AN APPLE A DAY - DAY 105 - EATING AND DRINKING TO THE GLORY OF GOD

365 DAYS TO A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

I firmly believe how we relate to God as our provider is crucial to our health and well being.  I have been dwelling on this fact all week now while studying and  observing the lifestyle of the Athos Monks living on the Greek mountain called Athos.  These monks have put everything in life aside and have depended solely upon God for their substance. Their whole lives are simply lived to give glory to God.  They are among the healthiest people on earth.

Then I also consider the ancient cultures that lived such long and healthy lives without the aid of the medical professionals that we now enjoy.  Just this week I have been writing in my Thursday blog called COME AS A CHILD about The Children of Israel who were redeemed by God from the bondage of Egyptian slavery.  These people were known for being strong and healthy.  These two subjects have kept running as parallel examples through my mind as strong examples of health and endurance.  The connection, of course, is their faith in God and their trust in Him to provide for their every need.  The ancient descendants of Abraham went out to live in the wilderness.  They traveled through the dry parched desert in scorching heat and lived in tents there through the cold desert nights.  They thrived in this environment for 40 years.  Like the Monks in Athos they too were isolated from the rest of the world, set apart and depending solely upon God for their food, clothing and shelter.

 Both groups have such amazing and healthy characteristics!  These present day  Monks, like those ancient people also have very healthy bodies and minds.  Can you imagine never experiencing health problems as you grow older?  

The people of Israel used the same clothes and shoes for 40 years! They had healthy food rained down to them from heaven every day!   Can you imagine never purchasing anything, and simply trusting God to look after you day in and day out?  As a Christian I SHOULD be able to imagine that; but like most people, I have a long way to go to develop my faith to this point.  It is a desired goal.   The experiences of both of these people groups and their outlooks on life and daily living are well worth noting and many of their ways are worth observing and putting into practice in the days of our own lives. 

I am reminded of the scripture verse found in Psalm 145:15-16; The eyes of all look to you in hope, you give them their food as they need it.  When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing. 

Both of these people groups have depended solely upon God during two very different times in history; and the hand of God has satisfied their hunger and thirst and brought them to a quality of life and health that has turned out to be both fascinating and amazing.  They would tell you that the foods that are natural, just as God created them, are the best foods to put into your body. 

So here I am in the beginning of the first week of my new diet plan that I hope follows the lifestyle of these Athos monks (for more details see my blog at http://dancinginseason.blogspot.com/2016/07/an-apple-day-day-104-learning-lesson.html )  I have been constantly reminded throughout this first week of the diet that God satisfies our hunger and thirst and provides all that we need daily.  

I was not accustomed to only two meals a day.  Limiting the food intake has made me more aware of how God provides just what we need just when and how we need it.  Going without food for longer intervals of time makes you very thankful for the basic natural foods that God provides to us.  Everything tastes better, and cravings change from the desire for what is unhealthy and fake to the desire for what is good, fresh and natural.   

I love studying these day-to-day miracles that God provides for us and the way He  teaches us through other members of the human family across various different times and cultures.  Most of them go unnoticed by most people almost every day.  They would quickly notice though should any of it disappear!  I don't want to miss a moment of God's awesome provision!  My desire is to learn more about healthy living from both of the above mentioned people groups. This new experiment has been a very interesting journey so far as I've started actually putting together a plan and carrying out the things I've learned in this first week. 

So far I have actually been able to follow my own imagination's version of the diet of the monks from Athos.   As a result I can honestly say I feel much better already! 

The first thing I noticed after a few days of more educated eating and exercising was the clarity I gained in my thinking.  The Monks say this is due to the fasting part of the diet.   For several weeks I’ve had what I call “brain fog.”  I attributed this to the fast pace of my life. I work full-time and look at the computer all day at work while sitting for hours at a time, then come home and pursue my writing career, which also has me looking at the computer for long hours into the night.  After awhile, so many facts and thoughts and reading and writing can give you brain fog as well as eye fatigue.  I simply can’t help this right now; it is all necessary to achieve success in the areas of my life that are very important to my personal growth and my future.  The constant sitting is very bad for you, as it slows down circulation, and I think that contributes to the cloudy feeling I was getting inside my head at the end of the day, or when I first awoke in the mornings, just a general sluggishness.  I hated this!  

After a week of eating two healthy nutritious meals a day combined with moderate exercise every 3 hours, and enough fasting time in between meals for my food to digest properly and allow me to actually become hungry again, I’ve noticed a remarkable change in the clarity in my thinking and functioning abilities.  I didn’t expect that to happen so fast!  I love it and I have to attribute it to following this new diet plan, especially in observing the "fast" days of the diet.

By the way; the food, when I was not fasting, has been very good!  At first I was hungry each day at noon time because allowing 12 hours between meals was a bit of a challenge.  I toughed it out though, and have found this change is now leaving me feeling invigorated at the end a full week.  I’m not getting as hungry in between meals anymore. 

The most challenging part of following this diet that I have mapped for myself from my limited knowledge of how these modern day monks are living, is having enough variety from the available food choices each day to keep the diet interesting.  I’ve had to use my imagination and stretch my creative menu forming talents to come up with some good new menus filled with foods that I actually liked to eat; especially on the fast days when you only eat fruit and vegetables and nothing else.   In this first week I have managed to come up with some tasty new recipes that have helped me to get off to a good start.  Changing the recipes every day keeps the diet from becoming boring and monotonous.  In a moment  I will share two of these new recipes with you, but first I want to talk about some workable breakfast and lunch routines. 

For breakfast I have alternated between fruit plates on fast days and flat bread and cream cheese with fruit and honey on top for moderate days.  On feast days I will probably have a normal breakfast with eggs, whole wheat toast and jelly, or maybe even some pancakes or waffles topped with blueberries or strawberries and a flavored syrup.

Of course there is no lunch!  The diet contains just two meals a day at regular intervals, so to curb my hunger I have a cup of hot herbal tea in the middle of the day.   I take an extra walk during lunch break to occupy my mind and keep my thoughts off of food.  The hunger is gradually adjusting to the point of just making my evening meals taste so much better when I finally do eat!  

I have to be very careful to not get carried away with the portions I allow myself in the evenings simply because there has been a long period of fasting in between meals each day.  That would be easy to do, and I have to watch it.  I can actually feel my stomach adjusting to this routine.  It feels good!  The apples I usually incorporate into my breakfast aid in digestion and the bananas help to keep me happy!  They seem to be working just the way I thought they would.  I feel pretty great all day now.  Before I was experiencing a lot of indigestion and periods of less joy than normal.  

The two recipes that follow are some I put to good to use on the “moderate" days of the diet because they do contain cheese, and salad dressing and olive oil which are not allowed on the "fast" days.  I suppose you could simplify these same recipes on fast days and just leave out the cheese and olive oil. 



ZUCCHINI BOATS

Ingredients:

1 Red Pepper chopped into small pieces

1/2 Purple Onion chopped into small pieces

½ cup of Yellow Corn Kernels

4 large Zucchini cut in half and divided again with the middles scooped out

1 small can drained Black Beans (or fresh if you have time)

1 cup medium flavored Salsa (use mild if you aren’t into spicy)

2 teaspoons Cumin

2 teaspoons Garlic powder

½ cup fresh Cilantro, finely chopped

Sea Salt to taste

1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.  Prepare a 9x13 inch greased casserole dish for baking.  I used Pam spray that is made from coconut oil.  Half the zucchini length wise and cut each one into small boat-shaped lengths, then hollow out the middles.  (If you do not want to waste the middles, chop them into small pieces and preserve in an airtight container to use in a salad later on during the week.)  Place a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet on the stove and add onions and peppers.  Saute these vegetables for three minutes, then add corn, beans, salsa, garlic and cumin.  Heat all for about five minutes, stirring as needed.  Stir in sea salt and cilantro.  Place zucchini boats into casserole dish.  Spoon the vegetable mixture from the skillet into the little zucchini boats.  Grate 1 cup of cheddar cheese and sprinkle cheese on top of each boat.  Cover casserole dish with foil and cook in the oven for one hour.  Remove foil and heat for a few minutes more until the cheese is slightly brown and bubbly.  Serve hot. . 

You will get a wide variety of nutrients from this recipe.  It is full of delicious vegetables (zucchini, onion, corn and black beans) and they combine in a very tasty way that fills you up and satisfies your hunger.  There is the added benefit of the herbs and spices (cumin, garlic, cilantro and sea salt) which are all very good for you too.  Eventually we will get around to discussing the nutritional value of all of these vegetables and herbs and spices in this blog.  Knowing what you are putting into your body is important!  This recipe will easily feed 4 – 6 people, so in order not to be wasteful I froze half of mine to use again next week.  This little trick really cuts down on prep-time for preparing healthy meals after work.  Most vegetable dishes freeze very well.   Just don’t add the cheese on top until you are ready to cook and this one will freeze just fine. Added bonus:  My husband loved it!  He is a very picky eater!

WARM CABBAGE

 Ingredients:

1 cup honey Dijon dressing.  (I bought the kind you find in the deli aisle that is refrigerated in a jar, but probably better if you prepare from scratch)

½ head of cabbage finely shredded (about six cups)

8 ounces fresh white mushrooms

4 ounces crumbled blue cheese

Sea salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

Preparation:

Finely shred the cabbage, leaving out the core.  Place in a 9x13 baking dish or a large round salad bowl and sprinkle the blue cheese crumbles on top of the cold cabbage, leaving a few of the crumbles to use for garnish when you are done.  Place two tablespoons of olive oil inside a skillet on the stove and saute the mushrooms on medium heat.  Add two cups of honey Dijon dressing to the mushrooms when they are sauteed.  Heat the mix for three minutes.  Pour the warm mushroom mix over the top of the cabbage and crumbled blue cheese.  Serve immediately while the topping is still hot. 

The combination of the hot dressing and the cold cabbage makes this a very interesting dish with unusual flavors that you will love.  Season it all with sea salt and pepper to your desired taste and garnish with the leftover blue cheese crumbles.  This dish will feed about 4 – 6 people.  You can refrigerate it and serve cold with another meal later, or you can do what I did with my leftovers the next day.  I placed my leftover cabbage along with the mushroom and dressing topping in a casserole dish and put foil over it and reheated it all, including heating the cabbage (this time) and served it all hot.  It is delicious either served as noted in the recipe above, or completely cold, or completely hot.  The cabbage just takes on a different consistency according to however you prepare it.  The warm/cold combination works the best for my taste, but all three versions are good.

So there are two new recipes to use for starters if you are joining in with me on this little eating plan I hope they are helpful to you.

The good news, besides the fact that this is doable, healthy, easy and nutritious; is the fact that I actually lost five pounds on the first week!  Icing on the cake!  (Sorry – probably a bad phrase for this article) but it was a great surprise!  This tells me I seem to be  headed in the right direction.

Keep in mind I am not following anyone’s version of this diet; but simply making up my own version based on what I have read and some additional health facts that I had already factored into my days.  The recipes are picked by me and not copied from any Athos diet books that have been published. I am not specifically following anyone’s guidelines or rules here.  As I mentioned before, I have not even read the diet books (yet.)  I’ve only read several articles about the lifestyles of these monks and this is what I devised on my own as an experiment.  Read the blog I mentioned earlier for my specific details.  So far, I am liking the results! 

The other thing that the monks do is to drink herbal teas as well as a little red wine.  I have promised to write about this more, and I will eventually. 

I have not yet had the time to do all of the research needed, but I will eventually give you a few good tea recipes.  

Until I get there; I have been making myself three cups of a hot drink mix each day, one in the morning with breakfast, one in the middle of the day and one in the evening before bedtime.  During the day I have heated up water and poured it into a cup then added a teaspoon of apple cider, a teaspoon of lemon juice, a teaspoon of honey and 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger.  At night I have a cup of hot water steeped with chamomile tea flavored with a spoonful of honey.  It is very soothing and cozy to drink just before bedtime, and it helps me to get a great night of sleep.

Stay tuned to the AN APPLE A DAY section of the IN SEASON blog if you are interested in hearing more details and the actual results of this diet experiment.  I TRY to post these articles on Fridays.  I hope every week is as good and as interesting as this week has been.  Of course, don’t forget to add the most important part – time alone with God.

 

I’ll leave you with this final verse from Romans 12:2; Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.