Quote of the day: 

‘The time has come,’ the walrus said, ‘to talk of many things: of shoes and ships – and sealing wax – of cabbages and kings.’” — Lewis Carroll

“Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years.” — Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor

The time is now – take a step today

The time has come

There’s an old joke I like:  If you ask a golden retriever what time it is, what does the dog answer?  NOW! NOW! NOW!

Dogs have no trouble living in the present moment. But we humans are usually imagining or worrying about the future or regretting the past. At the same time we delay making changes in our lives because of fears or inertia or not wanting to make the effort.

The time is now

The time to leap—to take a chance—to spread your wings—to make a change—to be here now!

I’ve been thinking about changing my diet for weeks now, reading and researching, pondering and preparing. Part of me knew that this was the next right thing for me. And another part (the inner kid) was screaming, “Are you crazy? I don’t want to do this!”

Cherry tomatoes from my garden

I became interested in exploring eating a healthier diet after watching the documentary, Fat, sick and nearly dead, that chronicled the 60-day journey of Australian Joe Cross across the United States as he follows a juice fast to regain his health under the care of Dr. Joel Fuhrman.

Then I saw Dr. Terry Wahls, TED talk, Minding Your Mitochondria. 

A University of Iowa physician with multiple sclerosis, Dr. Wahls, significantly improved her functioning from being wheel-chair bound to being able to ride a bike 10 miles, walk and return to teaching and research. She did this with a combination of diet changes and electrical stimulation of her muscles.

Since I believe many of my chronic health issues are neuro-muscular (including a new troubling tremor in my hands and head), I decided to follow Dr. Wahls recommendations:

• Eat 3 cups of high sulfur vegetables each day
• Eat 3 cups of colorful (red, orange, purple, yellow) vegetables and fruits each day
• Eat 3 cups of other non-starchy vegetables each day
• Eat only grass-fed meat or healthy fish
• Have 1 cup of bone broth each day
• Eliminate dairy, sugar, and any other foods you are sensitive to
• Eat only healthy oils like flax seed oil, hemp oil, coconut oil, a little olive oil
• Eliminate gluten and wheat and most grains
• Eat plenty of flax seed, hemp seed, chia seed, seaweed

A time for change

I started the diet a week ago. Already I’ve seen a jump in energy and a slight decrease in pain. I’m amazed at how easy it’s been. It takes time and planning. All of those fruits and vegetables don’t magically appear on my plate each meal. And because it is a big change, I’ve chosen to plan only 2-3 days of meals at a time.

I was already following a gluten-free diet, and eating a lot of healthy unprocessed foods, fruits, vegetables, oils, nuts and seeds, so it wasn’t a huge change.

Making my own alfalfa and broccoli sprouts

Still it took time to prepare myself to get ready to make the change.  I had been slowly adding more vegetables to my diet for a couple of months. But I knew that if I pushed too quickly into the change, that a couple of things could happen: I might give up because of inadequate preparation and planning, or I might rebel because some part of me wasn’t willing to make the change.

I wish I understood how the preparation process creates the space for the change to happen easily. Taking the time to prepare and listening compassionately to my own rebellious voices along with accepting my fears were key, I think.  A big fear that I identified before I made this diet change was, “What if it doesn’t help my health issues?” I was afraid that if I tried it and it didn’t help that I would lose hope of anything ever changing for the better.

Tea time

I prepared, I listened, I studied, and then one day I woke up and knew that this was the day that I would make the change. It was that simple and that easy! No angst, no worry, no wondering, no doubt!

Is there some change you’ve been thinking about making in your life? What next step can you take today to prepare to make that change?

The time has come