Sun Days on Orcas | Mindy’s story

||| SUN DAYS ON ORCAS by EDEE KULPER |||

Vulnerability opens doors in people’s hearts. Raw, brave sharing is inspirational and powerful. It lifts, encourages, and builds all those who are on the receiving end, and the sender soon hears how supported and how very un-alone they actually are. It’s a win-win. (In contrast, remaining hush-hush about hardships, while appropriate for privacy’s sake, often helps no one.)

I spend very little time on Facebook – about a minute a week. But every now and then something pops up that I can’t keep from reading, and I’m drawn in for quite some time. That’s what happened when I read this post by Mindy Nuñez. It isn’t the first time her writing and vulnerability have drawn me in.

I asked if she would allow me to share this with all of you, because it will inevitably touch you and perhaps even open a shaft of light in your dark tunnel.

Here is Mindy’s story in her words:

I wanted to share my story with you guys! It’s been quite a journey so I thought maybe if it helps someone, I’ll share!

I had come to my place where some people get. I think I’ve heard people call it their “bottom,” though I’m not dumb enough to think that’s as low as I can go. All I can say is I got to a place where I needed a change or I knew my end was at the end of that journey!

I had lost my baby Felipe, I almost died losing my entire blood volume, my life had been forever changed by not being able to give birth to any more children (a thing that had become my identity after six children!), and the grief was unbearable! I ate and it felt better. I ate and the pain stopped – even if for a brief moment it stopped, and life stopped, and I didn’t have to hurt anymore…at least for that moment while I chewed and the chemicals flooded my brain.

I had been on diets before, realizing I was gaining weight before the trauma, and this was just on a whole other level! I stepped on the scale and 299?! 299!??!?!! NO! This can’t be my story! NO!

I rushed into gastric surgery and got a vertical sleeve gastrectomy. While that was a good reset, having to think about everything I put in my mouth in essentially an eight-week fast, the diet was solid protein. I had lost maybe 20 pounds, but in my diet I was only allowed what would essentially be pure protein and fat. No vegetables and no fruit could really fit in this diet. Perhaps a strawberry or two, or a carrot here or there. Feeling sluggish and unsatisfied, I realized I may have just lost my best friend. Food had become a comfort. A place of safety. A safe haven of sorts and now it was gone! I knew that the bariatric diet wasn’t the right thing for me, so I reached out.

I joined The Daniel Fast: A Bridge to Healthy Living and I never looked back.

 [Note from Edee: This sent me researching. Mindy is alluding to a four-week interactive course taught locally by Gigi Carter and Sersie Blue, which stems from The Daniel Fast book by Susan Gregory. In the book of Daniel in the bible, the first chapter refers to a test proposed by Daniel in which he and three other Israelites – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – ate vegetables and water instead of the Babylonian king’s rich food and wine. After ten days, they were healthier and better nourished than the young men who ate the royal food. They worked for three years in the king’s service, and their wisdom and understanding were unsurpassed by anyone in the kingdom. See the full bible passage I’ve attached at the end of Mindy’s story. The fast’s purpose isn’t weight loss, per se. Health, yes, but its primary intent is spiritual: discipline, daily devotion, prayer, and scripture reading.]

I had tried diets. I had tried surgery and nothing was really truly changing. I needed something real. I needed an honest change and I needed it now! I committed! I went in full with two feet and a level head ready to make a sacrifice – it was Lent anyhow and it was time to make a real sacrifice for who God wants me to be. Food was a terrible god. It was only good while I chewed, left terrible side effects, and left me feeling duped, tricked. What is this? A heroin addiction?

I started with the four-week course. I committed to doing it just as it was designed. No cheats! No buts! I was ready for real transformation! And real transformation I got! The food was weird. I didn’t like the earthy tones and the textures and the smells. It was annoying and I didn’t enjoy one single minute – for about two to three weeks. Then suddenly everything came to life! The smoothie fast helped a ton!

The first three days really reset your palate and make things much simpler. You eat what you eat, whether you like it or not. Eat the food. It’s good for you. Okay! So there I was, eating the food. Going through the motions. Then something amazing happened. I FELT AMAZING! THE BEST I HAVE EVER FELT IN MY LIFE! I didn’t realize I had felt bad until l felt better! This change was real and palatable. And then the food – it changed! The flavors were delicious and filling! I ate and ate and ate until I was full and I still felt alive and awake afterward! No midday slump! No naps and struggles! I was a different person!

I worked out and became this machine. Something I had only dreamt of! Life settled in, though. Family and social pressures came and I began to stumble. The only upside to that was comparison. I had known what truly healthy felt like. So when I started to stumble this summer I was able to feel the difference and know – wow! This thing I craved from my brain and a feeling I craved from childhood – it makes me feel sick and tired. It doesn’t make me feel good! I now had this basis in truth that beckoned me back. I fought and fought and found my way back. I realized food addiction had reared its ugly head so I jumped on the boot camp. AND WOW! The things I learned were life-altering. My lack of forgiveness for myself sent me spiraling, for one! I didn’t realize how much of my behavior was based on shame.Working through the course and then joining the inner circle has been a lifeblood that I can never thank you all enough for! My life is forever changed and I have this foundation and this community to thank for it. I know who I am, and I know what my purpose is! I need to be alive and well to fulfill it!That’s my long, long story! Thanks for listening if you made it this far. Share your story with a friend! Let’s save lives and fulfill our purposes together.

Mindy set a running goal of 100 kilometers in October. She ran 105. She plans to run the 25K race in January, and is working on each leg of the course in Moran State Park. I am SO inspired by her.

We honor you and all veterans this weekend, Mindy. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your story.

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.

3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.

6 Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”

11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

21 And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.