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.