Mr. and I are adding a new element to our new adventure toward health. We bought two books while at the chiropractor last week. I read one of them this weekend. The healthy eating explained in this book was recommended to me if I am seeking greater health.

So today Mr. and I are started this initial two-week plan. It will be strict to begin with, but then we will add things back into the eating plan.

From what I am reading, since I eat so much sugar (and have for years), my body has been trained to burn sugar instead of fat. I have to retrain my body to burn the right stuff.

To do this, I am eating no sugar and no grains for two weeks. During this two week time period, I also do what they call surge training. It sounds like it will retrain my metabolism. Not sure about that, but it is what it reads like.

Surge training is where I do the hardest of whatever I am doing for 20-60 seconds, then rest for an equal amount of time. I do this three times and that equals one cycle. There is a 2 minute rest time in between cycles and I do three cycles.

I did my first one this morning on the treadmill. You can do anything really hard for 20 seconds! I wasn't expecting much since I am not doing endurance or even a fast pace for long, but doing the three cycles took me 11:35 min, I covered 1 mile and I burned 132 calories.

Now this surge training is NOT about those stats that I usually post. It is about retraining my body to burn fat. That will only show over time if I lose weight. I will have to let you know about that.

This sounds really restrictive, but there is a menu, grocery list and recipes in the book. I am going today to whole foods and buying the stuff for week I. Wade and I are ready to make the changes necessary. It will be hard to not have brown rice (which I love!) and any sugar at all, but it will be good for me. I have gotten off of sugar once before and I felt so much better! Wish I had continued........

Some of my favorite quotes of the book, entitled "Cruise Ship or Nursing Home," are:

"Good intentions don't determine where you will end up, your actions do." (pg. 3)

"Your body needs no help to heal you; it just needs no interference." (pg.4)

"Disease occurs now. It just kills you later." (pg. 14)

"To experience change, YOU need to change." (pg. 20)

"If you don't change your belief system, you'll never change your habits!" (pg. 30)

"The biggest shame that we see as doctors is when people settle for less than their potential." (pg. 31)

"If a person has a big enough WHY, they can endure almost any HOW." (pg. 34)

"While ten years ago is always the best time to have started taking care of yourself, the second best time is right now." (pg. 89)

"100 percent nerve flow gives 100 percent life to the organs." (pg. 90)

"Healthy lifestyles are the biggest threat to the growth and expansion of the drug industry." (pg. 115)

"The most common prescription durgs sold in the U.S. today, and possibly the most toxic to your system, are antidepressant medications." (pg. 117)

"You can't eliminate all toxins, but you can trust your body to do what it was created to do. When it is working at its optimum level--healing and functioning normally--your body is made to process and remove a certain amount of poison, but not the amounts in 'modern' Western living." (pg. 119) Wow! Something to think about.

The healthy eating plan for the first two weeks consists of five guidelines:

1. Eliminate sugars.
2. Cut out grains.
3. Remove bad fats and add good fats.
4. Consume very little fruit.
5. Avoid toxins.

This is ONLY for the first two weeks. Just while we are readjusting my body to burn fat, not sugar.

This means I WILL be eating:

1. Vegetables
2. Good fats
3. Proteins (lean, healthy)

And I will continue to drink lots and lots of water.

There is also a schedule for resistance exercises that I am going to try to implement beginning today. You focus on a different body part once a week and do quick sets. We'll see how this goes.

I am excited! I am hopeful. I am planning for change.

Lord, please make it so in my life. I want a healthy body in order to serve You as long as You leave me on this earth.