Now I know God is perfect, the son of God is perfect, heaven is perfect, salvation through sanctification will give you the perfect connection with God. You can live in perfect harmony with God and have perfect peace. I love that and cherish that with every fiber of my being.
But in a world of so many choices and so many standards and so many critics - is perfection an illusion? Take the Olympics for instance, do the judges really know what perfect is or is it just the best that athlete is doing measured by the best someone else has done? Who determines what a perfect 10 looks like? It's only as good as the last person who did better than everyone else. So if I'm measuring myself to perfection does anyone really know what that looks like?
I started out with the idea that I was going to have to be perfect to succeed. But who determines what that is? Is perfection the destination? All these questions come to mind because I have NOT been perfect. I'm not sure I feel bad about it either, not because I want to stay here because I don't but I do need to feel better about where to go from here. What makes me feel better is reiterating again that this is a JOURNEY. A journey that I get to decide what the roads look like.
So to fill in what has been going on since my birthday in August... it was crazy really. I couldn't seem to find my way back to where I once was. It was like the compromises I made around my birthday changed my desires again. My gut flora got tainted with the unhealthy choices and started to change what I wanted. My cravings for chocolate came back. There were times I could get a grip on it and times I felt like I was wandering around like a lost puppy. This led to a slight, mild depression. Feeling of failure. Again. I can't commit to anything over 3 months because I have the "Brooks curse". Seriously, track the commitment level of any Brooks relative. If they have the curse you will see it. They get excited and they are all in for 2-3 months then like a beagle tracking a fox in the woods..."SQUIRREL"! I'm determined to beat it on this. I will not let it steal this from me.
When I analyze the last few months along with the rest of my journey starting as far back as high school I have made significant progress. My default now, my "normal" is a healthy one. The amount of time I eat unhealthy is much shorter than it used to be due in part to the horrible feeling that accompanies unhealthy eating. I'm thankful for that. The holidays were challenging but I found that when the meal at lunch with the family was too much I wanted an Apple Berry shake for dinner. The flood of nutrients in my body made me feel remarkably better in under 15 minutes. My desire to take care of my body is still there. My brain needs some serious training. That's where my focus is going next. The brain is so powerful that it can help me get where I want to go and maintain it. I'm reading "You are what you think" by David Stoop and it's been fascinating the power of Self Talk. He talks about this one study for treating depression there were 2 groups tested - one using only anti-depressants and the other using only positive self talk treatment with no medications. After 12 weeks 20% of the medicated group recovered while a whopping 75% of the self talk group recovered and a year later these percentages stayed the same. So in keeping with these findings I'm going to use my positive self talk and say things aren't so bad. The journey is progressing through the holidays and I still rarely eat meat. The sweet addiction can use an overhaul and I'm hoping I can do that by just diverting from the cravings and choosing other things. I'm hoping that some distance from the daily sweet will give me some power back so I don't have to suffer through another cleanse... but I guess there are worse things... At least I can say there is progress. That is easier to maintain than perfection which is only an illusion anyway...
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Guest blogger: Starting over, again
Today's blog is by my husband, Cliff.
I started running again last month.
We have been jumping around like Bunny Rabbits in front of the TV keeping up with the professional fit people on T25 for a couple of months now, so I thought running would be no big deal.
Wrong.
I picked the last three miles of the Cornerstone 10K route in Clanton. It goes through more neighborhoods and past more fields than the first part which goes through downtown Clanton. The time of morning I have to run there is a lot of traffic, and sucking exhaust fumes and hoping folks are not texting while driving just is not the feeling I’m looking for. I used to be able to bang those three miles (and some change) out in around 30 minutes, even under on a good day.
Thus, with much confidence and bravado, I set out to reclaim past glory.
We have been jumping around like Bunny Rabbits in front of the TV keeping up with the professional fit people on T25 for a couple of months now, so I thought running would be no big deal.
Wrong.
I picked the last three miles of the Cornerstone 10K route in Clanton. It goes through more neighborhoods and past more fields than the first part which goes through downtown Clanton. The time of morning I have to run there is a lot of traffic, and sucking exhaust fumes and hoping folks are not texting while driving just is not the feeling I’m looking for. I used to be able to bang those three miles (and some change) out in around 30 minutes, even under on a good day.
Thus, with much confidence and bravado, I set out to reclaim past glory.
An hour later I trudged back into the parking lot of the
gym. Slightly humbled.
Normally I would berate myself for poor performance, “How
Could I Let This Happen?”
But I didn’t this time. I felt proud of myself for getting out there and doing it. And I knew that I would get better. That’s one of the great things about running and exercises in general, the linear progression. You do the work, you get the rewards. You get better. Every time.
But I didn’t this time. I felt proud of myself for getting out there and doing it. And I knew that I would get better. That’s one of the great things about running and exercises in general, the linear progression. You do the work, you get the rewards. You get better. Every time.
That was three weeks ago, and I am happy to report that I
have shaved twenty minutes of my 5K time.
Sure, it’s not sub 30 anymore, but I think I can get back there if I
want to. I’m more interested in going
farther, not faster. But of course, I
only have but so much time per week for training, so some speed is
necessary. (taking 6 hours to run 6
miles is just not an efficient use of my time)
Ultimately, I am really concerned with being outside, feeling my breath, moving through this really cool planet we are living on, enjoying the really cool highly functional body The Lord God has gifted/given to me.
Ultimately, I am really concerned with being outside, feeling my breath, moving through this really cool planet we are living on, enjoying the really cool highly functional body The Lord God has gifted/given to me.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Why yes it tis my birthday...
The excuse that started it all... but it wasn't ALL bad. It has definitely been worse.
So Friday August 22 I was out with a friend of mine and she wanted to treat me to lunch and a cupcake. It's my birthday no big deal.. I should be able to treat myself, right?
We went to Edgar's. Her favorite is the chicken salad sandwich. Prior to this journey I would have said the same thing. OK we will get the chicken salad croissant with chips and fruit cup. We will split it. I chose the Chocolate peanut butter cupcake.
It tasted fine. Not as yummy as I remember but ok. The cupcake was tasty but no way I could finish the whole thing. So half a chicken salad, half of the chips and half a cupcake. 15 minutes later not feeling so good. An hour later, I think I'm gonna be sick. Headache from the sugar, nausea from the mayo and chicken and fried chips.
I talk to Cliff later and ironically his company catered in the exact sandwich in for their meeting. He had the same thing. He's nauseous as well. The desire to EVER eat that again is gone! And to think I used to feel that way so often but didn't notice it because I had never felt this good before. The contrast was not this evident before! The comatose feeling of sugar and fat was such a normal feeling for me. I felt it at least every Sunday. I hadn't felt that way since the weekend before Memorial Day.
From my birthday until today it has been mostly good. I'm not where I was before my birthday. I allowed my birthday to pull in a couple more moments of compromise and that has changed something in my mindset that I'll explain in a minute. Eating dinner with my husband on my birthday I was able to reflect on how far I've come. We went to The Village Tavern and my favorite thing to get there is a Zuchinni Spaghetti Squash dish. I first ordered this dish 2002 when we were trying the South Beach diet. It was Phase 1 when all we could eat was veggies and lean meat. I fell in love with it. I reflected on how it's been like since then. Started out with "all or nothing" attitudes, the idea that the diet is only temporary until I get to my goal. Moving along through my journey I turned it into my lifestyle but finding the lifestyle I wanted was the challenge... until now.
Now I know where I want to be but I don't do moderation well. I can't just treat myself every now and then. Not yet. Maybe not ever. The demon of compromise is not one I can fight just yet. Now one thing that is GREAT is that the junk I treated myself with is no longer a treat for me. I am on the other side now. I don't want to feel that way anymore. It's not worth it. That makes this journey a little easier. It gives me the power to live the way I want but I have to push out the demon of compromise again. It makes this journey way too hard. My mexican meal at Chuy's today was the last hurrah. The chips and cheese dip was super yummy the nausea was not so fun. I could probably continue down this road and get to the point where chips and cheese dip didn't make me sick. But then I'm back to where I started. The power will be gone. Compromise just eats away at the power. It's time to flip the switch again. I'm NOT going back. Mark my words!
So Friday August 22 I was out with a friend of mine and she wanted to treat me to lunch and a cupcake. It's my birthday no big deal.. I should be able to treat myself, right?
We went to Edgar's. Her favorite is the chicken salad sandwich. Prior to this journey I would have said the same thing. OK we will get the chicken salad croissant with chips and fruit cup. We will split it. I chose the Chocolate peanut butter cupcake.
It tasted fine. Not as yummy as I remember but ok. The cupcake was tasty but no way I could finish the whole thing. So half a chicken salad, half of the chips and half a cupcake. 15 minutes later not feeling so good. An hour later, I think I'm gonna be sick. Headache from the sugar, nausea from the mayo and chicken and fried chips.
I talk to Cliff later and ironically his company catered in the exact sandwich in for their meeting. He had the same thing. He's nauseous as well. The desire to EVER eat that again is gone! And to think I used to feel that way so often but didn't notice it because I had never felt this good before. The contrast was not this evident before! The comatose feeling of sugar and fat was such a normal feeling for me. I felt it at least every Sunday. I hadn't felt that way since the weekend before Memorial Day.
From my birthday until today it has been mostly good. I'm not where I was before my birthday. I allowed my birthday to pull in a couple more moments of compromise and that has changed something in my mindset that I'll explain in a minute. Eating dinner with my husband on my birthday I was able to reflect on how far I've come. We went to The Village Tavern and my favorite thing to get there is a Zuchinni Spaghetti Squash dish. I first ordered this dish 2002 when we were trying the South Beach diet. It was Phase 1 when all we could eat was veggies and lean meat. I fell in love with it. I reflected on how it's been like since then. Started out with "all or nothing" attitudes, the idea that the diet is only temporary until I get to my goal. Moving along through my journey I turned it into my lifestyle but finding the lifestyle I wanted was the challenge... until now.
Now I know where I want to be but I don't do moderation well. I can't just treat myself every now and then. Not yet. Maybe not ever. The demon of compromise is not one I can fight just yet. Now one thing that is GREAT is that the junk I treated myself with is no longer a treat for me. I am on the other side now. I don't want to feel that way anymore. It's not worth it. That makes this journey a little easier. It gives me the power to live the way I want but I have to push out the demon of compromise again. It makes this journey way too hard. My mexican meal at Chuy's today was the last hurrah. The chips and cheese dip was super yummy the nausea was not so fun. I could probably continue down this road and get to the point where chips and cheese dip didn't make me sick. But then I'm back to where I started. The power will be gone. Compromise just eats away at the power. It's time to flip the switch again. I'm NOT going back. Mark my words!
Sunday, August 17, 2014
The view from off of the wagon (Guest Post from Cliff)
"This is too hard."
"There is no way to keep this up."
fall off the wagon definition. to resume drinking after having stopped. (The wagonis presumed to be the water wagon.) : It looks to me like he wanted nothing more than to fall off the wagon.Is getting healthy a destination or a journey?
I think for most people, they view it as a destination. Think about all the infomercials (which I love, by the way) showing folks sleek, tanned, happy and outrageously fit after only 90 days, or 6 weeks or whatever. They have arrived, and will never have to worry about being the fat, slovenly self they were just a few short weeks ago in their non airbrushed before pictures.
Look at The Biggest Loser contestants. Half of them lose weight (the other half get voted off before losing anything) and they instantly start declaring that they will never go back to their old, fat, slovenly non airbrushed selves again.
And how many stick to it?
Judging by the fact Biggest Loser only had one reunion/Where Are They Now show in 16 seasons, I'm guessing not many.
Getting Healthy can only be a destination if your story ends right afterwards. Which in real life, doesn't happen. (Unless a funeral is involved. And then, how healthy were you, really?)
So, a journey then.
And a journey can take twists and turns, ups and downs.
Before Denise and I have seen fitness as a destination. Or at least, as a 100% in or out equation.
(reference our two previous blogs about getting healthy, especially the Vegan one)
And I think this is what keeps most people from reaching their destination. uh, their goal. You make huge claims, big goals, major commitments. Then you slip up, make some decisions and you eat __(insert crappy food here)_.
That means it's time to quit, right? Give up, because it's too hard. No one can keep this up for ever.
Because if you can't be 100%, why try?
Sit back and think about that for a minute. Is that logical?
There are things in life that require 110% commitment. Marriage, parenthood, college football, God.
And surely, the Incredible Health we are seeking after does require commitment.
But if it's a journey, then we are going to have ups and downs.
And slip ups.
So, yeah. Recently I've made a bunch of less than stellar culinary choices.
And that leads to another choice. Whether to quit or keep going.
Quitting leads back to more miserable food choices, gaining weight, lethargy and for me- a near future with diabetes pills.
OK, quitting bad.
How do we go forward? We take a look at why we are making bad choices, figure out what we can do better next time, or what needs addressing.
And then we do better next time.
And, maybe, the time after that. But the important thing is to keep going, keep learning.
It's a journey.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
More about what to eat for Incredible Health...
In case you are wondering what this journey has looked like lately here's a few of my favorite meals and resources for some of the recipes:
Resources:
No Meat Athlete by Matt Frazier
Eat to Live by Dr Fuhrman
www.rebootwithjoe.com
Some of these I made up and some are from resources I can't remember. If you see something you want to try let me know and I'll find the recipe for you.
Resources:
No Meat Athlete by Matt Frazier
Eat to Live by Dr Fuhrman
www.rebootwithjoe.com
Some of these I made up and some are from resources I can't remember. If you see something you want to try let me know and I'll find the recipe for you.
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| Sauteed Broccoli in coconut oil with sunflower seeds and side of hummus and carrots (FYI: hummus is a source of protein as well as 2 cups of brocolli and of course the seeds) |
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| Dinner at church: Loading up veggies: Limas, blackeyed peas, quinoa, roasted veggies, corn and green beans (FYI: the corn and blackeyed peas together make a complete protein) |
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| Veggie salad with fruit and nuts and a side of berries |
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| Sauteed Cabbage, peppers, black beans (FYI: Black beans are a great source of protein) |
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| Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding with raspberries - YUMM! |
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| Mediterranean salad with Greekfeta dressing at Durbin Farms |
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| Quinoa mixed with black beans, peppers, squash with a side of berries and peach |
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| Quinoa black bean burger topped with tomato, sauteed squash and baked sweet potato fries |
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| Typical snack of fruit and nuts |
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| July 4th cookout: Quinoa black bean burger wrapped in lettuce, kale sandwich (sauteed kale, hummus on honey chia bread), sweet potato fries and kale chips, vegetarian baked beans |
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| Oatmeal "cereal": 1/2 cup oats soaked (10 min) in coconut milk add cinnamon, nutmeg and all the fruit you want! Didn't like oatmeal before this! |
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| Roasted chic peas with Lawrys and Ms dash seasoning (drain, rinse, spread out on baking stone and sprinkle seasoning. Bake 375 for 30 min or so) - taste a little like boiled peanuts..! |
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| Surprisingly good: Sauteed carrots in coconut oil with Smokehouse Maple seasoning & apple slices |
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| Zucchini Macadamia Pesto roll ups - too good to take a pic before eating... |
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| Chic pea and veggie stir fry in Romaine cups - very filling! |
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| Veggie Salad with couscous and hummus with carrots at Jason's Deli |
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| Dinner at Whole Foods: Quinoa Cranberry salad, sauteed green beans and blueberries |
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| My "snack pack" and emergency stash for a 2 day trip: lots of fruit, can of almonds, Larabars, a couple of servings of superfood smoothie mix that I can add to water in a pinch |
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| Veggie stir fry over brown rice topped with sunflower seeds - my typical stir fry has teriyaki sauce, a little soy sauce and the Makato Ginger dressing from the produce section at the store. |
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Some days it's an uphill climb...
I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted last. I'm guessing if I ever want to be a professional blogger that's a big, fat no-no. So, life happens. Right after Cliff did his cleanse (that he wrote about in the last blog) we went to our church campground for a week and a half. No internet so no blogs. Got home and scurried around trying to live life with 2 jobs and 2 kids. I know, to some people that's a vacation. Whatever.
So the campground I went to was in Georgia. Our church has a campground and most of us have a lot with a cabin on it. When church members get to the point of retirement a lot of them will move to the campground and live in their cabin then when they can not care for themselves we have a church home a half a mile from the campground then when they pass on they are buried at the campground. Once a year we have a week long revival where all of our church members from all over come and we have church services 3 times a day, 4 times if you include 7:30am prayer meeting... The week of church is spiritually the highlight of my year. Our services from past campmeetings can be found at www.cshc.org and click on Live Broadcast. I have never missed a campmeeting in all my 41 years. For the spiritual body it is indescribable. For the physical body it is atrocious. We sleep on a pull out couch in the den (kidney bar), we get up 6am to exercise, we get all 4 of us ready for church twice sometimes 3 times a day if we make it to afternoon service while the kids nap (in the care of the inlaws of course). We eat at crazy hours if we want to visit with everyone because there's food after night meeting so in some cases you are eating dinner at 9:30, going to bed at 11. How in the world can someone live an incredibly healthy lifestyle while there? Here's what I did:
So the campground I went to was in Georgia. Our church has a campground and most of us have a lot with a cabin on it. When church members get to the point of retirement a lot of them will move to the campground and live in their cabin then when they can not care for themselves we have a church home a half a mile from the campground then when they pass on they are buried at the campground. Once a year we have a week long revival where all of our church members from all over come and we have church services 3 times a day, 4 times if you include 7:30am prayer meeting... The week of church is spiritually the highlight of my year. Our services from past campmeetings can be found at www.cshc.org and click on Live Broadcast. I have never missed a campmeeting in all my 41 years. For the spiritual body it is indescribable. For the physical body it is atrocious. We sleep on a pull out couch in the den (kidney bar), we get up 6am to exercise, we get all 4 of us ready for church twice sometimes 3 times a day if we make it to afternoon service while the kids nap (in the care of the inlaws of course). We eat at crazy hours if we want to visit with everyone because there's food after night meeting so in some cases you are eating dinner at 9:30, going to bed at 11. How in the world can someone live an incredibly healthy lifestyle while there? Here's what I did:
- Bought my own food for the cabin (sweet potatoes, stuff for smoothies, stuff for salads, super green drink mix when I can't get enough nutrients in, hummus, lots of fruit, nuts
- Smoothies for breakfast, Salad bar for lunch in the cafeteria, ate at the cabin before night meeting and ate nothing after church. If I were at home I wouldn't, why whack my system out when I'm already killing it with little sleep?
- Said NO to desserts.
But what about the people who want to live in moderation? Don't I want to live in moderation? I don't know, maybe one day. Now that my 6 week online challenge is over the accountability is up to me. I find that if I stick to my rules it's easier for me. Some people (my husband) freaks out with rules, like you are saying you are NEVER going to eat ____ again. I don't know that I can say never but right now my brain makes too many decisions in a given day and constantly reminding myself to eat right when given thousands of choices a week is too exhausting. If I know what the rule is for eating right and I know what that means: The Dos, the Don'ts I can do that. I'm thinking that soon it will just be second nature, and it's getting there. When you decide to choose life, choose better health, choose to eat what makes you feel better, cleaner, more energetic, the easier it gets to just do it. The quicker the decision is. If you are thinking "ok I'm going to eat healthy 89% of the time", what does that even mean?? How many bad choices do you get to make? How do you choose when those bad choices are going to take place? You pick the times in the week when it's hardest to say no and say THAT is when I will eat whatever I want. Now you just trained your brain to think that there are times that are beyond your control and therefore food has control over you. You just lost the battle. You "can't help it". Well guess what? Every time the climb is uphill you are going to opt for slowing down or walking in the other direction. Then the journey becomes too hard and you will bag your efforts until the next 6 week diet plan comes out because anyone should be able to give it 6 weeks right? After that we are too weak to continue our efforts. Now it becomes about weight loss, a quick fix and not about living better, not about living longer, not about choosing life. It all starts with the mindset and the goal in mind. If it's truly about changing your life you will change what you choose to eat all the time. Until it becomes a lifestyle, until you have formed a new pattern of thinking, until you have a "why" that's bigger than the need for Chic-fil-A. Otherwise it will always be a struggle. It will always be the newest fad diet. Quick fix diets are external. This decision has to get to the heart. It has to seep in and take control of the heart and mind.
Thanks to the weight loss industry and the whacky meat and dairy industry who power a good bit of confusing "evidence" you hear in the media, no one knows what is right. THAT, my two friends who are still reading me, is why I'm doing this blog. Go plant based, maximum nutrients, no processed food, natural sugars and your body will tell you you got it right! Guaranteed!
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Guest blogger: A new cleansing convert!
Hey everybody, it's Cliff, Denise's husband.
Denise has asked me to be a guest blogger for tonight, which I am more than happy to do.
I completed my 10 Day Cleanse this weekend. YeeHaw!!
Now, I did not have quite the nigh unto spiritual experience Denise had. Partly it was spoiled by my quarterly bout of Insomnia, partly stressful because I started it on my 40th birthday and dodging birthday cake is kind of a social downer when you're the birthday boy.
It is amazing that I could function at the high mental level demanded by my job with only 2-3 hours of sleep for a week on so little food. Towards the end I had a two or three nights of 6 hours of sleep, and on those days I felt great.
But lets quickly break it down:
First three days: was significantly less painful than previous detox protocols I have done. Still had terrible headaches, nausea, lethargy. Though this is cloudy due to lack of sleep. Insomnia started before the Cleanse, so as much as I wanted to, I could not blame the green drinks for it. I also couldn't help but think about Soylent Green while chugging the stuff three times a day. The label says vegan though....Maybe it means made from vegans for vegans.
Next three days: No nausea, headaches eventually receded. Energy level was bad though, but again I wasn't sleeping. Foggy headed, grouchy, and feeling socially isolated. Great fun.
When you eat the exact same handful of food day in and day out, you start to notice things. The disruption in your normal routine is good, shakes you out of autopilot for a little while. And one of the big things I first noticed was boredom. Not boredom with the shakes, pills and apples. (though that got boring) But just bored, like a kid on a summer vacation beach trip on the 3rd day of straight rain. I did not realize how much I look forward to the next meal. It's like a little event, a tiny celebration. And without that, the days seemed really long at first. It shed light on some emotional attachments to food which I didn't really think I had.
Last four days: Still plagued with insomnia. Which for me is really all about restless leg syndrome. I used to have bad bouts all the time, but since I started taking my trusty NRF2 activator it got a lot better. And now what used to be every night only happens every few months or so. It lasts for a week or two and then goes away. So as aggravating as it was to wake up every hour with my body twitching and jerking like a Tourette's patient, it was doubly so doing it during a Cleanse. Two great reasons to be grouchy and obtuse and gassy. Well, ok only one reason for that last one.
I used to blame my RLS flareups on my diet. "Well, I ate some chocolate"..or some such thing. But now I had nothing to blame it on. I wasn't eating any of the foods which I thought triggered it. So what else could it be? Maybe the fact that things are pretty stressful at work, I'm behind even worse that normal on all of my paperwork and billing and a major project we have been working on for 8 months is not doing well and we might not make it, costing the practice thousands of dollars. I have two fantastic kids and an outstanding wife. I can't seem to figure out where the balance is between keeping the work plates spinning and the family plates spinning. Maybe that could have something to do with not sleeping so good. You think?!?! Ok genius, good job. Maybe it's not the chocolate, maybe you're human.
I recently read The Worlds Strongest Librarian, a great memoir and cool website. (Spoiler Alert) A lot of his troubles come from being tense, muscular tension and lack of breathing. Actually lack of breathing causes multiple problems. Specifically: shallow breathing where you ignore the bottom half of your lungs. Most folks do that.
(For fun, everyone take a deep breath, breathing and trying to poke your stomach out with air. I bet half of you just coughed. Breathe with all of the lungs you were born with. You'll feel better. )
So being tense, having your muscles all knotted up, make it hard to take a good deep breath. A good deep breath helps unknot your muscles and relieve tension.
Being freed from the idea that my diet was the sole reason for these RLS flareups allowed me to start examining what else could be going on. Which is: it's a symptom of some anxiety which I just don't acknowledge, at least in part. So I'm working through it, or starting to anyway. Which is good. And I'm starting to use our trusty foam roller to get the knots out of my back and shoulders, which helps. I've even tried meditation. Which is quite possibly one of the hardest things I have ever tried to do. It is wicked hard. But I slept great one out of the two nights I have tried it, so we will keep at it for now.
Going forward FAQ: I feel good. Really good. I know I'm supposed to say, "I feel amazing, like I have wings." Nope, not me. But I do feel good, and I don't feel bad, as the old hymn goes. Maybe if I can get some sleep I'll feel amazing, but feeling good on a little bit of sleep is enough of a victory for now.
Are we going to eat meat again? Probably, for special occasions and such. But most of the time, no.
Are we going to have dessert again? Yes, Denise made some fantastic Raw Brownies today which were really good. I could happily eat those, and they didn't trigger any sugar binging urges.
Are we going back to how we were? No plans currently. We're having too much fun with all of the new food to eat and explore.
How much weight did I lose? 10 pounds and 9 inches.
But as Denise said, this is not about the scale. I'd like to see if I could feel fantastic. As a recovering cynic, I have no frame of reference for that. I'd like to start running again, and being lighter with less inflammation will help me run for decades. Currently I'm slinging a Kettlebell around for physical training and exercise, but even that feels lighter right now. I cranked out 50 pushups this morning before I even realized it. As I said, I feel good.
Now, if someone could give me some pointers on meditation, we'll be in business.
Denise has asked me to be a guest blogger for tonight, which I am more than happy to do.
I completed my 10 Day Cleanse this weekend. YeeHaw!!
Now, I did not have quite the nigh unto spiritual experience Denise had. Partly it was spoiled by my quarterly bout of Insomnia, partly stressful because I started it on my 40th birthday and dodging birthday cake is kind of a social downer when you're the birthday boy.
It is amazing that I could function at the high mental level demanded by my job with only 2-3 hours of sleep for a week on so little food. Towards the end I had a two or three nights of 6 hours of sleep, and on those days I felt great.
But lets quickly break it down:
First three days: was significantly less painful than previous detox protocols I have done. Still had terrible headaches, nausea, lethargy. Though this is cloudy due to lack of sleep. Insomnia started before the Cleanse, so as much as I wanted to, I could not blame the green drinks for it. I also couldn't help but think about Soylent Green while chugging the stuff three times a day. The label says vegan though....Maybe it means made from vegans for vegans.
Next three days: No nausea, headaches eventually receded. Energy level was bad though, but again I wasn't sleeping. Foggy headed, grouchy, and feeling socially isolated. Great fun.
When you eat the exact same handful of food day in and day out, you start to notice things. The disruption in your normal routine is good, shakes you out of autopilot for a little while. And one of the big things I first noticed was boredom. Not boredom with the shakes, pills and apples. (though that got boring) But just bored, like a kid on a summer vacation beach trip on the 3rd day of straight rain. I did not realize how much I look forward to the next meal. It's like a little event, a tiny celebration. And without that, the days seemed really long at first. It shed light on some emotional attachments to food which I didn't really think I had.
Last four days: Still plagued with insomnia. Which for me is really all about restless leg syndrome. I used to have bad bouts all the time, but since I started taking my trusty NRF2 activator it got a lot better. And now what used to be every night only happens every few months or so. It lasts for a week or two and then goes away. So as aggravating as it was to wake up every hour with my body twitching and jerking like a Tourette's patient, it was doubly so doing it during a Cleanse. Two great reasons to be grouchy and obtuse and gassy. Well, ok only one reason for that last one.
I used to blame my RLS flareups on my diet. "Well, I ate some chocolate"..or some such thing. But now I had nothing to blame it on. I wasn't eating any of the foods which I thought triggered it. So what else could it be? Maybe the fact that things are pretty stressful at work, I'm behind even worse that normal on all of my paperwork and billing and a major project we have been working on for 8 months is not doing well and we might not make it, costing the practice thousands of dollars. I have two fantastic kids and an outstanding wife. I can't seem to figure out where the balance is between keeping the work plates spinning and the family plates spinning. Maybe that could have something to do with not sleeping so good. You think?!?! Ok genius, good job. Maybe it's not the chocolate, maybe you're human.
I recently read The Worlds Strongest Librarian, a great memoir and cool website. (Spoiler Alert) A lot of his troubles come from being tense, muscular tension and lack of breathing. Actually lack of breathing causes multiple problems. Specifically: shallow breathing where you ignore the bottom half of your lungs. Most folks do that.
(For fun, everyone take a deep breath, breathing and trying to poke your stomach out with air. I bet half of you just coughed. Breathe with all of the lungs you were born with. You'll feel better. )
So being tense, having your muscles all knotted up, make it hard to take a good deep breath. A good deep breath helps unknot your muscles and relieve tension.
Being freed from the idea that my diet was the sole reason for these RLS flareups allowed me to start examining what else could be going on. Which is: it's a symptom of some anxiety which I just don't acknowledge, at least in part. So I'm working through it, or starting to anyway. Which is good. And I'm starting to use our trusty foam roller to get the knots out of my back and shoulders, which helps. I've even tried meditation. Which is quite possibly one of the hardest things I have ever tried to do. It is wicked hard. But I slept great one out of the two nights I have tried it, so we will keep at it for now.
Going forward FAQ: I feel good. Really good. I know I'm supposed to say, "I feel amazing, like I have wings." Nope, not me. But I do feel good, and I don't feel bad, as the old hymn goes. Maybe if I can get some sleep I'll feel amazing, but feeling good on a little bit of sleep is enough of a victory for now.
Are we going to eat meat again? Probably, for special occasions and such. But most of the time, no.
Are we going to have dessert again? Yes, Denise made some fantastic Raw Brownies today which were really good. I could happily eat those, and they didn't trigger any sugar binging urges.
Are we going back to how we were? No plans currently. We're having too much fun with all of the new food to eat and explore.
How much weight did I lose? 10 pounds and 9 inches.
But as Denise said, this is not about the scale. I'd like to see if I could feel fantastic. As a recovering cynic, I have no frame of reference for that. I'd like to start running again, and being lighter with less inflammation will help me run for decades. Currently I'm slinging a Kettlebell around for physical training and exercise, but even that feels lighter right now. I cranked out 50 pushups this morning before I even realized it. As I said, I feel good.
Now, if someone could give me some pointers on meditation, we'll be in business.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
The Weight of the Scale is OFF my shoulders
I mentioned before that I'm doing a 6 week online bootcamp. It started immediately after my 10 day cleanse and requires accountability to my online bootcamp instructor, Lindsay. One of her rules is you ditch the scale for 6 weeks. Since I knew I wasn't going to be near my scale at the end of the 6 weeks I decided to get on the scale today.
It started with a thought "I just want to see where I am." then the conversation went to "what if it's only this number.. what if I didn't lose that much.. if I only weigh this I'm going to be upset.. I know, I'll measure first because I know I have lost inches and then it won't matter what the scale says.."
So I started with a measure - lost 5.5 inches. Not bad, not sure what I expected but I was ok with it. Then I got on the scale. Down 4.5 pounds. Seriously? That's it? It's been 5 weeks and that's it? Now, don't try to make me feel better yet. Don't list all the positives yet. I'll get there for you, give me a sec.
The morning and afternoon was a series of distractions and unmotivated struggles to get anything done. I couldn't think straight. I was dragging. I texted Lindsay, maybe I need some more protein, maybe I need some B-12. Took my B-12, took my nrf2 pill, had some nuts and an apple and started to feel better. Drank a superfood green smoothie and taught my water class. Periods throughout the day crazy cravings started popping up. Where's all the chocolate I used to have in this house? If I eat this block of cheese and don't tell anyone it won't matter right? Man, some french toast sounds really good about now. Huh? Where did those thoughts come from? I haven't thought about any of that for 6 weeks! Thank goodness I have an accountability partner today! It kept me from actually eating any of these things.
Then it HIT ME! All this.. the dragging.. the cravings.. the inability to think straight were all a direct result of that stupid number on the scale! It measured my success in a way that was completely unfair. The number on that scale made me feel like I was not doing this right and I know for a fact that I am. I totally get why the rule was set for this 6 week period and I thank Lindsay for that! I would not have realized how toxic my relationship with the scale really is. And the most enlightening thing about it is how that toxic relationship works against the other toxic relationship, the one with food. I started to see how it worked in the past. If the scale showed a good number it allowed me some room to eat something I really enjoyed. If the scale showed a bad number it allowed me to wallow in my self pity over something I really enjoyed. The cycle continues on and on and is never ending. The way I felt about the scale mentally drove cravings that my body didn't really have anymore. Now, I know about emotional ties to food. I already discussed that in my first post "The Past and the Purpose" but what I didn't realize was the emotional tie I had to the stupid scale that then cycled into emotional food choices as a result. Doesn't that seem wrong?
As a Weight Watchers leader I saw this on a weekly basis. Ladies would STARVE themselves to get a good number on the scale so they could "afford" themselves the opportunity to pig out after the meeting. They had a whole week to get that meal off, so what? Sometimes that one meal would spiral them into the next meal and the weekend and so on. As a leader I had to weigh in every month to stay accountable and they recommend when you become a lifetime member that you weigh every day so you can stay in line. Nope. Not gonna happen. My relationship with the scale is OVER! Why?
Well for one, after looking closer to my results I realized that in just 6.5 weeks I have lost almost 10 pounds and 16 inches! Not too shabby. I have seen results like this but it took me at least 6 months due to my toxic relationship with the scale. The last time I had a transformation period I lost 12 pounds and at least 16 inches. Had I not taken my measurements back then I would have quit numerous times because that number just didn't go down fast enough. Thankfully I can see clearly now the scale is GONE!
Two, if you read any of the fitness magazines and read through the weight loss stories you will find that for most people to get from where they were to their ultimate goal it took YEARS! The one I read yesterday: she started at 260, had an epiphany, made a couple of changes (exercise and cut fast food) a year of this took off 40 pounds. Now motivated she cleans up her diet a little more and down 30 pounds the following year. With all the new self esteem she drives herself to start running races and over the next two years she drops the rest of her weight and runs a marathon and is now training others. If she had instead gone on a liquid diet or some such other fad massive weight loss diet and lost all the weight within 6 months there are parts of this journey that wouldn't exist that are critical to overall success: small changes made it doable, self esteem increased that resulted in not only milestones she could be proud of but a complete change in a more fulfilling career. Am I ok with this taking years? WHY YES because this is NOT about the number on the scale. This is not about my weight - haven't I said that like 5 times already? It just took a stupid number on the scale to bring to light yet another enlightening thought about this journey:
THE SCALE IS NOT WELCOME! There is no room on this journey for the scale and anyone that cares too much about the number on the scale - I encourage you to join me in ditching the stupid thing. You will know if you have lost weight. Your clothes will tell you.
The new rules to ensure that I don't gain weight (to keep from needing to weigh):
Eat until I'm full or satisfied and stop there
Eat only when I'm hungry
Knowing what I'm eating there's no way I will gain if I eat this clean and follow these rules. The scale is no longer needed. The breakup is complete. I'm sorry, scale, it's not you it's me. This relationship is no longer working for me. Who's with me?
It started with a thought "I just want to see where I am." then the conversation went to "what if it's only this number.. what if I didn't lose that much.. if I only weigh this I'm going to be upset.. I know, I'll measure first because I know I have lost inches and then it won't matter what the scale says.."
So I started with a measure - lost 5.5 inches. Not bad, not sure what I expected but I was ok with it. Then I got on the scale. Down 4.5 pounds. Seriously? That's it? It's been 5 weeks and that's it? Now, don't try to make me feel better yet. Don't list all the positives yet. I'll get there for you, give me a sec.
The morning and afternoon was a series of distractions and unmotivated struggles to get anything done. I couldn't think straight. I was dragging. I texted Lindsay, maybe I need some more protein, maybe I need some B-12. Took my B-12, took my nrf2 pill, had some nuts and an apple and started to feel better. Drank a superfood green smoothie and taught my water class. Periods throughout the day crazy cravings started popping up. Where's all the chocolate I used to have in this house? If I eat this block of cheese and don't tell anyone it won't matter right? Man, some french toast sounds really good about now. Huh? Where did those thoughts come from? I haven't thought about any of that for 6 weeks! Thank goodness I have an accountability partner today! It kept me from actually eating any of these things.
Then it HIT ME! All this.. the dragging.. the cravings.. the inability to think straight were all a direct result of that stupid number on the scale! It measured my success in a way that was completely unfair. The number on that scale made me feel like I was not doing this right and I know for a fact that I am. I totally get why the rule was set for this 6 week period and I thank Lindsay for that! I would not have realized how toxic my relationship with the scale really is. And the most enlightening thing about it is how that toxic relationship works against the other toxic relationship, the one with food. I started to see how it worked in the past. If the scale showed a good number it allowed me some room to eat something I really enjoyed. If the scale showed a bad number it allowed me to wallow in my self pity over something I really enjoyed. The cycle continues on and on and is never ending. The way I felt about the scale mentally drove cravings that my body didn't really have anymore. Now, I know about emotional ties to food. I already discussed that in my first post "The Past and the Purpose" but what I didn't realize was the emotional tie I had to the stupid scale that then cycled into emotional food choices as a result. Doesn't that seem wrong?
As a Weight Watchers leader I saw this on a weekly basis. Ladies would STARVE themselves to get a good number on the scale so they could "afford" themselves the opportunity to pig out after the meeting. They had a whole week to get that meal off, so what? Sometimes that one meal would spiral them into the next meal and the weekend and so on. As a leader I had to weigh in every month to stay accountable and they recommend when you become a lifetime member that you weigh every day so you can stay in line. Nope. Not gonna happen. My relationship with the scale is OVER! Why?
Well for one, after looking closer to my results I realized that in just 6.5 weeks I have lost almost 10 pounds and 16 inches! Not too shabby. I have seen results like this but it took me at least 6 months due to my toxic relationship with the scale. The last time I had a transformation period I lost 12 pounds and at least 16 inches. Had I not taken my measurements back then I would have quit numerous times because that number just didn't go down fast enough. Thankfully I can see clearly now the scale is GONE!
Two, if you read any of the fitness magazines and read through the weight loss stories you will find that for most people to get from where they were to their ultimate goal it took YEARS! The one I read yesterday: she started at 260, had an epiphany, made a couple of changes (exercise and cut fast food) a year of this took off 40 pounds. Now motivated she cleans up her diet a little more and down 30 pounds the following year. With all the new self esteem she drives herself to start running races and over the next two years she drops the rest of her weight and runs a marathon and is now training others. If she had instead gone on a liquid diet or some such other fad massive weight loss diet and lost all the weight within 6 months there are parts of this journey that wouldn't exist that are critical to overall success: small changes made it doable, self esteem increased that resulted in not only milestones she could be proud of but a complete change in a more fulfilling career. Am I ok with this taking years? WHY YES because this is NOT about the number on the scale. This is not about my weight - haven't I said that like 5 times already? It just took a stupid number on the scale to bring to light yet another enlightening thought about this journey:
THE SCALE IS NOT WELCOME! There is no room on this journey for the scale and anyone that cares too much about the number on the scale - I encourage you to join me in ditching the stupid thing. You will know if you have lost weight. Your clothes will tell you.
The new rules to ensure that I don't gain weight (to keep from needing to weigh):
Eat until I'm full or satisfied and stop there
Eat only when I'm hungry
Knowing what I'm eating there's no way I will gain if I eat this clean and follow these rules. The scale is no longer needed. The breakup is complete. I'm sorry, scale, it's not you it's me. This relationship is no longer working for me. Who's with me?
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Plant POWER workouts
I have read about this from other plant based athletes. Rich Roll, after a detox and a month eating a whole foods plant based diet went out for an easy trail run and felt so good that he ended up running 24 miles! The longest run of his lifetime at that point! How is that possible? No meat in your diet? No milk (which is now the media's favorite workout beverage). Nothing but plants, legumes, nuts and whole grains?
I have been getting a glimpse of that this week. I have mentioned before that my recovery has been easy. Part of it is due to my plant powerful diet, the other is due to the nrf2 activator I'm taking every day. It's not only activating my antioxidant enzymes to elliminate the age dependent increase of oxidative stress but turns out it's also activating my anti-inflammatory enzymes as well! My body can make it's own any time I need it. No anti-inflammatory medicines or ibuprofen needed. Loving it!
So on Tuesday I had to teach a class at the gym. I went early and got in 45 minutes of cardio first. I didn't have to. I wanted to. I did the Arc trainer on a higher level than normal and felt strong doing it. Then taught my class and burned around 450 calories. I was pumped! When I was done with class I could have gone for something else. If I didn't have a thousand things to do I would have considered it. Before all this I would have been wiped out after class.
I can't explain how unbelievably good I feel. I sleep great, I don't hit the slumps, I'm free from cravings, I'm in control and can freely choose what I want because my body wants all the good stuff. My relationship with food has switched to an appreciation for what my body can do when I treat it right. I want to do that more than I want a relationship with food. I'm excited about the foods I CAN eat and the new recipes I can't wait to try like Quinoa black bean burgers for the 4th of July and Quinoa pesto pizza. When you break away from the addicting foods the freedom is a powerful motivator.
Physically, I can actually see achieving all the challenging goals I have toyed with in my mind but never truly believed I could do. Things like running a marathon and completing an Ironman. Why not?
Well first I will have to learn how to swim in a straight line...that'll need some work.
I have been getting a glimpse of that this week. I have mentioned before that my recovery has been easy. Part of it is due to my plant powerful diet, the other is due to the nrf2 activator I'm taking every day. It's not only activating my antioxidant enzymes to elliminate the age dependent increase of oxidative stress but turns out it's also activating my anti-inflammatory enzymes as well! My body can make it's own any time I need it. No anti-inflammatory medicines or ibuprofen needed. Loving it!
So on Tuesday I had to teach a class at the gym. I went early and got in 45 minutes of cardio first. I didn't have to. I wanted to. I did the Arc trainer on a higher level than normal and felt strong doing it. Then taught my class and burned around 450 calories. I was pumped! When I was done with class I could have gone for something else. If I didn't have a thousand things to do I would have considered it. Before all this I would have been wiped out after class.
I can't explain how unbelievably good I feel. I sleep great, I don't hit the slumps, I'm free from cravings, I'm in control and can freely choose what I want because my body wants all the good stuff. My relationship with food has switched to an appreciation for what my body can do when I treat it right. I want to do that more than I want a relationship with food. I'm excited about the foods I CAN eat and the new recipes I can't wait to try like Quinoa black bean burgers for the 4th of July and Quinoa pesto pizza. When you break away from the addicting foods the freedom is a powerful motivator.
Physically, I can actually see achieving all the challenging goals I have toyed with in my mind but never truly believed I could do. Things like running a marathon and completing an Ironman. Why not?
Well first I will have to learn how to swim in a straight line...that'll need some work.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Shocking, crazy CRAVING
So in case you have not been following this blog closely I'm going to bring you up to date on the crazy cravings. First off, in order to beat the cravings and the power they have over me I started with a 10 day cleanse. Some evidence points to the fact that changing your "gut flora" or the bacteria in your gut from the old, bad bacteria to healthy bacteria will change your cravings. Your preference of one food over another is determined by the bacteria in your gut. You change that and you can change your preference. Doing a 10 day cleanse of either fruits and vegetables using recipes and programs like those on www.rebootwithjoe.com or going with a company that sells good clean products, the result is the same. The bacteria in the gut changes. You are on the way to getting the power back.
So you get rid of the internal, biological reason for your cravings and unhealthy options. You are cleansed from the past. Now what keeps you from going back to those unhealthy choices once the gut is changed? The rest is mental. Part of it is habit, part of it is emotional. Example every afternoon around 2:00 I liked to eat a handful of dark chocolate almonds. We had a good relationship. I didn't abuse the relationship...that often. Usually one handful was enough. And I can probably find scientific evidence to support that this is a healthy snack. The problem is that it's addicting and expected regardless of whether I'm hungry or not. It's something I wanted because it was 2:00. Suddenly chocolate was a part of my every day life and if I'm out of town and didn't think to pack the stupid almonds I'm like a druggie looking for the next fix. Any gas station who might have dark chocolate will do. Anything I have to do just give me the stinking, dark chocolate. THAT is the problem I had with my potentially healthy, little snack. It had power over me. The purpose of this journey is to take the power back. SO no chocolate since I started the cleanse. That's 26 days without any chocolate... not that I'm keeping track.
It was about day 3 of my cleanse that I started thinking about chocolate. Come 2:00 on Monday afternoon, sitting at my desk where I typically have my stash, I thought about my chocolate. It was a habit. Now I don't think about it much anymore. For the first 3 weeks I thought about a cheeseburger with the thought that I could really enjoy a cheeseburger right now. Not that I ate them all the time but occasionally I just really wanted a cheeseburger and my twisted thinking was that "this was my body's way of telling me I need red meat.." Yea, ok. Or it was my GUT bacteria! I noticed last week that it was the first week I had not thought about a cheeseburger with the true desire to eat one. I was at a gas station watching this guy struggle to free the double cheeseburger wrapped in Saran Wrap that he got from under the heat lamp in the gas station and was seriously grossed out. There were absolutely NO nutrients whatsoever in the meal he was about to eat. He was going to be dragging all afternoon from that burger and would likely need a coffee or some form of caffeine by 2pm so he wouldn't fall asleep at the wheel. I used to be that person. I know the drill. Only 2pm was the time to wake up to chocolate! What a vicious cycle and we wonder why we are so tired.
Your body is screaming for nutrients and you are cramming in empty calories and it keeps saying "that's not it" but your gut hasn't been changed so you don't know what you want. Your body can't be heard anymore because your mind is screaming for the food that it's addicted to. The food that you "deserve" because you had a bad day or a good week or a great workout. My relationship with food was keeping me from having a true relationship with my body. From feeding it what it really needed. Depressing right?
Now off to the the really cool part. Monday afternoon around 2:00... when just 3 Mondays earlier I was craving chocolate....I wanted a plate of grilled squash!!! I kid you not! Never in my lifetime have I craved squash. I didn't even like it all that much 3-4 years ago and here I was wishing I had a plate of grilled squash and zucchini. I was floored! Then last night I'm on my way home from a meeting and I think "I need some carrots and hummus when I get home". My body is telling me what it's been wanting to tell me all along. "I will take care of you if you take care of me. Please listen to me. Please give me the nutrients to take care of me and I will fight for you. Listen to me not your mind, not that commercial, not your habits, not your family and not even your doctor half the time (who, mind you, got an hour max of nutrition education in med school). I will tell you what you need if we can just work together."
So if you think you can't get where you want in your journey - consider who and what you are listening to. You don't have a problem, you just love food right? That's what I thought. It's way more complicated than that.
So you get rid of the internal, biological reason for your cravings and unhealthy options. You are cleansed from the past. Now what keeps you from going back to those unhealthy choices once the gut is changed? The rest is mental. Part of it is habit, part of it is emotional. Example every afternoon around 2:00 I liked to eat a handful of dark chocolate almonds. We had a good relationship. I didn't abuse the relationship...that often. Usually one handful was enough. And I can probably find scientific evidence to support that this is a healthy snack. The problem is that it's addicting and expected regardless of whether I'm hungry or not. It's something I wanted because it was 2:00. Suddenly chocolate was a part of my every day life and if I'm out of town and didn't think to pack the stupid almonds I'm like a druggie looking for the next fix. Any gas station who might have dark chocolate will do. Anything I have to do just give me the stinking, dark chocolate. THAT is the problem I had with my potentially healthy, little snack. It had power over me. The purpose of this journey is to take the power back. SO no chocolate since I started the cleanse. That's 26 days without any chocolate... not that I'm keeping track.
It was about day 3 of my cleanse that I started thinking about chocolate. Come 2:00 on Monday afternoon, sitting at my desk where I typically have my stash, I thought about my chocolate. It was a habit. Now I don't think about it much anymore. For the first 3 weeks I thought about a cheeseburger with the thought that I could really enjoy a cheeseburger right now. Not that I ate them all the time but occasionally I just really wanted a cheeseburger and my twisted thinking was that "this was my body's way of telling me I need red meat.." Yea, ok. Or it was my GUT bacteria! I noticed last week that it was the first week I had not thought about a cheeseburger with the true desire to eat one. I was at a gas station watching this guy struggle to free the double cheeseburger wrapped in Saran Wrap that he got from under the heat lamp in the gas station and was seriously grossed out. There were absolutely NO nutrients whatsoever in the meal he was about to eat. He was going to be dragging all afternoon from that burger and would likely need a coffee or some form of caffeine by 2pm so he wouldn't fall asleep at the wheel. I used to be that person. I know the drill. Only 2pm was the time to wake up to chocolate! What a vicious cycle and we wonder why we are so tired.
Your body is screaming for nutrients and you are cramming in empty calories and it keeps saying "that's not it" but your gut hasn't been changed so you don't know what you want. Your body can't be heard anymore because your mind is screaming for the food that it's addicted to. The food that you "deserve" because you had a bad day or a good week or a great workout. My relationship with food was keeping me from having a true relationship with my body. From feeding it what it really needed. Depressing right?
Now off to the the really cool part. Monday afternoon around 2:00... when just 3 Mondays earlier I was craving chocolate....I wanted a plate of grilled squash!!! I kid you not! Never in my lifetime have I craved squash. I didn't even like it all that much 3-4 years ago and here I was wishing I had a plate of grilled squash and zucchini. I was floored! Then last night I'm on my way home from a meeting and I think "I need some carrots and hummus when I get home". My body is telling me what it's been wanting to tell me all along. "I will take care of you if you take care of me. Please listen to me. Please give me the nutrients to take care of me and I will fight for you. Listen to me not your mind, not that commercial, not your habits, not your family and not even your doctor half the time (who, mind you, got an hour max of nutrition education in med school). I will tell you what you need if we can just work together."
So if you think you can't get where you want in your journey - consider who and what you are listening to. You don't have a problem, you just love food right? That's what I thought. It's way more complicated than that.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
So what ARE you eating?
I get that a lot. I have posted before what I'm not eating:
Breakfast is usually a smoothie that I can pack with lots of good stuff. Here's one of my faves:
This recipe serves 2
1 cup coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 cup coconut water
1 carrot
1 green apple
3 cups kale
1 TB each of seeds: chia, hemp and flax
1/2 frozen banana
handful of frozen strawberries (roughly 1.5 cups)
handful of frozen blueberries or pineapple
Some variations include adding a half an avocado (makes it creamy like a milkshake) or instead of 1.5 cups of strawberries I would split that with mango.
This holds me at least 3 hours and usually my workout is first thing in the morning.
Lunchtime and or Dinner favorites:
Sauteed Broccoli with sweet potato fries
Sauteed Broccoli with sliced carrots and hummus (pine nut Sabra version is the best)
For the broccoli I get a large bowl of broccoli (2 cups = excellent source of protein). Rinse then add a little coconut oil to the pan on Medium heat. Add the broccoli, sprinkle with Lawry's and toss around. Add a couple of tablespoons of water then cover with lid. It takes about 5 minutes to turn a darker green so it's cooked but still crunchy. By far the best broccoli on the planet and so easy to make! I sprinkle with sunflower kernels.
For sweet potato fries: Cut the sweet potato into strips and arrange on a baking sheet or baking stone. Spray with coconut oil and sprinkle with Lawrys or a Ms Dash variety. Bake on 350 for about 40 minutes.
Salad with sweet potato fries
Salad with bowl of fruit
Salad with baked sweet potato
Salad usually includes chopped romaine and spinach (can also use baby kale), broccoli slaw, chopped peppers, zucchini, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, sunflower kernels, nut blend and some type of vinaigrette with no sugar.
As you can tell a good bit of my menu is limited and I'm working on variety. This week I'm making a Spring Lentil stew that I found on www.rebootwithjoe.com.
My "go to" when I have to get something while out is Panera bread's classic salad (all veggie salad with a really yummy vinaigrette) and cup of black bean or Veggie pesto soup with apple instead of baguette.
Snacks to have on hand: Banana or apple with handful of almonds or Nutrition nuts, veggies and hummus, veggies and avocado dip (slice up a half avocado, mash it a little, add a dash of lime or lemon juice, paprika and sea salt), shake left over from my Purium stash (because it feels so stinking good!). If I have to have decaf coffee I use honey and coconut milk. I find I just end up carrying around a cooler with ice packs for my shake and coconut milk, especially on trips!
So that's a look into my life. I spent the week in Augusta so when I got there the first ting I did was head to the store to get all the things I needed to stay on track while out of town. I did not feel deprived and I didn't feel high maintenance because I had all my stuff. I brought my Magic Bullet knockoff brand to blend my smoothies and it was NO match to my Ninja that I miss terribly but it did the trick. I wanted to keep up with my workouts Monday through Saturday so I found an Anytime Fitness around the corner and they happened to have a free 7 day pass so challenge removed. When you aren't looking to excuse yourself from the things you need to do to better your life, it's amazing how resourceful you can become!
No dairy
No processed foods or artificial sweeteners
No meat, sweets or wheat
For some people if you cut that out there's nothing left for them to eat. That rules out most convenience foods and fast food menu items. And honestly I thought this would be harder but it's really not. So what do I eat? Here are a few of my "go to" meals:
Breakfast is usually a smoothie that I can pack with lots of good stuff. Here's one of my faves:
This recipe serves 21 cup coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 cup coconut water
1 carrot
1 green apple
3 cups kale
1 TB each of seeds: chia, hemp and flax
1/2 frozen banana
handful of frozen strawberries (roughly 1.5 cups)
handful of frozen blueberries or pineapple
Some variations include adding a half an avocado (makes it creamy like a milkshake) or instead of 1.5 cups of strawberries I would split that with mango.
This holds me at least 3 hours and usually my workout is first thing in the morning.
Lunchtime and or Dinner favorites:
Sauteed Broccoli with sweet potato fries
Sauteed Broccoli with sliced carrots and hummus (pine nut Sabra version is the best)
For the broccoli I get a large bowl of broccoli (2 cups = excellent source of protein). Rinse then add a little coconut oil to the pan on Medium heat. Add the broccoli, sprinkle with Lawry's and toss around. Add a couple of tablespoons of water then cover with lid. It takes about 5 minutes to turn a darker green so it's cooked but still crunchy. By far the best broccoli on the planet and so easy to make! I sprinkle with sunflower kernels.
For sweet potato fries: Cut the sweet potato into strips and arrange on a baking sheet or baking stone. Spray with coconut oil and sprinkle with Lawrys or a Ms Dash variety. Bake on 350 for about 40 minutes.
Salad with sweet potato fries
Salad with bowl of fruit
Salad with baked sweet potato
Salad usually includes chopped romaine and spinach (can also use baby kale), broccoli slaw, chopped peppers, zucchini, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, sunflower kernels, nut blend and some type of vinaigrette with no sugar.
As you can tell a good bit of my menu is limited and I'm working on variety. This week I'm making a Spring Lentil stew that I found on www.rebootwithjoe.com.
My "go to" when I have to get something while out is Panera bread's classic salad (all veggie salad with a really yummy vinaigrette) and cup of black bean or Veggie pesto soup with apple instead of baguette.
Snacks to have on hand: Banana or apple with handful of almonds or Nutrition nuts, veggies and hummus, veggies and avocado dip (slice up a half avocado, mash it a little, add a dash of lime or lemon juice, paprika and sea salt), shake left over from my Purium stash (because it feels so stinking good!). If I have to have decaf coffee I use honey and coconut milk. I find I just end up carrying around a cooler with ice packs for my shake and coconut milk, especially on trips!
So that's a look into my life. I spent the week in Augusta so when I got there the first ting I did was head to the store to get all the things I needed to stay on track while out of town. I did not feel deprived and I didn't feel high maintenance because I had all my stuff. I brought my Magic Bullet knockoff brand to blend my smoothies and it was NO match to my Ninja that I miss terribly but it did the trick. I wanted to keep up with my workouts Monday through Saturday so I found an Anytime Fitness around the corner and they happened to have a free 7 day pass so challenge removed. When you aren't looking to excuse yourself from the things you need to do to better your life, it's amazing how resourceful you can become!
Friday, June 13, 2014
Living beneath my privilege
So it's my third Friday since starting this journey. I started exactly 2 weeks ago today but it feels like longer. It's hard to believe that just 15 days ago I was living beneath my privilege to this incredible feeling that I have right now. As I look back I realize that the success of where I am at this moment had to start with the right mindset. I did not start this journey for a temporary fix. I started with a goal to reach a place I have never been before. A place where food is not my friend but my nourishment. I am my friend, not my food. Taking care of that friendship is most important and having an emotional tie to food will cause me to ruin the most powerful relationship of all time. It can make or break me. It can cause me to slide right into the funnel of disease and take me from my family long before they and myself are ready.
But what is right? How do we know that what we are doing is the only, true way to take care of our body? I have heard many stories of people who were suffering from diseases that brought them to death's door. They decided to go "crazy" and start eating a plant based diet - going organic and ridding themselves of processed foods and the result? They are still around to tell the story. But that's crazy. No one can live like that. They are hippy freaks. Maybe so but they are in better health that the norm and still around to bounce their grandkid on their knee. The grandkid could care less what we call them.
The last two days I have been amazed at how good I feel for two reasons. One, I worked out like a fiend this week and it's been a while since I have worked out this hard every single day as well as twice on Thursday. Typically when I go from exercising 1-2 days a week to exercising 6 days by Friday morning I'm beat. I'm dragging myself out of bed and allowing myself the day off due to the 2 workouts the day before. This morning? I was up and ready to go. I could feel the power of my plant based meals nourishing my body and giving it strength to do what I wanted it to do. I had read about athletes who eat a plant based diet talk about this at length and now I get it. Two, when I look at my journal of foods today they are all PACKED with nutrients more so than calories. On any given day before this journey, if I had eaten only what I have eaten today I would be starving all day. I can go with fewer calories IF the ones I eat are packed with nutrients.
I listened to one of the athletes tonight and I want to share it with you. His name is Rich Roll and he writes a powerful book called "Finding Ultra" that I read a few months ago. Incredible biography about Rich's recovery from alcoholism and poor health to a vegan ultra endurance athlete. He invites a doctor on the podcast who specializes in Bariatrics working with people to help them lose weight but came to realize the was in just as bad a shape as they were and that the doctors around him knew less that he did about proper nutrition. He started doing his own research on protein diets, carb diets, the Paleo diet and where we are going as a society and who is funding the research we are basing our lives on. It's a GREAT podcast when you have a chance to listen to it. He hits so many points that my head was spinning after listening. I know I will play it several times to make sure I catch them all. If you are confused about where we should be going and have questions about the most popular diets on the market you need to listen to this. Go to this link to listen or go to www.richroll.com click on Podcasts go to page 5 and it's #50 with Dr. Garth Davis.
And if any of this inspires you, stop living beneath your privilege and join me in this journey!
But what is right? How do we know that what we are doing is the only, true way to take care of our body? I have heard many stories of people who were suffering from diseases that brought them to death's door. They decided to go "crazy" and start eating a plant based diet - going organic and ridding themselves of processed foods and the result? They are still around to tell the story. But that's crazy. No one can live like that. They are hippy freaks. Maybe so but they are in better health that the norm and still around to bounce their grandkid on their knee. The grandkid could care less what we call them.
The last two days I have been amazed at how good I feel for two reasons. One, I worked out like a fiend this week and it's been a while since I have worked out this hard every single day as well as twice on Thursday. Typically when I go from exercising 1-2 days a week to exercising 6 days by Friday morning I'm beat. I'm dragging myself out of bed and allowing myself the day off due to the 2 workouts the day before. This morning? I was up and ready to go. I could feel the power of my plant based meals nourishing my body and giving it strength to do what I wanted it to do. I had read about athletes who eat a plant based diet talk about this at length and now I get it. Two, when I look at my journal of foods today they are all PACKED with nutrients more so than calories. On any given day before this journey, if I had eaten only what I have eaten today I would be starving all day. I can go with fewer calories IF the ones I eat are packed with nutrients.
I listened to one of the athletes tonight and I want to share it with you. His name is Rich Roll and he writes a powerful book called "Finding Ultra" that I read a few months ago. Incredible biography about Rich's recovery from alcoholism and poor health to a vegan ultra endurance athlete. He invites a doctor on the podcast who specializes in Bariatrics working with people to help them lose weight but came to realize the was in just as bad a shape as they were and that the doctors around him knew less that he did about proper nutrition. He started doing his own research on protein diets, carb diets, the Paleo diet and where we are going as a society and who is funding the research we are basing our lives on. It's a GREAT podcast when you have a chance to listen to it. He hits so many points that my head was spinning after listening. I know I will play it several times to make sure I catch them all. If you are confused about where we should be going and have questions about the most popular diets on the market you need to listen to this. Go to this link to listen or go to www.richroll.com click on Podcasts go to page 5 and it's #50 with Dr. Garth Davis.
And if any of this inspires you, stop living beneath your privilege and join me in this journey!
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Mommy snuck out to the gym
That's what my son said when I got home yesterday morning from the gym. I had snuck out at 6am to get my work out in before they got up. I was dragging through the first part of the work out then something kicked in. I don't know if it was my body finally saying "ok alright, I get what we are doing now" instead of "what are you doing out of bed at this hour??". Got home, made my superfood smoothie with kale, carrot, strawberries, cherries, banana, avocado and coconut milk and about 15 minutes later I had more energy than I knew what to do with. I seriously considered working in the yard! That NEVER happens!!! Too bad I had to go get my hair cut instead. Oh well, maybe another day...
This morning I did the same thing only today I felt better. The whole day I felt better. I wasn't as hungry or tired as yesterday either. I may be able to say I haven't felt this good in a really long time. I might almost say ..ever! I felt close to this doing the Jack and Jill blog but there again I was eating fruits and veggies and no processed foods. Only this time there are no sweets, meat or wheat. The cravings aren't as strong as they used to be. Don't get me wrong.. I get cravings for a good juicy cheeseburger on occasion but I know it will ruin my feel good and I don't want to ruin my feel good. I don't want to be labeled as a vegan although it would seem that is the direction I am heading. Here is what I'm thinking: if there are questions to the health of a food I want to analyze it before I decide it's ok to have on occasion or all the time. And when I read in the news just this morning that women who eat red meat a lot are at a higher risk for breast cancer.. I gotta say it doesn't make me wanna run out and buy a cheeseburger. So maybe I have found incredible health where I'm at but I feel there is more digging to do. More time that needs to be put behind this experiment to see if I can actually LIVE this way for the rest of my life. I believe the average person can, even those who do not consider themselves disciplined or consistent.
Just sneak out to the gym if need be and do what is necessary to keep the feel good and all is well with the world!
This morning I did the same thing only today I felt better. The whole day I felt better. I wasn't as hungry or tired as yesterday either. I may be able to say I haven't felt this good in a really long time. I might almost say ..ever! I felt close to this doing the Jack and Jill blog but there again I was eating fruits and veggies and no processed foods. Only this time there are no sweets, meat or wheat. The cravings aren't as strong as they used to be. Don't get me wrong.. I get cravings for a good juicy cheeseburger on occasion but I know it will ruin my feel good and I don't want to ruin my feel good. I don't want to be labeled as a vegan although it would seem that is the direction I am heading. Here is what I'm thinking: if there are questions to the health of a food I want to analyze it before I decide it's ok to have on occasion or all the time. And when I read in the news just this morning that women who eat red meat a lot are at a higher risk for breast cancer.. I gotta say it doesn't make me wanna run out and buy a cheeseburger. So maybe I have found incredible health where I'm at but I feel there is more digging to do. More time that needs to be put behind this experiment to see if I can actually LIVE this way for the rest of my life. I believe the average person can, even those who do not consider themselves disciplined or consistent.
Just sneak out to the gym if need be and do what is necessary to keep the feel good and all is well with the world!
Monday, June 9, 2014
10 day results and next steps
The results are in! After 10 days of cleaning out the old bacteria and replacing it with the good stuff, breaking the unhealthy habits and food addictions I got to see what affect this had on my body that I can measure and I was pretty happy about it. I lost 6.2 pounds and 10.5 inches!!! The weight loss with other past customers was more impressive but 10.5 inches??? I'll take it! And this is with no exercise unless you count vigorous house cleaning for 2 hours a couple of times.
So I'm ready to continue my journey to clean eating. Today was the first day after the cleanse. I found that I didn't want to do anything to lose the great, clean feeling I have. It started with a breakfast smoothie filled with kale, coconut milk, coconut water, banana, mango, pineapple, avocado and mint. Yes mint. And you're right, it wasn't the best idea. I was trying to get something similar to a really good Mango Mint smoothie I have had at a coffee house in Montevallo. Whatever. Lunch was veggie soup and dinner was Ruby Tuesday salad bar with lots of veggies and oil and vinegar for dressing. Threw in a purium shake in there between lunch and dinner as my snack just because I love the perk me up.
Kicking up the exercise this week too. I'm working with Serenity Oaks Wellness doing an online bootcamp. Anything to hold me accountable as I believe that is a big part of this journey. And this is a service I would love to provide to others so I look for this to be part of my journey later on. This way I can share with others what Incredible Health looks like and maybe this blog will help share what the journey to get there looks like. It's all very easy to duplicate so far. There are other things I'm also doing to achieve Incredible Health. I'm taking something to actually win the fight our body has on oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is a result of free radical damage. Free radicals are why you keep hearing about antioxidants and why antioxidant sales is now a 45 billion dollar industry. This actually causes my body to make it's own antioxidant enzymes so I'm fighting 1 million free radicals per second every second of the day. Eating antioxidants is not enough and people are realizing that. I've been doing this for almost 2 years now and I attribute this to sleeping better and getting sick less often. I know I'm giving my body an army to help fight anything that comes my way and that's very important to me.
For those of you who are in their 40s and old like me you might be getting knots in your back and wear and tear on the body. Using a foam roller helps me release the tension in the back and leg muscles as well as yoga stretching before bed. I also go see a MFR (myofacial release) therapist every week which helps TREMENDOUSLY with back and neck pain. You can google it to find out if this is something of interest to you. You can also get similar effects from using a ball from the toy store. It has to be hard enough to not deflate when you put pressure on it. Find the knot in your back and put the ball under your back and just let the muscle melt around it. It will hurt at first and will take some time to get used to but when you do - you will be hooked!
So there's my nuggets for the day in celebration to my 10.5 inches lost :) Oh yea, this isn't about weight loss... More this week as we look into other topics like - to eat meat or not to eat meat!
For those of you who are in their 40s and old like me you might be getting knots in your back and wear and tear on the body. Using a foam roller helps me release the tension in the back and leg muscles as well as yoga stretching before bed. I also go see a MFR (myofacial release) therapist every week which helps TREMENDOUSLY with back and neck pain. You can google it to find out if this is something of interest to you. You can also get similar effects from using a ball from the toy store. It has to be hard enough to not deflate when you put pressure on it. Find the knot in your back and put the ball under your back and just let the muscle melt around it. It will hurt at first and will take some time to get used to but when you do - you will be hooked!
So there's my nuggets for the day in celebration to my 10.5 inches lost :) Oh yea, this isn't about weight loss... More this week as we look into other topics like - to eat meat or not to eat meat!
Sunday, June 8, 2014
All cleansed! The completion of 10 days
I have finally finished the 10 day Purium Transformation Cleanse!! It was easier and harder than I thought it would be. All in all, a very positive experience. The easy part was knowing what you were going to eat/drink at what time in the day. Keeping to that schedule was challenging on some days but if I thought ahead it was manageable. Having family in town AND my daughter's birthday party was also challenging but I made it without any hiccups. So I'm very proud of my ability to get it done and not get side tracked in the face of challenges. That positive feedback will serve me in many ways and that was part of what drove me to do this in the face of many obstacles.
Now how do I feel? It's about time I got to that! Well I gotta say I feel great! When my hunger pains come or I feel a little light headed I look at the clock and it's time to eat anyway. The shakes did get better the last couple of days. I wouldn't go so far to say I'm craving it yet.. I guess there's still time. But the shakes make me feel so good! The "clean energy" feeling is awesome. It would be great to have coffee packed with this much goodness and make me feel this great.
So what happens tomorrow? Well, first I have to weigh, measure, take pics and submit everything to the Purium site so I can maybe, hopefully win a trip to one of the wellness resorts. We are crazy enough to really want to go to one of those things.
As for the food, I will continue with the shakes once a day instead of 3 times and I will have a smoothie for breakfast packed with kale, fruit, carrots, apple and coconut milk. And for dinner I get to replace a shake with a meal. I'm going with the rules of: no processed food, no wheat and no dairy. I will continue to research whether I want to do meat on occassion or not. If I do, it will be free range chicken, grass fed meat or fish.
So we are still a work in progress! Look for my posted results tomorrow!
Now how do I feel? It's about time I got to that! Well I gotta say I feel great! When my hunger pains come or I feel a little light headed I look at the clock and it's time to eat anyway. The shakes did get better the last couple of days. I wouldn't go so far to say I'm craving it yet.. I guess there's still time. But the shakes make me feel so good! The "clean energy" feeling is awesome. It would be great to have coffee packed with this much goodness and make me feel this great.
So what happens tomorrow? Well, first I have to weigh, measure, take pics and submit everything to the Purium site so I can maybe, hopefully win a trip to one of the wellness resorts. We are crazy enough to really want to go to one of those things.
As for the food, I will continue with the shakes once a day instead of 3 times and I will have a smoothie for breakfast packed with kale, fruit, carrots, apple and coconut milk. And for dinner I get to replace a shake with a meal. I'm going with the rules of: no processed food, no wheat and no dairy. I will continue to research whether I want to do meat on occassion or not. If I do, it will be free range chicken, grass fed meat or fish.
So we are still a work in progress! Look for my posted results tomorrow!
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
The day of battle
Day 6 on the cleansing transformation
Cravings came in like a flood. Don't know what that's all about. I figured I would have already fought this battle days ago. All I really wanted was my dark chocolate and some Starbucks. Really bad! I was forced to try to figure out why these cravings were coming up. Was it habit or was it anxiety of all that I have going on right now?
My two year old's birthday is this weekend and I did the unthinkable for someone of my expertise. I ORDERED a birthday cake from a grocery store! I used to own my own business making wedding and party cakes. I have made all of my kid's birthday cakes but I knew that with my jobs and family coming to town I was never going to have enough time to make one. I thought it would be no big deal and a true relief but I find that it's KILLING me. So ok the cravings could have a little something to do with that... along with my jobs. So what did I do? I CAVED!
Just kidding, seeing if you were paying attention. Instead I mixed up my um.. super yummy shake and drank it down.. quickly (as always). Surprisingly enough it did the trick. I stopped thinking about the chocolate and coffee. My body was satisfied with the flood of nutrition and it perked me up. That was quite the lesson learned. If you do right by your body the mind follows suit.
3 more days to go. I'm told I'll be a different person on day 10. I believe everything I'm told...
Cravings came in like a flood. Don't know what that's all about. I figured I would have already fought this battle days ago. All I really wanted was my dark chocolate and some Starbucks. Really bad! I was forced to try to figure out why these cravings were coming up. Was it habit or was it anxiety of all that I have going on right now?
My two year old's birthday is this weekend and I did the unthinkable for someone of my expertise. I ORDERED a birthday cake from a grocery store! I used to own my own business making wedding and party cakes. I have made all of my kid's birthday cakes but I knew that with my jobs and family coming to town I was never going to have enough time to make one. I thought it would be no big deal and a true relief but I find that it's KILLING me. So ok the cravings could have a little something to do with that... along with my jobs. So what did I do? I CAVED!
Just kidding, seeing if you were paying attention. Instead I mixed up my um.. super yummy shake and drank it down.. quickly (as always). Surprisingly enough it did the trick. I stopped thinking about the chocolate and coffee. My body was satisfied with the flood of nutrition and it perked me up. That was quite the lesson learned. If you do right by your body the mind follows suit.
3 more days to go. I'm told I'll be a different person on day 10. I believe everything I'm told...
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Half way cleansed - I can see clearly now
Day 5 is a wrap! Any day now I'm going to crave those shakes.. any day. Although I admit about 30 minutes after drinking one I get a feeling of "clean energy" - the best way to describe it. It's not a jittery kind of energy. It's more like a "30 minutes after waking from a good nap" kind of energy. I like it. It makes the guzzle seem worth it somehow. 4 more days to go...
The cold I thought I was getting has phased out. Hmmm..
So I'm starting to think clearer. I'm already gearing up for the next phase of my journey. What is it going to look like? I'm reminded of the last blog journey Cliff and I went on. It's recorded at www.belikejackandjill.blogspot.com. I looked back over it and remembered how good I felt. The project was to see if the average person could actually eat and train like Jack Lalanne and Jillian Michaels. We took all the rules that they follow and tried to implement them into our lives. The basic rules were these:
No processed foods
No caffeine
Fish almost daily
Occassional free range chicken
No dairy
There were some things I knew Jillian ate that were "processed" but were more like "healthy convenient foods":
Amy's Organic frozen dinners
Ezekiel bread and english muffins
Dark chocolate
Newman's own Newman-Os - Organic oreos (YUM-O)
So the latest contemplation is this: why did I feel so good on that plan? The fact that I was eating more whole foods or the fact that I was eating virtually no processed foods? Probably a little of both. It was the cleanest I had ever eaten and my first time away from dairy. I ended up not missing cheese as much as I thought.
So the first task will be to analyze what is going to work for me long term and what will give me the best feeling, hit all the essentials and determine what those essentials really are. I will start attacking all of the hard questions like: why not meat? why not dairy? we already know why it's more important to eat more fruits and veggies but a lifestyle that is rich in those alone - are they enough to give you Incredible Health?
Stay tuned...
The cold I thought I was getting has phased out. Hmmm..
So I'm starting to think clearer. I'm already gearing up for the next phase of my journey. What is it going to look like? I'm reminded of the last blog journey Cliff and I went on. It's recorded at www.belikejackandjill.blogspot.com. I looked back over it and remembered how good I felt. The project was to see if the average person could actually eat and train like Jack Lalanne and Jillian Michaels. We took all the rules that they follow and tried to implement them into our lives. The basic rules were these:
No processed foods
No caffeine
Fish almost daily
Occassional free range chicken
No dairy
There were some things I knew Jillian ate that were "processed" but were more like "healthy convenient foods":
Amy's Organic frozen dinners
Ezekiel bread and english muffins
Dark chocolate
Newman's own Newman-Os - Organic oreos (YUM-O)
So the latest contemplation is this: why did I feel so good on that plan? The fact that I was eating more whole foods or the fact that I was eating virtually no processed foods? Probably a little of both. It was the cleanest I had ever eaten and my first time away from dairy. I ended up not missing cheese as much as I thought.
So the first task will be to analyze what is going to work for me long term and what will give me the best feeling, hit all the essentials and determine what those essentials really are. I will start attacking all of the hard questions like: why not meat? why not dairy? we already know why it's more important to eat more fruits and veggies but a lifestyle that is rich in those alone - are they enough to give you Incredible Health?
Stay tuned...
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