Hi guys,
I been there done that. When I get strong cravings for meat, here's what works for me.
I get in the kitchen & make more of my brand of gluten steaks in bulk. I can only guess that the combo of taste, smell, color, toughness (I like nawing on tough food at a time like that), food yeast & possible hot stuff in the recipe seem to satisfy the cravings.
What scares me about my personal reaction if I should return to eating meat. Sabbath breaking. Yup ,Sabbath breaking .
It seems than when I cross bridges spiritually to allow my self to rebel and eat meat, Sabbath breaking & a lot of other things involving my personal appitites start burning bridges inside & acting that out externally.
I guess I am one of those polorized intense folks who does few things half-way.
I see what I eat for me, as a tug of war between my ok limits and natural appetites and worship. For me meat eating seems to be a big no no. The last time I got back into that (early 80's) it was one of the main ways I pulled my family down & me as the front runner. It took six years and a literal "act of God" to get us back. Pushing my own envelope is for me not wise.
1. I got information that convicted me.
2. That conviction created in me, desire to follow that information.
3. That desire I acted out on the strength of that information .
4. That action was in accepting Jesus and His teachings, and that's what made me an Adventist. A strong part of those teachings are dietary subbordination to His authority & teachings on the subject. For me that has been quite a process . I had to travel in stages. Some were very fast, once I found pork & the other unclean is a no no, pork and the unclean went bye bye pronto. Others took lots more time.
The family reaction was portracted & often intense. Pork Chops were high among my pre-SDA favorites. My memory & taste buds did not drown in the baptistry. They had to be step by step brought under subjection to my Master to prepare for baptism, and guess what - I still have to corral them. It is not as strong as it always used to be, but sometimes it is. Especially with pumping iron & craveing protein, but He said follow Him & grow. Some things I get to add as I go, some things I learn to leave behind.
For me I guess I see what I eat & drink as a major part of my personal worship & subordination to Jesus. It ain't always easy to tell myself no, but it's worth it & when I have problems - He's not just an after the fact Saviour when I need His strength before the fact (as well as after the fact.)
For some giving up unclean is mucho tough, for some not.
Only with & by the presence of Jesus in a person are any kind of changes desired, made, and for the spiritually right reasons. There was never a spiritual reason for my giving up any kind of things I did not like. I quit cause I didn't like them.
Lot's of stuff would still taste good, but in the things that are no no's that His information given has revealed, He matters more than the good taste in the eating & drinking of what He said was no no's in His world. He doesn't twist my arm, but He touches my heart.
Battles with caffeine, been there & done that & have to read labels. Since it's a stimulant it hits the entire central nervous system, heart, brain, kidneys, & every where.
To a person with a bad heart it packs a merciless wallop. it can cause tachycardia (uncontrolable much too rapid heart beat which can kill depending on condition & amount of OD levels of caffeine.) it causes the body to extra strongly release it's reserves of adreniline, blood sugar, chemical energy stores, change fat metabolism, and cause the body to go into artificial overdrive and uses up the emergency reserves. Then the levels of chemical stimulation leaves & so are the reserves. Caffeine causes the blood vessels to constrict un naturally, then as it's worst effects die away the blood vessels swell & in the brain cause a "bull goat" head ache. It takes 72 hours to detox & then the headache is gone.
Some folks are able to endure it till it passes, others stairstep down till they can quit all the way. Caffeine is a drug & it is the most available drug that can gateway for some. It ain't fair, but it's the world we live in. When we use it, it grabs us back.
------------------
Edward F Sutton
[This message has been edited by Edward F Sutton (edited April 11, 2001).]