Prayer
Thank you God for waking us up and allowing us to see another day in your Kingdom. Thank you for knowledge, miracles, healing and love that surrounds us daily. Thank you for your daily bread that feeds us and keeps us clothed in the mind of Christ. Thank you for the healing of the nations that is coming forth to be revealed in your timing. I pray that you continue to provide for your people. We decrease Lord, while you increase in the world and show yourself mighty. In Jesus name, Amen.
Food for Thought from Day 10
How did you do on your questions and knowledge of green vegetables from Day 10's blog? Today I will dive into some knowledge about green vegetables from a few professionals that God used their body of knowledge in the industry of Nutrition. There knowledge allowed me to put together missing links and pieces that I needed to understand while encountering my health challenge over the past 25 years.
Nutrition is Science
While nutrition may be framed and built from the constructs of science, its foundation is from the nature and the essence of God. The green vegetable foods in the framework of nutrition science can be thought about as one of the sources that embody the nutrient “Vitamin A” which was a discovery in the early 1900's by a scientist which I will blog in a later post the history of Vitamin A and how we arrived at where we are today as it relates to the American dietary guidelines. There is so much to learn about nutrition and the different types of foods we consume. The knowledge of Nutrition is in abundance. “Green vegetables are rich in beta-carotene, iron, chlorophyll, and dietary fiber” (Balch, 2003, p. 76). There are so many more sources I could bring out in this post, but I will save them for later blogs and the nutrition course in 2022. Today, I want to expound a little more on bet-carotene in this post. I will add iron, chlorophyll, and dietary fibers throughout the next posts within the “Food 4 Thought” section. I believe that the fullness of the information about beta-carotene, iron, chlorophyll, and dietary fiber has to be experienced to know how they powerfully work together to keep the body in a state of balance which is one of the roles of the field of medicine that is called “homeostasis” (Marieb, 2009, p.12).
Our body is in a constant state of stability and balance to maintain life. The 4 symbols that we see in our society today also represent giving stability or life whether it is medical, justice, health or the cross. Balance is what we strive for to thrive in a life that pulls on us in every area. Its up to us to be the balance force from within. That balance does not come from an outside force. Its comes from knowing thyself and the God who created you. It took me 46 years to see this truth. After trying everything outside of me, God showed up when I started changing the foods I was consuming while being treated for cancer. Green vegetables are one of the foods God created for us before sickness and disease was a thought. The beautiful blessing about the diagnosis is I didn't have radiation, chemotherapy, or surgery. God provided another way which worked for me. So I blog from a point of reversal because of what I have experienced as a patient, clinical study, and continuous documentation from my health experiences over the past 25 years with 16 of those years walking through a diagnosis of an incurable cancer. When I was originally diagnosed in 2005, my mind couldn't comprehend or believe what they were saying because it didn't make sense. It is by faith that I believe in healing through the power of God, but I had to walk through the process of sickness to know how to operate by faith. The knowledge of nutrition is based on the construct of science and research. Medicine is beyond nutrition and therefore could not produce what I needed for my body to heal, so I had to turn to God for help. I believed in “let food be thy medicine”, but that quote speaks about food removed from its natural environment, processed, undergone a clinical study, patent as a drug, approved by the FDA, approved by insurance company, then provided to me as healing only if I have the right insurance. It was void of the natural intent of God. This was what I experienced. As I outline what green vegetables do, I reference the knowledge of the professionals, health providers, and nutritionists. I provided a small diagram that I created to outline some key points along with my experience. I am a visual person so at times I will be creating diagrams for those who are visual.
Food provided the study of science the research needed to perform studies on animals and humans. Once they discovered the information needed, they framed it into a practice and standards that their body of knowledge follows. We will take green vegetables and compare them to the dietary guidelines standard. It is important to know how decisions are made for nutrition programs along with how food is prepared at restaurants that we consume instead of preparing for ourselves. What came out of my research on green vegetables was Beta-Carotene which led me to Vitamin A which led me to the two forms present in our diet. According to National Institutes of Health (NIH) (2021), “there are two forms of vitamin A in the human diet” (par.2). Who came up with those two forms? Who named them? These are questions that led me deeper into studying and pulling out the knowledge needed to build the nutrition program for my needs. Needs shift based on activity level, condition and other factors that may play a role, so nutrition is not something we take off and put back on like clothes. Its a lifestyle which is why in the past if I didn't have a consistent basic regimen, I was "double minded and unstable in all my ways" (James 1:8). My foundation was not stable which kept me inconsistent. It took me half my life to discovery what God was saying to me. Nutrition constantly surfaced in my spirit all my life, but I ignored it until my diagnosis. When I was diagnosed in 2005, the shift to change was taken everywhere with me. I purchased a juicer and took it to my job to make my lunch. I even had the support from my co-workers and leaders at the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) when they knew I was diagnosed. People started to eat clean and fast with me which was a blessing to see and experience the support. This is what loved looked like to me from the foundation of change.
Vitamin A
The purpose of vitamin A which is found in green leafy vegetables is for reproduction, stability, helps maintain smooth, soft, and healthy skin, growth, protects mucous membrane, protects from infections, and development of our tissues such as the epithelial cells (Kirschmann & Nutrition Search, Inc, 2007). This is only a brief summary. We find that these nutritional benefits are true for our health when we stay intentional, focused, and consistent. Green foods produced the framework and information that you see below which is based on the foundation of God who provided food in abundance for all of us.
Nutrition is a Framework
Nutrition not only brings forth facts supported by science such as food measurements, serving sizes, weight, or quantity, it also demonstrates the broad knowledge of science used by professionals to support health, fitness and wellness. The framework of nutrition extends from the platform of science which extends from research and study which extends from a host of philosophical minds. The entire platform sits on the foundation of the word of God when God created food for us as written in Genesis 1:11 and Genesis 1:29. The field of medicine extends from the person whom the industry names “the founding father of natural medicine” Hippocrates (Gursche et.al., 1997, p. 32). He was on earth between 460 -377 BC according to the authors of the Encyclopedia of Natural Healing. Hippocrates taught that nature itself is the first and only true physician (Gursche et.al., 1997, p. 32). The physicians are only helpers of nature as he continued to state. Their role is to strive to find the root cause and pathology of sickness and disease (Gursche et.al., 1997). I love the statement, “Hippocrates considered illness to be a natural phenomenon that forced people to discover the imbalances in their health” (Gursche et.al., 1997, p. 32). Now, walk with me while I take you through an experience with a surgeon consultation I had in 2010. I was scheduled to have a consultation for the metastasized tumors in my liver. When I walked into the office, the first quote in gold on the wall was, “Let food be your medicine and your medicine be your food”. This is the same quote that Hippocrates used during his practice (Gursche et.al., 1997, p.32). Hippocrates also believed in not harming patients and allowing their natural healing forces to do the work (Gursche et.al., 1997, p.33).
The mindset I was in at the time was different than today. I didn’t have the knowledge that I have now. I had to unlearn some things to gain the knowledge that God planted within me these past nine years. When the book titled, Encyclopedia of Natural Healing was written in 1997, I was 3 years out of high school, but eight years prior to my cancer diagnosis. Within that time frame, I had worked for 3 vitamin businesses, cancer center and fitness facility. The book was part of reading at one of the vitamin businesses I was employed. We had to have the knowledge of vitamins and supplements in order to help customers with their requests. Little did I know, this would be one of the books I use to help turn my health around which began in 2006. Although I was at a surgeons’ office in 2010, the consultation was positive. The doctor reviewed my scans and he said he could not perform surgery because my anatomy changed itself. He said there was no need for intervention. Now, that was God giving me the answer through the physician, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have to continue through a process. This was a sign to keep doing what I was doing for my health in the face of sickness. Prior to me seeing the surgeon, I had changed my diet and turned from the foods I was eating that were causing inflammation in my body. I was a huge junk food eater and I really didn't pay much attention to eating because I had a high metabolism, so I didn't gain weight easily. That was my mindset at the time.
From the entire process, what I continued to hear while walking through four major hospitals within the past 16 years was eat according to my balanced meals. What was considered balance? I ate what was available to me. I ate what I wanted because I didn’t have the knowledge to transform and change into what God was showing me until I went through the process. I also ate how I was programed from a child. Now, that I am at the end of the change process, God has shown me the way that I should have been eating, but I lacked the knowledge of God to comprehend and understand what I needed to do outside of taking medicine for the remainder of my life which has a high price tag from August 2020 through 2021. The numbers are higher, but I provided the numbers as of August 2021 for incurable cancer treatment with metastasized to the liver without a source or root cause for the condition as stated by the diagnosis, but a low rate of reoccurring stable disease as of 2021.
Total Treatment: $113,756.47
Insurance Adjustments: $89,921.36
Insurance Difference: $23, 835.11
Patient Owe: $10,172.56
Not to exclude, I have a $2,500 deductible with a $6,000 out-of-pocket max and a co-payment to a specialist at $60.00. I was able to get $5,000 waved, but I owe $5,000 which is in collections and it will go on my credit if I don’t pay it. This is the system, no matter who you are, but based on who you know healthcare can be free. This process starts over on January 1, 2021, with a new set of bills if I continue treatment. I didn’t get treatment this December because the facility made the decision to remove me from home care which I have been part of for the past 9 months. Now I have to go into the facility which is a 2-hour drive for me and we only have 1 vehicle. The decision was made between the doctors and the insurance company without my knowledge until the change happened. I only received the results which was a changed schedule, and I had to submit to that change instead of the telehealth we have been doing over the past 9 months. That is not inclusion, leadership-as-practice, holistic, complimentary or integrative medicine if I am excluded from the process. This is the hamster wheel I am referring to for myself. As a mother and wife that doesn’t have a job, this is unaffordable, but this has been my continued cycle and the appearance of the reality of health care. There was no light at the end of the tunnel and running like the hamster on the wheel going nowhere. When I was terminated from my job in 2013 and endured the divorce, it was difficult to get insurance because before the 90 days were up all jobs want information on my health condition. When they discovered my health condition, they had the right to not select me for the permanent job, and provide a candid statement that my services were no longer needed. I couldnt lie about the cancer because the job application asks about disability and if I lied it would catch up with you and termination was sure to follow. So, I was truthful, but the spirit of the job market continued to keep the door closed to me until God spoke. God had to encourage me and lift my spirit above the systematic oppression and allow me to take what I know and build a business. I pray for others who has not seen what I have experienced and I pray that God shields and protect them from hidden and seen discrimination whether its in the government, healthcare, education, religion, politics or any other spirit of excellence that surfaces.
This system that surrounds all of us is why God's promises awaits us to lift us out of this box and transform our life for his purpose because there is no politician running for office that can change the system. It’s up to us to change, and turn to God and trust what the blood of Jesus Christ has already freed us from. God is about to do a new thing and I now see it. It will come to pass in his timing. I just have to make sure I am ready. I blog and write because this is my overflow and this is life more abundantly to freely become me without bondage. All I need to do is continue to do what God asked, trust, fast, pray and wait for his glory. God focused me on nutrition as a passion that is different, refreshing and stable.
Another thing I like about Nutrition is it provides a framework for me to measure the truth that I hear. If green vegetables fight cancer cells, then that is part of my regimen along with other foods that have the same antioxidant powers. Imagine all of them working together for our good aligned with the spirit of God. God provided the foods that we eat for a purpose and nutrition science is a platform that can be used to measure what God said while walking through any treatment. The foods have healing properties designed to stabilize and balance our health. They tell us in clinical studies, research, and through diagnoses of cancer, diabetes, and other conditions that nutrition is the key, but they do not tell us how to go about receiving the healing we need from the source of nutrition and walk in true healing for good. The doctors are telling us through our treatment plan and information to shift into nutrition, but the shift can not come until we connect with the spirit of God who will provide direction as to how to shift, when to shift, and where to shift. The industry is even shifting into complementary health and integrative medicine through other forms of treatment such as naturopathic, but this path was always there which is what Dr. Sebi, Dr. Afrika, and many other naturopathic doctors were already saying, but the industry remained within its own body of knowledge and ignored what is not like them while elevating a different cause and path for health at billions of dollars that they want us to believe and follow. If the medicine does not perform as designed, it’s time to turn to God for his help because something went wrong in the process and medicine is no longer working. God uses everything for his divine purpose. We are the answer to the problem we seek. The answer is within us, but we have to dig deep and pull out the treasures that only God can show us to uproot the cause and reveal it for others to see.
Root Cause
Learn to trace your problems back to their root by writing down what is happening in your body after consuming foods. When I elevated my nutrition, my health had to align with what I was doing, but it did not happen until the spirit led me. Prior to the spirit leading me, it was my flesh searching for answers for the incurable cancer the doctors diagnosed me with in 2005. I am not searching any longer. When I ate clean with fruit, vegetables, nuts and the grains that my body needed, detoxification was a natural process. When I didn’t eat according to plan, my body stopped flowing properly. I experienced constipation, stomach aches, headaches, dehydration and other ailments that went away when I ate quality, healthy plant based whole foods. I caused my body to be toxic when I consistently ate junk food, candy, and other foods as my balanced meals which had no nutritional value and they disrupted my endocrine system. I caused cancer growth in my body because of my separation from the knowledge of God and not providing my body with the nutrients it needed to fight off cancer cells. I was causing my body to suffer. God’s word says operate as if it is already done in Romans 4:17. How can I claim healing when I wasn’t operating in the spirit of infirmity. How can I say I know Jesus Christ, if I don't believe he bore all my sickness on the cross and by his stripes I am healed? I had to walk through the process and meet Christ where my spirit was, and the word of God took root and carried me into God's original intent for my life. I want everything that God promised, but I had to align with what he said in my mind (soul- will, emotions, heart) and body. We are not separate from God, but we are one with him when we hear his voice, and he provides instructions. No longer do we need to hide from God. We co-create with him, but for centuries we have been separated from God until now. God made us in his image and that means we were free when we were born in America but enslaved to the culture which we had to submit to until the coming of Christ where the Kingdom would manifest.
Now apply that same knowledge to “all men are created equal” under our constitution and the nature in how our constitution was created along with the mindset and explain why we are having problems in the areas of discrimination, retaliation, rebellion to God, and mandates against our free will. You will then see the truth that is within the matrix versus the truth outside the matrix. We have two truths in this world that are about to collide like the clash of the titans. Knowledge is infinite with God. He doesn’t discriminate. He doesn’t play favoritism and he doesn’t play politics. He is God without any of that. He doesn’t need us either. He can wipe us out like in Noah’s time, but he promised he wouldn’t do that again. He showed me this on December 29, 2021 as the Sun was setting and a fully arched rainbow reflected on the opposite side. I was in between them. God was saying, the in-between is over and to "choose this day" whom I will serve (Joshua 24:15). A perfect time when I needed a photography, but I took the picture as best as I could.
God doesn’t go against his word and he doesn’t say something that does not come true. His knowledge of truth keeps going with no end in sight which is why I can write so much when I am in a flow and rhythm with God. After today, see Nutrition as a platform that you connect with to allow God to identify the consistent food choices that work for you and align with his will for your life which causes the spirit of infirmity to flee.
Core Power Smoothie
You can see what ingredients are in the smoothie at my YouTube Channel A.I.M4Change Core Smoothie Video: https://youtu.be/CRrukV9mfNI
Catrice C. Jackson
NESTA Fitness Nutrition Coach (FNC)
NESTA Core Condition Specialist (CCS)
NESTA Certified Holistic Life Coach (CHLC)
Email: Change@bevolutionllc.org
”You Are The Change”
Website: www.bevolutionllc.org
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BEvolutionLLC
A.I.M 4 Change YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48ywem6QP0Lx-B1SXz8eGw
Day 11 A.I.M 4 Change Reflection
What does a balanced meal consist of for you? Write it down
Song
dmamanoes. (2011). A Change Is Gonna Come Deitrick Haddon [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/ZrZMd_EMMpU
Scripture
References
Balch, Phyllis A. (2003). Prescription for Dietary Wellness. 2nd Edition.
Kirschmann, John D., & Nutrition Search, Inc. (2007). Nutrition Almanac. 6th Edition. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Label Wise. (n.d). Conversion Calculators: https://belabelwise.org/conversion-calculator/
Marieb, Elaine N. (2009). Essentials of Human Anatomy & Physiology. 9th Edition. Pearson Education, Inc., San Francisco, CA.
National Institutes of Health (NIH). (2021, March 26). Vitamin A Fact Sheet for Health Professionals https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/
The Holy Bible. (1611). King James Bible Online. Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv
Other References
Afua, Queen. (2002). Heal Thyself for Health and Longevity. EWorld, Inc; Buffalo, NY.
Afrika, L.O. (2004). African Holistic Health. 7th Edition. EWorld Inc; Buffalo, NY.
Hendry, Carin. C. (2019). Dr. Sebi: How To Naturally Detox The Liver Reverse Diabetes and High Blood Pressure Through Dr. Sebi Alkaline Diet [E-book].
Kloss, Jethro. (2009). Back to Eden. Lotus Press; Twin Lakes, WI.
Siegel, Bernie S. (2013). The Art of Healing. New World Library; Novato, CA.
White, Ellen G. (2007). The Ministry of Healing: The Book of Health and Happiness. Harvestime Books, Altamont, TN.
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