504: MADE IT THROUGH

On January 7, 2013 I embarked on my second year of participating in The Father’s House 504 Journey.  504 as it is known, is held at the beginning of the year for 21 days.  It is a spiritual fast that allows you to become closer to God.  Everyone that participates chooses his or her own fast.  Weather it be the Ultimate Fast, where you are consuming just water, fasting from something that takes up a lot of your time, such as Facebook or television, or something that you think you can’t live without but chose to give up.  Whatever your choice of fasting, it is between you and God.  I chose to do Daniels Fast.  While doing the Daniel’s Fast you can eat fruits, vegetables, legumes, brown rice, sunflower seeds, olive oil, vinegar, and popped popcorn.  You cannot consume any diary, meat, eggs, sweets, bread, caffeine, or anything containing sugars and yeast. 

            Last year I thought I followed the restrictions correctly but as I learned from this year, I didn’t.  It wasn’t until after I did further research on the Daniel’s Fast that I found out about the sugar and yeast.  I was more concerned about the sugar than anything else as yeast is usually labeled yeast.  But when we think of sugar, we think of obvious sweets and our traditional table sweets.  Often times we don’t take into consideration the sugar that is a part of the ingredients of those foods.  Some of the names you may be familiar with, some you may not.  High Fructose Corn Syrup, Dextrose, Maltrodextrin, Dextran, Bartley Malt, Sucrose, Rifners Syrup, Maltose, Glucose Solids, Fructose; these are just a few of the many different names for sugar that is added into our foods.  Last year I purchased a lot of vegan foods but didn’t realize I needed to take those foods into account as well.   Despite this, I still give myself credit because I had never done a fast of any kind, I didn’t eat any meat, and God knew my efforts and saw me through.          

            This year was much different.  For those three weeks my primary shopping was done at Rochester’s Public Market.  I stocked up on fresh fruits and vegetables.  Sweet potatoes were my favorite.  I learned that sweet potatoes are one of the best vegetables to consume.  I copied one of Amy’s Bowls and made brown rice, with mushrooms, black-eyed peas and broccoli, this was one of my main entrees.  I ate cabbage for the first week.  I then decided to make it for the third week, by that time, I was all cabbaged out!  I mixed it up a bit, with some stuffed peppers.   Before anyone goes off the deep end and say, “ I thought meat wasn’t included”meat wasn’t.  Stuff peppers can be made with whatever you desire.  I chose to stuff them with brown rice, corn, onions, mushrooms, and kidney beans, mixed with tomato paste or tomato sauce. 

            As I talk about what I ate throughout this Fast, I also did what I was supposed to do during this Fast.  I sought and listened to God.  Losing weight has been a struggle for me.  In 2011, I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic.  I was able to eat better and exercise more and lose 25 pounds in order to get out of the pre-diabetic stage.  As that year passed, I began to get more comfortable and some of the weight starting creeping back on.  Well, during this year’s fast, I felt as if God was giving me exactly what I had been asking for.  He was showing me the way to lose the weight.  Yes, I’ve lost some weight, but this time was different.  This time around he gave me the continued strength, knowledge, and courage to continue on after the fast.  I hear him clearly now as to what I need to do in order to better my Temple.  I lost 13 pounds from November until the end of the Fast.  I know the fasting played the biggest role in me losing along with exercising. 

            Even though I am off the fast and back to eating regular food, I feel more assured, more confidence, more positive, more empowered on my weight loss journey.  God gave me the tools and it is up to me to utilize them to move forward.  No it won’t be easy as there are temptations all around, but when my heart is set on something, coupled with God’s guidance, there isn’t a temptation in this world that is going to stop me!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JXFg5KEoXg