My Health Pantry: Juicing

Juicing is, in my opinion, one of the fastest and most efficient ways of getting concentrated nutrients into your sweet body pronto!

I often juice as I am fasting (called a juice fast) because fresh juices are great cleansers and help the body heal very quickly from what ails it. The power-packed nutrition is very satisfying as well and feels like your insides are getting treated to a day at the spa!

I love the flavor of freshly-juiced fruits, but keep in mind that a little of these goes a long way because of the concentrated, natural sugars. Let the bulk of your juicing be fresh veggies such as carrots or any green vegetable.

When I was pregnant with my second child, I daily drank 32 ounces or more of organic carrot juice + one green veggie. My favorites were celery, kale, cucumber or green bell pepper. Spinach actually wasn't too bad either. The green helped balance the sugary-ness of the carrots. Oh, and I often tossed in an apple as well. Yum.

When my son was born, my midwife could not get over how healthy the placenta was. She said she'd NEVER seen anything like it and was absolutely amazed. I attribute that primarily to the juicing.

I truly believe that if your health is in crisis, juicing is a powerful start to healing. And a great addition to any wintertime health pantry!

My Health Pantry: Fasting

One of the greatest tips I ever learned doesn't cost a penny.

Fasting every so often is a blessing to your health and makes you feel like a million bucks.

Stormie O'Martian wrote a little book on fasting that was inspirational and very informative to me. I read it several years ago and what I read in there still impacts my life today.

So, during this holiday season that is full of sugars and fats that can weigh you down and weaken your immune system, consider a short fast to "clean your house" and start your new year off right!

Back Online. . . Testimony of a Computer Fast

We were offline for nearly six weeks and I went through technology withdrawal.

Our computer's hard drive almost crashed and we couldn't even get to the desktop, but we were able to get it in for repair just in time to save all the baby pictures that hadn't been backed up. I know, I know. . .

Anyway, I give the Lord the credit for saving our memories--we had no idea anything was even wrong until it was almost too late. I don't even want to think about how bad that would have been to have lost those precious pictures. So, the moral of this story is two-fold: back up all your irreplacable data and God is so faithful to watch over us even when we don't realize we are in immediate danger. He is so good to us!

The first week or so of my computer fast was the toughest. I found myself walking over to the computer screen constantly to see if there was an email that couldn't wait to be answered. I discovered that I have used my computer a lot to escape. You know, technology can be such a wonderful tool, but it can also really steal a lot of time and energy if allowed to.

But as time wore on, I found that I thought and prayed a lot more. I began to relax. I became more available to my children and to my sweetheart. I started projects around the house that had been in sore neglect.

So, now that my time of fasting is over, I don't want to go back to where I was. I like the new me. I want the computer to serve me, not the other way around. How do I do this?

I am baby stepping by setting a time boundary for myself. I am going to limit myself during the week to two hours on the computer a day. That should be more than enough time to answer emails, balance my checkbook (I love that online feature!), and do a little business work. When my kids take their quiet time around 1 pm, I will take my computer time. And when they get up, I get up.

If you think of me, please pray for me to stay committed to this new discipline. It is so hard to bring our flesh into line sometimes, and I covet your prayers. Hey, maybe the next time you step away from your computer to bake cookies with your kids or kiss your man, you can pray for those of us who still need some computer discipline. :-)