My House is Shaking…

Yesterday morning, as I was sitting in bed, I felt my bed shake! At first, I thought it was all in my head. But then it happened again. Then I started wondering if there was a critter hiding in my mattress (seriously.. I don’t live in the wilderness…). Then it happened again and again. I wen through thoughts of someone hitting our house, the neighbours doing something big enough to shake the rest the building (this would take a lot!), a reaction of an earthquake (which we’ve never had that I know of), and many other things.

This building is 50+ years old. So a huge concern was that maybe the place is going to collapse, but it all made sense when I heard a few large smashes.

Across from us is a school. On the other side of the school is of course the teacher’s parking lot. They have all of the construction equipment over there to dig it up and redo it or do some underground work or something. Everytime they dig up the ground or make some large movement, it causes a shaking reaction that reaches our building.

It is kind of scary knowing how old our building is, but at the same time, such a relief that it’s not all in my head! Whew!

Cooked Vs. Raw Experiment

So I’ve been watching a lot of videos, and I’ve heard from Freelee herself that RawTill4 is the most recommended, completely raw vegan is the most ideal, but eating cooked starches is a good third. I also watched a few videos of people who have stopped following Freelee as I was curious as to what they had to say.

For one, I found that the things they were complaining about were either things that were taken the wrong way from her videos, or they clearly didn’t watch all of her videos to understand as much as they should have. The other thing I noticed is they would break away into their own ideals which is fine. I’m not saying Freelee is a god, but I think her nutrition information is great. There is scientific back-up, real life testimonies, and basically everything that makes common sense. I don’t always agree with her views on everything, but there is no denying she is passionate about what she does, and that’s awesome.

So for a bit of an experiment, I decided to try having one meal of fruit in the morning, and then turning to cooked foods starting from my morning snack. I did it for two days, stuck with my normal vegan foods, just the cooked versions. Well, I can assure you I’m returning to RawTill4 tomorrow.

Here’s why:

Basically, I feel fatter, and I feel bloated, and it doesn’t go down as quick like it does with fruit. Cooked food requires more energy to digest and is less hydrating. I feel that. I go to the washroom much less frequently, and the hydration levels are lower. I feel the difference. I’m not hungry, I’m not starving, but I don’t feel as “fresh” either. I miss feeling lighter. I miss feeling “fresh”. So tomorrow, I’m going back.

If you ever experiment with this, let me know how it worked for you! Leave your story in the comments below.

Why the Name “Christian” Can Cause Such Anger

I’ve delayed in writing this blog post. The past few days have been a whirlwind for me. Not because I’m cleaning up my classroom, preparing for a new grade, but because the world has changed ever so quickly, and I needed to make sure my own emotions were not mixing and leading my thoughts but that rather my beliefs were the driving force behind my words.

When I decided I wanted to turn vegan, I thought what better place to learn than to join vegan groups on Facebook where people are continuously discussing ways of doing things better and on improving lifestyles. What better place would you get a mix of people who are starting out in their vegan adventure, as well as though who are tried and true veterans to the lifestyle. I did enjoy these facts, but I wasn’t prepared for what was coming.

As many of you know (and if you didn’t, I don’t know how you could have missed it), but the states have just legalized same sex marriage. To some people it’s no surprise, to some people it’s a reason to lash out, and to some people it’s a reason to celebrate. I was prepared for those reactions. What I wasn’t prepared for was the anger backing people’s responses. And it took a few days for me to truly understand what was going on.

Unfortunately, one of my vegan groups posted about this legalization and stated that you will never find a “homophobe vegan”. A man simply stated (though not in words I would have used) that he was not a “phobe” by the meaning of the word “phobia” as in being scared. He simply was using Biblical pieces to back-up the point that he did not support the movement. The backlash he received was incredible. And as I noticed he was the only one defending his beliefs, I decided to try and approach the conversation in a loving but understanding way. You see, I’ve noticed people are very quick to criticize Christian beliefs as being old and not modern day. But I knew that this is often because Christians have made a bad name for themselves.

I once saw a conversation where Christians were attacking an atheist. I could see where her comments and attacks were coming from. I couldn’t stand Christians reacting in this kind of way so I entered the conversation as well and simply responded to her questions and comments in a loving, non-judgemental way. It took quite awhile, but believe it or not, she thanked me for talking to her the way I did and explaining things the way I had. Of course she assured me she wouldn’t become Christian anytime soon, but that wasn’t the point of my discussion. The basis of my discussion was love.

So I figured that maybe if love was presented the right way in this vegan conversation, then maybe the hatred I was seeing would dissipate and the group could go back to the original purpose of becoming vegan and standing for animal rights. However, I’m sad to say it did not work that way. No matter how many times I reassured that none of the Christians in the conversation weren’t hating them nor judging them (all 2 of us), they served critique after critique back. No matter how many times I assured them that Christians should be focused on loving and loving all people, hate was served back. No matter how much love I tried to show about loving people but not supporting decisions they make, I was not supported. I even told them that the God of the world, Himself, has given us the power to choose what we do, regardless if we choose sin or not, and thus everyone in the world should have the power to choose what they want without anybody telling them otherwise, I was still considered judgemental. I brought up how I have a great uncle who has been a married gay my whole life and how I love him dearly and will never treat him otherwise, but that I do not support his lifestyle, I was still considered a “homophobe”. I was called a jerk, ingenious, told to take a nap, told I have mental sickness, that somehow someone loved me but in the same sentence told me everything I am is a sin, that God was going to send me to hell to burn for eternity, etc. And I was reminded again and again how listening to a 2000 year old book is so wrong.

I was not prepared for the hardness of hearts I was presented with. This is why I did not write this blog when I first thought of it. In fact, it’s been sitting as a tab for the past however many days since the law was passed. I’ve changed the name 3 times. I needed time to sort through what was going on, and to make sure my emotions were in check. And now I think I’m ready to help explain where I think things have gone wrong.

There happens to be a girl many years younger than I who was feeling the same way I was – being attacked by so many people, being pushed with no rest, exhausted from having to defend herself. The message came clearly in her Facebook post and the response from someone questioning the selection of beliefs, specifically pertaining to the lack of support on the same sex marriage issue.

I really thought about it before I posted this time, and I provided a very prominent issue among different Christians about the “clean” and “unclean” foods. I stated it as the fact that many Christians don’t support eating pork. Some claim that because it is an Old Testament law, that we no longer have to follow that distinction. Although many Christians disagree on this issue, we don’t hate our own family members just because they eat differently than ourselves. The best way to influence anyone in a positive way is through a loving manner. I also added that I grew up as a hunter’s daughter. When I turned vegetarian, my grandfather was convinced I would die. In fact, for the almost 10 years I was vegetarian, the very first question he would ask me is if I was healthy and had gone back to eating meat yet. The amount he would try to sneak meat onto my plate was crazy. He did not support my eating habits whatsoever. But he never stopped loving me. In fact, I can’t recall a day in my life where I did not feel loved by my grandfather, and that’s the way it should be.

To go a little further than that, she said she was going to put it bluntly and ask how same sex relationships is one law we believe from the Old Testament, but there were a host of others such as wearing jewelry, having tattoos, and premarital sex were things most Christians don’t follow anymore, yet we can choose to not stand for the same sex marriage issue.

This is where it truly sank in. The reason I believe that most people are so angry with Christians and our beliefs is because we have compromised on so much! Seriously, look around at your churches. I know for a fact that people drink, do drugs, party, have non-marrital sex with people regardless of being married or not, have problems with pornography, steal, cheat people out of money, etc, etc… There are people in almost every church who are the kings and queens of gossip. Churches are seen as judgemental because they’ve become that way. What have we done to ourselves?

Now, I’m not saying that all churches or even all people are this way. I do believe we have the sweetest, loving Christians still on this earth, and unfortunately that’s something we desperately need more of. But when Christians in themselves are out in the world claiming to be Christian and yet are caught in such horrible acts, what else is the world to think of us? Can you really blame people for hosting anger when they grew up in a church but like my sister, left because people were judging the clothing she wore? Do you really think that made her feel at home rather than winning her over with love? Personally, I’m ashamed at some of the things we’ve done to people. We should be opening our doors and welcoming, not just greeting, but truly welcoming people into our midst with the goal of letting love take over. When Jesus saved the prostitute, or sat with the tax collectors, you don’t see Him attacking them. He loved them and that’s what created the difference. Why can’t we do the same?

Of course I’m not saying we should kick out all of the people who are having problems either. What better place to receive help with healing than a church family, as long as we are being just that – a loving and supportive family.

Now, I know my beliefs may differ from yours, and that’s ok. Like I said, I have no judgement. The Bible, unfortunately, is not the most easily understood book at times, and some is left to our interpretation though hopefully somewhat unfolded with divine help (always pray before reading the Bible!). So yes, topics like jewelry and tattoos are a little more difficult to defend for some. However, I know the Bible clearly points out that our bodies are the living temples for the Holy Spirit, and we are to take care of them to the best of our abilities. Putting needles unnecessarily into my body, causing a stain that God did not put there in the first place that is ridiculous to remove, and putting holes all over my body does not seem like preserving the “holy temple” as God stated it. To me, that is clear enough definition as to why those are not the best idea. Jewelry that does not require holes (such as necklaces, rings, and bracelets) are a little more in the grey area. However, if you look at history, you will see that only the rich, and those who placed themselves above others wore jewelry. So at the time, it made total sense that jewelry was a way to separate the classes of people, and as far as I’ve read in my Bible, God doesn’t view us that way, nor does He want us to develop an attitude of being better than others. So to me, that makes sense. When it comes to premarital sex, it’s a no-brainer to me. You don’t need a Bible to tell you it’s not the best idea. Look up science reports and the reactions in the brain with sex. Look up psychology reports. The more sex you have before marriage, the less you are bringing to your marriage. Imagine if everything was brand new coming into your marriage. No past relationships to discuss, no past comparisons to make, nothing bad to bring into your forever relationship. I think in a way, we’ve lost sight of how sacred and special marriage was supposed to be. It was a union, a joining of two people. And in Mark 10:9, it states clearly, “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” We say vows, vows that are actually supposed to mean something. God blessed the union between husband and wife and specifically said that NO MAN (that means nobody on this earth) should be able to separate that union. I don’t know about you, but there are an awful lot of divorces going on. A lot of “man” separating what God told us not to. And that’s in the New Testament, not even the old.

Again, I hope you are not taking offence to this. I am the product of a divorced family who married other divorced people. Divorce is around me, and although I love my family more dearly than anything, I will fight with all I have to preserve my marriage union because I believe that is what is right. (I may continue this conversation at another time. It’s a whole separate Bible study.)

So those are my thoughts. I’m not sure if Christians will ever recover. If we’re going to stand for our beliefs, we need to learn not to compromise. No, it’s not easy being criticized. If anything, becoming vegan has opened my eyes to a whole new way of being criticized (not enough protein, not losing weight fast enough, not going to be healthy, etc…). But if you truly believe in something and seek to receive the rewards at the end, then you need to stand for whatever it is. But remember to stand in a loving way. Hate is fuel to the fire, but love (usually) softens the hardest of hearts. So speak to and treat each other in love, regardless of what a person chooses, but stay strong to yourself and don’t compromise on the beliefs you hold. Nobody in this world has the right to force their beliefs on people. But rather, keep an open ear and seek to find the Truth, and once you have the Truth, hold on to it. As humans, we are master justifiers, master liars, and master convincers. Don’t let someone talk you out of being yourself and believing what you’ve sought to be true.

For another pastor’s perspective, I found this to be a good, well-written, loving read with Biblical back-up.
http://todaychristian.net/a-detailed-explanation-of-why-christians-dont-accept-gay-marriage/

I Don’t Know Why I’ve Never Tried This Before!

So as many of you know, one of my biggest inspirations for my vegan lifestyle is Freelee the Banana Girl. I have watched so many of her videos because it is so important to see the raw vegan lifestyle at work. And especially since my husband doesn’t support my raw vegan lifestyle (yet), I need to have some sense of support around me. Her videos are amazing (minus the sometimes swearing).

So I was inspired to make her Datorade yesterday. I took my bag of deglet noor dates and my coconut sugar with me to school. I blended up about 20 dates, 1/4 to 1/2 cup of coconut sugar, and the rest filled with water. OH MY GOODNESS! It is SO GOOD! I actually ended up making a second batch later. So in love ❤ I really don’t know why I didn’t make it before!

Here is a link to one of her videos making her Datorade:

https://youtu.be/YzibGb1SMKU

Enjoy!

I Said “No” to Cheese!

I thought this day would never come. I have been so addicted to cheese my whole life! I grew up in a Quebecois family, so those lovely Quebec cheese curds that make a world of difference in a true Quebec poutine? Ate them out of the bag as a snack! In fact, my dad, once my parents divorced, would take out the block of cheese, break off a piece for each of us, and that’s what we would eat.

I was vegetarian for almost 10 years. I thought a few times about trying veganism. But I never could do it, simply because I was so addicted to cheese. I could give up yogurt, milk, even ice cream! But I could not give up cheese. I swear it was running through my veins. The only cheese I probably never was interested in was the varieties of blue cheeses. I can never seem to justify eating something that is mouldy. Yuck.

After doing some research this year, it all made sense! Cheese literally can be an addiction. Other dairy products fail in comparison to how densely packed cheese is with different parts of nutrition. I believe it was casein that was pointed out specifically. Because of the concentration, it literally leaves us wanting more. It’s not just the flavour, there is an actual addictive side to the chemical mix of our bodies and the ingredients of cheese. How interesting is that! I literally was addicted to cheese!

Even with my first few days of going vegan, I fell with cheese. Like I said, everything else is avoidable, but cheese. When I had my burrito for supper last night, it would have been so easy to just throw on the cheese. It was readily shredded and available. But I said NO! Wow… I can’t even tell you how empowering that felt. And then my husband and I went to the theatre for the first time in forever last night. I LOVE peanut butter Reese’s and even the new peanut butter M&Ms, but I said NO. I can’t believe it. Who am I? Who is this woman that could never give up this stuff before. I like her! She’s empowered!

I’m feeling awesome. And even this morning, when I just wanted to grab some salt and vinegar cracker chips because they were easy to grab, I said NO and went to work. I’m now drinking my orange juice (another 2.63L) and I know I’m feeling a ton better than I would have otherwise.

I love this lifestyle. I’ve finally got it! Not that I don’t think there won’t be struggles (I haven’t tried going to a function or travelling while being 100% yet), but I’m up and ready. My foot has been stomped. I’ve beat the greatest temptation of all! I’m so excited!

Week 6 Day 2

Today began my week of devotions for the teachers at school. This is something I actually enjoy doing. And not like usual, I did not have any inspirational thoughts until this morning. Usually I get inspirational thoughts days in advance, but God had some pretty hefty thoughts being prepared for me.

Today’s worship was on sleep, brought up by the Spirit Week theme of Pyjama Day at our school. I talked about the challenges that lack of sleep can cause, the extreme cases of sleep deprivation, and the fact that it is when we lay our head down that we are choosing to trust God to take care of us as we sleep. I had never thought of it that way before I had found someone’s blog online. The fact that we sleep – usually – every night, and are continuously putting our trust in Him that never sleeps is a new concept to me, but one that makes complete sense! This worship went very well!

As can be easily explained, since this was Pyjama Day, the students and the staff were dressed in their pyjamas. Now, I have not done psychology studies on this topic, but I felt so tired this day. I honestly think it makes a difference in what you wear! And yet, some of my students seemed like their energy doubled. Oh boy…

I still made it to the gym, not wearing my pyjamas, and had a great workout focussing on back, biceps and abs. I finished this workout with 12 minutes of HIIT.

God Only Knows…

So the weirdest thing happened to me this week, and it can only be explained that God was providing me with what i needed before I knew it, and it happened in the strangest way. Here’s what it was:

As far as the dynamics of the school, grades 5-8 are all downstairs. Because we are all together, we share in our options classes. Junior High had an outdoor adventure this week, and so it was simply grade 5 and my grade 6s in our area.

Options happen every Tuesday and Thursday and prior to this year, we have ALWAYS cancelled Options during the week that Junior High was gone. And that’s why this year was so strange.

The grade 5 teacher came to me on Monday saying that he knew I needed a break and was considering teaching a his Choir class so that he would have both grades 5 and 6 and I would have a spare. Normally this would not be a spare for me anyways because I teach the Junior High French at the same time. And as much as he seemed to stress that I needed a break, I could not figure out why!

Tuesday came, and he told me he had decided to teach Choir that day and went out of his way to tell me that he would keep them as long as he could so I could have a break and was just making sure that everything was ok and convenient for me. I was in total disarray trying to figure out what I did to require such a break!

I knew Choir class was almost an hour, and decided to use my time wisely: hence the government call that I have blogged about earlier.

The best part is, not only was Choir scheduled for just shy of an hour, but he kept the kids overtime!

Now picture this: just gone through the worst, most frustrating call I’ve ever had with the government over such a huge issue in my life, got treated incredibly rudely on the phone, was left so emotional afterwards, and yet had the spare time to regroup myself. eat some food and manage to level out before my students returned. Now tell me that isn’t God’s timing!

You see, I didn’t plan on that call. I definitely didn’t plan on that spare! Yet for some reason, somehow, God impressed upon my co-worker that I needed that particular time that particular day with the right amount of time to deal with something I needed to deal with. I had no idea. I had no idea why things were going the way they were, and yet it all made sense in the end. God had this planned and provided me with what I needed to do it.

I cannot sing God’s praises enough. The very fact that He sees everything – the beginning and the end – and knows everything in between just humbles me. My God has it all under control before I even realize it. My God provides everything I will need when the time comes. My God is more powerful than I could ever imagine. My God is truly the God of Love.

Brain Breaks and Why They Are Important!

So as optimistic as I like to be, yesterday just did not turn out the way I thought it would. In fact, I was ready to throw in the towel, blow after blow. It seemed like so many negative items, so much negative news, so many changes to plans that weren’t beneficial no matter how I looked at. It was just all too much!

I ended up going for a drive; one of those drives that you sometimes wonder afterwards how you ever avoided accidents because your thoughts were a million miles away. I then went home and completely did not feel like doing anything. In fact, for the very few minutes I had, I walked my dogs, then sat on the bed in front of the fan. Naturally this was short-lived as I had to pick up my husband from work. 

My brain was just sunk. My blood pressure was guaranteed elevated, my positivity was on the downhill slope, my hope was crushed, my body paying the price. I felt miserable. I felt like this was it, that I’m already at my breaking point and the year hasn’t even begun. I began second-guessing myself, asking if this job really was for me, if I wasn’t as strong as other teachers, if maybe I’m not as strong as I thought I was. But then something happened.

After picking up my husband from work, I put myself mentally in a place where I was just spending time with him. I wasn’t thinking about work. I wasn’t thinking about how in the world our finances are going to balance. I wasn’t thinking about all the stresses that I carry on my back right now. It was just him and I and quality time together. It gave my brain a break!

See, I used to laugh at people when they told me to take brain breaks in school. I used to think I was invincible. I used to think I could push myself to the utmost limits and even beyond. And quite honestly, I did. I used to work two jobs while going to university full time, in fact one semester I even had to request my credit limit be elevated in order to do 6 courses instead of my normal 5. Most mornings, I’d get off work, and wait around for my morning class because there simply wasn’t enough time to even go home and get changed before class started. I spent crazy hours working at work, being in school, and doing schoolwork.

The craziest thing that was an eye-opener to me was when friends used to come over to see if there was any way they could help me with my work or at least help keep me awake. Some nights, I don’t even remember what I said or did. I don’t drink, never have. I don’t do drugs, never even touched them. But out of pure exhaustion, my body and brain would continue on as if I were awake, and yet I was not truly awake. Countless times my friends would tell me the next day about the conversations we had and would be completely confused when I replied that I had no recollection of that conversation. They would tell me that I was sitting in the chair, looking straight at them, having conversations that made complete sense, and yet the truth was that I wasn’t actually awake. Isn’t that scary? As you can probably guess, this is right before my body crashed, and crashed hard.

You see, my brain was so used to running non-stop that even when my consciousness would rest, my subconscious continued in the exact way my consciousness would have. Thankfully I had good friends so safety was never an issue. But imagine it had been. I NEVER gave my brain a break. Not even a tiny one. 

Just because of the student I am, I have high expectations of myself as far as quality of work and grades go. I always received good grades, even in my tired state. But I know it wasn’t good for me. Sitting for hours doing homework, then spending hours between my two jobs, then hours and hours of classes. Everything was back-to-back and there was no break. My poor brain, seriously.

As a teacher, I am much more conscience of the brain breaks I give my students. I know that if they don’t get a break, then the work is going to decline in quality. That’s just the way it is. They easily get off track, derail to other topics, and just can’t focus. But give them a 2-5 minute brain break, and all of a sudden they’re energetic and ready to roll again. That’s what a brain break does.

So I challenge you to watch yourself. Watch how long you are actually causing your brain to continue working. And if you’re pushing your hours, get up and have a brain break. Whether it’s a simple exercise, a simple stretch, a change of topic, a small conversation with a co-worker or friend, anything that gets your mind off of the work you’re doing right now. Got time for a small nap? A mindless game? Great! Your brain needs that shift.

Don’t do what I did. I’ve lived out the mistake for you. Take care of yourself. You only have one body, so get it right the first time! Help it to remain healthy and see the advances it makes in your own life. Brain breaks are important!