It's funny, don't you think, how when you know something to be a truth, you can still wind up denying it even to yourself. Take me and food for instance. I know (like I know, like I know, like I know!) that when I eat fresh, live, unprocessed foods, I feel amazing. Bursting with energy. Alive and kicking. So I'll have a few weeks experimenting, like I did last summer (and write an ebook and concoct lots of yummy recipes) and then little-by-little, little things will sneak-a-peek into my diet. Like a croissant, then some milky, sugary chocolate - then a big mother pizza with all the trimmings! I don't know how and why I do it, but I did think last December that enough was enough. I had a bit of an asthma scare and to cut a long and dramatic story short, my breathing worsened over six hours then finally, when I thought I might possibly die, the ambulance came and put me on a nebulizer.
There are certain triggers that set my asthma off - like cats, rabbits, animals in general, dust, extremely stressful or worrying situations and smoke of any kind (incense burners, wood burners, cigarette smoke etc). But when my diet is spick and span, my body is able to process just a little better. So the question I need to ask myself is, why do I keep on returning to unhelpful eating habits. I decided that through the month of January, I would eat no dairy, wheat or sugar - in fact I had a near 100 per cent raw month. AND I made sure that my diet was FULL to the brim of greens. So fresh spinach blended in my smoothies every day, sprouted broccoli powder, spirulina and wheat grass all featured in my diet.
Then the incredible happened (as I knew it would!) From taking my inhaler four times a day (I know, not good!), it went down to once a day - then I had a clear run for TEN DAYS without taking my inhaler at all! This was amazing for me - and every time I charged my body up with power greens, I literally felt like my blood was cleaning up and that blessed oxygen was reaching every cell in my body. I don't know the real science behind all this (I took rural science at school so I know more about messing around whilst growing carrots and turnips)
So, I have all this brilliant information. And yet every time I get on my fresh, live and unprocessed horse, I feel SO good then let the old ways creep in. Then my body yells, 'NOOOO VICTORIA! Stop it! You can't write books and essays and articles about health and not treat me right!"
I think however I have figured out the simple connection. The thing that gets me every time is... social occasions. I am very bad at saying no to people (am improving but not quite there.) If someone offers me an item of food that I know is not good for me, I would rather not offend them than say no. I DO say no quite a few times but I am so often in a social situation with my daughter, my faith, my life in general (hark at me, social butterfly!) that there is all this wheat and sugar and dairy all flying around and not even tempting me but slapping me in the face!
This is where I believe that things happen for a reason. I have never had the ambulance called out to me on account of my breathing. I now feel quite within rights to say no thanks to a list of foods, on account of me really seeking the best route to health. Sure, I want to lose some weight (I still have a couple of stone to release - this is a different post though!) but to not have to rely on my inhaler and live in fear of not being able to breathe would be the greatest gift.
I have said several prayers about this - and there are two answers that keep coming into my mind. 1. Eat a plant-based diet - fresh, live and unprocessed, as much as possible. 2. Consume chlorophyll-rich foods daily. 'Make my life green' is what I keep thinking. And if my 'Green January' experiment was anything to go by, I can swear by it!
My conclusion for me, and perhaps this will serve as some kind of inspiration to you, is that it's a lovely quality to not want to offend people. But to turn down offers of food that are going to essentially make you sick - it's ok! In fact, if the person who is offering becomes offended or makes comments, all that is needed is detachment from this. I know I can't control anyone else but myself and the decisions I make may offend or annoy people sometimes. But I have me and a daughter to think of and I feel good about my choices in life as I know they serve me - and then I am enabled to serve others!
Thanks for listening - I needed to get that one off my chest! xx
Great post, Vicky. I feel inspired to THINK about improving my diet - but not necessarily to DO anything about it!
ReplyDeleteBut to be serious, the tension you experience between not wanting to offend kind people and the need to protect your life and health is an understandable one - and one that I experience from time to time, although I find myself less worried about offending people as I get older.
When I used to counsel people with alcohol-related problems, one of the issues that regularly came up was the difficulty of saying "no" to things that are literally life threatening.
It was at that time that "assertiveness" became a popular thing to learn. There were techniques (such as "broken record") that one could practise that were supposed to enable one to assert one's real feelings or needs in difficult situations without shouting or being rude.
But surely underlying people's fear of asserting their real feelings and needs is that they are not centred in God or the Transcendent (whatever one wants to call the Ultimate) and very often they don't know what their real needs are. I say "they" - I really mean "we". "We" pay more attention to social niceties than to truth or reality and we are afraid that people won't like us any more if we refuse their offers of fatty or sugary food. We don't want to seem self-righteous.
It's a big challenge, but it does get easier as one gets older and one worries less about the risk of offending others.
Anyway, stick at it, Vicky. You're a good example to us all!