Journey Through the Healing Chart

Hello everyone.

I have been thinking about this for a long time and finally have decided that now is the time to jump right in. For the past couple of months, I have been intrigued by two charts that I have seen. One was presented by Joe Best from The Best Transformation on YouTube. He presented a chart that categorized the vegan doctors / gurus in a scale from healing diets to athletic diets. Unfortunately, he has recently taken the video down that had that chart so I have requested that he put it back up. I will let you know when/if he does.

For now, I have been presented with another chart that uses diet alone to categorize rather than names of doctors with their suggested diets. It actually breaks down into greater detail the steps on what would be the healing end of Joe’s presented scale. The detailed scale looks like this:

Though I don’t have huge health issues, I have been looking at breaking the hold that food can have on us; the feeling that we have to eat this right now. I watch people around me suffer intense cravings and not be able to stay away from junk foods at events. Food seems to call us to it and have more power than it should ever have over us. Though I have stopped craving foods for quite some time, I wanted to prove to myself that the hold of food is gone. I also have been suffering from bad acne again and have no doubt that it is linked to the vegan junk I was still eating. So as I said previously, I jumped in.

Now, if you are looking at the chart above, there is a dark green level at the bottom that has many foods I do not consume as a vegan. I will not be hitting that level. I am vegan, have been vegan for over a year, and plan on staying vegan for the rest of my life. That level may as well not be there whatsoever.

Looking at the chart again, you will notice the top level is water fasting. I am actually taking this chart one step further and going to be starting with two days of dry fasting. Dry fasting is where not only is food not consumed, but water is not consumed either. Yes, it is risky and not something you can do long-term. In fact, depending on where you live, I wouldn’t recommend more than 3 days at the most. Definitely research this one for yourself before you attempt this as this is the most risky stage of a fasting stage/detox.

So feel free to join me on this journey or simply stand by and watch my progress. I will try to log about each day, what my experiences are and how I’m feeling. I am continuing to live life as normal though my workouts may be lessened in the beginning depending on how I feel. I will discuss how I deal with social situations while I go through each of these phases and hopefully my experiences can advise you on a healing journey you may want to embark on for yourself.

Please remember that I am not a doctor but am simply sharing my own experience. Not everyone reacts to the same things the same ways. My journey is based on my own research, and a simple desire take a new journey with my health to hopefully end up in the best health I have ever had.

I Remain Humbled…

So, here’s a little story of what happened last week, not once but unfortunately twice, that has taught me a monumental lesson.

At Outdoor School with my students (school in the wilderness for 4 days), I was chosen to instruct a class called River Rush. River Rush teaches the students about finding an average, volume, and depth. The goal is to learn these things well, then to go to the river and calculate the amount of water flowing down the river every second. It’s actually a pretty easy class to teach, except it decided to rain everyday this year. But our last day was the worst. An absolute downpour. So of course, we had arranged for a bus to come sit by the river so that it was warm for the kids to get in and warm up. No chances of hypothermia were going happen if we could help it!

So anyways, this camp is designed for grades 5-6. We have our regular school kids, but then we also invite homeschool kids as well. These kids come with their parents since they technically have no teacher. And one of these homeschool kids came down the bank in a pink poncho with La Vie en Rose on it. For those of you who don’t know, that’s the name of a lingerie store, and this was a boy. I couldn’t believe that a mother would send her son down in that. He was already a homeschool kid, and to put that on top? My immediate thoughts went to him getting bullied. I felt so bad for this kid.

I made a point to reach out to him, got to know his name, and figured I’d keep an eye out for him just incase. But what happened set me back in my place. This kid not only seemed not to care what he was wearing, but 3 times that day we almost lost our rubber duckies down the river. And 3 times this kid suddenly appeared down river to catch all 3. No other kid even attempted that. This was one hardy kid who received several applauses for not only his courage but his pure skill. I don’t even think I could have gotten down the river that fast. Needless to say, I was reminded of my puny knowledge and judgement in a God-created world.

Second instance happened that same day, the night I got back. It’s almost as if God thought I needed more than just the one reminder I had gotten, and I took it.

My husband and I had been out late taking our one dog to the airport for my step dad. So on our way back, we went to Denny’s for something to eat. Directly behind us sat a woman and a man probably in their later 20s. She was obviously drunk (he was not) and she was saying some of the strangest things: “Oh foooooood! You know sometimes food makes me happier than sex!” for example. “I’m not being loud am I? No I don’t think so!” Yes, she was. But that’s beside the point.

I couldn’t help but think of how loud and obnoxious she was being, and how much quieter of a time my husband and I could have to eat. I grew up with drinkers, but myself don’t drink. I was used to the behaviour, but did not understand how people could enjoy making themselves look ridiculous like that. But then I got put in my place again.

After awhile, she began to speak her heart. She was continuously asking the man if he was mad at her to which of course he said he wasn’t. These two were obviously not in a relationship, but he was simply someone she knew and could lean on in a time of need. She said how she had been drinking since Sunday (it was Wednesday), and that she was meant to love. That some “idiot” had told her she wasn’t (or wouldn’t?) ever have children. That she was meant to have children and to love them with all the love she could.

Talk about eating my thoughts. I had judged this poor woman to be another obnoxious drinker with the things she had been saying before, and yet out comes the pain that is on her heart, and it all of a sudden makes sense to me. I wanted to turn around and tell her God loves her and He knows that she is meant to love, but the situation was just not right for that. The man was trying to get her to hurry with her eating and contain her the best he could. I do give him kudos for the nice and yet firm way he was handling her. It’s necessary when you’re that drunk. But at the same time, I wish she could have felt as loved as she sounded like she needed to feel.

My husband told me later that at one point, when I had gotten up to use the washroom, she did speak of God to the man. She did believe in Him and that gave me some assurance. God can find a way into her heart and hopefully He’ll show her a better way. I hope to see this woman in Heaven, and I pray that she experiences the love she seeks.

Until then, I learned a double lesson that I needed. I am not a judge, and the only true judge is God. I cannot take His place for my judgement’s are wrong. I always considered myself to be slow to judge others, but twice in one day I was proved wrong. I am quick to defend some people, and yet I create my own thoughts about some people too, sometimes without noticing. That’s something I need to work on, and maybe you do too. I’ve always admired the quote, “Don’t judge a person until you’ve walked in their shoes” and yet was I really applying it 100%? Obviously not.

Don’t judge others.

Matthew 7:1-5 speaks loud and clear when it comes to this topic:

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Ouch. I’m human, and I make mistakes, but nothing will stop me from trying to overcome my judgemental side. I expect people to have no idea of the past from which I come, and yet here I am judging others without knowing theirs. I remain humbled as I’ve learned from a God who loves us all so much that nobody can do what He does, and nobody knows what He knows. I place my trust and renew my faith within Him because I know that He will make no mistakes, and His judgements are just. I continue to look forward to the day of His return so that I can be by His side and learn from His ways to live the joy of life that was originally created to be. A life free of my mortal judgements.

My Favourite Food Tracker

Aside from not realizing how many calories you’re actually drinking, a lot of people have no idea how many calories they’re consuming by eating either!

Quite often, people who try to make healthy choices when selecting foods, have no idea how many “hidden” calories are in what they’re eating. Of course, restaurants and fast food chains are offering more salads as a healthy choice to customers. Yes, you may feel better by making the choice to eat salad, but sometimes, it can still be the wrong choice. 

Quite often, the dressing alone can be very unhealthy. The creamy dressings are often high in fat, and the vinaigrette dressings are high in carbs and fat. If there are crunchy onions, croutons, or various other salad toppings, add up the carbs. Chicken on the salad? Better be careful and make sure it’s not fried or breaded! Grilled chicken is your friend.

Now the scary part, is that it is so easy to order many delicious yet unhealthy dishes. And it is even scarier to know that some of those “healthy” salads that you are consuming can easily be 1000 calories or more! Much easier to ask for the nutrition guide before selecting your foods than to regret it afterwards.

Andrew Freeman has a post online about 15 Salads Worse Than a Big Mac. Check out this link:
http://www.takepart.com/photos/15-salads-worse-big-mac

The easiest way to control the amount of carbs, fats, proteins, and calories that you consume is to prepare your own food at home. There is no doubt about that! But when nobody has a prepared nutrition guide for you, how do you really know how much you are eating?

I struggled with this problem. What I didn’t know, but my husband observed, is that I wasn’t getting anywhere near enough protein each day. I struggled with controlling the amount of carbs I was consuming, and had no idea whether I was getting enough fats or not. That’s when my husband found “MyFitnessPal” for me.

If you do not know what MyFitnessPal is, I will be more than happy to explain! It is a free app, or also an online program that allows you to track the details on the food that you are eating! This has truly saved my life and made my eating habits so much easier!

What it allows you to do is this: In the settings, put in all of your information. You can get the program to assist you in figuring out how many calories you should be eating, or you can manually set your calories, and the program will help you figure out how many of those calories should be proteins, carbs, and fats. You can also select how many meals you want to appear everyday, and name them accordingly. For example, I try to eat 6 small meals a day, so I simply have Meal #1, Meal #2, Meal #3, Meal #4, Meal #5 and Meal #6. You could name them by times if you want reminders of when to eat the meals.

 Screenshot of Daily Food Log. See how the nutrition facts easily add up?

Then, you may begin. MyFitnessPal has a large resource of all the foods you will eat. So when you click to add food to a meal, you will search for whatever it was you ate (restaurant or home food) and it will give you a selection of options to choose from. Pick the one that is yours, and how much of a portion you consumed, and it will plug in all of the nutrition information for you. It really is that easy! So at any point of the day, you can look at the bottom of your daily food screen and see how much you have left in each category. Once you get used to how much food and what foods you can consume to hit your numbers, it becomes very easy to plan your meals ahead. That way, you already know what you can eat for the next day and not waste time trying to calculate all of your foods all day long. This is what I do on a regular basis!

 Various screenshots from the program. Seriously, so easy.

Bonus #1: You can also track your glasses of water on MyFitnessPal! At the bottom of your food log screen, there is a counter where you can track your glasses of water for that day.

Bonus #2: There is a spot on each food log day that you can write yourself notes. This comes in handy for reminding yourself of meetings, or lunches where you will be out with coworkers, on birthdays and other celebrations. Use it as a personal reminder for important dates.

Bonus #3: You can track your workouts! There are 2 sections in the workout area. One is tracking cardio (counts as calories burned). Be careful of this as it will add calories to you daily amount. Do not eat the extra that it adds if you wish to lose weight. The second is weight lifting. It will not tell you how many calories you have burned, but is a good way to keep track of what exercises you have done.

Bonus #4: Can’t find the food you are looking for in the list that MyFitnessPal gives you? No worries! There is a “MyFood” section where you can personally enter in your own information. It will save it for the next time! Also, if you log in online, you can calculate the nutrition information on their recipe calculator. This comes in very handy!

Bonus #5: You can message other people who are using the same program. I have not used this feature, but it is readily available to you if you need someone to give you that extra encouragement.

There are many other Food Tracking Programs out there, but this has been my favourite and I have been so happy to use. Hopefully this will help you too!