Diet Time

When my parents were in town for Mother's Day, I realized everyone around me was growing healthier while I stubbornly remained lazy. My parents started a diet, my brother started watching what he eats, and Johnny started kicking butt at the gym. I wasn't eating that poorly, but I (still) was not exercising regularly and my meal portions were a bit too large at times.

So, I started The Maker's Diet on Monday. I'm a Christian, yet normally a "Christian diet" would make me run for the hills (as would most things labeled "Christian"). But the nutrition information is superb and the three phases of the diet heal your body of many maladies, not just help you lose weight. After the three phases, it's not so much a diet anymore as lifelong healthy eating habits. I'm in Phase One so I can't have grains or apples for a few weeks and oh how I miss 'em, but I can have eggs, turkey bacon, goat cheese, raw honey (albeit a smaller amount for awhile), luscious organic strawberries, blueberries, grapefruit, lentils, olives stuffed with garlic, pumpkin seeds, avocados, salmon, chicken, almond butter, and several other tasty, healthy foods. I really don't feel deprived when I sit down for breakfast with two scrambled eggs (or an omelet) topped with grated cheese, two fragrant strips of turkey bacon, and coffee-flavored oolong tea (which I mentioned today on The Sustainable Scoop). Or a snack of sliced avocado and tomato sprinkled with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. I've even learned that I like "new" items such as sheep's milk cheese (truly), and plain goat's milk yogurt (I swear) with a teaspoon of honey. Who knew?

I have been to the gym once this week (going back tomorrow), but I've walked every evening this week, and one day both morning & evening. Have I said before that walking is so very good for my psyche? Well it is, especially when I'm anxious or blue. I walk, breathe intentionally, and pray. Walking is even better for my state of mind when Johnny joins me; he's done so most every day this week. He likes walking around, looking at each house's flowers saying, "What do they got?" We take mental notes of which flowers and plants we like or dislike to add to our flower beds. Sometimes I just listen to Johnny's silliness while I focus on breathing.

The Maker's Diet is actually interesting, if not poetically written. I don't think every bit of Rubin's theology is correct, but he does get some things right and he for sure knows more about nutrition than I do. This very diet changed his Crohn's diseased-body from a walking skeleton to the healthy man he is today. He attributes his healing to the Lord who provides healthy, natural foods, and with that I do agree. It feels right to eat more naturally with smaller portions, healthy snacks in between, and to move my body. Discipline feels good, too; we may try to avoid it, but sometimes both our souls and bodies need a regimen, ya know? The other grand part of all this is that Christine started this diet before me, so I can e-mail her for support or ask a question since Jordan Rubin isn't in my cell phone address book.