Day 17! 1st part completed!

Well today is day number 17 on the 17 day diet. I have had several people ask me what is the 17 day diet. So I figured that I would give you a few of the details in the book since I have been looking over the next section of the diet which I will begin tomorrow.

The book was written by Dr. Mike Moreno who is a family medical doctor who came up with this plan to help people loose quickly the weight they picked up during the holiday season. The design of the diet is to “accelerate weight loss and launch you on the right path to health . . . and strengthen your body to fight fat." Even though the name of it is the 17 day diet – it isn’t over in 17 days. There are 4 sets of 17 day periods. The first set is the one I am just completing. In it you get to eat 2 fruits (from his list of acceptable fruits), 2 yogurts, 1 – 2 eggs or egg whites, lean chicken, fish, and turkey, and “cleansing” veggies (from the list he provides). Each of the lists of foods is long enough that you should find several things you like to eat on it. This diet does cut out all breads, potatoes, and sugars over the 1st 17 days. However, with that being said over the course of the next 3 sets of 17 day periods you will slowly add these types of food back into your diet. So you are not completely giving up anything. The diet is done in such a way that by the last set of 17 days you should be able to follow the diet during the week and then splurge and eat those sweet, rich foods in moderation on the weekend.

In my opinion it is gradually teaching you to eat a balance diet that we should be eating to remain healthy. I told Kevin that it is sort of like getting me back to the way I remember my grandparents eating when I was a kid. They eat an egg and a piece of bacon and a piece of toast every morning. Then for lunch they would usually eat only veggies and maybe a piece of bread. Then for dinner they would eat those same veggies and a piece of meat. Usually the weekends were the only time they splurge to eat out or make a fancy dessert. Then they would eat on that dessert during the weekend and maybe into the beginning of the next week till it was gone. However, in our generations we don’t have to wait till the weekend to go out to eat. Some weeks we have to wait till the weekend to try to stay at home and cook. We don’t ever have to wait for a sweet treat and we also don’t have many days where we don’t head into town for something. My grandparents went to town every Wed. and that was pretty much it. We are a generation that wants for nothing and even though at time that is a great thing it is a lousy teacher of moderation. We want for nothing!

The thing that I like about this diet is it is back to the basics. I am learning to eat healthy. I am learning that just because I can – doesn’t mean I should. I definitely have to draw on some self-control to do it. But this is where my relationship with God comes into this picture of the 17 Day Diet. God’s Word tells us that the fruit of the Spirit includes self-control. He also tells us in 1 John 5:21 “to keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your heart.” Well food had found a real high place in my heart. It has at times been my comfort instead of God. It has at times been my strength in times of weakness. It has at times been what I pulled out when I felt like I could not pull through. God isn’t pleased when we run to other things instead of Him. He also gives us free will to continue to go to those things. He is a jealous God but He is a gentle God and He is not going to force us to turn to Him. If He was going to force us to then what would we even need self-control for? I am thankful that God is teaching me these things even though I have to be stubborn and learn them the hard way. I just pray that God will let me really learn them and take them to heart so that I can move on to the next battle He has for me and stop fighting this one over and over again.

Meals for today: eggs, orange, bbq chiken, roasted carrots, apples, baked fish, snaps, yogurt

Exercise for today: Lifted weights for 45 minutes.