Day Two – Carob and Apple Cinnamon

I’m sure this post may bore a few people but that’s okay because I said I was going to blog through this experience I’m having with the Standard Process program, so here we go.

Today was day two of me doing the special shakes and this morning I had a carob-banana shake with a few organic eggs for breakfast. My friend Hal asked me if the shake was a meal replacement and just so you all know, the answer is no. The shake is basically what you put all of your supplements in so you don’t have to swallow a million tablets….that and it has protein and a lot of other good things.

I have to put a total of about 13 capsules in each shake. In fact, I just had my second shake, which was a apple cinnamon one and I realized that I still need to take 10 more capsules later tonight if I’m going to get them all in. Basically there are two main supplements I’m putting in each shake, but if I have only two shakes, then I need to take the rest with water.

So how has this been affecting me – well, aside from one major almost migraine type headache for most of the day, I’m doing fine. I have had no adverse problems with the shake and I’m learning that I actually like this more healthy way of living.

And I am very thankful that I started doing the healthier eating about a month ago with my husband because since then I’ve lost 10 lbs – and that even without exercise. So my body is finally getting rid of some of the bad stuff and for that I’m really thankful.

Tonight Randall and I will go to our normal favorite restaurant and get some good protein…because believe it or not, I’m actually hungry, even though I feel like all I’ve done is eat lately. Yeah, eat salad, some eggs, chicken, more salad, more eggs, more chicken…although last night I did have a piece of steak Randall cooked up. Tonight…we’ll see

Until later.

My First Acupuncture Experience

Today was the day and I’m so glad that it finally came. I’ve been anticipating going through the program now since my husband began it about three weeks ago.

Admittedly, I was slightly nervous about getting needles put into me, but Mary promised me that it wouldn’t hurt…and ya know what, IT DIDN’T!

In case you don’t know what acupuncture is I will tell you. Here’s the dictionary definition:

1. a Chinese medical practice or procedure that treats illness or provides local anesthesia by the insertion of needles at specified sites of the body.

After Mary put about 10 needles in me, I had to lay on the table for about 20 minutes. Once that was over, I got to leave. But here’s the cool thing, it actually was relaxing.

And I also started the Standard Process shakes today and after I found carob, which I had to hunt all over the place to find, I was able to make a carob shake with soy milk and some power stuff. Overall, the shake wasn’t too bad, but it also wasn’t sweet either. But I think it’s something I can deal with for a few weeks.

The Day Before…

Well, here is it “the day before” I go back to the nutritionist and then begin my Standard Process experiment. Today I ate pretty good with the exception of a sweet piece of bread in the morning. Other than that, I had a huge salad for lunch and some lean meat for dinner and stayed true to the mission. Since I started eating like this I’ve lost 8lbs, and so that has been encouraging.

On another note, I’ve also spent part of my day reading Jerry Falwell: His life and legacy by his wife Macel Falwell. Tomorrow I will have the privilege of interviewing Mrs. Falwell about her new book and the life of her husband.

Read more about that at Active Christian Media.

Me…an Animal Torturer???

Wow, it is extremely amazing to me how only one person who has read my post asking how they would kill a possum has accused me of “torturing” animals.

Well, if you read my Active Christian Media blog then you may have heard of Kevin Kaatz – yeah, that’s the guy. Kevin loves to lie about people, in particular me and Peter LaBarbera because me and Peter believe that the way Kevin lives his life is sinful.

Kevin recently said on his blog that I’m an animal torturer because my husband and I decided to put this little injured possum in a bag and hang it on a nail above our house, so my dogs couldn’t get it and finish killing it.

Kevin thinks that us putting it in the bag is torture. The reality is that it was almost 11 PM and animal control was closed for the night. I asked my husband if he wanted to take the animal in the bag and drive it someplace and he opted not to, because it was so late.

Not only that, but the bag wasn’t tied tightly, in fact it was barely tied at all, just enough to hang it where the dogs couldn’t get it.

But here’s the thing – either Kevin can’t clearly read English – or he simply likes to slander me, by calling what I did animal torture, that’s slander.

Let me remind you of what torture means:

1. the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty.
2. a method of inflicting such pain.
3. Often, tortures. the pain or suffering caused or undergone.
4. extreme anguish of body or mind; agony.
5. a cause of severe pain or anguish.
–verb (used with object)

Let me remind you of what slander means:

1. defamation; calumny: rumors full of slander.
2. a malicious, false, and defamatory statement or report: a slander against his good name.
3. Law. defamation by oral utterance rather than by writing, pictures, etc.
–verb (used with object)
4. to utter slander against; defame.
–verb (used without object)
5. to utter or circulate slander.

Now let’s look at the facts and review just so Kevin gets it.

First, of all I love animals and the goal was to preserve this possum’s life. All one has to do is read the whole blog post, but as is typical of Kevin, he always seems to get it backwards. Note to file, he has sex with men. His very lifestyle is backwards.

Secondly, the possum was able to get out of the bag precisely because it wasn’t tied tight. We planned it that way.

Third, I actually rescued the animal because my husband wanted to kill it, to put it out of its misery because my dogs had already hurt it pretty badly.

Fourth, the possum wasn’t hung up on some fence – Kevin made that up out of thin air.

The bottom line is that this is evidence that Kevin simply can’t tell the truth. But I can tell you honestly, Kevin Kaatz is definitely a slanderer.

A Word for Your Spirit

Since I am often tempted to eat the wrong food, here’s a great scripture to memorize –

James 1:13-15

Let no one say whe he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”, for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust, Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

Choose Ye This Day Who You Will Serve – Sugar or Health?

Well here it is only a few days before me going on this Standard Process thing and I’m already feeling the pinch. But the good news is that I know I’m not alone! I just read a great blog entry over at Gail Hyatt’s blog called Treasure Hunt, about her struggle with food and really discipline in eating healthy. I do declare that we have the makings of an online blog community support group…

Anyway, here’s the thing. I’m not nuts about eggs, but for the most part that’s pretty much the choice I have until I can begin doing the shakes at the end of the week. So like a good little soldier for Christ, I went into the kitchen this morning and cooked up two organic eggs, and sprinkled them with some seasoning from Tastefully Simple….then I ate them.

And do I feel satisfied? Not really, but I also don’t feel bloated and gassy either. (Yeah, I know probably more than you wanted to know!) But here’s the thing, I’m not allergic to organic eggs and so I can digest them well, and that is the goal.

And I’m already thinking ahead to the rest of the day. In fact, anyone who has ever tried to eat healthy knows you have to be intentional – INTENTIONAL I SAY!

So, I will be at school later this morning and I will have an opportunity to buy salad at their school salad bar (for only 3.25 ) So I plan on doing that and eating with my friends there who are also always eating salad. Hopefully there won’t be any junk in the teacher’s lounge because I don’t need the temptation.

But let’s say there is…

Then here’s my plan, I’ll tell myself – This stuff is fake food and you won’t digest it well. It will make you feel horrible Which is really the truth.

The problem is I usually say something like, “Man this looks great! I love chocolate and M & M’s” – but the question is do they love me? NO! NO I SAY!

So that’s the plan for lunch.

Then after I get home from work, I will have a little time before I go and run my group tonight and so then I can take in some lean meat and more salad.

And the good news is that I already have all of that stuff here at home.

So, the question is – who will I serve today? Sugar or health?

I choose health, and I thank God for helping me to already have the victory today!

Hamilton Beach Personal Blender with Travel Lid – 51101

Hamilton Beach Personal Blender with Travel Lid – 51101

Okay, you see this blender – well, I’m going to buy one because in about two weeks I’ll be traveling to Colorado and I’ll still be doing this Standard Process program and I’ll need to take a blender with me so I can mix my shakes.

I’m really very surprised because this little blender has received really great reviews – so, hey, if you’re in the market for a new blender, check it out. Once I get mine I will let you know what I think of it. I figure even if it doesn’t work great, $20 is not too much money to spend to find out.

Standard Process: My Journey Soon to Begin

I have a plan and I am really thankful for my husband and our best friends Mike & Opal.  For the last month the four of us have been encouraging one another to eat better and to live a better life.  It’s interesting too because it has been my experience, especially within the church setting, that eating healthy can be very difficult.  The reason why is because people bring junk food to eat and usually the meat is junk like hot dogs or fried chicken or something.

Last night is a great case in point.  We had a church celebration of Memorial Day as well as a game that was designed to raise funds for our missions trips this year.  Randall and I, and Mike and Opal were a team and considering we don’t normally play baseball, and the team we were up against did, we didn’t do too bad.

But afterwards the food that was served was pretty awful as far as healthy food goes.  They served chips, chili dogs and watermelon.  The only real food out of that was the watermelon.  So all of us ate a little bit of the food and tried not to feel guilty.

Earlier in the day the 4 of us went to Soup Plantation and all had a very healthy salad for lunch, and I can honestly say that it agreed with me a lot better than the chili dogs and Cheetos I had for the dinner.

Anyway, so here’s the deal – Randall, my husband, had been doing this cleansing thing from Standard Process for almost 3 weeks.  Mike & Opal have done it numerous times and now this week I’m going to do it.  Last week I went to the nutritionist, who is also an acupuncturist and was tested to see what I was allergic to.  Turns out that I’m allergic to more things than I thought.  Among the things I don’t digest well are milk products (which I did know), fruit juices and also wheat.  And it also turns out that I’m allergic to pretty much all the preservatives put into the food and also pretty much every chemical that exists – including chlorine – which really is a bummer because I love to swim.

The nutritionist explained to me that the difficulty I’ve had with losing weight is because I’m not digesting things properly and also that my adrenal system is out of whack.  In fact, she said that despite whatever training I’ve done in the past and how I’ve eaten, if I’m eating all that stuff my body is basically allergic to, it would be virtually impossible to lose weight.  We’ll see…and I have to be honest and say that I’m a little skeptical, but we’ll see.

So beginning on Friday I will start doing the Standard Process plan and Randall, Mike & Opal will be there to cheer me on, as all of them have done it and know how difficult it is.

The plan is pretty simple – well, kind of – you take the supplements that you need.  Mary, my nutritionist will be giving me what I need on Thursday, and then you also eat lean meat – such as chicken, turkey, fish or beef and also salad.  The kicker is that you can’t really have any salad dressing on the salad and nuts are not permissible.

The other thing you do is drink 2-3 of these health shakes that have protein and vegetable in them.  I already tried some of Randall’s and let me just say that it wasn’t the best tasting thing in the world.  But thankfully, Mike & Opal have some tricks to help me out there.

The other thing I’m supposed to cut out is sugar, wheat and dairy products….and I have already been doing that for the most part.  Except the hardest thing is cutting out sugar.

Do you know how much sugar is in everything these days?  IT’S HUGE and it’s everywhere!

And I know for me cutting out all sugar is going to be very difficult.  The good news though is that Randall is  going to be supportive and he actually understands now a little bit what it’s like to deny himself something he really likes.  He’s been not eating bread and cheese now for almost 3 weeks and HE gets it!

Anyway, my plan is to blog about what this experience is like, for a few reasons.  First, it will keep me accountable and secondly I want to be able to chart what I crave and how my body is responding to this program.

Here’s the Standard Process website if you’d like to check it out.

As for me, I’m looking forward to the challenge because to be honest, there is probably nothing that challenges me more than to eat healthy.  And one reason why is our society is set up to make you fail and the other reason is because it really is a discipline.

And what can I say except with God all things are possible – even this

People Search on Funny Things…

Today when I was looking at what people search on, I had to laugh because my post on The  Most Handsome Man On Earth has received numerous views.  And I’m sure some people were disappointed because it is a picture of my husband and not Tom Cruise, who really isn’t that great looking.  Plus Cruise has weird religious beliefs.

Anyway, here are a few of the searches that have come through…

the most handsome authors	1
how to kill a possum	1
new earth bible christian	1
most handsome man 2008	1
janet parshall wrong about tolle	1
christian views of eckhart tolle?	1
handsome man in 2008

So it appears that some people think that an author’s looks matter.  Someone else really wants to know how to kill a possum.   Someone wanted to prove Janet Parshall wrong about Tolle…and more.

This made me laugh….

$62 To Fill My Gas Tank

Today I decided to fill up my gas tank in my car because I’ve been running on empty for a few days now.  I have about a 15 gallon tank and the gas I put in my car was the cheapest I could find – $3.90 a gallon.

Meanwhile I hear people in other states complaining because they are paying nearer to $3.00 – either way, it is a lot of money, especially if you work for free like I do most of the time.

But I am thankful.  At least I don’t have to do what a friend of mine is doing so he can save money for his family.  He decided to ride his bike to work because his one income for a family of 5 has taken a hit because the gas is costing him a lot of money.