Living Rich in a recession

I have been asking myself, “how am I going to live in this time of recession?”

I’ve decided I’m going to Live Rich.  Does that mean I am going to have a pocketful of money, increase my real estate holdings and get ready for a me-centered retirement?  Is that REALLY living rich?

You look back at the great depression and see the food lines,  you hear the stories of the people who lost their money and took their lives, the families that fell apart.  Conversely, you hear stories of people who thrived, grew in their abilities and relationships, kids (who are now great grandparents) who remember richness in their lives rather than poverty because of the attitudes of their parents, the strength of their relationships and personal sense of community.

Richness has nothing to do with economy but rather with a state of the heart and the hand. A new paradigm that it is  God who directs your heart and with His bounty, He alone fills your hand.

The scripture confirms this truth in 1 Timothy 6:17-19 “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.  In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

Wow, that is fairly concise.  “don’t put your hope in your wealth, it is uncertain, (no kidding),  put your hope in GOD who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.“  What does that mean to me, or to you?

I decided to review my assets:

• My husband loves me
• My body is healthy
• My children and grandchildren are healthy
• I have rich, vibrant relationships
• I have many skills and abilities that are a blessing to me, my family and the world at large

I guess that all equals one thing; I am RICH!  Regardless of my economic state, I have assets that are of great value and much more secure than stocks and bonds, certainly more secure than any job or career, I am Rich!

Phil and I discussed this and agree, we must live out of our richness, not the bleak outlook of the world economic picture which has been referred to as an economic experiment.  Rather than be a victim of the results of the great economic experiment, we will begin an experiment of our own, a Divine Experiment, an experiment in Living Rich.

Then we must respond to the rest of the scripture; “put my hope in God who gives us all things richly for our enjoyment”. Our lives must reflect this, we must look for the things He gives us for enjoyment!

“Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” We can do this….we have skills and insights others need.  We both know how to cook, to teach, to inspire others to a different life view we both have many skills and abilities to benefit the world.

How shall we do this? On days when we don’t have work, we will ask God for someone to serve, a place to invest the richness God has given us in others.  Yesterday Celeste invested in a young mother who desperately wants to feed her family good food to improve the health of her disabled children.  Today Phil called a brother in the Lord and spent time with him encouraging him through difficulty.

What other opportunities can we find this week as we have extra time?  What exciting opportunities will God bring our way if we report to Him for our work-duty?

Join the Living Rich Experiment!

How about you?  Some of you reading this blog don’t have work or you have less work than you even need to survive.  What can you give out of the richness of talent, experience, skill that God has given you?  For me it is cooking and teaching, maybe for you it would be helping someone fill out their tax forms, taking your lawn mower, clippers and helping someone in their yard.  Maybe you know how to grow a garden, could you teach that to someone so they can feed their family?  Possibly you have a tiller, could you team up with the gardener and till up garden spots?  Do you cut hair, fix cars, paint walls, wash clothes?  What are you rich in, what can you give, expecting nothing in return?

Some would think, “that don’t make no sense, I am on the brink of disaster myself, how can I give away my skill”.  Consider that it might make more sense than sitting at home worrying about if you can pay this bill or that or hold on to your car, house, or boat.  It makes much more sense than sitting in front of the TV worrying yourself to death about your retirement fund.  It even makes more sense than standing in an unemployment line with thousands of others or on a street corner with the “will work for food” sign.

What if you used the skills and talents you were given by God to just bless someone, with no expectation, requirement or even thought of return?  Could God possibly give you all things richly to enjoy?  Some reading this are already LIVING the Divine Experiment…..share with us, encourage us, exhort us, teach us what you have learned!

Where can you find places and people to invest in?  Look in your neighborhood, your church, community groups, schools, Senior Citizen organizations, how about the projects?  There are needs everywhere, ASK GOD where HE wants you to start,  HE will tell you.

To me, this is THE DIVINE EXPERIMENT.  To begin to obey God and trust HIM to supply all my needs.  I want to challenge you to do the same.  If God stirs this in your heart, begin to obey the scripture in 1 Timothy 6:17-19.  Use your gifts, talents, abilities to bless others.

We invite you to join us in this Divine experiment, comment on this blog, share what you are going to do and keep us posted. Share the experiment with your friends.  Let’s start to turn this thing around.  People are looking for answers, the answers are ALWAYS found in God’s ways.

Have the attitude of the memorable presidential candidate, H. Ross Perot….”you don’t have to pay me, I’ve got billions” (or something to that effect).  After all, God has promised HE will give us all things to richly to enjoy.

H. Ross Perot had another great line:

“The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.”

~ H Ross Perot ~

Will you join us in the Divine Experiment we are calling “Living Rich”?

How to participate:

1. Ask God, who gives you all things richly to enjoy, what skill, talent, possession, do you want me to give?  Who do you want me to give to?
2. Post a comment to this blog as a declaration of commitment to God’s idea of Living Rich and to encourage others to do the same.
3. Do what God tells you.  Remember to do all as if you were doing it to and for Christ and do it in HIS strength.

Report back to this blog on your experiences.

What this is not:

• A way to manipulate God or man into meeting your needs.
• A way to get a tax write off.
• A way to worm your way into some rich person’s heart so they will remember you in their will.
• A way to take advantage of the vulnerable.
• A way to promote your business.

What it is:  A way of obedience to what God is calling you to do. To live beyond the ways of man and Live Rich in God.

Affordable Health or Affordable Health Care?

Are you, like many Americans, concerned with affordable health care?  Is that really backwards thinking?  Should we be striving for Affordable HEALTH instead?

What IS Affordable Health? Affordable health is having a body that functions the way God created it to; full of energy, passion for life, clear minded.

Affordable Health eliminates doctor visits, prescription drugs, even the gazillion supplements you have in your cabinet.

Affordable Health seems out of reach for most Americans due to the indoctrination of the pharmaceutical and medical industry.  The truth is, it is as near as your own refrigerator.

How do you get Affordable Health? We have found the best way is to first remove the cause by cleansing your body, then provide the right environment for healing and give it the right fuel.  A body detox is the first step towards gaining True Affordable Health!

True Affordable Health comes in the yummy, brightly colored packages of green, yellow, red, orange, blue fresh fruits and veggies!  Countless people have reversed many health conditions like Type 2 Diabetes, High Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, even cancers, with nature’s goodness.  Why is it so hard for us to believe that good health is possible and even that simple?

For thousands of years, prior to the last century, it was unusual for people, especially children to be ill.  Doctors worked more on accidents than illness.  It was normal for someone to be healthy and abnormal for them to be sick, what has changed?  It is now much more common to be engaged in conversations regarding sickness.

Obviously there are 2 main differences from the “good old days”; our lifestyle has become more sedentary and our diet is primarily processed foods.  Even the AMA reports that 98% of disease in America is related to diet and lifestyle and only 2% is related to genetic defect.

Toxicity is the primary problem today.  In fact, of the 7 most harmful toxins, the most harmful, after your own personal thoughts, may be the foods you enjoy the most.

Processed foods rob the body of energy that should go towards thinking, cleansing, healing and rebuilding.  Toxic, processed foods cause the body to put most of it’s energy towards dealing with those foods through digestion and storing the abundance of toxins!  That process leaves you feeling sick and tired.

What is the feeling of Affordable Health? Waking up with anticipation and energy for your day.  Feeling satisfied rather than stuffed after a meal.  Choosing what you want to do for fun, rather than sitting on the sidelines, watching others have fun.

The possibilities of Affordable Health are limitless.. for instance, when you retire, would you rather be able to afford to sit on the beach or climb mountains….or would you prefer the ability to afford prescription drugs, diagnostic tests and procedures, long term care due to poor health?

There is an accurate saying going around: We spend our health trying to attain wealth and then as we age we spend our wealth trying to get back our health!  That is insanity!  Like Suzanne Powder said in the 80’s “stop the insanity”!

We really care about people. We would love to see everyone in America Live Well, rather than sick and tired.  Our mission is to help people just like you “improve their lives by changing their food”.  Changing to a whole-food based lifestyle!  It really works, people who live the whole-food way, Live Well.

Living Well IS Affordable Health. Eating raw fruits and veggies and mostly plant proteins has given us and many of our clients, Affordable Health.  We have not had to buy cold and flu medicines, anti-inflammatories, pain medications, medical visits or procedures, surgeries in over 3 years!  We spend our money on food that fuels our bodies and our time on things and people we enjoy!

Make 2009 your year of Affordable Health; we would love to teach you how to Live Well so you may have affordable health for a very, very long time!

Everyone is trying to cut expenses in a struggling economy; why not make the expenses you VALUE be ones that will actually bring you health, then you can cut the ones that don’t.  An adult can eat an extremely healthy diet on about $5.00 per week, if they eat mostly plant food!

An affordable way to permanently change your health is a Virtual Detox Class.  Check it out!

Improve your health by changing your food!

Fresh is best for taste and health

Fresh fruits and vegetables are the best weapon you have against illnesses (like colds and flu) and disease (like cancer and diabetes).

1.  Raw fruits and vegetables are essential for daily detoxification.

Your body was created to detoxify on a daily basis, to eliminate toxins from environment, food and bacteria, thus subverting illness, disease and degeneration that comes from toxicity.  According Dr. Slaga, scientific director for American Medical Center Cancer Research, your body cannot detoxify without phytochemicals, which come from plants and enzymes that come from raw foods.

2.  Raw fruits and vegetables allow your body to put more energy towards healing, rebuilding strong cells and immunity.

Raw fruits and vegetables contain food enzymes that allow the food to virtually digest themselves, reducing the amount of energy the body requires for digestion.  According to Dr. Dici Fuller in The Healing Power of Enzymes, 80% of your body’s energy goes towards digestion, if your body is working correctly and you are eating a high percentage of raw foods.  When you eat processed food that number goes up accordingly.  So, if more energy is going to digestion, less is available for healing, rebuilding strong cells and immunity.

3.  Raw fruits and vegetables are alkaline, reducing acidity in the body which is responsible for disease and degeneration.

Your body is 95% alkaline, it was created to maintain a proper alkaline/acid balance by keeping a mineral reserve.  That mineral reserve comes from fruits and vegetables.  When you eat a high-acid diet and/or you have high stress, which is also acid forming, your body uses it’s mineral reserve more quickly.

Replenish your mineral reserve with raw fruits and vegetables. According to Dr. Ted Morter in “Fell’s Know-it-all Guide to Health & Wellness”, you cannot take mineral supplements to replenish that reserve.  The minerals in supplements do not break down for storage.  The minerals in fruits and vegetables do.

Will you live by familiarity or truth?

Celeste Davis, Whole-food Lifestyle & Detox Coach

This morning I had an ah-ha moment, again, I just LOVE those!

In the Bible, Joshua 24:14 & 15, Joshua, the man God chose to lead the jewish nation to take possession of the Promised Land, challenged his people:

I heard a radio preacher summarize this passage. Basically, what he said was, “are you going to serve the gods you became familiar with when you were in bondage (slavery in Egypt), or are you going to serve the true God who delivered you from slavery.  Choose today who you will serve”.  Joshua went on to say “as for me AND my house, We will serve the Lord!”

That got me thinking, “the gods you were familiar with when you were in bondage”.  What are those gods in my life, the things I bent under, served, gave my energy to?  My gods were performance, infirmnity (sickness), slavery – work work work to pay off debt, self gratification, fear of poverty, fear of abandonment to name a few.  Those gods determined how I responded to life, my goals, my struggles, my decisions.  WOW, what a bummer of a boss!

I am not nearly as much into serving those gods now, however, there are moments, days even weeks when they come back sometimes one and sometimes as a group and try to intimidate me, make me think they are still in charge.

My ah-ha moment today was asking myself….DO I WANT TO SERVE THOSE gods I SERVED WHEN I WAS IN BONDAGE?  Of course not!  Who do I want to serve?  My loving heavenly father and my savior Jesus Christ.  I was reminded of what kind of boss THEY are:

I find their true characteristics in the names used to describe them in the Bible.  Just like people learn about me by my different ‘names’ wife, mother, grandmother, coach, cook, friend, sister, daughter, etc.  I can be reminded daily of what kind of God I serve now:

Elohim – The Creator (oh yeah, he can just speak and make something out of nothing)

El Elyon – The  Most High God (nothing is above Him or more powerful than He is)

El Roy – The God Who Sees Me (even when no one else seems to)

El Shaddai – The All Sufficient One (no poverty, hunger, danger with him)

Adonai – THE LORD (ruler over all the earth and the universe)

Jehovah – The Self Existent One (a true super hero, if he doesn’t have any needs then neither do I)

Jehovah Jireh – The Lord who supplies ALL my needs

Jehovah Rapha – The Lord who heals

Jehovah Nissi – The Lord my banner ( I particularly like this one because he is my banner in battle, my flag, my banner of victory – planting the flag on the mountains conquered, my banner of love – his sign over me is like the spider in charlottes web….some pig!, this God who is above all and more powerful than anything else thinks I am awesome…and He thinks YOU are awesome too.)

So there isn’t much decision here, serve those familiar little gods of sickness, fear, slavery to people, things, habits, money, debt?

OR

Serve this awesome God!  Who thinks I am awesome and is able to do exceeding abundantly above and beyond all that I could think, dream or even imagine?

No brainer!

As for me and my house, when the familiar comes knocking at my door my answer will be

As for ME AND MY HOUSE WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!

How about you?

What are you familiar with?

Who do you chose to serve?

For Food Truth go to www.foodtruth.thewellnessworkshop.org

Why Does Your Body Need A Break?

Celeste Davis, Whole-foods Lifestyle & Detox Coach

Most adults deal with post-lunch energy lag on a daily basis, wishing they could stop and nap. They rarely have a really productive afternoon. This feeling is the result of an extra amount of the body’s energy being pulled by the digestive system. Similar to the effect a faulty alternator has on the electrical system of your car. The lights aren’t as bright; the engine turns over with great difficulty – or not at all.

An estimated 80% of the energy your body produces goes towards digestion, if your body is functioning correctly. (Dr. DicQuie Fuller, The Healing Power of Enzymes). The more processed food you eat, the more energy is required for digestion.

Is your food Living or Dead?

Processed foods, also called dead foods, are any foods that are cooked or dried above 118 degrees F or frozen. Void of natural food enzymes, processed food offers the body nothing to help with the digestive process. The body does all the work. Furthermore, if the food is filled with toxic additives, chemicals, bad fats, sugars or salts (almost everything in the SAD standard American diet), even more of the body’s energy is required to deal with the toxic substances.

The body is putting so much energy towards defending itself against invading food toxins and so much energy towards digesting your meals, there is little to no energy left for healing, cleansing and rebuilding strong cells. Bacteria, parasites and disease grow well in the soil of a poorly fed body.

Doing a body detox with primarily raw foods will give your body a break from digestion and toxic foods so it can let down that defensive system and start putting energy towards rebuilding health tissue and organs.

Rebuild a strong body

Your body is continually rebuilding itself. Organs rebuild approximately every 120 days, scientists estimate you get a new body every 7 – 15 years, all organs, tissue and bones are completely rebuilt. The AMA reports that 98% of American disease is related to lifestyle and diet and only 2% related to genetics. If you are eating a diet of primarily processed foods, the body is not getting any good building materials, so your organs are rebuilding weaker every time rather than stronger. Premature aging, weakness and illness are much more a result of your diet than your genetics.

The following is from an excerpt from an article in the BBC news on aging.

“….. paradoxically, old age is not just a story of decay. The body continues to renew itself. The lining of the gut, for example, is totally replaced every three days and the blood is renewed every three months.

Parts of the skeleton are reproduced every four years and most of our body is no more than 10 years old.

The reason we look old may be that the body is constantly copying itself and, eventually, the copies develop faults. Another theory is that free radicals in oxygen can damage the body.

It is thought that excess sunlight, air pollution and smoking may contain damaging free radicals. On the other hand, fresh fruit and vegetable and red wine may destroy them.”

Most likely you have had a computer crash on you. When you reboot your computer it runs through a systems check to make sure all the operating systems are up and running. Your body does much the same thing. When something is off in the body, it starts looking for systems to draw the lacking things from or for systems that can be shut down to conserve energy and still maintain body function. Your mind isn’t as clear, your coordination not as sharp, and many other physical symptoms begin to manifest. You do not have optimal body function.

It only makes sense that we should be giving our Living body, Living food!

More information on the Give Your Body A Break program

How to Give Your Body A Break

Give Your Body A Break is a whole-food lifestyle and detox program designed to restore and maintain proper body function. It works on 3 levels:

• Give Your Body A Break from Digestion using primarily Raw foods containing food enzymes, which do the digestive work themselves and a predigested protein shake.
• Give Your Body A Break from Toxins by eliminating all potentially toxic or allergenic foods and chemicals found in processed foods.
• Give Your Body A Break from Toxic Habits, Stress And Relationships that hinder good health.

Lifestyle changes and nutrition education provide information on food, digestion, body function and the necessary nutrients to support your good health.

Body detoxification is a continual process requiring good organ function. Give Your Body A Break differs from other Detox programs as it nourishes and restores your own body’s detoxification system. Many cleansing programs “make” your body detox by promoting the release of toxins through various medicinal herbs. Body function may not be restored and toxicity, along with toxic symptoms, return.

When you Give Your Body A Break, body function is restored and you get the opportunity to feel great for the first time in a long time. Many Give Your Body A Break participants have said they didn’t know how bad they felt until they started feeling Great!

What are people saying?

“I’ve lost 9 lbs and have so much energy! This has changed my life and it is changing others around me. I do not want to go back to the way I used to binge on treats. This would benefit anyone wanting to feel good, do more and live with more purpose and meaning. This is not just about what you eat, but why, where and how.” 42 yr old female

“The biggest gain has been the awareness of better self-care that runs throughout my life, and is not just confined to food. The program has made me aware of my voice in regards to asking for what I need. Also the program has made me aware of choice; that I have choices and I don’t have to succumb to old patterns. I can choose healthier foods, environments and relationships, that I deserve this. I deserve real and satisfying food, relationships, work and rest, and I can have it!! I found out when and why I have cravings, how to stock my refrigerator, how to prepare and plan for satisfying meals and how to take better care of myself overall.” Thank you! 35 yr old female

“I cannot begin to express how pleased I am about the way I feel. The benefits of this process have been, in short, literally life-changing. I’m motivated for the first time in a long time to change my lifestyle. This is not a diet to me; it is a change in the way I am living. Bad Cholesterol dropped over 100 points. Good cholesterol rose from 42 to 132. I was a candidate for serious heart trouble and my doctors are amazed at my improvements.” 53 yr old male

Does Your Body need a break?

• § Are you frequently tired?
• § Do you have recurring medical symptoms?
• § Do you have trouble sleeping?
• § Do you suffer from constipation or diarrhea on occasion?
• § Do you get sick every time something goes around your community?
• § Does your weight seem to go up more often than down?
• § How much time do you spend at the doctor or talking with friends and family about your body’s aches and pains?
• § Are you taking an antidepressant?
• § Do you have to take the “purple pill” or some type of antacid after eating?
• § Is your cholesterol high?
• § Have you been told to watch your blood sugar?
• § Is your blood pressure elevated?
• § Are you doing the things you really want to do in life or are you limited due to your physical condition?
• § Have you tried many different times to improve your health, lower your weight, cholesterol or blood pressure?
• § Do you eat sugar in some form every day?
• § Do you consume caffeine in some form on a daily basis?
• § Are most of your foods cooked or processed in one way or another?
• § Do you just want to have the best health you possibly can?
• § Do you live in a developed and industrialized country?

If you answered Yes to more than 3 of these questions,Your Body Needs A Break!

Irradiating our foods to OUR death!

Celeste Davis, Whole-foods Lifestyle & Detox Coach

Daily I work with people whose lives are debilitated and sometimes endangered due to the food they eat, the SAD diet (which stands for Standard American Diet).  These people get up tired, walk around tired all day and go to bed exhausted.  Once they get into bed they are unable to sleep because their poor bodies are not able to function correctly.  These people represent the majority of American adults and many children.  On top of those problems, most adults are on 4 or more medications by the time they are in their mid to late thirties!

“According to a report released  by Medco Health Solutions, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports. Last year, almost two-thirds of women ages 20 and older, one in four children and teenagers, 52% of men and three-fourths of seniors took prescription drugs for chronic diseases, according to the report.” from California Health Line.

The culprit?  The problem is the foods we are eating (even the packages that claim to be healthy) are nutrient-poor.  There are 3 things that influence the nutritional value of food, the way it is grown (soil, seed, environmental conditions), the way it is harvested (food harvested before it is ripe is nutrient-poor and storage of harvested foods) and the way it is processed.

Our bodies are very smart.  Anything that does not fit into the REAL FOOD criteria that God built into our complex digestive system will not process as a food but as a toxin.  Foods that do not have nutrients in them are toxic to the body.  Irradiation depletes the nutrient density of the food.

According to the Center for Food Safety Irradiation Fact Sheet, “Food irradiation uses high-energy gamma rays, electron beams or x-rays (all of which are millions of times more powerful than standard medical x-rays) to break apart the bacteria and insects that can hide in meat, grains and other foods.  Radiation can do strange things to food, by creating substances called “unique radiolytic products.”  These irradiated by products include a variety of mutagens – substances that can cause gene mutations, polyploidy (an abonormal chromosome aberration often associated with cancerous cells, and dominant lethal mutations (a change in a cell that prevents it from reproducing) in human cells.

Irradiation also causes stunted growth in lab animals fed irradiated foods. An important 2001 study linked colon tumor promotion in lab rats to 2-alkylcyclobutanones (2-ACB’s), a new chemical compound found only in irradiated foods. The FDA has never tested the safety of these byproducts. Irradiation has also been shown to cause the low-level production of furans (similar to cancer-causing dioxins) in fruit juice. See what a food irradiation machine looks like.

Making matters worse, many mutagens are also carcinogens.  Irradiated foods can lose up to 95% of their vitamins.  For example, irradiation can destroy up to 80% of Vitamin A in eggs, up to 95% of the lutein in broccoli and 40% of the beta-carotene in orange juice.  Irradiation also doubles the amount of trans-fat in beef.” for more info go to http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/food_irrad.cfm

If you eat out, especially at chains, you WILL be eating irradiated meat, grain products and produce.  If you eat mostly prepared, processed foods from the grocery or big box stores you WILL be eating irradiated meat, grain products and produce.  You will also most likely suffer from many health complications as a result.  Dr. Don Culbert in his book, 7 Pillars of Health, reports that some chains, specifically Chili’s, Outback, Ruby Tuesdays, do not use or purchase irradiated foods. A short list for the more than 465,000 eat-out establishments in the US (that number does not include grocery stores and gas stations which could raise the number dramatically).

“As of 2006, there are approximately 215,000 full-service restaurants in the United States, accounting for $298 billion, and approximately 250,000 limited-service (fast food) restaurants, accounting for $260 billion, according to the 2006 U.S. Industry & Market Outlook by Barnes Reports.["

Some words to watch for that may mean irradiated:  Pasteurized, cold pasteurized, flash pasteurized, irradiated.  Remember that even the fresh-squeezed looking juices that are packaged are cold or flash pasteurized, that kills the best part of the juice, the living enzymes.

The Good News is almost anyone can turn their health around by changing to a whole food, real food diet.  People who go through our program lose from 50 to 95% of their medical symptoms in just 28 days and remain healthy!

The solution to America’s health crisis and food safety is to buy and eat real, whenever possible, locally grown food. There are wonderful sources for locally grown food in Tennessee and across the country.  Go to www.localharvest.org to find local food growers in your community.

Give Your Body A Break! is a 28-day detox and whole-foods lifestyle program.

Improve Your Life by Changing Your Food!  Give Your Body A Break!

Changing your stress default

Celeste Davis

Stress can have a huge impact on your immune system. Just like sugar, if your body is busy dealing with negative emotions and thoughts, it won’t have as much energy to put towards cleansing, healing and rebuilding strong.   Dealing with stress is something we must do on a moment to moment and day to day basis, with great intention.  If you don’t become intentional about managing and eliminating stress, you will go into a default mode and stress will manage (and potentially eliminating You!

Manage and eliminate stress or it will manage and possibly eliminate you!

Sometimes my computer gives me a message about not being able to find the program needed to open a file.  It asks me a question with three options:  Search the computer, search the web or change my default.  I find this similar to the problems I encounter with eating well.  This weekend I found I needed to change my default.

This weekend we had a stress event that threw us for a temporary loop.  We went for a walk to hash out our feelings about the matter and that helped some but both of us felt we needed an escape – a movie!  We went to the video store (ok, we live in a small town, don’t have good cable and yes we rent movies) and walked out with 3 movies.  Leaving the video store, I turned to Phil and said “I want chocolate”  He said “Me too!”  So we walked next door to the market and did not look for anything healthy, we went for 1. Ice Cream – with pralines and chocolate.  2.  Chocolate Chips to make Chocolate Chip Brownies and 3. Doritos (good for balance).  These are things we NEVER eat or at least very rarely because they really do make us feel lousy.  Well, we went home, popped in the movie and got out the ice cream.  I started to make brownies but, since I don’t keep refined sugar in the house, scratched that plan.  So we put the chocolate chips in mugs, piled up scoops of ice cream and bottoms up!  We were about to get loaded.

We both took about 2 bites of the ice cream and it was tooooo sweet, not tastey at all.  The chocolate chips were good for about 1 handful, Phil munched a few doritos and then he looked at me and said, “I am taking this stuff to the garbage can”.  Good idea, so much for our binge and about $15 bucks into the garbage.

This got us talking again. This is how we used to always deal with stress or stress events.  This was our old default BUT it didn’t work any more!  Our bodies don’t even recognize that junk-food binge program.

We realized we needed a new default to deal with stress. We walked, yes we talked but apparently not enough because we still wanted food for our oral satisfaction.  Maybe we should have run instead of walking but honestly the stress took all our energy and just walking and talking seemed like an effort.

When you detox your body you find that you detox the rest of your life as well, however, there will always be times when situations take you back to default.  I guess that is why people in AA have sponsors and meetings available at all times of the day and night.

We are still “in process” on this one.  It is always easier to help someone else solve a problem like this than it is to come up with one yourself.

We decided that we are going to keep some healthier, “intentional treats” on hand so if we do want chocolate or something that will increase our serotonin levels and take us to a “happy place”, at least it will be food that won’t make us sick, food we can enjoy!  Just not enough to binge every day.  Some of our treats are Enjoy Life! Chocolate Chips.  We use those to make homemade ice cream, made with Agave Nectar or Chocolate Chip muffins made with Raw Honey, Lara Bars, Ezekiel Tortillas to make sprouted grain chips and fresh salsa.

Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins made with Raw Honey

We were reminded to keep our forgiveness list cleared and that helped to eliminate some stress.  We have not been sick with the flu or colds in 4 years.  We value good health and are willing to limit our sugar and manage our stress to accomodate continued good health.

How about you?  What is your default for stress? Is it food?  Alcohol, tobacco, depression, sleep, shopping, anger?  Do you find your default has changed?  Do you want to change your default?

Celeste Davis

The Wellness Workshop

Improve Your Life By Changing Your Food

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