Summer of 2001
HER in 2020
Light at the end of the tunnel
I know, I know, I said 2000—My apology!
Image by Debby Hudson/Upsplash
During the summer of 2001, I went to two company outings. The first outing was in June, at a local theme park, where company staff met at a mutual picnic area, and then had the opportunity to freely partake of all that the theme park had to offer. Because it was a major company event, there was a staff photographer roaming the grounds, snapping pictures to commemorate the event. The second outing was in July, with another company, at a recreational park which had a pool. Neither of the locations are really relevant as it relates to this story, but the staff photographer at the first event…remember him.
[Another little note to remember is that sometime during the latter years of the 1990’s, I had also been diagnosed with, and medicated for, high cholesterol—but, again, that’s another story for another time.]
At the second outing, I can vividly recall a seemingly insignificant walk to the pool house restroom. Insignificant, with the exception that during the walk, God spoke an answer to my prayers. Not only did He speak, but He immediately gave me the resolve to live out the answer. The answer started with eating all fruits and vegetables for about three weeks. It was the middle of the summer, and this was fairly easy for me, as I loved fresh summer vegetables and fruits! Prior to this revelation, I had scheduled an appointment with yet another doctor. I knew this doctor to be a little more interested in naturopathic health. He was also a Christian, who had a godly concern for our bodily temples (ref. I Corinthians 3:16).
After the outing, I stopped eating everything, but fruits and vegetables. (Remember the TMI statement from the previous blog? Well, the effects of the blood pressure medicine found their match in my fresh fruits and vegetables.) By the time I visited my new doctor, three weeks later, I had dropped nearly 20 pounds! The doctor looked at my transferred records, and allowed a slightly colorful, weight-related exclamation to slip from his mouth, which I won’t repeat—it was surprising, but kind of funny! He also noticed that my blood pressure was significantly lower than my transferred records had indicated, so he took me off the HBP medication, and scheduled a follow-up.
I had no desire to go back to eating meat, dairy, refined flour, or any of the junkier foods that I would normally eat. I had intended to gradually add fish back into my diet, but at this time, I didn’t even feel the need to do that. A week or so following the first new doctor’s visit, we went to Florida, where I still was not tempted to indulge in the junk food delicacies of vacation. Additionally, carrying around less weight gave me more energy! I had a great time taking the long walks through multiple theme parks, swimming, and participating in many other activities.
For the next year and a half, I was eating vegan (although I didn’t know what “vegan” was, at the time), and doing a quarterly 21-day fast—not the unhealthy, nothing-but-tea-and-water fast, but more of a healthy cleanse—eliminating snacks, sugar, overly cooked and/or processed food, and eating more raw fruits and vegetables. I was on my way to a new, healthy life!!!
Remember the staff photographer? The left image is HER in June 2001. The right image is HER in August 2001.