Welcome to Fern's Homestead!
GETTING STARTED ON
THE ROAD TO A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE!
Dear friend,
I pray that you may enjoy good health
and that all may go well with you,
even as your soul is getting along well.
3 John 2
Shalom!! So, you have made the commitment to pursuing better health! Congratulations!! Now what?! Since so many of you have asked me how to get started on this new adventure in healthy living, I thought I'd share some suggestions I have found to be helpful to me in getting our internal house in order. By following ADONAI's instructions on how to live an abundantly healthy life by feeding our bodies with cell-building foods that He created for us in the form of primarily plant foods, you will begin to see a huge difference in your health, and many of us will experience complete healing. I know I, and many others here in Abba's Garden, have already experienced positive results from following HIS health plan....and I am expecting many more praise reports to come!!
Let me offer some suggestions to you that I hope will be helpful:
My first recommendation is to educate yourself!
Most of us have been trained from childhood to expect a *quick-fix* for whatever ails us. If we get a headache, we reach for the aspirin.....got a cold? Reach for the cold medicine. Our goal has been to relieve the *annoyance* and get on with life. But is this true healing? No! Father made our bodies to self-heal, and again, this takes time for the creation of new cells and for the body to clean house of accumulated toxins. You can see that understanding this process of healing becomes crucial so that you won't become discouraged and give up. Reading up on how this works and what you can expect in the way of detoxing, etc., along with patience, is required while letting our body self-heal.
Please visit Fern's Book Shoppe for a list of books that are highly recommended reading in order to understand why you are doing what you are doing, and what changes you can expect. For example, I know that sunlight is beneficial for me. I avoided the sun for several years before I became ill because I followed man's advice to avoid the sun and to wear sunglasses. Coincidence that I fell ill? Doubtful......After reading the book Sunlight
, by Zane R. Kime, MD, MS, I now know WHY sunlight is soooooo beneficial, ESPECIALLY to those of us who are ill. (I know there are exceptions to this of course.) Adonai doesn't make mistakes and He provides sunshine and fresh air for a specific purpose. Many benefits come to us when we follow HIS simple health laws. Find out the why's and wherefore's of what you are doing by reading books, watching video's or listening to audio's of health seminars on how to prepare raw foods, etc. Getting involved in a support system, such as here in Abba's Garden, will help answer questions as they come up. Being accountable to others and having others pray for you will help you succeed! :-)
The next step for you to establish is *why* you are embarking on this new adventure?!
We all have various reasons for wanting to implement this new way of eating and living. For me, it was being diagnosed with two serious illnesses....one potentially life-threatening illness. Conventional chemo-type treatments were not an option for me. I prayed long and hard about which path was for me in treating my illnesses, and 3 times I got a *No* answer from Father, regarding conventional medicine. HaShem had a better way for me.
I know some of you are trying to wean off your medications, some want to lose weight, prevent illness, and others want to avoid an impending surgery. List your specific goals for yourself so that you can remind yourself of your goals later on when your resolve weakens. Let's be realistic....your resolve will weaken at some point, and being prepared ahead of time for this will enable you to be successful!! And, this will help you monitor your progress as time goes on too.
Then set small goals for yourself so that you won't get discouraged.
Perhaps your first goal will be drinking more water...if you are drinking 2 glasses of water per day now, you would set your long term goal to drink 8 glasses per day, and your short term goal could be, "I will drink 3 glasses of water each day this week". When you meet that goal, move on to "I will drink 4 glasses of water each day this week", and so on.
If you are seriously ill, meat and dairy really need to be eliminated as they are too hard on your digestion. Increasing your raw foods each day is another healthy goal for you. Make out your long term goals and then your short term goals. Just be sure to set realistic goals for yourself, and take it one step at a time. You didn't get this way overnight and it will take time to make those changes.....but you CAN do it! *smile*
Now that you've made the commitment and set some goals for yourself you will need to........
Re-stock Your Pantry!
What I did, as we ran out of say, cheese or cold cereals, we wouldn't buy any more. Then the canned products would go, and so on. Anything that was not going to be health promoting was either not purchased ever again, or thrown away, or donated. In place of sugar for example, you can purchase some raw, organic honey, blackstrap molasses and/or organic maple syrup to make the transition. Rice Milk in place of cows milk; Brown Rice in place of white rice; whole wheat flour and unbleached flour in place of white flour; non-aluminum baking powder in place of regular baking powder; etc. Whatever your goal is you'll always need to replace the refined product with one that is as close to the way Abba made it as possible. We also got rid of our microwave and replaced it with a dehydrator and a good juicer.
Each week plan out some menus, make up your shopping list and only purchase those items.
We have now stocked our pantry with all the whole grains, beans, legumes, dried fruit, nuts and seeds, so unless we run out, we only have to buy perishable items each week. We store them in airtight buckets, then transfer some to smaller jars (1 qt. canning jar size) for the kitchen pantry. It saves a LOT of money to buy in bulk. Join a co-op in your area if you can. Until you've tried a new bean, nut or grain however, I suggest you purchase small amounts until you learn what your family likes & dislikes.
Why do I feel worse now that I'm eating better?!
You may experience some detox symptoms depending on how quickly you made your changes, and also depending on the level of health you started off with. Don't despair! This is a GOOD sign!! It means that your body is cleaning house...its dumping all the poisons and toxins that have been stored in your cells, and making room for the new, healthy cells! Your body is doing exactly what your Creator designed it to......self-heal! HalleluYah!!!
BE PATIENT WITH YOURSELF
Remember that you didn't get to the place you are today overnight. It took years, sometimes decades, of living with bad habit. It will take time to replace them with health promoting habits. Give yourself time to see results.
ALLOW FOR MISTAKES AND FORGIVE YOURSELF
If you goof up and eat a bit of sugar, or whatever, don't beat yourself up over it. Discouragement is a tool of the enemy to get you to give up and go back to eating foods to destroy your health, and kill you through dis-eases. Remember that each day (or meal)! is a brand new start ... just dust yourself off, and get right back to eating and living in a way that will bring health to you! Take it moment by moment, meal by meal and lean on ADONAI to be your strength.
ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!
Treat your new lifestyle as a fun and rewarding adventure and go for it! If you are feeling that you are *giving up* certain things, you will not succeed! Instead, think of all the *new* taste experiences you now enjoy, and the new appreciation you now have for all Abba has created for you! You are eating designer food!! All the colors, taste sensations and aromas of living foods, designed perfectly for your body by the One Who loves you!! A positive attitude will take you far. My enthusiasm has gone a long way in helping others, and in turn encourages *me* to stick with my goals, too!!!
LOVE YOURSELF
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Please drop me a note in my guestbook, and let me know how you are doing!! I love to meet those who visit :-)
You are wonderfully and fearfully made by Elohim.
Each one of us is uniquely made and Abba loves you and wants what is best for you.......how can you look at yourself any other way, knowing how the King of the Universe feels about wonderful YOU!?
Page Created October 28th, 2002
Updated July 3rd, 2003
