Everyone I know seems to have a "way they eat." There are as many reasons for their choices as there are individuals!I grew up running long distances with my family. As I advanced in school, I joined the track and then the cross country teams. Friday nights before big races on Saturdays were full of "carbo-loading" to make sure we had enough energy for our races the next morning.
Fast forward to my 30s when I inexplicably injured myself, and I started having trouble exercising. It was then that I noticed weight gain and that it got harder to motivate myself to exercise.
I developed gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my son, but not until very late in my pregnancy. I do remember being exhausted during that pregnancy, but I didn't help myself by indulging in my pregnancy cravings, mostly for potatoes, bread, pizza, and French fries.
He was born in 2009, and I was fine until 2012. I even started exercising again and losing weight! I lost LOTS of weight in 2012 but though friends suggested I could be losing weight because I might have diabetes, I invited l ignored them. "I was hypoglycemic growing up! I'm sure I don't have diabetes," I often thought.
WRONG!
I ended up in the hospital in an emergency, with a blood sugar over 600 mg/dl. That's the level at which you could be in a coma or die.
That began my quest for the best way for me to eat. I happen to think many would benefit from this way of life.
I started eating Paleo. While I ate that way, I did ok if I didn't have carbs. Go figure. But everybody I followed would make these amazing date and sweet potato meals and those caused me trouble. Squash even caused me trouble! I ditched it after a couple of years.
I then had a friend suggest a form of the vegan diet. I won't give too many details because I think that would too easily identify this way of eating, and there's a trademark involved. Suffice it to say that it didn't work for me. I started becoming constantly lethargic, lost muscle tone, lost stamina, had trouble remembering things.
In January 2021, I got a nudge from the Lord to start the ketogenic diet. For info on that, start here
or here.
I did lose 25 pounds, but I learned that I had massive food cravings I had lots of trouble controlling. Also, my HbA1C was 6.8, which was way higher than I expected. A year later, in January 2022, I had seen some videos about the carnivore diet, but at the time I thought that was crazy. However, I was so devastated by my blood sugar levels and struggle I had craving foods that negatively affected my blood sugar.
I tried the Egg Fast ( Click here ) and I felt SO good and had SUCH good blood sugar that I didn’t want to stop after the normal 3-5 days! So I just kept going. I did move to what’s called BBBE ,
and the rest is history. Because I wanted to focus on how I landed on the Carnivore Diet, I’m wrapping this post up here. Be sure to follow my blog, where I’ll talk about my healing journey using food, and share life hacks and faith and outlook tips. Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to sign up here and follow my YouTube channel.
Have you tried the Carnivore Diet? Comment below!
So, I did a thing earlier this month.
When I was in sixth grade, I joined Introduction to Orchestra and chose the cello 🎻. I LOVED playing it, and because we tested weekly, I can use the word “often” - I was chosen often to be first chair. I LOVED playing the cello.
I found it challenging to transport.
Because I was young and very impressionable, I listened to a classmate, who suggested it was hard to move around my cello on the bus. I allowed myself to get self-conscious, and decided to ditch the cumbersome cello for the flute.
I went on to play flute in 7th and 8th grades, then traded in my tiny instrument for my invisible one, my voice. 🗣 I joined high school chorale and have been primarily singing since then.
But I LOVED playing the cello, and put it on my bucket list when Shana was born.
Fast forward to now, where the kids attend Worship Arts Studio, at Bethel Baptist Church in Yorktown. And - guess what - they have a cello teacher.
So I’ve dusted off my muscle memory, discovered my fingers don’t move like they used to (yet), and have enjoyed experiencing this instrument and its rich, deep tones. It’s week 3, but I’m playing notes and using both my hands. We’re not on the bow, yet. I’ve been enjoying experimenting how to touch the strings to play a tone full of vibrato. How fun!
I’ll keep you updated. And maybe I’ll even share a tune with you!
Beware the one who tries to kill the body but can’t kill the soul.
We are in a REAL battle for our existence right now. Movies are made of this, though now I believe those movies were made to PROGRAM us for this time!
Christ Himself says we are to beware the enemy of our souls, because he can kill the body but can’t kill the soul. But boy is he trying!
Humanity is fighting. All the scourges we’ve learned about over time (which – are they true? Did they organically pop up? Were they manufactured, as this one was?) are converging on humanity for such a time as this. What will we do with it? Will they be successful? Not if we have anything to say about it!
How do we not let them kill the soul? We’re trying hard to keep our bodies alive, but man, are these mongers going after our souls! How are you fortifying your soul? Have you noticed all these things? What kinds of questions do you have? How do you get them answered? What do you do when faced with the terror that just seems to come out? What’s going to happen? We have so many questions.
I wager that one of the things this enemy feeds off is our fear. Why do I say that? One instance for every day of the year, 365 times, the Bible cautions against fearing. That’s SUPER comforting to me. Makes it seem like besides physical elimination, FEAR can lead to us losing our strength, leading to the potential of losing our spirit. Jesus advises the disciples in Matthew 10:28 to ultimately fear God, who can destroy the soul and body in hell. Ultimately, we are NOT to fear man or any evil works, but to fear God.
That gives us a SUPER different vantage point than I think most of us have been taking. Try this on for size – look OVER the ensuing battle TO God. I know it sounds weird but remove yourself from the fray. Look to God for strength. Reminds me of the time in Exodus when God told Moses to raise the staff and have the Israelites look at it. When they looked at the staff, they were ok. When they took their eyes off it, chaos ensued.
Where are you on a scale of 1-10 related to how fearful you feel right now? Take a mental inventory, and commit to reading ONE Bible verse addressing fear, per day, for a couple of months. Start HERE with Alyson's "Write 'Fear Not' On My Heart" journal. I do not receive any compensation for referring you to her site.
Confession as a result of clarity is a fantastic way to move forward, and my behavior of choice. I know I have a lot to offer and taking responsibility for not doing so is a step closer to accomplishing what it is God created me in advance to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
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It's time to recognize your own sovereignty. You will need to meet your image-of-God-ness again and remember what and who you were created and designed to be. You are made in the image of God, and He resides in you if you are of Him. In the garden, God walked with Adam and Eve. He so much desires to be with you and me now, as their descendants. They were the first to die, but God does not want that to us. It was a consequence of sin.
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