A New Food Plan

Change is good, right?

In February, I decided to try a new approach to eating. I eliminated meat, dairy, sugar, caffeine, artificial anything, and restricted my intake to vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, whole grain pasta, brown rice and water (only) to drink. For 21 days I stuck to this plan, with some pretty significant results.

My good friend, Tina, mentioned the Daniel Fast to me, which I looked up online. It's a cleansing fast that can be done for dietary purpose, or spiritual purpose, or a combination of both. After some research, I decided not to choose... but just to let the fast be what it would be. I began the process with a 24 hour full fast, taking in only water as I prayed about the journey I was about to take. In that first 24 hours, I decided after that, any food would be good food... even nuts and raisins.

I did not keep a running log of my fast, since in my mind, a fast is personal... not something one tracks in a blog (and heaven forbid I keep a private journal!). That said, I learned it is very difficult to completely change up your eating habits without one or two (or seven or ten) people noticing and inquiring. I explained it to my kids, to my husband, to my mother-in-law... to anyone who asked, really.

The first two or three nights I dreamt about eating restricted foods. I remember the second or third night I dreamt I had just polished off a big turkey sandwich. Yikes! Meat, bread, mayonnaise... all forbidden! Even in the dreams, I knew I would just have to pick up where I was and continue from there... mistakes were bound to happen! By the fourth or fifth day I was so obsessed with a desire for dark chocolate, I didn't know how I'd survive without it! On Scott's birthday (about a week into the fast), I made corned beef and cabbage, and for his party that weekend, we made pasta and a meat dish, and a cake and frosting (from scratch!)... all without me tasting a bit of it!

Oh, I lied. I was cleaning the spatula after the cake batter was done mixing, and I put two fingerfuls into my mouth before I realized what I was doing. I caught myself on the third lick, and rubbed it off my tongue into the trash. Ironically, I had a taste of chocolate without even knowing it... it was not all I had imagined it would be, and as is usually the case, I really didn't even taste it. OK, so I fell off the wagon, but I learned a good lesson (in front of the kids, of course) and jumped right back on that no-chocolate wagon right away without regret.

I guess it's been a full week since my last day. I am still following the regimen pretty closely, but I am not afraid to sample a little of what appeals to me from time to time. However, every time I do turn from the strict plan (read that: every time I eat meat and even a little bit of sugar), I get a headache! The first time I thought I was about due a headache, anyway. The second time I chalked it up to seasonal allergies. The third and fourth time I had to ask myself if this was mere coincidence. Today I went shopping for a wider range of food options.

Some observations I have made:
- I can still have bad eating habits with good food. Bad food, good food... still a bad habit.
- I can survive three weeks without any chocolate.
- I can be so happy with a small square of quality dark chocolate.
- It is not possible for me to drink too much water... I can hardly keep up the minimum recommendation for just a day!
- When the scales are absent from the bathroom, I lost more weight.
- When they see me eating good stuff, it's all the kids want to eat!
- After just two weeks, my body felt different... in a way that I'm having a hard time finding words to describe. Less physically exhausted, less worn out, more solid, more right.
- If I decide to indulge in meat or sugar (or both), I wake up the next day more groggy, less energetic, feeling like I need more sleep.

This fast takes careful planning before beginning. I had to shop very specifically, and like never before. I've read more labels, and thereby discovered more sugar in places I never would have suspected (canned peas!). I really look forward to the produce section of the grocery store, and I know this stuff won't go bad in my fridge... it's practically all I eat!

I don't pretend we haven't heard or read all this stuff before, but I wanted to put it in black and white so I can look back at how good it feels to, well, to feel good. I don't doubt I will change up my eating plan, but I wanted evidence for myself... future reference.

Though I'm looking out the window at the snow falling as I type, I'm pretty certain Spring is here. It's a good time to add a little exercise to my regular routine... I think I can handle a little more change.

The Tree Limb Dream

Last week I had a dream that it was time to go prune the apple trees out back. In fact, winter is a good time to prune fruit trees because, well, as far as I know, because there are no leaves or fruits to get in the way, and you can better see where the excess branches are that need to be pruned. OK, so in the dream, I intended to prune the apple trees, but ended up at the tree behind my parents house (which, also in fact, they do plan on chopping down, I believe).

Here I was, girl-size chainsaw in hand, recalling the advice to chop off any branch which didn't have fruit on it still. You know how in winter, some apple trees still have apples clinging to their branches? Dead and rotten apples, admittedly, but existing fruit, nonetheless. This was the case in the dream. I looked up into the bare tree and saw an occasional apple, then started cutting away at the branches that had no fruit. I kept cutting and cutting, surprised at how many branches were not fruit-bearing.

At one point, I decided to cut closer to the trunk, and when I did, I discovered a little nest of strange bugs. I knew these bugs would be the ruin of the tree because they were right at the heart of it. I also knew I had to cut them out as well. I started that process, quickly discovering the "Queen"... a bug so large it had wrapped its mouth and body around a soda can, which was being digested by the bug - whole, and unopened. I started hacking that thing in half, and into pieces, and swiping at the other little bugs, getting them all out of the nest, into the snow.

Even as I was having the dream, I was aware of the necessity of eliminating the fruitless endeavors in life, of getting rid of the excess "sucker" branches that sap the core. If the suckers are allowed to thrive, they will drain the tree of the life-giving nutrients... the stuff needed to make the fruit as strong and big as possible. When we cut away the suckers, the tree concentrates its efforts on growing the fruit.

As I reflect in waking life, I see several obvious connections: the tree represents me, the branches represent my efforts in this life, the fruit represents what I have to show as a result of my efforts. The pruning is a need to cut away the excess which is a result of the labor I have done in vain, producing nothing beneficial. Indeed, I have become more aware of this in my life, so it is no surprise I would be mulling this stuff over in my head... thoughts which have led to dreams as I attempt to make sense of my life.

What did come as a surprise, though, was those nasty bugs at the heart of the matter. If I had not been working to eliminate what I recognized as a problem (what I thought to be the only problem, those fruitless, life-sucking branches), I would not have discovered the real, core issue. While the useless branches would not have hurt the tree, the bugs eventually would have killed it from the inside out.