Weekly Challege - Goals for the New Year

Happy New Year!  This is a photo of my guys from 2007, enjoying a toast of sparkling cider.  We still eat most of our meals together.  I am blessed.  There is something special about enjoying good food with family and friends.  To me, this is a small glimpse of what heaven will be like. 

The beginning of each year is a very exciting time for me.  I challenge you to join me on a path to eating better this coming year and enjoying good food with your family and friends.

My goals for each of us include:

1.  Achieving greater energy, vitality, and improved health.

2.  Recognizing and eliminating foods that control us, that we have to have daily.

3.  Having fun learning about and eating the foods created by God

4.  Strengthening our connections with our family and friends by enjoying  delicious home-cooked meals together.

I encourage you to think of your own personal goals for this coming year.  Do you want to lose weight or do you want to overcome a specific health problem?  Perhaps you want to be free of sugar, salt, or caffeine cravings.  Maybe you just want to become comfortable planning and cooking meals.  Or do you only need some encouragement and support from others.   Whatever your goal, may you look back on the year next New Year's Eve with a smile upon your face!

Think about your goals, pray about your goals, and write them down.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas 2012.  May you enjoy good food with family and friends today.  Reach out to someone who may be alone this Christmas and make it a special day for them.  Jon, my youngest, started saying this prayer when he was about three.  I pray the simplicity of a young child's prayer touches your heart.   May this be the prayer of us all this Christmas.  "Thank you Father for our food, our family, and most of all for baby Jesus laying in a manager."  Christmas blessings from my family to yours.

Share what you are doing with confidence - Part 2

I want to share another story with you.  This one is more of a learning lesson of what not to do, and I may have been saved years of health issues if I had handled things differently.  I hope my sharing this will help you not go through the same trials.

As I mentioned in My Story, when I was 22 and changed my diet to include only God's foods, my body healed quickly and within six months I was the picture of health and felt better than ever before in my life.

Let me tell you why this success stopped after about 8 months.  Because my family, particularly my mother, who felt I had gone to a quack doctor,  continued to discourage me from following his advice, I did not want to share what I was doing with others.  I was young, single, a female in a male-dominated career (engineering), and did not have the confidence to stand alone to tell others the truth of my new food knowledge.  Unfortunately, I did not see that keeping my new knowledge a secret could become a problem.

Then came my late summer birthday.  The technicians at work decided to give me a surprise birthday celebration during lunch on my birthday.  My technician, a sweet older woman who watched over me like a mother, kindly made a Hawaiian birthday cake for me.  She had remembered my raving about how good it was from the previous fall when she had brought one to work.  She also gave me the most precious soft rabbit.  My heart was so touched by their kindness.  (She had shown me the rabbit she bought for her nephew and I had fallen in love with it.  She remembered and surprised me on my birthday.  Jon, my son, found my special rabbit at age two and it became his special rabbit, thus it is a bit shabby now but has been well loved.)

Now remember, I had not eaten anything that contained white flour or white sugar for over 6 months.  I had followed the doctor's advice strictly once I saw how effective it was.  I was the picture of health and was feeling on top-of-the world.  So now the dilemma.  I saw the love and kindness that had gone into the surprise birthday celebration for me and, of course, I had to eat a piece of the Hawaiian birthday cake.  It would have been extremely rude to decline a piece.  And what would it hurt to eat this one piece?  Well, for me, it was like an alcoholic saying, what harm will this one little drink do?.

So where did I go wrong?  I had not shared what I was doing with my co-workers.  I did not tell them that I was eating a diet of God's foods, which included whole grains, fresh fruits, vegetables, sweeteners such as honey or maple syrup, eggs, meat, etc.  I did not tell them that I was no longer eating any man-processed foods or ingredients which included things like white sugar, white flour, sodas, etc.  I did not tell my friends, and stopped talking about it with my family.

This one piece of cake did not even taste very good to me any more.  Since I had no support group, I also did not know at this time that this cake could have been made with healthy ingredients.  I failed to develop a circle of friends and acquaintances so I did not learn anything new.  I did not realize that bringing things to the light and sharing can be very beneficial and bless everyone involved.

My error became a double-edged sword.  I continued to not tell anyone what I was doing, but worse, that one piece of cake got me thinking that perhaps an occasional Dr. Pepper or other man-processed sweet would also taste pretty good.  (Now how could I even think that after not enjoying the taste of that piece of cake?  There is truly no good explanation for why these foods have so much power over us!)  Little by little over the next couple years, I fell off the diet and then it did not take long with the poor health I started with, to feel bad again.  Six months of eating foods by God without constantly introducing toxins from man-made foods was not enough to replenish my reserves, which I probably never had in the first place. To make matters worse, man-processed foods are extremely addictive.  They have no appeal on their own so they are loaded with cheap sugars, fats, salt, msg, and artificial ingredients.  (I now know white sugar's addictive power over me.  It is similar to that of alcohol for an alcoholic.  I have to been extremely careful.  I choose to not eat it anymore; it no longer has an appeal to me.  It took many years to get to this point however.  This may not be an issue for you.  Your weakness may be caffeine, cheap fats, or salt.  But if you are eating a typical American diet, be aware that it probably is controlling you in some way.  The cravings can be quite intense.  I know.)

I am sharing this story with you so you might realize how important it is to connect with at least one person and to share with others what you are doing.  If you are open about what you are doing, you will not be put in a situation where it is rude for you not to eat something that you have decided to eliminate from you diet.  It is so easy to get lured back into man-processed foods.

May you be blessed abundantly on your journey of healthy eating.  "I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being."  Ephesians 3:16.

Share what you are doing with confidence!

I want to share a story with you - a turning point in my life and the lives of my children.

As you read in 'My Story', I chose to feed my children well from the time they were born.  But unfortunately, I often did it with shame and guilt.  So often, family and friends would tell me that I was depriving my children of the good things in life and that they would rebel when they became teenagers (which I can happily tell you is not true!).  It was a very difficult time.

To make matters worse, the public school that Tom attended used M&M's almost daily to teach math, frequently gave out birthday sweets, and provided cupcakes and cookies at holidays.  All of these were brightly colored with lots of artificial dyes and flavors.  I asked them not to give them to my son, but I think that made the situation worse.  They now seemed to purposely make sure to offer him the treats.  Poor Tom did not understand;  he wanted to fit in and those sweets tasted quite good.

Finally, in second grade, during the Halloween party, after eating the Halloween candy that was being passed out, Tom threw up right there in the classroom!  I was so happy.  I now told the nurse that he had food allergies and should not be given anything that had artificial flavors or colors, because it made him throw up.  This was somewhat true, his system was overloaded by the junk food which it was not used to.  Bingo - he was watched very closely and given no more classroom sweets (teachers do not want children throwing up in class).  One hurdle overcome, one to go.

The new problem was that Tom now wanted those treats and felt like an outcast.  I tried to send healthy alternatives but the kids teased him and made fun of him.  I spent a lot of time in prayer, asking God for help in this area, and as always, God blessed us above and beyond my expectations.

Soon the Christmas party came.  The moms were making slice-and-bake Christmas cookies for the class, and I was sending a treat for Tom.  It was Christmas and I wanted to do something really special to make him feel better about his 'different' diet.  I got out a pretty metal Christmas tin and filled it with wonderful homemade healthy treats.  I made orange scones, my Mary's cookies, raspberry topped cookies, popcorn, and trail mix. 

Guess what happened next!  I picked up Tom from school and he had a huge smile pasted on his face.  I asked, "Did you have fun at the party?"  He said, "Mom, all the other kids were jealous of my Christmas treats and asked why they had to eat the cheap cookies instead."  Never again did my children feel deprived, instead they felt blessed by God to be so fortunate to enjoy good quality foods.  It obviously changed my viewpoint too - I no longer felt I needed to be ashamed about what I was doing or defend my right to eat well. 

Be proud that you are eating the best foods and that you are feeding them to your family.  Share your new insight with others, and don't be intimidated.  I think you will soon be amazed how many people are very interested in eating better, and who will want to join with you.

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."  Romans 12:2

Enjoy God's perfect foods.

Weekly Challenge: In advance

Find at least one person to connect with.

I challenge you to find at least one person to connect with on your journey to achieve energy, vitality and good health.  This should be someone that you see regularly, preferably daily.  The changes I will be recommending you make and the weekly challenges I will present are against the norm.  I know from the past 30 years, just how hard it is to stick to your goals without the support and encouragement of others.  It is extremely difficult in our modern society of man-made foods and pills (for all aches or ailments) to make counter-culture changes to your diet, going back to the foods God made for our nourishment.  Thus, it is critical to your success that you share this journey with another person(s).

The person you connect with should be doing these weekly challenges with you and believe that eating foods as created by God is important.  It could be your spouse, a sibling, your child, a neighbor, a co-worker, or a good friend.  If possible, involve more than one person.  It is so much easier and more fun when working on a goal with the support of others. 

If you feel you are all alone on this journey, let me be the person you connect with.  I encourage you to join this blog and share your struggles and praises throughout the week or send me a personal email (divinefoodsbygod@yahoo.com).  If you live in the North Dallas area, join me at my class once a month.  Let me walk with you, pray for you, and give you encouragement to help you succeed. 

Some of the challenges may be very easy for you and some may be extremely difficult.  Everyone's situation is unique.  Some weeks you may be the encourager and others you may need the encouragement.  Don't try to do this alone.

Trust in the healing power of God's foods and trust in God's promises.  As Jesus tells us, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your soul."  Matthew 11: 28 - 29.

A good daily routine: ‘Break fast’

The simple guideline to 'break fast':

    1.    Don’t eat after dinner

    2.    Start your day with a glass of room temperature water

    3.    Wait 15 to 30 minutes, then eat a piece of fresh fruit.
4.    If you don't regularly eat a good quality yogurt, drink homemade kefir, or have taken antibiotics in the past year, this is also a good time to take a Probiotic.  Buy a good quality one and wait at least 20 minutes before eating your breakfast; you may take it when you eat your piece of fresh fruit however.

    5.    Enjoy a breakfast of God’s foods.

Why this is important:

What you eat is essential but your daily routine is very critical too.  Do you know that the word ‘breakfast’ holds invaluable information about a good routine?  Literally breakfast means to break the fast.  Let me explain and then give you some practical tips.

Fasting is not something that we talk about much or do regularly in the United States.   During fasting, or the absence of food, the body will systematically cleanse itself and is able to direct the most energy towards the processes of detoxification. 

The body uses tremendous energy to digest food, and when fasting, this energy becomes available for purposes such as healing and repairing.   In the fasting state, the body scours for dead cells, damaged tissues, fatty deposits, pollutants, toxins and other impurities that it burns for fuel or neutralizes and expels as waste.   Each night during sleep we have a chance to fast and detoxify our bodies. 

Practicing a daily fasting routine is a very easy way to positively impact your health.  To do this, eat a healthy dinner each evening about 3 hours before going to bed.  Do not eat anything more before bed.  This is very important to allow your stomach time to digest your dinner and for this digested food to be well on its way through your digestive track before you go to sleep.

Your body can then devote more energy to cleansing and repairing while you rest.  Ideally, allow yourself 7 or 8 hours of rest each night.  If you usually eat after dinner you will probably be very hungry the first few nights, but these hunger pangs will soon pass as your body becomes accustomed to your new routine.

The most beneficial way to ‘break your fast’ when you arise is to drink 8 to 12 oz. of room temperature water.  Drink it when you first get up so it can help flush and cleanse your digestive track.  Wait 20 or 30 minutes before eating if you can.  For a few weeks in the spring, squeeze in a slice of organic lemon or add 1 tsp of organic raw apple cider vinegar with a little raw honey to the water for a greater cleansing effect.  Next eat some fruit while making breakfast.  It digests quickly and will continue the cleansing process.  Think about how you break your fast and begin your day in a healthy way!

The Basics

Where to start???  SO much information.  Nothing is simple in our world today.  I love technology, without it I could not create this blog, but not in the area of food and health.

My first challenge to you:  Start thinking and praying about the foods you choose to eat.  Don't just open the bag or pop the top and consume your food or beverage, oblivious to how it tastes or the effect it has on your body.  Awareness is a great starting point.  


Practice the suggestions in the weekly challenges and let them become routine habits.

May God bless your efforts,

Mary

My Story

This is a family photo from my 40th surprise birthday party.  A great time because I had achieved energy, vitality and good health!  My guys had excellent health too, but then they never struggled with poor health.  No matter where you are, you too can improve your health through your food choices.   I want to share with you where I have been, where I am today, and where I want to go.  We are all on a journey of life, and just as I am always striving to grow closer to God spiritually, I am also always striving to eat the best I can in today's world of processed foods and toxins.  I have personally seen in my life, my family's lives, and my friends’ lives, the difference food makes in how we feel and function each day.  I want to enjoy life to the fullest, and for me, I enjoy life when I feel good, physically, mentally, and emotionally.  All of these areas are dependent upon the food that I choose to eat.  I hope you join me and that my story will be an encouragement to you.

My Story.  I am 52 years old.  I was born in 1960, four weeks premature after spending two months bathed in my mother's tummy by a very addictive drug, Valium.  Today it is not given to pregnant women, but back then, the effects of drugs taken by a pregnant woman were not well known.  I am fortunate.  I was born with no major problems or birth defects but I have never been a strong person with great endurance.  I was extremely sickly growing up but as an adult I have obtained and continue to enjoy good health with no chronic pains or diseases.  Perhaps because of my background, since I know how fragile good health is, I have been more motivated than others in this area.  When I got pregnant at age 34, I was determined my children would not be sickly as I was.  Though I did not have the nutrient stores to give my children inherently good health, I could and can control the nutrients they receive daily.  I am happy to tell you that my children are extremely healthy today at age 15 and 17!  I am also happy to tell you that my husband and I have also reaped the benefits of a diet of God's divine foods.  My husband is 54 years old, and neither of us take any medication or have any chronic health problems.  We spend zero dollars on over-the-counter or prescription drug medications.

Back to my story.  I weighed 5 pounds when born, and slept round-the-clock for the first four months of life.  Neonatal units did not exist so I was sent home; because I was so small, my mom was told to wake me every four hours to feed me.  My mother started taking the Valium during her pregnancy at six months after my father had a severe heart attack, almost died, and was severely disabled.  The Valium was to keep her calm so she would not go into labor prematurely.  It worked for two months. My father never fully recovered and was a semi-invalid until dying when I was 15.  My sleeping round-the-clock at birth was a blessing for my mom, who had 3 older children to care for and a very sick husband.

I developed normally and things went pretty well for the first few years of life as seen in my Christmas photo from long ago.  Life was simple and I spent hours with my dolls and on my rocking horse.  But things soon changed when I started attending school.  I began to pick up germs from my classmates and I was sick constantly.  I would get a cold and could not get rid of it, missing full weeks of school all the time.  Finally it was decided I had allergies, and I was given allergy shots for the next seven years of my life.  When the reaction to the shot got so bad and lasted the two or three weeks until the next shot (the inject spot on my arm would swell, get red, and get as hard as a rock), it was decided that I did not need the shots any longer.

Without those shots, things got better for a couple years, but by age 15, I was not well.  I was having chronic severe stomach pains and headaches.  I went through extensive testing, but nothing was found.  The solution:  a syrupy sweet purple medicine for my stomach pains, and a green liquid for my headaches.  Luckily, even back then I knew this was not the answer, and I chose not to take them.  Instead, I learned to just keep my mouth shut and not tell anyone about my pains.  (This worked well until I married my husband and he noticed I would curl up in a ball each night - my remedy for my severe stomach pains.  He also thought it odd that my stomach made SO much noise, gurgling and churning, when I lay down at night.)  I no longer suffer from chronic stomach pains, stomach noises, or headaches.  The cure, of course, was changing my diet, eliminating man-processed foods and eating real foods as created by God. 

So how did I learn about eating God's foods?  After graduating from college with an engineering degree and with even more fragile health due to a diet of college junk food, I took a job in Dallas and moved south.  It was shortly after this that I saw the amazing power of divine foods created by God. 

What a fun city Dallas was!  So many young people and good restaurants to enjoy.  I soon learned that I could control my headaches quite effectively by drinking Dr. Pepper, and my noisy, painful stomach was only a problem when home alone.  Life was good (or so I thought at age 21).

Then a new symptom arose.  One that quickly became a huge problem for a young, single girl in Dallas.  I developed terrible acne.  I went to a dermatologist and tried the standard drugs but nothing was helping, so it was suggested I take Accutane.  I knew there were severe side-effects and decided I needed to pursue a different path.  At this same time, my boss at work took me aside and told me she was very concerned about me, that I looked terrible.  She said my color was horrible; she thought I might have a serious disease; and said that I should consider seeing a doctor.  She was very serious and sincere, and I decided it was time that I did do something more.

My apartment neighbor suggested I go to his doctor and have food allergy testing done.  He had been trying to teach me for six months about the benefit of eating real, natural foods.  He introduced me to Bluebonnets, which later became the first Whole Foods in Dallas, and he cooked delicious meals for me.  I enjoyed the taste of the real foods, but it seemed the more I tried to eat better, the sicker I was becoming.  Of course, it didn't occur to me that eating some real food while continuing to eat man-processed food might be an issue.  It also didn't occur to me that the outgassing of chemicals from the brand new building I was working in might also be a problem (I was chosen to be one of the first working at the new site, helping set things up).

I was so confused.  I was desperate.  I decided to try my friend's doctor.  My family thought I was pursuing a quack medical solution, and tried to discourage me.  The doctor told me that my immune system was shot and I had developed chemical sensitivities.  His recommendation was strict diet changes (absolutely no man-processed foods) and giving me a few supplements to help my body heal. After hearing the doctor's recommendations, my family was convinced the doctor was a quack and continued to dissuade me over the next several months from pursuing his advice, even after I started seeing amazing positive results. 

The results?  Wow.  Within a week of following his diet suggestions and taking some supplements, for the first time in over a year, my face was not painful with new acne eruptions!!!  Within a few weeks, my face was entirely cleared.  And I was feeling great.  After 6 months, I was the picture of health, full of energy and vitality.  For the first time in my life, I felt good, really good.  God had shown me the power of his foods and planted the first seed.

Christmas again, age 25, I was healthy, happy, and thinking I was invincible.  Unfortunately, once I felt great and was cured, I no longer thought it was necessary to continue to follow the doctor's diet suggestions, and slowly went back to eating a more typical American diet.  Not surprisingly, I was starting to feel tired, sluggish, and have stomach pains again.  Then at age 28, I was in a severe car accident with my fiancé (who is now my husband).  Our marriage was postponed a few years and on our original planned wedding day, my husband had his first back surgery.  I had severe debilitating neck aches and headaches for two years, and was told by the doctors I saw that I would never fully recover.  I even went out-of-state to see a specialist.  I did not want to accept this prognosis, but nothing helped.  During this difficult period, food was not a concern and I did not see a correlation between recovery and my food choices.  The only thing we knew to pursue for our pain relief was drugs and conventional medicine.

Fast forward to age 34.  After trying every possible medical suggestion (except surgery), massage and natural treatments finally cured me enough that my neck and headaches were manageable.  I decided it was time to have children.  I knew it was time to wean myself off the Vicodin that I was still taking a couple times a month to control my pain and clear the birth control medication out of my body.  This is the point when I decided to make serious diet changes so my children would not be sickly like I was.  I knew deep in my heart that what a person ate determined his health and I wanted a better life for my children. 

I thought six months was enough time to clear the drugs out of my body before getting pregnant, but I was pregnant after only three months.  At this point, I was eating much better but my diet was not great.  I still did not fully comprehend the detrimental health effects of eating sugar, and I was very addicted.  I felt if I ate good quality, nutritious foods, it was fine to also be eating my sweets, especially since I was eating good quality ones.

My first son, Tom, was born in 1995.  A healthy, 8 pound baby.  I nursed him and started to research real foods created by God.  I wanted to give him only the best.  At this point in my life, I finally fully embraced the importance of eating only divine foods created by God!  My second son, Jon, was born in 1997.  Between my pregnancies, I started to understand the negative effects sugar was having on my health.  I was constantly catching all the little kids' colds and suffered frequent stomach viruses.  My gut was still a mess, though I no longer had stomachaches.  My ever increasing new knowledge and research quickly paid off however, and it did not take long to put the final pieces of healthy eating together.  I became involved in facilitating a natural foods coop and began teaching and helping others.

This journey of learning and experimenting has brought me and my family to where we are today.  I am still learning and making changes to our diet.  I love learning new things and experimenting with the natural foods, spices and herbs that God has provided for us.  I have been able to enjoy my boys' adolescent years and finally, my own life, with great health and happiness. 

I hope my story is an encouragement to you, and I hope through the information I provide and the support of this group that you will be able to succeed in a much shorter time period.  I wish the same joy and good health that I have achieved for all of you. 

Blessings, Mary

December 2012

Welcome

Welcome.  Join us.  Reap the blessings!

What we eat is so critical to who we become.  Food fuels our bodies.  If your diet consists of processed foods created by man, your body will become depleted of essential nutrients and you will reap pain, disease, and chronic illness.  However, if your diet consists of foods created by God, your body will be nourished with the essential ingredients it needs and you will reap energy, vitality, and good health.

My goal is to help you ‘own’ these truths for yourself.  I want to share what I have learned over the past 20 plus years with you.  But more importantly, I want to help you break free of a diet of 'man-processed' foods.   I want to help you become proficient and confident eating and cooking with the divine foods created by God.  Together we will all celebrate as you reap the blessings of energy, vitality, and good health!