Category: My Opinion

Emotional Healing, My Opinion

Victory in Compromise

Dara Dietz

How do we stay faithful to our intentions?  Yesterday I nearly lost my will to juice fast.  I developed a case of hunger that nearly took me over.  Michael had gone to the post office leaving me alone with the smell of lunch still lingering in the air.  Kim, our cook, had out done herself at lunch serving up a delicious Tofu manicotti. When this tofu dish is made correctly you cannot tell if from the cheese dish.

When I’m juice fasting I seldom go into the kitchen or join the others at the lunch table.  It is much easier for me to just ignore anything to do with food.  Yesterday I went too long between drinks.  I broke the number one rule of juice fasting, I let myself become hungry.  Not only was I starved but I was alone in a house full of food.  I will admit I went into the kitchen with every intention of finding something to eat.  When I opened the fridge the fresh fruit juice was setting big as day on the shelf.  Ok, I’ll make a glass of Superfood first, I decided.  Then I’ll eat something.

The juice was very satisfying.  I drank it slowly setting in my favorite chair in the living room.  As I got up to put my glass away I realized my appetite was completely satisfied.  What saved me?  I wish I could say, will power, but I’d already decided to eat something.  In my heart I really did not want to break my fast.  The little decisions we can still make are the ones that will save us in a pinch.  I did not tell myself I could not eat; I made the decision to have a glass of Superfood in fresh fruit juice first.

Cleansing & Flushing, Herbal Healing, My Opinion, Weight Loss

A Summary of My 2012

Dara Dietz

December 31, 2011 I began what I hoped would be a sixty day juice fast. I had been inspired to do this after watching the movie, “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead”.  The juice fast was going very well; I had made it to day 37 and had lost a total of 46 pounds.   My energy was through the roof, I felt emotionally great, everything was looking up, I was sure I could do the whole 60 days.  Day thirty seven was a Sunday, my regular massage day.  Neither Darlene nor I thought to question the wisdom of a massage while doing such an intense juice fast.  The next morning I was feeling quite sick. My kidneys were kicking me hard for way too much abuse.  The weight loss had been all they could handle now with the added toxins needing to be processed from the massage they were over whelmed and I was in a world of hurt.

Monday & Tuesday I drank the kidney flush drinks and supported my kidneys with the herbals they liked the most.  Tuesday afternoon I went to bed and was out for several hours.  I woke up around 9 pm to find my husband working on his computer in the lounge next to our bed.  I struggled to the bathroom and then back to the bed where I slept until 2 am.  I woke needing to make a fast run for the bathroom, it was all good.  My kidneys no longer hurt, I felt all better.

Wednesday and Thursday I felt great.  Friday I woke up with thick green puss coming out my eyes and nose.  My vocal cords were so coated with the stuff I could not make a sound.  My head was full of that sticky green stuff.  It took several weeks and a couple of ELF’s to clear the worst of my symptoms.  Even so I was weak as a kitten.  The day before my crash I had easily done two miles on my treadmill.  Over the next few months I continued to be very weak, I could not go more than a quarter mile on the treadmill without my knees buckling and feeling totally exhausted.

I kept expecting to begin feeling better but as the months slipped by my condition was growing worse.  I regained all the weight I’d lost plus a few pounds.  Motivation for doing a healing program with lacking, the idea of exerting myself in any direction required extreme effort.  Whatever had infected me in February still had a hold in my system.  December arrived and I was determined to do something to help myself feel better so I decided to begin by going on a raw food program.  I lasted for a couple of weeks before modifying to a low carb mostly raw food program.   Simply put I cut out all bread, pasta’s, and processed foods.  I also started doing an ELF once a week.

With only those few minor changes I started feeling a bit better.  My energy was moving up the scale.  Then in January a friend needed help with his incurables program.  We all decided it would be a great idea for him to stay here and do it with me.  I needed the support and he needed someone to show him how it was done.

Last week we did our first week of Liver Flushing and juice fasting.  We were not perfect.  I’m sure we will get a good rhythm to our day as we continue on the program.  This week it is Kidney Flushing and we are eating raw.  Finding time for all our drinks and programs is the real challenge.

The year that began with such promise floundered in the middle but ended on an upswing.  I learned a lot about myself in 2012.  Discouragement need not destroy; The Lord provides the strength I need to rise above whatever life throws my way.

My Opinion

Where is Justice?

Dara Dietz

There is nothing better than a hot bowel of soup on a rainy day.  Outside the sky is dripping chilly drops of water onto my driveway.  Inside I feel safe and snug.  Our workers are busy putting out today’s orders.  The sound of tape guns and bubble wrap penetrate the glass divider between my office and the packing area.  All the good stuff being packed up and shipped out.

The normal sounds of life are reassuring as I try to write out the confusion I have been feeling.  Where is my strength that inner something I have learned to rely on.  The Father seems so silent at times.  The fate of four little children has plagued by mind and weighed heavily on my heart.  Sometimes the evil seems overwhelming.  What situation or event in a life creates evil that can find sexual pleasure while causing an innocent child pain?   A man, a father, a husband, destroys the lives of his four children, for what?  His lust demanded satisfaction.  His children were handy, easily accessible.  As a society we should be outraged, instead this man’s trial ended in a hung jury.   Where is justice?  Justice for the children struggling to make sense of hurt and shame they cannot begin to understand. Justice for the community forced to watch their children flounder while the seeds of injustice grow a fresh crop of useless, angry young adults.

My mind is tired; the few words I have written have taken hours to form.  My thoughts on this subject do not flow easily.  There is a wall in my heart, something blocking the flow of light and love.  Am I again the little girl without a voice, reconciled to the evil I must endure?   Or, am I a woman with a voice and heart able to rise above whatever life sends my way.

Food & Nutrition, Herbal Healing, My Opinion

I’m becoming a Raw Foodie!!

Dara Dietz

I’m becoming a Raw Foodie.  Yes, I’ve been holding out on you.  Around the first of December I began a juice fast that evolved into a raw food program.  Many of you will remember the 40 day juice fast I crashed from last February.  The effects of that crash are still plaguing me.  An overall feeling of weakness has settled into my system and a stubborn cough that will not clear.

To recap, last February, on day 37 of what I had planned to be a 60 day juice fast, I received a massage.  Neither Darlene, my massage therapist nor I had any concerns.  A massage on day 37 of a juice fast, I discovered, is a really bad idea.  I had lost 47 pounds which was taxing to my kidneys.  (A weak point in my body). The massage was on Sunday afternoon, by Monday evening the pain in my back was so intense I could hardly walk.  To make a long story short, I used the herbs to support my kidneys enabling them to clear the waste and return to normal function by early Wednesday morning.  The real crash arrived on Friday when I woke up with thick green puss coming out my eyes, nose and mouth.  The stuff coated my vocal cords preventing talk for several days.  The puss seemed to fill my entire body, gumming up my liver, Kidneys and bowel function.

Since February I’ve done several liver flushes and used the herbal tonics in an effort to clear this awful mess from my body.  Some success has been achieved but it has been slow.  Starting in December I decided to do a full out battle to clear this goop from my system once and for all.

Exactly what have I been doing?  The first of December I juice fasted for a week.  After five days of nothing but juices I felt worse.  All the waste was trying to flush out all at once.  I had a headache, felt very weak and could not get enough sleep.   I did an Elf and cleared a lot of the toxic symptoms.  I should have done two or three in a row but didn’t.  Instead I decided to go raw for a while.  My body simply did not want cooked food.

I did nothing but salads for two weeks before I realized I needed a better plan.  Google provided an excellent raw cracker recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups ground flax seeds
  • 2/3 cup whole flax seeds
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons red pepper (chopped very small)
  • 2 tablespoons parsley (chopped very small)
  • 2 teaspoon chili powder (or your favorite savory spice)
  • 2 and 2/3 cups of water
  • 1 and 1/3 cups of sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup black sesame seeds (or regular white sesame seeds will do fine)

Directions:

  • Mix everything together in a mixing bowl.
  • Spread batter on parchment paper or a teflex sheet.
  • Remember that the above recipe should make two dehydrator sheets worth of crackers. Spread the batter out evenly. Using the back of a spoon works well.
  • Score the crackers. Use a knife to score the crackers along wherever you want the crackers to separate. This will make them easier to break later on.
  • Start dehydrating the crackers. I generally dehydrate everything at 120 degrees for the first hour, and then reduce the temperature to 105 degrees for the remainder of the cooking time.
  • After 8 hours remove the parchment or teflex sheets and place the crackers directly on the dehydrator tray.
  • Set timer for 12 more hours and finish dehydrating. Some people like their crackers a bit moist. I like them to be very dry. If you plan on keeping them for a few weeks or more in storage, then you must ensure that there is no moisture left.

Hint: A good way to make sure that they are really dry and dehydrated is to pinch them hard. If all of the moisture is gone, you should not be able to feel any movement. If you pinch a cracker and it gives a little, it needs to be dehydrated longer.

 These crackers are great!  You can put nearly anything on them.  Tomato, Avocado, onion, ect… just build up a great cracker.

And so the story continues…. More to come…

Emotional Healing, My Opinion, Spiritual Healing

The Hard Road

Dara Dietz

Lizzard on Leaf bestIn our lives, most of us will have our circumstances turned around many times.  The downturns may be beyond our control and independent of our personal actions.  Life’s lessons must be learned.  If we fail to learn them during the good times, the Father will take us over the same track again and again, until we learn what He is trying to teach us.

The first time He tries to press a lesson home to our hearts, it can be in the quiet of our room as we meditate.  A thought is pressed on our minds that we may dismiss as inconsequential, something we don’t wish to deal with at that moment, if ever.  Time goes along, and soon you’ll hear that very thought spoken aloud by a trusted friend or authority figure. God is raising His voice in your life, trying to get your attention and tell you that now is the time to deal with this issue.  But your pride is hurt and you decide to blow off the opinion of this person.  What do they know anyway? It’s your life and it’s been going along just fine.

Nope, wrong answer.  This issue is not going to go away.  Jesus, the Father, God, Providence, the Powers That Be, whatever you wish to call it, has decided that this is the time, right here and right now, for you to deal with yourself.  The next time, and there will be a next time, it will surface as a full blown, most likely, public trial guaranteed to get your attention.  The Father will take us round and round an issue until we surrender the idol He is asking for, along with our pride. Those who refuse to be taught by any means will eventually make a shipwreck of their lives, with the loss of all they hold dear.

Working on ourselves can be the toughest job of all, so be kind to those who are going down the hard roads.  Learn from the example of others. Pray that when the Lord deals with you, that you will listen quickly, and if you fail to notice His quiet calls to reform your life, that as you travel down the hard road, you will be rewarded for the kindnesses you have shown.

My Opinion

The Absents of Good

Dara Dietz

Floating Pink 3Clearing our emotional pain is as important in the process of healing the body as clearing the toxins.  Our emotional life has everything to do with our physical health.  Every day the news is full of the awful thing man does to himself and others when the twisting of a soul has reached its limit and finds release as it lashes out on society.

What hurts the heart today.  The world is falling apart.  Babies are shot while they sit in their classroom.  A Crazy, mean, hateful, person picked up a gun and shot us through the heart.  This shooting was not an act against society, it was an act of pure hate.  When aiming to get even with society adults are the target.  To walk into a classroom with the intent to destroy the unlived lives of our babies, this is an act of pure hate.  This man was not shooting at society, his act of murdering what we hold dearest to our hearts, our children, was an act of pure hate intended to elicit the most pain possible.  There is no torture more painful to a community than the mistreatment or murder of our children.

The cruel hate filled heart that could inflict so much pain out into the world would not be affected by our tears or pleads.  The selfish choices made over and again paved the road he traveled bringing him to the day he would be able look into the innocent faces while sending life ending lead into their little bodies.

A wise man once said evil is the absents of good.  We have removed God from our schools so why should we be shocked when all that is good is found missing from the soul of our young adults.  God is good, He is love, to know him is to know true love.  Without God the opposite can only be true.

Emotional Healing, My Opinion

Writing My Story; The Process

Dara Dietz

There was a process to the writing of my story, Whatever Good May Come“Whatever Good May Come”.  Like most things in life that are worthwhile to do and have there was a price paid.  I’m often asked about this process, the emotional work as well as the physical.

Denise and I began with a series of recorded interviews.  We filled up seventeen 90 minute tapes over many months of conversations.  She would come by once a week and we would talk.  Her questions directed our talks which when transcribed proved to have been complete.  She had such a gentle manner I never felt violated by her questions.  Yet everything was in the transcript.  The entire unvarnished truth of me.

The next step Denise prewrote the chapters using my words from the transcript.  She took over 800 pages of words, tossed out the redundancies, providing direction as to how the story would be written.

The first pre-written chapter consisted of thirteen double spaced pages dealing with the early years of my life.  For me the opening paragraph if a chapter is always the hardest to write.  Once I get my writers feet wet I’m off.

Denise’s prewritten direction refreshed my mind bring back with vivid detail screens and events from my past.  When I wrote I was transported back to an uncomfortable time and place.  Back into the painful, helpless childhood I’d had to endure.  Returning was hard but very healing.  I returned as an adult with the mind and heart of a mature woman.  No longer the helpless child to be used and abused at the whims of the perverted adults in my life.  As an adult I was able to separate myself from the abuse, able to place the blame exactly where it belonged.  As a child I had taken responsibility for the abuse, as an adult I could see it was not my fault.

As soon as I had finished writing my first chapter, Denise did some copy-edit work on it.  She was touching my soul, messing with my words.  I fell apart and cried.  She backed off the copy-edit work, or at least did not show it to me until we were much further along with the writing.  By the time I was finished writing my story it had become such old news to me, I could not believe it would be interesting to anyone else must less of any value for anyone but maybe me.

Denise was then able to do her job without any discomfort for me.  She also had to encourage me that it was a good project.  I remember she said once, I should think of my book as a bowel of rice I’d been eating day after day for nearly four years.  It was old and rancid for me.  This is not how it would be for other people.  Writing my story allowed me to comb through my early life with a fine tooth comb.  I was so familiar with it by the time I was done writing I had to set it down for nearly a year so it could freshen up a bit for me.

Writing my story I  processed thorough my life, learn things about myself and best of all forgave myself.  Once this process is finished the sensitivity to having my words messed with was all but gone.

I felt strongly about the integrity of what I wrote.  It was my story, no one else could tell it but me.  That said, the cutting and slashing that is part of the polishing of a work was not painful by the end of my project.  I was as much a part of the polishing of my work as was Denise.  We did not agree on everything, the final word on what would be included was mine.

My advice for what it is worth is, do your project.  Write your book.  This is a gift you will give to yourself.  After you are done then decide if you want to make it public.

Emotional Healing, My Opinion, Spiritual Healing

A Place to Begin Again

Dara Dietz

I want to take a minute to thank you all for the beautiful cards and warm wishes you sent this holiday season. I wish I had the time to write each of you individually, but sadly, this is something time restraints will not allow. So instead we are sending our very best to you in this letter. I pray it finds each of you blessed and happy.

Life is full of second chances. Our Father in love has filled each minute, hour, day, year, and life time, with opportunities to wipe the present clean from our past mistakes and begin again. Through my own experiences I’ve learned that the fallout from our past mistakes does not have to darken our present joy.

When we learn to embrace all that has made us who we are today, the mistakes and failures of yesterday no longer have the power to annoy. Praise the Lord for the growth and wisdom those experiences have brought to your life. There is no shame in making mistakes. Do not allow the trials and abuses of yesterday to dampen your joy today. Shame is a killer that can only live in the dark recesses of a secret, an unaccepted mistake, a misunderstood intention.

Let go of the past, allow this new day to be your new beginning. Each day offers us the promise of another chance, a free do over for all the mistakes the sun set on only a few hours earlier. The dark of the night has once again covered our mistakes, renewing us with its sleep, enabling us to go forward refreshed.

Seasons come and go each one moving us toward our future. In the Spring we are drawn outside, we look to the mountains covered with the richness of new life, and are drawn to new heights as we feed on the power surrounding us.

The renewing of Spring flows into the activity of the Summer season. This is the time of year we get things done. The Summer is full of useful activity, these are the days of preparation a time when our powers are strong.

All too soon the days begin to cool down, a hint of coldness drifts into the night air. It is then that the wisdom and beauty of the fall burst into color all around us as nature again draws us into her arms. In the fall we discover beauty in death, a sense of completeness that the work of the summer is over and it is time to rest.

Days become shorter as Winter invites us to come away and rest awhile. Buried in the dark night of W inter we find time for reflection, healing and growth. Amid this time of inactivity can be found the perfection of the yearly round of life. In the cold recesses of the W inter Season is found a place to bury the mistakes of the year that is ending, a place to find forgiveness and to learn to forgive.

It’s time for a new year, a new beginning. We are not who we were last year. We are not who we will be next year. We are each on a road that twists and turns us through the experiences of our lives. At some point our roads have crossed and we have shared a few precious minutes. The words of encouragement that have passed between us have meant the world to me. Words mean things, they are all we have and if used correctly they can convey, hope, encouragement, and love. On the other hand when we act rashly and without concern for the feelings of others our words can deeply cut and wound the spirits of those we come in contact with.

The Father has filled our lives with so many places to begin again. It is my prayer that this year will be a new beginning for each of you. That this precious time you have been given will not be wasted, left unimproved and barren. My wish is that each of you will renew with the Spring so your Summer will be fruitful and you Fall full of wisdom and bounty. Then in the Winter your hearts will be warmed as you reflect with satisfaction on a job well done, a life well lived.

This past week I waded through our Membership Files as I sorted the current Members from those who need to renew. So many names, so many memories. I realized how blessed I have been to be in contact with such a special group of Individuals. Just seeing some of your names brought a smile to my lips. A few of you caused me to laugh out loud. I’ve learned so much about life and living since HEAL Marketplace began in 1998.

The truth of Natural Healing is not just about choosing herbs over drugs.

It is really all about “Becoming More”.

  • More tolerant of those who are confused and scared.
  • More accepting of our own failings.
  • More balanced in Mind, Heart and Body.
  • More Trusting of the Care our Heavenly Father has promised to provide.

I hope each one of you will continue down this road with us. We only ask for the opportunity to continue to bless you with our very best efforts. As a result we hope that you will continue to grow in your knowledge of all things Natural as you apply what you learn from us to your life and the world around you.

Best Wishes from all of Us at H.E.A.L. Marketplace

to All Our Wonderful Members

Mental, My Opinion

Time To Do It Again

Dara Dietz

11/09/12

Doing the good stuff is not always easy.  Today Carol and I have begun a journey.  One I hope will take us to a place of better health.  Sixteen years ago I began my healing journey with a handful of herbal capsules for a bladder infection.  Along the way I have made many exciting discoveries about myself and people in general.  One in particular is we humans have a hard time finishing what we begin.

Finishing what we begin is not an easy undertaking.  We get bored with the process or the work on ourselves becomes too hard.  Where is my stick to it ness?  Why do I have such a hard time staying with a good plan?  I did a 40 day juice fast but could not finish and come off well.

Time to do it again.

Today is the first day of my new juice fast.  Since February when I finished 40 days of juice fasting I have not done well for myself.   Old habits and favorite foods I find hard to give up have left their mark on my life.  The time has come to juice fast again with a few modifications.  I plan to eat raw two days a week. This will break up the extended juice fasting hopefully preventing the long recovery time back to regular food.

The raw food will keep my system alkaline while at the same time my digestive system will still be processing solid food.   The most difficult part of my extended juice fast became the process of reintroducing food to my stomach.  After 40 days of consuming only liquids it was several weeks before my stomach could appreciate solid food.  Cooked food was another story altogether.  Consuming anything cooked made me feel like I had poisoned myself.  Nearly six weeks transition was required before by system easily accepted cooked food.

My goal is to find an easier way to get the benefits of an extended juice fast and maybe bypass the extended recovery time.  We shall see.

Emotional Healing, My Opinion

Embracing Experience

Dara Dietz

affirmation_woman cutWe humans do not value what has not been hard earned.  We look up to those of experience who have “been there”, “done that”; those who somehow survived the worst and appear to have made it through emotionally and physically intact.

Those things that have stuck with me and provide the greatest wisdom were hard learned through tough and sometimes painful experiences.  Nothing good comes easily. Long ago I decided to embrace opportunities to grow instead of running from or being afraid of them.

This decision has changed the way I live.  Looking life straight in the face I am able to deal with life’s little distractions before they become major disasters.  There are no unopened letters setting on my desk.  No unreturned phone calls or errands I have put off because they are unpleasant.   Learning to embrace life with all its ups and downs continues to provide many opportunities to strengthen my emotional and spiritual life.

Knowing my personal limitations and planning my life around what I can do, instead of setting myself up to fail.  Faith and Trust in my Father have taught me to rely on His good judgment for each day’s duties.  Doing, to the best of my ability, what providence has placed in my hands to do each day and then leaving the results with Him.

Accepting my life is in His care simply means nothing is wasted.  The good, the bad, and the ugly of life are all good.  They provide lessons to learn, chances to stretch and grow beyond who I am today.  When I learn a lesson well it simply means I will not have to pass over that road again.

No, I’m not done yet.  There will always be more to learn and places in my life to improve.   The Lord will find a new road with different lessons for me to master.