Recently in Video Category

Today is my birthday (Sept. 30) and here's a brand-new video recipe for a very low-fat, low calorie yogurt fruit snack.  It was a lot of fun to make, and I hope it's helpful to you.





Just to recap (in case you can't see the video on your screen).

-- 1 cup Greek yogurt (no-fat, strained)
-- add fruit of your choice: apricot, nectarine, raisins, peaches (fresh or canned without sugar or syrup)
-- stir and enjoy

Avoid the fruit yogurts that have the sweetened fruit on the bottom, they are highly caloric.  They're actually fruit jam or preserves, not whole fruit.

PLEASE COME BACK TOMORROW!

We'd love to hear your ideas for snacks.  Please, POST A RECIPE of your own.

Thank you.

Thanks to all who have been commenting.  It's so fun and full-filling to read what you write!  Your comments make me happy, even the tough ones.  So PLEASE keep them coming.  Also, tell your friends about this amazing, growing online community.  Please share this simple link, www.beliefnet.com/drnorris

This week, two of our delightful readers have delighted me, as follows:

Debra Rincon Lopez from Oregon wrote: "You are so right, you must remember the joy in weightloss. Also God's happiness and joy in your life, should be the biggest part of your lifestyle anyway. I was forgetting in the past, but my new lifestyle after addiction to drugs & alcohol is made whole with God in my life. Plus you need to find joyful and active activities to do with others. This makes it so helpful to you and them."

I can't begin to count how many people told me NOT to title my book, "The Joy of Weight Loss," because "there's no joy in weight loss."  No way!  It's a totally joyous process, and I don't mean after the weight is lost.  I mean to find and experience joy and then the weight comes off.  Overweight and obesity I believe is a symptom of a lack of joy and happiness in life.  That joy is infinite - spiritual, physical, emotional, psychological.

Another big joy-generator was Verlon, who wrote, "Hi, my name is Verlon Tucker and i like walking and i Thank You."  Enough said, Verlon!  Walk on!

Let me know what YOUR JOY is!  Just writing it below will make you feel more joy, I'm sure, and it's contagious.

And please sign up for my daily Tweets on Twitter!  www.twitter.com/drnorrischumley

share this daily blog with all your friends, please.  It would help me and Beliefnet a lot if you'd spread the word!  www.Beliefnet.com/drnorris

If you haven't seen or heard about Connie Culp, the lady who is the recipient of one of the first face transplants, you may want to.  She has been through so many traumas, pain, and humiliation - yet sought help and received a miraculous opportunity-of-a-lifetime.   Hers is an inspiring story, especially if you're feeling bad about yourself.

Her husband pulled out a rifle and shot her, then turned the gun on himself.  He blew away her nose and an eye, shattered her facial bones and parts of her skull, and left her highly disfigured.  People stared at her and called her names.  A child once pointed to her and said "monsters are real, mommy, there's a monster now." Her husband lived, and is now in prison, rightfully so.

After about 22 hours in surgery, with other shorter surgeries before and after, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic attached a new face from a deceased donor.  80% of her face was replaced.   Connie first wanted a seemingly a little thing, to smell the smell of spearmint gum, and to eat pizza.  When she was able to smell and have solid food, it was a sign for the doctors that their experimental surgeries worked.

Connie's courage, determination and will to live really inspires me.  When I wake up thinking about my problems, getting motivated to go work-out, write my daily blogs, do my day-to-day work to earn a living, I realize I have things really easy and my life is going really well, compared to what Connie has been through.  My problems seem minor.

Here's a link to Connie's first step in front of the public: a video of her press conference from the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper online, click here. May God continue to bless Connie and her medical team.

Are you inspired by Connie?  Do you have hardships that you are working on?  Please post a comment.

Follow me on Twitter.com.  I'm drnorrischumley.  Sign up now!

I just got an email from a longtime friend in Indiana, Michael White, who is a very talented singer and composer.  He and another friend made a really moving video at Christmas about having "A Wonderful Life."

Please take a look...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eUZBQ0L_EY

There are so many parallels to the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life," in our lives right now, and it's a gift to be reminded that with our faith in God and in the wonder of life, and the love we have between us, we will be OK.

There is some good to be found in everyone, no matter what mistakes we have made or problems we bear.  Remembering that we are all valuable and helping one another reaffirms our value and helps us.

Most of all, it is love and caring that will guide us through.


Please bookmark and subscribe to this blog.  We are all in this life together!

A lot of people are looking at life dramas these days.  President Obama wants "no drama,"  and Mary K. Blige says "No More Dramas" in her song by the same title.

Are you in the middle of a drama?  Is life full of tension, stress, anger and/or angst?  I find the best way to alleviate personal drama is to see and experience someone else's - if only for a moment and better yet, a dramatization.  I'm talking about freeing yourself from your own drama into a movie drama.  You might then be able to see your life dramas as not being so intense or hard.

When I was in my early 20's, I was really enmeshed in my own drama.  School wasn't going well, I was working too hard, I didn't have many friends, not to mention any girlfriend.  I weighed a lot, and my pounds were dramatically dangerous, all 400 or so of them.  One day I was on the phone to my Mom, telling her my problems, confiding that I felt so bad I was almost suicidal, and she just said outright, "honey, why not go to a good movie and get your mind off all of it?"  That was a really great, loving suggestion.  I went to see "Dog Day Afternoon" starring Al Pacino.  Thanks Mom, that idea saved me.

Seeing the story of some down-and-out desperate characters, and how they tried to rob a bank to feel better about their "financial situation" (whoa, bad idea, huh?) really got me out of feeling down about myself.  It was like my whole chain of thought was suddenly sidelined, which brought me a great sense of perspective.

Being completely immersed in the movie's drama; having my own drama temporarily postponed later allowed me some perspective.  Things were not nearly as bad in my life as in those bank robbers'.

If you're feeling down, if you've got the winter blues, consider stepping out of your drama into some fictional screen drama - if only for a couple of hours.

Does this idea ring a bell with you?  Have you seen any good movies lately or been helped by the movies?  Please write up a comment and share your dramatic experiences with our fellow readers.  I recommend two movies I've seen recently:  "The Wrestler," and "Slumdog Millionaire."  They are both highly dramatic, very entertaining, and are sure to take your mind to new places.  It might even be cathartic for you!

Remember: Check my "Dr. Norris Chumley SATISFIED LIFE" blog daily for weight loss and well being inspiration and tips, and add an RSS feed so you never miss anything!

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