Have You Thought of Fasting?

Are you looking for an answer to a specific question? Do you want to find peace in your hectic life? Does your daily personal prayer and scripture study seem a bit sluggish? Have you considered fasting as a way to improve your spiritual clarity? Fasting really is a blessing, a chance that we have to bring our spiritual side into sharper focus. When we are looking for an answer to a problem, praying for someone else or looking for a way to increase our spirituality, fasting can help us do all of those things. Often people fail to realize that … Continue reading

Fasting with a Purpose

Fasting each month is a way that each member can improve his spirituality. One thing that helps to make fasting more effective is to have a purpose while fasting. This helps you to focus your prayers and your thoughts while fasting. It can also help you listen to the Spirit for guidance. Here are four ideas on topics that you may consider making the focus of your fast. 1) You can fast to receive guidance and/or help for a problem that you are facing. This could be with your job, finances, a relationship or concern for a child. Many of … Continue reading

The Benefits of Fasting

The last two days I have written about the negative side effects of doing a detoxification diet. In essence, your body is well designed to detox on its own, and forcing a detox of the colon, will force all of the good bacteria out of your body as well. Not to mention the fact that diarrhea can upset the balance of electrolytes, potassium, and other nutrients needed in your body. If you’re trying to clean up your act and you really want to healthily cleanse your system, the best way to do it is by drinking plenty of water and … Continue reading

Five Tips on Fasting

Fasting is a wonderful blessing that we can choose to partake of. When I was younger I hated fasting. I would count the hours until I could eat again. I was always focused on what I was giving up instead of what I was gaining. As an adult I have had some wonderful experiences. My approach to fasting changed drastically, as I grew older. Here are five tips to make the most of your fasting. 1) You should have a purpose for you fast. This makes your fast more meaningful. Fasting can help you to find insight because your body … Continue reading

The Juice Cleanse Diet

The Juice Cleanse diet is a fad diet. It requires people to drink a certain amount of juice and prohibits people from eating food. There are a lot of dangers involved with this fad diet. Before you begin a new diet, it is a good idea to speak with your doctor about it. What is the Juice Cleanse Diet? The Juice Cleanse diet has gone by different names over the years including: Cleanse, Master Cleanse, Detox, and the “Maple Syrup Diet” (made popular when Beyonce did it years ago). The Hollywood 48 hour miracle diet is a Juice Cleanse diet. … Continue reading

Praying for Others

One of the simplest and kindest things that we can do for others is to pray for them. This is as simple as including them in our daily prayers or it can include a special prayer on behalf of someone who needs it. When you are unsure about the best way to help someone you can simply say a prayer for him or her. At times you may be prompted on a course of action that you can take, and you may not. The times that you do receive a prompting in regards to your prayer you should act on … Continue reading

Tips for Surviving Fast Sunday

Fast Sunday is coming up soon, the day that elicits more groans and complaints than any other day the rest of the month. Here are some tips that might help you make it through the day. 1. Choose a specific thing or person to fast for. If you focus on that person and their needs and what you hope will happen for them, or on the thing you need in your own life, you’re more likely to stay on task and be more committed to the fast you’ve undertaken. If you don’t have a specific purpose in your fast, you’re … Continue reading

Weight Loss Terms to Know

We throw a lot of specific words around when we discuss weight loss issues. I thought it was high time we clarify them. Adipose Tissue: Body fat. Aerobic: The kind of exercise that get’s you breathing fast and heavy. Anaerobic: Exercise that uses muscles at high intensity and a high rate of work for a short period of time. Resistance training is a form of anaerobic exercise. Basal Metabolic Rate: (BMR) The number of calories your body needs to just exist, not move. Body Mass Index: (BMI) A number achieved through height & weight measurements. It is fairly inaccurate when … Continue reading

Gospel Questions: What is a Patriarchal Blessing?

Back in ancient days, there were patriarchs ordained to give blessings to the faithful who desired to know God’s will for them. One such patriarch was Samuel. We read his story in 1 Samuel chapter 16. The Lord told him to look amongst the sons of Jesse for the next king, but he should not look upon the outer appearance, but on the heart. Jesse brought his sons before Samuel, and he sensed that none of them were right. He asked Jesse if there wasn’t one more son, and Jesse explained that his youngest was out with the flocks. Samuel … Continue reading

LDS Week in Review: December 31st-January 5th

Did the New Year keep you from joining us here on Families.com? If so, we can catch you up to speed. Miriam finished up the year’s Dinner Discussions, and Tristi continued the Gospel Questions series with the Word of Wisdom. We took another look at the lessons of Spencer W. Kimball in “The Sabbath: A Delight,” which taught us that as we learn to keep the Sabbath day holy, we demonstrate to God the depth of our willingness to be obedient. In “Fishers of Men: What Are Our Nets?” we discussed the way we try to share the gospel with … Continue reading