the conversations between these couples in the car on the way home,” Diamond says. Or maybe that’s one small area in which science should leave well enough

alone.

Patience-Pastor Sybil Bull

By | Pastor Sybil Bull

Patience is a virtue echoed through out my childhood whenever I needed to wait for something. Who wants to wait when you can see what you want now and it is within your reach! But my mother, grandmother and aunts thought that delaying things would help me and not hurt me. When you are young the wait hurts a lot, and the person making you wait seems cruel and uncaring. Many emotions are released when we experience a delay in the things or person we are expecting. In an instant we go from excited anticipation to feelings of neglect, despair, and even anger when we see things postponed.

This position of “waiting” brings with it a mind of impatience and aggravation when what we want does not appear to manifest. The time between our expectation and manifestation seems eternal even though at times it’s only minutes or even days that some things are delayed. Whenever we are expecting what faith tells us to hope for, we then have to wait for it. My delay is working on my behalf more that against me. James 1:3-4 tells me that the trying of my Faith works patience in me, so I am encouraged to let patience have her work in me. If we wait for the things we are hoping for patiently, we will receive more than expected. There are certain things that happen to a person who learns to wait that appear to make them more relax and happy during the delayed time. Each time faith prolongs evidence appearing right away, we are taught to stand on God’s word and trust He will show the evidence of our faith and expectation.

As much as our flesh hates it, our soul is gaining more self control and freedom to experience the position of waiting patiently. We always have a choice in this journey when it comes to faith in God’s word. We can choose to believe and anticipate His visible word coming to past, or we can make it happen because our emotions got the best of us. However, each time we lose our focus on God and do things our self we fail to get the more unexpected things because we settled for making the expected things happen our self. Now that I am on this side of waiting I rejoice in all the times I did not understand, yet I still waited on God to fulfill His word, His way!