Pre-Maker's Diet Days

After hours of reading, planning menus and making grocery lists, visiting three stores and the farmer's market, and spending more money on groceries than ever before, Jay and I are ready to take the plunge. Tomorrow we start The Maker's Diet introduced by Jordan S. Rubin.

I've always been what some would consider a "small" person. I'm about 5'3'' and "petite" though curvaceous! I've always watched my weight, but been able to eat fairly freely without too much concern. But at some point my metabolism started to slow down...I think around the age of 24 and I began to struggle with staying at a "normal" weight for me.

In 2005, we moved back to Springfield and I started teaching at Reeds Spring High School full time. The stress of this job sent me into a downward spiral of vicious, emotional eating that led to me gaining almost 10 pounds. Now, that may not seem like a lot to some people, but it was A LOT for me! I had to buy new clothes in a size that I had never worn before, and the depression of this just made me eat more. At some point, I saw a picture of myself sort of from a side angle where I was sitting in a chair. I think it was that picture that made me realize I needed to get a hold of myself and fast.

After reading French Women Don't Get Fat, which I HIGHLY recommend, I started eating much better and was so happy about what I was eating for the first time in my life. I really enjoyed eating healthy and eating a variety of foods. I stopped eating emotionally and refused to eat anything if I was tired or sad. I branched out in my tastes and was excited about cooking and trying new things. Just from this, no exercise included, I lost almost 10 pounds, had abundant energy and felt really, really good about myself probably for the first time in my life.

Then I started teaching high school again! Jeez! Those teenagers will ruin a healthy way of eating faster than you can wiggle your toes! I was able to maintain some what and gained a few pounds back, but this summer I started eating lots of Braum's mint chocolate chip milkshakes. (Warning: These shakes may contain crack cocaine and therefore become hazardously addictive. DO NOT begin consuming under any condition!)When Jay also became addicted, it was just too difficult to stop! Then we discovered Andy's Snow Monster, a wonderful conglomeration of custard, melted chocolate chips, and strawberries! Oh my! (Thanks, brother Nate for introducing yet another addiction to me in the ice cream family!)

Just in the last few months stresses about school, working, adoption, and infertility (see other posts about this) ramped up my emotional eating again and I started seeing numbers on the scale that I didn't think I'd ever let myself see again.

After hearing of my brother's success with The Maker's Diet, I decided to at least read about it. I'm always fascinated by diet books, especially when they explain the various effects various foods have on your body. After reading the book, understanding it, and realizing that it really does make a lot of sense, I bugged Jay to death to read it too so we could try it together, which he did.

I'll let you read the book yourself if you're really interested in hearing all the details, but in a nutshell, the Maker's Diet gets back to the way God created us to eat the laws that he established in the Old Testament for the Israelites. Being a Christian, I believe that much of that law was broken and we are no longer under the bondage of it because of what Christ did for us. However, I think that God established some laws that were meant for the health, and not necessarily just the religious benefits of the Israelites. That's the heart of Jordan Rubin's book.

Months and months ago I read Exodus 23. In this chapter, verse 25-26 states: "Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span."

I lived on that promise for that month and believed it with all my heart. I was incredibly angry with God and called him everything but a liar when I discovered I wasn't pregnant that month. I haven't understood how He could make these promises and then allow all the miscarriages that are going on right now. But after reading the Maker's Diet, I get it. I'm not saying it's the end all be all, but God's promises came with rules and regulations. He didn't just say this as if it would always be true, there were always "ifs" attached to these statements. Of course it makes sense that if the Israelites were following the Lord's diet plan, their bodies would be functioning properly and things like miscarriages wouldn't happen as frequently as they are today. That doesn't mean I believe that if I go on this diet, I will get pregnant. BUT, why wouldn't I give myself every opportunity possible?

So more importantly, yes, I would like to shed a few pounds, but I'd also like to be healthy and live the long abundant, energized, exciting life that we're promised in scripture if we follow God's plan.

And I'm going to let you know how that works out for us! Tomorrow begins a 40 day journey that I'm excited to embark upon. I'm going to start eating meat and poultry again, which I haven't done for a year and a half, and I'm going to follow Rubin's "prescription" to a tee. In a way it's a test, but one that I'm excited and looking forward to taking.