Flexibility is important
Tomorrow, Wednesday, I start Week 8 of the Plant Paradox program. My body is adjusting to the diet and I am more and more aware of what I can and can’t eat. This weekend will be a challenge since we are visiting friends. On Friday, we’re going out for tapas to a Mexican restaurant nearby, and then to a pizzeria. I checked the menu and see that I can either have a salad with safe toppings or a white cauliflower crust pizza with anchovies and approved vegetables. So both have food I can eat.
Saturday, will be a bit more challenging as the wife is making Serbian goulash for dinner, which will have many ingredients that are not on my eating program. I’ll just have to go through a cleanse when we get back home. It’s more important to enjoy this time with friends and not stress too much about my diet. Flexibility is my new mantra!
For Thanksgiving, we’ve been invited to a neighbor’s home, and I imagine it will be much the same depending on what protein she serves. I can, however, eat sweet potatoes and green salad. It’s a challenge with other friends who are involved with 4-H and raise their own chickens, pigs, goats, and cattle. While the feed is largely organic, they still supplement the animals’ food with corn and soybean grains. Consequently, it’s still the grains I am not eating that gets into the animal’s system and the food we eat.
But life is too short to be lived alone without sharing with friends. Companionship and friendships are important. I can adjust and then resume my diet when I get back home where I have more control over what I eat.
Hoping for lower cholesterol numbers
In November I will get a full blood panel workup done as well as a cholesterol test. I’m hoping that this largely plant-based diet with wild-caught fish will have lowered my bad cholesterol numbers substantially. I’ve been working with my heart doctor to find a medication I can tolerate and also afford. Statins and I just aren’t compatible. So I haven’t used any medication and am concentrating on diet to improve those numbers. My other numbers are generally good, my heart is fine, my carotid arteries are clean, and my innards are loving this diet.
The only nagging issue I still have that no doctor has found an answer for is the periodic muscle weakness I get when standing and starting to walk. I think it’s related to the arthritis in my cervical discs and lumbar area. The balance as well. If my neck hurts after doing some neck exercises, my balance is also worse.
Developing spiritually
This morning in the wee hours before the sun was fully up, I looked up at the sky to see the stars. I had to lean against a post to the front patio cover because just bending my neck back to look up and then lowering my head to look straight out caused severe balance issues. Once my eyes and body adjusted to looking straight ahead, I could move away from the post and back to my seat at the 4-top table we have out front. I like being outside in the early morning hours to meditate, greet the dawn, and just take time to BE. It’s a special time for me and my way to greet the start of a new day. I so look forward to it, that I can’t wait to get up in the morning, brew my coffee, and go outside. I call it Me Time. It’s listed in my calendar so my husband knows this is my special time just for me.
If you haven’t carved out 30 minutes to an hour for yourself, I urge you to
consider doing so. Whatever time of day works for you. Just take the time to sit in a comfortable, quiet space where no one will bother you, and just let yourself BE. Close your eyes and take thee breaths, “one to let go, one to be present, and one to ask What now?” And then just listen.
This is a “prayer” I picked up from the book, The Seven Whispers: Listening to the Voice of Spirit, by Christina Baldwin, available as a paperback or on Kindle. This prayer is from the first Whisper: Maintain Peace of Mind. It’s about calming the ever-present voice in our heads that keeps listing all the things we have to do and take care of. The objective is to just be quiet and see if any conversation starts in your mind. If it does, that’s Spirit speaking with you, always there, waiting for the opportunity to be heard.
I use this time for my own spiritual practice and development. I’m not always good at doing this, and sometimes I get distracted. But every time I ask “What Now?” I get a response to “Write”. So that’s why I keep updating this blog and sharing my experience.
Maybe someone will read it. Maybe not. Perhaps this becomes a book. Who knows? I’m doing my best to “move at the pace of guidance”, the second whisper in the book.
For now, I’ll sign off and get this article published. If you are reading my blog, please subscribe to stay connected and get updates when I publish a new blog article. My goal is to do this weekly. And if you have a question or comment, feel free to share. I’ll do my best to reply promptly.