Changing Habits for Life

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been a week now since my son, David, and I decided to go on the Daniel Fast. It was his idea, really, but I “came along” for support. If you are not familiar with the fast – its basically 21 days on a diet of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, seeds and good oils. That’s right, no meat – no dairy – no sweeteners – anything processed must be checked carefully to see if it qualifies.

I’d love to say the motivation behind my decision to fast with him was highly spiritual – but it wasn’t. You see, I’ve been on a fairly radical health journey since the beginning of this year. Radical, for me, anyway! Coming off the heels of an unwelcomed surgery in November, I became hungry to understand health and wellness like never before.

Like many of us, I was exposed to an overwhelming amount of sometimes contradictory information in regards to health. Still, it became increasingly clear to me that many health struggles are correctable – not with drugs – but with lifestyle changes.

So I began the process of implementing small changes to move toward wellness. Some of it was fairly easy – like incorporating a daily detox drink and using a probiotic. Even placing my stomach on a 7pm curfew wasn’t too hard. Then came exercise – that was a bit bigger mountain for me. But I found some exercise programs that I loved and it soon became an almost daily routine.

Still, while I was eating better – I found a huge hang-up when it came to dinner time and meal preparation. You see, I grew up on the Standard American Diet (SAD for short – and it is appropriate to call it such). As a result, most of what I knew, in terms of food prep and meals came from pre-packaged options or your standard meat, potato, vegetable protocol. Admittedly, most of those veggies were peas, beans or “corn”. 

I knew that a plant based, whole-foods approach to nutrition was far better – I just felt overwhelmed and helpless making such a radical change. Thus enters the Daniel Fast. This fast has forced me to deal with my limitations in the kitchen arena! What I’d been putting off before could no longer be ignored. I needed to learn something new.

Breakfast wasn’t so bad. I found Bob’s Red Mill products in the organic section of our grocery store. I’ve enjoyed their 5 Grain Cereal and Scottish Oatmeal. By far my favorite is mixing either of these with dates, unsweetened shredded coconut and pecans. If this is healthy eating – I think I can manage!

 

Yet dinner has been a struggle all week. What to cook? How to make it taste – well, good? We’ve had whole grain pasta with veggies – not bad though I enjoy it more as a cool pasta salad instead. Rice and beans and homemade pizza (on flatbread, non-yeast crust and no cheese) – these were okay but not so amazing that I was ready to forgo what I consider “normal” dinners.

Last night’s dinner was by far the best. Homemade tomato sauce over whole grain pasta – topped with mock parmesan cheese. – I can certainly see us eating this in the future.

 

 

We finished by trying some homemade oatmeal raisin cookies. Who knew you could make such delicious cookies without using sugar! This is another recipe we will certainly play around with and keep using.

 

So at the end of week one, I will definitely admit this has been a challenge. Fortunately, I feel like the initial struggle and frustration has lessened. Things are beginning to become less burdensome and more hopeful that we will find “good food” replacements to our normal SAD eating.

 

And so it is, at times, with change. In some instances – the changes come quickly, seemingly effortlessly. Yet, other changes demand much more in terms of intentionality and dedication. It’s more of a struggle at first. And that is when we must remember not to grow weary in doing the right thing – for in time, we shall reap a reward. What begins as awkward and difficult becomes a new “old” hat. A habit forms - a lifestyle changes. And the fruit is life!