29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
The New International Version. (2011). (Ge 1:29).
The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
The New International Version. (2011). (Ge 2:9).
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.
The New International Version. (2011). (Ge 9:1–4).
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Ga 5:22–24).
Twenty-four days ago, my husband and I started The Daniel Plan. This is a get healthy plan written by Rick Warren, the author of “The Purpose Driven life.” I have lost ten pounds, but Kevin has lost twenty-four pounds. I do not mind telling you how many ways passed Sunday that irks me. When I get to heaven, that is one of the questions I am going to ask the Lord. “Why do men on average loose weight faster that women?” Actually, I probably won’t ask the Lord cuz I will have my new body by then and I won’t care. I’ll just be worshiping Jesus for the rest of my days; so it’s all good.
Even now, I don’t really care. I’m not in competition with Kevin. I am really proud of him, and he is proud of me, and we are feeling better everyday. I won’t tell you this is a diet. It is a way of life. It is eating the way God intended you to eat. The catch phrase of The Daniel Plan: if it is made from a plant eat it; if it is manufactured in a plant don’t eat it. God gave us seed-bearing plants and trees for food. After the flood, God allowed Noah to eat everything that lives and moves. This is how we should eat. The first 10 days of this 40 day plan, you are encouraged to cleanse your body, your mind, your heart, your pantry, and your refrigerator. Don’t eat any processed food. Cut out bread and pasta. Read the label. If it has more than five ingredients don’t eat it. Basically you are eating whole foods. You are shopping just for your daily portion. I gotta tell ya, though I have only lost 10 pounds, I feel better than I have in a year. I was having sciatica problems in my lower back; I had planter fasciitis. All gone!
The program is based on five essentials:
Faith
Food
Fitness
Focus
Friends and family
Rick Warren says the secret sauce of this program is faith and friends. Kevin prays over me every night and I pray for him. The bible says the fruit of the spirit is self-control; I EXERCISED SELF-CONTROL!!! The other day I walked by a tray of Baby Ruth’s and Snicker bars and didn’t grab one. NOW THAT WAS GOD!!! (I celebrate small victories.) Before I started, I prayed, “God You gotta give me my wanna back cuz I just don’t wanna eat healthy, and I definitely don’t wanna exercise.” Now that I am feeling so much better, I WANNA!
The Daniel Plan stresses that your body was created to move. I love their concept of fitness – Do what you enjoy doing. I enjoy walking/slow jogging/singing to my praise and worship music. So I do that. I do not enjoy personal trainers. Twenty year old muscle people who try to “Rah-Rah” me into putting in more effort than I am willing to put forth; I do not enjoy that! #IHateBurpee’s, #IDoNotJumpSide2Side, #IAmNotAshamed. (I am teasing about personal trainers. They are very sweet and very patient people. My husband does great with them.) I like God being my Personal Trainer. Today I ran one whole mile. Not all together mind you, and not in record setting time. But still a mile. (I celebrate small victories.) Every time I thought about stopping, I felt the Lord urging me to go a little farther.
Before beginning, you are encouraged to write out all the reasons that you want to get healthy. The plan stresses that we need to get healthy so we will be able to serve the Lord with energy. You will be ready to go when the Lord gives you an assigned task. I want to have the energy to swim fast so my grandsons won’t always target me to be “Marco Polo” because they know they can out swim me. I want to get in shape so that the next time I go to Ethiopia and climb the hillsides and by-ways, I am not putting my hands on my knees gasping for breath, or sliding down mudslides because I couldn’t pick up my feet. I have my reasons.
I encourage you to check out “The Daniel Plan” and become “Daniel-Strong.” You will feel great.