Reading, Writing & Pondering

Fast Metabolism Food Rx is the first book I have read by Haylie Pomroy. This fascinating book offers food plans as a prescription for seven  health issues: Digestion problems, Fatigue and low energy, Hormonal issues including PMS and Menopause, High cholesterol, Brain issues like depression, anxiety and forgetfulness, blood sugar issues, and immune/auto-immmune disorders. I found it to be well-written and interesting to read. I found this book to be very interesting. I like the idea of using food to help heal our bodies over medication whenever possible. Haylie encourages readers to work with their doctors to make changes but she also encourages patients to use food to improve health, either eliminating or cutting down on medication by working with their doctor. This book becomes especially credible to me when Pomroy shares her own health issues and how food has made her feel so much better without medications. . .and she has doctors who work with her and listen. She encourage...

The new Life Verse Creative Journal and Blank Journal are a beautiful, petite journal set. I already have a life verse but I loved this set. My life verses are, " Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." The Life Verse Creative Journal is a smaller size that I quite liked to stick inside my Bible to create along with my quiet time with God. This journal is aimed at choosing a life verse and making it your own, but even with having a life verse, there was plenty to help me learn and grow in God's Word. There are 15 verses with journaling prompts within the beautiful illustrations to color and work through. Eve...

Christine Caine's new Christian self-help book, Unashamed, offers advice to readers on how to live the life Christ offers for you and lose baggage and shame to better do that. Caine shares from her life and from the life of other women how shame and the consequences of shame can affect life. She also shares through this book just what shame is, how we can feel shame, and how we can tear down the walls of shame and live our life without fear and shame. Unashamed for me was helpful. . .but it was also a little ho hum. Since I enjoyed her first book, Undaunted, so much, maybe my hopes were too high. I also recently finished reading Brene Brown's books dealing with shame and attended a ladies retreat at my church that related Brown's books on shame to God's word and the Christian life. . .Because of that experience, I didn't especially learn anything new from this book. However, it did offer good reinforcement for what I had already learned and she quotes from Bro...

Prescription for Natural Cures is a great reference for holistic treatments and natural remedies for the health problems that one encounters. The cover states this book is a self-care guide for treating health problems with natural remedies including diet, nutrition, supplements and other holistic methods. We have an HSA for our health care needs so we often try to heal simple health issues ourselves before heading to the doctor. While you may also choose to talk to a physician or other healthcare provider about these issues, this book offers helpful ways to pursue healing along with a doctor's advice or it may also give you information you can discuss with your doctor. Prescription for Natural Cures is so handy to have around, although it is a thick reference manual at 835 pages. It is easy to use with conditions organized alphabetically from A to Z. There are over 200 conditions referenced in this book.It is up-to-date with the latest information from natural health resear...

Wonderland is a beautiful new adult coloring book form Amy Shen. Inspired by Alice"s Adventures in Wonderland, I think Wonderland is more than a coloring book. . .It offers a chance for you to give Alice a new adventure with your colored pencils. This beautifully illustrated coloring book tells a bit of Alice's story through the pages. You can meet the Cheshire cat, have tea with the Mad Hatter, and play croquet with the Queen of Hearts.  Besides coloring delicate scenes, Wonderland offers a few places for you to draw in your own pictures. For example, you may add butterflies to a page with two butterflies or add a few owls to the page with three owls on it. There is also a maze and a series of puzzles on "the playing car's scroll." I especially enjoyed the extra activities along with the coloring. Wonderland is best colored with well-sharpened colored pencils as most of the designs are fairly intricate. Some pages the coloring picture takes up the whole p...

Unstuffed   isn't your usual type of decluttering book as the subtitle says, Decluttering Your Home, Mind and Soul. Unstuffed offers advice on improving life in your home and with friends along with improving your spiritual and physical health. As I think about it, that is a tall order for this book. Unstuffed is divided into three sections. Part one shares information on creating the home you want to live in as well as dealing with all the stuff that you fill it with. It isn't full of how to declutter because Soukup says she wrote another book on that topic. Part two shares information on how to slow down your schedule and clear up some of the paperwork that comes through your home. The last section of this part also contains a chapter on dealing with other people's stuff, whether it is given to you or you inherited it. The last part of the book offers information on how to cultivate real friendships and release those that are not serving you well or are toxic. It a...

I loved Annie Downs first book, Let's all be Brave, so I couldn't wait to read Looking For Lovely. This book was another fast read for me, just like her first book. I enjoyed reading her personal stories as well as the Biblical truths she shared along with them. . .and at the end of most chapters, Downs encourages her readers to think about the lovely in their own lives and to take some sort of action to collect moments that matter of their own. Looking for Lovely is divided into three sections. In the first section, In the Absence of Lovely, Downs shares some of the difficulties and challenges she faced in her life. In the second section, In Search of Lovely, Downs shares how God met her as she worked to heal from her hurts and looked for God in every area of her life. The Third section, When I Found Lovely, Downs shares how she changed her perspective on life. . .How she doesn't feel like she has to be perfect just because the book is ending here. I enjoyed the whol...