Chew on THIS!

Ask the Holy Spirit

"How many different diets are there? How many formulas for long living?

The only real one is known to the Holy Spirit.

We should go by the general guidelines (frying and fats and lots of sugar are not good for us; vitamins are) while knowing that we can't regulate the entire scheme of health through intellect.

There has to be an involvement of the spirit. If you want to be healthy and live out your mission, do so in a way that is spiritual.

That means asking the Holy Spirit about everything you and your family should eat and what you and your family should do (in moments of health anxiety), and it also means exercising the spiritual laws of discipline, which include fasting.

There's an old saying that discipline is the key to happiness, and the more you meditate on that, the more you see its truth.

Diets are only a shortcut -- a temporary fix. Does your body bloat because of salt -- which causes far more weight gain than most realize? Are you retaining water? Are you "addicted" to something that would cause rapid weight loss if it was cut out?

The Holy Spirit, knowing the intricacies of every cell, will tell you what it is and help you get rid of it (instead of waiting for purgatory).

It is Lent and thus the right time to approach discipline. When we control the flesh, we transcend it, we form it to the spirit, we avoid gluttony as well as other lusts -- and our prayers are all the more powerful.

Fasting works wonders. So does simple self control, which is a form of abstinence.

When we fast, we control not only our bodies but our thoughts, our moods, our passions. We are purified and that purity is transmitted as health to the body.

In discipline, we find out who we really are. We grow closer to Jesus."

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water retention

I need some help in this area. I seem to put on two pounds over night and I KNOW that it's not a real weight gain...I mean, I can feel myself all bloated and all...especially on my hands and face. AF is here, so that's sort of 'normal'...but still. Hmmm...I did run out of my vitamins a while back...I wonder if that has something to do with it. I'm not exercising or moving much at all (other then normal taking care of the house and two small kids type of thing). My anxiety has been WAY up also as has a bunch of other 'symptoms'...so yeah...I'm thinking that the yeastie beasties are all over me again...yuck!

Modeling healthy eating

What great motivation to model to your little ones eating for hunger only at meals. Maybe they might need an extra meal between lunch and dinner. However serving that at a table, rather than hand to mouth food, could enforce the dining approach and include a blessing before their extra meal.

Yes Sue...that's what I'm trying to implement..still a little difficult with a very active three year old boy...lol...who just doesn't sit still...but...all in God's good timing.

On a positive note though...I'm starting to see the scale budge a little in the right direction myself...yippeee. It was just either stuck there or creeping in the wrong direction for such a long time. I think this was the incentive I needed to keep it up. YES, yes, I want to please God and be able to do this for the 'right' reasons...but still...nothing encourages more then some visible sign that what you are doing is working.

Charlotte Mason on Hunger

Hunger a Servant, Gluttony a Ruler.––It is as Gluttony that he tries to get the ear of the Prime Minister, saying, 'Leave it all to me, and I will make Mansoul happy. He shall want nothing but what I can give him.' Then begins a fine time. As long as Hunger was his servant, Mansoul thought nothing about his meals till the time for them came, and then he ate them with a good appetite. But Gluttony behaves differently. Gluttony leads his victim to the confectioner's windows and makes him think how nice this or that would taste: all his pocket-money goes in tarts, sweets, and toffee. He thinks at breakfast what pudding he should like for dinner, and asks for it as a favour. Indeed, he is always begging for bits of cake, and spoonfuls of jam,

Vol 4 pg 13

and extra chocolates. He does not think much about his lessons, because he has a penny in his pocket and is considering what is the nicest thing he can buy for it; or, if he is older, perhaps he has a pound, but his thought is still the same, and Gluttony gets it all. The greedy person turns away from wholesome meals, and does not care for work or play, because Gluttony has got the ear of the Prime Minister, and almost every thought of Mansoul turns one way––'What shall I eat?' he says. Gluttony begins with the little boy and goes with him all through life, only that, instead of caring for chocolate creams when he is a man, he cares for great dinners two hours long.

How Gluttony affects the Body.––But, you will say, if Hunger builds up the body, surely Gluttony must do so a great deal faster. It is true that sometimes the greedy person becomes fat, but it is muscle and not fat which makes the body strong and useful. Gluttony does not make muscle, and does cause horrid illnesses.

How to avoid Greediness.––The way to keep this enemy out of Mansoul is to stick to the rules which Hunger lays down. The chief of them is––Never think of your meals till they come, and, while you are eating, talk and think of something more amusing than your food. As for nice things, of course we all want nice things now and then; but let us eat what is given to us of the chocolate or fruit at table, and not think any more about it. Sweets or fruits are seldom served at school, we know, and when at school it is quite fair for a boy to allow himself to spend a certain part of his pocket-money in this way, not only for himself, but that he may have something to give away. But the boy who spends the whole, or

Vol 4 pg 14

the greater part, of his week's money on things to eat, or who is always begging for hampers from home, is a poor fellow, the victim of Gluttony. The best plan is to want to spend your money upon something else––some sort of collection, perhaps; or to save up to buy a present or a fishing-rod or anything worth having. Gluttony lets you alone when you cease to think of him and his good things.