tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52953426402670749612024-03-12T20:45:54.898-07:00~Rawstazia~A RECORD OF MY RAWSTORATION TO HEALTH AND MOBILITY AS I'M REACHING FOR {AND AM CONFIDANT I WILL OBTAIN!} FREEDOM FROM MORBID OBESITY {AND MANY OTHER HEALTH ISSUES} WITH THE THINGS GOD'S PROVIDED FOR FOOD, AS I LET GO OF THE WORLD'S MAN-MADE POOR IMITATIONS FOR NOURISHMENT I ONCE SETTLED FOR!~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.comBlogger216125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-17626435478417972112008-08-01T07:02:00.000-07:002009-11-02T00:14:02.241-08:00~RAW EMOTION~<span style="color: #6600cc;"><strong>~Rawstoration~</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">*~*~*~*~*~*~* </span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">Father, You've been a wonderful provider</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">for my body's every <em>true</em> need,</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">but I turned to food's poor imitations</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">in my foolish gluttony & greed,</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">craving what fed my flesh nature</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">rather than what my body needed & preferred~</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">...tempted, I yielded, till almost destroyed,</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">the lines were all crossed, & then blurred...</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">Now daily, I commit to surrender</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">to let ALL the things that've harmed me go!</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">And more by the day, I crave what You created</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">to nourish each cell as they grow,</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">& as the imitation's been exposed & revealed</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">for the harmful garbage I once blindly chose</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">I'm feeling almost resurrected already!</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">Up from my grave, I arose!!!</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">So thank-you, God, for Your loving provision</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">of what our self-healing bodies require!</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">I'm sooo grateful You've lit up the path for me</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">that leads me increasingly higher!</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">I'd sunk down so low that I'd given up hope...</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">...now hope <em>grows</em>, more nourished by the day!</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">My life's being restored! Obedience brings <em>such </em>reward</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">as You're healing me in <em>every</em> way!</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">~By Anastazia~</span><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;">*July, 2008*</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;"><strong>~Thirty Years to Come to This Place~</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">I remember realizing</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">being bigger meant looking older,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">needing to grow up FAST,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">choosing my soul's disguise~</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">~12 going on 20,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">still a child inside,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">soon buried under years of pain,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">eventually hiding under the shame</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">of all the weight I'd gained...</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">...only when love entered into</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">my wounded, abandoned heart</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">did I even attempt to shed</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">the protection I'd found</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">beneath the layers of my past</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">constantly surrounding me~</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">~Healing has come slowly,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">but each day, victory comes,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">brick by brick, the wall around my heart</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">is being chiseled away,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">once firmly held in place</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">by my excess weight~</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">~And as I choose the real food</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">that brings my healing to life,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">I let the imitations go</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">& see them for the fool's gold</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">they've always been</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">& will remain!</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">No more hiding my heart,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">buried in yesterday's pain,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">it's time to feel</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">EVERYTHING </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">& live freely </span><span style="color: #cc33cc;">again!</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">Running, dancing, playing,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">joyfully obeying</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">the Father's will & calling,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">coming home...</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">...& staying!!!</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">~By Anastazia~</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">*July, 2008*</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;">*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;"><strong>From Glory to Glory!</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">Others look, & see the wall</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">around me still,</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">but You, Lord, see it <em>fall!</em></span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">And I know others look on</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">the outward parts, </span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">but Your Word promises</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;"><em>You</em> look on the heart!</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">Others tend to analyze,</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">judging the book</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">by it's cover & size,</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">but You see through</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">my disguise!!!</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">Others may not like what they see</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">when they look at me,</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">but Father, <em>You</em> see me <em>FREE!</em></span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">Others don't seem to understand</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">the things You've shown me You have planned,</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">...still, You hold me steady, while transforming me</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">in the palm of Your loving hand!</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">Others wonder how & when</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">You'll set me free <em>completely~</em></span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">They don't realize, Lord, </span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">You <em>already</em> have!!!</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;"><em>It's just still manifesting!!!</em></span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc;"></span><span style="color: #ff6600;"></span><span style="color: #33cc00;">~By Anastazia~</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="color: #ff6600;"><span style="color: #33cc00;">*July, 2008*</span> </span><span style="color: #cc33cc;"></span><br />
</span><span style="color: #6600cc;"></span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-43317209106915514122008-07-10T08:32:00.000-07:002009-11-02T00:07:58.009-08:00~Casting My Burdens Upon Him~<span style="color: #993399; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 130%;">This extra weight I carry burdens my body, my back, my feet, my heart...but more than that, it's been a burden to my life, my living for God & others, & serving Him, & them...</span><br />
<span style="color: #33cc00; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 130%;">...when I'm in pain all the time, just getting through the day becomes my focus, & my hourly </span><span style="color: #993399; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #33cc00;">priority...I'm so weary of that, & NEED it to change!!!</span> </span><br />
<span style="color: #993399; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 130%;">Because I've been strong overall, & have a strong constitution, I've handled it up until the last 50-75 lbs...</span><br />
<span style="color: #993399; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #33cc00;">...but it's caught up to me, as I've grown older, & by the grace of God, & I know due to my overall fairly healthy diet even when not raw, I've not had a heart attack, as some have in their early 40's (& even late 30's!) weighing far <em>less </em>than me...but I'm seeing that I cannot presume this will remain the case...</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 130%;">...when I work out now, & get my heart pounding, (& it doesn't take much to get that happening!) I can feel that it's not strong, & needs strengthening....</span><br />
<span style="color: #993399; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #33cc00;">...so <span style="color: red;">movement </span>has become my <em>new</em> priority...sitting less, on my feet more, gentle stretching EVERY SINGLE TIME I GET UP, going up the stairs at least 5 times a day, (to get the mail, take out garbage, answer the door...instead of asking Hannah to do those things, as I've been doing...) </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #993399; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 130%;">...& today, I'm getting my weightlifting & rebounder area set up properly, so it's easily accessible throughout the day...(& clear the floor again so I can easily set up my mat & physioball without having to move things first!)</span><br />
<span style="color: #33cc00; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 130%;">...God has been <em>sooo</em> patient with me to fully GET this, & apply what He's taught me, & also, so protective of Hannah's need for me to remain here on earth with her...I want to show my appreciation for the blessed life He's given me by returning to <em>'presenting my body to Him daily as a living sacrifice'</em>, which the Bible calls my reasonable service, & an act of worship...</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 130%;">{...of <em>Him</em>, <em>not</em> my self..."More of Him, less of me," as John the Baptist said..}</span><br />
<span style="color: #33cc00; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 130%;">It boils down to this...something <em>inside</em> me is <em>changing</em>...but not by <em>my own</em> efforts, but by His power working in me to bring my life in line with His will...</span><br />
<span style="color: #33cc00; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #993399;">...my own efforts have resulted in <em>soooo</em> little real change...but His working in me is changing <em>every</em>thing...</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #33cc00; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #993399;">...</span>I've just had to learn to fully <em>surrender</em>, & set my heart to obey, as He leads each day, & allow Him to complete the work He's begun in me in this area of my life...finally...</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc33cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 130%;">...& things are actually, truly changing, on the <em>inside</em> first, which I can see has <em>had</em> to happen...<em>then</em> the outside will line up with what He created me to be...</span><br />
<span style="color: #33cc00; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 130%;">...too bad I can't take <strong>'before' & 'after'</strong> pictures of <em>THAT!!!</em></span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-40322184997652312552009-09-09T15:48:00.000-07:002009-09-16T09:31:53.452-07:00~Changes Unfolding, New Beginnings~<span style="color: #009900;">Soooo much has been happening, so rapidly...the biggest change (aside from a major move!) has been that I was just diagnosed with Diabetes! </span><br />
<span style="color: #993399;">It has undone every last resistance I've ever had to STAYING raw, & I am now back at 100% (as close as possible), & juicing & smoothies daily, & beginning to exercise daily, as well...</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">As much as this blog is like an old friend, with all the changes happening, I needed to begin again, & so I've started a new blog, focussed, at first, on reversing this diabetes, & then, when I've accomplished that, with God's help, I'm going to get free of EVERYTHING I've been hindered by, health-wise!</span><br />
<span style="color: #993399;">So here's the new blog...C'mon over for a visit!</span><br />
<span style="color: #009900;">Slightly different format, but still my journey unfolding!</span><br />
<a href="http://rawstoration.blogspot.com/">http://rawstoration.blogspot.com/</a>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-88827018643924098402009-07-08T12:35:00.000-07:002009-07-08T13:04:37.981-07:00~New beginnings, Changes Unfolding ~<span style="color:#009900;">I've relocated, mostly for the purposes of having the support I need to totally re-gain my health, with the consistancy I've been struggling with...& already, things are happening that are confirming to me that this truly is where God has led me, & that He has opened these doors.</span><br /><span style="color:#00cccc;">I've been here 8 days now, & in the first 6, I shed 9 pounds...(can't wait to weigh in again, have been almost 100% raw most days, & will soon be EVERY day!) I've been swimming, going out almost daily, moving & walking more, trying to stay on a morning schedule, & am getting unpacked & setting up my little gym, & my <span style="color:#cc33cc;">quilting studio</span> (I decided to sleep in the den & make my master bedroom the studio I've wanted for years!)</span><br /><span style="color:#00cccc;"> </span><span style="color:#ff6600;">The biggest change here is that getting to the grocery store consistantly<span style="color:#ff0000;"> (& maybe even the Farmer's Market!)</span> & the health food store once in awhile is no longer going to be a weekly struggle, & so that ends the struggle to stay raw! </span><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;"><span style="color:#999900;">No more living off the SAD food from the food bank half the month, due to financial limitations...no more only getting out of the house once or twice a week!</span> </span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">I also hope to be driving by the fall, after over 8 years of not driving!</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">I'll also be going swimming regularily, including water aerobics classes, & have access to a full gym, indoor walking track, & other regular physical activites to start being CONSISTANTY active, something I've struggled with over the years, but know it's time to get serious about...</span><br /><span style="color:#3333ff;">My first goal is to shed 25-30 pounds this month! With 9 gone already by the 6th, I'm on my way!</span><br /><span style="color:#3333ff;"> I will do this by:</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">~ Staying 100% raw (I've been 60-90% since arriving, but am ready & my kitchen is prepared now for 100%, as of today!<strong> </strong><em>Here we go! Day one, again!)</em></span><br /><span style="color:#3333ff;"><span style="color:#33cc00;">~ <em>Gradually</em> increasing my exercise, (so the FM doesn't flare up like it always does when I begin getting active, due to overdoing it!I'm still recovering from all the packing, the move, & the unpacking, & both my hands are still totally numb (CTS) so I'm having to pace myself this time, but swimming is something I can do without too much pain, so I'm planning on making it the main source of activity at first...)</span> </span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">~ Getting on a proper sleep schedule, ensuring I begin getting enough sleep finally (something I know has contributed to my weight gain, & my struggle to shed these extra pounds I'm so weary of carrying!)</span><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">~ Keeping enough raw food around, bringing it with me on outings, & trying new raw recipes weekly. Also, daily green smoothies, juicing when I have enough produce, & gradually incorporating detox & mini-fasts into my routines, as led, & able.</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;"> Well, that's it for now...thanks for checking in on me, for those of you still reading, & Howdy, & welcome to my blog, for the newcomers! </span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;"><span style="color:#6600cc;">I'll be a lot more consistant now, with my new commitments...maybe even little daily updates!</span> (Especially if the scale continues to reflect the changes I'm making favorably! Yes, health is my untimate goal, but that will only come with the shedding of this extra weight, so it, too, is in my focus!)</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">HAVE A REALLY<span style="color:#33cc00;"> GREEN</span>, <span style="color:#ff6600;">HEALTHY</span>, <span style="color:#ff0000;">RAWSOME</span> DAY...WEEK...MONTH...</span><span style="color:#3333ff;">REST OF THE YEAR!!! </span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-51463110831314141482009-05-22T17:10:00.000-07:002009-05-22T17:44:08.290-07:00~Sweet, Simple Smoothies~<span style="color:#009900;">My friend Shannon <a href="http://butterflytrails.blogspot.com/">http://butterflytrails.blogspot.com/</a> went to hear Victoria Boutenko</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;"><a href="http://www.rawfamily.com/">http://www.rawfamily.com/</a> speak awhile back, & shared a few things she'd gleaned from her talk...(which she summarazed well on her site) but one thing that stuck, that I've applied is to keep smoothies 3 ingredients...fruit, greens & water...so I've been doing that, cuttin' out all the extraneous stuff, & have really been enjoying them, digesting them easier, & been more satisfied by them....which suprised me, cuz I used to really like putting 10 things in them & trying to identify each individual taste, as well as putting in extra things for health (flax, etc.)...</span><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;">Anyways, just wanted to share these two sites with you, & a quick update...</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">...been about 75% raw, struggling a bit at dinners, but am still determined to return to 100%, am using the treadmill, sporatically...am lovin' the sunshine, & am still waiting for produce prices to drop...am working on getting a garden set up, if we don't move...need to decide soon...</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">..the scales have only budged a pound or two at a time, but it's been slooooooow, compared to when I'm 100%...so I keep on keepin' on, determined to do what I know I need to do...</span><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;">...I even dehydrated some sweet potato fries last night, gotta go try 'em now!!</span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;color:#ffcc33;"><strong>Enjoy the sunshine!!!</strong></span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-79613331659522851452009-04-28T15:47:00.000-07:002009-04-28T16:02:42.189-07:00The Veiw of the mountains from this valley I've chosen...<span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><span style="color:#00cccc;">I've been praying more lately about the place I've been lingering in with my health.</span> </span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;">I see now that I'm in a valley, & am beginning to see much clearer how the Lord is allowing, </span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;">even orchestrating these stops & starts I have struggled through </span><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;">in order to continue the deeper work He's been doing in my life, & in my walk with Him.</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#33cc00;">It's all, still, more about dying to self, choosing to live in the spirit rather than led by the flesh, & the difficulties with consistancy I've continued having are tied in with my ongoing resistance to living a continually crucified life.</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc66cc;">This is a sin that I have struggled with in every area of my life, I confess,</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc66cc;">{though I have gained victory over it in some areas, by the grace of God...}</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#6666cc;">He has shown me, clearly, how to care for this temple of His Holy Spirit, but I have wavered,</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#6666cc;">not fully, whole-heartedly obeying, & I know we reap what we sow...</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff9900;">...whatever the reasons...it almost doesn't even really matter what the reasons are,</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff9900;">(...though He reveals them as they need to be exposed, healed, released...)</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#3366ff;">All that truly matters, in the long run, is am I going to have eyes to see, ears to hear?</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#3366ff;">And am I willing to die to even this?</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#3366ff;">Or am I going to wallow, & allow the past to hinder my obedience?</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#3366ff;">Will I make more excuses, & continue the struggle...?</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#6600cc;">SELF would have me focus in on all the reasons...</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#6600cc;">...but He's leading me to just lay them all down, at the foot of the cross, & repent.</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#6600cc;">(I know that He would not ask something of me </span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#6600cc;">that He hasn't made provision for me to do, I know...)</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><span style="color:#333333;">Philippians 3:12-14</span> <strong>Pressing Toward the Goal</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff0000;">"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected;but I press on, </span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff0000;">that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff0000;">Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do,</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff0000;">forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff0000;">I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#3366ff;">I remember, again, what a brother once told me,</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#3366ff;">that when we are 'struggling' with something, it is always</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#3366ff;">(whatever the 'other' reasons) </span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#3366ff;">because God is trying to remove something from our lives,</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#3366ff;">& we are trying to hold on...</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc9933;">...I know what to do to have health again...</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc9933;">(I could write books about it by now!)</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc9933;">...& I know what He has called me to...</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">...but I begin, then falter...I walk awhile, then end up in a ditch, again...</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">...but in retrospect, each time I do, I glance back fro a moment</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;"> & see that I have walked further than last time...</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">...& I stay for a shorter duration in the mud & danger...</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">...& by His grace I am a wee bit stronger, able one more time to climb back out & press on...</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>...so Father, help me over these brambles!</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>Help me climb back up to the light of day, </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>to the light of the truth you've so graciously revealed to me </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>about my part in my health's restoration,</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>so I can serve you with ALL of my strength, </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>as never before, no longer weak & limited by my flesh,</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>but truly living the crucified life you call your disciples to walk,</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>wholeheartedly devoted to your purposes, </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>disciplined in my living in every area, </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>able to go wherever you send me,</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong><em>prepared to endure the hardness of the days to come</em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>without being hindered by the weaknesses of my flesh</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong><em>that I myself have caused.</em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>Without you, I can do NOTHING, </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong>but with you, Lord, I know I can do ALL things!!!</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;"><strong><em>Amen!</em></strong></span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-35007634301065488682009-04-20T13:59:00.000-07:002009-04-20T14:11:24.974-07:00My Own Personal New Year!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SezkbmevcQI/AAAAAAAAA9g/S6O_rqKz-7Y/s1600-h/A+Clean+Heart+Sunrise.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326883622109540610" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SezkbmevcQI/AAAAAAAAA9g/S6O_rqKz-7Y/s320/A+Clean+Heart+Sunrise.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="color:#009900;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="color:#009900;">I wrote a poem once, a long time ago, that I can't find now...it started out...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;"></span><br /> </div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">Your birthday is your own personal new year,a point in time between then....& now....</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">A place to look back on as a change that began in a moment of time,</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">a time to reflect on the time your life here on earth began with your birth, </span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">& led you to now..................</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">*~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">~Yesterday, I celebrated another point in time that re-sets the clock, </span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">on another anniversary of my birth...</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">...& it's been one of the most gently profound & intense turning points of my life...so far....</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">The time has come for full speed ahead!</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">No more false starts,</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">starting & stopping over & over,</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">beginning, & then, for a variety of reasons,</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">withdrawing from the new direction I've been heading...</span></div><br /><div><span style="color:#009900;">...I'm fully surrendered now to where it's clearly leading!</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;"></span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">There is only starting over,</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">& allowing myself the healing found in no longer hindering my direction,</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">no longer choosing to <em>linger</em> in ditches,</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">rather than remaining steadfast on the narrow path...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;"></span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">....if I fall in one, from this day forward, </span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">I'll just climb right on back out,</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">or reach up my hands to the Father to lift me from the shadows & pain </span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">I've inflicted on myself again...</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">{...only He understands the deepest reasons why...}</span><br /></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">And just now, on the beginning of the Waltons, as they speak of spring's arrival,</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">even as Hitler was filling the world with the coldness of his evil intentions & actions,</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">the mountain was coming alive with the spring's glorious beauty & wonder of new life,</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">& John boy began the show with his usual insight & summary of the story to follow...</span></div><br /><div><span style="color:#009900;"></span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">"There was the struggle for Mary-Ellen to emerge from her painful winter</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">(her husband was killed at Pearl Harbour)</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">& she was emerging into a new spring of her own..."</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="color:#009900;">"That is exactly how I feel....<em>every</em> year on my birthday, but this year, more than most!</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">This has been a very loooong, painful winter......making spring all the sweeter!!!</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="color:#009900;">Celebrate EVERY new beginning you've been given!</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">Each dawn is a birth, a day to begin again...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">...a birthday is a gift of another year to learn, grow & change...</span></div><div><span style="color:#9999ff;">...growing older is a blessing that the Lord has pre-arranged!"</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="color:#009900;"><em><span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:180%;">...& renew a steadfast spirit within me..."</span></em> </span></div>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-1385475105531697712009-04-13T23:29:00.000-07:002009-04-13T23:52:18.537-07:00Ten Days at a time, One Day at a Time....<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SeQww989kvI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/hQdg3IH44HA/s1600-h/feasting+on+the+word.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324434277280879346" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 274px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SeQww989kvI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/hQdg3IH44HA/s320/feasting+on+the+word.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">I've been praying for months now, on & off, about something I read about waaaaaaaay back, somewhere on someone's blog...</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc66cc;">...it was someone who was working on staying raw, as well as detoxing, & also shedding their excess weight...</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">...first they fasted ten days, then were 100% raw ten days... </span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;"><span style="font-family:lucida grande;">...I believe that this is how the Lord wants me to spend the next 100 days...50 fasting, 50 days 100% raw, 10 days at a time...</span><span style="font-family:lucida grande;">starting with fasting, to accelerate the detox I need in from the junk I've been eating, & also to prepare my flesh nature to stay raw 100% without struggle...</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">...my mind & heart are prepared & committed, but my body has been rebelling a little...time to remind it that it ain't the boss!!!</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc66cc;">I've been wanting to return to regular fasting for awhile, but have hesitated due to concerns about how thin my hair has become (fasting for longer periods can cause/accelerate this)...</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">...I haven't been able to fast for longer periods of time for many years, but remember that I only shed hair from it before after some 3 week fasts I did, & quite a bit after some 40 days ones (water only)....so ten days feels totally feasible from that perspective....</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc66cc;">In the past, I actually found it easier to fast than to eat with moderation & self-control, but now that those issues are healed in me, it's only been the fact of my physical limitations that have hindered my ability to return to to fasting...</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">{...yet I know that fasting is extremely healing......even the Bible states this...}</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc66cc;">...yet much as I need more physical healing/detoxing, my main & first purposes are spiritual...there are many things I need to be praying about, & fasting enables me to more effectively put all else aside, & draw near to the Lord, & seek Him more wholeheartedly for His will...</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">These are my favorite verses (a whole chapter, actually) on fasting, & contains the reference to fasting bringing healing...</span></div><br /><div><span style="color:#009900;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;"><strong>Fasting that Pleases God</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">“Cry aloud, spare not; </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Lift up your voice like a trumpet; </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Tell My people their transgression, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And the house of Jacob their sins.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Yet they seek Me daily, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And delight to know My ways,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">As a nation that did righteousness, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And did not forsake the ordinance of their God.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">They take delight in approaching God.</span><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">‘ Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen?</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">“ In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And exploit all your laborers.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Indeed you fast for strife and debate, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And to strike with the fist of wickedness.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">You will not fast as you do this day, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">To make your voice heard on high.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Is it a fast that I (God) have chosen, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">A day for a man to afflict his soul?</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And to spread out sackcloth and ashes?</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Would you call this a fast, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And an acceptable day to the LORD?</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">“ Is this not the fast that I (GOD!) have chosen:</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;">To loose the bonds of wickedness,</span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;">To undo the heavy burdens, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;">To let the oppressed go free, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;">And that you break every yoke?</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Is it not to <em>share your bread with the hungry</em>, </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;"></span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">When you see the naked, that you cover him,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;"></span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And not hide yourself from your own flesh?</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Then</span> your light shall break forth like the morning,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#cc0000;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong><em>Your healing shall spring forth speedily</em></strong></span>,</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And your righteousness shall go before you;</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">“ If you take away the yoke from your midst,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;"><em>Then</em> your light shall dawn in the darkness,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And your darkness shall be as the noonday.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">The LORD will guide you continually, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And satisfy your soul in drought,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And strengthen your bones; </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">You shall be like a watered garden,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And like a spring of water, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">whose waters do not fail.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Those from among you Shall build the old waste places;</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">“ If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">From doing your pleasure on My holy day,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And call the Sabbath a delight, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">The holy day of the LORD honorable,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Nor finding your own pleasure, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Nor speaking your own words,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">The mouth of the LORD has spoken.” </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Isaiah 58</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">Wow! Isn't that beautiful, powerful, inspiring, & convicting, all at once?!!?</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc66cc;">I'll be feasting on the Word of God, & His powerful, transforming Holy presence!</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">{Even better & more fulfilling than even the best raw food!!!}</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc66cc;">I'm so excited for the dawning of the new day, & this new beginning He's led me to!!!</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">What are you called to do the next 100 days?</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc66cc;">Wanna join me?</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">Pray about it!</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;"><span style="color:#cc66cc;">~Anastazia~</span> </span></div>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-57126153009695984752009-04-07T21:19:00.000-07:002009-04-07T21:41:41.674-07:00The Power of Choosing, the Blessing of Free Will...& food "addictions"...<span style="color:#009900;">Free will...been thinkin' a lot about it lately, in relation to the raw food way of living...</span> <div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">I confess, the whole concept of addiction to various types of food has just never really sat well with me...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">...</span><span style="color:#009900;">yes, I realize there are addictive preservatives (especially potasium sorbate & sodium benzoate) in numerous processed foods, & I know that milk has an opiate-like substance in it that can cause addictive cravings, & that we often crave what we're allergic to...</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">...& yes, I know I was 'addicted' to chocolate for many years...(yet when I decide to give it up, & return to carob, it was a done deal...unless I choose to indulge again...which I rarely do, since realizing I have a strong sensitivity to caffeine...)</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">And I do realize that there are physical ramifications to what we eat, & how it affects us, in numerous ways......still, I struggle with the concept that we cannot control what we put in our mouths...</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">...mostly because, much as I have cravings, like anyone else, & much as I've struggled to stay raw for a long period of time, still, I know that each time I've 'broken raw', no matter how far along in my detox I was (...whether just starting, or much further along...) & the cravings & struggles that can come with that, it's ALWAYS happened due to a moment of choosing, of deciding to not honour my commitment to stay raw...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">...I either choose to no longer eat the things my taste buds still like {& tell me I want!} that I know are harmful to me, & reap the benefits...</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">...or I make a decision to indulge, & deal with the consequences...(...in my health,on the scale, with discouragement, & how I feel about giving in again...)</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">No-one forces the food into my mouth, shopping cart, house, or body...nobody but me chooses to say yes to my flesh, rather than listen to what I've learned, & know now to be best for me...</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">...the deeper question seems to be, "Why do we do what we know hurts us?"</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">But sometimes the answer really is as simple as, "Cuz I WANTED to!!!"</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc33cc;">{ Or, as the Bible says, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak!" }</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">I remember hearing an analogy once that lent me much strength in my spiritual walk, & my ability to discipline my flesh, & resist temptation... & lately, it's been on my mind & I've been able to apply it to my raw food journey....</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">..so here it is, maybe it'll help you strengthen your resolve to stay raw, as it is for me...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">Picture 2 aggressive pitbulls in your back yard...one is all black, one is pure white...</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">...each day, when you feed them, you only throw out enough food to feed one...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">...they'll fight over it, & struggle, & neither will ever get what they need...</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">...but if you choose one to feed, the other will eventually grow weaker, & die...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">(Ok, you know I'd never do this with REAL dogs, right???!!??)</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="color:#3366ff;">The spiritual implications are clear, regarding walking after the flesh, or after the spirit,which the Bible says wage war against each other...</span><br />...when I applied this to my changing lifestyle, I saw, again, how it all boils down to daily choosing to do what's right...when I "feed the black dog," then I will experience the strengthening of the part of me that wants to eat according to appetite & taste only, in the moment of hunger, seeking </span><span style="color:#009900;">things from food other than nourishment!</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SdwprjWmTKI/AAAAAAAAA9A/cy1vNGWOy8Y/s1600-h/black+pitbull.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322174687846223010" style="WIDTH: 99px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 124px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SdwprjWmTKI/AAAAAAAAA9A/cy1vNGWOy8Y/s320/black+pitbull.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="color:#3366ff;">But when I "feed the white dog", I find myself willingly accepting that it'll take time to re-train my appetites, & that food is meant to nourish, & assist our body is doing what it's meant to do, & I willingly, gladly, easily put the things God made for food into my body, rather than the old things that no longer satisfy, {except momentarily}...</span></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SdwqLSzBGOI/AAAAAAAAA9I/EE1Zdm4uK7g/s1600-h/white+pitbull.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322175233157830882" style="WIDTH: 130px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 98px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SdwqLSzBGOI/AAAAAAAAA9I/EE1Zdm4uK7g/s320/white+pitbull.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="color:#009900;">That is, I believe, how some just go 100% raw, & never look back, with few setbacks, & others go back & forth for years...it's all about the will...</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">...when we feed the wrong dog, when we don't support ourselves 100% in our commitment to do what we know is best for us, & we go back & forth, we're weak sometimes, strong other times, depending on which dog we're feeding...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">...we fluctuate because we haven't settled it yet...we want both health & cooked food...we want to eat what we want, & still don't fully accept the consequences...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">(... enough to consistantly turn away from harmful things yet, at least!)</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">...for me, the key to overcoming has always been knowing that it's my choice of which dog to feed...</span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;color:#cc33cc;">...eat to live, or live to eat...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">...I want to LIVE! Not for food, not with failing health, not letting my appetites control me, but controlling them,& enjoying all the benefits of choosing LIFE!!!</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">When I accepted the current teaching that say that we struggle with staying raw because of food 'addictions',I started to feel powerless, helpless, like it would always be a struggle...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">...yet the moment I return to accepting that I am the one in control of what I put in my body each day, (not my cravings, my appetites, my past eating habits, my brain or body chemistry, or some other outside power) then I am suddenly strengthened, & empowered to make choices that support my goals...</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">...& I am free from the consequences of thinking I have no choice, or can't change...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">(...& most importantly, when I'm not feeling 'in control' enough to discipline my flesh, (like when I'm tired!) I turn to God, & ask His Holy Spirit dwelling in me to control me...& if I'm being sincere, He does!)</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">To me, it's quite similar to the difference between choosing to stop drinking, (as I've seen numerous people do overnight, {with God's help, even with heavy long-term drinking...} & calling yourself an alchoholic, even many years after ceasing from abusing themselves with alcohol...leaving them always fearful of going back to it, (& needing meetings to help them choose not to) thinking it has a power over them, though no-one ever forced them to drink...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">(...& don't get me wrong, I realize things happen/change in brain chemistry with drugs & alcohol that can make quitting difficult, but I beleive it's still always a choice to continue, to return to something that is clearly causing harm...I believe the reasons are more internal/emotional (& spiritual) than physical, is what I mean...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="color:#3366ff;">...& yes, I know detoxing from drugs & alcohol can be horrible...but still, for those who are <em>done </em>with it, those who choose to stop, even if they need help, they succeed!</span> </span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">You can lead a horse to water, right? </span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">But if they're not ready to change, to let go of self-destructive behaviour, it doesn't matter how many meetings or detox centers they go to...they have to want to be free more than they want the high...I believe it's the same with food...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">...when you think you're powerless, you are...</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">...when you think you can't stop, you can't...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">...when you think something outside of you controls you, it does...</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">...when you think food can control you, it does...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">...& when you change your mind, & take full responsibility, (often requiring letting go of a victim mentality, forgiving, repenting & learning a new way to live!) you suddenly feel the weight of the reins in your hands that were there all along, but your hands were numb to...</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">...& you can begin to rein in what has been running wild,</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">as well as take off at a gallop where you've been stuck, walking in circles...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">For those who believe differently, please know I don't write this in judgement...</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">...I'm just sharing what I've discovered is true for me!</span></div><div><span style="color:#3366ff;">It resonates in me, & continues to strengthen me by the day!</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;">"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!" {John 8:36}</span></div><div><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="color:#3366ff;">He is, He has, & He continues to...when I'm willing (an act of the will!) to be free!!!</span> </span></div></div>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-15502448453082986122009-04-04T22:35:00.000-07:002009-04-04T22:53:13.570-07:00Go visit the Sunny raw Kitchen!!!<span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;"><em>I've rediscovered one of my favorite blogs today! & I need to tell you, it's SUCH an amazing gift to the raw community!</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff6600;"><em>Do you know about it? it's called, "My Sunny Raw kitchen," & she (Carmella, another British Columbian!) just organized ALL her incredibly yummy recipes, so they're easier to access! She even sorted them into those that need a dehydrator, & those that don't!</em></span><span style="color:#33cc00;"> </span><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">{I'm so thankful today, Lord, for Spring Cleaning inspiration!}</span> <span style="color:#33cc00;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff6600;"><em><span style="color:#009900;">OK, so here's the link, go check it out right now, you've gotta see it! Go ahead, I'll wait!</span></em></span><br /><a href="http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/2007/03/this-blogs-recipe-index.html"><span style="font-family:lucida grande;">http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/2007/03/this-blogs-recipe-index.html</span></a><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;"><em>Isn't it phenomenal??? Doesn't it inspire you to go make something yummilicious & nutritious?!?!? If I wasn't so tired, tht's what I'd be doing right now!!!</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><span style="color:#ff6600;"><em>But I can hear my pillow callin' my name, & I've been trying for eons to get back on a morning schedule, so I'm gonna listen to what my body is tellin' me & go sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!</em></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;"><em>Enjoy her wonderful site! & please tell her for me that I said Hi!</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff6600;"><em>~Anastazia~</em></span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-73104882273407770982009-03-29T16:50:00.000-07:002009-03-29T20:41:51.129-07:00~RAW SPA BIRTHDAY PARTY!~<em><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">My birthday's coming! Though it's always been a bit of a sad day for me (I was affected deeply by things that have taken place on that day...the Oklahoma City bombing, Waco (& the death of all the branch Davidians, especially the 17 children...& other things...) but last year, the joy of celebrating began to return again, when Hannah threw me a suprise picnic (it was so cold we ate FAST & ran inside! but it was FUN!)</span></em><br /><em><span style="color:#cc33cc;">So this year, I have my old best friend I haven't seen in almost 8 years coming (for Easter, the week before, & staying until then...) & her & I & some of my local friends are all going out to my new best friend's house on the lake, & we're going to have a Raw Spa day! Raw lazagna, some raw side dishes, a big yummy salad, & some of Shannon's incredible chocolate fudge with a variety of toppings (nuts, raspberry sauces, etc.) & then we're going to do some natural spa things! (Avacado masques, strawberry astringents, steaming our mudd masques, foot massages, etc .) It's going to be so fun! Hannah's going to help me plan it all out, & I'm sooo looking forward to it!</span></em><br /><em><span style="color:#009900;">Now if I can just stay 100% raw until then, & be past the detox stuff I've been experiencing! (Headaches, even migraines, not sleeping well, back pain, tummy stuff...& I haven't even been 100%...) </span></em><br /><em><span style="color:#3366ff;">...& my goal is to shed at least 10 more pounds before then! </span></em><em><span style="color:#3366ff;">That'll be my birthday gift to myself! </span></em>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-40577157685519926402009-03-18T16:41:00.000-07:002009-03-18T18:00:13.021-07:00~The Call of the Raw~<span style="font-family:georgia;color:#009900;">I often hear the call of the wild...the yearning to go off into the forest, away from all but the beauty of God's creation, to climb mountains, to lay down in a field & watch the birds cross the sky, to sit by the ocean & let the sound of the waves wash over me...</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#009900;"><span style="color:#cc66cc;">...but now, I also hear the call of RAW...when I eat man-made imitation food, my body grumbles & sighs, expressing it's unmet needs, & I find myself daydreaming of a big salad, mangos, celery, blueberries, avacados, watermelon... </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#009900;">When I give my body what it truly wants, the cells of my body respond with an enthusiastic & loud "YES!!!" & I am in awe at how quickly my energy & strength increase! </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc33cc;">Our cells are being replaced daily</span><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#009900;"><span style="color:#cc66cc;">..how could we believe <em>for even a moment</em> that what we fuel them with doesn't <em>really</em> matter?!?!?!? It's a lie we've been told, & then tell ourselves, to justify eating for taste, not health, & for convenience, not the long-term consequences, & for 'value' (junk food IS cheap!), not the price we <em>eventually</em> pay! </span></span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">When I'm hungry <em>now</em>, the call of RAW, whole, real food is what I most often hear...when I see food that doesn't <em>truly</em> nourish, it no longer looks appetizing in the same old way....yes, when I'm famished, it can still tempt me, but I'm beginning to listen on a deeper level to what my body is truly hungry for, & what truly satisfies...& the strength to say NO to fake, unhealthy food just comes so much easier, after allowing my body to experience the difference! </span><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">That's why I suggest people give raw, whole foods a chance...just do a 30 day challenge, & see how ALIVE you COULD be feeling <em>ALL</em> the time, if you're just willing to EAT TO LIVE, & NO LONGER LIVE TO EAT!!!</span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">I'm realizing that this is similar to spiritual hunger...when I was wandering in the maze of Eastern Spirituality, exploring, & then immersing myself in New Age & occultic practices that I believed </span><span style="color:#cc66cc;">would feed & nourish my spirit, I was seeking truth, peace, hope, love, & I</span> <span style="color:#cc66cc;">'consumed' </span><span style="color:#cc66cc;">things that just didn't satisfy, & left me empty, & longing for more...(like processed food always does...) but when I finally surrendered to who God says He is, & how He revealed Himself, & allowed myself to enter into a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, & acceptance of what He did on the cross, suddenly the difference, like night & day, left no room or reason to turn back! </span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">The difference in<em> EVERY</em> aspect of my life when I eat raw, real whole foods & when I eat processed, man-made, high-fat/sugar/salt foods is also like night & day... </span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">The Bible says to GLORIFY GOD IN YOUR BODY! How can I do that & tear down my health at the same time? I no longer can..."And you shall know the truth, & the truth shall SET YOU FREE!"</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">Pursuing a better way to live, to eat, to take care of these temples of the Holy Spirit doesn't have to be carnal, worldly-minded, vain or obsessive, or 'another gospel' to be preached...& we don't need to chase after youth or beauty in order to seek health, strength, healing so we have the ability to fulfill what we were put here on earth to do! </span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">It's all a matter of perspective, balance, & wisdom...& for me, now, of <em>obedience...</em></span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-76475571395929037542009-03-08T01:00:00.000-08:002009-03-08T01:19:44.378-08:00My faith is NO LONGER in Doctors...for ANYTHING!!! (A rebuke of my self for making excuses for not consistantly staying raw!)<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SbOMp8SMKuI/AAAAAAAAA8g/q-9z9FCgNlI/s1600-h/For+with+God+nothing+shall+be+impossible+(Jesus+on+water).jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310743037784894178" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 274px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SbOMp8SMKuI/AAAAAAAAA8g/q-9z9FCgNlI/s320/For+with+God+nothing+shall+be+impossible+(Jesus+on+water).jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="color:#6600cc;"></span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">This week I'm watching my favorite Aunt die of cancer that has gone undiagnosed until a few weeks ago, after over a year of going to Dr's for answers, getting tested, & having them totally missing it, {though she lost a lot of weight & her health was cleary fading...}</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">I never knew until days ago that she's finally been diagnosed a few weeks ago with being so full of advanced cancer they can do nothing, & it's just a matter of days now before her time here on earth is done.</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">It ANGERS me!!! & yes, it's my love for her that is reacting so intensely to her situation, but also, I know that it's also seeing the need to face & let go of the last remnant in me of ANY confidence at all in the medical system...</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">...& even knowing that chemo & radiation may prolong someone's time, still, I grieve over the fact that that level of posioning & destruction also make their last days painful, & in many ways worse than if they had just died without it, as my Aunty Barb is now facing...</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">...though I faced cancer last year, & was being pressured to go that route, I know now I never would!</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">So again, here I am facing another wake-up call...</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">...it's time to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY, on EVERY level, for our own health!!!</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">We cannot learn all we've learned, see our own responsibility, & then continue to ignore our responsibility for our own health, & keep looking to the medical community for answers, in naive, hopeful childlike faith!</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">Doctors miss things, misdiagnose, misprescribe, over-prescribe, mix prescriptions that shouldn't be mixed, & prescribe things ALL THE TIME that can do permanent harm or kill you!! We know that it happens EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! </span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">{Ever watch commercials for drugs, with all their warnings?!?!?}</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">They mess up surgeries, & hospital stays leave you exposed to infections that antibiotics can't even touch anymore, infections that can maim or kill you!</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">Things will only change (for us individually, as well as as a nation!) when we face & accept that the medical system {& what it offers} has MAJOR limitations that we try to minimize or even ignore in our dependence on them for FAR too many areas of our lives that are actually ultimately UP TO US!!!</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">(& God, of course!)</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">Yes, I realize they have their place.......yes, they do save lives......but when we KNOW that SO MUCH of what we go through is preventable, & diet or lifestyle related (caused!) then how can we just blindly go on depending on the undependable?!?!?</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">Why are we so unwilling ( & call it "unable") to discipline our flesh, our appetites, our carnality that has gotten us so unhealthy in the first place, finally just facing our lazy, self-centered flesh nature & JUST DO IT!?!?!?</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">{I'm speakin' to myself here, not pointing the finger at anyone......I'm just so weary of the yo-yoing of transitioning, rather than victory......& of the consequences this has brought to my health & entire life!}</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">When we know that eating raw, organic whole foods keeps us so much healthier, & that even when we do have health issues, it helps us heal from things so much more effectively, & when we know the benefits to our immune system, to our health on every level, why would we return like lambs to the slaughter to fake food, based only on taste, habit, emotions, & not on life-giving substance???</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">Why are we willing to spend so much money (especially compared to other nations!) on pampering & entertaining our flesh, yet not on feeding it pure, whole, organic foods?(Even if it means we can't afford the other things we want!)</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">Why do we spend our time doing things that actually wear us out & tear us down,but not on things that build us up???</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">Why do we spend hours a day online, or watching tv, or on the phone,(or all of the above!!) then still say we have no time to exercise???</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="color:#cc66cc;">(Even knowing the energy to exercise often only comes when we actually begin exercising?!?!?)</span>Even knowing eating the things God made for food will lead to a healthy, long life, soooo many just live on in addiction to habits destroying them, hoping they won't be one of the ones to suffer too long, or experience the diseases related to abuse of the body...</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">...as if it were all by CHANCE, a Russian roulette of sorts that has nothing much to do with their actions...</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">...I refuse to waste waste one more day riding the fence!!!</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">Or one more year, or MONTH, WEEK, OR DAY going back & forth!!!</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">I hereby take FULL & TOTAL responsibilty for my health, from this day on for the rest of my life!</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">I will depend on GOD ONLY for ALL of my health needs, & in His ability to guide me, & help me do what I now KNOW to do, {& I will continue to also trust Him for supernatural healing when that is the only option, </span><span style="color:#6600cc;">as with my inflammatory breast cancer last year that His miraculous power removed from my body!}</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">...& I will NOT hold onto the thought in the back of my mind that a Doctor, medicine, hospitals, etc. are NEEDED for me to be healthy & live a life that glorifies Him!!!</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">I will only turn to them for diagnosis, {only if God leads me to!} in order to gain knowledge of what to research & focus on healing naturally, the way He created our self-healing bodies to function!</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">Please understand that, yes, the passion welling up in me over this is intense...</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">...but it also comes with a deep calm, a peace that comes with a much deeper level of surrender than before...</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">...If you haven't experienced this already, may you know it, too!</span></div><div><span style="color:#6600cc;">...</span><span style="color:#6600cc;">I wish so much my sweet, red-headed, voice-of-an-angel songbird Aunty Barb had.</span></div><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">I pray my other friends & relatives, & all those I'm led to, will allow me to speak this truth into their lives, too, when my life & health fully reflects what I know, so they can observe the transformation it has brought me, Hannah, & our future, & see that it could also be theirs!</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;color:#009900;"><em>James 4:14-15</em></span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;color:#009900;">"For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;color:#009900;">Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”</span></div>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-28777724944669411872009-02-28T23:15:00.000-08:002009-02-28T23:31:23.301-08:00Another New Beginning, time for re-committing!<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#009900;">(Taken from a post I wrote at Rawfu, in part...)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff6600;">I never really know how to classify where I'm at...</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff6600;">..."fallin' off the raw wagon" now looks totally different than it <em>used</em> to...</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color:#ff6600;">...I still eat more produce than I ever used to, but I still only feel totally ALIVE & like I'm moving towards total health when I'm 100% raw!</span> </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#33cc00;">Last nite, I got DETERMINED, totally recommitted, & formulated a plan to get back to 100% raw!</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#cc0000;">Here's my plan:</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#3333ff;">~ I made a <strong>DAILY weigh-in chart</strong> & a commitment to weigh in in front of Hannah each morning! (She's my Bob'n'Jillian combined! & my little raw food chef, too!)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#3333ff;">(cuz for me, getting on that scale each morning & seeing a drop at least every other day keeps me goin'! (For my health issues to be resolved, I NEED to shed weight!) I've gained back some of the 60+ lbs I've lost & cannot allow that number on the scale to go any higher! I'm feelin' it, believe me!)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#339999;">This works 4 me cuz I have so much to lose, & as soon as I go 100% it starts comin' off! When you don't have as much to lose, it could be discouraging, but you could make a chart for however often you're planning to weigh -in, (if you are) & write it out for at least a few months in advance...this tells your brain that you're in it for the long haul, & there's no goin' off course in a week or so...</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#339999;">...every time I wrote my weight in (each morning) the last time I re-committed, I saw that chart & it re-affirmed my goals, & the weight-loss goal I'd projected reaching...& it worked last time, so here I go again!~</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color:#3333ff;">~ <strong>CLEAN OUT THE CUPBOARDS & FRIDGE! </strong>Hannah agreed to do at least one month 100% with me, so there's NOTHING IN THE HOUSE to tempt us!</span> </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#339999;">~ <strong>Find at least one new recipe to try each week</strong>, based on ingredients I already have, & each shopping trip, try new produce, & have a list of things to get that will offer more variety (4 example, I need to start making dehydrated bread/crackers, but haven't, cuz haven't had the ingredients! It would definately help with transitioning & stayijng raw!)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#3333ff;">~ <strong>Set clear, defined exercise goals</strong>, & where I write down my food intake for the day, I also write down the kind of physical activity I did each day. I set weekly goals as well. (First week, exercise half an hour to 45 minutes a day...each week, increase by 15 minutes minimum. (I have FM, & have to go gradually or I don't wanna move for DAYS after over-doing it!)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#339999;">~ <strong>Plan social activities that either don't include food, or eat first, bring my own food, & be prepared to say, 'No thanks!"</strong> (Often this is just a matter of my mindset...no-one really notices/cares whether you eat or not, if you don't make a big deal out of it...) For the first few weeks of getting back on track, in the past, I've just not gone places I KNEW I'd be tempted, but I'm stronger now, & can go & say no if my mind is geared up, & I'm not starving when I arrive!</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#3333ff;">~<strong>STAY HYDRATED!!!</strong> Definately NOT letting myself get dehydrated helps!!!! & when I eat cooked, I tend to not drink as much water, so often the first thing I need to do to STAY RAW is increase my water, carrying it with me, keeping it at my desk, etc...drinking water right before you eat, or with food actually dilutes your digestive juices...it's better to drink half an hour to an hour before a meal, & in between meals. When I'm hydrated, I don't overeat, & my cravings definately decrease...& the weight comes off faster!</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color:#339999;">~ Most importantly for me, <strong>I pray daily for strength, self-control</strong> (a fruit of the Spirit in the Bible (meaning evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in our lives, & that we are led by the Spirit, & not the flesh-nature), & I repent for gluttony, laziness, & recieve His grace & mercy & a new beginning when I turn from self-destructive ways & ask Him to help me obey my theme scripture:</span> </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#993399;">1 Corinthians 6:19-20..."What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#339999;">I belong to Him, & it doesn't glorify Him that my health & weight are so hindered by what I've chosen to fuel my temple with (rather than what He created for food/fuel!) </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#339999;">So for me, it's an act of obedience, & devotion, out of my love for Him, & my desire to more effectively serve Him & others with my life, & in this body that motivates me to get back to doing what I know works to RAWstore me to health!</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff6600;">Most of all I've learned that <strong>I need to just MAKE UP MY MIND</strong>!!! THEN the rest all falls into place!</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#6666cc;">Last night, I finally came to the place again COMPLETELY of knowing that IT'S TIME for 100% again! Spring is right around the corner, then another HOT summer!</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color:#cc6600;"> I talked with Hannah about all I want to do with her this summer, & I know I can't do those things with her if I can't handle moving around out in the heat! (like last summer!& the last 5 or 6!)</span> </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#9999ff;">We discussed some mutual goals, & some plans for rewards for sticking to it, & we talked about doing a Raw Picnic/Luncheon at church for my birthday (on a Sunday in April) & where I want to be by then, & we realized together how much more energy we both had when 100% raw, how much better we felt in every way, how much we've both changed since before the holidays, & sinse going back to half raw, half cooked...& how we want to get back to how we were, & STAY there!</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#336666;">We also discussed getting to the farmer's market WEEKLY somehow, & getting the storage room cleared out so we can get to the cold room for our summer produce!& again I decided that when I can't afford raw, or keep enough produce in the house, that is when I'm meant to fast...NOT eat the canned stuff or Mac'n'cheeze from the food bank, or buy Ichiban noodles cuz it's really cheap! (A meal (2 pkg's) for 50 cents! With 50 grams of fat, a ton of sodium, & msg., a chemical feast & white flour! YUCK! Never again!!!)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#cc33cc;">NO MORE EXCUSES FOR ME!!!! I'm, once again, READY TO BE 100% RAW!!!</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#993399;">{Does all this sound familiar? I know I've been here before, but yet I know I've been progressing, learning, changing, & am more ready now than I've ever been to "Just do it!"}</span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-42782592895335722732009-02-25T14:58:00.000-08:002009-02-25T15:21:22.907-08:00I need your prayers!!! (& support! & suggestions!)<span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;">I'm crawling out of the dregs of cooked & even worse, FAST food (why do they call it that when, really, it slows ya down soooo much!????!) & my body is craving & NEEDING to get raw again!</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;"><span style="color:#cc33cc;">I've been trying for weeks to return to the life-sustaining way of eating I've been so thankful to discover, but only ever make it partway thru the day raw, or at the most, a day or so raw, then give in to the cravings I need to begin all over again to conquer!!! I need your prayers!!!!</span> </span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#00cccc;">I feel like I'm back at the beginning, though I know I've come a long way, & learned much along the way...still, the cravings, especially for bread, which I've <em>NEVER</em> been one to crave, have gotten so strong it's hard to get anything done until I yeild to them! (Invasion of the body snatchers???!!??)</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc33cc;">I want to just do a fast, some detoxing, something, ANYTHING, to accelerate the process again...but have so much to do each day, I won't have much time to rest, like I feel is best with fasting/detoxing...</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;"><span style="color:#33cc00;">...so please pray for me to have wisdom & direction in how to proceed, & the self-control to get my flesh cucified once again in this area of my life!</span></span><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;">Is anyone still even reading this? ***waves feebly***</span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-71595906011864334252009-01-29T15:01:00.000-08:002009-01-29T15:20:01.342-08:00WOW! WHERE DID THE TIME GO????<span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc33cc;">Ok, time has been FLYING by lately, & it seems a month takes about a WEEK to go by!!!</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">I've been easing back into 100% raw after the holidaze...we've been dealing with extreme cold lately (especially in our little basement suite!) & have been struggling with FEELING cold ALL the time! But I've decided to allow myself hot herbal tea whenever I need to warm up, & that's helped a lot with making me able to eat a cold meal!</span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;">I've been able to order some bulk organic produce again (for the first time in months!) & so we have TONS of apples, grapefruits, sweet potatoes, (fro chips in the dehydrator! & Hannah loves 'em baked!) & I've been making blender applesauce LOTS! It's so incredibly yummy! Here's the basic recipe...(from my blog at RawFu...)</span><br /><strong>RAW BLENDER APPLESAUCE:</strong><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Fill blender with apples, & any other fruit you like (mostly apples, though! Apricots, peaches, blueberries or other berries, bananas go really well...)</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Add some water, maybe a fourth of the blender......add some greens if you like, or green powder......throw in some cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, whatever you like...</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">...you can even add a little vanilla...then blend, blend, blend!</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">{Then make another blender full, cuz the first one'll go real FAST!!!}</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;"></span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">I've also been WALKING DAILY!!! </span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">My sweet homeschooler, Hannah, really wanted a treadmill for fitness, so she got one with her homeschool funds...& then got a paper route for 3 days a week! (which I've been trying to do with her, but it's been 20 below, & my body doesn't seem to function in that kind of cold! It's supposed to warm up soon, though, & then I will each time!)</span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;">I've been a little grieved over the weight I re-gained between the end of November & about a week or so ago, but am<em> not</em> letting it deter me from pressing on & getting my focus back on reaching towards my goals!</span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff6600;">AUGH! I just dumped half a blender full of coconut water all over the carpet!!! </span></span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff6600;">& I was craving it sooooo much!!!!</span> </span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Ok, I've calmed down now...*sigh*...</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Time to go for a treadmill walk, & figure out what else I can put in my smoothie...</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">...One day at a time, sweet Jesus!!!</span><span style="color:#cc33cc;"> </span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-18239589506863586322008-12-21T07:23:00.000-08:002008-12-21T07:35:16.640-08:00Sick'n'tired of bein' sick'n'tired...<span style="color:#009900;">I've once more been reminded that illness actually sometimes has many gifts to offer...each day, I see another reason God allowed us to be sick like we've been, {though I also see what brought it on, in both the physical & spiritual realm.}</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="color:#cc33cc;">I've had to let go of numerous plans & goals for the holiday season that Hannah & I had...(she's sick now, like I was...this hasn't been our typical 2 or 3 day cold, or bout with the flu, but eight or nine days of being totally wiped out!)...</span> </span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">...one of the things let go of being that the gifts we're giving to our family, friends, & church family were all going to be homemade......some are, but not most......ministry opportunities that were on our hearts, but unable to be fulfilled...</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">...even our raw treats (rawnog, hot chocolate, & desserts) party has had to be cancelled...</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">...but the blessing has been that my focus has been 100% zeroed in on what is important, eternally! </span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">I've been able to spend so much more time in sweet communion with the Father, & He's made clear that there are things coming that most are not prepared for, & changes coming many will find impossible to handle without abiding in Him...</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">...& my NEED for my health to dramatically improve quickly has been heavy on my heart, as God has been revealing the REASONS it is crucial!!!</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">So, once more, the extraneous is just naturally falling away...& what clings is being peeled off, layer by layer. Once more, priorities are being re-focussed, & I'm hyper-aware of the calling on my life, & the time that is approaching rapidly to walk in it as an overcomer, no matter what goes on around me!</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">Days of wonder, days of awe......worth all we've been through, & then some!</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Our God IS an AWESOME God!!!!</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">May He reveal more of Himself & His will for your life during this season that His coming to earth is celebrated......Remember, HE IS COMING AGAIN!!!!! </span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">(& I believe it will be sooner than many expect!!!)</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">People, get ready!!!!</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8NWqO85P6Y">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8NWqO85P6Y</a></span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">...& my favorite version, by one of my favorite singers...</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKqtdNxOs00">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKqtdNxOs00</a></span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">(Worth taking the time to listen to, I promise!</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Especially her version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow", found here:<br /></span><span style="color:#009900;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUwTdqPkluY&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUwTdqPkluY&feature=related</a></span><br /><span style="color:#009900;"></span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">So right now, my priorities are to get back to 100% raw, get Hannah better, & put our house back together! </span><br /><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="color:#cc33cc;">My best friend I haven't been able to see for almost 9 years may be coming to visit this week!</span> </span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-69206484261636501052008-12-02T13:27:00.001-08:002008-12-02T13:34:54.945-08:00An Exciting, & Yet Dissapointing Night...<span style="color:#009900;">Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, I've been sewing like crazy, preparing for Hannah's homeschool group's Presentation night/Craft sale (which took place last night!)......& we've been preparing a song that we sang...</span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">the dissapointment was that <em>NOT ONE BAG SOLD</em>...hardly anyone bought ANYTHING from ANYONE, everyone was too busy visiting, & preparing for their performances...</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">I did do a little bartering, to support the young artists, (knitting, jewelery) & let Hannah pick out some birthday presents (a much-needed hat & scarf, & some jewelery...)</span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">I guess I shouldn't have counted on selling at least a few to have $ for Hannah's birthday party on the 11th...with all the dentist's bill's we've both been incurring, & how behind I am on bills, it looks like the plans she's been tentatively making won't be able to happen now......*sigh*......but I'm just going to lay it down, not fear, & trust God...we still have a week & a bit before then, & a few days before we need to send the invitations.</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">The EXCITING part of the evening was that we sang together for the first time in public, & though I messed up a few times, no-one really seemed to notice, & it was very well recieved, & seemed to really bless & minister to people...</span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">...suprised a few, too, quite a few told us later that they had no idea we could sing like that, & that Hannah could harmonize so well! (I only discovered that fact recently myself! Lol!)Considering we never made it all the way through the song ONCE before we performed it, & we only actually worked on it a few times, I think we did well...</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">...we're going to video-tape it & share it here (& maybe on YouTube) soon, but my hand is a wreck right now, numb & sore, & no strength...</span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">...I actually wanted to post it for Thanksgiving, (I wrote it for Thanksgiving years ago) but seeing as that's part of the theme for this challenge, I'll make sure to do it before it ends, at least!</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">God has confirmed to me through the annointing on it last night, as well as certain comments & responses that this really IS what He's given us to do (well, one of the main things) as He's been repeatedly showing me, but I've been afraid to 'just do it', not sure if it was just MY will, or His for us...</span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">...& I felt I was too old now...& that my weight is too much of a hinderance...</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">...one person came up to me I'd never met before & said, "You used to do this before, didn't you? You need to get back to it, sharing the gift you've been given..." (few know I used to sing in churches, youth detention centers, even on radio, & TV a few times...)</span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">So I've committed to playing & singing EVERY SINGLE DAY, & teaching Hannah my songs, & to play them as well, (though I'm praying & believing that God will heal my hands...) & I'm going to ask on Freecycle for a cassette tape deck, so I can listen to & sing along with the recording I did in my friend's studio about 15 years ago...</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">(...I only have it on cassette tapes...do they make an affordable machine that can take stuff on tapes & put it on a CD?)</span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">...& how am I doing with raw? On the days I exercise, 100% is no problem...on the days I don't...um, definately having problem staying 100%......so that's something else I'm COMMITTED to do EVERY SINGLE DAY, (Exercise at LEAST half an hour, & work up a sweat!) </span><span style="color:#cc66cc;">cuz in order for my health to improve, I NEED to stay 100%...</span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">(anything less feels like I'm going backwards, in my body, on a cellular level...I still have a LOT of healing to do!)</span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;"><span style="color:#009900;">The other dissapointing thing about last night is, I was quite self-conscious of my weight (there were easily 100 people there, many I didn't know...) & it hindered me from being able to totally get in the spirit...I can't even hold the guitar properly cuz of it!</span> </span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">So I know that shedding MORE is necessary before I can really enter into doing this the way it's meant to be done...</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">Time to go take & post pics now of all the new stuff I've been making on my Etsy store site...I didn't yet cuz I was hoping to sell most or ALL of it last night...<br /></span><a href="http://anastazia.etsy.com/">http://anastazia.etsy.com/</a><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">...I'm such a dreamer sometimes...(one of my best, & worst qualities! *grin*)</span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">As always, I covet your prayers! </span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-19691762654535490372008-11-25T07:40:00.000-08:002008-11-25T08:40:02.493-08:00~Challenged by the Challenges~<span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#cc33cc;"><strong>Lately, my dear readers, I've been challenged by numerous things:</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#9999ff;"><em>(aside from the 40 day challenge I'm currently doing at RawFu!)<br /></em></span><span style="color:#009900;">~<strong>A messed up sleep schedule</strong>, (couldn't sleep till dawn, having to get up on 4 or 5 hours sleep too often) & all the FM symptoms returning with the exhaustion...</span><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">~<strong>Dental problems</strong>: Getting a tooth pulled, fighting infection off in the hole that it left, & having two other half done root canals acting up, but I have no more dental coverage until the new year, so can do nothing about them, & am praying I don't lose the teeth because of that!</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">~ Major <strong>financial challenges</strong> (big dental bills for both Hannah & I, behind on other bills, & her birthdays fast approaching!) & though I totally trust God to provide, & my bags are starting to sell, </span><a href="http://anastazia.etsy.com/">http://anastazia.etsy.com/</a> <span style="color:#009900;">...still, it's been adding to the stress levels affecting me... </span><br /><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="color:#cc33cc;">(I've been doing a <em>major sewing marathon</em> for many weeks now, preparing things to sell, which has given me tennis elbow, & aggrevated my carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists...but it's been worth it, if it helps me be able to throw Hannah the Birthday party she's wanting & already planning, & gets us through the holidays!)</span> </span><br /><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="color:#33cc00;">These challenges <em>have </em>sometimes affected my ability to stay raw, mainly due to having to rely on the food bank to keep food on the table numerous times the past few months, & not being able to afford the things that help me stay raw...(I'm not reacting to stress by going back to cooked/junk food anymore, at least!)...</span></span><br /><span style="color:#993399;"><strong>...BUT I AM an overcomer!!!</strong> & I will <strong>NOT</strong> be overcome by ANY of this!!! </span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">I will NOT allow these challenges to keep me from progressing in continuing to improve my health so I can live the life I was<em> created</em> to live! </span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">The weight <em><strong>is</strong></em> coming off again, slowly but surely, & the nights I sleep well, & sleep early, the improvements in my pain levels & ability to be on my feet come rapidly, so I'm doing all I can to keep it turned around...(I've been getting up at 7 or 7:30 the last 2 days again, & am <em>determined</em> to continue!)</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">I appreciate all of your support, encouragement, & faith in my ability to do this, to reach my goals & regain my health,<strong> & most of all, I request, need & count on your prayers!!!</strong></span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Please forgive me for not posting more frequently, I've had little time online, & my wrists can only type so much, but I'll keep returning, & sharing my progress with you all!</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;"><em>{& I'm praying for you, too!}</em></span><br /><span style="color:#3333ff;">& now, I just have one more thing to share this morning with you...</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;"><strong>...Please Allow the challenges <em>to challenge you</em>!!!</strong> </span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Don't <em>allow </em>yourself to be overcome by them, but<em> <strong>be an overcomer!</strong></em></span><br /><strong><span style="color:#cc33cc;"></span></strong><br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=16&verse=33&version=9&context=verse">John 16:33</a><span style="color:#333399;">These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I (Jesus!) have <strong>overcome</strong> the world.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=52&chapter=12&verse=21&version=9&context=verse">Romans 12:21</a> <span style="color:#6600cc;">Be not <strong>overcome </strong>of evil, but <strong>overcome</strong> evil with good.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=69&chapter=4&verse=4&version=9&context=verse">1 John 4:4</a> <span style="color:#000099;">Ye are of God, little children, and have <strong>overcome </strong>them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=69&chapter=5&verse=4&version=9&context=verse">1 John 5:4</a> <span style="color:#6600cc;">For whatsoever is born of God <strong>overcomes</strong> the world: and this is the victory that <strong>overcomes</strong> the world, even our faith.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=69&chapter=5&verse=5&version=9&context=verse">1 John 5:5</a> <span style="color:#333399;">Who is he that <strong>overcomes </strong>the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=73&chapter=2&verse=7&version=9&context=verse">Revelation 2:7</a> <span style="color:#6600cc;">He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that<strong> overcomes</strong> will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=73&chapter=2&verse=17&version=9&context=verse">Revelation 2:17</a> <span style="color:#000099;">He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that <strong>overcomes</strong> will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=73&chapter=2&verse=26&version=9&context=verse">Revelation 2:26</a> <span style="color:#6600cc;">And he that <strong>overcomes</strong>, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations...<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=73&chapter=3&verse=5&version=9&context=verse">Revelation 3:5</a> <span style="color:#000099;">He that <strong>overcomes</strong>, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=73&chapter=3&verse=12&version=9&context=verse">Revelation 3:12</a> <span style="color:#6600cc;">Him that <strong>overcomes</strong> I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name!!!<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">WOW! Reading all those incredible verses just <em>FILLS</em> my spirit with such fervent desire to be an overcomer, even knowing that, in myself, I can do nothing, but also, that I <em>CAN </em>do <strong>ALL</strong> things THROUGH CHRIST <strong><em>who gives me strength!!! </em></strong></span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">Of course, the context is <strong><em>spiritually overcoming</em></strong>, but I believe that in <strong><em>ALL</em></strong> areas of our lives, <em>we are either overcomers, or we are overcome</em>...& that He is there to help <strong>ALL</strong> who call upon His name, in any & <strong>EVERY </strong>area of our lives!!!</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;"></span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">These verses have been cut'n'pasted from here:</span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;">{I love this site for searching out the truths found in God's Word!}</span><br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/"><span style="color:#3366ff;">http://www.biblegateway.com/</span></a><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#009900;"><em>So have an overcoming, joyful, FAB<strong>RAW</strong>LICIOUS day!!! (YES, I mean <strong>YOU</strong>!!!)</em></span><br /><em><span style="color:#33cc00;">& please keep me in your prayers...</span></em><br /><em><span style="color:#33cc00;">...& let me know if there's anything I can pray for you about!</span></em><br /><em><span style="color:#cc33cc;">{& don'tcha just love how, when I <strong>BOLD</strong> things, they go <strong>PINK</strong>??!!??}</span></em>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-22518495253102809782008-10-30T21:40:00.000-07:002008-11-10T10:15:39.366-08:00~Finally back where I was!!!~<span style="color:#999900;">Hi, I'm back, finally! {Anybody still checkin' in??}</span><br /><span style="color:#999900;">I'm so sorry I've been sooooooo sporatic lately, but that's gonna change, starting NOW!</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">Even if I just write a line or two, I'll be posting a new post at least every other day!</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">Actually, my goal is <strong>every day</strong>, but I'm gonna give myself a little leeway to get back into the swing of things, after the sewing marathon I've been doing, getting ready to set up my Etsy site to sell my quilted handmade bags & purses! {I have about 20 more almost done, ready to post!}<br />Here's where I also post them...</span><br /><br /><a href="http://sewthankful.blogspot.com/">http://sewthankful.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">{come check 'em out, I'd love your input! & who knows, maybe you'll fall in love with one, & want to adopt it!} </span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#6600cc;">Anyways, after my 2 week foray back into the cooked world, while at my sister's, & gaining back 14 pounds it took forever to lose (& now lose again!) I'm FINALLY back where I was before I left, at 340 lbs...</span><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;">...actually, I HAD been down to 333 for about ten minutes, but it had been slowly creeping back up as I stopped moving enough, & was eating too many nuts, & other fats. </span><br /><span style="color:#ff6666;">( I think I also had to mentally adjust...<em>NOW</em> I feel much more ready to go to the next level, for various reasons...)<br /></span><span style="color:#339999;">One of my dear readers just sent me a very encouraging note about incorporating more physical exercise in my life as a weight loss tool, regardless of what I'm eating, or not eating, just as the Holy Spirit began whispering to me about falling back into my old ways of not moving nearly enough, because of how the weight I'd re-gained slowed me down! (Thank-you for caring & sharing that with me!) </span><br /><span style="color:#006600;">So I've begun to PUSH myself again, getting up more often, moving more, not asking Hannah to do things I should be doing (going up the stairs & outside to get the mail, take out the garbage, etc.) & getting back to my daily exercise session, whether I get outside that day or not!</span><br /><span style="color:#006600;"><span style="color:#3366ff;">In fact, I've given myself a final FULL SPEED AHEAD ten day challenge, to complete this RawFu 100 day challenge, to see if I can push myself harder than ever before, & release 10 more pounds before this challenge is done!</span></span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;">So would you like to join me? <strong>What can YOU accomplish in ten days???</strong></span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><em>Please share your goals with me, let's hold each other accountable!!!</em></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Also, I've been sewing so much, my house looks like a tornado hit it in the middle of a hurricane!</span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"></span><span style="color:#339999;">For example, here's my sewing area...</span><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SQrEHYDjeZI/AAAAAAAAAy8/3JOVO9uSCdM/s1600-h/Sewing+area.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263234745531333010" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SQrEHYDjeZI/AAAAAAAAAy8/3JOVO9uSCdM/s400/Sewing+area.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;">{There <em>is</em> a sewing table area behind the couch where my sewing stuff has been but it has NOT been used, except as a dumping ground, & is <em>totally unorganized</em>, & is currently driving me crazy!}</span><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">So I've decided that every single day <em>(aside from the regular 1 hour of exercise I'm setting as a goal to fit into <strong>EVERY</strong> day!)</em> I'm going to put on my favorite music & sing & dance as I do an aerobic cleaning session on my messes at least 3 times a day, until I'm breathless each time! I need to have my house ready for hospitality again, the Lord's been putting it on my heart to open it up for a women's Bible study soon~</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">So that's what I've been up to....what about you???</span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-28528126559920001942008-11-10T09:43:00.000-08:002008-11-10T10:08:47.666-08:00From One Challenge to Another!<span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#993399;">Well, the 100 day RawFu challenge is done....it's been a time of learning, growing, changing...</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">...it's been a time of gentle rawstoration, & a time of perseverance...</span><br /><span style="color:#3366ff;">I've learned that I <em>must</em> be led by the Holy Spirit, & seek Him for guidance & wisdom in how to do this each & every day! When I do, my healing unfolds....when I don't, it slows, even stagnates, & reverses~ </span><br /><span style="color:#3366ff;">Oh, how I need Him!!!</span><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">So what's next, you ask? Well, the next mini challenge begins November 15th, & goes until December 24th...& then, another 100 day challenge begins on January 1st! Will you come join me? <a href="http://www.rawfu.com/">http://www.rawfu.com/</a></span><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;"><span style="color:#ff6600;"> Being there has definately contributed to my progress, (even though I didn't reach ALL my goals over the 100 days, I did let go of 29 more pounds, & began to understand how to do raw in the way that works <em>for me</em>, & that is <strong>invaluable!</strong> There's a wealth of info, insight, support, & fellowship available, especially for those who reach out & dive in with both feet!</span></span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">I've been trying to remain 100% raw sinse my trip, & do good for most of the day, but am sometimes struggling in the evenings, missing the FULL feeling of sad food, like I just can't eat enough raw food to fill me up, but I am determined to return to 100% NOW, because I miss how I feel when I am! & I <strong>NEED</strong> to be again, it's affecting my life, my energy, my sleep patterns NOT to be 100%! </span><br /><span style="color:#cc9933;">The truth is, for social reasons, I wish sometimes that high raw worked for me but it just doesn't...</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">...so here I go again, pressing on, determined to get & STAY 100% again! & my goal is not just to stay 100% during the challenge, but to accomplish what I set out to do last year, one FULL YEAR STRAIGHT of 100% raw!!! & I will begin counting as soon as I am consistant!</span><br /><span style="color:#00cccc;">I also intend to do some fasting/detox before the next 100 day challenge, & hopefully some juice feasting, as well~</span><br /><span style="color:#6666cc;">My next goal is to be under 300lbs before this year ends! I realize that'll mean shedding more weight between now & then than I lost the whole challenge, but that's because I regained, TWICE, from breaking raw, otherwise, I know it WILL go fast, if I increase my movement & <em><strong>STAY</strong></em> 100%!</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">SO, here I go again!</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">Come join me!</span><br /><a href="http://www.rawfu.com/">http://www.rawfu.com/</a>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-8485083753363748782008-10-20T16:34:00.000-07:002008-10-20T17:52:20.181-07:00~Dealing With the Aftermath of Breaking Raw~<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#3333ff;">Believe me when I tell you, folks, that RAW is BEST!!! & once your body has detoxed at least to some degree, going back to cooked/processed/meat & dairy is REALLY not fun AT ALL!</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#3333ff;"><span style="color:#009900;">I thought I'd come back home, & jump right back into raw...I got some produce, & have been eating lots of it, but I've been really having cravings, & struggling against a new lackadaisical attitude that is really proving to be a battle to crucify! </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#3333ff;"><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="color:#339999;">When I was there, I made choices, but now, I feel like I'm almost totally in bondage again... ...but I know that I just need to jump back in, or ease back in, or whatever it takes, & get back to 100% raw ASAP!</span> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#3333ff;"><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="color:#33cc00;">That's when I feel ALIVE! That's when <em>I can tell I'm healing on a cellular level</em>, & feel better by the day...& I miss that, I miss all the energy that comes with that, the lack of pain & achiness, the much more vivacious emotional state, & however long it takes me to get back to that, I'm headin' there again, & am going to persevere!</span> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#3333ff;"><span style="color:#ff6600;">So don't give up on me, K? I'm not giving up, I'm pressin' on, one day at a time!</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#3333ff;"><span style="color:#ff6600;">& I'm healing, a little each day, from the damage done from my 2 weeks of eating stuff I <em>knew</em> I shouldn't be...</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#3333ff;"><span style="color:#cc33cc;">...in retrospect,there was an <em>illusion </em>of <em>'freedom'</em> to not be 100% raw for awhile, to not have to plan ahead, or chop, chop, chop, or budget for enough produce to get through, & not eat when & what others were eating, especially when eating out...& it was great to not have to plan & preapre every meal!...</span></span><br /><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">...but the so-called freedom led to </span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">bondage to old habits, taste preferences from the past, & POWERFUL cravings that have gripped me again, <strong><em>& it soooo was NOT worth it!</em></strong> </span><br /></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#3333ff;"><span style="color:#cc33cc;"><span style="color:#6600cc;"><strong>I AM a Raw Foodist, & I know it's what I'm meant to be!!!</strong></span></span></span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-3910498152134345812008-10-12T19:52:00.000-07:002008-10-12T21:50:42.219-07:00~Attempting to Stay Raw While Visiting Carnivorous relatives~<span style="color:#6600cc;">Don't get me wrong! I love my family, &, aside from a cold goin' from one of us to the other, & a rock hard bed, (Until I finally dragged a foamie out to put on top) & not enough sleep, it's been a <em>great</em> visit!</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">But holy canolies, Batman, it's been sooooo hard to stay vegan, <strong><em>let alone</em></strong> <strong><em>raw</em></strong>, when there's meat at almost every meal, & lotsa yummy stuff I used to eat surrounding me, tempting me with smells, sights, when serving it to others, doing the dishes, clearing the table...yummy, good quality stuff I used to <span style="color:#cc33cc;">love</span> to eat!</span><br /><span style="color:#666600;">So I must confess, my dear readers, that I have<em> not</em> been 100% raw sinse arriving...not even 1 full day...close, on some days, <em>not</em> so close on others...they are planning a big Thanksgiving feast tomorrow, & that's it, it'll be my 'last supper', the 'Famous Final Feast" (rather than Bob Seger's old, "Famous Final Scene") & then <strong>I'm running back into the arms of raw, never to wander down this crazy twisting turning road of compromise again!</strong></span><strong><br /><span style="color:#666600;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#cc0000;">Would you like to know what not even 2 weeks of cooked food has done to me?</span></strong><br /><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">~Not sleeping well <em>at all</em>! Due to all-over FM pain back pretty much fully-force, digestion issues, weird dreams, {& a headache going on 3 days now that definately feels chemical-induced!}</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#6666cc;">~Carpal tunnel syndrome in BOTH wrists acting up big time, as well as old arthritic pains in my knuckles, joints & especially my hips. <em>{Walking, & climbing the stairs has become very slow & painful, almost like I weigh what I used to again! Not eager to get home & weigh in....have been stretching & doing some walking & stuff, but not near enough!}</em></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">~Very low energy, moodier, tired all day, grumpy, reactive, with lots more brain fog!</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#6666cc;">~ Sinus congestion, fighting off a cold, Hannah got a pretty bad one, whereas when raw, or high raw, she's been able to be around sick kids & not get sick at all!</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">~Skin is dry, itchy, & my rash on my scalp that was almost healed is back full force!</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#6666cc;">Constipated (TMI, I know!) & forgetting to drink enough water, seem to have lost my sense of thirst! (Been getting back pains, like my kidney's are being affected again, so am forcing myself to carry it around with me again so I can sip on it thru the day....)</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">~& here's a fun one! My morning breath AND pits <em>STINK</em> again!!! (not to mention my poops! Did ya notice that when you're raw, ya don't stink up the bathroom!?!?!)</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;">On the other hand, I have been making smoothies & either a big salad, or veggies & dip almost daily, & snacking on fruit as much as possible...it's hard when we're out running around, a few times, I've brought enough food for me, but all the kids are hungry, (my sis has 3, & Hannah) so I end up sharing, then not getting enough calories in, then losing my willpower as the day progresses, then eating cooked, junk, at places where there ARE no healthy choices! & Often, we've gotten home STARVING & just eating the quick meal that's been thrown together!</span><br /><span style="color:#006600;">I've also made a big blender of smoothie numerous times, & often the kids want to drink it all with me, so I'm getting a cup, maybe 2, rather than a blenderful, as I usually do...(Which is wonderful ,I want them to eat more produce! But then I don't get enough, & rather than doing all involved in making another one (especially with my carpal tunnel syndrome acting up!) I just eat something else....but the smoothies help stop cravings, & are so nourishing, it's soooooooo much harder to resist temptation without starting my day with them!</span><br /><span style="color:#339999;">...but with all that's going on, I'm not doing <em>too </em>bad, & I refuse to get all down on myself for allowing myself to go down this carnivorous road again.... rather than made me want the old, unhealthy foods I once lived off of even more, I'm very eager to get back on track, & it's somehow renewed my commitment, & shown me once again the incredible healing power of the body God's given us <em>when fueled with the things he created for food</em>...</span><br /><span style="color:#6633ff;">...& above all else, it's given me such an appreciation for what eating raw has done for my health! I can't believe how, after just over a week of allowing things in my diet I haven't eaten in many months, so many of my health problems have returned! An excellent object lesson...one I'm eager to never repeat again!</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">& the biggest thing I've learned is how much easier it is to stay raw when you're not constantly surrounded by cooked food!</span><br /><span style="color:#999900;">I'm sorry if I've seemed glib in acting like it's <em>easy...</em>I mean, once I made up my mind to just do it, I was able to do it, with very little struggling...but I had Hannah's support, & until she went raw with me, if she wanted something non-raw, she made it herself, so I wasn't tempted to break raw...</span><br /><span style="color:#999900;">...here, I'm constantly surrounded by temptation....harder to handle when I'm over-tired, in pain, & not always having access to what I'm used to that has helped me stay raw. Please know I have a LOT more compassion on those committed to raw while surrounded by cooked!!!</span><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">Anyways, the moral of the story is <strong>RAW IS BEST!!!</strong> & I can't wait to get home & get stronger in it, so the next time we visit, I <em>will </em>STAY 100% raw!!! No matter what!!!</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">When we get back, a few days later, we're heading to Vancouver, & we get to go visit "Gorilla Foods" our first raw cafe! We're only going for 6 or 7 days, so I'm determined to stay 100%! In fact, after tomorrow's dinner I'm back to 100%, as well as some much-needed <strong>detox!!!</strong></span><br /><span style="color:#3333ff;"><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>STAY</strong> raw!</span></span></span><br /><span style="color:#3333ff;"><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><span style="font-size:180%;">It's <em>SOOOOO<strong> NOT</strong></em> worth breaking it, </span></span></span><br /><span style="color:#3333ff;"><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><span style="font-size:180%;">no matter the circumstances!!!!</span></span></span><br /><span style="color:#3333ff;">(I wish I'd come re-read September 12th's Blog entry before coming here!)</span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-45582009675145039402008-10-05T19:08:00.000-07:002008-10-05T19:36:06.206-07:00~Sorry for dissapearin' on ya!~<span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#330099;"> I've been so busy with trying to keep up with the RawFu challenge, as well as getting back to homeschooling, & right now we're on holidays at my sister's & her family's in Alberta...so I've just been goin' non-stop lately, as well as not having as much time online as I used to!</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">I've been really in awe at the changes in my body that shedding the weight I have so far has made! I went to the wave pool with everyone the other day, & had a blast, & though I felt a little self-conscious in shorts in public for the first time in many years, I decided to just put my focus on how I felt, not how I looked, & especially on how good it felt to get in the water again & swim!</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">The shorts I brought were waaaaaay too small last time I wore them, tight & too short, but when I put them on they fit GREAT, very close to too big! It was such a pleasant suprise!</span><br /><span style="color:#333399;">I LOVE to swim, & it was so fun to do that with Hannah again, & I decided that when we get home I'm going to look into joining the Y, (or whatever pool has ozone rather than chlorine) so we can begin swimming on a regular basis, it felt so incredible! (After we go to Vancouver for a visit first, from Oct. 20th to the 27th...)</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">Also, my sis has a little mini gym, & tomorrow I begin working out on a daily basis ( I've had to recover from the 11 hour bus ride, & the 7 hours of swimming the next day first!), using her elyptical trainer, recumbant bike, rebounder, weights & weight bench.</span><br /><span style="color:#330099;"> I'm having a lot more strength, endurance, & balance when I move now, especially if I'm getting enough sleep, & staying 100% raw. (I have been for the most part, but was up too late last night, & didn't stay 100% today...or the day before....but I totally regret what little cooked food I had, & have paid the price, & won't be going there again....in fact, I believe the Lord is calling me to fast awhile, & I hope to begin tomorrow or Tuesday. I was considering doing the Master Cleanse, but can't afford to go get all the ingredients...}</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">...what else is new? Not a whole lot, & I can barely keep my eyes open right now anyways, after dinner, with some cooked food that is churning in my tummy, so that's all for now!</span><br /><span style="color:#330099;">Time to go do some stretching, have a shower, & go to bed early!</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">Hope you're all doin' RAWsomely!</span><br /><span style="color:#330099;">Keep on progressing towards your best health ever!!!</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">{One day at a time, right?}</span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295342640267074961.post-41361892185344392502008-09-23T20:47:00.000-07:002008-09-23T21:30:51.833-07:00Raw-stored Creativity!~<span style="color:#009900;">I've finished the bags I've been working on that were commissioned, & there's also 2 new ones seeking loving homes, posted on my sewing blog! & they have fruit on 'em, just for us Raw Foodists!</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">(Posted here: </span><a href="http://sewthankful.blogspot.com/">http://sewthankful.blogspot.com/</a> <span style="color:#009900;">} </span><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">We love 'em <em>both</em>, & wish we could keep 'em, but maybe they're meant for you?!?</span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">I'm so amazed lately that, even with more on my plate than usual, & feeling rather overloaded, I'm getting a lot more accomplished than I used to, the longer I'm raw......my procrastinating ways & my fatigue are far less than before,& my millions of half-done projects are, one by one, actually getting done!</span><br /><span style="color:#33cc00;">It's not like sewing is a physically taxing thing to do, & I LOVE to create things out of fabric, but for years, I've limped along, with a hundred half-done projects......has anyone else had raw bring their creativity back to life? It's been a wonderful, unexpected side-affect!</span><br /><span style="color:#6666cc;">Awhile back, I was really panicking about the summer ending, knowing the prices of produce will be going through the roof again, & was worried I wouldn't able to afford to stay raw...& I'd gain back the 60+ pounds I've released, & all my health problems would come racing back, one by one...</span><br /><span style="color:#3366ff;">...but after praying about it, I calmed down & realized that, even though I'm still on dissability, & still can't work full-time, I can do this now!</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">Eventually, (hopefully soon!) I'll be off dissability & be fully self-employed, still able to homeschool Hannah, & doing the things I love to do every day, no longer struggling just to keep food in the house...(Sewing, quilting, massage, music, writing, & helping others learn about & live the raw lifestyle!...& whatever else I'm called to do!!!)</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">So if you're interested in either of the new bags posted on Sew Thankful, or even a different one you'ld like me to make for you, e-mail me at <a href="mailto:stazia@telus.net">mailto:stazia@telus.net</a></span> <span style="color:#ff0000;">{I take requests! *grin*}</span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;">I'm SEW THANKFUL for all who've shared this journey with me, & celebrated my little successes along the way!</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">& even if you aren't interested in bags, (or whatever else I sew & post) I'd love & appreciate any & all feedback & constructive criticism you might have on them!</span><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Have a wonderfully creative & healthy day!!!</span>~Anastazia~http://www.blogger.com/profile/00909164238411967803noreply@blogger.com0