Being a health-conscious individual, I choose to seek recipes that offer maximum nutritional content plus great flavor or to substitute unhealthier ingredients for healthier ones.
Being a Nutrition Consultant, I find joy in seeking recipes for those with dietary restrictions, health issues or simply for those making conscientious food choices like myself.
With you in mind, I joyfully share the following links.
What to Eat and Avoid This Thanksgiving
Registered Dietician Keri Glassman Serves Up Tips on What to Savor, and What to Skip, To Lighten Your Calorie Load
Diabetic Thanksgiving Recipes
Planning A Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Dinner
Heart-Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes
Crohn's Disease And Thanksgiving Dinner
A Safe Thanksgiving With Food Allergies
Preparing For Thanksgiving With Rheumatoid Arthritis
Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes
Recipes For A Vegan Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Dinner Doesn't Have To Weigh You Down
Gratitude & Thanksgiving Quotes
A Thankgiving prayer (written by Joe Sherer pastor of the Mount Joy Mennonite Church and shared as the benediction at their community Thanksgiving Eve service):
May the Lord bless you and keep you, May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May the broad expanse of God’s love and the abundance of His riches in glory, shape your perspective on your own life and needs, including those things which disappoint you.
May the eyes of your heart be open to all the blessings which surround you; may this awareness produce a harvest of generosity in your spirit.
May thankfulness rise up within you, not just during this short season, but day after day, from the early morning watch until you retire for the night.
May your prayers reflect gratitude, while also acknowledging the needs of others whose situations are so drastically different.
May thoughts of Jesus fill your mind, and hunger for God drive your soul, and love for Lord guide your speech and your actions.
And finally, may the grace, peace, and love of the triune God, protect, defend, and empower you to run with perseverance the race marked out for you. Amen.
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Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.
~W.T. Purkiser
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"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings."
-Eric Hoffer
According to legend, a young man while roaming the desert came across a spring of delicious crystal-clear water. The water was so sweet he filled his leather canteen so he could bring some back to a tribal elder who had been his teacher. After a four-day journey he presented the water to the old man who took a deep drink, smiled warmly and thanked his student lavishly for the sweet water. The young man returned to his village with a happy heart.
Later, the teacher let another student taste the water. He spat it out, saying it was awful. It apparently had become stale because of the old leather container. The student challenged his teacher: "Master, the water was foul. Why did you pretend to like it?"
The teacher replied, "You only tasted the water. I tasted the gift. The water was simply the container for an act of living-kindness and nothing could be sweeter."
Self-motivation without gratitude is impossible. Our energy is "sapped" when our entire focus is on what's wrong instead of what is right with our lives. One of our greatest challenges is to live and love in spite of pain and disappointment...to find gratitude in the midst of it all.
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Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. - Melody Beattie
