{my dad painted this painting of our cabin up in Northern Colorado}

I'm embarking on a little journey this week, and I wanted to take you all along with me.

This journey is a bit controversial, so I'm warning you now!! If you have strong feelings about food, you may want to sit this one out! Okay, who doesn't have strong feelings about food??? So go ahead and join in. I know you'll be curious as to how this is going to go! I know I am!!

{my dad!}

A little less than 44 years ago, my father had a severe heart attack. I, his third child, was four months old, so I didn't really know him as the smoker he had been before that. But, by the grace of God, I did get to know him well!!

When I was 8 years old, he had quadruple bypass surgery done by the best of the best (Cooley and Denton) here in Houston. That's when I really started to understand what it meant to live with heart disease. 

So, I grew up in a house where there was margarine instead of butter. Salt was a rare thing on our table. The word Pritikin was spoken with hush hush reverence, and the Mended Hearts (a support group within the American Heart Association) was date night for my parents!! 

What is all this about, you ask? 

Mr Gorgeous and I have been researching and studying about the healthful qualities of food. We know the histories in our family of heart disease (mine, not his), cancer (both of ours), diabetes, and other issues. Instead of waiting until it's super hard to combat these issues, let's prevent!! 

One thing that keeps coming back to us over and over again is juicing. It's controversial. We've heard negatives, we've heard positives, and we've seen great results with the little juicing we've done!!

So this week, we are doing a 7-day launch menu that includes soups, salads, smoothies, and juicing. We are going to take the time to really see how this detoxing affects our well-being. I wanted to blog about it so that I would have a record of what I was going through to better learn what works and what doesn't work for me. 

We are doing Jason Vale's Juice Yourself Slim 7 day Launch Program. The menu poster is sooo cute! And color coordinated! and pretty easy to understand!

So far, Mr Gorgeous and I have had breakfast this morning. Tasty, tasty Organic Avocado Smoothie…I'm a little bit concerned about the amount of pineapple I'm going to be consuming, because my tongue is already stinging, if you know what I mean. But the list of  healing properties of a pineapple is long!! So I'm sticking with it!

A few things:

1. I'm still doing weight watchers, which means I'm tracking everything I'm putting in my mouth!! yay!

2. This is a one-week program for me to investigate what works and what doesn't! I'm not going all Vegan…yet!!

3. Each day, I'll make some observations on the blog, but the bulk of my posts will still be about crafting and sewing!!

4. Let's encourage each other in whatever journey we choose to take!!! 

♥

My father passed away on July 28th, 1990. He was 58 and had just undergone his second bypass surgery. His heart had too much damage from that heart attack he had had 21 years before. I miss him dearly, and I thank God everytime I think of it that I got my full childhood with him!!! 

{my kids in front of our cabin in Northern Colorado years ago!!}

But I want more years with my kids!! And that's one of the reasons I'm doing this!!

What are your reasons for taking your journeys???

Blessings!!!