Fitness & Blurred Lines

So I've been working out & like most people, I spend a lot of time on pinterest & instagram on the "fitspiration" pages getting inspired to be fit i.e. fitspiration. It's worked, I'm in "beast mode" and "giving 1 more push-up" and getting fit because "nothing tastes as good as being fit feels". In the midst of all the mantras and positive thinking and inspiration, is a very blurry line between fitspiration and plain porn.

What exactly is porn. Is it restricted to the actual act of coitus (Big Bang Theory anyone? :-)), or does it start at naked images of 2 or more people, or 1 person. Progress is amazing, but why do we have to turn something as great as fitness and health into sex. If you want to take a picture of your abs, take a picture of your abs, you don't have to do it in a thong and worse, pulling down the front part of your thong to give us more than enough details! Same goes for guys & undies selfies!

I hate the prevalence of the over-sexualization of everything. Take Beyonce's new album videos. I haven't listened to the album, because on Youtube, all the videos are marked "explicit", why? Hasn't Bey garnered enough success to not have to resort to showing her ass to the world? Or, Rihanna's song with Shakira, the lyrics of the song have nothing to do with gyrating in risque swimsuits.

Honest question, where does sexiness end and porn begin? This line is so blurry. I feel like an porn addict could watch a music video playing in his living room in the middle of the afternoon, not sneaking away or hiding anything & satisfy his craving. S

Anyway, on to happier things...

JillIan Michaels totally kicked my butt today. I only got to minute 21 before I quit. Then I thought to myself, "if I'm gonna live a life of no regrets, I better finish this workout". So I took a 5 minute break, turned on some Hillsong Young & Free and got back to it.

BOOM!

I wasn't perfect at it, and like I said, it murdered my arms, which is why this is my new go-to workout, talk about a burn!!! I'll probably do it again after church tonight. It's only 35 minutes so I don't think its too much for 1 day. I can't wait to feel sore tomorrow so I know which muscles I worked lol.

Happy Sunday folks!

Happy & Strong - Body, Soul & Mind

For the life of me, I can't remember what workout I did yesterday, my bad! Today though, I went HARD!!! I walked 4.2 miles, and...

I also did some weighted squats and tricep lifts. I was obviously not perfect at workout video #2, but I went for it & I'm so stinking proud of myself :-)

Foodwise, I had a carrot, spring mix, strawberry & plain yogurt, smoothie for breakfast. Lunch was my leftover chicken teriyaki noodles, then I made some flaxseed, wholewheat, chocolate brownies for dinner. Not a great dinner, but it'll have to do. I think I got plenty of my nutrition for the day.

So my body is covered. For my soul, I watched probably the best movie I have watched in a long time. It's a bollywood movie called Akaash Vani. It's a love story, SO GOOD! My soul is happy. I love the long stares, the gazing into each others eyes, the romantic poetry. Ahh!

For my mind, I'm reading God's Generals/doing homework. It's a biographical book detailing the lives, triumphs & tragedies of past revivalists. I like it because it shows us their strengths, their weaknesses, what they did wrong & what we can avoid. I can't wait to tell you guys all about what I'm learning!

x
Jo

Treasure Hunts, Trader Joe's & Victoria Secret Legs!

Treasure Hunts Today!!!

Treasure hunts are my city service/activation. Basically, a team of 3-5 people fill out a treasure map, which is a list of clues about who God is highlighting to us at that particular time. So today on my list, I had a bunch of stuff among them I had, red & white striped shirt. So we went downtown to a coffee shop which was on my team mates list & found a girl in the shirt I wrote down! So we went up & prayed for a few things for her & prophesied over her that was really cool

The boys also found this guy who had just moved to Redding & prayed and prophesied over him and when they came back & told me, I was like, "No way, I had 'moved to a new city' on my treasure map" It would have been so cool for the guy to see that & know he really was God's treasure for the day just as an added bonus!

Afterward, we had class & were prayed over & released for our mission trips!!! #6daystoitaly

We had a Trader Joes run and I got their Turkey burgers & honey wheat buns & handsome cut french fries.

 

I was craving some In n Out & figued I could satisfy my cravings in a healthier way than animal fries & animal style burger. I just packed the burger with spring mix & cut the cheese. Oh yeah, it hit the spot!!!

I also had some of this...crack in a plastic bag! These are so good. I've never had kettle corn until meeting my housemate Julie, the thought of sugar in popcorn made me sick, but now, OMG Kenya you don't know what you're missing! Nobody does it better than Trader Joe's!

My workouts for the day included walking 2.1 miles to school in the morning and...

these were some amazing stretches for my poor, sore strong body! I don't know what it is about working out & eating semi-well...I feel hot! I know I have probably not lost 100 pounds, but I feel so strong & confident. My legs probably look the same, but I feel like a freaking Victoria Secret Model walking the runway. Exercise is a great self-esteem boost. It's the weekend tomorrow, I just might go on a little run, at the very least a brisk walk. I never thought I'd say this, but, I'm probably packing workout clothes to Italy as well. Let's see if I can do a couple of workouts in the land of pasta and gelato!

x

Jo

Small Goups, Worldchangers & Yoga

Today was a superb day! We had small group at Sundial Bridge & a few of the boys decided to honor us girls & invited us to their small group for communion & to prophesy over us.

So we walked down a trail I haven't been on, past the exhibition center & woah! You guys, I found the place where Jesus must hang out in Redding. This little place off the trail, where the river is really shallow & it's really quiet, you can hear the water over the rocks, it's really beautiful. It was like a 15 minute walk, so I figured this would be my first workout of the day.

The guys gave us some really encouraging words & sang over us "we love you, we'll never stop, all this is for you, beautiful daughters". I've never been so blessed in my life. It's one thing for someone to stop you on the street & give you a word, it's a whole other thing when a group of men is intentional about pursuing you, simply to encourage you & honor you. Obviously, this isn't my culture, not the culture I grew up in. Only here in Redding have I really learned what it means to be honored & loved by these incredible men, who love me just because I'm me & they see greatness & me and aren't afraid to say it, not expecting anything back, not to hit on me or get my number or take advantage of me or anything, just because they just love me and honor me. They teach me to look at myself the way Jesus looks at me...these guys are the gospel, they are the Kingdom with skin on.

If you can't tell yet, I'm in love. I was praying telling God, I came here for a lot of reasons, top of which was to find love & to be loved. I can say without a doubt, I found love & have been loved in my Revival Group, in my intern, in my old housemates, Brentt, Laura & Makari, in Redding, in Bethel. I've fallen in love with this church, city & culture. Although, I was joking in my prayer, saying, I should have been more specific...I wanted a husband! But God has given me way more than I could have ever asked or imagined. I grow more & more in love everyday. Sometimes, I get into worship and I'm like, "Woah, my love has grown, I can't believe I love you this much now..."

Anyway, enough of the mushy business. In other news, I wrote a letter to the Kenya missions team. I just felt led to bless them & encourage them, I was a little peeved that they hadn't reached out to me because my Thai roommate was invited to speak to the Thai missions team, so I was like, "what's up with that?" and God asked me, "What's up with YOU?! You do it!" So, that was fun to bless them & pray for them. I also baked some brownie muffins for my Kenyan friends, Eric & Anne, dang, those babies were good! If I do say so myself! It was awesome to do that for them. I've been planning to for months & it only took me like 35 minutes, so I'm definitely doing that again. Maybe, I'll make some treats for revival group!

I was so sore from the dance last night, so I thought I'd just do some yoga & found Jillian Michaels. First off, Jillian Michaels, this isn't yoga. Yoga is calm & relaxing, this is full on strength & cardio! Anyway, this was my final workout of the day, which I laughed so hard in, enjoyed & COMPLETED thanks to my other housemate Julie doing it with me! Shout out!

x
Jo

St. Patrick's Day Ceili

My friend Karen from Ireland invited us to a ceili i.e. a big Irish/Scottish dance party at Church tonight. It was tons of fun and definitely enough of a work out for me! JP was playing drums, and if you know anything about Bethel Music, you know JP Gentile is probably hands down, on of THE best instrumentalists in the world ever! Honestly, is there nothing JP can't play?! I haven't met him yet, but I will...soon...lol

Anyway, the dance was so fun & having my Revival Group family there made it tons better! I had my green jeans on and I was ready to dosie doh like it was 2004!

Steph Soh Photography

Steph Soh Photography

 

 

So yeah, this was both my fun night out & my exercise for the day...because sometimes, if not all the time, the best workout is a night out with your friends!

x
Jo

Jo Gets Healthy Day 1

Monday!

Well, today I woke up to some Cheerios, then I had a couple of oranges as a midday snack. I made some stir fry chicken teriyaki noodles for lunch which will be my lunch for the next couple of days. I also made some oatmeal peanut butter cookies for my 2nd snack of the day. I'll post all these recipes up soon :-)

I tried to wake up to go running, but we were out late last night and I decided to sleep in. Tomorrow though!

So these were my workouts for today!

By this point I was SWEATING!!!

I couldn't do any more by this point, even though Pippa's routine is one of my favorites. Maybe next time I'll get through the whole workout :-)

Right after, I had a serving of some nuts and yogurt as my post workout snack/final meal of the day.

Happy Workouts Friends!

We've Moved!

Hey There!

Thank you for dropping by joannefuraha.com! We recently moved from rahaandlife.blogspot.com. Feel free to click on the link to head over there or copy paste this address on your browser http://rahaadlife.blogspot.com/ to catch up.

Remember you can also like my Facebook Page or follow me on Twitter or Pinterest to catch up.

Bless You Guys,

We've Moved!

Hey There!

Thank you for dropping by joannefuraha.com! We recently moved from rahaandlife.blogspot.com. Feel free to click on the link to head over there or copy paste this address on your browser http://rahaadlife.blogspot.com/ to catch up.

Remember you can also like my Facebook Page or follow me on Twitter or Pinterest to catch up.

Bless You Guys,

God, Food and Peace

Today I’ve been feeling really sluggish, actually it started yesterday. First thing I think about when I feel like this is, “Have I lost connection with God?” No, I actually worshipped to “Be My Love Reprise” standing in line at the movie store. Ok, next is, “Am I depressed or discouraged about something?” No. 

So, I hadn’t really figured out why until I remembered I’ve been eating trash the past few weeks and barely been drinking any water and its finally catching up to me. As I type this my face is burning because I might have scrubbed a little too hard because of the 2 spots currently taking up residence on my skin. “Can’t wait to see how this ends up in the morning”, said me, sarcastically.

Anyway, today didn’t contain a huge revelation about my eating habits, more of a realization. Or two. First if I want to change the world and I’m trusting God to take care of everything I can’t control, why is it so hard for me to take care of the one thing I can control which is how I take care of my body. I last maximum a week on any diet plan or health resolution. Currently I live in a place where pizza and burgers and fried chicken are financially inconvenient to get every day, my temptation is those delicious local joint fries with a lot of kachumbari (salsa) poured all over it and maybe a samosa and a Krest on the side. What happens the day I’m in a place surrounded by KFC’s and the like?

Second, I really have to think through this change the world plan, because the moment I thought the 1^st thought, I wondered how exactly I’m going to do that. The thing is, I have ideas in my head, but I have no idea how it’s all going to come together. Anyway, that’s a story for another day.

Back to the health thing…I don’t know why it’s been so hard for me to eat healthy. I like to cook, but I’m so not used to eating regular meals, it makes me lazy from the get go to start cooking. The best plan of attack here is baby steps: starting with drinking more water because honestly, my skin is suffering. I’ve never had acne (thank the Lord!) and this year would be the absolute worst time to get it. Also I’m getting a little allergy rash on my collar bone and at this point the only thing I could be allergic to are french-fry ingredients since that’s literally the only thing I’ve been eating all month!

After that, we’ll see how we do with meals and such. I really would love your prayers, I definitely need the self-discipline to change my ways.

Other than that, we really really absolutely need to pray for peace during this election. I do not want to live in the middle of violence like last time and the news has been getting worse each day leading up to this election. Daddy God, please confuse the enemy camp, all the seeds of war being planted may they fall on choking thorns. LET PEACE ARISE, that’s what we declare in the name of Jesus.

xx

Jo

Bring God into your Health Journey

I love blogging, more than that, I love reading blogs, blogs about people trying to work out God into every area of their life and I Love Life Massive is one of those blogs. Found this post that I LOVED and thought I'd give you a glimpse into the type of writing Michelle does and why I love this blog.


"This past month I've started to crave that lifestyle again. Noooo not joining the cheer squad again... getting healthy. 
Working a desk job all day means little movement and to be honest, I've felt week and tired. Enough was enough and I decided to make a change. I didn't want to trumpet it to the world like I usually do when I start something new... (call me an external processor)... because this time...it was for me. 
I never realized this until recently, but any time in the past that I've started to get healthy, more active, or eat better, it was always because I felt obligated to do so... like I owed it to the world or something. I felt like I had to because it was the right thing to do...  not because I had any internal motivation. 
God has been doing SO much in SO MANY areas of my life, and I've just recently come to realize that a genuine desire to be healthy and strong is a natural overflow of what He has been doing in me. 
I've been waking up eeeeearly to work out in the mornings. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't believe in getting up before the sun. I feel like I am a sun... and I like to rise with it, and sleep with it ;) My point is... GRACE has been covering me! Sure, it's not always easy to roll (and I literally mean roll) out of bed in the morning, but once I get up and going, It's GLORIOUS!! I feel GREAT after a work out! I feel stronger and I feel like I made the time count! I've also been doing Body by Vi. If you haven't heard about it, you can learn more here. I absolutely LOVE drinking the shakes every day. They are SO yummy! Everyone calls it the shake mix that tastes like cake mix :) I actually have to remind myself that I can't just have it for all 3 meals a day... otherwise I WOULD! Ha!! I love it :)

My success tools have been...
1. Working out with a friend... we help keep each other motivated and encouraged... plus its FUN!
2. Body by Vi (it's making my meals EASY!!)
3. Water
4. Hope & Vision for a healthy me! (You have to believe it's possible)
5. Self worth (because I AM worth it!)

If you feel unmotivated or disconnected from health in your life, ask God to give you vision for it. When I let Him in the picture, everything changed for me. I just wanted to share a bit of my story in case someone, somewhere, needed a testimony to remind them that it's possible. I have enough hope for all of us :)

Happy Health!!"


The parts in bold are the parts that really got me. Make sure you head to her blog and read her thoughts on God too.

xx
Jo

In The Week of Typhoid...

Guess who's back?!

After a particularly bad dose of food poisoning bordering on the edge of typhoid and malaria (for real) 2 weeks ago, blogging was the last thing on my mind!

Remember Sunday I went to that mad love concert, (pictures coming up later), Monday, Tuesday I was at school paying my fees and that fateful Tuesday I bought one f those veggie salads from John and Jo's in town, and yes I'm writing their name hadharani (in public) because they almost killed me. 

I went to the counter and asked the girl if they sold salad without dressing and she pulls underneath the counter and gives me one. A logical person would've taken that as a warning sign and been a little wary...not me, I bought it, got home, took a couple of bites, it didn't really taste "right" so I threw it away, but it was too late. 

Thursday night comes along and I'm puking my guts out at 2 in the morning, same thing throughout the weekend. By Saturday morning, I'm slowly feeling my spirit slip away (well-deserved drama queen moment) but, anyway, I was really weak, I couldn't keep anything down, I had a fever, I fainted running to the bathroom to puke again at 2 in the morning and my mum finds me on the floor...really, it was scary, then trying to figure out how she was going to get me to the hospital in the middle of the night!

Got to the clinic a couple of hours later and got a bunch of tests done, got drugged up and got home. Sunday till Thursday, I was in bed recuperating and dealing with the nasty side effects of the drugs they put me under, one was an anti-nausea pill whose side effect was causing lethargy and sleepiness, another was an amoebicide the size of my thumb, and the rest were malaria pills, cough medicine, antibiotics, anti-allergy, antacids, I am telling you, I was a walking pharmacy!!!

I lost a bunch of weight when I was sick (yay parasites!) (just kidding, definitely just kidding) but I gained it all back this week, don't blame me, all I can eat is fries, I dont have an appetite for anything else! Hoepfully next week I'll be 100% recovered and I can quit the fries.

The lesson I learnt though is none of this matter, thin, fat, big boned, whatever! As long as you're healthy, nothing else matters. In the middle of my puking, I was just praying for the day I'd be able to eat crunchy, charred, juicy nyama choma (barbecue) and honestly, that's life, deprivation isn't life, restraint and responsibility is one thing, deprivation is another.

Anyway, I'll be back to normal posting soon, I'm better now, and I hope you accept my deepest apologies for not being around.

xo

Jo