I have tried to identify the things that pull me off the course I have set for myself. Here are the main ones for me. Maybe they are the same for you.
Mistake #1. I tend to be a people pleaser. I knock myself out trying to make sure everyone has what they want. I do this because I want them to like me. This is actually a selfish action, because I am trying to control how other people think and feel about me. It's also dishonest because the me I am showing them is not the real me at all. Instead of preparing the food I like and sharing it with others, I will try to fix "healthy" versions of the food I think they will eat...or, even worse,.. I will just buy the food they normally eat...trying my best to get them to like the food I serve them. It doesn't work. They still don't like it. Sacrificing ourselves to please someone else does not work. Ricky Nelson told us the truth in his song, Garden Party. "It's all right now; I've learned my lesson well; See you can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself".
Mistake #2 is listening to other voices. The philosophy of health I have been taught is called Natural Hygiene, also known as Nature Cure or Biogenic Living. I saw amazing results when I was interning at the Clohesy River Health Farm in Australia, and I honestly believe it saved my life. It's easy to get off track as almost every person we associate with follows an opposite philosophy. I began to listen to other voices simply because of their prevalence. Even though I know that cures and remedies are not the way back to health, I began to experiment with an oil here, an herb there, here a little and there a little. I am not saying those things are terrible if you are of that mindset, but they are in opposition to Natural Hygiene so were confusing to me.
Nature Cure is a philosophy that teaches how to give your body every advantage by eliminating toxins and inherited encumbrances through rest, lifestyle, and diet. It admits no cures because an acute symptom is only a healing effort put forth by the body. The body knows how to heal itself. Even when we are making mistakes, the body is trying to make corrections.
Other philosophies do allow for remedies and cures. That is the medical model and it is followed by most people, both allopathic and alternative.
The problem for me came from trying to combine the two opposing philosophies of health. Gasoline and water don't mix. If you do, you won't be able to drink it or run your car.
Mistake #3 was trying to mix philosophies around diet. The raw food diet saved my life, but advice was pouring in from a multitude of health care professionals and others holding forth other healthy ways of eating. Reading the other plans - Grain Brain, Starch Solution, Raw Till Four, etc.- lead to tinkering with my own diet. The result was weight gain, an indication that I am retaining toxins.
My plan of action for getting back on track is Eat, Walk, Blog!
The diet:
Lunch is all the fruit you want to eat: papaya, coconut, banana, apple, citrus, other fruit, nut butter, avocado, a little raw milk cheese if desired.
Dinner is all the salad you want to eat: chopped salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, celery, carrot, onion, Bubbies dill pickle, sesame seed), dressing (lemon juice, flax seed oil, Simply Organic seasoning mix); sauerkraut, avocado, rice crackers, homemade trail mix (almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins, currents, other dried fruit), a cooked vegetable such as steamed potato, baked sweet potato, steamed cruciferous vegetable, beans)
It is not good to snack, but the snacks and treats I am allowing myself are a little coffee, tea, fruit, frozen blueberries, and frozen banana nice cream.
This diet is 80% raw. We will see how it goes. If I don't get the results I want on that, then I will make adjustments.
The walking:
Walking around the block a few times will tick off several boxes on your daily requirements for a healthy lifestyle - exercise, fresh air, sunshine, and meditation! Fantastic! Enjoy this walk no matter what.
Your diet and lifestyle are an important part of being awake. Heavy, processed foods keep folks drugged down into a "comfortable" sleep. They can be easily influenced. But you - you can be awake and happy and alert. You can live with joy in this world when you see it for what it is.
Don't you feel joy when you think about standing firm in harmony with the laws of Nature. It is not a restrictive lifestyle. Never think of it that way. Being on track is liberating. Ask any train. There is not much liberation in being off track.
Lucy and me going for a walk. |
The collage I made at the Creative Flow Workshop conducted by Susan Julie Gonzalez at the Emergent Arts studio. |
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