Why A Nutritarian

In 2007, I was alarmed to have a serious bout with what I thought was bronchitis, lasting in a measure for about 8 months. Towards the end of that year, I was also quite alarmed to find a lump on my neck, 'the last straw' in a whole host of health issues I had battled for 12-15 years... things like high blood pressure, hormone imbalances, 'sugar shakes' (after eating sugar), candida yeast issues, sugar cravings, obesity, gall stones, and utter exhaustion. Some days I could hardly wait til noon so that I could feed my little children and put them to bed for naps so that I could take a nap. Some days I just didn't get much work done, barely scraping by to get the normal, basic housework done but not much more.

I walked a long, arduous journey looking for answers to these problems. I sought help from medical doctors, vitamin experts, and slowly, slowly I got closer and closer to the answer that had been 'in my back yard' all this time. I went from drugs to vitamins to bottled juice. Each thing brought me a little closer, some of them only propelling me onward by their total inability to help me. I prayed. I sought. And one day, I remembered that 5 years earlier I had read "The Hallelujah Diet", by Reverend George Malkmus. I was visiting my sister in MI at the time and so we went to Barnes and Nobles in search of that book. We bought the last one off the shelf. And devoured it all week...and 'it clicked'.  What I read I felt pretty sure was good information. It was just simple, plain, common sense answers.

I went home and started juicing. And almost 'overnight' I started feeling better. It was like life pouring back into my veins. And from that humble, faltering beginning, my ever persistent sister kept me going further and learning that the answer to these totally preventable and reversible diseases is:

You are what you eat.

If it were not for her, I don't know if I would have had the courage and diligence to remove from my diet that which was making and keeping me sick, and replacing those things with good, whole foods. She is the one who showed me Dr. Joel Fuhrman's books and website, and from there, we just kept learning and living what we were being taught. And you know what? 5 1/2 years later, I am more energetic than I was 20 years ago! I am losing the weight, I am getting better and better in all the issues I mentioned, only 3 of them still present in small measure.

All without spending a dime on promises for health in a bottle. I discovered that whole foods are simple to make, are delicious and filling, and do not leave me with that toxic hunger in the mornings like I was used to having in my previous lifestyle. I learned that many Americans, though robust and overweight, are actually nutritionally starved. We are addicted to disease-producing substances we call food...things like sugar, salt, oil, meat, dairy products, and processed flours. We overindulge in these 'delicacies' and don't eat whole foods that God created, thus starving our bodies and not creating a friendly environment for healthy new cells to grow.

I am so grateful to the Lord for healing me. I am so thankful for answered prayers in the form of showing me where I needed to change my habits and my lifestyle for good. I wish I could say that I did this all cold turkey and perfectly. I did not. I had addictions so strong that I often fell into toxic foods and regretted it the next morning (yes, much like an alcoholic who does not abandon his strong drink). I highly recommend the following to anyone serious about changing their habits and eating for health:

1. Learn as quickly and as thoroughly as you can the basics of whole food, plant-based eating.

2. Change as much as you can as soon as you can.

3. Find support in the form of a local nutritarian or online.

4. I highly recommend you discipline yourself to make these changes and make your own food as much as you can. It helps you to be proactive in changing your poor eating habits, besides being kind to your wallet and bringing you to better health simply.

5. Remove from your house that which causes toxic hunger. Start fresh. Stock your pantry, freezer and refrigerator with whole foods. Make menus and plan ahead a bit so that you can both save yourself some money and not waste through poor planning.

6. Decide that 'convenience' does not need to equal undisciplined American living. Convenience for me is sometimes a bag of chopped romaine, or a few meals made ahead and frozen for a busy day. Convenience is cabbage already cut and ready to add to a salad or slaw. Convenience for me is home-canned beans, ready for bean burgers or taco salads (I can them on a slower day). Convenience, for me, is whole grain sandwich flats in the freezer, ready for a bean burger or veggie sandwich. Convenience sometimes is storebought hummus. Convenience is not a drive-thru or a prepackaged supper. Not anymore.

7. Allow yourself at least 2 months to rid yourself of strong habits that need to be changed. Be patient but be persistent. It took you years to form these bad habits. Do what it takes to form new and healthier habits.

I am grateful to God, my sister, and these nutritarian teachers that helped me to where I am today. Although I am fully aware of the process of life, that we are all born and we all must die or be called to eternity if we are still alive when Jesus comes back again, I have chosen to adopt this lifestyle of good eating so that I can live a productive life while living here on earth. I want to take the information I have been given (knowlege) and apply it (wisdom) to my everyday life, so that my children and their children can learn these valuable lessons. As in many other things in life, I am going back to reclaim the ground that we have lost over generations of poor choices.

It is my desire to 'pay it forward', hence this blog (among other ways I get involved in telling the good news). It would be my pleasure to answer any questions you may have or to direct you to a place where you can receive the help you need. Feel free to email me: courage225@juno.com and please put in the subject line: "nutritional discussion" so that I know you are not spamming me.

God bless you.

To health,

Marcia