Friday, January 10, 2014

The Daniel Plan - 40 Days

Right before Christmas I got an email from God that said...Wait - you don't believe me?  Okay, so it wasn't directly from God - but it was from Hackman's, close enough.  Here is what happened.

Before Christmas I received a lovely Christmas card with a gift card in it for Hackman's.  My mind suddenly raced to the gifts that I wanted to get for other people at Hackman's but there was a note in the card that said, "make sure to spend it on yourself". Oh, alright.  Then the very next day the first email I received was from Hackman's about the new book from Rick Warren entitled, "The Daniel Plan", 40 days to a Healthier Life.  

So now you see what I mean by a email from God.  I have been trying over the years to get healthier, but I seem not to make much headway.  I joined Weight Watchers.  I had success about 30 years ago on the plan loosing almost all the weight getting down to 142 pounds only to gain it back. I rejoined about 10 years ago and lost 20 pounds and have kept it off, but got stuck.  So was this Divine Intervention?  Was this book going to be what I needed?

Rick Warren is a pastor, author, etc. who wrote the popular bestselling The Purpose Driven Life, which I enjoyed doing with my book club, so this immediately peaked my interest.  Also contributing to the Daniel Plan are Dr. Daniel Amen and Dr. Mark Hyman.  So I decided to go get the book.  I walked into Hackman's, I picked it up.  Looked at it.  Put it down.  I thought maybe this isn't the book for me.  I walked around, looking for something else and there was ANOTHER display with the book in the back of the store, looked at it again, flipped through the pages, put it down. BUT a nagging thought in my head said BUY THE BOOK DARN IT!   So I did.

Once I actually sat down and started to read the book I immediately liked it.  How can you not love a book that starts out,  Chapter 1, page 1 - "Wow! Everybody's Fat!  That was Rick Warren's thought as he baptized 827 adults by immersion, which meant lowering people under the water and then lifting them back up.  He realized that not only was his congregation carrying extra baggage but he thought "But I am fat too!"  and that's what led him to do this book.    Well darn it,  I am fat to.  My knee hurts, I have high blood pressure controlled with medication,  and I suffer from brain fog.  This book celebrates the 5 F's.  FAITH - FOOD - FITNESS - FOCUS and FRIENDS.

I  am going to share what I learn from the book and my challenges along with hopefully some successes.  I am starting slow, and I will share that  tomorrow if I get a chance to blog.  So far it has certainly opened my eyes.  One thing I know, I can't do this alone, and in life we never have to do it alone, we always have God.

Food for thought:
Proverbs 16:9 says:  "We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it." (MSG)  

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