Day Eins, Uno, One
Ahhh, I can feel things moving right along, if you know what I mean, as I slurp down my carrot-romaine juice! Don’t get me wrong: I can admit that it’s an ugly, ugly drink but there’s a certain sweetness about it that I kind of dig and knowing that it’s full of tons of good stuff that I couldn’t just sit down and eat in a salad, I’m feeling good. Hold on a sec’…Okay. I’m back. The throne was calling! I’m not trying to be crude but just wanted to share that this stuff is ALREADY working on day 1! You see, I had some low-sugar fruit this morning, an apple and banana, of course only on an empty stomach just like Natalia says to do and now I’m having my veg juice. I’ll have to get a pic of this juice on here at some point. It looks and tastes (slightly) like chocolate milk! Crazy! I’ll have to trick Uriah out sometime later when he knows what chocolate milk is! Getting back to talking about elimination though, Natalia has a theory that I think makes a lot of sense and it is this: Weight=waste. So this means that a lot of that extra weight you’re carrying around is there because of what you put in your body, a.k.a., all of that processed, man-made stuff.
So I got stocked up this morning at the supermarket on the things that Natalia emphasizes–stuff for juicing, including romaine, carrots, kale, apples and lemons; sweet potatoes with organic butter and honey; tons of veggies for salads; some almond milk for added calcium and vitamin D; almond butter and celery, a favorite snack of mine; and of course, some organic dark chocolate. The 2 juice recipes that I seem to gravitate toward the most (I’ve been juicing for a few months now here and there but it’s really emphasized in Natalia’s program) are the carrot-romaine which is 1 pound of carrots with one head of romaine and the green lemonade from her book. The latter of these is really quite good. It’s composed of a head of romaine, 4-5 kale leaves (and I’m not a big fan of kale but it’s really quite good in this juice) along with one lemon and 1-2 apples.
For lunch today, I’m probably going to do a really big salad what with all the fresh veggies people keep bringing us from their gardens here in the country. I’ll probably do one of Natalia’s favorite dinners for supper, some sauteed Italian veggies with some good organic pasta sauce on top and some goat cheese. I’ll make Abe some pasta to keep his meal related to mine. I know you’re probably wondering how this is going to work with having a hubby who’s NOT embarking on this food journey with me. I hope to incorporate a lot more fresh produce into his meals but I don’t want to be forceful about it or make him feel like he has to do what I’m doing. I hope that I rub off on him a bit.
Part of the Scripture that I read this morning comes from Acts 19:11-22. In sum, it’s about the sons of Sceva, the group of Jews that heard about what Paul was doing in casting out evil spirits from people and healing the sick. They wanted to do what Paul was doing even though they didn’t know Jesus. They went around casting out evil spirits in Jesus’ name! The evil spirit says, “I know Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” We probably all know this story. Later on in the passage, many in Ephesus, including Jews and Greeks, confess Jesus as Lord as they were filled with great “fear” as they witnessed Paul’s miracles. I’m particularly drawn to the part where God speaking through His Word says, “Many of the believers began to confess openly and tell all the evil things they had done. Some of them who had used magic brought their magic books and burned them before everyone. Those books were worth about fifty thousand silver coins.” Seeing the word “evil” strikes me as different ’cause I mean, how often do we hear or see this word in the world? Not often, right?! So many of us hardly even think about evil even though it’s out there and inside of us. I guess what gets me the most about this passage is the passion that the former magicians express even deciding to burn precious items all as a result of wanting to pursue Jesus and the life that He alone offers. The question for you and me is obvious, right: What happens when God’s people turn away from sin and truly seek to obey him? What sins do you and I need to put away? I know that for me, I don’t want to idolize food, detoxing, Natalia, my body, etc., throughout this process. Actually, I’m hoping that embarking on this new path will allow all of those things to take a back seat. One of the things Natalia talks about that comes with eating more healthily is mental and spiritual clarity. I’ve experienced this kind of clarity before through detoxing and I’m looking forward to experiencing it again. It’s amazing how wonderful you can feel in your heart and mind when you’re not making food an issue and to incorporate our passage for today, it’s amazing how wonderful you can feel when you know that you’re pursuing God with all you are and bringing your idols to Him to be cast out. One of the things that deeply saddens me about the detox movement and community in general is that they understand body cleansing but they don’t seem to understand the heart cleansing and thus the reason Jesus is so important and necessary to solve our whole real dilemma as human beings. Love you all!
