Jesus was right when he said, "when you fast..." not IF you fast. He fasted 40 days & 40 nights in the wilderness to seek God. But best believe he knew the science why fasting from food is an amazing practice for numerous scientifically proven benefits for humans & animals alike.

Together, Dionne (<--the hubs) & I have now done 4 different types of fasts: a fast from sugar, an all fresh fruit & veggie juice fast, a water only fast & a 2-day detoxifying Cleanse (more on this later).

I decided to tackle Intermittent Fasting in next weeks issue because there's just too much that could be said about both. For now, just know that a) intermittent fasting is awesome and b) intermittent fasting is just one of the many varieties of I suggest we do for optimum health & wellness.

If you check Dr. Google you'll quickly see fasting is BOMB. Doctors & health professionals all over the world agree that it's one of the best overall healing methods because it can heal so many conditions. It's been called the single greatest natural healing therapy & nature's ancient, universal remedy for a host of issues. Did you know that animals instinctively fast when they are ill? MIND BLOWN!

What happens when you fast is that it presents your body with the ideal environment to heal. If you fast for 4 days..."concentration seems to improve, creative thinking expands, depression lifts, insomnia stops, anxieties fade, the mind becomes more tranquil and a natural joy begins to appear. It is my hypothesis that when the physical toxins are cleared from the brain cells, mind-brain function automatically and significantly improves and spiritual capacities expands." - Dr. Gabriel Cousins, M.D.

This past week, Dionne & I kicked off a week of fasting. We started with a 3-day water only fast. I started having heart palpitations & felt notably weakened after 48 full hours we broke the fast with veggie broth & went to bed. The next day, we started with a 3 day juice only fast. (Fresh juice from raw fruits & veggies only using our juicer). I extended mine out to 4.5 days because I was feeling great, but mostly because I'd overshopped & I didn't want all that fresh food to go to waste. And now, this weekend we are back to our typical plant-based Vegan diet but focusing on limiting sugar.

I ended up losing 7 pounds & Dionne lost 6. (Yay! I won! Just kidding there was zero sense of competition, only encouragement to be our best doggone selves, which came through in many ways).

The struggle is freaking real, y'all. Nothing about our journey with fasting or even becoming Vegan has been easy. I get emotionally discombobulated. I feel sorry for myself. I get sad & angry at food, or people eating happily on commercials. I get headaches. I feel tired, hungry & irritated. Nothing that has such amazing benefits is easy. I mean, c'mon. Think of marriage. Think of parenting. It takes REAL WORK to push through the emotional drag of restriction particularly for those of us who aren't used to any sort of food restraint.

What I always come back to is how we feel overall since we started focusing on having healthy bodies: L I B E R A T E D + E M P O W E R E D. It's notable that he went from 278 to 210 pounds. It's notable that I went from 168 to 145 pounds. But even bigger is the confidence in knowing I can do hard things + knowing I'm feeding my body what it needs to be the BEST Grace I can be & need to be.

If you'd like to try fasting from food for any length of time you should consult your Dr. first please & thank you. =) My suggestion would be to start slow & build. For example...

There's so many ways to begin this journey & guess what? It's all FREE.99! It cost nothing to stop eating sweets. It cost nothing to omit meals. One of the best things in life that truly is free to the public!

If you'd like more specific help on getting started with your fasting journey let me know. I'm not a health professional but sometimes it can be helpful to talk it through with someone else. I've done quite a bit of research on this top in the last year & I'd be more than happy to help.

Next week, I'll be talking about intermittent fasting. My plan this week is to incorporate 13 hr. fasts daily. I'm hoping to fast from 6pm - 7am every day.

Much more on this subject to come!

I'm excited to announce that I started a new position with the Preemptive Love Coalition as a Communications Officer. PLC serves vulnerable populations in Iraq, Syria & beyond. We are all about unmaking violence; waging peace through love across enemy lines. I'm joining a truly amazing group of people & I couldn't be more thrilled to take on a dream position at this exact juncture in my life. I'll be working remotely doing blogging, writing fundraising copy & social media so it's right in my sweet spot. God answers prayers right on time, y'all. Over the last few years I've prayed incessantly for a non-profit position with this exact schedule, exact type of work, exact amount of pay, exact use of gifts & more. God hears specificity let me tell you! It's been almost 4 years since I've served in a non-profit & this position is well worth the wait. I'm so grateful.

And let me tell you this: from the bottom of my heart I have loved a lot of being a stay-at-home Mama to my baby girl Reverie, but Lawd I was more than ready to get some time away during the day to focus on other things. Thankfully, I've been building my health & wellness business on the side as a way to generate extra income & occupy my bored Mama brain, but this is yet another level of challenge that I welcome with wide open arms.