Wow, my body really is alive.

After years of mistreatment and abuse, we forget sometimes that our bodies are made to feel.
I thought everything was totally normal in and around my body. Boy was I wrong!
It's like my body has been numb to feeling good or bad, because I've ignored listening to it for so long.

Did you know that after you eat food, you are supposed to feel energy and nourishment?
Did you know that you don't have to feel bloated after one bite of food for the rest of the day?
Did you know that after you eat you should feel...wait for it...BETTER?

I thought it was totally normal that after I ate I was tired, had no energy, and saw stuff in my eyes (if i let them glaze over, which i do a little too often.) I must have never known what the original design of my body was.

Well, now I'm just shocked and also a little mad at myself for waiting so long to figure out that my body is mine. My body is made to feel things, to know what food tastes like. My body is made to give me signals when things are going wrong, or when it doesn't like something.

This last week I went to a summer camp. I stocked up on rice cakes, hummus, and vegatables.
It wasn't very long though, before i bombed through all of that and was subject to camp food. This camp food was definitely delicious and often had a salad or a yeast free option. I had to eat a little bit of each thing that I was avoiding. I figured I'd be ok, it had been a full week of no dairy, sugar, yeast or fermented things.

It was the day after I ate sugar, yeast and dairy that I started to notice how my body was reacting.
I was unbelievably bloated, gassy, tired, I broke out, i was constipated and my stomach just plain hurt. My stomach NEVER hurts! It was then I realized that my body really does feel better and that I have to get out of my mind that this food I am avoiding is the good stuff that I just can't have because POOR ME.

I started to get mad at everything, because I had been LIED to by EVERYONE.

Why do food businesses even SELL this stuff if it doesn't do anything but corrode our teeth and turn our insides into monsters!?

Can you imagine if we treated each other like we treat ourselves?
If we wouldn't give it to a child, we shouldn't eat it ourselves!

"No way, they can't have sugar! That's so bad for their teeth and they'll go crazy and crash later and be cranky."
YUP. YOU TOO.

"No way, they can't have SODA. That's full of chemicals!"
LISTEN TO YOURSELF.

"I'll never feed my child fast food. SO many calories and such little nutrition! I have no idea WHO is making that food or what their process is!"
EXACTLY!

Why do we think our bodies are invincible? We all need a lesson in self worth and valuing what we've been given. We all need to start loving our bodies...and I don't mean just love whatever size we are (which is important.) I mean really really love our bodies. Love them enough to not poison them and make them sick. We are worth SO much more! Maybe if we start to treat ourselves the way we treat others we will turn into that person we want to be in our heads. We might even end up the size we want to be.

I didn't realize how passionate I was about all of this until right now. You better believe I will do everything I can do to avoid these body poisoning foods!

Signing off for now,
AC

Day 3...an up day.

Phillipians 3:16 "then let us live up to what we have already attained"

I already know how to do this cleanse, I know my body. Sometimes I don't think I do or I have to learn a bunch more before I can start. I'm taking a lesson from Paul today and going forward in living out the truth that I ALREADY know. That's all that's expected of us day to day. The knowledge I have about my health is something I am putting in to practice and I know it will have an awesome outcome...The Bible tells me soooooooo.

My body is reacting in the best way ever! You know the way you feel when you wake up? Your stomach is  kinda flat, your body is really light, no slowness or fatigue?(unless you didnt sleep well) That's how I feel all day! I thought that when you ate food, you felt crappy til it digested and that was how life was. It's not true!

What I ate yesterday:

Breakfast:
2 Rice cakes with avocado and a little goat cheese
A bunch of water

Lunch:
Quinoa, black bean, onion and corn with greens. No dressing
Iced black coffee

Dinner:
basil pasta noodles (no yeast, I looked.)
garlic, onion, spinach, olive oil simmered in a pan with spicy italian chicken sausage.
I threw a half of an avocado on top after i put it in the bowl.

Guys---It was SO GOOD!
I recommend trying to eat food that you usually put a bunch of sauce or dressing on without it. You'd be surprised at the natural flavor of stuff like corn and lettuce. It doesn't need it!

Temptation has been little to none. I keep thinking about how one little things could throw off my whole day and make me feel slowed down and horrible. I'm putting my body in check, and it feels good.

Yesterday Lauren dropped a piece of cake on my leg. I imagined a little mouth was going to jump out of my leg and eat it, but luckily it didn't. That was a close one.

Candida Cleanse, here goes nothin...except sugar and yeast.

I went down to Olympia on the hottest day this whole summer for some well needed sister time. Something inside of me was reminding me that I have sisters who are extremely smart and also have experiences from which I need to glean. (I was going to say "glean from" but I heard my dads voice in my head)

The weekend consisted of swimming, Mario 3, american flag bathing suits and food too delicious to even talk about. I asked Linds a lot of questions about her health and her journey into eating what is good for her body, not just good for her mouth. How many of you know there is a big difference? amiright?

I came home with so much knowledge and insight, I felt so excited and ready! Then I went in to my room to go to bed and I had kind of a break down. I started venting. I was going to say praying..It was kind of praying but mostly just a very honest moment with myself and a plea for help. I started crying and I said "God, I feel like I've started this diet a million times. I feel like this is impossible. I feel like I always get excited to lose weight and become healthy and I am just disappointed. Show me that I can do all things through You or else I just won't know where to go from here."

I heard just then, in the way He always speaks, a very quiet and gentle voice saying "one day at a time."

It seemed so simple suddenly. It's like the knowledge from my head went right into my heart.

Today I will choose the right food. Today I will say no to sugar. Today I will remember that I am beautiful in the body I have now. Today is the day I will take back control of my stomach. Just for today.

So now I am in day 2 of my candida cleanse. I have already come home to freshly baked cookies, found a full Mt. Dew on the side of the road. Alos, I came to work and only had iced chai and coffee to drink that were pre-sweetened. This is a great lesson in self control. I'll definitely keep you posted. If I don't keep posting I wont have any internet accountability. I need it!

I feel pretty much awesome though!