25 Day Sacrifice
From time to time for the past six years, I feel the need to go through a 25 day fasting for spiritual purposes. When times are good, I use this time to show gratitude for all the blessings. Now, when times are bad, this time of fasting is used to grow closer to God in hopes to find answers and guidance. Not only do I sustain from eating meals, I also stay from eating certain foods such as breads of any kind, any forms of beef or pork, carbonated drinks, any types of desserts, and alcohol.
This time, there were two reasons as to why I began the 25 day fast. One reason is my husband was battling a gout attack, and for anyone that knows about gout, red meat is definitely a “no no.” For those of you who do not know what gout is, it is a form of arthritis that has been linked to eating too much red meat. Gout is a very painful disease during an attack. And, since my husband does not like to take the medications that are usually prescribed because of the side effects, I have to make his own meal apart from the rest of the family in order to eliminate most of the culprits of bringing on an attack. Since there were certain foods I had to stay away from while pregnant with our daughter, he took it upon himself to do the same. I saw it only fair to do the same for him as support. The other reason was that there were some great events happening in our lives so I saw it fit to give thanks my own way.
Maybe some of you can relate when I say that it is hard to not drink a soda or eat a breakfast taco because you cannot have a tortilla. Instead, we would eat a healthier omelet. I believe the hardest food item to refrain from has got to be beef (of any kind). To not be able to chew on a nice and juicy rare prime rib can be very sacrificial to an unapologetic carnivore. MMMMM.....
I must admit though…it is not a fun experience when re-introducing all the foods that you stay away from, and not to mention the amount of food. It makes you think twice about what we are putting into our own bodies, and those we love.