Freed

First of all, let it be known that I am not a trained nutritionist and I do not have all the answers. I am your average girl-next-door. Packing a lot of experiences at a young age, I still have a whole lifetime of learning ahead of me. After all the fad diets, food journaling, shakes, and supplements - I finally was fed up and wanted something to stick. I am not looking to drop weight quickly just to lump it back on after I've worn the bridesmaid dress.

I am after a lifestyle that fuels me for these God-sized dreams. These dreams take good health and confidence to pursue. Who better to look to than the One Who stays the same?! If His truth has remained consistent since the creation of the earth, I bet His nutrition plan would be just what I am looking for.

Let's rewind to where we left off in the story of "Praised" from the Soul section. As I filled you all in on, I have been in a Daniel’s Fast for the past twenty-one days. A challenge I have only taken on in ten-day increments in the past. This round of the Daniel’s Fast has been the most impactful to date. After the first two attempts were somewhat miserable, learning to meal-prep alongside temptation-prep took me so much further this time around.

Recruiting a trusted friend to pray through the process, made all the difference. After all, God did design us to move and motivate as a community. Declaring our motives out loud with one another and in writing to kickstart the fast, and checking in with each other over the three weeks kept our hearts in sync with the right intentions. This is not a fast intended to just lose weight. Sure, a wonderful affect has been the inches that have melted off my waistline (come on abs!). However, this is a carb-rich nutrition plan. I'm pretty sure I just lost half of you at this point. Carbs are like the devil and his demons in today’s perspective of nutrition! Why would I encourage something that is supposed to be so bad?! In fact the ESV translation of the Bible states that when Daniel and his compadres were viewed after testing this meal plan for ten days, “they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who eat the king’s food” (Daniel 1:15).

I don’t know about you but even at an early twenty-eight years old, I will definitely take someone up on the offer to look better than all the youths around me. The” fatter in flesh” part of that statement is not what I signed up for, however. I took care of that part through years of fast food convenience, a love of chips and all things savory, and a near addiction to bread. So why would I subject myself to a plan that promotes the very thing our society fears due to its weight-packing potential? It’s simple; we were not made to lay around and enjoy meals with no physical activity in between.

We were made to use the bodies God took the time and care to mold with His own two hands.

That means our jobs, working out, running around after sweet children, putting on some Marvin Gaye and enjoying what married couples do, helping our neighbors, and taking advantage of our physical opportunities to the point that when it is our time to die, we have not stored up a single ounce of strength to take with us. I’m letting Jesus scoop me up and carry me right through those pearly gates.

What does all of this mean? It means we have lived a life far beyond the “normal” that our society squanders their strength working so hard to blend in with. Through experiencing Jesus in this glimpse of a life beyond society’s expectations, I have lived the past 504 hours of my life in the most meaningful and purpose-driven ways than I’ve lived in the 245,280 hours I’ve been on this planet. I crave to feel alive like this for way more time than that ratio depicts.

Hear me out before you tune me out. While I do not understand everyone’s background, I do grasp that we all have different makeups. Our physical abilities and bodily demands range drastically. All that I eat and do are not necessarily what your body needs and vice versa. The One Who does know every inch of our disposition has also provided the sustenance to fuel it. We do not have to look to the products of man to feed our needs (sure, some Girl Scout Cookies here and there are not a sin). We can look on the perimeter of the grocery store to find the very nutrition God intended to fuel us through the long days and short years.

Over the next... however long it takes... we'll try different products and sources of nutrition. I do believe in eating meat! I also respect that is not for everyone and have found delicious substitutions. We'll take on new recipes - trial and errors and all! I may not know what to do at times, but my eyes are on Him (2 Chronicles 20:12). Come along and share your feedback and your own stories as we develop, through God's Word, research, and some wild experiences, a nutrition plan that allows food to be a factor of freedom!