Letting Go

Had a headache today for the first time in 15 days... Just a mild one, I think it was because I was hungry maybe? I ate lunch and it went away afterwards sometime. And I do eat more veggies when I have dressing! :) That was my first taste of sugar in two weeks, but that is all organic ingredients. I was wondering if I would see any side effects from eating it again. But none so far. That is the only deviation from the Raw Lifestyle I'm doing, and it was only because it is basically the only way to make me eat more veggies right now. I did try the raw style first though before I made that decision. I did come home at lunch and have a big salad -- romaine, snap peas, carrots, brocolli, cauliflower and sunflower seeds. Pretty good. But it was way too much! I was just so excited for a salad I forgot my stomach is still tiny and can hardly hold two bitesize carrots. This salad filled half the plate and I ate it all! I shouldn't have. Man, I was overly-full and extremely uncomfortable the rest of the afternoon, I will have to watch that next time.
I made my first smoothie this morning, it was pretty good. I am very impressed with that new blender I bought -it's called the ninja. It had absolutely no problems chopping up those icecubes. And it has a little food processor with it too. Mumm, smoothie...making me so hungry now! But I think I will leave out the lemon next time, it was much too sour. (I still have a bag of lemons left, I'm trying to get rid of them before they rot!)
You know, since I started the fast I have hardly been watching TV at all. (maybe cause I'm researching all the time about this lifestyle?) But even when I do sit down to watch, it just doesn't hold my attention like it used to. I shut it off and do something else. And I also noticed that other sins I find myself trapped in have not caused me any problems for the past two weeks either. I have no desire for it, which is weird and calming at the same time. it's like while I am taking care of my body, it is also cleaning my mind. or something like that -- well, the spirit is cleaning both out I guess. I know I wouldn't have been able to do this at all if it had not been for God. If he had not been teaching me all year long and given me such an incredible desire to suddenly want to do this, I wouldn't be doing it at all. I know myself! And I know this is not normally how I react. I think that it was something that I told a friend one night -- that I know my body is broken, and I know it will never be perfect. Instead, I am excited and waiting for the body I will receive when I am in heaven. And ever since I wrote that, I think it had been on my mind - that really -- I have given up - given in to being fat because I think it's too hard - that God won't help me change that. Truthfully, being obese bothers me all the time, I can't enjoy myself like others and I have become a lazy couch potato...but I had given in to that lifestyle a long ago. I have never thought that I can be thin. I have never thought that I could lose weight. I just accepted that I am fat and can't do anything about it. And I began to realize that a couple weeks ago and it really kind of upset me - maybe not on a conscious level at the time, but it has now! Why are you giving in so easily? I asked myself -- you can be healthy while you are on earth as well. The kingdom of God is here and now -- it started when you were baptised! You don't have to be miserable and you don't have to feel like you should be. You can be happy! And when God set this master cleanse in front of me, it wasn't about the weight loss at first. It was about the detoxing. And then as I learned more about it during the course of those 10 days - and learned more about myself - I realized that I was making this harder than it should be - losing weight I mean. First I needed to change the way I though. During all of the cleanse I knew that I needed to become a vegetarian, and as I read back through each of those days I can see my thinking gradually begin to change and become more and more serious about my health. I began to see the effects of sugar on my body. I began to learn about myself. And again, God set one more thing down in front of me -- this raw food lifestyle. And it was at just the right time, when God knew I was ready to see it and not run away from it. It spiked my interest and I looked it up.
Oh man, how do I explain what I have learned over the past two weeks about this Raw Food Lifestyle?? Where do I even begin?
I discovered that it is extremely good for people who are obese - well really, anyone who is living on the SAD (standard american diet), even if you think you're healthy, you're not as healthy as you could be! If you can go 100% raw, you are getting the nutrience that your body is crying for because previously you've been eating a diet that is completely full of empty calories. Your body continously tells you to keep feeding it because it needs that fuel and you so you stuff yourself and overeat on all the wrong foods and it is just an endless cycle. But changing the way you eat -- eating as God intended you to eat -- your body is finally getting that nutrience it needs and doesn't have to work so hard at digesting things it's not meant to, it will start detox you almost immediately, the first couple days after you start. And it will start to cleanhouse big time. And if you are obese that excess weight will come off very quickly I guess, as much as 100 lbs in six months - so fast that it might cause you and others around you some concern if they don't understand what's going on inside your body during that time. And the great thing is that it's healthy weightloss - not this yo-yo dieting. Eventually your weight will even out where it's supposed to be. The weightloss isn't the only benefit -- you feel absolutely wonderful on this lifestyle - have tons of energy - your other health issues will most likely clear up, you will start to heal. Things like arthritus and diabetes clear up. And I guess it keeps you looking young.
I guess learning all that - it was kind of scarey those last four days of the cleanse - but I started to get excited about it. I knew that it was a drastic change to my diet, but I had also read that if you start this right after you've done a juice fast like the master cleanse it will be much easier, because you have already detoxed from all those terrible foods that you have been eating for years. You will no longer crave it. So I gave it a go. :) And honestly, it hasn't been too hard. I love being able to eat and listen to my body. I fully expect that God will help me through this. I know that it won't be easy, but I think that I'll eventually begin to see the effects that it has on my body and I will stick with it because that will make me all the more excited. I have started imagining myself being a thin person. I have never really done that before. I already feel like I have a lot more energy than before, and I can't believe that I am not craving sugary sweets and bean burritos or pizza and crap like that! No desire whatsoever! I am extremely happy about that.
Today I learned something cool -- you know how we're convinced that we are supposed to be taking vitamin supplements? Well, it's hard for your body to digest and actually use those pills. They're not in a form that is easily assimilated by the body. But -- fruits and veggies have all the vitamins and minerals you need and it's in a form that is easiest for the body to digest and use them! I guess that is probably why God told us we could have every fruit-bearing tree and plant for our diet -- he had already planned it to work like that. ;) It just amazes me that we try to do things in our own ways and methods, but it's never as good as the way that God intended to begin with. That goes for anything!!