In The Throes of Detox

I must confess.  I wanted to title this post differently but I didn't want to be too shocking.  Suffice it to say, it would have been something like "Detox Hades".  I seem to be experiencing things sooner this time around than normal and I'm not really sure why that is.  Day 1 and 2 were the normal:  make sure there is bathroom close at all time (because I'm sure to be in there every hour or so), hunger pains and fatigue, to name just a few.  I struggle with making sure I drink enough water and I am sure that causes me quite a bit of grief.  I expected these first symptoms because I've experienced them before.  The night of Day 2 (last night) was a night to be remembered!

About 12:30 a.m. I awoke with an excruciating headache that made me feel like my head, neck, and upper shoulders were in a vise!  I tried to drink some water but could only manage a small amount.  I didn't want anything going into my mouth, much less my stomach.  Fortunately, I knew what was going on.  My body was responding just exactly like it was supposed to.  All of those toxins I'd been feeding it for months were letting go and releasing into my bloodstream and my body was screaming, "Stop!"  There is a point in long-term fasting of any kind where you will feel like you are in the battle of your life.  Thankfully, as I said before, I didn't want anything to eat or drink so I wasn't tempted to quit.  I know, from experience, things will get better.  So much better.

Misery does love company.  My husband was having a very restless night as well and we were both wide awake at 1:30 a.m.  And, being the sweetheart that he is, I got a good back and neck rub out of the deal.  We talked about what we were praying for in this fast and our goals for our lives.  I don't think I went back to sleep until about 4:00 a.m. and I'm not sure he ever did.  Our habit in the past when we couldn't sleep was to get up and go to work.  Working for yourself and from your home can make you do a lot of that type of thing.  I'm glad we resisted that urge.  Today has been a little rough because of the night but I'm expecting to sleep much better and for tomorrow, Day 4, to be much better.

I'm praying that, as I detox this body, that the increased prayer and study will detox my spirit as well.  What I really feel in my soul and spirit when I am going through these struggles is Hope.  Hope for the future.  Hope for better health to "spring forth speedily".  Hope for energy to do the things I need and want to do for God and my family.  And for others.  I'm thankful for that kind of Faith.  Eyes of faith that see beyond the struggle to what is to come.  And so, I'll stay strong even in the throes of Detox!

Why Fast?

"Then......thine health shall spring forth speedily...."  This portion of Isaiah 58:8 has always been one of my favorite promises in the Word of God.  Isaiah 58 is the chapter that discusses the Fast that God has chosen.  He is reprimanding His people for their motives and actions in performing the Biblical principal of Fasting.  Fasting is restricting food for a spiritual purpose.  God has specific intentions when it comes to Fasting.  It matters to Him how it is done... and why it is done. 

My husband and I have participated in corporate Fasts down through the years as well as personal Fasts on our own.  For the last few years we have done what is called the Daniel's Fast, which is based on the Fast that the prophet, Daniel, did as described in the book of Daniel, chapter 10.  Each time we did the Fast, I would wish that I had blogged about our experience after we were well into the Fast.  Thankfully (hopefully), I remembered that desire before we actually started the Fast. 

While Fasting is a spiritual discipline, and should be done for spiritual reasons, there are definite physical results and trials that one experiences.  That is the purpose for this blog series.  I am planning to blog about our experience on a spiritual level as well in my blog "His Plan For Me" at leslie-tritsch.blogspot.com but this blog is strictly about the physical aspects.  In performing the Fast in the past I have undergone several physical symptoms, that I wondered if anyone else had ever felt.  I searched for answers on the internet and was unsuccessful in locating them.  I have always been a person who wants to know "Why?".  There is always a reason.  Now, I do not profess to be a Doctor, a Scientist, or any Professional of the sort so all I will propose to do here is present the symptoms and, if someone else has experienced the same, at least they will know they are not alone.  More importantly, they will know that it is a natural occurrence, and not life-threatening. 

Another thing I do know is that no two people are alike.  All of our bodies are different and they react differently to the same stimuli.  I am, according to the Doctors, a Diabetic.  I can tell you for a certainty, my body reacts different to sugar levels than most other Diabetics that I know.  Therefore, please take anything I say in this series as my personal experience and do not base what you do on my experience.  As a disclaimer, I have to say, if you are a Diabetic or have other physical conditions, please discuss with your Doctor before starting any Fasting regimen.  Personally, I am not afraid to Fast.  Especially the Daniel's Fast because you do eat.  It is amazing to me the effect this Fast has on my sugar levels.  I am convinced that, if I were to stay on this Fast forever, I could cure myself of Diabetes.  I'm Type II and I do not take any medication, although it is prescribed.  I made that choice myself.  I was more afraid of what the medications were doing to my body than what the disease could.  Trust me, I've been fussed at more than a little about this.  I have been told, as a Diabetic, "don't eat fruit!"  That's just crazy.   "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."  Genesis 1:29.  I do believe that man has messed with God's creation with such things as GMOs, pesticides, and what-have-you, but what He made was good and it was good for food.  I eat all the fruit I want on the Daniel's Fast and my sugar goes down!


Just to clarify what the Daniel's Fast consists of, I will list the foods you are allowed to eat:

Foods to Eat on the Daniel Fast

• All fruit - fresh, frozen, dried, juiced, or canned.
• All vegetables - fresh, frozen, dried, juiced, or canned.
• All whole grains - amaranth, barley, brown rice, oats, quinoa, millet, and whole wheat.
• All nuts & seeds - almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, peanuts, pecans, pine nuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds. Nut butters are also included.
• All legumes - canned or dried; black beans, black eyed peas, cannellini beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), great northern beans, kidney beans, lentils, pinto beans, and split peas.
• All quality oils - canola, coconut, grapeseed, olive, peanut, and sesame.
• Beverages - distilled water, filtered water, and spring water.
• Other - herbs, spices, salt, pepper, seasonings, soy products, and tofu.

The basis for this 21-day fast is found in Daniel 10:2-3.


We have just completed Day 1of the Fast and I will tell you what we ate and a few of the symptoms we have experienced.

For breakfast we had Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats (Bob's Red Mill is my favorite) with apples, raisins and pecans.  Yummy!  I usually cook a large batch of these so we can have breakfast for 2 days.

For lunch we had microwaved red potatoes, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with Kosher salt along with steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, drizzled and sprinkled as well.  Quite tasty!

For supper we had the following recipe:

15-Bean Soup

(You can mix your own dried beans or you can buy pre-mixed dried 15-bean mix)
Include:  barley, peas, black peas, red beans, great northern beans, lentils, pinto beans, split peas, black-eyed peas, etc.)

Combine beans (2 cups), wash and soak overnight.  Drain.
Add 2 quarts water, 3 cubes of vegetable bouillon, 1 large onion, chopped, 1 clove garlic, minced, 1 tsp salt, 1 can tomatoes, 1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes.

I cook this in a crock pot until the beans are tender.  You can cook on the stove-top by bringing to a boil, reducing heat to simmer, cover and cook for 1-1/2 to 2 hours until beans are tender.

Simply delish! This is a recipe that I adapted to fit the Fast.  We have it several times during the 21 days.

We snack on raisins and almonds and maybe an olive or two.

What have we experienced so far?  Well, you would think that eating that kind of food you wouldn't feel any symptoms.  Trust me, you do.  Your body is accustomed to eating those "delicacies" that Daniel refused to eat.  Your body rebels.  I always experience an immediate change in my digestive system.  I will spare you the details.  This is from day one.  Thankfully, I know from experience, it gets better.  And the headache.  Probably from caffeine withdrawals but also your body is beginning to detox.  Drink lots of water!  This will help tremendously!  If you have trouble with the "taste" of water, try adding a squeeze or two of lemon to your glass.  You'll probably experience a little fatigue as well.  Water helps with that, too.

I can't promise that I will blog every day but I will every other day at least.  There are more symptoms to come.  BUT!  There are good symptoms to come soon!

Join me!  You won't be sorry.  This is one of the answers to "Why Fast?".

The Situation

It seems that nobody took the bait on my last post and answered the question about what the South American tribe did in response to their problem: Did they rebuild with concrete, move, poison the bugs, or do nothing and die early? They decided to do nothing and take the chance of dying early!

I want to give you a little true or false quiz:

1. The #1 concern of drug companies is your health. True or False
2. The #1 concern of stockholders of drug companies is your health. True or False
3. The #1 concern of stockholders of drug companies is to permanently fix your problem. True or False
4. The United States is 37th in health and longevity in the world. True or False
5. The United States is 4% of the worlds population. True or False
6. The United States consumes 43% of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. True or False
7. Most drugs have no side effects. True or False
8. In the U.S., between 100,000 - 150,000 die every year of improperly prescribed drugs and surgery. True or False
9. In the U.S., 500,000 men and 500,000 women die each year from cardiovascular disease. True or False
10. My insurance company will pay all my bills and pick an MD to make me healthy. True or False

Benjamin Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Do you know what the number one killer in the world is today? Time Magazine called it "The Stealth Killer." Cardiovascular Disease, or CVD happens so insidiously that the first sign we have, many times, is sudden death. Hopefully, in this series, I can help educate you on why this is the case. I know you remember the newsman, Tim Russert. People Magazine revealed that Russert had a stress test at the end of April 2008 which was "normal". Russert's physician, Dr. Michael Newman, stated that "normal" meant that "At a high level of exercise he had no symptoms." He also said that Russert's blood pressure and cholesterol were "well-controlled" and that he exercised: in fact he worked out on a treadmill the very morning of his death. He died Friday, June 13, 2008. It was said that not only did Russert pass his stress test in late April but he could passed one an hour before his death!

Russert's case is not an isolated one. That is the frightening thing about this disease. There are many contributing factors to this phenomenon: lifestyle, diet, congenital factors, environment (just to name a few).

So this is the situation. Exactly how big is this health challenge we face in the US today? Next time, we will look at some facts that will perhaps show the extent of the challenge and then, in subsequent posts, we will begin to look at the science behind the problem and the solution.

Education is the key to finding a resolution to: The Situation.

Are You Hurtin' Enough to Move?

In October 2009, Alex Guerrero published an article in the publication To Your Health titled "Playing to Win: Injury Prevention Is the Key". The article was about the San Diego Chargers running back, LaDainian Tomlinson, who, at that time, with almost 12,000 rushing yards (he finished the year with 12,490), was well on track to becoming, in Mr. Guerrero's words, "the National Football League's most prolific runner."

The article actually focuses on LaDainian's philosophy of how to win: paying attention to safety and preventing injury. This is done by training in order to be and stay in shape, regular exercise to discover any weak areas of the body, and being smart about how much you do, insuring that proper recovery is a part of the schedule. It's an excellent article and I have barely brushed the surface of it. You can find the article readily on the internet.

The point I want to make about this article is in the title: "Prevention Is The Key". In my previous post I introduced you to an allegorical poem written in 1895 that epitomizes this point. We can save ourselves so much time, money and effort if we would just focus on preventing things from happening rather than cleaning up after the fact. Disease prevention should be the main focus of the medical community. I agree that we need cures for the diseases we battle that are so debilitating. But I contend that if just half of the money and effort was expended toward prevention, which includes education, we wouldn't have near the number of occurrences of those same diseases. It makes me so mad that I didn't know that I shouldn't eat the way I ate as I was growing up. It makes me mad that I didn't know the effects that stress could have on my body physically. If I had known these things, along with others, I fully believe I wouldn't be a diabetic today.

The story is told of a South American tribe in which everyone was dying by 30 years of age. Scientists were brought in to investigate as to the cause. What they found was that a small bug that lived in the mud of the huts of the tribe was the culprit. The Chief of the Tribe was given four choices: Rebuild with concrete, move, poison the bugs, or do nothing and die early. Do you know what they decided to do?

And then there was the hillbilly, sitting on his front porch with his old hound dog. One day a city slicker drove up and asked for directions. The hillbilly asked the visitor to "come on up and sit a spell" with him. As the two sat and pondered the universe, about every five minutes the old hound dog would let out a big yelp. Finally the city slicker asked the fellow what in the world was wrong with his dog. The hillbilly answered, "He's layin' on a nail." "Why doesn't he move?" "Well," came the reply, "he ain't hurtin' enough to move!"

If you really believed that you could do something to improve your health, would you act on that belief? Are you hurtin' enough to move?

Set a Better Sail

Hello Readers! I've been promising my business blog for a while now and I think I'm ready to dive in. I want to lay some ground rules and give you an idea of what I hope to accomplish with this blog.

This blog is for educational purposes. I will do my best not to bore you. I will do my best to bring you information that will be relevant to you and that you will want to read.

This blog is for your benefit more than for me. Of course, I hope that I help you and that you come to trust me and that, in the future, if you need what I have to offer, you'll come to me.

The focus of this blog is three-fold. I want to help you take charge of your life. I do not pretend to be an expert. I know a few things and I believe in them with all my heart. I am a teacher at heart. I cannot keep a good thing to myself. The first area of focus is Health and Wellness. I have always been interested in how our bodies were created and how our behaviors affect them. I believe that our bodies were created to heal themselves; however, if we do not take care of what we have been given, we will actually create a lack of health in our bodies. Some things are out of our control: such as the environment. But, if we will use the tools that are at our disposal and attempt to educate ourselves on the proper ways to care for our bodies, we can reap a multitude of rewards!

The next area of focus is Wealth. The majority of the people in this world are slaves to the system. We live from paycheck to paycheck. We do not save for the future. The corporate world offers little hope of fame and fortune to the majority, but what it does offer is stress, frustration, fatigue and . . . did I say stress? There is a better way. I want to help you find that way. The way where you are your own boss. You choose whom you work with. You choose the hours you work. You choose your pay. The way where you are rewarded in direct proportion to your efforts. And you can afford it. You may have tried it before, but if you failed, it's not your fault. I want to give you hope.

The third area of focus is Support. (You thought I was going to say Spirituality, didn't you? No, if I can help you in that area, it will be from my personal blog: http://leslie-tritsch.blogspot.com) You are not alone. There is help out there that costs you little to nothing. I want to help point you in that direction. Actually I want to be a part of that Support. That support is in the form of training, mentoring, education and friendship.

I will be posting at least weekly and will be starting with a series on an extremely important health situation in America today. I will more than likely intersperse posts along the way relating to the other areas of focus before I get through the first series. You may contact me at any time via email at t.tritsch@ms.metrocast.net if you have questions. Or you can comment at the end of each post. I will be monitoring any comments and will respond as quickly as possible.

I will also be sharing information from other sources that I feel may be of interest to you.

I'd like to quote the late "great" Jim Rohn in closing:

"We are all in a little sailboat called life. It’s not the blowing of the wind that determines our destination – it’s the set of the sails. The same wind blows on us all: the wind of disaster and the wind of opportunity; the wind when it’s favorable and when it’s unfavorable; the wind when it’s upside down; the economic, political and social winds. The difference in our arrival is not the blowing of the wind, it’s the set of our sails. We have to set a better sail – better thinking. Correcting the errors of the past and picking up new disciplines for the future. It’s our decision. We have to want to. Everyone’s life is the same – opportunity mixed with difficulty. For things to change we have to change. Don’t wish things were easier; wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenges; wish for more wisdom. You cannot grow without challenges. You can’t fly without gravity."

As we attempt to Take Charge of Our Lives, we would do well to take these words to heart. Set a Better Sail. Today is the first day of the rest of your life!