Day 12---Lighten the Load

No, this is not Day 3 on poop. I AM going to cover one more important thing later--- What happens when  the bacteria from my poop goes into my body and affects the health of my organs----and how does this happen anyway??? But today........... I am going to lighten the load that some of you are feeling right now.  It can be overwhelming, especially with all the articles I have been sharing. Sorry-- you don't have to read all of them, just the ones that might apply to you. I don't read all of them myself, because some just don't apply. I don't have to read that Diet Coke is killing to my body. I have read it numerous times. But I can tell from my responses that this was literally the first time some of you heard that artificial sweeteners are bad for you.  So I will keep sending them. My goal is to spread health and make you think about everything you put in your mouth. Natural foods produce good health and unnatural foods produce bad health. This is what I have learned, I know it is true, so that is the message I will send---MY STORY!!!

And I know some of you have made comments like I have made concerning my health: I do not have time. How do I know it is really working? It seems like all I think about is---what to eat?? It is too much trouble. I read so much I don't know where to start. Why is this food good and this food bad because they are all vegetables? And,  these are questions that I actually asked when I would find every " miracle working" diet I ever tried, that really was not a miracle diet at all. So, I don't call this a diet, but a lifestyle--a lifestyle of choices, hopefully good ones based on information. So enjoy the ride while you make choices. You won't always do it perfectly, but the more you educate yourself about good choices, the easier it will be. Remember the goal, 85% good food, 15% other foods.




These are some things that I have learned along my health journey that started in my heart, and that is where change really begins. The Bible says as a man thinks in his heart-so is he!!  Pretty powerful words.


I remember very vividly my journey that started that time in the restaurant when I found out about the apple cider vinegar. ( Day 7) It was just one of those "Aha Moments" for me to realize I  could actually control and change my health---and the key word was change. I instinctively knew about eating foods and the chemistry behind good foods, and I also had several foods courses in college because of my major. But I still thought it was a crap shoot that determined who developed certain diseases, and I certainly didn't think that once you got a disease that it was possible to reverse the disease by changing your diet. I thought like everyone else---I am sick, lets go to the doctor and see what medicine they have come up with to help me. I never had a doctor say, "Now lets look at your lifestyle and see what caused it, and if we can trace back to the cause, we can reverse it".  Isn't that what "health care" should be? I found out  through my journey, that I had a lot more nutrition courses in college than doctors get in medical school. That is not to say that I expertly used my knowledge to have good health. My whole story is about my bad health and the things that I have learned. But just the fact that doctors basically know nothing about how foods affect your health amazes me. Thank goodness the trend is toward holistic practitioners that look at your whole body before suggesting treatment. (More about that later).


So this journey has affected my thinking in several ways. My goal now is to be healthy, not look good. For years I would lose weight to look good in my clothes, or  get ready to attend a special occasion (class reunion, vacation, etc). Now any motivation to eat right is ok, but I did not concentrate on eating right as evidenced by the type of diets I went on---the grapefruit diet, the boiled egg diet, Atkins, ---you get the idea. It was short lived because once I got into that "dress", it was over. And thank goodness it was over, because if you stayed on any of those diets for very long, you would die. So this was my first hurtle: Health vs. Looks.


The second hurtle was very hard for me--- putting ME and my health first. It was drilled into me from early childhood to always be a servant and to me that meant putting everyone else first. So when I would concentrate too much on ME, I would feel guilty. Do I spend 60 minutes a day exercising? or fixing special foods that I know are good for me but no one else will eat? or spend time on beauty treatments that take time--special baths, etc). To me that all seemed selfish so I felt guilty. I would rationalize that I needed to spend more time on my kids, or my husband, or my church or my neighbors. Now I know that if I do not have good health it is harder to concentrate on others. So a few scriptures helped me transition to new thinking.


One is that our body is the temple, where Christ lives. (1 Corinthians). (What did my temple look like?),  We are also told not to defile the temple, and whatever we eat or drink do to the Glory of God, and finally in 3 John he says that above all he wished that we may prosper and be in good health. I am really not here to debate scripture, or make you feel guilty for not eating right. Remember this is MY story and these are the things that caused Me to transform MY thinking. You really have to write your own story. That was also another thing I learned. I would read what other people did, try it and then fail because it was not ME. Then I'd beat myself up as a failure.  I can assure you guilt is a harmful, negative reason to get healthy. It brings about depression when you fail, and depression triggers sugar cravings, which is so harmful. (more about that later).


But what I found out was just the opposite of being SELFISH. I found out that when I felt healthy and happy I was able to concentrate on others more. When I harbored negative feels about how I looked and how I felt I was constantly thinking about ME. I have even refused to go certain places and certain functions because I felt I did not look good enough or feel good enough about myself. How did I know that those functions I missed were not exactly where God wanted me to go or I needed to go. I have felt depressed and didn't go to church which is exactly where I needed to be.  At least that is true at MY church.  You are greeted at the door by a bunch of men and ladies laughing and having fun, ushered into the door for a great cup of coffee, with friendly faces all around.  It is like a family reunion with hugging and laughing---true joy. I hope you can say the same, and if it is not true at your church maybe you could bring about the change. I am attracted to joy. I want to go to church and can hardly wait to get there because I feel welcome and loved. The world, with all its naysayers, beats up on me all week long, and I need to go somewhere to get away from that and experience true love and get armed for the battle next week. So yes, it is worth the extra time I spend on my body scrubs (more later), facials, exercising, planning meals, researching health and writing a Blog. The Bible tells me to be the light of the world, a city on a hill.  What do you look for when it is dark? you look for light. Joy brings light into a dark world. I have people in my life that draw me into their world because they have something I want in my life. I want to be that kind of person.


So program yourself that you are special. You are here for a reason. Psalms says God delights in me.  If God delights in me, I want to delight in the things that he gives me to eat. He also says that a merry heart does good like a medicine. It goes on to say a broken spirit dries up the bones. Did you know that being depressed lowers your bone density---another post another day!!!


So guys, lighten up and have the best day of your life.  I can hardly wait to get to the next topic---the key to healing your body!!!