How We Escaped from the Garden of Eating

By Margaret Bernard Norman and Vernon E Norman, PHD

Are you "sick and tired" of feeling sick and tired? Have you been told you need to control your diabetes, hypertension, fibromyalgia, arthritis? Have you tried to lose weight, and the "yo-yo" diets are like a rocking chair--they keep you going but get you nowhere? Then you too need to read about the Garden of Eating and find out how we Escaped from the Garden of Eating! What? Where is this garden? How do you get there and why do you need to escape? Come along with us on what was our exciting forty-year journey to better health, only to discover that a big part of the solution was right here in our kitchen! It is our hope it will transform your thinking about your health. We pray it will help you live proactively by preventing illness, rather than only seeking to palliate pains, or being held captive by illness. Warning: Reading this book may transport you to another world!  Words:17,830.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Margaret Norman
• Release date: Sep 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386621744

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Disclaimer

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This testimony is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be substituted for your responsibility to seek professional counsel for your health concerns. However, we would also highly recommend seeking Divine Counsel through a devoted personal experience with our Heavenly Father and by scripture reading, prayer and constant communion with Him throughout the day. Any feelings or opinions you may experience towards these authors, positive or negative, should be filtered through spiritual lenses and first discussed with our Heavenly Father prior to expressing to anyone else, including the authors. Prayer does change things!

Much love and God's blessings to you as you embark upon this spiritual journey to better health,

Margaret Bernard Norman

With Vernon E. Norman, PhD

September 3, 2017

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Scripture References: All scripture references used in this testimony are from the King James Version of the Bible. Keep one handy while reading this testimony; you may need to use it often.

Our Sponsors

There are many sponsors who are contributing to this forty year journey to better health:

Executive Sponsor—Our Heavenly Father: Thank You Father for Your patience with me throughout my entire life. I gave my life to You in my youth and You have been my constant Guide, Companion, Counselor, Provider, Protector, Deliverer, Friend, Parent—my Everything and I love You so much! Because I love You, I want to be obedient to your commandments. Thank You for sending Your Son Jesus Christ to earth to live a sinless life as our perfect example. Thank You for His victory over appetite that assures us that we could also have that victory. Thank You for the indwelling Holy Spirit, and for my angels who have been with me all my life. Thank You for being my Creator and Sustainer—I look forward to seeing You, my Redeemer throughout eternity.

Main Sponsors—My Family:  My darling husband Vernon, thank you for giving me the freedom to be me as our Heavenly Father worked on my character over these forty years! Thank you for your love and support, especially in assisting with completing this testimony. Without your and Vernee's wisdom and technical expertise, and your invaluable scriptural contributions, I could not produce this testimony. I love you unconditionally and forever. To our three wonderful children: Marven (Kirsty), Alven (Ann) and Vernee—I have always loved you and always will. I seek your forgiveness for ignorantly feeding you processed/preserved foods and vegetarian health meats. These seemed to have had the opposite intended effect on you. Instead of teaching you to eat healthily, they appear to have attracted you to eating things we told you to avoid when you were growing up! It has been said that we get sick because we eat the same wrong way our parents did. It is our prayer that this testimony helps you to modify your diet now so you don't get the same illnesses we have. God can help you to control your appetite before it controls you! As your parents, your dad and I want you to be saved more than anything you could accomplish in this life. Choose Christ now while you're young and healthy. May He be your constant and forever Friend.

Multiple Sponsors—Extended Family including Siblings and their Families, Church Families, Friends and Relatives, Coworkers: Please forgive me for indulging you in healthy vegetarian fine dining over the years. You too are precious to me, I love you very much and want you to be saved. May our testimonies  also be a source of encouragement for anyone struggling with appetite as we were. Victory can be ours in Christ!

Other Sponsors—Reader: Our prayer for you is that our simple testimonies will be a catalyst for change in your thinking about this battle for appetite that Eve lost in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:6), but for which Jesus Christ gained the victory in the wilderness. (Mathew 4:3,4).

Preparation for Our Escape

For many years I'd say to my husband, "If we didn't have to pay the mortgage, buy food or put gas in our cars (at the time, he drove two hours each way to and from work), we'd be rich! Our circumstances have changed drastically since making that statement. In March, 2016, we relocated from a very hectic Southern California lifestyle to a peaceful, much slower pace in Huntsville, Alabama.

Exactly three weeks after relocating to Alabama, my husband suffered a stroke which resulted in expressive aphasia and right-sided paralysis. How devastating this has been for him since he had recently completed his PhD and was looking forward to transitioning from his thirty-five years of teaching and administration in the K-12 system, to lecturing at the college level.

The doctors were baffled that this relatively young, healthy, vegetarian, marathoner who never drank alcohol or smoked, had suffered such a debilitating stroke. He had no atherosclerosis, no heart problem and no pain. The only presenting symptom for his stroke was high blood pressure! (We later learned that having sustained two very serious falls from heights during our move, could also have contributed to his stroke. During one of his falls, Vernon landed on his right side and suffered immobilizing pain for four days).

Our lives changed and his care became my focus. I was concerned since I felt that I had taken great precaution in feeding my family healthy vegetarian/vegan meals, and yet