Here I am again.
After last week’s juice fast, I’ve rediscovered how much my body needs clean food. The other stuff, the processed junk I often eat and tell myself is healthy-ish, isn’t working. I didn’t realize how tired, how spacey and irritable I felt until I cut all that out of my diet. Now I’m back at the starting line, ready to recommit to snacking on raw veggies and not calling protein bars breakfast.
Since the fast I’ve eaten only fruits, veggies, and meat. I’ve taken the time to chew each bite, to taste the flavors, to check with myself to see if I’m full. And then, to put down my fork when I am. The result feels like a miracle. My energy is back. My joints don’t ache. I’m not bloated or irritable. If this isn’t proof God made my body to need clean food, I don’t know what is.
And now I’m in the WOW phase of healthy eating. WOW! I can see now how my system was crashing with all the sneaky sugar. WOW! I have the energy of a twenty-year-old. WOW! My pants fit better.
This is going well, but it has gone well before. I’ve been in the WOW phase before. But what next? What does the HOW look like? How do I refuse the temptation of German Chocolate Cake, every day for the rest of my life? How do I keep saying no to the last few bites of fluffy pancakes on the kids’ plates? How do I keep choosing radically counter-culture real food in a culture of convenience food?
I will lose my way. It will happen when I’m staying at a hotel that only offers croissants for breakfast. I’ll drink the fancy coffee they offer and it will taste like a hot cup of heaven. The croissant will taste like layers of melted butter. My tastebuds will need more, and then I won’t even be able to remember why I stopped eating flaky croissants in the first place.
But dreading imaginary hotels and fictional croissants isn’t the best way to start long-term success. Today is one day. For today, I’ll chose the snacks I know will give me energy. For today, I’ll make the dinner I’m confident will keep our family’s collective blood sugar from yo-yoing.
For today, I’ll ask God to help me stay away from the croissants and honey butter and ice cream. For today I’ll try a new start.
Again.
