Paying the Piper

For the last several months I have awakened in the morning asking God to help me get healthy. So many things have sabotaged my efforts: surprise departmental luncheons (with delicious macadamia nut-chocolate chip-coconut cookies--to die for!), fatigue, and such a busy schedule with writing deadlines and new course preparation that I haven't been able to go walking or exercise. I think the devil is trying to kill me by keeping me so off-balance that I've neglected my own health.

Sam and I were invited to a student's house for lunch. She and her mother live close to school and church, so we went over straight away after church. Lo and behold, they are participating in the CHIP program and our meal was a CHIP-approved menu. We like healthy food, so we really enjoyed what we were served: Fruit smoothies to start out with, followed by well cooked beans (without salt) over brown rice. We also had salsa on top. There was a side dish of steamed asparagus and also an enormous salad with home made balsamic viniagrette (there was the slightest amount of olive oil in it). Then for dessert we had fresh fruit compote: strawberries, blueberries, and mango in a lovely cooked pineapple sauce. It was light, cool, and lovely.

We ate to the full and were satisfied. Interestingly enough, we were both hungry in four hours, even given the quantity of food that we'd ingested. It was so light and free of heavy stuff that neither of us can digest, like oil, eggs, butter, bread, or milk products.

It was perfect timing, and a real answer to my prayers. Sam and I were so encouraged and impressed with the food we had eaten that we came home and started right in on the CHIP program ourselves. It is quite stringent in the beginning, but because I've been feeling so bad lately with crunching knees, gastric refulx, shortness of breath, GI distress, and sleep apnea, I am willing to do whatever it takes to get off the weight and improve my overall health. At my age, health improvement and better looks do not happen by accident.

We have just completed three days of eating only brown rice, oatmeal (for breakfast) and fruit smoothies. I am sick unto death of brown rice--the thought of it makes me want to choke! Probably because I've been eating it cold for lunch and too much of it. We also start off the day with a potion that just about makes our lives pass before us: a whizzed up concoction of garlic, lemon juice, fresh ginger, and onion. It is enough to make my hair stand on end. Sam slugs it back but I find it particularly vile. It is supposed to cleanse the body. I have a huge glassful of it in the morning. Surprisingly, we don't have the awful breath that we thought would accompany this drink, no heartburn, and no rapid GI emptying (not that you had to know, but I'm sure you wondered!)

Tonight we had beans, rice, and salsa. Beans never looked or tasted so good! I suppose that our bodies will need to adjust to the quantity of beans we will be eating. We could probably levitate from the methane output around here tonight! Now that we've gone through three days of detoxification we can have a much wider variety of food but no dairy, oil, salt, meat, or bread. Bread can be added later. We suspect that we are both allergic to wheat, but we will find out by going without it for a couple weeks.

So far, so good. Sam is sure that our faces are a bit slimmer. My pants are already feeling loose, and we are sleeping much better. We are not hungry in the least and feel satisfied with our meals. I don't want to go back to the richer food because I feel so much better now.

These comments are not meant to imply that all my readers should try this lifestyle program. But we have and are delighted. It is the second time for me and the results were excellent--I never felt better in my life.
It is an adventure!