Fast Update

We are officially done with the food section of our 7 fast and onto clothing!  I ended up only doing the food fast for one week instead of two.  Our move was right in the middle of the two weeks and it was impossible really hard to be in between houses, feeding hungry helping friends, and only eating my 7 sanctioned foods in the middle of all the chaos.  I felt okay about my decision and definitely eating that way for even just one week was a stretch!

My overall observations were these:

• I realized how much time I usually spend waste on food!  I think about it all day.. wondering what I'll eat next, carefully choosing my recipes for the week and grocery shopping, thinking about what time I'll need to start my dinner prep, making dinner, etc.. WOW!  Simplifying ingredients made it so much easier - I needed seven things at the store.  I didn't waste time on my trip to Target browsing the aisles for what was on sale, what looked good, etc.. It was so much easier and really saved me lots of time.
• I was less hungry!  I'm not a great eater normally (I usually drink coffee in the morning for my breakfast, snack on random crap during the day, and than eat dinner).  With that ridiculous diet, I'm hungry a lot because I don't eat filling, healthy food.  With this diet, there was no room for empty calories and I was full and satisfied all the time.  
• I went through insane caffeine withdrawal.  I didn't think 1-2 cups of coffee a day was that severe but DANG.  I had a pounding, intense headache for the first two days.  Then that went away and I was achey all over, with flu-like symptoms.  I couldn't sleep well and had to use a heating pad for the aches.  I googled 'caffiene withdrawl' and found out I had a classic case!  One website said one of the symptoms can be 'losing the will to live.'  I almost got there!  ;) 
• I realized I use the word 'need' way too freely.  'I need my morning coffee!'  'I need a snack right now!' 'I need chocolate or I can't get through the day.'  'I need a glass of wine after a day like that.' Seriously.... it's embarrassing the things I think I need.  I ate only those seven foods and I was totally fine.  I'm hoping to be more careful about distinguishing between needs and wants after this experience.    

Overall, it was a really great week of discipline.  I missed my normal staples and it was really a lot harder than I thought it would be - even just for a week!  It was a great kick off to our 7 experience.

The next section we are focusing on is clothing.  For these next two weeks, I'll be wearing just seven items of clothing.  It was really hard to choose but I ended up with:

1 short sleeved green shirt

1 short sleeved grey shirt

1 short sleeved blue shirt w/ red flowers - my 'nice' shirt for the weeks

1 long sleeved white shirt

1 pair of nice jeans

1 pair of old, comfy jeans

1 pair of leggings

I didn't include shoes in my items but I did limit my shoes for the two weeks to 2 pairs plus my running shoes.  So far I have loved this fast!  Again - so much simpler!  Although I'm doing laundry a lot more often.  ;) 

One cool thing I learned this week is about a free app you can download called Free 2 Work.  You can scan items you want to buy and it will give you a grade (A-F) on how ethical their working conditions are in regards to child/forced labor.  They also have a long list of common stores and their ratings.  I was grieved to find out that Carters, on of my favorite places to shop for my kids, got a D.  ;( No more shopping there for me.  Anyway, just a great way to raise awareness and do my own little part to refuse to feed these practices with my dollar.  

Continuing to pray for more of JESUS in my life and through this time of discipline and fasting!