Nosebleeds and Eating Problems

2 nights ago, in the evening, I had a gusher of a nosebleed.  I don't get them often at all.  In fact, the vast majority of my nosebleeds are when I am pregnant and I AM NOT PREGNANT :-).

But...I can tell I'm having pretty severe allergies to something out in the environment, so I'm dealing with drainage and dried up nasal passages.  So that's the source of the problem.

That evening, I spent a good hour waiting for my nosebleed to stop.  Then in the middle of the night, it started up again and I spent another hour dealing with it.  Ugh.  Not the best night's sleep.

I love how the Lord uses the printed word to help me deal with bad attitudes. I was not happy about the nosebleed, or drainage that causes stomach upset, and a bad night's sleep.  Not too fun.

But right before the nosebleed, I was reading a book from the library that I picked up randomly.  It is about a young woman in her 20's who got sick with a virus that attacked her heart.  After 4 miserable years of heart problems, and literally months in the hospital, she had a heart transplant. Then she dealt with rejection though they managed to quell the rejection to the point that her new heart "took."  

Then she started climbing mountains, I guess, but I haven't gotten to that point yet in the book.

Point is, this lady got really really sick in spite of living a healthy lifestyle.  She was young, happily married, a sportswoman, and ate carefully.  You'd think she'd be healthy and she wasn't.

So here I am, 45 next week, and really very healthy.  Nosebleeds and allergies?  Pshaw.  Not a big deal.  

Last week I was reading the beginning of the Gospel of Mark. I have read it many times before and this time, the oddest thing jumped out at me.  Namely:

Mark 1: 6-8

Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, "There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Ok, so there is all that awesome stuff about Jesus' coming and how He was far greater than John.

But that's not what jumped out.  It was the "locusts and wild honey" part that did :-).

Um, locusts?  Insects?  No, that does not sound too tasty.  The Israelites in the desert whined about manna but if you ask me, they had it pretty good.  Honey is good, locusts bad. I think.  And talk about limited.  I mean yes, maybe he had the occasional variation in his diet (maybe the random fig?) but it sounds like mostly he was eating bugs dipped in wild honey.

I've been a bit grumpy about my food lately. I'm diabetic, which limits what I can eat.  I've adjusted to that over the last 10 years and there are plenty of things I like that I can eat.  But now some things aren't agreeing with me, like dairy, so I am off all milk products.  AND I think Rose might be allergic to wheat so I'm off wheat as well.

But you know, all those limitations aren't the biggest thing. The truth is, I like to relax when I eat.  I have a bad habit of being hungry and thinking, "Well, I want to eat...but right now the kids are crazy and I don't have time to sit down to eat.  So I'll wait."  And I wait and wait, to the point that sometimes I don't eat enough to maintain my weight.  Right now I'm 15 lbs higher than my "normal" weight -- but I know from experience that if I lose too much weight, I'll lose my milk supply.  Rose and I have made it 4 months and that is better than I did with Daniel, so eating early, often, and consistently is important.

I have found myself munching down oatmeal with both Daniel and Sarah on my lap, in front of the computer, while Daniel and Sarah watch a youtube video of "Let It Go".  I like the song, but I'd WAY rather have the kids all occupied while I sit peacefully at the table to eat my oatmeal, with a good book in front of me.

This reminds me of a section in C. S. Lewis' book, The Screwtape Letters.  This book is a totally fictional account of a higher level demon advising a lower level demon how to tempt a man away from Christ.  (Obviously it is fictional since that's way out there -- but it is a GREAT book. Very thought provoking.) There is a short section where the demon talks about the "subject"'s mother.  In the book, the mother is very picky about food.  She wants things "just so" though she isn't a glutton in the sense we usually think about gluttony. But she is fussy and whiny about her toast being just right, or her food at a restaurant not being too large of a serving.  The demon points out that being hyper picky about food is a form of gluttony, and I think that's a valid perspective though not what we usually think about when we think about gluttony.

ANYWAY, I'm in good shape with food.  I've got a husband bringing in a big enough salary to feed us all, and feed us all well. I have my chocolate from Trader Joe's, my coconut flour from Amazon, and my eggs from Kroger.  I have plenty of times in the day when I can eat, even if it isn't quite the environment I prefer.  And I don't need to eat bugs.  Dipped in wild honey.