Lifestyle Changes

I'll be the first to admit that lifestyle changes are not easy. It really takes major commitment to change things that you've done day after day for 30, 40, or 50 years or more! When I first became a vegetarian, it was quite accidental. Yes, really. I had been sick on and off for most of my life but never made the connection to eating meat. By the time I was 30 I had so many digestive issues, I never considered animal products to be part of the problem. It was about 13 years ago, one December after Christmas, as I was trying to think of my New Year Resolution (always a new diet!) for the new year, that I stumbled upon vegetarianism. My heart immediately went out to the animals as I have always had a tender spot for animals. Like most people, I just never made the connection of the animals I loved to the animals on my plate. I laughed to myself and thought, "yeah, I could lose all this weight BEFORE I could ever become a vegetarian!" I was really praying for some health changes and wanted to become healthier and lose weight in the process too.

About three weeks into the new year, I realized that I was feeling much better and my stomach and digestive issues were so much improved it was amazing! I had been eating out of health food store for the last three weeks as I tried to improve my diet. 13 years ago there wasn't alot of natural or organic foods in places like Wal-mart. Still not alot today, but better than it was! I thought it must be the wheat I quit eating and had replaced it with rice and spelt products. I went back over my food journal I had been keeping to see what was missing from my diet that was possibly the answer to my digestive issues.  Image my surprise when I realized I had unconsciously eliminated meat from my diet! There wasn't any type of meat on those pages for the past three weeks! I was still praying for God to give me the strength and desire to make changes in my diet and lifestyle that would improve my health. It was at that moment I realized that God had a sense of humor. ;) I remembered oh so clearly how I had stated that I could easy lose all this weight before I ever became vegetarian. And here I was three weeks later and feeling better than I had felt in years.

It's funny how changes always come about in my life when I've really been praying and asking for guidance.  I'm not a religious person, but I think I am spiritual. I do believe in God and I do consider myself a christian. I don't announce it to the whole world or have personal taglines after my name on emails, facebook, etc declaring my christianity. I guess I believe people should see a difference in me as compared to non-believers and acknowledge that perhaps I am a spiritual person. God doesn't send angels with 3 trumpets blasts to announce changes he wants in my life, although once in awhile I'm so hard-headed I believe that would be easier for me than the stumbling around I do. For me it's always those quiet nudges that send me in the right direction. I really felt like this was one of those times. So I continued on and here I am 13 years later still a vegetarian.

Lately, I've felt another nudging. Perhaps a request to clean-up my eating habits and become healthier eating whole foods and juicing. I lived alot of those years eating vegan cookies and "natural" sodas. And I have the weight gain to prove it.  There are many vegetarians that are quite healthy and eat a bulk of produce and veggies. Sadly, there are many who do not eat that way and I have been one of those. And so now I feel like it's time to move on over to that direction and get this weight off for good. Lately I've been thinking that being diagnosed with diabetes has been the best thing in my life. It has forced me face the fact that I'm not going to live forever & if I don't straightened up my eating habits, death will be sooner and not later. I don't want a life full of health issues and dr visits.