Eight Days of Pain, Didn't Do Well, But I'm Not Giving Up!

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written in my blog.  Why, probably because I haven’t been doing very well.  I ended my juice fast on day 12.  I was fine with that, I felt like it was time to move on and start learning how to eat “raw”.  I was doing fine and eating all raw for 4 days start and then it hit me!  I started having terrible pain in my bladder (from my IC disease).  I didn’t even have my pills with me.  I never leave the house without my pills (ibuprofen and Vicoden), but I honestly thought I was healed and that I wouldn’t need them anymore, apparently not.  I’m okay with that. I guess it’s just not God’s timing yet for me to be healed.  I’m thinking that the pain started because I had made a Jicama salad sprinkled with lime juice and dressing made with orange juice.  I’m not supposed to be eating any citrus, but again, I thought I would be fine.  I continued to have pain everyday for 8 days start.  I had to take my pills all day long! Plus I wasn’t sleeping well at night.  I was depressed and not eating as well as I should have of. I was still eating about 50% raw, but when I’m depressed and in pain, I want comfort food. So I was eating cooked food. Then of course I don’t lose weight and wonder why? Duh! Because I can’t eat cooked foods; noodles, rice and other stuff and expect to lose weight.

I’m doing much better now.  I had a couple of days with no pain, a good night’s sleep and I’m feeling much better.  I talked to my daughter and she encouraged me and told me it would take time for me to learn to eat all raw. She’s right.  It won’t happen for me overnight. 

I threw out all of my nuts and seeds and the cocoa/coconut fudge I had made.  I realized that I was eating way too many calories with these foods and that they would have to go for now until I lost all of the weight that I wanted.  Then I can re introduce them into my diet a little at a time.

Conclusion, I'm not giving up! I'm going to continue eating raw every meal that I can and take each day and each meal, one at a time, with God's help! 

I can do nothing apart from Him.

In the past I would always say, “I know "I" can do this” and this time is going to be different."  But each time, eventually after some time, I would fall back into my old eating habits.  Notice the “I” in the statement above.  I never realized how much I was relying on my own willpower and strength. This time I know that I can't do it without His help! I will not be able to stay on this diet (lifestyle change) without Him.  I can do nothing apart from Him. (John 15:15) I think God allowed me to fail all of those previous times just to show me that I need to rely on Him and not my own strength. 

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalms 121:2

 

In the beginning...it was not so.

In the beginning, God created a perfect world and a beautiful garden of food for us.  But through the first sin of Eve, then Adam, eating the apple that they were forbidden to eat, corruption came into the world. Today, through greed and the love of money, man  has corrupted our food supply with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, antibiotics, hormones, artificial flavors and colorings, dyes, preservatives, msg and hundreds of other chemicals that I can’t even begin to name. Our food supply is now but a mere shadow of what it once was.  This was not God’s original plan.

We’ve gotten so far away from God’s original design of food for us that no wonder we are full of sickness, disease and are prematurely dying.  

So let’s get back to Gods original plan for us, instead of man’s, and eat what he created; namely fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and beans.You will thank yourself and God when you see the dramatic change in your health, appearance and weight!

For those of you that love meat, cheese and eggs. God did allow us to eat animals after the flood.  If you choose to eat these foods, please make sure the animals were ethically raised in humane conditions and that the animals are hormone, antibiotic free and organic. Eggs and chickens should be free-range and your beef should be grass-fed.

God told me He is going to heal me!

My husband and I went to a new church this last Sunday and there was a guest speaker.  At the end of the service he asked everyone who needed healing to come up front.  I of course went up front to get prayed for. He was asking everyone else what they needed healing for and then he proceeded to pray for them.  When he got to me he asked me my name and I told him.  He said to me, "God says He will"! Then he said, "I don't know what you are asking God for, but he says to you, I will"!  I immediately knew that the Lord was speaking to me and that He was going to heal me! 

I have interstitial cystitis (inflammation of the bladder) and there's no cure. I've been praying ever since day for healing, but nothing yet. I have just been trusting in God, knowing that He created my body and He has a plan and purpose for this situation.  But now, praise God, I am going to be healed!

God did not heal me instantly, but I believe He is using this juice fast and change in diet and lifestyle to change me, challenge me and bring about my ultimate healing.  I'm excited for what waits in the days ahead!

Nine Days Juice Fasting

Nine days on my juice fast. Drinking only vegetables and fruit that I've juiced in my Breville juicer.
Some days I have more energy than others. Some days I feel tired, which is to be expected.  My face is looking clearer, brighter, yeah! I can't wait to see what my skin will look like at the end of my fast.

I stopped weighing myself.  I don't want to obsess over my weight and get disappointed if one day I don't lose anything.  I'm just going to wait and weigh myself at the end, then I'll be pleasantly surprised!

I read that you should vary your vegetables, so yesterday at Sprouts I bought cauliflower, which is different tasting than I expected in juice. But I love cooked cauliflower so I thought I'd try it.  Last week I juiced cilantro, this week parsley. I also bought a parsnip, this is my first time ever tasting one.  It seemed fine, it didn't seem weird tasting or anything. Last week my greens were kale, this week rainbow chard.  I put a piece of butternut squash in the juicer, but I didn't like the sound it made when I juiced it.  Either it's just too hard for the juicer or I need to wait for it to get soft...have to think on this one.

My typical daily recipe: All organic

5 carrots or less (I try to use as few carrots as I can and add more of the other items below).
2-3 large stalks of celery
2 apples
1 cucumber
Several chunks of cabbage
Variety of greens, it could be spinach, chard, kale, romaine, collard greens, etc. (the more the better!)
Cut off section of parsley or cilantro
1 inch of ginger
Then I vary the other veggies; sweet potatoes, zucchini, beets, parsnip ,tomatoes, red peppers.
Sometimes I juice cantaloupe, it makes the most delicious juice, or other fruit I have sitting around.
Yields 32 oz.

Day 1-5 of Juice Fast

The first day of my juice fast was easy. I had made up my mind to fast and I wasn’t tempted at all.  Plus, I’ve done this before! Yesterday, the second day of the fast, I was tempted a little.  Luckily I was busy and didn’t have time to think about food that much.  When I was tempted, I just said. “No, you are NOT eating…right now you are fasting!" and I prayed and asked for God's help.  I didn’t give in.

Got a headache today, which is to be expected on the first few days of a fast.  And even though it is inconvenient and annoying, it also means that my body is being cleaned out, detoxing (getting rid of all the junk that I’ve put into my body) and that’s a good thing!

Today is day number 5 of my juice fast and I’ve lost 9 pounds already.  Crazy!  When you juice fast, you’ll lose quite a few pounds right off the bat, but then it slows to 1-2 pounds per day.  But, and this is a big but, you absolutely, positively have to change the way you eat forever when the fast is over, if not, you’ll go back to your old way of eating and gain all of the weight back.  

I decided to start drinking Psyllium husk today because I wasn't pooing anymore.  You need the psyllium husk to help move the waste out of your intestines and colon. I put 2 tsp. in a 6 oz. glass of water, it was too much. I had diarrhea.  Tomorrow I'll only use 1 tsp. in 8 oz. of water. 

Doritos or Apples? Hmmm....

Most of the food that is sold today is made to make money, not to make you healthy!  Think about it, to live longer and stay healthy, do you want to eat man-made (processed foods) or food that was created by Almighty God himself?

Question: What is better for you a bag of Doritos or an apple, an apple, right?

We all know this, but few of us choose the apple.  Why, because Doritos taste good.  We’ve been tricked! Processed foods may taste good, but it’s a disguise to cover up the taste of all the chemicals, additives, preservatives and food colorings that they have to put into the food to make them taste good!  Doritos and many other processed foods contain MSG.  A dangerous chemical that among other things is highly addictive and makes you want to eat more and more and more! God didn’t have to put all of those artificial ingredients into His food to make it taste good.  Everything He created is good all by itself.

The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:12

Ingredient list for a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos: Whole Corn, Vegetable Oil (Contains One or More of the Following: Corn, Soybean and/or Sunflower Oil), Corn Maltodextrin, Salt, Tomato Powder, Corn Starch, Lactose, Whey, Nonfat Milk, Corn Syrup Solids, Onion Powder, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Dextrose, Malic Acid, Buttermilk, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sodium Acetate, Artificial Color (Including Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 5), Sodium Caseinate, Spice, Citric Acid, Disodium Inosinate, and Disodium Guanylate.

Here’s the ingredient list for an organic apple: Apple