Hi, let me introduce you to my food
crutches.
Because I’d grown up fasting, I was accustomed to the
pattern of skipping two consecutive meals on day a month. Although difficult,
most fast Sundays I’d at least attempted to fast. I can only think of one time
I actually did it 100%.
January 3, 2016, was only going to be another attempt
to complete a fast I when I felt impressed I should fast for another 30 days.
Yes, I questioned my sanity more then once.
January 4, 2016 was an interesting day for me. Other
than 100% committed to fasting, I had no idea what I was doing. After getting
the kids off to school, I cleaned up the breakfast dishes when the first wave
of hunger hit. The hunger was an earth-moving force and I gripped onto the side
of my kitchen counter. I thought the hunger from the day before was tough, but
this was a whole new level. My stomach felt like a black hole and there was
soreness. The actual muscle of my stomach ached, but nothing about the hunger
made me crave food. I didn’t feel desperate. I didn’t feel out of control. I
felt surprisingly in control. I felt present and accountable when I felt in my
heart should pick two grapefruit from my tree, juice them and drink.
Grapefruit juice became my first of three food
crutches.
On January 5, 2016 I stumbled out of bed dizzy and lightheaded. I held onto the wall as I walked into my
daughter’s room. The sky was dark as
night and I could hear the rain pouring down on the roof. Barely able to move, I started boiling some
water for mint tea. I took some aspirin
and once the kids left for school laid back down. The baby awoke and with the little energy I
had, we played on the floor with his toys.
I’m not sure what was going on.
Either I was having a strange detox or I had the worst cold in the
history of mankind.
At this point, I did what I
could to manage a little self-evaluation:
Self: Are you ok?
Self: Are you going crazy?
Self: Do you need to eat?
Self, clearly and confidently
said back to me: “No, I am fine. Keep
fasting.”
The spirit whispered “You
crave sweet foods when you want something sweet out of life. Fill yourself with the sweetness of the
spirit of the Lord.”
With the little energy I had,
I opened my scriptures and read. For the
first time in my life, the scriptures literally came alive. What I’d read time and time again felt brand
new. So startled was I by the beauty of
the words and the profound importance of their message, I started reading the
scriptures out loud. I had to repeat
passages over and over again, amazed at the understanding. I’d heard to feast and hunger after
righteousness, but I never expected the words to literally fill me up. They did.
January 6, 2016
introduced me to my second food crutch.
I was still very sick with my cold, but at least could manage caring for
Canyon while the other kids were at school.
I felt impressed to drink some hot chicken broth. I called my sweet mom and asked her to bring
some over. I drank the piping hot liquid
and let it sooth my throat. The taste
was a salty confection of flavor. Never
had liquid tasted so good.
Chicken broth became my second food crutch.
From that day forward, I had
grapefruit juice first thing in the morning and chicken broth around noon.
January 8, 2016
- Although I struggled throughout the day with hunger, it never affected my
energy level. I didn’t feel tired, I
felt invigorated. I wasn’t sure how that
could happen without food in my belly, but it did. There were many things I was starting to
notice while fasting like greater mental awareness. My temperament toward my children when the
argued and were contentious was more mild.
I could talk to them about how they felt without projecting my own
disappointment and frustration. Many
times I felt like an observer in my home, like I was elevated above the chaos. I reflected on what was happening around me
and made quick and accurate mental assessments before reacting. I didn’t feel the pressure of time because hunger
kept me present. I was living in the
moment and could focus on the current crisis with my best self. I also found an interesting confidence in what
I was doing. My newly-learned self-discipline
quieted the voices in my head that before were constantly putting pressure on
me. No longer did I feel I was missing
out on a greater purpose – all the “if only” moments that kept me from living
the life I was experiencing to wanting the live the life I couldn’t seem to
acquire. My purpose was here, in my
home, with my kids and I was to fast at this very moment. I was journaling every day, reading my
scriptures and praying. A part of myself
I thought was gone forever started peaking her head around the corner, making
herself present. No longer did I fight
the mental energy to judge my time management or tasks of the day. I was doing what was most important and my
mental “naysayers” had nothing to say about that. The present hunger kept them
shushed!
While working in the kitchen,
I opened my cupboard and put my hand on a bag of Green Smoothie Girl protein
powder. I just stood there, staring at
the bag when I realized what I was touching.
“I should have some of that,” I felt in my heart so I boiled some water
and put a scoop into it. Green Smoothie
Girl protein powder is raw, vegan, organic and sprouted – and it tastes really
good, especially when you’re fasting.
Green Smoothie Girl protein powder became my third
food crutch.
To recap, my first three
weeks consisted of the following:
First thing in the morning:
two citrus, either juiced or eaten. I
did fluctuate between oranges and grapefruit.
10:00am: 1 scoop protein
powder in boiling water. Boiling water
made me sip my drink, which really made it enjoyable and last longer.
1:00pm: Boiling chicken broth. Some days I drank an entire quart.
4:00pm: I broke my fast with prayer and opened the
scriptures to see what God wanted to impress upon my heart.
Once I broke my fast for the
day, I felt impressed to not follow any food plan. I used common sense and because my stomach
began shrinking, I could only eat about 1/3 of what I usually ate.
On my next blog post, I’ll
share how I learned because of my food crutches I was not really doing
intermittent fasting, but then later I learned my food crutches were essential
to starting a long-term true intermittent fast.
I’m telling you, this journey has had a lot of twists and turns; all
directed by a loving Father in Heaven.
Come see me speak on intermittent fasting March 12, 2016 at the Christ-centered Energy Healing Conference in Mesa AZ. More information here.
If you have a question about my journey with intermittent fasting, please leave your question below or on my facebook page here.
Such a lovely post! It was truly very informative. Thanks a lot for sharing it. My entire family is fond of eating fast food. For me, it’s very difficult to feed healthy items to them and thinking to start giving them Green supplements to fulfill body’s nutrient needs.
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