Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Week 5

Don't eat or drink anything (except water) after dinner.


I am SO glad I am starting over with the challenges myself because I have been cheating on this one quite a bit lately.  I need to make a conscious effort to stop eating at night after dinner and I am starting today!  I will explain below why this is so important.  I hope you will join me with this challenge.

This one should be incredibly easy - it takes no effort or shopping, it gives you more time to do something else, and it saves you money!  But, I have a feeling, that this could be incredibly hard for many.  I hope I don't lose your participation with the weekly challenges this week.  It may be hard at first, but I promise that it will soon become a habit and you will no longer struggle with cravings and hunger in the evening hours.  If this is hard for you, please turn your craving to God, and ask for His help in prayer.  This challenge is applicable and healthful for everyone, except the very young who are nursed or still take a bottle before bed.  It is key to healing and maintaining good health because it allows the body to fast and cleanse overnight.
 
Some tips and suggestions:
 
1.  Don't starve yourself during the day.  If you starve yourself all day; you will be ravenous by dinner time and you will overeat.  Starved of calories all day, you will likely continue to crave something to eat later in the evening.   To make matters worse, during the day you have slowed your metabolism (the body's defense against times of starvation), and your evening food will be turned into unhealthy fat during the night.  Try to eat three meals at fairly regular times of the day.  Your meals don't have to be difficult.  If you are not at home and don't have much time to eat; pack up some hard cheese (like cheddar), whole grain crackers, raw nuts, carrot or celery sticks, and a piece or two of fresh fruit.  I also have several suggests for to-go lunches posted.
 
2.  Try to eat your dinner by 7:00 p.m.  My family typically eats between 5:00 and 7:00.  This will allow time for your food to digest before you go to bed.
 
3.  I have many meal ideas and recipes to help you, so with the knowledge you have already, try to switch to more and more of God-made foods which provide nourishment and satisfy you, as Jennifer has seen over the last month.
 
4.  If you feel you must eat after dinner, try to identify why.  For some people it is a poor diet of man-made food (these foods don't provide the nutrients your body needs and thus they don't satisfy your hunger), but for others it is 'comfort' eating.  If you find you overeat or you eat junk food when you face a disappointment, loneliness, stress, past hurt, or any number of other reasons - recognize what is happening. This is the first step to overcoming this addiction. Typically the foods you are eating as 'comfort' foods are the very addictive man-made foods designed by man tomake you crave them.  You become trapped in a vicious cycle.
 
5.  If you are hungry, try drinking some water.  A person can feel hungry when dehydrated.
 
6.  Change your routine and distract yourself during the time you would normally be snacking.  Take a walk, play a game, connect with your family or neighbors, write a note and mail it, or call a friend.
 
7.  If it seems just impossible for you not to eat before bed, or if you get up in the night to eat, try to eat fresh fruit for your snack.  Fresh fruit takes very little energy to digest so this would be a good transition if you cannot go cold turkey on this challenge.
 
If you have not connected with someone whom you see or chat with, or text with daily, now would be a great time to do so.  It is so much easier, and fun, to face a challenge with the help and support of a friend.



 
 
I thank God that He put it on my heart to change my diet before I had my sons so I could enjoy the fun times while they grew.  I want to share my daily health struggles and thoughts from when I was eating a diet of mostly man-made food before my boys were born.  I hope this might help you if this challenge is difficult for you.
 
At one point during my adult life prior to having children, I was convinced that I had to eat in the evening before bed.  I was also convinced by my mother that I had to eat the first thing when I got up or I would pass out.  I did feel like I would pass out if I didn't immediately eat something, so it was easy for me to believe this was true.  My mother told me that hypoglycemia ran in our family, that she and my sister had it, and that she thought I had developed it too.
 
She was just conveying to me what she was told when she went to her doctor with similar symptoms and had testing done.  She said that I needed to eat multiple small meals/snacks throughout the day, starting first thing in the morning right up until bedtime, to stabilize my blood sugar.  If you know anything about hypoglycemia, diabetes 'cousin', it is not thought to be a curable disease.
 
This became my routine.  I ate upon rising, I ate frequently through the day, and I ate right before bed.  I was so far off balance and it got so bad, that I carried food in my purse for those times when I felt so weak and faint throughout the day that I thought I would collapse.  This seems so foreign to me now, like I am writing about another person, not myself!
 
For anyone who knows me now, I never have any food in my purse or the car, and can go most of the day without food if I need too.  I get up early at 4:00 or 5:00 a.m.  and drink a glass of water.  I then continue to sip on water until about 7:00 a.m. when I eat some fruit.  Next comes breakfast anywhere from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m.  I eat lunch around noon, sometimes have fruit or some other light snack in the afternoon, and dinner around 6:00 p.m.  I never feel faint anymore since I have switched to a diet of excellent quality God-made foods.  God's foods satisfy me and provide the nourishment my body needs, so I do not crave food in the evening before bed nor need it to sleep.  It is amazing what 'diseases' can be cured by a diet of God-made food and following a good daily routine.
 
I am sharing this for those who might say, "But my situation is different and I must eat before bed."  Eating before bed is not the answer to your health issue; unfortunately, it is an unhealthy habit that has been adopted as an acceptable practice which will not produce the vitality, energy and good health you are trying to achieve.
 
"Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always."  1 Chronicles 16:11

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