HOW SHOULD WE THEN EAT? (as women who are wise enough not to take their health for granted)

Does anyone really drink enough liquids? Can anyone actually find pure water? I have made an investment over the summer of a water filtration system called the Berkey Light. It consists of two chambers, two black filter elements that filter out everything but fluoride, and two more filters that filter the fluoride. The whole thing cost $209 brand new on e-bay, with shipping included. The black filters get replaced once a year and the fluoride filters twice a year, based on filtering 2 and a half gallons a day. This thing is so powerful that it even filtered out the blue food coloring I put into my first "test" batch of water. Now I just need to make sure I drink enough of this wonderful water each day. I used to buy spring water from Walmart for about 90 cents a gallon, so in the long run I imagine this thing pays for itself. Anyone with any kind of vascular issues, and I submit, anyone with veins and arteries should not drink water that contains much sodium or phosphorus, which is in abundance in our city water.

So I have done better with this the last few days. But something else I drink has become problematic of late, and no, its not alcohol! I don't know how many people have this problem but on certain days, my heart will pound and kind of flip flop (palpitate). This can leave me exhausted. You know,its funny how the Lord allows consequences in His loving way in order to get us to change for the better. These palpitations finally caused me to stop all the distractions and think about what I have been doing to myself. It seems that the palpitations occur with a vengeance when I drink too much coffee. And I drink too much coffee when I am not being mindful of my body and what it really needs at that point. Probably what I have needed is a glass of water or some herbal tea or a simple time out that allows me to sit and close my eyes for a couple of minutes. So this one is relatively easy; I had a cup yesterday morning, and a half cup later in the day. I avoided the huge withdrawal headache and felt better.

The other two things that play into these "wild heart" episodes are overeating big, heavy food, and being mentally and emotionally stressed. As I write about this, it is helping me to see how simple it is to just back off a bit, and eventually a lot, on these things. Back off on being stressed? I include being stressed as a choice, as well, because I do it to myself for the most part. It is a problem of not trusting, of trying to take on too much, and of involving myself in worldly affairs while neglecting the very real work that God has specifically given to me to do.

Just like mental/emotional stress, overeating stresses me physically and leads to some heavy (pun intended) consequences. I am talking about all this because I think other ladies might be able to relate. Overeating is another way of substituting one thing for another. When we overeat we are probably in a hurry and not letting our brains catch up and send us the signal that we have eaten enough. Sometimes, again, we do this because we are actually thirsty, tired, sad or angry. In other words, we need something else.

So as I start off another day, I will offer it to the Lord, and ask Him to guide me through it, balancing the food, the drink, the work and the times of rest. We all know He has a plan for each of us, and it includes slowing down and being quiet enough to listen to what He has to say.

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will begin to scratch the surface of the "what foods are best" issue, particularly for folks who are past 40. As I have said, my dear Bob is now on about a dozen medications, and some of them could be reduced in dosage if not eliminated altogether if he quits smoking, and loses weight. I would appreciate prayers for him, that he may be successful at these, and that I might persevere in my efforts to help him.