Day 5 - Juice Feast & Why I Believe

March 7, 2010

Weight: 144.6

By far the best website I've read on fasting: http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/articles/fasting.html

Today's Juices:

2 oz. wheatgrass

Breakfast juice: 30 oz. Cucumber, celery, carrot, dandelion, cabbage

Lunch juice: 4 Grapefruits

2 oz. wheatgrass

Dinner juice: 30 oz. tomato, carrot, celery, broccoli, cilantro

Symptoms: twitching right eye, headache, lightheaded, pain in right kidney, then in both kidneys. Some coating on tongue. Gross!

Warning: Today's blog is really LOOOOOOONG! So, sit back and relax!

This morning I slowly awoke to a headache and the beating of my heart. The demons "so to speak" are starting to appear. Thoughts and feelings about many things. Food. Attachment to food. Memories of food. Questioning my past. Observing the past. I'm really quiet. Quiet in my observing of these feelings. The doubts and fears I have to immediately replace with hope and faith and trust. I have to remember all of the testimonies of others who have "made it". I know that if I were to quit. (NOT that I feel like it. I don't, It's just those "demons" tempting me with thoughts of doubt. )

What are my alternatives? I could go back to living life as usual eating the S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) going to more doctors and taking drugs and having surgeries and feeling miserable. But then, living with pain, depression and all of the other symptoms and probably dying of a heart attack or cancer anyway because the doctors don't HEAL. They simply apply "bandages" with drugs, not really looking at the cause of the illness. And then the drugs usually cause other problems. You've seen the commercials for drugs right? This is a long topic. There is NO MONEY to be made, at least the trillions that they make, from telling people to just eat fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and sprouted grains and legumes!!

I could go back to just eating raw and slowly detox prolonging the headaches for who knows how long? But...
NO! I want to deeply cleanse and detox my entire system. I want to give my body all that it needs and none of what it doesn't to "do the job". I'm so tired of not feeling good. I thought that I could do the slow way. But, I noticed that being in pain a lot and the lengthy healing process PLUS the stresses of life just were too much for too long for me and put me back into a depression and back to binging. (Hence counseling.) Although I have to admit that I think I did A LOT of good for my body and I came a LONG way. I've learned a TON and even when I went back to binging, I never went ALL the way back. I was aware of what I was doing. I was aware of my feelings and noticing that the food was not making me happy and I really didn't like it like I used to and I mostly didn't like the way the food made me feel.

Eating raw is pleasurable to the palate AND it makes you feel good inside and out! How it affects you emotionally is the greatest of all reasons to eat raw. You have so much energy and feel joy and happy and I never had PMS anymore!

I can't help to notice the comparison between the body and the Gospel. The Lord has told us that the body is the Temple of our Spirits (1 Cor. 3: 16-17). Well, in the Temple "no unclean thing may enter." Watching those colon videos REALLY makes you think about how clean your temple is doesn't it?

How many unclean things do we put into our bodies??
How many processed, fried, broiled, boiled, grilled, roasted, microwaved, freeze dried, irradiated, dead, canned, boxed, denatured, adulterated, chemical sprayed, hormone and antibiotic laden, bacteria filled, waxed, food colored, preservative filled, food addicting additives (YUP, concocted in laboratories to make us addicted and overeat the product) , pesticide, herbicide, fungicide covered, pasteurized, homogenized, so called FOOD enters out bodies?

With SO much sodium chloride, mono sodium glutamate's, other glutamate's, artificial flavorings, corn syrup, aspartame/NutraSweet, http://www.sweetpoison.com/phenylalanine.html,
saccharine, nitrates, or processed sugars to make them even PALATABLE!!

THEN, there's the partially hydrogenated AND all cooked oils (except coconut) to make the food last longer on the store shelves which = more money for them, and clogged arteries for us!!

NOT to mention fast food and chain restaurants dotting the land, with one on every corner and freeway exit with chains spreading throughout the world and advertising/brainwashing on billboards, television, movie theaters, magazines, newspapers, radio and Internet??!! "Milk. It does the body good!"

Let's not forget the chemicals in lotions, soaps, hair products, aluminum in
antiperspirants, and fluoride and saccharine in toothpastes and chlorine and other chemicals in our water and pools!!

Does "conspiring men in the last days" come immediately to your mind??

Look, Satan cannot have a body. He wants to destroy ours. He wants us to be as miserable as he is. Right? Well, not all of us are addicted to or going to be addicted to the BIG killers i.e: drugs and alcohol. (Although, drugs are many things, and carbs turn to sugar which acts like alcohol in the body anyway.)
But, he can destroy us and corrupt us with our food. By destroying and corrupting it to our detriment. And spread FALSE information on what's healthy. No wonder there are so many diets and philosophies and untruths out there. Just like the truth of the Gospel right? People are so confused and don't know what's healthy anymore?

Very few of us are NOT addicted to some sort of food. Right? Some diet drink, sugar, eating out at some place, cravings we MUST fill! Eating WAY more than is necessary. Eating to numb out emotions. Junk food at every church gathering, activity, party, Holiday and family setting. Giving candy to kids every Sunday at church and in school or as parents AS A REWARD!!!! All of the candy that is commercially attached to every holiday! All for profit! And we give into it!!!
Thus perpetuating the problems!! We are sooo addicted to sugar it's not even funny! FYI, you can still enjoy desserts and treats and amazing meals that are healthy ya know? I'm not saying we can't have fun and yummy food to eat and that it has to be boring, at all! Isn't that great!!?

The truth is, we are destroying ourselves. Take a look around us! This is no longer a secret. Look at what we look like. Look at what we are dying of. Look at how sick everyone is. It's normal now to have something! Look at how depressed everyone feels!

Satan is overjoyed at our food addictions, suffering, diseases, and premature deaths! We need to take a serious look at how food IS one of the "choose the right" choices in life that affect us spiritually. I think we really over look it. Although, Robert D. Hales did talk about it in his April 2009 Conference talk: "I speak specifically of choices that have led to excessive debt and addictions to food, drugs, pornography, and other patterns of thought and action that diminish one’s sense of self-worth. How then do we avoid and overcome the patterns of debt and addiction to temporal, worldly things?"

There is also a metaphor with eating and sinning. Junk food and heavily cooked and processed foods taste really good! In your mouth! But then, it hits your stomach and feels heavy or greasy or gives you heart burn or gas or constipation or gives us a headache or makes us lethargic,or hyperactive, or just plain makes us fat NOT to mention causes disease! Dang it! It's just like many other sins. It's fun or exciting or we get away with it and enjoy the rush of it.....for a little while. But then, we are miserable and suffer the consequences!

Oh, but when you eat something that is truly healthy, like delicious juicy peach, or watermelon, or salad and your body is sooo happy inside and it does something to you. Something mentally and spiritually. It SATISFIES in a way that no candy bar can!

You just KNOW that the food you just ate was really GOOD for you AND it was "delicious to you". Just like going to church or the Temple, paying tithing, doing your visiting teaching, and keeping God's commandments do.
You feel JOY and a deep satisfaction that you are doing what is right!

How does Repentance fit in here? Well, we can sin a lot. And actually we do. Everyday maybe. Perhaps not GREAT sins but maybe some of the small ones and the sins of omission. (Like how everyone knows that they should eat the MINIMUM of 5-9 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables... uh, huh?)
BUT, thanks to our Savior Jesus Christ, we can repent! He can forgive us. How wonderful! We can make amends, ask for forgiveness, and choose the right from here on out. Then we can be cleansed Spiritually and become new again and be happy!

The Lord designed our bodies to take A LOT of abuse!! And He also designed our bodies to heal. If we make "amends" and "choose the right" when it comes to foods we allow to enter our "temples". Our bodies will heal and "clean" and detoxify from our physical dietary sins and lifestyle choices i.e: lack of exercise, overeating, etc. etc. OUR BODIES WILL FORGIVE US, become new again and feel good, and we can be happy!

Okay, so what IS God's way??

For me, knowing what God's original diet for man was in Genesis 1:29 is what I base my diet choices on, and also the Word of Wisdom in D&C 89 (modern revelation), which was written for the WEAKEST of the Saints. The WEAKEST! I am not one of those. I want to receive "health in the navel and marrow in my bones, find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures. Run and not be weary, walk and not faint." I want to do what is pleasing unto the Lord. :)

Here are some other scriptures references:

Genesis 1:29: "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for a meat." (The word Meat in the scriptures means food.)

Genesis 3:18, "thou shalt eat the herb of the field."

Psalms 104:14, "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth."

Proverbs 15:17, "Better is a dinner of herbs where a love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith." ; )

Hebrews 6:7, "For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God."

Daniel 1:8-17, http://scriptures.lds.org/en/search?type=references&last=Hebrews+6%3A7&help=&ro=checked&search=Daniel+1%3A8-17&do=Search&show=%0D%0A%0D%0A%0D%0A%0D%0A%0D%0A%0D%0A%0D%0A%0D%0A%0D%0A%0D%0A

Romans 14:21, "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak."

Alma 46:40, "And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land—but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate."

D&C:42:43 , "And whosoever among you are sick, and have not faith to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy."

D&C 89:10-11 "And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man— Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.

D&C 89:16 "All grain is good for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground"

As far as flesh is concerned,

D&C 89:13 "And it is PLEASING unto me that they should NOT be used, ONLY in times of winter, or of cold, or famine."

And He repeats,

D&C 89:15 "And these (animals) hath God made for the use of man ONLY in times of famine and excess of hunger. "

D&C 89:21 " And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them."


D&C 59: 17-19 "Yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards;
Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart. Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul."

I know I have really gone on about this! But this is my testimony!
I KNOW that eating what is REALLY and TRULY healthy, living the Gospel, being close to the Lord, exercising, getting fresh air, water and sunshine, getting plenty of sleep, taking care of emotional problems, if necessary, through Priesthood blessings, counseling, therapy and prayer, and loving and serving our family and friends and communities all the while not running more than is needful and avoiding stress! We'll be healthy!

We have to be in balance. That's why just going to church isn't enough, or just exercising, or just eating healthy alone, or just success in work. You have to have balance in ALL aspects of your life. I can attest to the fact that when one of those areas are out of wack it can affect all other areas! So, that's why I've had to detoxify my life! That is my I am doing this juice feast. That is why I had to stop everything else and heal my body. Without health you have nothing!

Fun health quotes:

The greatest wealth is health. ~VirgilPower, 1860--

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. ~World Health Organization, 1948

If I'd known I was going to live so long, I'd have taken better care of myself. ~Leon Eldred

The... patient should be made to understand that he or she must take charge of his own life. Don't take your body to the doctor as if he were a repair shop. ~Quentin Regestein


If you have health, you probably will be happy, and if you have health and happiness, you have all the wealth you need, even if it is not all you want. ~Elbert Hubbard

The longer I live the less confidence I have in drugs and the greater is my confidence in the regulation and administration of diet and regimen. ~John Redman Coxe, 1800

In minds crammed with thoughts, organs clogged with toxins, and bodies stiffened with neglect, there is just no space for anything else. ~Alison Rose Levy, "An Ancient Cure for Modern Life," Yoga Journal, Jan/Feb 2002

Illness is the most heeded of doctors: to goodness and wisdom we only make promises; pain we obey. ~Marcel Proust

When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no "I'll start tomorrow." Tomorrow is disease. ~V.L. Allineare

Sickness is the vengeance of nature for the violation of her laws. ~Charles Simmons

Health is like money, we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it. ~Josh Billings

Adam and Eve ate the first vitamins, including the package. ~E.R. Squibb

A healthy body is the guest-chamber of the soul; a sick, its prison. ~Francis Bacon

It's bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children's health than the pediatrician. ~Meryl Streep

Just because you're not sick doesn't mean you're healthy. ~Author Unknown

If you don't take care of yourself, the undertaker will overtake that responsibility for you. ~Carrie Latet

The part can never be well unless the whole is well. ~Plato

If your body's not right, the rest of your day will go all wrong. Take care of yourself. ~V.L. Allineare

Without health, there is no point. To anything. ~Everett Mámor

Happiness lies, first of all, in health. ~George William Curtis, Lotus-Eating

So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health. ~A.J. Reb Materi, Our Family

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing. ~Redd Foxx

Let FOOD be thy medicine and medicine be thy FOOD. ~Hippocrates

I love those!

I'll get off my "soapbox" now! But, before I do, LOL! I want you to know that I have fallen prey to all of Satan's attacks. I have NOT always lived the way I know I should have. Part of it knowingly, part of it by conditioning, part of it by brainwashing and living in this society. It's part of the Lord's plan I guess. We are supposed to struggle and have trials and temptations and LEARN to overcome and hopefully grow and become strong because of them. Life is full of choices. We can choose our choices but not the consequences.

That brings me back to why I am doing this. I am, in a sense, atoning for my sins. Fortunately I have faith that my body will forgive me and I WILL BE well again because of the knowledge and example of countless others who have "been there".

But this time, I want to be really healthy. I know that not everything is in our control. But, just like if I can make myself as spiritually strong as possible by going to church, praying, and reading my scriptues so as to resist the evils of the world, I can do my BEST to make myself physically strong by eating right, exercise, rest etc., to avoid the plagues and diseases of this world.

If my will is in line with the Lord's will, then I will get the desires of my heart.
Health, helping others be healthy. Lots and lots of time to enjoy my husband and children and grandchildren, performing, touching others through song, bringing them closer to the Lord, teaching aerobics and yoga till I'm 120, and anything and everything else the Lord wants me to do!