Start­ing this 60-​​day raw diet, I didn’t grasp that self-​​denial would be so cen­tral to it’s suc­cess — espe­cially in the begin­ning. Detox­ing sugar, white flour and caf­feine pro­duced the expected aches and pains. One night my mus­cles were inflamed that it kept me up almost all night. So in the mid­dle of all these light, momen­tary suf­fer­ings, I was look­ing at the refrig­er­a­tor and pantry. “Let’s see. What do we have in here that’ll taste good?” I was look­ing for some­thing to ease my pain but I never actu­ally grabbed any­thing. And it was good that I didn’t. I needed to deny the urge.

This time period has really high­lighted the need to deny my flesh. It’s like a liv­ing para­ble day in and day out. I want the pizza. I can’t have the pizza. I want the pasta. I can’t have the pasta. Cheese and crack­ers? Nope. Crazy pota­toes and but­ter? Nope. I have to deny my urges. This basic Chris­tian­ity 101 has my atten­tion by the stom­ach. And that’s how it’s been. Over and over again, the Lord has extended grace to empower us to walk in the fruit of self-​​control and over­come the urges.

He’s also tipped me off that it becomes eas­ier to deny myself when I am serv­ing oth­ers, in this case, my wife. With the raw diet, we go through a ton of food prep to cre­ate the final dishes we enjoy. Some­times it’s just a salad but other times, like the raw tomato lasagna, each com­po­nent is made up of many ingre­di­ents just to cre­ate the desired fla­vors. And all this is sep­a­rate from the end­less dishes that pile up just to be washed and dirt­ied again ten min­utes later. So tak­ing time from what I would choose to do and choose to serve her instead really strength­ens self-​​denial. Com­pas­sion grows and in the mid­dle of serv­ing, I find joy. When she finds out what I did in her absence, she’s thrilled. The smile across her face is awe­some. She’s feels loved, and shows love in return. What a great combo! And all I had to do was put on an apron, get my hands dirty and clean up. That’s not too bad. Not too bad at all.

If you want to do a ded­i­cated time of raw foods, it’s worth it. It’ll take work but the results are amaz­ing. You feel healthy, think clearly and get a chance to oper­ate in the fruit of the Spirit and grow with the Lord. :) It’s good prac­tice for when you really need it on larger life issues.