Counting Calor... Nutrients!

You can't get too much of a good thing right?  Well, technically when it comes to food even if you are eating all the right things you can still eat too much of it to actually lose any weight so I decided to start tracking my food again on My Fitness Pal a couple of weeks ago.  I LOVE My Fitness Pal.  It's so easy to use AND now they have a page that tracks your nutrients to show how you are doing throughout the day.  Here's what you can track:

Micronutrients:  Iron, Calcium, Potassium, Vitamin A, C
Macronutrients:  Fat, Protein and Carbohydrates. 

I decided to focus only on the micronutrients to see what it would look like.  I found that when I look mostly at those numbers and make sure I'm eating foods that get me to 100%, the fat is low, the carbohydrates come from healthy sources and the protein works itself out.  I don't usually get the system's recommended number on protein but I get the minimum required for me which is 30 grams (more about that below).  I'm not going to get on my soap box about protein in this blog but does anyone even know what the word is for protein deficiency?  NO!  WHY?  Because it doesn't happen in America unless you are not EATING enough food... period.  OK enough of that for now. 

Also when I focus on the micronutrients I am full at every meal, it lasts until the next meal AND I stay within my calorie budget.  Have I found the mystery to satisfying healthy eating???  It's pretty awesome!  If you want to connect with me on My Fitness Pal I'm listed as Drarceneaux.  I share my journal with my friends so you can see what I'm eating.  Here's an example of a day and the results:

Breakfast	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Grape nuts - Grape Nuts, 0.5 cup	210	44	1	8	290	5
Silk soymilk - Soymilk, 0.5 cup	50	5	2	3	50	4
Craisins - Dried Cranberries, 0.06 of a cup	29	7	0	0	0	6
Coffee w trivia, 1 serving(s)	42	6	2	0	25	6
	331	62	5	11	365	21
Lunch
Broccoli - Broccoli Steamed, 1.25 cup	38	5	0	3	38	2
Black Beans - Black Beans, 1 cup	144	26	0	10	608	2
Carrot - Medium, 2 medium carrot (61g)	50	12	0	1	84	6
Cucumber - With peel, raw, 0.5 cup slices	8	2	0	0	1	1
Balsamic Vinegar - Balsamic Vinegar, 0.5 tbsp	7	1	0	0	2	1
Watermelon - Raw, 0.25 cup, balls	12	3	0	0	0	2
	258	49	1	15	733	14
Dinner
Curried Chic Peas With Apples, 1 serving(s)	237	40	6	8	309	8
Dole - Bananas, 1 banana	100	27	0	1	1	14
	337	67	6	9	310	22
Snacks
Coco Polo - 70% Dark Chocolate Sweetened With Stevia With Tart Montmorency Cherries, 20 g	85	11	7	1	5	3
Watermelon - Raw, 1.5 cup, balls	69	17	0	1	2	14
	154	28	7	2	7	17
Totals	1,081	206	20	37	1,415	75
Your Daily Goal	1,200	150	40	60	2,300	45
Remaining	119	-56	20	22	885	-29
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

Here's what the Micronutrients looked like that day:

Potassium - 3091 consumed, 3500 recommended
Vitamin A - over by 491%
Vitamin C - over by 174%
Calcium - 45%, should have used my remaining calories on a cup of coconut milk
Iron - over by 48%

Cholesterol - 0

5 shocking things I learned when staring only at micronutrients: 

1. 1/2 cup of Grape Nuts has 90% of your iron!  
2. Watermelon, which I LOVE is an excellent source of Potassium, Vitamin A and C 
3. Black Beans are a great source of protein, potassium and iron
4. Most important:  Dark chocolate cherries has IRON!
5. A big pan of broccoli will fill you up immensely and give you protein, potassium AND 168% of your Vitamin C! 

When you are eating mostly plants you get a bigger "bang for your calories", you get to rack up the micronutrients and here it is...  EAT MORE FOOD!  When you throw in the meat for protein purposes your whopping number of calories also get you more fat and cholesterol that you DON'T need just to get more protein that you really aren't deficient in.  The recommendation is 10-25% of your calories in protein.  So if my calorie intake is 1200 and each gram of protein equals 4 calories then my minimum should be 30 grams.  I am usually over the minimum every day.  If I'm working out I may use my exercise calories for additional plant protein.  It's not that big of a deal.  I don't need the meat for the protein or the iron.  The only other nutrient I need to make sure I get is B12.  Most plant powered people supplement.  I have found a great supplement that works on multiple levels and gives me 100% of my B12.  You can see the information here.  If you want to try it I can get it for you. 

So before doing this I was trusting that I was getting everything I needed from plants but now I know I'm covered.  That's a great feeling!

Coming CLEAN

So it's been a while since I have "come clean" with how I'm doing on this journey.  Partly because I wasn't sure the 4 followers I still have even care and partly because I wasn't really sure where I was.  This has been a struggle of a journey in some respects.  But too I think that looking back and seeing the big picture I find that I am completely normal.

I started out with a strong desire to find perfect, incredible health.  That "oneness" with your body that comes from eating clean and being consciously aware of what you are putting in your body.  I believe I felt that on some level and stayed there for a little while.  The better I ate the better I felt, the more obstacles I overcame the more confident I was that I could do this.  It became habit and some of those habits still remain.  There are some people who can do perfect 100% of the time.  Or maybe we have the illusion that they do.  I will never know.  I know that for someone who has struggled MY WHOLE LIFE - it's hard to be all in 100% of the time.  I also know I am not alone in this and it is THOSE people I want to reach in this blog.  The perfect people are not reading this blog.  They are reading blogs from the greats like Rich Roll and Matt Frazier.  And those guys are reading blogs from their greats.  We are all trying to better ourselves and I'm not saying I'm better than anyone else.  I do know that I have a passion for health and wellness.  I have a strong desire to motivate and inspire others to better health.  To do that I have to be real with you.  And I have to be real with myself. 

So you read about my struggles around my birthday.  I pulled myself out of it occasionally and then went on a trip to LA for a conference.  I went a couple of days early to see the sights.  I was by myself and on a seriously tight budget.  I brought my shakes with me so I could add water and get lots of nutrients when needed.  I found TONS of restaurants that catered to my hippie foodstyle (I think I just made that up because I hate the word "diet").  Mentally I felt great!  My energy was the most positive it has ever been and if I were not rooted in God and His purpose for my life I would have thought moving to California would help me "find myself".  But I don't need to do that.  When I got back from my trip it was evident to those in my daily life that I had changed.  My energy was different.  I had no idea what that meant or what to do with it all and I FREAKED!  In an odd way I shut down.  I didn't know what to do next.  I didn't know how to bring home all that positive energy and make something with it.  I couldn't be alone with my thoughts because they didn't make sense.  In time I may figure it out but for the time being I have learned to live with it.  I know that was a major kill of the climax to my story but that's all I can say right now.  No major resolutions except to say I believe God has a plan so much bigger than me and little by little He is helping me along.

So the holidays took it's toll because my head was not in the game.  Overall not that bad but sweets played a bigger role than I had hoped.  A majority of the time I have eaten really well but old habits die hard.  Mexican habits die harder.  SOOOO I suffered through another cleanse.   Just ended yesterday.  It jump started the weight loss but the best part was it helped me find that happy place where I'm treating my body to the good things.  I'm drinking the happy shakes that make me feel like I just got up from a good nap within 10 minutes.  And the best part about it is:  I'm not starting over.  I'm not "getting back on the wagon" because I refuse to look at this as something I can't do.  I think we do that all too often.  We make ourselves feel like everything we have done is for naught because we weren't perfect for a while.  We learn a lot about ourselves, our plan, our self talk during that time.

I know what to expect this time.  I know the pitfalls both emotionally and physically and I know I can either choose to allow it or choose to fight.  I hope I choose to fight this time because this feeling is so worth it.  I will be blogging more often so hopefully the 4 of you will have something to read a couple of times a week.  Thank you for sticking with me.  If the journey to better health is a struggle for you just know you are not alone.  You are completely normal.  The question is:  are you willing to come clean and fight?

Tasty food

Tasty food - even if it doesn't look it...  

I wanted to share a few favorites that I have taken pictures of recently.  There are many other great things I have eaten and fixed but failed to take pictures. 

A Few Favorites

OH WAIT!  This isn't healthy!  These are the striped cookies that are a favorite of mine and get fixed for me every time I visit the inlaws.  One of the many reasons I'm proud to be an Arceneaux...

Oatmeal with apples and craisins.  The secret is to add the chopped apple and craisins to the oats and water before you cook it.  Then the apples cook down and the craisins get fat and juicy and it's like a delicious apple cobbler!  I start with old fashioned oats (or steel cut) and follow the directions on the package.  Add 1/2 chopped apple and craisins.  Microwave as directed.  I usually go a little longer so it's not runny.  Add chopped pecans or almonds and 1 TB chia seeds for added crunch.  Drizzle a little honey and a splash of vanilla soy creamer and OH MY DEAR...

This was a happy holiday find.  We got these in a gift basket.  The ingredients didn't sound so bad and since they were thin there weren't many calories.  We cut a banana and drizzled a little honey and OH MY DEAR again...

This was Christmas dinner.  Lima beans, corn, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes and the not so healthy fried okra and sis schuberts yeast roll.  It was Christmas..   I find that my "go to" method for balanced meal consists of veggies, beans, potato or brown rice and fruit for dessert.  Then I know I have enough protein and the good nutrients.

This WAS a caesar salad from Christmas Eve.  What I liked about this was the dressing.  Delicious and EASY to make.  I got the recipe from the first Rich Roll cookbook (Jai seed cookbook).  It's available as an ebook from www.richroll.com.   Toss together:
3 tbsp Vegenaise
1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
Juice of half a medium lemon
1/8 cup olive oil
black pepper
dash of cayenne pepper - optional

This was leftover night.  And it turned out to be yummy!  Leftover roasted veggies on the side and a bowl of quinoa, black eyed peas and green beans.  Got my protein grain (quinoa), beans and veggies!

This was my home made black bean hummus with a sprinkle of paprika.  Use it with pita triangles or veggies.  Recipe below.  I skipped the olives...uck!

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic 1 (15 ounce) can black beans; drain and reserve liquid 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon paprika 10 Greek olives

Directions:

1.

Mince garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Add black beans, 2 tablespoons reserved liquid, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, tahini, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper; process until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Add additional seasoning and liquid to taste. Garnish with paprika and Greek olives.

This turned out to be incredible!  I know it doesn't look it to most people BUT it was super tasty.  Cliff made it so I have to find out where he got the recipe if you want it.  It had sweet potatoes, sauteed kale, onions and garlic sauteed in veggie broth some some seasonings.

The great thing about not eating meat is that you don't have to PREPARE it!  You don't have to thaw it out in the microwave (because you forgot to put it out the night before in the fridge), you don't have to have a separate cutting board and be careful not to touch anything before washing your hands.  You don't have to wait for it to cook.  It's just so much easier.   You can sautee up anything in some veggie broth or chop and roast in the oven, add some quinoa or brown rice and you're done.  We cook up a bunch of quinoa or brown rice for the week to keep it simple.  I like to sautee up some broccoli and carrots, add some brown rice and a little teriyaki and toss in some nuts and I have chinese food packed with protein.  Now that I have been on the way a little longer I see that it's really not that hard or expensive and it doesn't take up that much time.  It's just a change in the lifestyle.  And change takes time.  It takes practice. 

We have been on this journey for longer than this blog.  We started several years ago and although some people convert and are all in, that wasn't us.  I feel like we are still learning.  We went through a phase just recently (and are still pulling out of it) where we were eating more "vegan" than "whole food plant based".  There are similarities and there is a difference.  Being vegan is more about what you don't eat.  Being WFPB is about what you DO it.  You can eat vegan and gain weight.  Vegan doesn't guarantee you are healthy.  Eating a WFPB diet does.  I'll probably talk more on that later but this blog is getting really long.  I hope you enjoy the options.  I will try to do better at keeping em coming!

Healthy mind

It's the close of the first day of the year 2015.  The beginning of a new year always fills me with hope.  We make our list of new year resolutions.  We put behind us the fears, failures and regrets (if there are any) of the last year and believe that the slate is clean and we can not only envision but bring to pass all that we dream in the new year.  Why not?  Everyone else is doing it.

It's true that anything you do to change or better yourself is 90% mental and 10% logistics.  You can put a list of goals in place and set the steps for getting there but if your head isn't in it you will not get anywhere.  Your brain controls a HUGE part of the process.  And the coolest thing is...your brain can be rewired.  You can form a new pattern in your thoughts and by doing that you leave the other path dormant.  For example, let's say you have the belief that you can't run.  Let's say 3 years ago you decided to run a race and you started day one to try to run as far as you could.  You couldn't even go a quarter of a mile.  So you decide that running isn't for you because you can't even run a mile!  Let's say a trainer comes along and challenges your belief.  What training program did you have in place?  None, I was just going to start running.  It worked for Forrest Gump.  What small goals did you put in place?  Um to run.  OK so the plan was not realistic.  You can't truly say you can't run when you barely tried.  So the trainer starts to work with you on a program with small attainable goals to chart the path.  The only way you are going to be successful in even TRYING is to change your thought pattern.  There is a very strong 3 year old pattern of thinking that you just can't run.  Now that you are working with someone who has been there you have a little hope.  You rely on their belief in you and your belief in their system until you can truly say "I can run with proper trainiing".  You reach your small goals and your belief gets stronger.  If you say to yourself every morning "I can run with proper training" and never say again "I can't run" you will start a new pattern in the brain and the old pattern will be gone.  Just like that!

So any new year resolution you list needs to have proper goals set with them.  Start by learning how others are doing it.  Look for the professionals or the experts on the subject and take their advice on how to start.  Then set small attainable goals that you can realistically achieve.  If you do not put goals in place with your resolution nothing will change.  If you don't change your thought process the 10% of what you are trying to achieve will be swallowed up by the 90% powered by the brain.  Things CAN change!  Things don't have to remain the same every year!  You have to start with belief and then change the voice in your head.  Ask God to help you.  He instructs us to establish our ways. Pro 4:26-27 "Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.  Turn not to the right hand nor to the left".  He wants us to be better, feel better, be extraordinary.  Not flip back and forth.  I know we are humans who make mistakes, who have good intentions, who try and fail at times.  But try!  Keep trying!  The great thing about new year resolutions is we challenge ourselves.  We attempt to change the voice in our head and we succeed when the right voice, the voice of hope gets louder than the voice of fear.  Fear that we will fail again.  Fear that we will be disappointed.  When you realize it's all in the head then it's all in your control.  Just change your mind!  All day long, change your mind.  When the voice of fear trys to speak, yell with the voice of hope!  Eventually the pattern will change and 90% of the battle is won!

Is Perfection an Illusion?

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...

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. 

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. 

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. 

That way, every run is a winner. 

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!

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.

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.

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)

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)

Veggie salad with fruit and nuts and a side of berries

Sauteed Cabbage, peppers, black beans (FYI: Black beans are a great source of protein)

Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding with raspberries - YUMM!

Mediterranean salad with Greekfeta dressing at Durbin Farms

Quinoa mixed with black beans, peppers, squash with a side of berries and peach

Quinoa black bean burger topped with tomato, sauteed squash and baked sweet potato fries

Typical snack of fruit and nuts

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

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!

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..!

Surprisingly good:  Sauteed carrots in coconut oil with Smokehouse Maple seasoning & apple slices

Zucchini Macadamia Pesto roll ups - too good to take a pic before eating...

Chic pea and veggie stir fry in Romaine cups - very filling!

Veggie Salad with couscous and hummus with carrots at Jason's Deli

Dinner at Whole Foods:  Quinoa Cranberry salad, sauteed green beans and blueberries

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

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.

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:

• 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!

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.