Inspired by Batman

Is it weird that I was very inspired by The Dark Knight Rises? Something about that movie made a change in me.

I have been very lax about my eating habits and health lately. Spice has been making a lot of yummy goodies and I eat a lot of them! I hadn't been exercising - I just kept putting it off.  I wasn't feeling very good about how I was treating my body. I felt I understood the miraculous nature of human body and the incredible gift that it was, and I had a desire to take better car of it... someday!

For some reason, I had begun to feel kind of hopeless about it. I was getting older, and the gumption to get up early or to make time in my day for exercise just wasn't in me! At the same time, I knew it was ingratitude to take my body for granted and that I would regret it if I didn't do something. I just really didn't want to!

Then, the Friday before last, Bill and I watched The Dark Night Rises. Something about watching Batman build up his body after it had been beat up and broken inspired me.  He wasn't doing it to look good or some superficial reason - he was doing it in order to fulfill the work he knew was his to do. The truth in this fictional story struck something inside me.

I have a work to do on this Earth. I need to be ready physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually for whatever it is Heavenly Father needs me to do. I felt a push in myself to get on with it!

When I told Bill I was inspired to be healthy, he suggested we do the "Eat for Life" 6-week challenge. I was skeptical about trying it. I wanted a lifestyle change, not a temporary diet. However, I read the book the following day (or the parts I needed) and I was convinced it was a sound way to eat on a permanent basis.  The 6 week challenge is strict (mostly just fruit, veggies and beans with very little grain, nuts and seeds), but if I could do it for 6 weeks and heal my body from some of the toxins I'd been eating lately, I could add some additional healthy foods after the 6 weeks once my body was more clear and healthy.

So I bought some veggies, cut them up an put them in Tupperware containers.  I put the Tupperware containers on a jelly roll pan so I could easily pull them all out of the fridge (kind of like a salad bar). And printed some healthy recipes.

Mine doesn't look this nice, but it's the same idea

It has been a great week!  I feel so much more energy (I've even been getting up to exercise every morning). I am never hungry because this challenge requires a HUGE salad every day (I eat it for lunch and I cook veggies in the evenings).  We've had some pretty good meals. It helps that I have tried eating healthy before so I already knew some recipes and had a lot of ingredients.

I have also found that my mind is a powerful tool for being able to do this.  I've been on "diets" before where I sometimes crave some food and indulge the thought of eating it.  This time, if some craving comes to my mind, I have been able to realize that it is wrong to indulge it, even in my mind, and I am able to cast it out pretty quickly. It hasn't been that hard.  Maybe it's because I have been into listening to some great books on librivox (lately it's Jane Austen) while I clean and that helps keep my attention on something I enjoy that is not food.

It also helps that I know how to make some pretty yummy healthy treats (banana/chocolate almond-milk shake is one of my favorites in the evenings, or a sweet fruit, and I sometimes cheat and eat cut up bananas with a touch of sour cream and honey - dairy and honey are technically not allowed :-[ ).

Who knew Batman could be so life-changing right? I also recently read The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy. Maybe the contrast of the slowly-dying life of Ivan with the gaining-life of Batman made the movie that much more powerful.


At any rate, I am excited to have finally made the decision to start.