To be Honest...

The fast is kicking my butt. I don't know how Jesus did this for 40 days and he did it cold turkey!...but then again, he was Jesus.
I think that perhaps having 6 chocolate chip cookies and two bowls of icecream the night before beginning this thing was a bad idea. The sugar crash was unbearable yesterday, as well as my lack of diet Pepsi....I live on diet Pepsi.
We have eliminated junk, sugar, anything processed or made with chemicals or preservatives, anything that comes from an animal (so no meat, dairy, eggs etc.) bread, honey, juice that isn't 100% fruit or vegetable...
So we're living off of fruits, veggies, nuts, whole grain rice and water. We can have whatever seasonings we want to spice things up a bit...but it's been super hard and it hasn't even been 48 hours!
We're going to continue (God willing) with this particular fast until January 19th, when it will be broken to celebrate Jay's birthday. After that it's just plain ol' healthy eating time. We both have some weight loss and fitness goals we're desperately wanting to conquer in 2009. The Daniel Fast is a spiritual and physical way of cleansing out all the built up toxins in our hearts (actual and proverbial) and stomachs.
This is the first time we've ever fasted. We've done cleanses and diets but we've never taken part in a biblically inspired fast before. Our church has had many, but we've never gotten involved, simply from lack of understanding. I've never been taught or sought out information about fasting until now...and I'll be honest, I'm still not 100% clear on it, but from what I read, it's brings positive results to every area of life so we thought, 'Why not?'
I'm not even sure if I'm suppose to talk about fasting when I do it...but I promise I don't do so in a bragging way, I just don't know how not to talk about things...as many of you who read my writings have come to find out :)
We have some things in our lives that we need to commit to prayer, and we're hoping that throughout this 2 week period, we'll do that intently. I've heard that throughout the fast we are suppose to spend the time we would normally use to prepare meals and eat to pray instead. Unfortunately, I feel like the Daniel Fast is actually causing us to spend more time preparing and thinking about food than ever before....preparing fresh food takes a lot more time and energy than popping a Bertolli dinner in a pot for 7 minutes...but I think for me, my prayer time will be during the time I spend exercising.
I HATE exercising, but luckily for me, my workplace has an onsite gym that I can use whenever. I spent about 1.5 hours alone in there yesterday and it's very quiet. Instead of listening to 'pump me up' music, I covered the timer on the treadmill with a book and started reading. 40 minutes passes quickly when you're caught up in a good Jesus book instead of clock watching. I'm hoping that time with God in the gym will make it so that I can't wait to put my sneakers on and spend time in there. If I know anything about God's presence, I'm sure that will be the case.
It's amazing how much food can dictate our lives. We use it to celebrate, mourn, comfort, ease boredom...I sat down New Years Eve and ate cookies like they were going out of style and I wasn't even really tasting them. I was inhaling them! They say that a healthy eating and fitness routine is 10% physical and 90% mental. I am trying (and hoping someday to succeed) in eating to live, not living to eat. I also want my son to see me being active and enjoying life off the couch. Over Christmas break we started walking as a family (fat dog included, whether she likes it or not) and it's been really fun. Caden isn't as crazy when he's out of the house, able to roam free and we have a good time looking at each other and God's nature that surrounds us instead of the TV.
I won't lie, these past two days have proven to be difficult on a fitness front. With the lack of caffeine and the 8-9 hours of work, the last thing we have wanted to do is break a sweat, but we're hoping our bodies acclimate to the changes and the detoxification process will soon bring to fruition a happier, healthier us.