HealthyLiving Forum Posts (4,775)

Gleaning For The Hungry

Thanks for posting Heather!

You are in a great location for gleaning!
Oxnard is a short drive away and there are many produce houses you may be able to contact. Surely they could put you in touch with the local farms too. Lots of things that would take too long to grow in your backyard, such as lemons, oranges and tangerines are grown in your area. You could check with Sunkist in Oxnard or Piru.

Also you may be able to locate others in your area who are currently gleaning and join with them. What an opportunity you have in front of you!!

Glad to hear you are watering your flowers! I used to be a plant killer; not enough water, too much water, etc. It takes trial and error to learn.

Thanks for sharing!!

Gleaning For The Hungry

From: On The Go
As gardeners are preparing for their spring gardens, they might want to think about planting an extra row of produce to help those in need.

But for those people who do not garden or do not live in a climate that allows year-round gardening, there are alternative ways to help bring fresh produce to the hungry. And, the need has never been higher, with a recent story in the New York Times indicating that, “nearly one in five Americans said they lacked the money to buy the food they needed at some point in the last year.”

One way to help is to volunteer with organizations that donate fresh produce by gleaning excess or unwanted produce. Traditionally, gleaning is collecting “leftover” crops from farmers’ fields after they have already been harvested. After harvest, there is an abundance of high quality, marketable produce left in the fields that cannot be harvested economically or does not meet commercial standards.

As the need has increased, so has the number of nationwide groups conducting organized fruit harvests, or fruit gleanings in large cities.

Aside from these gleaning groups in urban areas, there are also quite a few groups and organizations located in more traditional, rural agricultural areas organized by both farmers’ organizations and other nonprofits all across the country.

While it is still the dead of winter, hunger knows no season. Wherever there is food growing, there is a need for gleaners, although the need varies by region, climate, and crop production. The number of large gleaning projects might go down during this time of year in some areas, but will pick up once the spring comes.

However, even during this very cold weather season, some groups are still conducting regular organized picks. One of these is South Carolina’s Fields to Families. They have been gleaning during the recent frosts and torrential storms in their area, and have even blogged about it. In 2009, Fields to Families distributed 80,390 pounds (65,000 meals) of fresh produce to those in need.

Another cold climate group is the Mid-Atlantic Gleaning Network based in Virginia. This nonprofit organization gleans in the National Capital region, and, annually provides over three million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to hungry people in their area.

On the West Coast, Harvest Against Hunger based in Seattle, Washington uses volunteers to glean vegetables, tree fruit and other produce from both local farms and gardens. The organization is affiliated with Rotary First Harvest and conducts monthly work parties in different parts of the state.

One of the oldest gleaning groups around is California based Ag Against Hunger. This nonprofit organization was created by local farmers, the farm bureau and the local food bank. It provides fresh donated produce to food banks in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties as well as the rest of California and the West Coast. Since 1990, area growers and shippers have donated over 160 million pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables to help feed the hungry. In 2009, it’s volunteers harvested over 143,000 pounds of produce that would have otherwise been disked underground.

Resolving Fear In Relationships

Unfortunately this is true, Pat.

If you felt truly safe, fear wouldn’t arise. From the perspective of spirit all fear is a projection from the past, and as long as these projections continue, you will keep generating fearful situations to accommodate them.


Freedom is found thru "Letting Go".
Let Go and Let God!
I believe one can do this, but first, they must TRUST God enough to believe that He is able to sustain them, heal their past hurts and take that pain and fear away Forever!

I know this from my own experience.
He took away all of my fears...
Read Psalm 34. It is true!

Resolving Fear In Relationships

Most of us go into relationships to find security; we want to be with someone who makes us feel safe. Two people form a better unit of defense against potential hazards and tragedies than one.

If you felt truly safe, fear wouldn’t arise. From the perspective of spirit all fear is a projection from the past, and as long as these projections continue, you will keep generating fearful situations to accommodate them.

Whatever you most fear – abandonment, rejection, failure, loss, humiliation – has already occurred to you. The threats you perceive around you now, or coming at you in the future, are the long shadow being cast by your past.

The reason romantic love makes you feel so safe is not that another person is there to guard you but that love is there to guard you. Most people feel that love has such power only in early childhood.

As infants we fused love with the presence of a loving father and mother. As long as they were there watching over us, we felt both loved and protected. Once we grew up, however, we learned that our parents had their own frailties and fears, that they were not as totally secure in the world as we thought.

This lesson usually came home in a way that brought some shock and disappointment. Faced with aloneness, the young child is thrown out of love and safety at the same time.

But that is where a mistake crept in, for the one lesson – parents can’t always protect you – is true, whereas the other – love can’t protect you – is not. Unlearning the second lesson is how you stop having to control other people, for it was in early childhood, almost exactly at the time you were first left to your own devices, that you started feeling the urge to establish control.

Adapted from The Path to Love, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press, 1997).

Is Obama Moving America Right?

I agree with you Ray and yes, things are going along just as they have planned.
The same people who played Bush as their puppet have Obama on strings.

China holds the bankroll. We are in debt to them big time. If we do not pay our debt, we will probably be nuked. Things are about to get much much worse.

I do not believe this was the "Change" the people expected!!!

HL

RE: OBAMA AFTER ONE YEAR

Really?????

What about his executive orders???

And... the Democrats in Congress are doing exactly as he wants done!!!

Just wait until people get their paychecks tomorrow and see how much they enjoy the payroll tax going from 5% to 9%!!!

And what about Medicare being cut???

They are bringing this country to RUIN!!

HL

Bless My Body

I bless my body. I see it healthy and whole.
From the top of my head to the tips of my toes, I breathe in a prayer of gratitude for my body. I bless every cell, marveling at the way they work together. Every strand of DNA is woven into a pattern of the unique being that I am. Every part of my body is a distinct creation that fits perfectly together with the whole.

If there is an area of my body that is in need of healing, I send it special blessings, calling forth the perfect life of God. I forgive myself for ways I may have not honored or appreciated my body in the past. I give thanks for the wonderful service my body provides. With new eyes of love I see my body as it was created, healthy and whole.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.--Psalm 16:9

RE: If love doesn't exist

You are mistaken!
Hearts are broken because of the selfishness within the heart.
Unconditional love does not break hearts.
I will not disappear as love will always remain
and Love is the Greatest!



HL

1984?

Yes Indeed! Here's what the Statesman writes about him...

John Pilger, renowned investigative journalist and documentary film-maker, is one of only two to have twice won British journalism's top award; his documentaries have won academy awards in both the UK and the US. In a New Statesman survey of the 50 heroes of our time, Pilger came fourth behind Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela. "John Pilger," wrote Harold Pinter, "unearths, with steely attention facts, the filthy truth. I salute him."

1984?

Welcome to Orwell’s world
John Pilger New Statesman

Published 30 December 2009


Obama's lies over the Afghanistan war remind us of the lessons of Nineteen Eighty-Four

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell described a superstate, Oceania, whose language of war inverted lies that "passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past'."

Barack Obama is the leader of a contemporary Oceania. In two speeches at the close of the decade, the Nobel Peace Prize-winner affirmed that peace was no longer peace, but rather a permanent war that "extends well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan" to "disorderly regions, failed states, diffuse enemies". He called this "global security" and invited our gratitude. To the people of Afghanistan, which the US has invaded and occupied, he said wittily: "We have no interest in occupying your country."

In Oceania, truth and lies are indivisible. According to Obama, the American attack on Afghanistan in 2001 was authorised by the United Nations Security Council. There was no UN authority. He said that "the world" supported the invasion in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks. In truth, all but three of 37 countries surveyed by Gallup expressed overwhelming opposition. He said that America invaded Afghanistan "only after the Taliban refused to turn over Osama Bin Laden". In 2001, the Taliban tried three times to hand over Bin Laden for trial, Pakistan's military regime reported, and they were ignored.

Article continued at this link:

International Law Enforcement Operates in U.S.

Obama gives Interpol free hand in U.S.
Washington Examiner Editorial
December 30, 2009

No presidential statement or White House press briefing was held on it. In fact, all that can be found about it on the official White House Web site is the Dec. 17 announcement and one-paragraph text of President Obama's Executive Order 12425, with this innocuous headline: "Amending Executive Order 12425 Designating Interpol as a public international organization entitled to enjoy certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities."In fact, this new directive from Obama may be the most destructive blow ever struck against American constitutional civil liberties. No wonder the White House said as little as possible about it.

There are multiple reasons why this Obama decision is so deeply disturbing. First, the Obama order reverses a 1983 Reagan administration decision in order to grant Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, two key privileges. First, Obama has granted Interpol the ability to operate within the territorial limits of the United States without being subject to the same constitutional restraints that apply to all domestic law enforcement agencies such as the FBI. Second, Obama has exempted Interpol's domestic facilities -- including its office within the U.S. Department of Justice -- from search and seizure by U.S. authorities and from disclosure of archived documents in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by U.S. citizens. Think very carefully about what you just read: Obama has given an international law enforcement organization that is accountable to no other national authority the ability to operate as it pleases within our own borders, and he has freed it from the most basic measure of official transparency and accountability, the FOIA.

The Examiner has asked for but not yet received from the White House press office an explanation of why the president signed this executive order and who among his advisers was involved in the process leading to his doing so. Unless the White House can provide credible reasons to think otherwise, it seems clear that Executive Order 12425's consequences could be far-reaching and disastrous. To cite only the most obvious example, giving Interpol free rein to act within this country could subject U.S. military, diplomatic, and intelligence personnel to the prospect of being taken into custody and hauled before the International Criminal Court as "war criminals."

As National Review Online's Andy McCarthy put it, the White House must answer these questions: Why should we elevate an international police force above American law? Why would we immunize an international police force from the limitations that constrain the FBI and other American law-enforcement agencies? Why is it suddenly necessary to have, within the Justice Department, a repository for stashing government files that will be beyond the scrutiny of Congress, American law enforcement, the media, and the American people?

RE: If love doesn't exist

I AM LOVE!!

God is Love.
Love lives In ME thru Christ.
Unconditional LOVE lives In me and operates through me!


Love DOES exist!!


HL

Old FISHERMAN

Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, 'If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!'

My friend changed my mind. 'I ran short of pots,' she explained, 'and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, till I can put it out in the garden.'

She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven. There's an especially beautiful one,' God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. 'He won't mind starting in this small body.'

All this happened long ago -- and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand.

The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'

Old FISHERMAN

Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the Clinic.

One summer evening as I was preparing supper, there was a knock at the door I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. 'Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old, ' I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body.

But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, 'Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus 'till morning.'

He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success; no one seemed to have a room. 'I guess it's my face. I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments...'

For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: 'I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.' I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. 'No thank you. I have plenty' And he held up a brown paper bag.

When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes... It didn't take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury.

He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was prefaced with thanks to God for a blessing He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going.

At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded, and the little man was out on the porch.

He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said,
'Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair.' He paused a moment and then added, 'Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind.' I told him he was welcome to come again.

AND on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4 a.m. , and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.

In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden.

Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.

When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. 'Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!'

Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice But, oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illness would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what It was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.

Faith

With God as my source, I am faith in action!
There are no limits to what I can accomplish or overcome when I focus on God as the source of all I need. Whatever challenge arises in my life or in the world, my faith in God sees me through.

God is the source of my strength, courage, vitality and peace of mind. And God is active in my life and in the world. I think of family, friends, acquaintances and all humanity, and I remember that God is the divine source of all they need as well. I release any concern into God's loving care, and I am grateful.

Remembering that God is our one true source changes me at depth and gives me the confidence to boldly affirm: "I am faith in action!" And in faith, I become an agent for positive change in the world.

New Life

Monday, January 4, 2010

This brand-new day begins with Christ in me.
Every morning, I have the ability to rise and begin a brand-new day with a fresh, new, positive attitude. I am not bound to old conditions, old patterns, old ways. Christ in me makes all things new. Through this power, I create a new me and embark on a new life.

I am open, creative and innovative. I express new ideas and open myself to perspectives I might never have considered. In so doing, I fling open the door to new ways of thinking, feeling and being.

Christ in me is life and energy in abundance. Christ in me is faith and hope that on any given day, I can release any negative feelings and replace them with goodwill, peace and prosperity.


Our inner nature is being renewed day by day.--2 Corinthians 4:16

Needs vs. Wants

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." - James 1:2-4

It's highly doubtful that the Rolling Stones ever intended to teach a biblical principle in their song lyrics, "You can’t always get what you want but . . . you get what you need," but that's what James 1:2-4 tells us that God gives us in our trials. He gives us what we need.

Here's the context: "Count it all joy . . . when you fall into various trials . . . And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

One of the great pains of life is that things are not always the way we want them to be. But get this, God makes sure that everything we need we have. Everything we want we do not have. When we say that God is working everything out for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28), that doesn't mean that we're going to have everything we want. As James 1:4 says, our steadfastness (our endurance) leads to us being "perfect," "complete," and "lacking in nothing." What great terms!

Perfect — we will have all the character we need to honor God.

Complete - we will have all the relationships we need to nourish and sustain us.

Lacking in nothing — we will miss out on nothing that would give us 100% satisfaction in God.

If I am perfect and complete, lacking in nothing - then I have everything I need to do everything God wants me to do. I can show the world the superiority of the life lived in God.

Every trial I face is allowed by God for my ultimate good. In part, that good includes my ability to discern the difference between needs and wants. Today if I endure, God promises to give me what I need. Tomorrow, in heaven, He promises to give me everything I could ever want and more.

Be thankful and content. You have everything you need, to do everything that God wants you to do.

James MacDonald

Kucinich Calls For Investigation

Dear Friends:

The following blog post by Jane Hamsher (Founder & Publisher - firedoglake.com) appeared today, December 30, 2009:


If the White House thought they could slip the bailout of Fannie and Freddie through by announcing it in a Christmas Eve news dump, think again. Dennis Kucinich just released this statement:

"As Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I'm announcing that the Subcommittee will launch an investigation into the Treasury Department's recent decision to lift the current $400-billion cap on combined federal assistance to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, opening the way for additional, unlimited funds through the end of 2012. This investigation will include the role played by Fannie Mae chief executive Michael J. Williams and Freddie Mac chief executive Charles E. Haldeman in the decision, if any, and will seek to ensure that the additional assistance is used for homeowners and not Wall Street."

"Many questions remain unanswered regarding this move by the Treasury. Why suddenly remove the cap? Indications are that Freddie and Fannie, even as millions of Americans lose their homes, have used just $111 billion of the $400 billion previously available to them. Is lifting the cap on assistance a back-door TARP?"

"Additionally, I want to determine whether Fannie and Freddie have a cohesive plan to buy up the under-performing mortgages that remain on the books of the big banks, at appropriate prices, and undertake a massive reworking of the terms of the mortgages so as to stem the foreclosure crisis that continues to plague our country. This new authority must be used responsibly and for the benefit of American families. This cannot be used simply to purchase toxic assets at inflated prices, thus transferring the losses to the U. S. taxpayers and acting as a back-door TARP."
On Christmas Eve, they also announced $4-$6 million compensation packages for their top executives. But they'll start foreclosing on homeowners again in January.

Fannie and Freddie have been corrupt cesspools for years, a place where presidents of both parties parked friends like Dennis DeConcini and Rahm Emanuel, giving them lucrative spots on the board of directors as political payoff. As government sponsored entities (GSEs) selling shares to the public, they operate like hedge funds that socialize losses and privatize profits.

From the LA Times last year:

"This week ... news broke that until August, the lobbying firm owned by McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was paid $15,000 a month by Freddie Mac, one of the mortgage giants implicated in the current crisis (now taken over by the government and under investigation by the FBI). Apparently, Freddie Mac's plan was to gain influence with McCain's campaign in hopes that he would help shield it from pesky government regulations."
It appears they kept looking. The Democrats have been too intimidated by leadership to start looking into the utter corruption at these entities, but Kucinich just doesn't care.

Where The Search Ends

I am thankful that the Holy Spirit will help us to get out of pooey situations!

2010 A New Beginning

Hey there! Long time no see!

I agree! We must be flexible and able to adapt to change, no matter how dramatic or painful it may be.

White Buffalo Woman's Sacred Instructions

The medicine man Crow Dog explains about White Buffalo Woman, “This holy woman brought the sacred buffalo calf pipe to the Sioux. There could be no Indians without it. Before she came, people didn’t know how to live. They knew nothing. The Buffalo Woman put her sacred mind into their minds.”

White Buffalo Woman taught how to walk like a living prayer, to sing the pipe filling song to the four directions of the Universe. Consider White Buffalo Woman’s sacred instructions, and read about the legend, no matter what your race, at this beautiful White Buffalo site:

RE: Real Men Cry

The anti-depressants have made you NUMB!
They are stealing your JOY!!
Throw em in the trash!!!

RE: does any one work????here?

I am working too!
My work is done on the computer so I pop in and out of CS when I can. It's a little slow for the Holidays so I have a little more time this week.

2010 A New Beginning

It’s a new year and a new beginning. This last one started out with the promise of something different, but the difficulties did not go away. So it is not surprising if there is some uncertainty about the year to come, whether with unemployment, health care, the war, or having enough money to pay the bills. It takes courage to shift the story line and move from a familiar and known place to one that is unknown and without reference points, as it means stepping outside of our usual comfort zone.

There is nothing more certain and unchanging than uncertainty and change. John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Ed remembers being excited about moving to England, many years ago. He counted the days until he left the US. When he finally arrived in a small cottage in Devon he had to face the reality of creating a whole new way of life. It took time to adjust and realize that change, although inevitable, can also be a time of great personal growth.

Emerging from three years in the Auschwitz concentration camp, psychiatrist Victor Frankl said that after his imprisonment and the destruction of his family, he had been left with only “the last of the human freedoms, to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” That is the choice that each one of us has. A choice in how we live our lives, despite the difficulties we face, and how we care for each other.

Life never stands still, no matter what we do. Change is the very nature of existence. Our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, ideas, even our relationships are as changeable as the weather or the seasons. Who we are now is not who we were last year, last week, yesterday, even a minute ago. Already our feelings have changed, our thoughts are different, and some of our cells have died while others have been created.

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next. Ursula K. LeGuin

Without change in ourselves we become stifled and stagnant. Being with what is as it is, and integrating the reality of change is wonderfully liberating, the opportunity to clear away layers of dust and cobwebs and to start anew in each moment. We can become fearless through uncertainty.

Are you ready to CHANGE?

FASTING

How To Create Harmony With Your Intentions

Our intentions are a manifestation of the total universe because we are a part of the universe. And our intentions hold within them the mechanics of their fulfillment. All we really need is clarity of intent. Then if we can get the ego out of the way, the intentions fulfill themselves.

Our intentions attract the elements and forces, the events, the situation, the circumstances, and the relationships necessary to fulfill the intended outcome. We don’t need to become involved in the details–in fact, trying too hard may backfire. Let the non-local intelligence synchronize the actions of the universe to fulfill your intentions for you.

The only preparation or participation required to unleash the power of intention is a connection to the conscious intelligence field, which can be attained in many ways, one of the best being meditation.

When a person achieves a certain level of consciousness, whatever he or she intends begins to happen. These are the people who are so connected with the conscious intelligence field that their every intent manifests itself–the whole order of the universe orchestrates around it.

Of course, it is not strictly true that their every personal intention is being met; in actuality, people who are connected with the conscious intelligence field adopt the intentions of the universe. Their intentions are being met, but that’s only because the cosmic mind is using their intentions to fulfill its own desires.

Adapted from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press).

Integrity

I am centered in the integrity of Spirit.
I dedicate myself to do what I know to be right and good for all concerned. Standing centered in the integrity of Spirit, I express respect and honesty in my thoughts, words and actions. My intention to live a life of integrity goes before me, making straight my way. I go about my day and my life with Spirit as my moral compass, achieving my goals to the best of my ability.

Integrity clothes itself in many garments. It is called honesty, honor, virtue and knowing oneness with God. When I consistently light my candle of integrity, I extinguish the negativity and fear in my world. With each reliable, truthful choice, I am a blessing. I bring light into the world by living from the integrity of my Christ-center.

He walked with me in integrity and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.--Malachi 2:6

FASTING

Congratulations deacon!

I ask the Lord to completely take the desire for cigarettes away from you! And so be it!

FASTING

I know this to be true in my own experience also.

Fasting has been done by man for thousands of years, many times by those seeking a deeper spiritual experience.

FASTING

People fast for different reasons, Morgan.
Fasting cleanses the body of toxins.
A juice fast actually adds nutrition to the cells, to make them healthier. Some do this type of fasting for cleansing and gaining nutrients.

Some fast for religious purposes such as to honour certain Holy Days. Others do it with a purpose in mind, to receive a particular answer to prayer, such as praying for a Nation in trouble, requesting God's intervention.

Some fast to cleans their body and lose weight, which adds to their being Healthy.

You don't only have to fast from eating foods. Some people fast watching TV, excluding it from their schedule. CS addicts could fast CS! How many will go for that??

Fasting can be cleansing to the body, mind and soul.

FASTING

Hi Zell
Many have found themselves in this same situation!
Detoxification is very important to the body.
Perhaps beginning a fast by eating raw fruits and vegetables and drinking juices for the first 3 days, then switching to only juices for the next 5 would be easier to make it through a first time fast.

I believe that if we can encourage one another thru emails, etc.
during the fast, it can help us to stay on our fast.
Maybe if you had such a friend at the time, it would have worked better for you?