So let's review. Last August, I was writing goodbye messages to my kids in my journal and challenging The Almighty to finish up anything he had for me to accomplish in this life because I was done. I was in constant debilitating pain. The doctors had long since let me know that there was nothing to be done to improve my lot, they could only treat the symptoms. Since I clearly didn't have the "willpower" to lose weight and I wasn't a candidate for weight loss surgery due to my history of blood clots, I would just have to try to manage the symptoms and accept that I would be in a wheelchair soon. There was talk of amputating my leg because of the damaged circulation from a massive blood clot 20 years ago. My knee had been a mess since 1982 when I shattered the knee cap and it was now bone-on-bone with bone spurs and arthritis and scar tissue. My right shoulder was also "permanently" compromised from multiple tears in the rotator cuff that they couldn't operate on so it also had scar tissue, bone spurs and arthritis. I had undergone physical therapy which helped a lot. I was able to effectively use my right arm again at least. Couldn't do overhead tasks with it and it caused me a great deal of pain but it was at least functional. The stated goal of the PT with my shoulder and knee were to give me enough mobility to perform basic personal tasks on my own. Like dressing myself and going to the bathroom.
I also had ruptured discs in my back twice and had others that were deteriorating. I was told I had "degenerative disc disease." And then, in early 2013 came Paget's. The pain in my back started becoming really unbearable over the 2012 holidays and I was afraid I had or was about to rupture another disc. It turns out I actually had developed a disease called Paget's disease of the bone. It was causing the bones in my pelvis and hip to become very soft and the combination of that with my severe obesity (I was about 320 at that point) was causing remodeling (deformities) in the bones. It caused excrutiating pain to even have to sit upright in a kitchen chair or the seat of a car. Walking was... torture. I had become effective house bound. Rarely left my bedroom.
I had other medical issues; autoimmune disorders - Hashimoto's thyroiditis, myasthenia gravis, fibromyalgia - high blood pressure, irritable bowel. Needless to say I took a number of perscription pills each day. In July of 2013 I was a serious mess and had also started having symptoms of congestive heart failure. I hid this and avoided my doctor as I had made the decision that I wasn't going to seek treatment. That I was, in fact, going to stop taking ALL the pills and let nature take it's course. I figured a stroke from the blood pressure would put me out of my, and everyone else's, misery quickly enough.
On August 17th, I was watching movies on Netflix and a movie came up in my "recommended for you" section called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and the rest is history! That was a Saturday. Thursdays were my husbands paydays so on the 22nd I cleared out every single thing in my house that couldn't be juiced and stocked up. I started my juice fast on August 23rd, 2013. I consider that my "rebirth-day." I don't live in pain anymore. I swim and walk for exercise and have no issues with sitting, standing, walking, getting up and down off my knees, squatting. But I haven't run yet. I haven't run on land in over 25 years, maybe closer to 30. I used to jog in the water, which I'm sure looked pretty crazy, because I didn't want my body to lose the muscle memory of HOW to run.
So yesterday I was on Facebook and my oldest daughter, Bonni, posted that she had set up a team for the Tulsa Glow Run. If anyone wanted to join her, it would be on August 23rd. It took about a nanosecond for me to say, "I'll do it." WHAT?!?!?! Nine months ago I could walk across my yard without my son or husband to lean on! Even when I was active in my teens and twenties, I was into horses and swimming. Never ran a race in my life! Was I crazy?! Well, maybe so. But just watch me run, baby. I have 100 days to train. I will be doing the Couch To 5K program 3 days a week and swimming 2-3 days.
JUICE ON YA'LL! I GOT THIS!!
Showing posts with label Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. Show all posts
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Monday, May 12, 2014
Plateaus, Set Points and Other Boogeymen
I have said many times that even if I never lost another pound, I would continue to eat a plant-based diet and drink green juice because it has given me back my health. I would reassure others who hit weight plateaus for a week or two to just keep at it and the weight would start to go down again. Our bodies sometimes need time to adjust to this new way of being and doing, especially if we have been very overweight for a very long time. I had been from 280 to 340 for a couple of decades. So mid-March when I hit a plateau, I had to put my money where my mouth is so to speak. I hit a plateau. I hit 265 and my body froze, looked at me in horror and said, "Are you kidding me? We're melting like the wicked witch after she got watered down by Dorothy! This ain't right!!! Do you WANT to disappear? What if there's a famine? This is dangerous! You can't just go losing weight willy nilly I tell you!"
It didn't help that I had several extra-curricular stress activities pop up during this same time frame. If you don't know or understand what the stress hormone, Cortisol, can do to weight loss efforts, look up Dr. John Bergman on youtube. He explains it better than anyone else I've seen.
So for a couple of weeks, I was totally zen about this plateau. Seriously. I really didn't let it bother me because I understood what was happening. I had hit a lower weight than I'd seen in at least 15 years. When it had been a month, I started to get worried in that scared, secret, small place inside me that has always feared this new found health and energy will be ripped away. Right at this same time I was getting super busy trying to pack and clean to move out of this house finally. After several months of planning to move, we are finally actually moving. We HAVE to be out of this house by the end of the month even if it means camping out at the lake until we can find something else. Long story.... anyway, I was extremely busy and having to use every coping mechanism I had not to let the stress get to me. We had a very, very hard winter financially along with some other life stressors so it was no surprise, really, that the weight loss stalled. Knowing and understanding that and dealing with seeing that number stay the same every day are two different things. Actually, it didn't stay exactly the same. My weight, as with most people, can fluctuate 3-5 pounds in any given week which is the main reason I usually weigh daily. So I had hit that 265 for about 2 days when my weight started doing a gentle rollercoaster up and down and up and down from 266 to 269 for weeks. So I put the scale away. I didn't want worry over that number to pull my focus away from the main thing which is my health. I just played Dory and kept on swimming... and eating my plants and making my juice. As Spring came on strong, I did what I had always planned to do and shifted more to raw fruits and salads and less soups and starches. Not a big shift but just a bit more of this and a bit less of that. It felt right. I felt a boost in energy almost immediately.
I was out of town for over a week and got home last Wednesday night. Thursday morning I decided to pull out the scale and see where I was at and it said 266. Okay. Saturday morning, 264. Hey! Monday morning, today, 261! Yeah! Bye-bye plateau! I learned from you. I let you be and you let me be and now we must part ways. See ya!
That plateau lasted nearly two months. I learned that I really do have the power of my convictions within me to put my health first. I really felt that my body would eventually begin to seek a healthier weight once again. But I knew that if it didn't or if it took a year or two for that to happen, I would be okay in the meantime as long as I continued to flood my body with real nutrition. I learned some valuable lessons about myself. I have said many times that how I feel is far more important than how I look and I proved to myself that this was true. I've said that I have learned to trust my body. Now I've proven it. I've also proved to myself that if the scale becomes a detriment, I can just put it away.
I recently watched a video shared by my friend, Lori. It was posted by a bariatric surgeon and explained how our bodies will establish "set points" at a very high weight. He went into the anthropology of it all. His point was to make us feel hopeless to lose the weight without surgery. FALSE. The problem is that most people hit those points where their body is trying to adjust to the changes you've made, the weight loss slows or stops so they tighten down on the calories even more. They starve their cells which makes the body freak out even more. "Starvation! She's trying to kill us!" If you hit your plateau - or your new "set point" - and you just keep FLOODING your body with amazing nutrition, your body WILL relax and realize that it is safe to allow more of that weight to go. Truth. Doctors selling hopelessness to line their pockets make me sick. Right up until I drink my green juice or eat my bowl of fruit or salad. THAT makes me very, very well:)
JUICE ON YA'LL. WE GOT THIS!!
It didn't help that I had several extra-curricular stress activities pop up during this same time frame. If you don't know or understand what the stress hormone, Cortisol, can do to weight loss efforts, look up Dr. John Bergman on youtube. He explains it better than anyone else I've seen.
So for a couple of weeks, I was totally zen about this plateau. Seriously. I really didn't let it bother me because I understood what was happening. I had hit a lower weight than I'd seen in at least 15 years. When it had been a month, I started to get worried in that scared, secret, small place inside me that has always feared this new found health and energy will be ripped away. Right at this same time I was getting super busy trying to pack and clean to move out of this house finally. After several months of planning to move, we are finally actually moving. We HAVE to be out of this house by the end of the month even if it means camping out at the lake until we can find something else. Long story.... anyway, I was extremely busy and having to use every coping mechanism I had not to let the stress get to me. We had a very, very hard winter financially along with some other life stressors so it was no surprise, really, that the weight loss stalled. Knowing and understanding that and dealing with seeing that number stay the same every day are two different things. Actually, it didn't stay exactly the same. My weight, as with most people, can fluctuate 3-5 pounds in any given week which is the main reason I usually weigh daily. So I had hit that 265 for about 2 days when my weight started doing a gentle rollercoaster up and down and up and down from 266 to 269 for weeks. So I put the scale away. I didn't want worry over that number to pull my focus away from the main thing which is my health. I just played Dory and kept on swimming... and eating my plants and making my juice. As Spring came on strong, I did what I had always planned to do and shifted more to raw fruits and salads and less soups and starches. Not a big shift but just a bit more of this and a bit less of that. It felt right. I felt a boost in energy almost immediately.
I was out of town for over a week and got home last Wednesday night. Thursday morning I decided to pull out the scale and see where I was at and it said 266. Okay. Saturday morning, 264. Hey! Monday morning, today, 261! Yeah! Bye-bye plateau! I learned from you. I let you be and you let me be and now we must part ways. See ya!
That plateau lasted nearly two months. I learned that I really do have the power of my convictions within me to put my health first. I really felt that my body would eventually begin to seek a healthier weight once again. But I knew that if it didn't or if it took a year or two for that to happen, I would be okay in the meantime as long as I continued to flood my body with real nutrition. I learned some valuable lessons about myself. I have said many times that how I feel is far more important than how I look and I proved to myself that this was true. I've said that I have learned to trust my body. Now I've proven it. I've also proved to myself that if the scale becomes a detriment, I can just put it away.
I recently watched a video shared by my friend, Lori. It was posted by a bariatric surgeon and explained how our bodies will establish "set points" at a very high weight. He went into the anthropology of it all. His point was to make us feel hopeless to lose the weight without surgery. FALSE. The problem is that most people hit those points where their body is trying to adjust to the changes you've made, the weight loss slows or stops so they tighten down on the calories even more. They starve their cells which makes the body freak out even more. "Starvation! She's trying to kill us!" If you hit your plateau - or your new "set point" - and you just keep FLOODING your body with amazing nutrition, your body WILL relax and realize that it is safe to allow more of that weight to go. Truth. Doctors selling hopelessness to line their pockets make me sick. Right up until I drink my green juice or eat my bowl of fruit or salad. THAT makes me very, very well:)
JUICE ON YA'LL. WE GOT THIS!!
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Spring Update To Juice Fast or Not to Juice Fast...
Wow, I have really neglected my blog. I have started making more and more videos and people are actually watching them and I sort of "get it out of my system" in the videos so I just don't think to come blog. I will try to remedy that. Also, at the end of this blog, I have a new progress picture for you:)
I am still on this amazing journey. I tried another juice fast in March and made it less than 3 weeks. I had a little budget crisis and a whole bunch of stress the 3rd week of March and just decided to go back to modified. It's cool with me because I don't feel a need to prove anything to myself or anyone else at this point. I am just continuing on my healthy path. It's all part of the journey.
I did discover that letting the stress of life get to me does impede my weight loss even if I don't eat wrong over it. I have been on a plateau for about 3 weeks now, just running up and down the same 3 pounds. Frustrating. But then I remember that I am struggling to get the weight loss going again to get me into the 250s when this time last year I was struggling to stay OUT of the 350s.
So where I am at right now is trying to figure out exactly what approach will be a good overall weight loss approach within what I'm already doing. I am in this for the long haul. I still need to lose 100 lbs or close to it (I'm 264.. or 5... or 6 lol) so I want to find the plant-based approach that is the perfect balance for me between optimum weight loss and what works with where I am right now in life. We are moving at the end of the month (finally!) so my house and kitchen are a disaster. I am feeling overwhelmed with all there is to do before the end of the month too so I just need it to be simple. Honestly, if I wasn't on a budget crunch, I would just do an all raw, high fruit cleanse for April. I just can't afford all that fruit. So I've been playing around with options and for the first two weeks of April. I'm doing the following:
2-4 days a week of juice ONLY - Sunday, Monday, probably Tuesday and maybe Wednesday.
On the other 3-4 days, I will have 1-2 juices and 1-2 healthy, plant-based, raw meals, 1 plant-based, cooked meal, and as much as I want/can afford of fruit, nuts and seeds. I will try for healthy, home-made dressing on my salad but if I need to use a premade dressing, I will. No stress this two weeks. This will not be very structured or well-defined. These food days are pretty much what I have been doing when not on juice fast this whole time. Will this plan break through my plateau? We shall see.
I would love to do a food journal here but I can't promise that to be honest. I am writing down what I eat in a little notebook though. At the end of two weeks, I will switch up some things and see what affect it has on my weight, energy, mood etc. Not sure yet exactly what I'll switch up. May try 7 days of all juice except 1 raw meal. That would be a pretty big switch up. Or I may just cut out the bottled dressing altogether and start being more structured with exactly how much I allow of the fruit and nuts. We'll see. Who knows, since I will be actually coming up on the time we move during that portion, I may want to do all juice 5 days a week or something. Stay tuned!
My new progress picture is taken with my two youngest daughters who have been on this journey with me since day one. In this picture, I have lost 75 lbs and Harmoni and Gini have each lost in the area of 45-47 lbs (can't remember which is which to tell the truth.) We went for a walk together and a friend was waiting at our house when we got home and took this pic for us. The pics on the left are us when we started back in August. The butterfly is to cover where Harmoni's top had ridden up and her pants were low cut so her belly was showing which she was self-conscious about. She is SOOOO long-waisted that she has this problem a lot. Poor kid has heard, "Harmoni! Pants up, shirt down" so many times in her life it's pathetic. Anyway, we are feeling fantastic this Spring! How about you?
I am still on this amazing journey. I tried another juice fast in March and made it less than 3 weeks. I had a little budget crisis and a whole bunch of stress the 3rd week of March and just decided to go back to modified. It's cool with me because I don't feel a need to prove anything to myself or anyone else at this point. I am just continuing on my healthy path. It's all part of the journey.
I did discover that letting the stress of life get to me does impede my weight loss even if I don't eat wrong over it. I have been on a plateau for about 3 weeks now, just running up and down the same 3 pounds. Frustrating. But then I remember that I am struggling to get the weight loss going again to get me into the 250s when this time last year I was struggling to stay OUT of the 350s.
So where I am at right now is trying to figure out exactly what approach will be a good overall weight loss approach within what I'm already doing. I am in this for the long haul. I still need to lose 100 lbs or close to it (I'm 264.. or 5... or 6 lol) so I want to find the plant-based approach that is the perfect balance for me between optimum weight loss and what works with where I am right now in life. We are moving at the end of the month (finally!) so my house and kitchen are a disaster. I am feeling overwhelmed with all there is to do before the end of the month too so I just need it to be simple. Honestly, if I wasn't on a budget crunch, I would just do an all raw, high fruit cleanse for April. I just can't afford all that fruit. So I've been playing around with options and for the first two weeks of April. I'm doing the following:
2-4 days a week of juice ONLY - Sunday, Monday, probably Tuesday and maybe Wednesday.
On the other 3-4 days, I will have 1-2 juices and 1-2 healthy, plant-based, raw meals, 1 plant-based, cooked meal, and as much as I want/can afford of fruit, nuts and seeds. I will try for healthy, home-made dressing on my salad but if I need to use a premade dressing, I will. No stress this two weeks. This will not be very structured or well-defined. These food days are pretty much what I have been doing when not on juice fast this whole time. Will this plan break through my plateau? We shall see.
I would love to do a food journal here but I can't promise that to be honest. I am writing down what I eat in a little notebook though. At the end of two weeks, I will switch up some things and see what affect it has on my weight, energy, mood etc. Not sure yet exactly what I'll switch up. May try 7 days of all juice except 1 raw meal. That would be a pretty big switch up. Or I may just cut out the bottled dressing altogether and start being more structured with exactly how much I allow of the fruit and nuts. We'll see. Who knows, since I will be actually coming up on the time we move during that portion, I may want to do all juice 5 days a week or something. Stay tuned!
My new progress picture is taken with my two youngest daughters who have been on this journey with me since day one. In this picture, I have lost 75 lbs and Harmoni and Gini have each lost in the area of 45-47 lbs (can't remember which is which to tell the truth.) We went for a walk together and a friend was waiting at our house when we got home and took this pic for us. The pics on the left are us when we started back in August. The butterfly is to cover where Harmoni's top had ridden up and her pants were low cut so her belly was showing which she was self-conscious about. She is SOOOO long-waisted that she has this problem a lot. Poor kid has heard, "Harmoni! Pants up, shirt down" so many times in her life it's pathetic. Anyway, we are feeling fantastic this Spring! How about you?
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Exciting Plans for March
So, February is over and I'm glad to see it go. The weather is gradually getting better and better although there are still way too few sunny days for my taste. We are supposed to get ice and frigid temps for Sunday and Monday but then it is supposed to warm up to normal temps for this area and time of year. So with the majority of the really cold stuff behind us, I am confident enough to go ahead and start another juice fast. I'm juicing at least through March and maybe part or all of April. I'm calling this my March Juicing Madness!
I reached my second 10% goal in February so that was a huge victory that put me at 275.5 and I actually got down to 273. But overall February weight loss was quite slow. I believe that it is probably normal for our bodies to hold onto the weight tighter when we are exposed to frequent subzero temps as a safety mechanism and I was definitely exposed. Not as in, "Baby It's Cold Outside" so I'll stay in my house where it's nice and warm. Oh no! I'm talking cold as in my house is a pile of crap and you can't keep it warm. Cannot. I have been freezing my assets off this winter. But I just feel in my bones that my body is ready to start letting it go again so as a kick start, I'm back on Da Juice! I have my brain in juicing gear so that I'm not even looking at or thinking about the chewed stuff. That is the hard-to-describe difference between wanting to do a juice fast and having it just not take off like I did earlier this winter and a juice fast that is working for me. I'm in the zone baby.
I'm really pumped because the 10% goal I'm working on right now is to go from 275.5 to 248. Making 248 will put me just 8 pounds away from having lost 100lbs. So I've been hoping that I could hit 248 by the end of March but now I'm thinking that I will go on into April however far it takes to actually hit 100lbs gone. I'm really going to hit 100lbs gone! Like within the next few weeks! How exciting is that?!
I made a youtube vid about my March plans that I've also posted here on my blog and I am getting ready to upload one about willpower. I said I didn't believe in willpower and a friend said she was curious about that and I should make a vid so I did:) It'll be up shortly. I don't usually feel like I really articulate what I'm trying to say in these videos which is frustrating for me as public speaking is another one of those things that I used to be good at:/ But it is a personal challenge I've set for myself. It's almost therapeutic.
So that's where I'm at for March. I'm planning to weigh in on Fridays so I'll at least post progress blogs on Friday or Saturday of each week.
JUICE ON! WE GOT THIS!!!
I reached my second 10% goal in February so that was a huge victory that put me at 275.5 and I actually got down to 273. But overall February weight loss was quite slow. I believe that it is probably normal for our bodies to hold onto the weight tighter when we are exposed to frequent subzero temps as a safety mechanism and I was definitely exposed. Not as in, "Baby It's Cold Outside" so I'll stay in my house where it's nice and warm. Oh no! I'm talking cold as in my house is a pile of crap and you can't keep it warm. Cannot. I have been freezing my assets off this winter. But I just feel in my bones that my body is ready to start letting it go again so as a kick start, I'm back on Da Juice! I have my brain in juicing gear so that I'm not even looking at or thinking about the chewed stuff. That is the hard-to-describe difference between wanting to do a juice fast and having it just not take off like I did earlier this winter and a juice fast that is working for me. I'm in the zone baby.
I'm really pumped because the 10% goal I'm working on right now is to go from 275.5 to 248. Making 248 will put me just 8 pounds away from having lost 100lbs. So I've been hoping that I could hit 248 by the end of March but now I'm thinking that I will go on into April however far it takes to actually hit 100lbs gone. I'm really going to hit 100lbs gone! Like within the next few weeks! How exciting is that?!
I made a youtube vid about my March plans that I've also posted here on my blog and I am getting ready to upload one about willpower. I said I didn't believe in willpower and a friend said she was curious about that and I should make a vid so I did:) It'll be up shortly. I don't usually feel like I really articulate what I'm trying to say in these videos which is frustrating for me as public speaking is another one of those things that I used to be good at:/ But it is a personal challenge I've set for myself. It's almost therapeutic.
So that's where I'm at for March. I'm planning to weigh in on Fridays so I'll at least post progress blogs on Friday or Saturday of each week.
JUICE ON! WE GOT THIS!!!
Monday, February 3, 2014
February Plans and Some Reflection On My Weight History
So after a VERY depressing Superbowl and yummy and healthy but overly plentiful game day snacks, I am ready to get this ball rolling again. I was planning to just flatout juice fast through the month. But since the weatherman has revised our 2 week fore cast to stay below freezing the entire time with lows in the teens and single digits, I'm not sure I can face how cold I feel on just juice. My house only stays about 50degrees when it's this cold and I have no hot water now (long story) so I have to heat up water in an electric pot to clean my juicer and jars. We will be out of here by the end of the month but, of course, it will probably start to warm up by then. And I've spent too many years waiting for the perfect conditions to do what I need to do. So I WILL juice in February in spite of all the challenges I face. But I will probably also have a bowl of veggie soup now and then when the cold gets to me.
I'm predicting that my weight will start with a 2 and a 6 by the end of the month. Oh, I'm 278 today. I haven't seen a 260-something in about 8 years. Maybe 10? I know I got down into the 240s in 2000 when we lived near Grand Lake which was the lowest I'd been in many years at that point. I hadn't been below 220 since the 1980s. And I hit the 260s I believe within a year or two of moving away from Grand Lake. I know I was battling to get out of the 280s from '05 if not longer. So even being in the 270s is a huge victory. For nearly 2 years I fought hard to lose the weight and get healthy but I didn't realize yet that the food I was eating was making that impossible. When the doctor sent me to physical therapy in Spring '09, I had been fighting the 280s for a while already. I found renewed hope in the progress I made with my physical therapist and started really trying to "eat right" according to conventional wisdom and I was working out like a BEAST. When the PT maxed out on my insurance, she told me I should start swimming. So I did. I joined the Y and went swimming 3-5 times a week and was going upstairs and working out on the machines for 30 minutes 3-5 times a week as well. In spite of all that work, I never got below 280. I got in good enough shape to go to work again which was awesome. Started doing cell-phone tech support. I fought my way through the MG flareups and the increasing pain in my back, hips and legs. In February of 2012, my truck broke down and I walked the mile and a half to work when I couldn't find a ride. The walk home was all uphill and was killer on my pain areas. I could only take that for so long and had to quit my job. I was having more and more MG flareups and the pain in my back and hips was getting unbearable. There were times I couldn't stand in the mornings until pain relievers took effect. Those times became more and more frequent until that was my everyday condition. In early 2013, I had already been diagnosed with high blood pressure and hypothyroid and was on medications for those. The doctor convinced me to go back on blood thinners to postpone the amputation of my bad leg as long as possible. I was giving up. I figured I had hit my wall and my good years were past. When I was diagnosed with Paget's and told that the combination of the location of the bone disease and my weight, which by this time was about 320, the bones in my pelvis and hips were becoming deformed, I was trying hard to accept that a wheelchair was in my near future. That was about a year ago. I put on another 20 pounds to top out just over 340, became seriously depressed and just gave up on life. Last summer, I had become so weak and in such constant pain that I rarely left my bedroom. I began having symptoms of congestive heart failure. That's when I decided to stop fighting and just die.
So that brings us up to where I started this blog. I saw "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" and "Forks Over Knives" and decided to live. And in 5 months, I've undone the damage from the last 5 years of rapid decline, gotten off of all medications. And I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the next year will undo more like 20 years worth of damage.
I turn 52 a week from tomorrow and I will hit that day feeling better than I have in years. And I'll hit 53 feeling better than I have in decades. I was planning to do another progress picture on my birthday in my new jeans just because it felt so amazing to be able to wear jeans again but... my new jeans are already too big!! Maybe some size 20 jeans will be my birthday gift to myself;o) I started out in a 28 so that isn't too shabby. But I won't buy any if I can't find them discounted because I know I won't be able to wear them for long. Now that is my kinda dilemma.
JUICE ON!! PLANT-STRONG FOREVER!
I'm predicting that my weight will start with a 2 and a 6 by the end of the month. Oh, I'm 278 today. I haven't seen a 260-something in about 8 years. Maybe 10? I know I got down into the 240s in 2000 when we lived near Grand Lake which was the lowest I'd been in many years at that point. I hadn't been below 220 since the 1980s. And I hit the 260s I believe within a year or two of moving away from Grand Lake. I know I was battling to get out of the 280s from '05 if not longer. So even being in the 270s is a huge victory. For nearly 2 years I fought hard to lose the weight and get healthy but I didn't realize yet that the food I was eating was making that impossible. When the doctor sent me to physical therapy in Spring '09, I had been fighting the 280s for a while already. I found renewed hope in the progress I made with my physical therapist and started really trying to "eat right" according to conventional wisdom and I was working out like a BEAST. When the PT maxed out on my insurance, she told me I should start swimming. So I did. I joined the Y and went swimming 3-5 times a week and was going upstairs and working out on the machines for 30 minutes 3-5 times a week as well. In spite of all that work, I never got below 280. I got in good enough shape to go to work again which was awesome. Started doing cell-phone tech support. I fought my way through the MG flareups and the increasing pain in my back, hips and legs. In February of 2012, my truck broke down and I walked the mile and a half to work when I couldn't find a ride. The walk home was all uphill and was killer on my pain areas. I could only take that for so long and had to quit my job. I was having more and more MG flareups and the pain in my back and hips was getting unbearable. There were times I couldn't stand in the mornings until pain relievers took effect. Those times became more and more frequent until that was my everyday condition. In early 2013, I had already been diagnosed with high blood pressure and hypothyroid and was on medications for those. The doctor convinced me to go back on blood thinners to postpone the amputation of my bad leg as long as possible. I was giving up. I figured I had hit my wall and my good years were past. When I was diagnosed with Paget's and told that the combination of the location of the bone disease and my weight, which by this time was about 320, the bones in my pelvis and hips were becoming deformed, I was trying hard to accept that a wheelchair was in my near future. That was about a year ago. I put on another 20 pounds to top out just over 340, became seriously depressed and just gave up on life. Last summer, I had become so weak and in such constant pain that I rarely left my bedroom. I began having symptoms of congestive heart failure. That's when I decided to stop fighting and just die.
So that brings us up to where I started this blog. I saw "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" and "Forks Over Knives" and decided to live. And in 5 months, I've undone the damage from the last 5 years of rapid decline, gotten off of all medications. And I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the next year will undo more like 20 years worth of damage.
I turn 52 a week from tomorrow and I will hit that day feeling better than I have in years. And I'll hit 53 feeling better than I have in decades. I was planning to do another progress picture on my birthday in my new jeans just because it felt so amazing to be able to wear jeans again but... my new jeans are already too big!! Maybe some size 20 jeans will be my birthday gift to myself;o) I started out in a 28 so that isn't too shabby. But I won't buy any if I can't find them discounted because I know I won't be able to wear them for long. Now that is my kinda dilemma.
JUICE ON!! PLANT-STRONG FOREVER!
Sunday, February 2, 2014
If You Are Juice FASTING, Then, for Heaven's Sake FAST!
Okay, I'm gonna rant a bit so prepare yourself. And remember that this rant applies to the old Natshell as much as to anyone else.
I have heard SO many people say, "I don't like vegatables." And I've even heard quite a few say, "I don't like water." Let's be clear here. What you are saying is that you have become so addicted to artificial crap posing as food and drink that your body has forgotten what it really needs. That, in my humble opinion, is the best and most important function of a juice fast. It gives your body the chance to get out from under that addiction and remember what it really, biologically, needs so that it will start telling you that this is what it wants again.
Those of us who have been through some juice fasting tell newcomers not to worry because their taste buds will change. It's truth. The same is true of the water. There are some people who try to baby people along and tell them to do whatever is easiest for them. "Just drink tea or flavored water." "Don't worry about giving up your coffee if that is too hard for you." "I'm sure a diet soda once in a while won't be the end of the world, at least you'll be getting some healthy juice too...." I tell people similar things sometimes when I sense that they are really not mentally prepared to deal with their addictions. But here is my honest to goodness bottom line. Here is where what Natalie really believes departs from what kind Natalie isn't going to push on others. When I'm in a public forum, I am pretty good at feeling out where someone is mentally and emotionally and I don't generally push. I'm not God and I'm not the world's leading juicing expert so I encourage people to find their own path and make their chosen path work for them. Here's the not-so-kind truth why I say and act that way. Everyone out there has the same resources I had to find the truth. Everyone has the same responsibility to themselves to find it. And everyone out there has to live with their choices. Meanwhile, here on MY blog, I can be blunt about what I've learned and about what I believe without worrying about hurting anyone's tender feelers. So, are you prepared now? This isn't the Natshell you are used to....
SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP. JUST DRINK THE JUICE AND THE WATER. Your body was not designed to crave coffee or that poison crap called soda. It was designed to NEED and CRAVE pure water to survive! Your body wasn't designed to crave a cheeseburger. It was designed to crave plants. Give it a chance. Give it a tiny little chance to get out from under all the addictive S.H.I.T. that our illustrious scientists have created to cause it to crave those things and you will be ASTOUNDED by how fast it will switch to doing what it was designed to do.
In case there is anyone out there who hasn't yet come to accept that the food industry intentionally hooks us on unhealthy crap, don't take my word for it:
You haven't been able to "eat in moderation" or use "portion control" any more than a crack addict can "control" himself with crack. It's addictive. And if you don't believe the higher ups at the food giants know this and use it to sell more more more, then you are too naive to waste my time on. So with you, I'll be gentle and kind in another place and time. For now, those of you who can handle the truth, suck it up, recognize you are being used and abused and do what you would tell any alcohol or drug addict to do. Step away from the crap that is hurting you. Replace it with what can make you healthy and strong. If you don't "enjoy" it in the beginning, just "take your medicine" and have faith. You will come to enjoy it. You will come to crave it as the life-giving substance that it is. Your body knows. Once you clear out the crap, you can trust your body to tell you what it needs.
Let's not forget that sometimes old, sick tapes can still play in our heads and tell us that we "deserve" to "enjoy" the junk that Barbie and Ken are having at the family picnic. After all, look how sexy they look! Just remind yourself that what you really deserve is health, freedom from disease, depression and obesity. What you really deserve is to live into your 90s with vigor and purpose. And it doesn't hurt to remind yourself that you can "enjoy" things that don't hurt you! Do I feel deprived when I'm having a vegan, raw chocolate brownie at the party while others are having TollHouse cookies? Hell no! I'm getting the great hormonal boost of the raw chocolate without the heaping dose of poison on the side! Thanks anyway;o) And it doesn't hurt to remind yourself that in 40 or 50 years, Barbie and Ken will probably either be pushing up daisies or toodling around a nursing home with their walkers while you are doing 5ks or (if you are me) trail riding with your grandkids.
One more little bitty rant and I'll return you to your regularly scheduled easy-going Natshell. Promise. When you are on a juice fast. FAST on JUICE. "Is it okay to add a bit of meat so I'll get enough protein?" No. "Is it okay to take a bunch of chemical pain relievers because I have a headache?" No. "Is it okay to have my coffee in the morning since it's liquid?" NO! Go ahead and do those things if you want. But DON'T call it a JUICE.... FAST! Caffeine, meat and chemicals are some of the precise things your body is having to try to recover from in detox!!!! If you are still using those things, or having a super healthy weight watchers frozen dessert to keep from feeling "deprived" or having "just a bite" of the kids mac and cheese, you aren't juice fasting. You are giving your body some great nutrition. You are giving your body a chance to battle the effects of those toxins. Giving your body a fighting chance is a good thing. But it isn't a juice fast.
(Big sigh.) I feel better now.
Oh and, for those who care to know, I'm juicing February starting the minute the Superbowl ends. I have my healthy snacks and my salad and I am READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!! Go Broncos!!!!
Oh and my birthday is Feb 11 so I will be having a super yummy, satisfying and indulgent vegan healthy meal on that day. Is that a "planned cheat?" NO! It's a planned healthy meal. I DON'T CHEAT!
Okay, NOW I feel better. Let's just say that some Dysfunctional Eating Societies posing as juicing support groups are making me a bit cray cray. But I'm aaaaallll better now;o)
JUICE ON!!
I have heard SO many people say, "I don't like vegatables." And I've even heard quite a few say, "I don't like water." Let's be clear here. What you are saying is that you have become so addicted to artificial crap posing as food and drink that your body has forgotten what it really needs. That, in my humble opinion, is the best and most important function of a juice fast. It gives your body the chance to get out from under that addiction and remember what it really, biologically, needs so that it will start telling you that this is what it wants again.
Those of us who have been through some juice fasting tell newcomers not to worry because their taste buds will change. It's truth. The same is true of the water. There are some people who try to baby people along and tell them to do whatever is easiest for them. "Just drink tea or flavored water." "Don't worry about giving up your coffee if that is too hard for you." "I'm sure a diet soda once in a while won't be the end of the world, at least you'll be getting some healthy juice too...." I tell people similar things sometimes when I sense that they are really not mentally prepared to deal with their addictions. But here is my honest to goodness bottom line. Here is where what Natalie really believes departs from what kind Natalie isn't going to push on others. When I'm in a public forum, I am pretty good at feeling out where someone is mentally and emotionally and I don't generally push. I'm not God and I'm not the world's leading juicing expert so I encourage people to find their own path and make their chosen path work for them. Here's the not-so-kind truth why I say and act that way. Everyone out there has the same resources I had to find the truth. Everyone has the same responsibility to themselves to find it. And everyone out there has to live with their choices. Meanwhile, here on MY blog, I can be blunt about what I've learned and about what I believe without worrying about hurting anyone's tender feelers. So, are you prepared now? This isn't the Natshell you are used to....
SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP. JUST DRINK THE JUICE AND THE WATER. Your body was not designed to crave coffee or that poison crap called soda. It was designed to NEED and CRAVE pure water to survive! Your body wasn't designed to crave a cheeseburger. It was designed to crave plants. Give it a chance. Give it a tiny little chance to get out from under all the addictive S.H.I.T. that our illustrious scientists have created to cause it to crave those things and you will be ASTOUNDED by how fast it will switch to doing what it was designed to do.
In case there is anyone out there who hasn't yet come to accept that the food industry intentionally hooks us on unhealthy crap, don't take my word for it:
Let's not forget that sometimes old, sick tapes can still play in our heads and tell us that we "deserve" to "enjoy" the junk that Barbie and Ken are having at the family picnic. After all, look how sexy they look! Just remind yourself that what you really deserve is health, freedom from disease, depression and obesity. What you really deserve is to live into your 90s with vigor and purpose. And it doesn't hurt to remind yourself that you can "enjoy" things that don't hurt you! Do I feel deprived when I'm having a vegan, raw chocolate brownie at the party while others are having TollHouse cookies? Hell no! I'm getting the great hormonal boost of the raw chocolate without the heaping dose of poison on the side! Thanks anyway;o) And it doesn't hurt to remind yourself that in 40 or 50 years, Barbie and Ken will probably either be pushing up daisies or toodling around a nursing home with their walkers while you are doing 5ks or (if you are me) trail riding with your grandkids.
One more little bitty rant and I'll return you to your regularly scheduled easy-going Natshell. Promise. When you are on a juice fast. FAST on JUICE. "Is it okay to add a bit of meat so I'll get enough protein?" No. "Is it okay to take a bunch of chemical pain relievers because I have a headache?" No. "Is it okay to have my coffee in the morning since it's liquid?" NO! Go ahead and do those things if you want. But DON'T call it a JUICE.... FAST! Caffeine, meat and chemicals are some of the precise things your body is having to try to recover from in detox!!!! If you are still using those things, or having a super healthy weight watchers frozen dessert to keep from feeling "deprived" or having "just a bite" of the kids mac and cheese, you aren't juice fasting. You are giving your body some great nutrition. You are giving your body a chance to battle the effects of those toxins. Giving your body a fighting chance is a good thing. But it isn't a juice fast.
(Big sigh.) I feel better now.
Oh and, for those who care to know, I'm juicing February starting the minute the Superbowl ends. I have my healthy snacks and my salad and I am READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!! Go Broncos!!!!
Oh and my birthday is Feb 11 so I will be having a super yummy, satisfying and indulgent vegan healthy meal on that day. Is that a "planned cheat?" NO! It's a planned healthy meal. I DON'T CHEAT!
Okay, NOW I feel better. Let's just say that some Dysfunctional Eating Societies posing as juicing support groups are making me a bit cray cray. But I'm aaaaallll better now;o)
JUICE ON!!
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
JANUARY JUICE AND CHEW DAY 8 Or The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men...
So, not juice fast day 2 and not day 1 again. I'm postponing my hardcore juice fast for a week or two. Hubby isn't snowed in anymore but his truck broke down so now they have him put up in a motel in Indiana while he waits his turn for the shop to fix his truck. Around 200 other guys are waiting for the same thing. Some new fuel they have made him use in the truck gels up when it gets too cold. Yup, trucks broke down all over the North half of the country. Him not moving for a week means my grocery budget will be VERY tight. Also, when the pipes thawed out, there was a burst pipe in the bathroom. Long story but it won't be fixed for at least a few days so we have the water to the house shut off. Not shut-off valve in the bathroom - retarded right? See why I'm moving? So clean up will be challenging this week too. So we'll just go ahead and do what I've already been doing since the 1st. It's cool. I'm feeling very zen about it. The facebook group I LOVE, Reach4Raw, is doing a 90 day juice and chew challenge so I'm just travelling along with my rawfriends there:) I'm eating healthy, drinking juice and losing weight so it's all good.
J&C Day 8
Weigh in - 281.8
3 pints juice
3 tangerines
1 LARGE salad with greens, tomatos, mushrooms, green onions, cucumber, sprinkle of sunflower seeds and light balsamic.
I did a 20 minute Sparkpeople resistance band video and discovered that my right leg is still very much weaker than the left. It wasn't as bad after I finished physical therapy but over the last 3 years being so horrible health wise, it has gotten really weak again. (I had a massive blood clot in that leg that damaged the veins and also the right knee is the one that is trashed.) So I have a goal now to rehab my right leg. I finished the video but was not able to do all reps on the right leg and my form sucked! So room for improvement:)
On a personal note, I was really excited when Kitten the Juice Pirate joined my group on rebootwithjoe. She is SUCH a huge inspiration for me and one of the first examples of what you could do with this lifestyle. I posted on Reach4Raw about this and got lots of great responses but I was so touched I can't even tell you when my friend Taffy said that I was her Kitten the Juice Pirate. That I was to her what Kitten was to me. Wow. I am floored. The day before, I posted my progress picture and had a few people say that seeing that gave them the inspiration to get on with it and start juicing and eating raw! Me!! Inspiring people!!! On top of all the really stressful stuff that was going on I have to confess I shed a tear or two. But we'll just say that was emotional detox and keep that between you and me okay?
JUICE ON!!
J&C Day 8
Weigh in - 281.8
3 pints juice
3 tangerines
1 LARGE salad with greens, tomatos, mushrooms, green onions, cucumber, sprinkle of sunflower seeds and light balsamic.
I did a 20 minute Sparkpeople resistance band video and discovered that my right leg is still very much weaker than the left. It wasn't as bad after I finished physical therapy but over the last 3 years being so horrible health wise, it has gotten really weak again. (I had a massive blood clot in that leg that damaged the veins and also the right knee is the one that is trashed.) So I have a goal now to rehab my right leg. I finished the video but was not able to do all reps on the right leg and my form sucked! So room for improvement:)
On a personal note, I was really excited when Kitten the Juice Pirate joined my group on rebootwithjoe. She is SUCH a huge inspiration for me and one of the first examples of what you could do with this lifestyle. I posted on Reach4Raw about this and got lots of great responses but I was so touched I can't even tell you when my friend Taffy said that I was her Kitten the Juice Pirate. That I was to her what Kitten was to me. Wow. I am floored. The day before, I posted my progress picture and had a few people say that seeing that gave them the inspiration to get on with it and start juicing and eating raw! Me!! Inspiring people!!! On top of all the really stressful stuff that was going on I have to confess I shed a tear or two. But we'll just say that was emotional detox and keep that between you and me okay?
JUICE ON!!
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Winter 2014 Juice Fast Day 1
First off, I have to start by saying my heart goes out to those affected by this insane cold front that has blanketed the nation. Many areas are getting down in the 30 below area!! Here in Oklahoma it was in the single digits most of the time for the last two days. Windchill last time I checked yesterday during the day was around negative 12 degrees. My main source of heat is out so we have portable electric radiator style heaters. They do all right when it is in the 20s or 30s but single digits are too much for them. It was 35deg in my house when I went to bed last night. It is supposed to get up in the 40s and 50s for the rest of the foreseeable forecast so we're fine here. But so much of the country is just frozen. My husband is snowed in at a truck stop in Gary, Indiana. And this cold is apparently hard on heating systems because my daughter and several friends have reported their heat going out. However, my main thoughts and prayers at a time like this are for the homeless. The shelters are just woefully inadequate, at least around here. I feel bad because I didn't take any hats and scarves to the shelters this year at all. The last couple of winters have been so mild it sort of fell off my radar. So my knitting challenge for the duration of my juice fast is going to switch to just making as many hats as I can, both adult and infant, as well as scarves and glittens. If they report another cold front headed for us, I'll take them to John 3:16 shelter. If not, I'll send them to the reservation. (To make the time pass faster during my juice fast, I'm knitting for charity. When I set myself a knitting deadline, the time always flies by.)
Now, my report for Monday. I have to report on the previous day, obviously, since I can't know for certain what all I will do today! So, weight will be current mornings weight. Food will be from the previous day. Got that? So tomorrow will read "Day 1 - Again"
MONDAY, 6 Jan 2014
Weigh in: 282.3
Juice: 3 pints
Liquids: 16oz water, 16oz broth from cabbage soup with pepper
Food: 1 banana, 3 tangerines, 1 baked potato with salsa
Detox symptoms: Yes! My eyes are all gummy and I have a headache and some nausea. Someone just asked me yesterday if I experienced nausea last time and I said, "No, not really." And then in the wee hours of this morning, bam. Nothing too unbearable, but not all that pleasant either. I also feel pretty upbeat and cheerful from some fool reason. But I do feel like the glitches on the reboot website are maybe more than I can handle right now without ripping someone's head off so I'll wait a while to log in.
And, by the way, it is up to 40 degrees inside my house! Whoopee! I am planning to also include any workouts I get in on these posts but I didn't do any yesterday. Maybe today or tomorrow at the latest it will be warm enough for me to take off some layers (ha! I typed lawyers at first - I'll take off some lawyers) and work out with my resistance band:)
Stay warm everyone. And pray for those who can't.
Now, my report for Monday. I have to report on the previous day, obviously, since I can't know for certain what all I will do today! So, weight will be current mornings weight. Food will be from the previous day. Got that? So tomorrow will read "Day 1 - Again"
MONDAY, 6 Jan 2014
Weigh in: 282.3
Juice: 3 pints
Liquids: 16oz water, 16oz broth from cabbage soup with pepper
Food: 1 banana, 3 tangerines, 1 baked potato with salsa
Detox symptoms: Yes! My eyes are all gummy and I have a headache and some nausea. Someone just asked me yesterday if I experienced nausea last time and I said, "No, not really." And then in the wee hours of this morning, bam. Nothing too unbearable, but not all that pleasant either. I also feel pretty upbeat and cheerful from some fool reason. But I do feel like the glitches on the reboot website are maybe more than I can handle right now without ripping someone's head off so I'll wait a while to log in.
And, by the way, it is up to 40 degrees inside my house! Whoopee! I am planning to also include any workouts I get in on these posts but I didn't do any yesterday. Maybe today or tomorrow at the latest it will be warm enough for me to take off some layers (ha! I typed lawyers at first - I'll take off some lawyers) and work out with my resistance band:)
Stay warm everyone. And pray for those who can't.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
But But But... Tough Love
Nota Bene: if you don't like reading long blogs, cut to the last paragraph. That's the long and the short of it.
Okay, lets start by getting the provisos out of the way. First, I am addressing people like me. People who are morbidly obese with multiple serious health problems that are connected to that obesity and have decided to address the problem with a whole food/plant based diet. Many of us watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and also incorporate juicing into our quest for healthy bodies.
Second, I am NOT addressing people who truly, literally do not have control over their own environment. It's not all that common and you need to really look at whether or not that is true and not just a cop-out. But if you really are not in control of your home environment then stop reading or understand that I'm not really speaking to you. Work environment is much more commonly out of our control but not nearly as critical either.
Another group I really can't address in this post is a large one. In my interactions with people seeking better health and/or weight loss, I see many, many more come and go than those who stay. Most people just aren't ready. They just haven't hit their own, personal, rock bottom yet. When it becomes uncomfortable they make a beeline for the mac and cheese muttering, "I can do it with portion control and working out like Jillian Michaels. I don't need no stinkin' vegetables." Cuz, that has worked out so well for them in the past:/ Heaven knows there is plenty of propaganda out there to feed their desire to choose an "easier" path or to even just continue on the one that is killing them. Everyone likes to hear good news about their bad choices so when the media spouts off crap about how we really have to eat dead animals or how chocolate is a health food, it's easy to grab onto that. Anyway, that's another soapbox entirely.
Right now, I want to address people like me. You're obese and unhealthy and truly committed to changing that. You have come to believe that a WFPB lifestyle is the best medicine out there. You are making changes and seeing progress.... and this is where SO many insert a "but."
But... it's the holidays.
But... my family is visiting.
But... my girlfriend doesn't want to give up chips and ranch dip so it's there in the cabinet taunting me.
But... I still need to fix cookies for my kids or I'm a bad mom.
But... my husband deserves fried chicken because he works so hard.
But... I have to go out to dinner with clients a lot.
But... nobody wants to see a veggie tray at the party.
When people who are just as sick and fat as I am/was say things like this, I want to ask them just how important this is to them. For me, it was literally life or death. If you've read my early blogs you know I don't exaggerate. So many people describe situations just as dire, nearly as dire or even more dire than mine was and then turn around and say, "Oh I have to fry chicken and bake cookies."
I believe we need to look at two things when we find ourselves letting these "buts" interfere with our best intentions. First, how important is this to ME and second, how important am I to the people around me. How much can I reasonably expect from those nearest and dearest to me. Here is where I start to sound harsh but bear with me. I know that I am lucky. Blessed actually. I didn't know how my family would handle it but, to be honest, my family is a matriarchy. My hubby is a truck driver and I'm a bossy, independent type chick so it works for us. In other words, I worried I would meet opposition but I. Didn't. Care. Once I knew that I had finally found the answer, I knew that I would follow through with it whether they liked it or not. I have kids from 17-32 and I wanted to influence them but I can't control them so I figured I would do what I had to do for me, require of them what I needed and leave their own bodies to them. I have been absolutely astounded how readily my family has not only embraced and supported my needs but followed my example. I have not exactly been a shining example to them in the physical/health department so they had every reason to shrug this off as "Mom's latest attempt" but they recognized something in the way I talked about it and in the evidence I presented and they have been on board 100% from day 1. I have NOT, however, been all that surprised that they had no problem with all the junk food and processed foods going bye-bye. If I told them I had developed a deadly allergy to cotton that was leaching away my health and energy, they would be right in there helping me find all the hidden cotton in our house. Because they love me! I would have expected nothing less. If you can't depend on your family to support you in your own fight for your very life, then what is wrong with that picture?!
So what if your family isn't on board? Get tough! It's your health people! In many cases it is how long you will be around for them and it is definitely how you will feel and function during that time. Sit them down and watch Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and, even better, Forks Over Knives. Tell them that you want to look better, feel better and be around to annoy them in your old age! Say flat out, if you love and value ME, you will support me.
I don't want this to be too long for anyone to get through so I'll cut this part short. If you have grownups who don't have the issues you have, look at two things. Do they actually need or benefit from the foods that were making you fat and sick? Does it really make you a bad mom/wife to refuse to prepare foods that contribute to diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease? So Susie isn't overweight? Yet? Most of us were thin at some point. The groundwork was laid while we appeared to be healthy. If they are healthy and fit, let's keep them that way! And if the hubby really has to have something like fried chicken or chips and dip, they are adults, they can go through the drive through. Same goes for adult children. They have to decide for themselves. But they should have enough concern and respect for you to support your effort to create a clean, healthy environment.
Here is my bottom line. Yes, I realize it sounds pretty harsh. If your family will not support your need to eliminate junk food and food that trashes your health from your home, then you have some deeper problems than weight.
And my other bottom line (hey, who says there is only one bottom line?) is that no matter how thin or fit your family appears to you, if you have discovered that certain foods are deadly, why would you continue to feed them to your family? If you've come to understand that a high consumption of sugar, animal protien, saturated fats... whatever, creates terrible health problems over time, then tell me again why you are a bad mom if you don't give it to your kids? You don't have to make the change completely overnight but I can't understand why you wouldn't start transitioning them to healthier and healthier foods. That is what my daughter is doing with her boys. I'll let ya'll know how that goes;o) But, trust me, you aren't a "bad mom" if you refuse to feed a diet laden with sugar and salt and animal fat to your growing children. Frankly, if the children are dictating what goes on the dinner table then we have a case of the inmates running the asylum.
Now about all those other "buts," if you have to eat out with clients, is it really going to make them lose respect for you in your professional capacity to eat a salad instead of a steak? To leave the butter and cheese and bacon off of your baked potato? If others at the party don't want a veggie tray... okay! More freggies for you!! And more of the junk they are scarfing for them. If your family is visiting, visit some vegan chef websites and find some really impressive recipes to show them just how tasty your diet can be. Sure, go ahead and fix PopPops favorite casserole but offer a couple of really yummy things they've never tried before with it! It gives you some healthy options and shows them that you aren't starving yourself on rabbit food;o)
I really want to add one last note to those who have somewhat dysfunctional families. You know who you are. You read this and think, "Yeah, try telling my husband that. He would start bringing home Kentucky Fried Chicken and eating it right in front of me while taunting me the entire time." "Try telling my mom that this is healthy. She is just as overweight as me but she would start bringing my favorite fattening treats over every weekend and telling my kids that I don't love her because I won't eat her thoughtful gifts." Yes, some families are dysfunctional. If these things are a problem, you probably know you have other issues besides food to deal with. You, my friends have to advocate for yourself. You have to love you. You have to realize that a healthy you can work on your families dysfunction better if you are in a healthy body. Especially since WFPB diets also make you think better and feel emotionally and mentally stronger.
Okay so THIS is actually my bottom line. (Yes, really! Why do you doubt me? LOL) Do what you need to do to get healthier. You count. YOU matter. Advocate for yourself, even with your own family, employers, clients. Unless you have some pretty extraordinary circumstances, clean up your environment. Your family won't die from lack of deep fat fried food. Require those who love you to show it. Become fierce about your own well-being. I know many people (myself included) who have spent November and December losing an extra 10 or 20 lbs while the average american gains 8 or 10. For the first time in many years, January 1st will be a time to celebrate all I've accomplished and plan for all I will accomplish in 2014. My only regret is that I didn't start way sooner in the year! I don't for one second regret skipping the pumpkin pie or sugar cookies. And I don't regret refusing to contribute to the poor health choices of others either.
Okay, lets start by getting the provisos out of the way. First, I am addressing people like me. People who are morbidly obese with multiple serious health problems that are connected to that obesity and have decided to address the problem with a whole food/plant based diet. Many of us watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and also incorporate juicing into our quest for healthy bodies.
Second, I am NOT addressing people who truly, literally do not have control over their own environment. It's not all that common and you need to really look at whether or not that is true and not just a cop-out. But if you really are not in control of your home environment then stop reading or understand that I'm not really speaking to you. Work environment is much more commonly out of our control but not nearly as critical either.
Another group I really can't address in this post is a large one. In my interactions with people seeking better health and/or weight loss, I see many, many more come and go than those who stay. Most people just aren't ready. They just haven't hit their own, personal, rock bottom yet. When it becomes uncomfortable they make a beeline for the mac and cheese muttering, "I can do it with portion control and working out like Jillian Michaels. I don't need no stinkin' vegetables." Cuz, that has worked out so well for them in the past:/ Heaven knows there is plenty of propaganda out there to feed their desire to choose an "easier" path or to even just continue on the one that is killing them. Everyone likes to hear good news about their bad choices so when the media spouts off crap about how we really have to eat dead animals or how chocolate is a health food, it's easy to grab onto that. Anyway, that's another soapbox entirely.
Right now, I want to address people like me. You're obese and unhealthy and truly committed to changing that. You have come to believe that a WFPB lifestyle is the best medicine out there. You are making changes and seeing progress.... and this is where SO many insert a "but."
But... it's the holidays.
But... my family is visiting.
But... my girlfriend doesn't want to give up chips and ranch dip so it's there in the cabinet taunting me.
But... I still need to fix cookies for my kids or I'm a bad mom.
But... my husband deserves fried chicken because he works so hard.
But... I have to go out to dinner with clients a lot.
But... nobody wants to see a veggie tray at the party.
When people who are just as sick and fat as I am/was say things like this, I want to ask them just how important this is to them. For me, it was literally life or death. If you've read my early blogs you know I don't exaggerate. So many people describe situations just as dire, nearly as dire or even more dire than mine was and then turn around and say, "Oh I have to fry chicken and bake cookies."
I believe we need to look at two things when we find ourselves letting these "buts" interfere with our best intentions. First, how important is this to ME and second, how important am I to the people around me. How much can I reasonably expect from those nearest and dearest to me. Here is where I start to sound harsh but bear with me. I know that I am lucky. Blessed actually. I didn't know how my family would handle it but, to be honest, my family is a matriarchy. My hubby is a truck driver and I'm a bossy, independent type chick so it works for us. In other words, I worried I would meet opposition but I. Didn't. Care. Once I knew that I had finally found the answer, I knew that I would follow through with it whether they liked it or not. I have kids from 17-32 and I wanted to influence them but I can't control them so I figured I would do what I had to do for me, require of them what I needed and leave their own bodies to them. I have been absolutely astounded how readily my family has not only embraced and supported my needs but followed my example. I have not exactly been a shining example to them in the physical/health department so they had every reason to shrug this off as "Mom's latest attempt" but they recognized something in the way I talked about it and in the evidence I presented and they have been on board 100% from day 1. I have NOT, however, been all that surprised that they had no problem with all the junk food and processed foods going bye-bye. If I told them I had developed a deadly allergy to cotton that was leaching away my health and energy, they would be right in there helping me find all the hidden cotton in our house. Because they love me! I would have expected nothing less. If you can't depend on your family to support you in your own fight for your very life, then what is wrong with that picture?!
So what if your family isn't on board? Get tough! It's your health people! In many cases it is how long you will be around for them and it is definitely how you will feel and function during that time. Sit them down and watch Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and, even better, Forks Over Knives. Tell them that you want to look better, feel better and be around to annoy them in your old age! Say flat out, if you love and value ME, you will support me.
I don't want this to be too long for anyone to get through so I'll cut this part short. If you have grownups who don't have the issues you have, look at two things. Do they actually need or benefit from the foods that were making you fat and sick? Does it really make you a bad mom/wife to refuse to prepare foods that contribute to diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease? So Susie isn't overweight? Yet? Most of us were thin at some point. The groundwork was laid while we appeared to be healthy. If they are healthy and fit, let's keep them that way! And if the hubby really has to have something like fried chicken or chips and dip, they are adults, they can go through the drive through. Same goes for adult children. They have to decide for themselves. But they should have enough concern and respect for you to support your effort to create a clean, healthy environment.
Here is my bottom line. Yes, I realize it sounds pretty harsh. If your family will not support your need to eliminate junk food and food that trashes your health from your home, then you have some deeper problems than weight.
And my other bottom line (hey, who says there is only one bottom line?) is that no matter how thin or fit your family appears to you, if you have discovered that certain foods are deadly, why would you continue to feed them to your family? If you've come to understand that a high consumption of sugar, animal protien, saturated fats... whatever, creates terrible health problems over time, then tell me again why you are a bad mom if you don't give it to your kids? You don't have to make the change completely overnight but I can't understand why you wouldn't start transitioning them to healthier and healthier foods. That is what my daughter is doing with her boys. I'll let ya'll know how that goes;o) But, trust me, you aren't a "bad mom" if you refuse to feed a diet laden with sugar and salt and animal fat to your growing children. Frankly, if the children are dictating what goes on the dinner table then we have a case of the inmates running the asylum.
Now about all those other "buts," if you have to eat out with clients, is it really going to make them lose respect for you in your professional capacity to eat a salad instead of a steak? To leave the butter and cheese and bacon off of your baked potato? If others at the party don't want a veggie tray... okay! More freggies for you!! And more of the junk they are scarfing for them. If your family is visiting, visit some vegan chef websites and find some really impressive recipes to show them just how tasty your diet can be. Sure, go ahead and fix PopPops favorite casserole but offer a couple of really yummy things they've never tried before with it! It gives you some healthy options and shows them that you aren't starving yourself on rabbit food;o)
I really want to add one last note to those who have somewhat dysfunctional families. You know who you are. You read this and think, "Yeah, try telling my husband that. He would start bringing home Kentucky Fried Chicken and eating it right in front of me while taunting me the entire time." "Try telling my mom that this is healthy. She is just as overweight as me but she would start bringing my favorite fattening treats over every weekend and telling my kids that I don't love her because I won't eat her thoughtful gifts." Yes, some families are dysfunctional. If these things are a problem, you probably know you have other issues besides food to deal with. You, my friends have to advocate for yourself. You have to love you. You have to realize that a healthy you can work on your families dysfunction better if you are in a healthy body. Especially since WFPB diets also make you think better and feel emotionally and mentally stronger.
Okay so THIS is actually my bottom line. (Yes, really! Why do you doubt me? LOL) Do what you need to do to get healthier. You count. YOU matter. Advocate for yourself, even with your own family, employers, clients. Unless you have some pretty extraordinary circumstances, clean up your environment. Your family won't die from lack of deep fat fried food. Require those who love you to show it. Become fierce about your own well-being. I know many people (myself included) who have spent November and December losing an extra 10 or 20 lbs while the average american gains 8 or 10. For the first time in many years, January 1st will be a time to celebrate all I've accomplished and plan for all I will accomplish in 2014. My only regret is that I didn't start way sooner in the year! I don't for one second regret skipping the pumpkin pie or sugar cookies. And I don't regret refusing to contribute to the poor health choices of others either.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
BRRRRR and Some Embarrassing Truths About My Life
So here in Oklahoma, winter is making up for how mild it was the last couple of years by icing on us and leaving us in the single digits. I'm freezing and pissy. I HATE ICE!!! I don't mind snow, I kinda like it. And when it's cold outside, it can make you appreciate your warm house and your fuzzy slippers (or in my case, hand-knit wool socks) even more, right? Yeah right!! We are doing good to keep it over 40 degrees in this place. My house is old. Really old and falling apart. They found problems with the gas pipes so they won't allow the gas on. Some nonsense about the danger of explosions or fumes... whatever. (Yes, for those who might not understand me yet, I'm being sarcastic.) So we have no hot water and only space heaters. We are supposed to be moved out by the end of the month but it may realistically be January something. We rent, by the way. The windows and doors are so poorly installed that you can literally pass things through to someone outside around the edges. Seriously, we've done it. The sliding glass doors have about a 3 inch gap on one side because they don't fit the opening! We've filled that with foam but it still lets in air. There are holes that you can throw a cat through, as the old saying goes. Although nobody better be throwing my kitties anywhere;o) I know the holes are that big because possums keep sneaking into my house. Yes, literally.
Totally off subject but I have to tell this story now, since I mentioned the possums. They live under our house. I'm cool with that. Well, this one is so comfortable living with us that he likes to stroll through in the night. We would usually just yell at him or the dog would bark or a cat would hiss and he would take off back out the hole. (It's not a hole I can get to - the landlord made the holes last year trying to fix the gas problem.) Possum wasn't aggressive, in fact he was quite shy and nervous so we just ignored the problem. I grew up in the country; critters don't bother me. My cousins had a pet raccoon for years. Well a couple weeks ago, Cameron woke up and the possum was strolling across his body on his bed as he slept!!! He screamed like a little girl and the dog came running and started barking and the chase was on. Well, possum realized he had screwed up big time (even though he was considerably bigger than the dog) so he did what possums do.... he played possum. He had made it to my room by this time. So Gadget dragged what he presumed to be his "kill" behind my love seat. Possum still playing dead. Cameron moved the love seat, put a bucket over it, took it outside and THREW it across the yard. Still playing dead! He came in the house and we watched out the window. About two minutes later, he gets up and casually strolls back under our house. Yup, it's like that around here.
I've mentioned that I had given up on life until last August when I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Well, I'm admitting to all of this so you can understand just how low I had sunk. We were living in a house that should have been condemned. We can only plug use one appliance at a time in the kitchen other than the frig. Throwing a breaker is a very regular occurrence. Basically if you turn on the toaster without unplugging the juicer, bam. This neighborhood isn't great either. Oh and my beloved old truck (I LOVE old trucks - especially Fords; I would rather push an old truck than drive a new car) has been neglected and left in need of repairs for over a year. I had to have someone to help me in and out if I went anywhere anyway and I couldn't do my own shopping anymore as I couldn't walk unassisted and was too proud to use an electric cart. So what did it matter if I had my own transportation. My poor family could do nothing to pull me out of this downward spiral. It was actually quite telling that I was even willing to live in town. I have always hated living in town. I need to be in the country surrounded by nature and critters and air. I feel trapped and claustrophobic in town and it sets off my PTSD something fierce.
So this really does relate to all my healthy life changes. I hated myself so much that I didn't care how I lived. I don't now. Juicing and WFPB eating has not only given me back health, energy, weight-loss and independence (which is so important to me I can't even express it here - I am independent to a fault by nature) it has also given me back my self-respect and my desire to live the life I choose. We are getting out of this rat trap. We are looking for land to buy out in the country. We are going to buy a large RV to stay in while we pay off the land because once you have 50% equity in your land, there are a couple of companies that will either put a double wide on it or build a prefab home on it for no down payment. Your land serves as your collateral. The RV will also allow me to do another thing that I've always yearned to do and never been able to - travel. And buddy, let me tell you... we are going somewhere warmer for the winter. We should have the RV by the end of January at the latest - probably a 32' 5th wheel, haven't decided for sure. Getting the truck fixed by the end of the month as well - that's my Christmas present. I have friends in South Texas I'd like to see as well as a sister in Arizona and brothers and tons of cousins in California. I am most definitely going somewhere warmer for at least a good chunck of this miserable, cold, icy winter that Oklahoma apparently has planned. I love Oklahoma but I HATE ICE!! (See how I brought that back around. I really did have a point!)
Oh and lest you think I'm too off topic on this post, let me just say that as long as I have to literally bundle up in several layers including hat and scarf and mittens inside my house, I will probably not be losing as much weight because I'm not drinking cold juice and eating cold salad today. If I can see my breath in my bedroom, I'm having hot lentil soup and warm broth and baked potato with salsa and oatmeal and anything else that is served nice and hot! Don't get me wrong, still plant-based and clean but not much raw. And I have really come to believe in the power of raw. I'm not getting involved in all the drama going on in the raw community these days but I do believe that eating as much raw, fresh foods as you can manage will always benefit you. Except when it's 8 degrees fahrenheit outside and you only have a space heater.
Oh and as to my weight, I have lost a bit more. I'm down to 293 which means I've lost 47 lbs since August 23. I'm really curious to see how much the weight loss slows with these changes or if it will surprise me and keep going at 2-3 lbs a week. Stay tuned!
Totally off subject but I have to tell this story now, since I mentioned the possums. They live under our house. I'm cool with that. Well, this one is so comfortable living with us that he likes to stroll through in the night. We would usually just yell at him or the dog would bark or a cat would hiss and he would take off back out the hole. (It's not a hole I can get to - the landlord made the holes last year trying to fix the gas problem.) Possum wasn't aggressive, in fact he was quite shy and nervous so we just ignored the problem. I grew up in the country; critters don't bother me. My cousins had a pet raccoon for years. Well a couple weeks ago, Cameron woke up and the possum was strolling across his body on his bed as he slept!!! He screamed like a little girl and the dog came running and started barking and the chase was on. Well, possum realized he had screwed up big time (even though he was considerably bigger than the dog) so he did what possums do.... he played possum. He had made it to my room by this time. So Gadget dragged what he presumed to be his "kill" behind my love seat. Possum still playing dead. Cameron moved the love seat, put a bucket over it, took it outside and THREW it across the yard. Still playing dead! He came in the house and we watched out the window. About two minutes later, he gets up and casually strolls back under our house. Yup, it's like that around here.
I've mentioned that I had given up on life until last August when I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Well, I'm admitting to all of this so you can understand just how low I had sunk. We were living in a house that should have been condemned. We can only plug use one appliance at a time in the kitchen other than the frig. Throwing a breaker is a very regular occurrence. Basically if you turn on the toaster without unplugging the juicer, bam. This neighborhood isn't great either. Oh and my beloved old truck (I LOVE old trucks - especially Fords; I would rather push an old truck than drive a new car) has been neglected and left in need of repairs for over a year. I had to have someone to help me in and out if I went anywhere anyway and I couldn't do my own shopping anymore as I couldn't walk unassisted and was too proud to use an electric cart. So what did it matter if I had my own transportation. My poor family could do nothing to pull me out of this downward spiral. It was actually quite telling that I was even willing to live in town. I have always hated living in town. I need to be in the country surrounded by nature and critters and air. I feel trapped and claustrophobic in town and it sets off my PTSD something fierce.
So this really does relate to all my healthy life changes. I hated myself so much that I didn't care how I lived. I don't now. Juicing and WFPB eating has not only given me back health, energy, weight-loss and independence (which is so important to me I can't even express it here - I am independent to a fault by nature) it has also given me back my self-respect and my desire to live the life I choose. We are getting out of this rat trap. We are looking for land to buy out in the country. We are going to buy a large RV to stay in while we pay off the land because once you have 50% equity in your land, there are a couple of companies that will either put a double wide on it or build a prefab home on it for no down payment. Your land serves as your collateral. The RV will also allow me to do another thing that I've always yearned to do and never been able to - travel. And buddy, let me tell you... we are going somewhere warmer for the winter. We should have the RV by the end of January at the latest - probably a 32' 5th wheel, haven't decided for sure. Getting the truck fixed by the end of the month as well - that's my Christmas present. I have friends in South Texas I'd like to see as well as a sister in Arizona and brothers and tons of cousins in California. I am most definitely going somewhere warmer for at least a good chunck of this miserable, cold, icy winter that Oklahoma apparently has planned. I love Oklahoma but I HATE ICE!! (See how I brought that back around. I really did have a point!)
Oh and lest you think I'm too off topic on this post, let me just say that as long as I have to literally bundle up in several layers including hat and scarf and mittens inside my house, I will probably not be losing as much weight because I'm not drinking cold juice and eating cold salad today. If I can see my breath in my bedroom, I'm having hot lentil soup and warm broth and baked potato with salsa and oatmeal and anything else that is served nice and hot! Don't get me wrong, still plant-based and clean but not much raw. And I have really come to believe in the power of raw. I'm not getting involved in all the drama going on in the raw community these days but I do believe that eating as much raw, fresh foods as you can manage will always benefit you. Except when it's 8 degrees fahrenheit outside and you only have a space heater.
Oh and as to my weight, I have lost a bit more. I'm down to 293 which means I've lost 47 lbs since August 23. I'm really curious to see how much the weight loss slows with these changes or if it will surprise me and keep going at 2-3 lbs a week. Stay tuned!
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Three Types of People You Meet in Juicing Communities
I have watched all the youtube videos and read all the blogs I could find by and about people who lose weight juice fasting and/or a whole food/plant-based diet/high raw diet etc. Yes. A lot of people do regain the weight but the ones who have the courage to come back and tell you what went on will tell you exactly why. (Check out Steve Crider's latest videos STEVE CRIDER YOUTUBE CHANNEL- love that guy because he is honest and never gives up!) They regained the weight because they went back to eating whatever they used to eat that made them fat in the first place. If you do what you've always done, you will end up where you've always been. I read and watched and researched and read some more. I saw that many people regain the weight with juicing and WFPB diets just as they do with WW, Atkins, South Beach and Weight-loss surgery. I took all that in and used it to motivate me to really research and plan so that when I was finished with my first actual juice fast, I would have a solid plan in place for what I was going to eat for the rest of my life to continue to lose weight and eventually maintain a healthy weight, feel great, live an active and joyful life and love my food all at the same time. And I have. I NEVER would have believed that I would love eating like this and I sure as heck never thought I would LOVE eating like this. I grew up a country girl. We raised our own beef, chickens, and pork. I showed livestock in the shows and went hunting with my dad. Vegans and vegetarians were extremist nutcases. (Note - Personally, I still think PETA is nuttier than fruitcake.) Well, call me nutty because I am now very near vegan and I LOVE what I eat every single day. And my two teenagers have gone along for the ride and are losing weight as well and they love the food too! And my 19 year old was one of those kids who never touched a veggie other than a tomato or canned corn EVER before we started this. (No! I'm NOT counting french fries. That is a fat, not a veggie, in my book.)
Here's the thing. I really believe there are three types of people around juice fasting communities. Those who think they want this, try it and, within days or maybe a couple of weeks at most, decide it is too hard. Even though detox has been explained to them, they may become certain that juice is making them sick. They drop out and are never heard from again. Then there are those who throw themselves into it and white knuckle their way through a nice long juice only fast while counting the days til they can once again hit the Burger King drive through or pat themselves on the back for having more veggies on their pizza than they used to. They lose a ton of weight and then promptly gain it all back. It is absolutely true and can't be repeated often enough; If you do what you've always done, you end up where you've always been. One hundred percent accurate! Funny how that works:/
Then there are those who use the time on juice fast to allow the process to fundamentally change them. If you are one of these people, you come to realize that this doesn't just change what you are doing for a few days or weeks or even months; it changes everything. It is physical, mental and emotional. You discover things about yourself that you didn't know before including inner reserves of strength. You educate yourself. You discover that your weight gain had nothing to do with lack of willpower and that you've been duped by a huge industry into becoming addicted to things that harm you in order to make them richer. You get pissed and You. Change. Everything. And you love it! Free of all the salt and sugar and chemicals, your taste buds come back to life! You rediscover that the foods given us by our creator actually are wonderful to the taste without all the chemicals and that foods that aren't over-processed and overcooked and genetically modified taste better and sustain our bodies the way they were intended to be. You relearn what healthy feels like. You rediscover having energy to burn. You realize the miraculous thing that the human body really is! It begins to heal itself! I have a number of friends who have gotten off of blood pressure medication just as I have and off of asthma meds and acid reflux meds like my daughter has and even off of INSULIN! The body can and will heal and regenerate itself if you flood it with all the nutrients it needs.
I'm NOT saying everyone has to give up meat or dairy or gluten as I did. But it is certainly wise to very cautiously add those substances back in and pay attention to the effect on your body. Most of the ones I know who are still losing or maintaining after a long period of time have definitely made whole-food/plant based foods the center of their diet. And I literally do not know one who has maintained while still eating a processed, junk-food based diet. I really, really recommend you check out Dan Miller's web page here: DAN MILLER WEB PAGE or go to DAN MILLER JUICING & PLANT-BASED FOOD and look over his discussion thread there. I'm in there as Natshell:) Dan has been at this a long time and has more knowledge and information available on this topic (not to mention succes at losing and maintaining for a long period) than anyone else I know of and he is great at answering questions.
I assume most people who find my blog have already watched Fat Sick and Nearly Dead but if you haven't, do so! I also strongly recommend anyone who hasn't already, please watch Forks Over Knives. If you are a reader, read The China Study, The Pleasure Trap, Wheat Belly and Clean. Check out youtube videos and websites by Dr. McDougall, Dr Fuhrman, Dr Esselstyn and Rip Esselstyn, Douglas Lisle and Robert Lustig. Let one discovery lead to another. Make it your business and your top priority to discover what food/long-term diet will best serve your weight and your health once you aren't juice fasting anymore. Shouldn't your health and well-being be a top priority? Lots of people do regain weight after juice fasting. But YOU don't have to be one of them.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
The Gluten Summit - SOOO much information!
I read Wheat Belly several months before I saw FS&ND. I started trying to eliminate gluten - keyword there is trying:/ While under the influence of a toxic diet, trying to eliminate foods that are addictive in nature is HARD! Once I got on my juicefast, of course, gluten was automatically eliminated. Along with sugar and dairy and added fats. LOL That is why coming off of juice fast is the ultimate perfect time to carefully and individually add things like that back in to see what causes a bad reaction. For me it was all of the above but especially the gluten. Dairy makes me nauseous and bloated but gluten is literally debilitating. VERY quickly. Sugar just triggers food cravings and makes me think I'm hungry all the time.
This week, I have been watching tons of video presentations of The Gluten Summit. It makes me really sad that the vids are only available for 24 hours because there is WAY more information than I can really assimilate and share in that short time period. I can't afford the DVDs unfortunately. But one good outcome is that both my youngest girls have decided to eliminate gluten too. Harmoni was feeling yucky after a sandwich and said, "Mom, I wonder...." And she hasn't had any gluten anything since then, about 6 days ago. When we weighed in Friday, Gini was excited because she has lost 47 lbs but she said, "It is a little frustrating because I'm not losing this (pointing at her belly) as fast as I hoped." I said, "Get off the wheat." She said ok and went and threw out the last bit of bread in the house! She was the only one eating it by then. LOL So I'm really curious to see what her waist measurement is in a week or two. We already knew she was lactose intolerant and I've learned at The Gluten Summit that the two OFTEN go hand in hand but people don't realize it. People will even try elimination diets and when eliminating the gluten or the dairy doesn't have as much effect as they were hoping they give up not realizing that they need to try a period of giving up both. So many people just don't want to face the idea of giving up something they "love." Whether it is relationships or people. They say, "But I love it/him/her!" Instead they should look at whether or not it is a healthy reciprocal relationship. If it isn't serving you well, kick it to the curb and don't look back!!!
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Guest Blogger Reynolds - Surely Juice fasting isn't (gasp) ever difficult!?
Hello Ladies and Germs, it appears to me that contrary to all previous articulated notions to the contrary, doing a juice fast can, for some, in certain specific circumstances, be just a tinge on the difficult side.
Who would have thought? Let's see.... ceasing to chew food after decades of that thrice daily ritual ... ingesting liquids that look like your grandpa in South Louisiana just dipped a pitcher into the swamp to conduct mosquito larvae experiments... giving up our favorite foods of Snickers and Cornflakes on rye and cold Chef-Boyardee ravioli with apricot and dark chocolate pieces... living in a world where inundation from food sellers is more difficult than winning the lottery three times in one week... being ridiculed, criticized and called crazy by our FRIENDS!!! ... having removed from our listening pleasure the melodic sound of freshly produced cellophane wrappers crackling in our fat little fingers... having that little invisible monkey that piggybacks around with you screeching that he is hungry at the top of his lungs ... and the icing on the cake, so to speak, having to wash the dog in the backyard as your sadistic neighbor grills burgers and bacon every night. Then you realized that you've bathed the dog in the back yard four times this week already.
This is a big head game, this juice fasting. It is an exercise in distraction, illumination, redirection, denial and wistfully hoping.
It is all about dealing with THIS hour. Whatever it takes is what it takes. Taking a walk, cleaning the bathroom, calling your mother, vacuuming the car, weeding the roses, reading a book, watching Fat Sick and Nearly Dead again. Whatever it takes. The big thing is you have to believe that rebooting is beneficial and worth the sacrifices. Has stepping on the scale and seeing a smaller number show up, does that spin your top? How about knowing that you just began the process of expelling decades of stored toxins in your body, likely extending your life and making your remaining years healthier? If none of that works, then get creative. Try following a squirrel into a tree and do the squirrel bark at him until he looks mad enough to jump on you. Get creative!
Just please, please........... don't go eat 19 twinkees and a bag of Oreos and expect to feel good tomorrow, or feel good about yourself. It is not gonna happen. We are rooting you on gal. We've walked that walk. It is all about THIS HOUR. So just win this hour. Whatever it takes.
- See more at: http://community.rebootwithjoe.com/discussions/topic/100-lbs-or-more-starting-a-9113-30-day-reboot?p=135#sthash.Ys8JReho.dpuf
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Guest Blogger - Reynolds
I am a member of the fantastic community of juice nuts at rebootwithjoe.com based on Joe Cross and his experiences as seen on "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead." My friend Reynolds is the guy that everyone in our group turns to for wisdom and inspiration. He is in the middle of this same journey that I am on and, like me, feels that nothing in this world is going to offer the things that juice fasting can. Another friend on the group had had a pretty significant slip-up on day 6 of her first juice fast and wondered if she should just give up and "pig out for a few days" or jump right back into juice fasting or maybe just try to transition onto a healthy "diet" instead of juice fasting. She got tons of great advice and support but Reynolds words really hit home for many of us. I asked him if I could post his reply here and he agreed so here it is. Someone out there needs to hear this. I just have this feeling.
Heathie: I read your post then went offline to compose a thoughtful response. When I came back to post, Katie had posted her very sage advice gleaned from numerous reboots over the last 6 months where she trimmed over 100 pounds from her frame. My words are very similar to hers, I'm just more long-winded. But the common points on which we both touch, we hope resonate with you. Here is mine:
ROFL..... Heathie your number three, "pig out a few days and then start back?" had me splitting my side. You probably don't get it but Natalie, Katie and Jana do for sure.
You are likely saying, "but I wasn't trying to be funny." Exactly! You were asking the SAME question every Fattie asks themselves when they get a mouthful of mud... "so do I just go back to being who I was for all those years?" Every single one of us in this forum have had huge doubts when we stumbled and we asked that same question.
Here is the whole enchilada wrapped up in a long thought :
All fat people got that way for a reason, maybe three. Once fat, we had family, friends and society send us mixed messages about our rising weight. At some point we became obese, and while we learned a host of excuses to push back anyone who cautioned or criticized us, we never managed to get around to accepting responsibility for STAYING fat. It is one thing to get fat over our teenage and young adult years, but it is another thing to keep gaining in our twenties, thirties and forties. Jana, Natslie, Katie and I are all near or above 50. Sure, we'd tried to lose weight every year or two. But we never found a way to get it off and keep it off. Until we ran into Joe Cross and juice fasting.
Heathie, what happens on a JF is a fundamental change in the mind. It doesn't come with most any other weight reduction plan. During a prolonged JF the mind is allowed, yes even forced, to put some distance between food and ourselves. Not having reason to be so intimate with chewed foods for a period of time allows us to reduce, and even remove, the emotional bonds that exist between EVERY Fattie and food. Finally, the stranglehold food has had on us is broken, literally, for the first time. It is not a permanent break up, necessarily, and yes that is the challenge of every Fattie that has gone through an extended JF must deal with.
I can't tell you how many days you have to be on a JF (10-45?) before the brain makes the switch and the mind sees things like it has NEVER seen them before. That change has as many looks as there are people doing a JF. But most JFers come to the realization that they have been lied to by the commercial food companies, but worse they've been egregiously lying to themselves as well.
During the JF the combination of detoxing, losing lots of weight and stepping back some distance from food synergizes together to give the person a birdseye view of food, addiction, compulsion, cravings and binging. I guess it is akin to seeing a ghost or Bigfoot. -- you might later question what you saw, but at the time you were unmistaken in what you saw. It is that pronounced of an awakening. The trick is to live out what we know. But we have 10-20-30 years of bad habits and only days/weeks/months at having a deep appreciation of vegetables and juicing.
So it is hard at first to win every single fight with our compulsive/addictive self. We'll lose once a day, then once every third day, then once every week, until finally ... finally the body relents and goes along with what the mind has been saying! Then, the struggle is cut to a fraction and the person is "over the hump." Will he or she struggle occasionally? Most certainly. But the struggle isn't at 10:42am, 2:39pm, 6:05pm, 8:47pm -- it is once every week or so.
The addiction is broken, but no immunity is created or a magic shield thrown up around the person. The lust of the eye is still there. The difference is that the new mind sees food differently. It no longer is a surrogate lover as it was. Now it is something to use as needed to meet a basic nutritional need. Sure, enjoying food is fine, but seeking pleasure from food no longer controls your every chewing decision. Most critical for the typical JFer out living in the chewing world again is the ability to master perceptions of food and thereby strictly controlling what goes in the body. There is no longer a free-for-all where just anything goes. We cant kid ourselves anymore. When eating again, every meal is a considered decision. Do want me to say that again? Every meal is a considered decision.
So why this loooong post? Well, what I'm telling you is this, it is so US. So fattie, to flop off the horse and then say, "oh what the hell, I think I'll just go eat a pan of peach cobbler." That is what fatties do routinely.
But in the near future, maybe within only a week or two, you too will recoil from the thought of going and pigging out with every stumble. Soon, you'll want to flee from pig outs as you will see them for what they are -- compulsive , uncontrolled bouts of mania. Yep, as part of JFing the mind changes its perceptions and with the changed perceptions comes a changed behavior. But! It is possible to slide back into the abyss, so vigilance is required for a long time, usually for more than a year.
Have you ever talked with someone that has climbed a massive peak like Kilimanjaro or Denali? Invariably they will mention that besides being staggeringly difficult dealing with all the adversities, it was a very specific system to summit and return to base camp safe. Freelancing was tantamount to death. The many that had gone before had spelled out all the problems and obstacles threatening each climber. While only thousands had done it before, nevertheless all the perils, risks, pitfalls and dilemmas any climber could face were very well articulated and defined by previous climbers writing about their experience.
So it is with a JF. There are no new wrinkles to be discovered by a new JFer. The struggles are all well known and written about here and in many blogs. It is important to know that what each of us are going through on our JF, is completely commonplace. It is predictable! Really!
Oh, not everyone has the exact same issues of headaches and diarrhea, or like. But your weaknesses, cravings, panics, listlessness and other symptoms experienced in your JF are the same ones the rest of us have experienced. Promise! So you see where I'm going with this -- learn from climbers that have summitted and come down to tell about it. Don't think for an instant that you , or me, or Natalie, or Katie, or Jana or Danielle -- can beat the established path that has been blazed ahead of us. We simply can't do it. Knowing the regimen and then sticking to it is imperative. We just aren't smart enough to find a new, better route up the mountain. Stick to the known, proven routes. Going rogue has bad consequences.
So what! You fell off the horse! You did it. Now that is history. Are you going to live in that momentary failure or instead jump back on the horse and ride. I hope you choose the latter, and choose it immediately.
Heathie, you have inside you a champion. But you'll have to find that champion. Usually the champion doesn't show up in the first couple of days as that time is so full of confusion, angst and flailing about.
But she will show up if you stay on the horse. But, before she does, it seems like you are about to expire. The body throws a fit, and then capitulates finally in day 4, 5 or 6. This gets lots easier. We are sure rooting for you and want you to ride with us on our journey to get healthy and lose weight. We hereby grant you a full absolution of your face plant! Now c'mon, go with us. You can only fail if you quit. So don't quit! :)
- See more at: http://community.rebootwithjoe.com/discussions/topic/100-lbs-or-more-starting-a-9113-30-day-reboot?p=83#sthash.AEETWGPg.dpuf
Thursday, October 17, 2013
My Personal Dialogue
I belong to several wonderful and amazing groups who are committed to the same path that I have, more or less. I also follow every committed juice faster and raw foodist that I can find on youtube. Lately I have seen a rash of people hitting "bumps in the road." It always hurts my heart to see/hear someone questioning their own commitment and wondering if they should throw away all they've accomplished because of the slip ups, whether it be the first one or the 101st one. I have a favorite saying: "You never fail until you quit." The problem is that when you really screw the pooch and dive headfirst into a mountain of processed or fast food, all your past failures and all the nasty chemicals start whispering to you that you are a failure; that you "can't do it" and trying to convince yourself to tune those voices out is really hard while you are under that influence. It's like trying to talk to an alcoholic about AA WHILE they are drunk. It just doesn't work.
I consider there to be two kinds of slip-ups. Lets get this straight first. There are slip-ups and then there is screwing the pooch. A slip-up is, for example, eating too much of a food that is actually allowed on your plan. The food is okay but you ate much more of it than planned. Or perhaps you ate a slice of tomato while on a juice fast. It isn't going to really mess with your head in a chemical way but it wasn't "The Plan." Now screwing the pooch is an entirely different thing. For example, going for a value meal at McDonalds, possibly followed up with a box of donuts or a trip to Braum's for a brownie fudge sundae. Of course, there are also all the degrees in between. I have had slip-ups but since I started down this path back in August, I haven't screwed the pooch even once. Not even close. I see these people who seem so committed and so strong and who are even having great results slip and sometimes fall altogether. The ones who just never show back up break my heart. The ones that get up, dust themselves (and the juicer) off, and trot right back down that path again are heroes.
As I said, I've encountered quite a few of both types of slip-ups, fall-downs and crash and burns lately and it's got me asking myself how have I avoided it? I have only experienced the milder version of slip-ups and one week of trying to put bread back into my diet and discovering that was a bad idea. (Previous blog - and for the record, I have taken off the 7 lbs I regained from that little experiment as of today.) Every healthy thing I have attempted in my entire life, I have screwed the pooch within short order and then I've given up entirely. Every time and there have been many. Weight watchers, Nutrisystem, Atkins, South Beach, you name it. I have been the Crowned Queen of excuses and giving up. How have I avoided that?
I know this will sound simplistic but it really, really isn't. I have not screwed any pooches this time for a couple of simple reasons. This plan, this path is awesome. That's reason number one. I don't feel deprived. I have learned the truth about the caca I was eating before and I really, truly, deeply don't have any interest in putting that junk in my body anymore. The other reason is a little harder to articulate so bear with me.
I have changed my personal dialogue. I don't stand in front of a mirror and tell myself I'm thin and healthy and becoming more successful every day. I have literally internalized and come to believe different things about myself. I think of myself as someone who has conquered a huge slavering beast and come out of it with super powers, because I did. I think of myself as someone who loves all those beautiful rainbow treats in the produce section, because I am. I think of myself who has the number of the food industry liars and the FDA and the Dept of Ag liars and doesn't fall for their bs anymore. I'm smarter than that. I think of myself as someone who sets a good example for her family and friends because I AM. And I think of myself as someone who is clearly losing weight and becoming healthier and stronger every day Because. I. Am.
I am human and, let's face it, the holidays are approaching like a locomotive. I was concerned that the first big test would be all the masses of Halloween candy that appeared a couple of weeks ago. But honest to goodness, it just isn't even on my radar. Not even when a friend holds out a big basket of it and says, "have a piece!" I mean it sincerely when I say it isn't even difficult to say, "No thanks." If I ever, finally, face that day, that situation, that I can't say no to and I experience a true Screw-the-pooch moment, I am confident that I will have the strength to turn right back down my chosen path. But I reject the conventional wisdom that says that day is inevitable.
I consider there to be two kinds of slip-ups. Lets get this straight first. There are slip-ups and then there is screwing the pooch. A slip-up is, for example, eating too much of a food that is actually allowed on your plan. The food is okay but you ate much more of it than planned. Or perhaps you ate a slice of tomato while on a juice fast. It isn't going to really mess with your head in a chemical way but it wasn't "The Plan." Now screwing the pooch is an entirely different thing. For example, going for a value meal at McDonalds, possibly followed up with a box of donuts or a trip to Braum's for a brownie fudge sundae. Of course, there are also all the degrees in between. I have had slip-ups but since I started down this path back in August, I haven't screwed the pooch even once. Not even close. I see these people who seem so committed and so strong and who are even having great results slip and sometimes fall altogether. The ones who just never show back up break my heart. The ones that get up, dust themselves (and the juicer) off, and trot right back down that path again are heroes.
As I said, I've encountered quite a few of both types of slip-ups, fall-downs and crash and burns lately and it's got me asking myself how have I avoided it? I have only experienced the milder version of slip-ups and one week of trying to put bread back into my diet and discovering that was a bad idea. (Previous blog - and for the record, I have taken off the 7 lbs I regained from that little experiment as of today.) Every healthy thing I have attempted in my entire life, I have screwed the pooch within short order and then I've given up entirely. Every time and there have been many. Weight watchers, Nutrisystem, Atkins, South Beach, you name it. I have been the Crowned Queen of excuses and giving up. How have I avoided that?
I know this will sound simplistic but it really, really isn't. I have not screwed any pooches this time for a couple of simple reasons. This plan, this path is awesome. That's reason number one. I don't feel deprived. I have learned the truth about the caca I was eating before and I really, truly, deeply don't have any interest in putting that junk in my body anymore. The other reason is a little harder to articulate so bear with me.
I have changed my personal dialogue. I don't stand in front of a mirror and tell myself I'm thin and healthy and becoming more successful every day. I have literally internalized and come to believe different things about myself. I think of myself as someone who has conquered a huge slavering beast and come out of it with super powers, because I did. I think of myself as someone who loves all those beautiful rainbow treats in the produce section, because I am. I think of myself who has the number of the food industry liars and the FDA and the Dept of Ag liars and doesn't fall for their bs anymore. I'm smarter than that. I think of myself as someone who sets a good example for her family and friends because I AM. And I think of myself as someone who is clearly losing weight and becoming healthier and stronger every day Because. I. Am.
I am human and, let's face it, the holidays are approaching like a locomotive. I was concerned that the first big test would be all the masses of Halloween candy that appeared a couple of weeks ago. But honest to goodness, it just isn't even on my radar. Not even when a friend holds out a big basket of it and says, "have a piece!" I mean it sincerely when I say it isn't even difficult to say, "No thanks." If I ever, finally, face that day, that situation, that I can't say no to and I experience a true Screw-the-pooch moment, I am confident that I will have the strength to turn right back down my chosen path. But I reject the conventional wisdom that says that day is inevitable.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Just One Bite?
If you have tried a few (or many) diets like I have, you have at some point encountered a certain school of thought that has been on my mind a lot lately. For example, there is currently a weight watchers commercial where the lovely, thin woman says she WILL sometimes have a cupcake, just not the whole cake. Many diet books/gurus will tell you that you should not eliminate any particular food. "Don't tell yourself you can never again eat cookie cake because then you won't want to stick to it." Right? You follow me? That is a very common belief. If you try to think you can never have this or that special yummy that you love then you'll quit because you can't face life without pizza, or Snickers or whatever.
I understand where this train of thought comes from. I do. And I understand that if we talk in terms that are super rigid and unforgiving, some people won't ever start and others won't last long. Many believe that they are setting themselves up to fail if they don't allow for the occasional indulgence. I'm not saying that we should never indulge in something diet-naughty ever again. I'm not saying I won't ever indulge again. I AM saying that my idea of what is an indulgence has changed. And I think that for long-term success and happiness in this new lifestyle, that is what has to happen. And after talking to many, many juicers and recently converted vegans and raw-foodists, etc, that can and WILL happen if you give yourself half a chance. Pretty much everyone says the same thing, "My taste buds really HAVE changed!" And we all say it with the same tone of wonder and disbelief in our voices and on our faces. Lets face it, for those of us weighing in the 300s and 400s, we didn't get there by having an appetite for loads of raw veggies. Those were the things we didn't mind having a bit of with our meat and butter laden mashed potatos and before our cupcake... or whole cake.
I don't need people telling me that it's okay to have a cupcake. I got to 340 lbs telling myself that. If I eat really healthy food 90% of the time, then a cupcake won't hurt anything, right? Well, of course it won't. But here's the problem: nobody who has gotten to be fat, sick and nearly dead (thank you Joe Cross;o) has the ability to eat "healthy" by conventional wisdom standards and then occasionally treat themselves with a frigging cupcake. Truth. I know I'll take some heat for this view but it's truth and sometimes truth hurts. If we COULD do that, don't you think we would have already? Would you tell someone who is a few months after having their last cigarette that just one cigarette won't hurt. It'll make you feel like you can keep going! Hello Ms Alcoholic who spent a couple years in jail for DUI and got sober 6 months ago, have a drink. Just one won't hurt anyone and it'll make you feel like you can stick it out longer. IT'S THE SAME. IT'S THE SAME. IT'S THE SAME!!!!!!!
If I could have done this the "conventional wisdom" route, I certainly already would have. Certainly tried often enough. I tried with Weight Watchers, I tried with Atkins, I tried with tracking and balancing the key nutrients on Sparkpeople (NOT dissing Sparkpeope - it is a FANTASTIC tool/resource that I use every day) and I tried Nutrisystems where they sent me prepackaged meals... including ittle-bitty "healthy" cupcakes. I tried cabbage soup and some email "pre-surgery" diet that involved lots of tunafish and bananas. I lost weight with every single plan I tried. And then I gained weight. I didn't throw my hands up and just give up and turn around and start going to McDonalds again. (At least usually I didn't... there were times.) Usually, it happened something like this:
Day 12: I think I'm really going to have to have a little treat at the birthday party or I'll feel too deprived and give up. And of course, I can't turn down Aunt Mary's special recipe macaroni and cheese or I'll hurt her feelings.
Day 13: I really shouldn't have had that 3rd piece of cake. I'll be super, extra good the rest of this week.
Day 14: One little piece of pizza isn't so bad. I'll eat just salad for supper.
Day 15: What do you mean I gained a pound?! I have to get down to business and stick to the plan perfectly this week. Right after I pout with this Sonic meal that I really can't avoid because I don't have time to do anything else today because of x, y and z.
Fast forward to Day 21 by which time I have gradually phased myself right back into eating whatever falls into my hands the easiest.
Here's the thing, the one thing, the MAIN thing. We super-fatties don't do Just One Bite. We don't even usually do Just One Piece. We might stick to just one at the party (because we fatties aren't supposed to let anyone else see us eat) but then when we get home, we'll have another and usually another. We "just one piece" ourselves into guilt, shame, rage and yet another 25 or 50 or 80 lbs by that time next year. And it isn't lack of willpower or lack of character or pure-dee old gluttony; it's addiction. Addictive substances are added to almost everything the modern American eats. Yes, even those tasty little weight-watcher's entrees. It is also a big heaping dose of misinformation. The people we should be able to trust to tell us what we need to know to feed our families and ourselves in a healthy manner, you know who I mean, the FDA and the Department of Agriculture etc, they lie. They pander to the money and they lie to us. Straight up.
So is it hopeless then? Do we accept that we can't moderate our own eating. Fall into the shame and blame trap? Fail to even try because life is no fun without sugar and deep-fat fried everything? No because we can CHANGE what we crave. We CAN change what constitutes an indulgence for us. For real. I'm not talking about pasting on a smile and pretending that we are just loving having this salad at Olive Garden while the family all eat lasagna and eggplant parmesan. I'm talking about really, for real finding ourselves loving the taste of clean, fresh, whole, veggies that are not slathered in butter or cheese sauce. Feeling that we have really treated ourselves to a splurge when we have banana/berry sorbet from our blender. There really IS a magic pill. Go cold-turkey on EVERYTHING processed, packaged and made by man for a while. Become a strict whole food junkie for just a while. Or do what I did, watch Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and then watch Forks Over Knives and then do a juice fast. After just a week on nothing but fresh-made veggie/fruit juice, I stopped craving things. After a couple of weeks on juice, I literally found the taste thought of over-processed junk posing as food (like those little frozen weight watchers dinners and cupcakes) repulsive. And after several weeks of an almost exclusively juice diet, as we test the waters of what foods work for us and figuring out what we actually like now, we really truly don't like the taste of the same crap that we used to feed on all the time. When my grandkids were over the other day, their mama brought some food with them since they surely couldn't survive the day on just fruits and veggies. Harmoni (my 17 year old) and I tasted one of the "chicken strips." I looked at her and she said to me, "I can't believe that used to be chicken to me. That's disgusting." And today, she tasted a little taste of the kind of peanut butter we used to buy and said that it didn't taste good... in fact, it didn't taste like peanuts! (We use Smuckers Natural peanut butter now. It's the best stuff! Nothing in there but peanuts.) We have found that salad actually tastes really good with some herbs and a tiny bit of vinaigrette on it. We really don't have to smother it in ranch dressing. (Read the ingredients on that little bundle of joy sometime. Ugh!)
So, the point of this not-so-short rant is that, yes, I am pretty hard line. No I'm not okay with the idea of a bit of birthday cake to show solidarity. No, I'm not going to pretend it's okay if I ever DO slip up and eat something disgusting. It's not okay. I'm not going to beat myself up and dwell on it but I'm not going to say it's okay and I'm certainly not going to plan ahead to do it. People don't regain all the weight they lose on any eating plan by just turning right around and heading back the way they came, they turn around little by little by little. They turn around by taking just one bite. And then a few more. We all have choices in life. Every day I make the choice to ONLY eat things my body truly needs. Think about that for a minute. How much of what you eat does your body truly need? Answer: Very. Damn. Little. Every day I make the choice to find comfort, entertainment and pleasure in other ways. It doesn't have to be through my food. It sounds so trite to say that feeling this healthy is better than how any food out there tastes. What's that saying? Nothing tastes as good as thin feels. Well, there sure as heck isn't anything that tastes as good as healthy and energetic and getting thinner every day feels. Nothing. And I refuse to just-one-bite myself back into the trance of processed, poisonous, addictive crap that 99% of people think is food. News flash: McNuggets aren't food. Food is the carrier of the nutrients our body needs into our system. McNuggets and Totinos pizza and Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup carry a few nutrients on the back of literal poison. Addictive poison. I'm over it.
This:
Or this:
So, the point of this not-so-short rant is that, yes, I am pretty hard line. No I'm not okay with the idea of a bit of birthday cake to show solidarity. No, I'm not going to pretend it's okay if I ever DO slip up and eat something disgusting. It's not okay. I'm not going to beat myself up and dwell on it but I'm not going to say it's okay and I'm certainly not going to plan ahead to do it. People don't regain all the weight they lose on any eating plan by just turning right around and heading back the way they came, they turn around little by little by little. They turn around by taking just one bite. And then a few more. We all have choices in life. Every day I make the choice to ONLY eat things my body truly needs. Think about that for a minute. How much of what you eat does your body truly need? Answer: Very. Damn. Little. Every day I make the choice to find comfort, entertainment and pleasure in other ways. It doesn't have to be through my food. It sounds so trite to say that feeling this healthy is better than how any food out there tastes. What's that saying? Nothing tastes as good as thin feels. Well, there sure as heck isn't anything that tastes as good as healthy and energetic and getting thinner every day feels. Nothing. And I refuse to just-one-bite myself back into the trance of processed, poisonous, addictive crap that 99% of people think is food. News flash: McNuggets aren't food. Food is the carrier of the nutrients our body needs into our system. McNuggets and Totinos pizza and Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup carry a few nutrients on the back of literal poison. Addictive poison. I'm over it.
This:
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