I like this one

Here's my scripture of the day for "all ya'll."  :D  I really like this one.

2 Nephi 33:6

"I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell."

Elmo

That's what Jude wants to watch on my computer RIGHT NOW.....I'll be back to write my comments later....

Nephi's Common Sense

Today as I read in 1 Nephi, chapter 17, I came across the verse (9) in which Nephi asks the Lord where he can find the ore to make the tools he needs to build their ship.  Don't know why it struck me, but the fact that he didn't just ask for the tools themselves, knowing God's all-powerful nature, really impressed me.  Nephi may have had a special relationship with the Lord, but he wasn't about to ask Him for favors that he knew he could take care of himself.  That's cool.

RIch LDS

So I learned at church that the LDS people, in the last days, will be the richest of the rich, according to several prophets, and I started wondering, what will make us rich? Is it because we are like the Jews, and we're stubborn, we work hard, and we stick together and network? Will we take over the financial sectors, and all be Donald Trumps? And then I realized, nope, we will not be rich in the world's sense of the word, right now, but we will be rich in gardens, food storage, water jugs, propane, self-sufficiency, quilts, sewing, etc....and there will come a time when those things will be valued much more than boats, mansions, and fancy cars. Interesting. They're already saying that because of the economic downturn, people are looking for houses that are sustainable, off the grid, and with land for gardens- instead of the trend before the bust.

hello hello

Anyone ever look at this? It's supposed to be this little cozy family site that motivates us to read the scriptures and share our insights. Hmmm, anyone reading these days? A man had a donkey and a carrot and a stick. His friend said he understood the motivation of the carrot, but why the stick. The man said, "That's to get his attention." What stick can I use to get some attention?

ZION IS FLED

I think that should be our new family motto. I was preparing my temple prep lesson tonight and one of the scriptures I looked up was Moses 7:69. "And Enoch and all his people walked with God, and he dwelt in the midst of Zion; and it came to pass that Zion was not, for God received it up into his own bosom; and from thence went forth the saying, ZION IS FLED."

I suppose that's what we are trying to do every day - flee the world. How neat would it be to achieve that level of righteousness to where we no longer need to be on the earth. That should be our goal - to walk with God each day and be so good that He can dwell in the midst of us. Let me know when you reach that level, and make sure you let me know when you're about to be taken up so I can come with you.

Book of Mormon challenge

Okay Sara and Jarem,
Where art thou in terms of B of M chapters read? How did you do the little Arabic sign Daniel? Cute. Way to go Dan and Elizabeth - you're chewing up the chart. Someone get after Dan Urbina and Joseph. Love you all. Mom

pride

I was reading in Alma 4 today verse 9. I noticed that pride was increasing among the members of the church. It states that their pride exceeded the pride of those who did not belong to the church of God. That surprised me because I always thought that it would be non-LDS people who would persecute the LDS.

In all my years in the Church I haven't seen a lot of pride among the members. I don't see members persecuting people who are not members. Maybe I am unaware of it since I am a member. Maybe I don't know what it would be like to be a non-member living in Utah. Generally I experience more anger directed at Mormons than I do the other way around.

Themes

Look what Elder Oaks says in his April Ensign article on the Atonement and faith: "Remember that our Savior Jesus Christ always builds us up and never tears us down. We should apply the power of that example in the ways we use our time, including our recreation and our diversions. Consider the themes of the books, magazines, movies, television shows, and music we in the world have made popular by our patronage. Do the things portrayed in our chosen entertainment build up or tear down the children of God?"

Notice the word "themes" (that I bolded)? That applies directly to me and the movies I watch. In the past I have always justified watching edited movies (ANY edited movies) simply because they were edited. More and more I have realized that just because they are edited, that doesn't mean they are clean. Many of Hollywood's themes really do tear us down. I'm going to be more careful about the edited movies I choose to buy.

No, that post doesn't have anything to do with my scripture reading. I'm still trying to find something interesting to share. :)

I think we should adopt the practice of the system of the judges employed by the people of Mosiah in Mosiah 29:28,29. If the judges didn't judge according to the law they were to be judged by higher judges. If the higher judges were not making righteous judgments then a small number of lower judges would be gathered to judge the higher judges.

Even that system went by the way as the people became wicked. Oh well, the highest judge of all will step in eventually. It can't be soon enough for me.

How do you comment on this thing?

Since I can't figure out how to comment, I'll just post a post. :) Lizzie, I definitely think it has something to do with the fact that Satan wants to keep everyone miserable. He doesn't just want the Lamans and Lemuels to go to their own little corner of the earth (back to Jerusalem) and be miserable with a few people. He wants to take everyone down. I think it also might have something to do with that culture. If it's anything like today's culture in the Middle East, the fathers have a lot of control over their families. When dad says move, you move.

Question about the grumblers.

Seems like every time Lehi or Nephi would relay a message/assignment from the Lord, Laman and Lemuel would grumble and murmur.

1 Nephi 2: 12-13

Lehi says they have to leave Jerusalem or perish.  Laman and Lemuel start grumbling.  They don't want to go and they don't even believe that Jerusalem could be destroyed in the way their father is prophesying.  Nephi even says his older brothers are like the Jews who sought to kill Lehi!  Even so, guess who is present when they embark on their journey?

1 Nephi 3:5

Lehi tells Laman and Lemuel that they're going to have to go back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates.  They, of course, start to murmur and complain about what a hard thing that is to have to do.  Yet, in verse 9, they're taking off to Jerusalem with Nephi and Sam.

1 Nephi 4:4

So after they've failed twice to get the plates, Nephi begs Laman and Lemuel to stick around and try one more time.  He even reminds them of the Lord's omnipotence by teaching them from the Bible.  They become "wroth" and they "continue to murmur."  BUT . . . "nevertheless they did follow me up until we came without the walls of Jerusalem."

So my question is . . .

. . . what on earth would induce two such people to continue following along when they so obviously disbelieve and loath their father and brother and even the Lord?!  Wouldn't it be more likely that they would just refuse to leave Jerusalem with the rest of the family?  Or refuse to go back to Jerusalem to get the plates?  Or refuse to try, yet again, to get the plates from Laban?

Anyone?  Anyone?

Is it that Satan is determined to have his hecklers following after the faithful servant of the Lord, attempting to drag him down with their griping any chance they get?

I just don't get it.

Healthy Eating Tip

I read something that has helped me be happy or content with eating healthy foods. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, Satan was able to get Eve to take a bite of that fruit by focusing her attention on the one tree she couldn't have. He blinded her to the many fruits that were available to her.

He does the same with us. On a diet we routinely dream and think about the foods we can't have, forgetting the abundance of foods we can eat. Now instead of thinking of the high carb foods I can't have, I think about the chicken, beef, pork, avocadoes, olives, mushrooms, low-carb cheeses, carrots, lettuce, kale, sprouts, cabbage, tomatoes, eggs, nuts, etc, that I can have.

I'm always just a few hours away from eating again; it's nothing like fasting 24 hours each month. And there is always something good and tasty to eat. So, have fun thinking of all you can have instead of what you can't have.

More From Dr. Sears - muscle building

These next paragraphs from Dr. Sear's book, The Doctor's Cure, explain why isometric exericses or Calisthenics are better for your muscles than just trying to increase muscle size at the gym.

"In daily life, your muscles work against the resistance of your body-weight. Despite the fancy exercise equipment in gyms, calisthenics remain the best way to build strength that you can use. Calisthenics are also much more effective in strengthening ligaments and tendons. To build strength that you can use work against your own body's weight.

"Your lower body is more important for functional strength than your upper body. For both men and women, there appears to be little benefit to creating oversized muscles in the arms, chest and shoulders, and having a muscular imbalance between the upper and lower body cn harm joints (especially shoudlers and neck) and posture later in life.

"Your biggest muscles are your quadriceps on the front of your thighs, followed by your hamstrings on the back of your thighs and the gluteus mscles in your buttocks, meaning your three biggest muscles all work to flex and extend your hip. If you want to maximize your exercise's effect on your total body strength, go to the muscles that nature designed to be the strongest and work them first."

Dr. Sears gives a series of exercises for each area. Again, just buy the T-Tapp program. It is isometric and it includes the cardio-interval training. The beginner's level is not easy; start there. I was surprised at how the short, intense exercises winded me pretty fast even though I have spent the last year doing uphill treadmill stuff every day for 40 minutes. I have good endurance, but not short-burst capability. I'll get there. It's fun.

Diet and Exercise Myths

I purchased a book called "The Doctor's Heart Cure" by Al Sears, M.D. I was interested in it because of his exercise philosophy; that "long-duration exercise . . . actually causes health problems. This type of exercise makes the heart and lungs more efficient, but it reduces their reserve capacity, or your body's ability to respond effectively to sudden demands you place on it.

"When you exercise continuously for more than about 10 minutes, your heart adapts by becoming more efficient. It achieves this efficiency through downsizing. Long-duration exercise makes the heart, lungs, and muscles smaller so that they can go longer with less energy, but there's a trade-off. The cardiovascular system becomes very good at handling a 60minute jog, but it gives up the ability to provide you with big bursts of energy for short periods. Far from protecting your heart, this loss makes you more vulnerable to a heart attack. . .

"Heart attacks don't happen due to a lack of endurance. They typically come about when a person is either at rest or when there's a sudden, sizable demand on the heart. Heart attacks often strike when someone lifts a heavy object, has sex, or experiences an unexpected emotional blow. For one reason or another, the oxygen supply to the heart can't keep up with a change in demand.

"Studies have demonstrated that short-duration exercise improves cardiovascular health more than long-duration exercise. A recent Harvard study found that men who performed shorter bouts of exercise reduced their heart disease risk by 20 percent. (Access the studies at the end of each chapter in Dr. Sear's book.)

"Dr. Stephen Seiler recently compared 20 minutes of running on a treadmill to running for 2 minutes followed by 2 minutes of rest for five cycles. He reported at the American College of Sports Medicine that interval exercise improved maximal cardiac outputs while continouse exercise did not. Intervals also produced another important improvement not seen with continouse exercise, the development of quicker cardiac adjustments to changes in demand. The interval trainees also achieved "higher peak stroke volumes." . . . that is the highest volume of blood your heart can pump per beat when challenged.

"Interval training also lowers cholesterol levels. . .it can improve your cholesterol ratios. Reserachers studied middle-aged, sedentary men and women who performed ten-minute bouts of exercise throughout the day for six weeks. The blood tests of the men and women showed both a drop in total cholesterol and a rise in beneficial HDScholesterol.

"Interval training also helps exercisers maintain healthy testosterone levels. Testosterone levels increase more in men who do interval exercise than in those doing endurance training. . . more youthful testosterone levels help older men maintain their muscle mass, libido, and bone integrity. (Marcia adds that normal testosterone levels would help prevent hair loss.)

"Every year very well-conditioned long-distance runners suffer sudden cardiac death. Distance runners have higher rates of sudden cardiac death than other athletes do. Modern marathons have emergency stations specifically equipped to handle the abnormal heart rhythms, heart attacks, and other cardiac emergencies that can be expected to occur. This increased risk appears regardless of culture or diet.

". . .a report in the American Journal of Cardiology found that distance running disrupted the balance of blood thinners and thickeners, elevating clotting levels and inflammatory factors. These changes are signs of heart distress, not a heart that's becoming stronger after exercise.

"The bottom line is that to use your willpower to force yourself into frequently repeating continous 'cardio' is not mimicking the natural condition. In nature, our path, pace, stride, intensity, positioning, and force during exercise all occur in starts and stops to meet the changing demands of our surroundings. Your body is designed to work in interval bursts.

Shed More Fat with Interval Exercise

Most people think that the longer they work out, the more weight they will lose. They plod on mile after sweaty mile, assuming that they are melting off unwanted fat with every step. In fact, these dedicated but misinformed exercisers are undermining their own efforts! Endurance exercise is not the best way to lose body fat. Long-term exercise calls on the body to store more fat!

I'm summarizing now: You do burn a great amount of fat by long, moderate-intensity exercise, but only during the 30-60 minutes you are working out. It's what occurs after you stop exercising that actually adds more fat to your body.

"Your body is always adapting to the demands put on it. When you burn fat during exercise, you are telling your body to maintain fat stores so that they will be available for the next exercise session. In essence, your body hoards your fat reserves to use as fuel for future workouts. Instead of decreasing fat, this type of endurance exercise triggers your body to make more fat whenever possible. You get the highest percentage of your energy needs from fat while you are at rest.

"Endurance exercise actually encourages fat production. When you begin working out, your body burns ATP, the highest energy fuel in the body, but there is only enough ATP for one or two minutes of exercise. Next, your body switches to glycogen, a carbohydrate stored in muscle tissue. Your glycogen stores will take you through about 15 minutes of exercise. After that, your body taps into its fat reserves for fuel. . . since your body does all it can to adapt to demands, it builds back your fat the next time you eat to prepare you for the next time you exercise for a long time. It also sacrifices other tissues, such as muscle, to preserve fat whenever possible.

"One of the primary reasons people choose the wrong form of exercise is that they presume that their body changes during an exercise session. It never does. All the important changes begin after you stop working out. They are consequences of your body adapting to prepare for the next time you ask your body to perform that same activity.

"A number of studies also confirm the phenomenon. For example, reasearchers at Colorado State University measured how long our bodies continue to burn fat after brief periods of exercise. Study participants exercised for 20 minutes in sets of two-minute intervals of exercise, and one-minute rest periods. The reserachers found that participants still burned fat 16 hours after the interval exercising! At rest, their fat oxidation was up by 62 percent, and their resting metabolic rate rose 4 percent. In other words, interval exercise continues to trigger fat burning long after the session is over."

Dr. Sears goes on to cite other interesting studies supporting the need for interval exercising. He also explains the need for exercises that build muscle mass. He has a program for interval exercising one day and muscle mass building the next. It is all simple and not time-consuming.

I recommend that you get the T-Tapp program. I did parts of it when we lived in Guatemala then gave it up for a daily 40-minute workout on the treadmill. Today I went back to T-Tapp recognizing that it is exactly what Dr. Sears is advocating: interval training. I also will continue with 20 minutes on the treadmill but will do it in intervals.

Dr. Sears also dedicates a few chapters in his book to the necessity of eating more protein in order to lose weight. He says, "When you eat protein, your body produces growth hormones that build muscles. When you eat carbohydrates, your body secretes insulin to digest carbohydrates and build fat." He talks a lot about low-carb eating and explains how carbs cause a spike in blood sugar. Too much glucose in the blood is converted to fat not energy. My sister-in-law gave me a couple of references for low-carb eating: The Idiot's Complete Guide to Low-Carb Meals. You can find more online. This sister-in-law lost 30 lbs, about a pound a week learning to eat low-carb. I don't have a lot to lose, about 5 lbs, but I have had to fight like crazy to not gain. I now understand why; I was exercising too much causing my body to store the fat. It also made me too hungry.

I hope this has been helpful information. Please weigh in with any insights you may have. I now understand why several of my relatives and friends who have tremendous will-power could not lose weight in spite of several hours of exercise a day. It just didn't make sense until I came across this book how anyone could work out so long and hard and still not drop a pound. These latest studies shed light on it.