Horizons Magazine
DECEMBER 2004 If you don't get a lesson the first time, don't worry,
you'll be reminded again. Changing to a low-fat eating style. What
I eat now. When we pray, what does the Universe hear? How do you
know what topic you're really on? Discovering where your beliefs are.
We're guaranteed a happy ending, so if you're not happy, it's not the end.
Hello and welcome to the December 2004 issue of Horizons Magazine.
Ah! We've reached the end of another year. I love the cooler weather, it
makes me want to go outside and be active. At the end of each summer,
I ask myself why I still live in Florida since I allow the the heat and humidity
to keep me indoors half the year. When the cooler weather comes, and I'm able to turn off the air conditioning and open my doors and windows wide, I remember why: it's Paradise!
Lots of friends asked how my eating habits have changed since my wake up call last month, so I thought I'd share it with you. I have been drinking apple juice, eating apples and applesauce! It's exciting to look at food in terms of fuel composition and purpose (dissolving gallstones naturally). It takes the aggravation out of having an appetite for an inappropriate food (for me now: meats & fats). I've been reading up on nutrition info and learning to make educated food choices, which of course is easy to do when I have no appetite.
Left on my own, I didn't always eat breakfast. However, a few times a week I went out to breakfast with friends or clients. I'd eat eggs and potatoes and toast or a bagel and sometimes ham, bacon or sausage. My lunches were often dining out, again with friends and clients, and having pasta with bread, or Chinese food or big, juicy hamburgers, or giant corned beef sandwiches. With extra mayo. I always order soup when I'm out. I love soup. Dinner would be soup, a steak, salad and potatoes with butter, and bread, a few times a week. Or I'd fry italian sausage or a ribeye steak at home, in butter, and eat it on french bread. With mayo. I had lots of red meat and butter in my diet. Now that doesn't appeal to me and kinda grosses me out.
Today I wake up and make oatmeal - I like the Scottish oatmeal, it's very chewy, although I eat the Quaker instant oatmeal as well. I may sprinkle a little Splenda on it, or put a few raisins or dried apricots in it and make it a little soupy. I may drink a glass of apple juice, or a cup of green tea or camomile tea.
A couple of hours later, I may saute some mushrooms and scallions in a nonstick pan, with ginger and fresh garlic, and add some chopped basil leaves, some watercress, some bean sprouts, maybe some spinach either fresh or lightly sauteed. Sometimes I add half a package of Earthbound Farms Organic Herb Salad, lightly sauteed. Then I make a miso broth for it, using golden barley miso, adding some fish sauce, some Bragg's instead of tamari or soysauce, and some rice wine vinegar and fresh lime juice. Sometimes I put a few noodles in, rice noodles or even Ramen noodles, and eat it with chopsticks. Sometimes I cut up some cooked tofu and add it in.
A few hours later, I may eat a sandwich using one slice of Ezekial sesame bread, toasted dark, spread with dijon mustard, with sliced turkey and mixed greens or spinach, with sweet pepper rings and roasted red peppers. Or I may spread a tomato and basil wrap with some vegetarian beans and mixed greens, or eat whole grain rice cakes spread with a little nut butter and a smashed banana.
A few hours later I may eat an apple and some grapes. For dinner a few hours later, I might have some smoked salmon along with fresh green beans and carrots sauteed in a nonstick pan in fresh garlic and ginger, on a bed of mixed greens and radishes with rice wine vinegar.
IF YOU DON'T GET IT THE FIRST TIME, DON'T WORRY, YOU'LL BE REMINDED AGAIN!
A few days ago I had another reminder to watch my fat intake. I'd been keeping it below 5 grams of fat a day (way too low, I know) for the past month and staying on a very sparse, mostly fruit and vegetable diet. Then I ate some nuts - walnuts, pecans, filberts, almonds and Brazil nuts, just a few each on an empty stomach, and suddenly I felt very nauseous and bloated and began sweating, and I was afraid it was going to be déjà vu all over again with the gallstone/pancreatitis. The fear of what might happen next was much greater than what was actually happening to me, which was just my gallbladder contracting after eating the high fat nuts. Thankfully the body knows to reject what isn't good for it, so an hour later I was fine and grateful for the reminder. Thanks to gal pal Joy Walker and her ever-handy Young Living Oils, and to Dr. David & Sheila Rindge for being in the right place at the right time for an impromptu acupuncture/laser therapy session to ease my discomfort.
I've got several friends that are not ready to address the issue of nutrition yet in their lives, and so we agree to stay off the topic and just don't do meals together. I understand their position. I've had many vegetarian friends through the decades who tried to impart good information to me about the importance of nutrition on health and aging. Few of them presented it to me in a format I could understand and "get". When I don't have any framework within which to accept the information, it doesn't matter how good the information is. It's useless to me.
It's like making a giant healthy salad and then using fat-free dressing on it. I've learned that since we need certain fats in order to absorb nutrients from some foods, using a fat free dressing blocks absorption of beta carotene and other carotenoids, thus nullifying the reason for the giant healthy salad in the first place.
At this point, I don't care to be around the sight and smell of meats, sweets and fried foods - my body lurches at the thought of it right now. But I know I'd better hold my tongue about the eating habits of certain friends unless I want to end up with a unicorn's head in my bed some morning *hehehe*
WHAT DOES THE UNIVERSE HEAR?
In an ongoing discussion with another friend, he mentioned they came across the opinion that "the Universe doesn't hear any negative words, like no and not, so if you think "I will not be sick" the Universe hears "I will be sick" and you will be sick. I told him that was an easy and typical misunderstanding. The topic in both sentences is "sick". Thus, when you think either of those thoughts, and continue to think them, and talk about them to others, since your topic is SICK, that is what you are attracting. He further writes, "But I see a problem. If you think "I do not have enough money," which implies lack, that would be the same as "I do have enough money," which should result in having enough money" I replied, "Again, an easy and typical misunderstanding. The topic in both sentences is "money". What makes a difference here is how you feel as you're thinking the thought or talking about it to someone else. If you've just won the lotto, you feel you have enough money. You may feel excited, you may feel grateful for the blessing, you may feel appreciative of what the money can do --> All your attention is focused, not on the word "money," but on thoughts of anticipation of what you can do with the money, what is newly possible.
If you think "I do not have enough money," how do you feel as you think that? What are the surrounding or peripheral thoughts? The topic is always "I have it" or "I lack it", no matter what "it" is. If you lack it, you may have no future thoughts of getting it. If you lack it, it may remind you of what else you lack also. If you lack it, you may begin to think about and talk about everyone else you know who lacks it also. You may feel a sense of camaraderie in the thought "We're all in this together." That can turn into a dangerously content place to be and that's why many end up there and stay there for years and years.
A more useful thought might be "I don't have this now but I am going to purposely put myself on a schedule of routinely thinking that I can have this, and that it's on its way to me. It doesn't matter what others around me experience, my own experience can be of my own making.
Too often our thoughts begin to clog with thoughts of why we can't have what we want: "I don't have a college degree. I can't afford to leave my job and start my own business. They always want a man for that job." All of these thoughts add to the mix. Whatever you speak with your friends about, that adds to the mix. Whatever you wish for everyone around you, that adds to the mix. For that matter, how you feel about George Bush and the election outcome adds to the mix too! My friend further wrote, "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." (Mark 11.24, New English Bible.) To me, that passage means that if you believe you have enough money, you will never look at another item of anything and have the thought "I wish I could afford that." If you believe you have excellent health, you will never have a thought of "Hmmm, wonder if I'll die of heart failure at age 62 like my mom did?" If you believe that you already have something, that you already possess something, there is a whole string of lackful thoughts that you no longer have vibrational access to. He went on to say "You Receive What You Desire for Others," according to Wayne Dyer. That's a new twist. Dyer says, "The irony is that they become co-creators manifesting all your desires. Want nothing from them, demand nothing from them, have no expectations for them and they'll return this kindness. Demand from them, insist that they please you, judge them as inferior, and see them as servants, and you'll receive the same." I replied "And see all of us having all we need, or having access to it if that's an easier thought to think. And see all of us being self sufficient and having plenty of everything and plenty of love and plenty of peace of mind and security and comfort in times of distress and uncertainty. Think thoughts of everyone around you feeling as though they have enough, and recognizing and appreciating just what they do have, and feeling secure and comfortable and at peace with what they have right now." I thanked him and told him that for all my friends that I wish abundance of dollars for, I suggest they pour out some dollars on people they are inspired by and feel appreciative of. I sent in a $20 check as a donation for the local group he is involved in, since I totally appreciate what they do, and I suggested to the rest of the group that if it feels like a "squeak" to write a donation check for $20, or if it feels like that $20 is better spent elsewhere, then that shows you where your beliefs are right now. And it shows you that you do not have enough money, nor enough ability to earn enough money, nor faith that money will come regardless of whether you "work" for it or not. It shows you do not believe that by giving to the Universe, the Universe will repay you abundantly. This is neither good nor bad - it just shows you where your belief is.
And if you write the $20 check and then a week later start to feel aggravated because now you could use the money for something else, and maybe it wasn't a wise decision, and you are lamenting having wasted that $20, that too just shows you where your beliefs are, and gives you another opportunity for working through those beliefs and overcoming them once and for all. This is when to give yourself a few minutes of self-talk, reminding yourself that anything is possible and anyone can do it. Envision and talk about the best possible scenario. What if the best possible thing happens? What if I am guided to happiness and adventure and financial independence? How would that feel? What if everyone I knew sent me $20? What if everyone they knew sent them $20? Think how fun it would be with all that money flying around! Think of all the times things have worked out in your life. Think of all the times things have worked out for friends. Think of all the movies where things always work out fine in the end. And remember, if it's not working out right now, don't worry, it's not the end and there's still time to change the outcome. We're guaranteed a happy ending, so if you're not happy, it's not the end. I promise.
And here's where I do my shameless pitch to give friends and readers the opportunity to help in the repaying of my hospital bills : Order a subscription to Horizons for yourself and for a few friends, and feel free to donate an extra couple of dollars as an investment in good things coming your way in the future. This is the way we all help each other out: When you have it, share it. When you need it, ask for it. Give loved ones the chance to give back and return favors, especially if you're often the one who is the giver. Allow friends to give you their gifts, and accept them graciously.
Speaking of giving and receiving, can whoever I have loaned books to throughout the years please return them to me now? And since I'm on this new kick of learning all about nutrition, I am asking friends and readers to mail me copies of their favorite books on healthy eating. Include a note whether the book is a gift, or to whom it should be returned.
OTHER RELATED ARTICLES TO THE FOOD JOURNEY
D
onate a dollar to help us continue this work