My Journey

Part 1
I've been on a specific journey with the Lord for the last four years. After a lot of interest in this, I figured I'd share the details in one spot rather than type it a bazillion times :)

Four years ago I was going to an amazing Spirit-filled Bible study. At that time my husband, Steve, was having tremors. He had been diagnosed with 'Essential Tremors', which is like Parkinson's but doesn't progress as debilitatingly as Parkinson's. His tremors were getting steadily worse, so the doctor relooked at a Parkinson's diagnosis. Wow! That was a scary few days waiting for test results. During that waiting time, I attended this Bible study. The topic that night was having faith in healing. I confessed to this group of about 15 ladies that we were awaiting a diagnosis of possible Parkinson's and that I didn't have to faith to think that it would be healed. The speaker stopped the study and had everyone gather around me and pray over me and through me for Steve. It was overwhelming, let me say, I had faith after that prayer that the Lord would heal him and we would be ok. As I was walking to the door to go home, one of the ladies pulled me aside and said that sometimes the Lord gives her words and He had that night. The Lord told her to tell me to 'look at his diet'. At the time we were eating the Standard American Diet which included a few trips to fast food for me and the kids and Steve ate out even more. I'd cook dinner most night, but with not much depth in thought to the full nutrition I was serving. So I tucked her words from the Lord into my mind and continued to the door and my car to drive home. The study was about 20 minutes from my house. As I was driving I was worshiping to my Christian station that I always listened to and clear as day, God said, "Eat my food." Goosebumps! So that night four years ago from today, God took my hand and led me down this road. Here I am 91 pounds down, Steve has very, very few tremors. Most days they are not detectable. During his worst times, he couldn't hardly get food to his mouth with out losing most of it and writing was futile. A couple of times that we voted, I'd have to fill in the ballot for him. The next election is a few months away and I'm sure he will be filling out his own ballot. I'll continue to share the work that God has done in me and our family, so stay tuned :)

Part 2
Once I got home from that life-changing Bible study, I knew I needed to follow God every step of the way. Change came slowly. I had always served decent food, made meals from scratch, baked my own cookies, but we ate way too much fast-food and not enough veggies. Over the next couple of years, I slowly changed things. We adopted a whole foods way of life. Stopped processed snacks and eventually have gone dye-free. Two of my kids are very negatively affected by dyes, so they don't even dabble in the dyed candy realm, but my other two have a sucker every once in a while. Places like Trader Joe's are great for dye-free gummy bears and jelly candies. We've also found a dye-free licorice that is tasty. There are lot's of flavors, too. It's a hard mental challenge to 'take away' the treats that my kids love. I felt like a bad mom, even though I knew it was so much better for their bodies, so to find alternatives is a blessing. Most of the time these are rare treats, but I admit to going through seasons of having these treats in the house all the time.

We stopped buying conventional ice cream and switched to organic. Eggs are now cage free. We had a pig and cow raised organically and have the meat in our freezer. I'm not sure if we are going to do that again for cost reasons, so I've already scoped out Trader Joe's for their meat to see the cleanest choices when are freezer gets empty. Our veggies and fruits are all organic now. We are so fortunate to have an organic farm 20 minutes away and a Sprouts 1/2 mile away. I'm able to shop organically for reasonable prices. I try to find beans and any other item in an organic form, if I can't I will buy conventional if I have to. I know that the good choices we are making far out weigh a few non-organic items. In the last 2 months (4 years after this journey began) we started buying organic milk. We used to drink 6 gallons of milk a week, now we are down to 2. That made organic affordable. All of us used to drink milk, now only my little two kids do. My older son (14) found out that his stomach liked non-dairy milk better than cows milk. We still eat regular pasta, but we only eat pasta twice a month. Those changes were slow. I'd change one thing at a time. It's too overwhelming to throw everything out and start over. Plus, I picked up different information as I went along.

My biggest epiphany came when I watched Forks Over Knives, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, Food Inc., Hungry For Change. I watched them all on Netflix. I've re-watched them all too. These movies gave me a visual on what our food choices do to our bodies. When I think about making a bad food choice, the visuals immediately come to mind and I don't go any farther down that road. I was 3-1/2 years into the journey when I stumbled upon these movies. A couple of months later I read Eat to Live, and that was IT!

Part 3
If you missed the first two parts, here's part 1 and here's part 2. To catch you up,  I watched Forks Over Knives and Hungry For Change and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Those changed my thinking. About 6 months after that and being more aware of fruits and veggies, I read Eat to Live. That changed my thinking more. I had already changed from the Standard American Diet to a whole foods diet, and lost 30 pounds, but stalled and was still in the throws of food addiction. Two months after reading Eat to Live and re-reading it, I just jumped in. I felt pretty crappy for a week and just not great for 6 weeks, then I turned a corner (never 'cheating') and feel great! My family and I would suffer through PMS, now that is gone! My food addiction was gone within the first month. Having that gone and feeling so good is what keeps me on the right track. I have it in my head that if I take even one bite of a brownie I will feel sick and be in bondage to it again, I immediately never choose to take that first bite. I was abused by my brother my whole life and he spoke lies and ugliness onto me. So now that I think so clearly, I spot those lies and tell myself the truth. So my emotional life is much cleaner as well. I'm able to work through feelings and situations whereas before, I'd stuff with food and not feel anything. I truly feel that this is the path God wants me on now and I think His help is what keeps me going too. There are times that I lose at least a pound a day, that is motivation right there!! I love this lifestyle and feel so much freedom. I jumped in with both feet and never looked back on December 26, 2013. I've lost 61 pounds since then (It's August 6, 2014) and am still losing, slower, but still losing. 

On the meat front, right now, I am not called to eat meat.  We had a cow raised organically for beef and that is in our freezer right now. I will taste a bite here and there, but that is it. I want my family (who does eat meat) to eat the best meat that I can provide. I know how this cow was raised respectfully and I know that every part of him was used and that he was killed in a kind way. We thank God even more for his provision of this animal that we watched grow. It's a very humbling process. As of now, God has provided meat for my family, I'm very open to his guiding and will do whatever He asks of us. We each need to listen to God for what goes into our mouths. He really cares about the food we eat. He wants us to effectively minister for Him. When I was 246 pounds, I didn't have the energy to do the best ministry with my kids as He wanted. I was grumpy, tired, had hormone swings. My kids  love their new mom who has lot's of energy, has a consistent good mood, can hear the voice of the Lord, because there is no brain fog. Satan tries to lie to us that God doesn't care about food. Satan wants us in bondage to food, he wants us to only think about food and eat food that makes us sick and have no energy. How can we fully do the work God has called us to, if we are tired and grumpy? These are things that He has shown me, I pray you will find freedom, if needed, to break out of the lies of Satan and truly look at the food that God has given us :)