Unplugged

here's thoughts I wrote down during the 21 day Awakening Fast that James and I finished yesterday (just in time for the Super Bowl party that I'm so excited to go to in a few minutes.)

So we’re on day 5 of our fast. I’m’ so glad we’re doing this. I’m typing on word now. This was James’ good idea when I was thinking about whether updating the blog was okay. I’m not trying to be legalistic but the purpose of saying no internet during this fast was to disconnect from the world and connect with God so why do I need to blog now? It has gotten a little easier each day to not check internet and I’ve been amazed at how much more time there is each day. I never felt like I was on the computer that much but it’s amazing how it adds up. Most of my internet time was been checking email and looking for good home (recipes, chores, discipline) and homeschool ideas which are not bad in themselves, unless they distract me from doing the things I should be doing or the internet becomes my source of comfort. I listened to part of Focus on the Family this morning and the book Made to Crave sounded really good. The author says God created us to crave Him, but we sometimes substitute and fill our cravings with food. Sounds like in Awakening, where Weems says we settle for cheap substitutes that bombard our days instead of making space to be filled by God.

27 JAN- today is day 12 of our fast. I really do feel much better. I was pretty hungry for the first week and still am at mealtimes now but I don’t have the spikes in my blood sugar that I usually have. We eat pretty healthy but we usually start of our day with brown sugar in our oatmeal. I started off the fast putting date honey in my oatmeal but gradually changed to a little salt and fruit. Now I like it. It’s amazing how your taste buds adapt and you can really enjoy the natural flavor when you stop having processed foods and sugar. Wednesday night we had baked potatoes with salt and pepper and James said it was the best baked potato he’d ever had. Pre-fast we’d just decided to start making our own salad dressings but they had lots of sugar. During the fast James made olive oil, vinegar, salt & pepper which now I really like a lot. 1 part rice wine vinegar, 3 parts olive oil, salt & pepper.

I really think it’s true that sweet/ processed food (or TV or internet or whatever your go to item) can be distractions that can keep you from experiencing truth (like God) and really connecting in your relationships (with your spouse, your family, your friends, your own emotions). We had such a good weekend- not doing anything big- just connecting together. I think when you remove the distractions you can see more clearly too. This morning for Cereal Sunday (another great family tradition!) I had granola again but this time it was really good. I really like granola but this recipe took a little time to like. The granola is sweetened with pureed dried plums, a little apple juice, and dried fruit- our usual granola recipe has brown sugar and honey. Did the recipe change over the last two weeks? No, when I stopped filling myself with sugar I was really satisfied with the natural sweetness of the food. Isn’t that true for life too! I feel so much more content in my own life when I stop comparing my life to everyone’s perfect image on Facebook or their blog pictures of their perfectly clean house with perfect familes, perfect friendships, …

We’ve enjoyed the food (mostly). We used some vegetarian recipes we already had plus Susan Gregory’s books the Daniel Fast: feed your soul, strengthen your spirit, renew your body and Daniel Fast on a Budget. Some of our favorite meals have been quinoa hash, crepes with spinach filling, pasta with broccoli and almonds. We’ve eaten a lot of salad, fresh fruit, carrots and hummus. Unsweetened almond and soy milk has been good too for smoothies and granola. No we’re not planning on becoming vegetarians or vegans, but we do plan to have more meatless days (even James agrees now!), less sugar (love our new oil- vinegar salad dressing), and less processed items (we didn’t have much before but even less now.)