FIGHT FOR PEACE

Make this your new year's resolution: In 2022, I will fight for my peace of mind.

Is fighting for peace an oxymoron? No, not when the enemy is keeping me awake all night fighting negative thoughts. Please don't tell me that I need to stop having negative sleep-deprived thoughts and think myself peacefully off to sleep. I just and finally realized that I am my own worst enemy. It’s Dec 31, 2021 and sleep seems out-of-control and tonight chaos reigns. Where is my peace of mind when I need it? My peace of mind must be asleep but it is time to wake up!

On a serious note, I have just identified what I am really fighting within and it is called the "inflammation of the masses". Too much, too many, too often the inflammation in my body marches throughout my body looking for what direction to go and trying to understand what is going on. Doctors know that many conditions and diseases have three common points: they are 1) food related 2) work stress related and/or 3) emotional stress related.

I contend if you are not sleeping well, that food and stress are busy sorting out the mass of inflammation in your body. Depending on just how long this tactical mission has been in operations, you might find yourself with conditions and diseases that are considered incurable or life-long.

We know that every one of us is unique. Every body and every mind have a different makeup. Nonetheless, when doctors treat for the many types of cancers in bodies, they tend to treat them the same. A treatment of 1) immune suppressant drugs and 2) anti- inflammatory medicine. Even with the dreaded auto-immune diseases like cancer, doctors admit that much life expectancy (or not) depends on the person who suffers from the condition as well as that person’s support system and their lifestyle choices (including getting a good night’s sleep). Oh yes, if you are having problems sleeping, the doctor can give you a pill to help with that as well. However, the real problem is that our body is under attack. Consider a new strategy other than additional toxins found in pharma.

Sometimes I do okay. I get my 8 hours of rest, then have these “flare ups”. That's me. Others can't sleep because their joints hurt (inflammation of the joints) They are up with IBS at midnight (gut inflamed). There go those racing thoughts in my brain but they have nowhere to run (nervous system torched). When these conditions persist, I want to believe that doctors ask themselves this question before prescribing medicine; “How much is this patient willing to do for themselves?” Doctors and patients see the signs of resistance and meanwhile our sick inflamed bodies are attacking themselves. They go for the kill. They destroy the weakest organ they can reach. Cancer comes from our bodies mistakenly attacking us at the affected area with the purpose of protecting it. Yes, that’s how we get screwed up. Don't kid yourself, the attackers fight until they win, or we can fight back!

Who are these attackers? Again, it’s most likely food-related, work stress and/or emotional stress related.

Food-related flare-ups are easier to identify and fight. So, nutritionists tell us “put only what is healthy into the body” That's akin to being told “think only positive thoughts”.

It’s Dec. 31st, I will have this very tricky conversation with myself, with my caffeine, and with and the sum total of all the ways I do sugar intake. I’ve been told to eliminate the unhealthy foods and stop thinking about what’s bother me…. Warning here! Tell a person to eliminate what they have been eating and what they get hyped up on and it WILL solicit an extreme reaction!

Let me encourage you to join me as we “Let Go and Let God”. Food intake may be the easiest to identify. Ask yourself; is there one or more inflammatory foods that you are consuming that you know your body does not like? The body's response to a hot dog is that it is trying to protect you. Inflammation in mass does not belong inside but it powerful. The body's reaction to protect itself could be a like a sleuth bomber or the C-Bomb. The body is attacking itself in those certain areas where you are already weakened and come to smother the organ in error. Areas like the GUT. Inflammation to the extreme in the gut brings with it, not just abdominal pain. It can also be celiac disease or colon cancer. Do you have pain in your joints? This is often labeled arthritis...in your tissue, Lupus.

In the same mass of confusion which also can span acute stress in your life the body creates cortisol and other hormone imbalances in your body and the enemies’ troops are piling up, camping out around the belly. The big mistake is when the body starts to attack itself because inflammation and cortisol do not belong in excess upon excess. Imagine this mass of robot droids are out of control, certain chaos ensues, and factions emerge, there is no real leader. If you are not sleeping well, or don’t feel well, decisions need to be made. Who is making them?

What do the inflaming masses do? As mentioned, the masses attack the weakest organ. I found a story of a military leader with an unusual the strategy but with a successful outcome. I always wondered about the account of Gideon’s battle with the Midianites and why so many of his soldiers had to be eliminated (sent home). It must not have been comfortable to eliminate over 99% of his army.

Gideon’s army must have had the potential in mass, (just inflammation in mass when it exists in our bodies) of going into chaos and confusion. It is difficult to automatically response to a strategy like the one God gave Gideon. He had to eliminate all but 300 valiant men.

The truth is to fight for peace, we start by eliminating foods which create inflammation. The leader Gideon told everyone of his soldiers who was afraid that they must leave. There were 22,000 that took him up on the offer, leaving 10,000 soldiers still with Gideon. But that wasn’t the last round of cuts and more of the army would be eliminated.

Impressed by Gideon’s courage, I made my first round of cuts; I addressed problem foods for me and sent processed meats packing. Processed meats are meats that have been preserved by smoking or salting, curing or adding chemical preservatives like deli meats, bacon and hot dogs.

In the second round only 10,000 remained? To get to lower inflammation, I knew more drastic cuts were coming. I reduced caffeine intake and let go of the sugar, the high sugar foods I love.

So, yum yum on the broccoli, kale, and tahini. It’s not all about food but it is a good place to start. Gideon eliminated all but 300 - I have not named or counted the things I eat now that have real nutritional value but there are way fewer than all the “things” that line the shelves at our grocery stores.

I continue to find nuggets of truth in this Gideon’s battle. There is more in Judges, Chapter 7 about consuming water and a deadly loaf of barley bread. I feel the most important thing I can share would be to anyone reading who is fighting an auto-immune disease. After eliminating what wasn’t not needed, the leader Gideon was able to see his enemy that very night. Judges 7:9 says “It happened on the same night that the LORD said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.

It might appear overwhelming to be told a diagnosis. We fight physical or mental well-being hoping to put up the best fight. When Gideon saw his enemies (the Midianites and Amalekites, and all the people of the East) what he saw lying in the valley was an army as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude. I hope you do not worried about what you need to eliminate from your life. In Gideon’s case, the enemy (comparing it to a mass of inflammation) ended up running away. Add a friend, a few valiant men and woman to your forces and lead your body to victory.

My New Year's Resolutions is to eliminate what is not needed and move forward with what I have in 2022. Here’s a few adds I have started taking and that I can suggest to you. We are gaining in the PEACE OF MIND fight and these additions just might improve sleep patterns and overall health.

• Prioritizing your sleep as an effective way to reduce cortisol levels.

• Have fun and laugh

• Exercise, but not too much

• Learn to recognize stressful thinking

• Maintain healthy relationships

• Take care of an animal

• Love others just as you love yourself

• Breathe