The Daniel Diet

For 10 days my wife and I will be eating mainly fruits and vegetables along with some nuts. This idea comes from the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament. Read the following where the king finds men to train for 3 years and they are given royal foods and wines. David did not want to defile himself and asked if he and his men could eat just fruits and vegetables. When the royal servant showed concern saying how would he answer the king when David and his men showed up at the end of 3 years of training looking weaker than the men who got the royal foods. David reponded,

12 "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

A friend of mine says he often goes on this type of fast when he has hit rock bottom with his eating habits. I really feel I've hit rock bottom as well. It is possible to lose 5-10 pounds during this time, but as always, consult with your own doctor before trying such a plan.

I've done fine so far today. No headaches and no caffeine. I ate a real late breakfast about 10am: small orange and a small apple. Around noon I had a can of cooked corn and a jar of my dad's homegrown green beans. I also drank a small cup of pineapple juice along with a few sunflower seeds and almonds. My afternoon snack was a banana and I just had a small tomato soup.

I'll keep you posted.

The Evolution of a Diet

According to the Bible, which I firmly believe is the truth, we were originally fruits and vegetarians.

Genesis 1:29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food."

It also says in verse 30 that all animals were given every green plant for food. No carnivores yet.

When Adam and Eve failed God's command and ate from the tree of knowledge or good an evil God added another twist to the human diet. In Genesis 3:17-18 God says. "17....cursed is the ground because of you: through painful turmoil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field."

It seems at this point in time man would have to work the fields for his food. He would have to deal with weeds and earn his food. The plants of the field included vegetables and grains. No longer could he just go and pick fruit, eat, and be happy.

When God flooded the earth and only Noah and his family was spared another twist was added. This was the 2nd major downfall of man. Genesis 9:3 God says, "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything."

At this point in time animals also began to fear man. The whole predator-prey food chain started as well. If you think about it there would have been no vegetation or fruit to choose from if the earth had been flooded. Protein was now added into the mix. There were some stipulations about which types of meats and such since the sacrifice of animals would come into play

Since a friend from church brought up that I hadn't posted in a while today I posted on my Crave The Word blogsite about signs from God. Tomorrow I am going to post a passage from Daniel pertaining to the Daniel diet which I am going to do for 10 days. I'll tell you about it Monday night.

Once Removed

It has been 4 days since we really tried to purchase a car. We left the last dealer with an offer of "about" $265-275 a month. That was paying the $700 for window ID etching. Yesterday I got a call that the new offer was $249 a month. I politely called back today and talked to an assistant and said no thanks. I got another call saying he had talked to the "owner" and it was now $240. That $25-$35 a month could have been $1500 more out of my pocket, and profit for the dealer. That is why it is smart to educate yourself first and be ready to walk away. Their last offer was $3 away from my wife's number of $237. I was hoping for $230. If the number would have been $240 Monday night she'd be driving the 2007 Sebring. I'm so glad they didn't offer that amount.

We've reconsidered whether or not we really want to make the purchase. That $2500 out of pocket with money down and monthly payments could pay off our Lowes card. We could realistically be out of debt by Christmas....outside a house payment and my truck.

So, when buying a car....TAKE YOUR TIME and be ready to walk away. My walking away has already changed the balance into my favor by at least $1500.

We did leave our garage opener in the car that we drove last weekend. Hope they mail it. Not wanting to drive 80 miles round trip for the opener.

Happy Birthday to Me

42 today. Weird when I think 14 years ago I was 28, and 14 years from now I will be 56. A real good friend from school is about to be 28 and I can't believe we are really 14 years different in age. Anyway, spent most of my day looking for a car for my wife. We came home with our 2000 Neon.

Country Dealer-we drove a 2008 Dodge Avenger for 2 days since they couldn't find the 2007 Sebring we drove up to see Saturday. They located it at one of their other 3 dealerships. The ad said 16,000 miles and it had 21,000 on it. We were disappointed by the condition it was in. Obviously it was a rental car at one time and it was nicked up a bit. It took us about 45 minutes to leave the dealership. We had to wait to get our car back. On top of that we had to meet 2 sales managers who had to ask us why we couldn't put a deal together. Simply, "WE DON'T WANT THAT CAR!" "Well, what about a Dodge Caliber?" NO NO NO! Nobody wore dress clothes. Deer hunting gear seemed more like it at this place

This dealer was 40 miles north of our home and the 2nd dealer was about 30 miles south. We left Country Dealer a little after 6pm and dropped our kids off at home to a sitter. We woofed down cheeseburgers on the way(more on this later.)

City Dealer-Everyone had on white shirts, ties and sport coats. The salesman had the car sitting up front when we got there. Test drove, gave our credit info, laid out our have to's on payment and such. They came in $30 a month higher than our limit. Deal or No Deal? No Deal. This car had 5,000 more miles than advertised AND they were charging $700 for window etching AND there was some body damage. At least this guy let us leave right away once he realized we weren't going to budge. Then again it was 9:30pm and he was scheduled off at 7pm.

Stopped and got an ice cream with the wife on the way home to top the night off.

TIRED!

I Wonder....................

I wonder how much the guys who hold those 80% OFF CLOSE-OUT sales signs along side busy intersections make? Do they make more than the guy who dresses up like Uncle Sam during tax time trying to get people to file their taxes with Liberty Tax Services? Nothing like dressing up in Red/White/Blue stripes with a big top hat.

Do you think they do criminal background checks?

Just something I've been thinking about lately since I saw both situations today.

TV Time

Then only things set on our DVR right now in case we aren't home are The Apprentice and Survivor. Even with the writer's guild of America being on strike there are plenty of shows out there and I am not interested in watching any dramas or comedy sitcoms. That said, Thursday night is really the only night I really want to be home to watch TV. Last night I got sucked into the mindless Deal or No Deal. The show is so bad that they have to make 1/2 of the briefcases $1M just to keep viewers interested. This show is definitely on the decline side of it's life cycle. The only fun part for me is trying to guess the amount that the new offer will be. I'm pretty good at that.

Backlogged on "my DVR" is about 10 Flip That(this?) House and a few poker shows. That's it. I really don't crave watching TV anymore. I do find myself mindlessly watching a few shows on the FoodNetwork and HGTV. I don't even care to watch SportsCenter anymore.

What's on your DVR?

Bring Out Your Dead

Great scene from a Monty Python movie where a cart master is going around picking up dead people and a guy tries to get rid of a guy who is "almost" dead. The last 10 days have been tough on me. Every since a week ago Wednesday I feel like I've been less than alive. I probably could have and should have taken a day or 2 off last week. Finally Friday I visited a local Emergency Care place which diagnosed me with Sinusitus. At least it wasn't Flu or Strep.

Hard to sleep at night when you are coughing and blowing the nose every minute or two. Today is Thursday, about 9 days after I really started feeling sick and I feel I'm about 90% back to capacity.

I did take off yesterday, Wednesday, and napped for about 2 hours. I even took a brief nap on my co-workers small sofa during my plan time today. Been drinking lots of water and juice too!

I developed a new plan to get healthy. Last weekend, during my illness, I attended a health class. My 3 simple keys to getting healthier right now are:

1. Drink 2-3 bottles of water before drinking a diet Pepsi.
2. Only have breakfast away from home on Friday's-Chick Fil A DAY!!!!
3. Walk/jog 2 miles a day no matter what.

So far I'm 4 days in and successful! Now if I could just sleep thru the night and get back to being myself.