So let me start with today's menu: Breakfast was raw almonds and a banana. Lunch was pinto beans cooked from dry and grits mixed together, which was quite tasty, and an apple. Supper was more pintos and grits, no apple.
I based the concept of mixing grits into my beans on beans and rice. Beans and rice are also tasty together, but on the Daniel Fast, the rice needs to be brown, and I don't have any brown rice. Plus, when you eat legumes and whole grains in the same meal, you get a complete protein. That's a handy little piece of wisdom for anyone who already is vegetarian/vegan or who is considering it.
One thing to watch out for is the consumption of cottonseed oil on nuts if you're buying them roasted from the grocery store, or, as almost became the case today, the pharmacy. I enjoy almonds raw, which is how they're best; but I enjoy them roasted even more. After eating so many raw almonds, I'm getting the taste for roasted ones. However, those oils that are not considered high quality—probably based on their healthful qualities or lack thereof—are not recommended for this fast. It is actually spelled out somewhere in Kristin Feola's blog; go back to my post for day 1 to find the link, that cottonseed and tropical nut oils other than coconut are actually not very healthful because they're high in saturated fat. In addition, cottonseed oil may actually present a potential hazard because cotton is often sprayed with pesticides. And many food manufacturers and processors who roast nuts in their factories roast them in cottonseed oil. This was the case for the store brand of the pharmacy from which I almost bought roasted almonds today. For a dollar more, however, I found Blue Diamond roasted almonds that were roasted in healthier oils other than cottonseed. The only reason I eventually abstained from buying them is because I know I can probably get them for less in the grocery store.
One of the prayers I will be making on this fast is for my health, having dedicated this year to being better to my self, as I think I indicated yesterday. In regard to that, I spent a Saturday evening a few weekends back researching foods that negatively and positively affect the liver. Guess what: A comparison of those lists with the Daniel Fast lists of foods to avoid and to eat turns up some interesting similarities. Except for meats and meat products, all the foods recommended for good liver health are on the Daniel Fast list. Oh, but you already guessed I was gonna say that, right? So I'm already helping my liver as we speak.
Why is that important? (1) I take pain meds that, over time, can have a negative impact on my liver, and I've been on them for over two years now. Because of this, I recently began to sense that I needed to start specifically focusing on doing what I could to protect it. Thus, the evening of research. (2) I just spoke with my doctor this afternoon about the results of lab work for which he had his nurse draw blood during my visit with him a few days earlier. He told me that although most of the tests he ordered came back fine or tolerable at least, my liver test result came back "a little off". This fast comes at a good time, no?
There's more, on a different note. Today, I took a different bus home than the one I normally take. The ride is shorter, and I get home sooner, but I get off two blocks away, two blocks I've never wanted to walk before due to the problems I'd had with my back. You can go back through my archives to read that whole sorry tale. I think this makes a good set-up for the post I'd like to submit Wednesday evening—I won't have time for a long one tomorrow—but over the last two weeks my back has felt better and better, so that today I decided to take the walk. I took it slowly, but I made it without any major problems and with only a few very brief stops along the way. I have now decided that I will do this on a regular basis for the exercise value as well as for the time savings: Today, I was home almost a half hour earlier than I would have been had I gone my usual route.
Now I need to go to bed :-)!
