Juice Feast ~ Day 23

Confession: I have nibbled a few raw kale chips that just came out of the dehydrator. (THEY ARE SO GOOD!) I felt the need to confess, but I would do it again too. :-)

Thankful thoughts: You know, here I am on day 23 of my feast. I am praising Yah for the opportunity to do this. This seems so hedonistic at times; like a rich man's privilage that is self indulgent. After further speculation...it really IS. I know it could have been done cheaper, with a cheaper juicer... (or even a blender and a jelly bag!) or without purchasing organic produce (by growing my own!) but it still is such a blessing to be able to do it here and now! I am thankful for the opportunity to cleanse my body in this way and rejuvinate it. I am thankful for a jump start on loosing weight, that I have been carrying since I started having babies. I am just thankful plain old thankful today!

Benifits that will go beyond my Juice Feast:

With the cleansing benefits set aside. There are lots of other things I will be taking with me from this cleanse. Many are becoming apparent already.

1. This time period has opened my family up to the love of greens. I have always liked greens. However, i was a causal green eater, because my family wasn't so big on them. That changed when I was preganant with my 6th child. My midwife insisted and I complie (eating cooked greens 1-3 times daily and noticed what a HUGE difference they made in preganancy. My family was happy just to let me eat them "on the side". (Sauteed collard greens with garlic served with overlight eggs, is one of my FAVORITE breakfasts.) However this all changed recently when my family, has been raving, requesting and cheering when I serve them greens! I am TICKLED!!! So greens are a new staple in our diet now!! I have never even grown them in my garden before...but THIS YEAR...Ben and I have already agreed...GREENS GREEN GREENS!! I am so excited!

2. I have (obviously) gotten into the swing of juicing again. It is something that I know will benefit my families health. If I have the means (produce and electricity!) to do it...I am going to continue to encorperate that into our diet/lifestyle more regularly.

3. Having done this...I would (and will) easily do it again. I could see juice featsing a couple times a year. I could seeing taking it a whole three months some day. I couls also see juicing as a lifestyle into my old age (should I be so blessed as to see my old age.) I would be MUCH more confident in treating illness in my family this way too, should it occur.

4. I have been inspired to be more diligent with eating more raw, more regularly. I have gone through "raw phases" before, so this isn't new to me. But each time, my desire gets stronger as does do my habits. We have always been big produce eaters, but I would like to encorperate more live foods into our diet. I don't forsee going bak to being vegetarian again (but I guess you never know!) Being homesteaders and all animals are an active part of what we are (and ontinue to) plan on doing here. I have been bugged that we live on 85 acres of land and are homesteading, yet we are still buying a lot of our own meat. Something has got to give...either we need to produce more or eat less. I want to stop buying other's (grass fed organic) meat! So my recent conclusion is BOTH. We will produce more and consume less...so that we can stop buying meat. (That has been the plan all along...but when I keep buying it, the sting of the importance and ugerncy of that change is easy to push off. So..I will stop buying it! That will shift things much more quickly..I am sure!) We are in the process of planning how we will spend this year's tax money. We can come up with so many tings that the money needs to be used for...but proper fencing and bringing in more lifestock just got bumped up the list - to "NOW IS THE TIME"! I bet that isn't a normal revelation to most people coming out of a juice feast! But hey...I've never been normal. :-)

5. I want to continue after my fast to be deliberate to continue to loose wieght and condition my body. I want to healthy and strong, so that I may better serve my King and family.

6. Last, but by no means least...I see a new willingness in my (most amazing , precious and dear) husband in committing to a higher personal standard for eating. He knew I always had his food covered at home, but he was happy to "indulge in fast food" and snacks from the gas station when he was out and about, but now he has committed NOT TO! This is PRICELESS to me! It's one thing to "know better" but it is quite another to DO better! So I am very proud at my husband for crossing over to DO what he has known for along time!!