I've been watching a series of documentaries this week called iThrive. It's about the pandemic of diabetes that is currently happening in our world and what can be done about it. It features all the experts that I trust and follow as well as a few that I find shady and a couple that I find truly misleading. There was literally nothing in this that I hadn't heard before but I DON'T mean that as a criticism of this series and I DO recommend watching it if you get a chance, especially if you aren't aware that diabetes is a choice and can be reversed most of the time. The doctors who treat diabetes 2 patients with a WFPB, SOS free diet improve their numbers and reduce medication every time and completely reverse it most of the time if the patient is totally compliant.
(*WFPB - whole-food, plant-based; SOS no salt, oil or refined sugars)
It's always hard for me to hear the data on diabetes because, in my mind, it is pretty much criminal how many people are left to suffer and die horrible deaths from diabetes when it is completely reversible if caught early, can be greatly improved if not reversed at any time and it is affecting millions more people every year. It is one of the leading causes of death in this country and many others. And, while it used to be a disease of the elderly and pretty rare when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s, it is as common as dirt now and rapidly becoming a disease that affects little children far too often. But mostly, it hurts to watch a series like this one because I watched my sweet Mama become blind, crippled with neuropathy, go on dialysis for the last 14 years of her life (unusual really for someone to last as long as she did after going on dialysis) and eventually die at the age of 68 looking and feeling more like 98 from this terrible disease.
Mama was a nurse and a very determined woman who had overcome alcohol addiction, given up cigarettes cold turkey after 30 years of a pack and a half a day, went back to college at 48 after her first heart attack and graduated Magna Cum Laude even though her previous education only consisted of completing 8th grade and vocational school. This is a woman who followed her doctors' orders. If she had been told that changing to a diet of mostly fruits and veggies could reverse her diabetes, I promise you she would have done it. She actually loved vegetables and grew a huge garden when we had enough space. She would eat an onion just like an apple and snacked on the raw veggies as she was chopping them up for dinner. And I'm telling you, the woman could have happily lived on potatoes. She could have been a STAR McDougaller. Unfortunately, she was also a Southern woman who learned to cook in Texas. She was chopping those veggies to smother them in butter and/or cheese and to be a side dish to a big slab of meat. EVERYTHING was either deep fat fried or smothered in sauce, cheese or butter. She could make scratch biscuits and sausage gravy in her sleep.
Diabetes is definitely one of the things I always "knew" I would end up with. It is rampant in our family. My brother David is suffering with it now. One of the people in the documentary, sorry I can't remember who it was, said that you can't save the people closest to you and boy is that true and SO frustrating! My brother won't listen to me. He is one of the tough guy, "we all gotta die sometime" types who would rather enjoy his food than good health. And that is exactly how it is! Diabetes is a choice most all of the time. (Please note that I am only speaking of type 2 diabetes. Type 1 can also be improved with this lifestyle but isn't AS reversible as type 2 and the causes of type 1 are not as clear.) It is incomprehensible to me that anyone would literally choose certain foods over good health once the information is made available to them and I tend to think they just aren't allowing themselves to believe it so that they can justify to themselves continuing with that behavior. Plus, they don't seem to acknowledge that they are not only choosing an earlier death but also suffering a great deal more while they live. But that is a whole 'nother blog. I'm getting off on a tangent, which I definitely tend to do when the subject of diabetes is raised. Anyway... I always knew that I would end up with diabetes. After all, I was told over and over that I had the genes for it and because I was obese, I was at even higher risk for it. Doctors told me numerous times that I was "showing signs" of being pre-diabetic and were amazed with each of my 5 pregnancies that I did not test positive for gestational diabetes since I was obese, genetically predisposed and had really large babies. I spent my life feeling like a ticking time bomb. But I now know that I never have to suffer my mom's fate. I can choose differently. Genes can be expressed or turned off with lifestyle and food choices. My family history is not my fate.
So watching this series was hard for me. But it was also really, really good for me. It was another kick in the keester to get myself back on track. I have been feeling more and more strongly that I need to do a juice fast, possibly interspersed with a bit of water fasting to get myself back on the path to weight loss and excellent health. I have, as I have mentioned previously, gotten off track. Fast food and processed food has once again begun to represent a large proportion of my intake. And lately, I have even started giving in to cravings for totally non-compliant foods. I've had actual binges with increasing regularity and I'm too ashamed to admit what my weight is up to at this point. I'm not back to my heaviest and I'd like to keep it that way. It's time. NOW. Today. I haven't eaten anything yet today and I am ready to get this party started again. Today is a blank slate waiting for me to write upon it. I must choose to write "health" or "harm." I remember how incredibly well I felt when I was 100% WFPB. I remember how much energy I had. I remember how clear my mind was. I remember how great it felt to walk long distances or work out and feel my body responding like a body is supposed to! I have to remember those things because they are not true today. But TODAY I change that. So thank you Jon (the fellow who made the iThrive documentaries) for a much needed reminder that I didn't "fix" my problems forever by eating right for a couple of years. I have to give myself the highest possibility possible for excellent health and avoiding the darker side of my genes every single day. I can still develop the heart disease, diabetes, and cancer that are lurking in my genes if I don't choose to disable those genes every single day.
Showing posts with label excuses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label excuses. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
REWARDS AND PUNISHMENT
One thing I have known for a long time on an intellectual level but that I recently felt slip into my working reality is that each time I feed myself, I am choosing whether to punish or reward myself. I ate some donuts yesterday. I haven't eaten donuts in years and they were in my home (VERY rare occurrence) and I thought, it's been years - literally years. I can have a treat. But was that a treat? NO! It was a punishment! I harmed myself! You don't reward yourself by harming yourself. I KNEW I was harming myself. I know too much now to fall for the old, "just this once, I deserve a treat now and then" bullshit. I DESERVE to lose this weight and feel vibrant, energetic and healthy. I DESERVE to enjoy my life with little fear of heart disease, diabetes or other diseases causing me to lose my quality of life. I DESERVE to give myself every opportunity to be around to see my amazing grandsons grow into amazing men, fall in love, become husbands and fathers if they choose to and to make the world a better place. In the big picture, who the hell cares about the mouthfeel of a donut?! But I ate the damn thing because I have slipped more and more over the last 2 years into addictive thinking. I dwell on fears and worries, I obsess over food continually. There is rarely an hour in the day when I am not thinking about what I could "get away with" eating. I've redeveloped the habit of hitting a drive-through or buying something at the deli every time I go out! "Well, at least it's just a bean burrito." "Well, this horrible meal won't do as much harm if I don't eat anything else all day." Bitch please! I have slipped backwards a lot more than I ever thought I could and it is time I acknowledged that fact. It is also time I recognize and deal with the food addict aspect of my problems. I honestly wish I could afford to enroll in Chef AJ's Ultimate Weight Loss program but she generously shares a lot of information and support for free so I'll be taking advantage of that. I know from experience that I cope better if I jump straight into the deep end rather than inching in toe first so... this is me, jumping into the deep end again. Today, smoothies and salads and veggie soup. The plan is to do that until Friday or Saturday. And then to juice fast or water fast throughout the rest of March. I won't use budget as an excuse to quit. If I can't afford produce to juice then I will simply water fast. That is free. This is the best way I know to reset my taste buds and get the addictive crap out of my system and reboot my enthusiasm for this lifestyle. I will blog every morning to keep myself accountable. Even if it is just a line or two, I'll post something. Even if I have to say I screwed the pooch, I will post something. Pass the noseplug, I'm jumping in.
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!!
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Is It My Amazing Willpower? BHAHAHA!
I am in an online group who set a goal each quarter of the year to lose 25lbs with the goal of ultimately losing 100lbs in one year. I started my journey in August of 2013 so I didnt start this particular challenge until the last quarter of 2013. So from Oct 1 to Dec 31, my personal challenge (it is NOT a competition) was to get from 310 to 285. I did that. Nearly exactly that. So now for the first quarter of 2014, my goal is to get to 260 by March 31st. I'm already to 274. I KNOW that I will reach my goal. The sad fact is, I won't have much company. Very few reached their goal last quarter and very few are looking good for this quarter. The MOST important thing, of course, is that most participants lost some weight. And equally important is that they are mostly still trying as we all know my policy is that you don't fail until you quit.
The thing is, I have to sometimes remind myself not to feel guilty for succeeding where so many others who are trying SO hard fail. Does that sound crazy? I find myself downplaying or just very quietly recording my success unless someone else in the group brings it up. I've made no secret of my methods but I don't try to "push" them on anyone else. So there are people on there using all different sorts of approaches. I mean some of these people count every bite, track it on their calorie tracker and work out like a beast and make sure they have a "calorie deficit." They work hard for every pound lost! Each person has their own idea of what a "healthy diet" looks like and that is fine. The thing is, I honest-to-goodness have to fight feeling guilty because what I'm doing is so easy to me. I don't feel like I'm having to really "fight" for it anymore. It is comfortable and easy.
On the other hand, I do occasionally have to fight off mini waves of panic that at any time now it will all be ripped away. My plant-strong diet will suddenly stop healing my body. My body will suddenly stop seeking a healthy weight and releasing the fat. I will once again find myself "fat, sick and nearly dead." The great thing is that the scared little girl who fears these things is growing paler, weaker and quieter with each passing day. I know that this fear is just born of a sad, sick past. It isn't real. It isn't a part of my today or my tomorrow. I can ignore it and it will go away. Once in a while "ignore it and it will go away" actually works in our favor! LOL Seriously though, if we don't feed our fear, it will wither up and die. If we indulge in it and feed it (with our time and attention) it will grow stronger. Don't feed the fear!
So, the qustion is, how can I succeed after all these years with my abysmal track record when so many other are failing? Am I smarter? No. Am I blessed with a better metabolism? BAHAHAHA!! Do I work harder? Not in most cases! Some people I know work super hard at doing everything "right" with painfully little to show for it. Do I have more willpower? No. Only two things come to mind to explain this. One, I hit my own personal rock bottom which put me in the perfect position to be truly willing to do whatever is required. Most people look at my life style and only focus on what they would have to give up. They immediately zero in on whatever their particular weakness is. "No steak?!" "No doughnuts?!" "No McDonalds?!" NO WAY!! Whereas my focus is on NO PAIN! NO WEAKNESS! NO WHEELCHAIR! NO STROKE! NO HOSPITAL! NO MORE SIZE 28! So when someone asks me if I'll never have a cookie cake or a pizza ever again, I can calmly, truthfully and with no regrets say, "Not if you paid me!"
The second thing is much simpler for me but resisted by so many because of the pervasive lies we have been fed as a society about diet and nutrition. It's the plants. That's it. Beginning, middle and end. It's. The. Plants. Plants heal and nourish. Fake foods and chemically and genetically modified crap posing as food destroy and damage and disease. Plants heal and nourish. It. Is. The. Plants.
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The thing is, I have to sometimes remind myself not to feel guilty for succeeding where so many others who are trying SO hard fail. Does that sound crazy? I find myself downplaying or just very quietly recording my success unless someone else in the group brings it up. I've made no secret of my methods but I don't try to "push" them on anyone else. So there are people on there using all different sorts of approaches. I mean some of these people count every bite, track it on their calorie tracker and work out like a beast and make sure they have a "calorie deficit." They work hard for every pound lost! Each person has their own idea of what a "healthy diet" looks like and that is fine. The thing is, I honest-to-goodness have to fight feeling guilty because what I'm doing is so easy to me. I don't feel like I'm having to really "fight" for it anymore. It is comfortable and easy.
On the other hand, I do occasionally have to fight off mini waves of panic that at any time now it will all be ripped away. My plant-strong diet will suddenly stop healing my body. My body will suddenly stop seeking a healthy weight and releasing the fat. I will once again find myself "fat, sick and nearly dead." The great thing is that the scared little girl who fears these things is growing paler, weaker and quieter with each passing day. I know that this fear is just born of a sad, sick past. It isn't real. It isn't a part of my today or my tomorrow. I can ignore it and it will go away. Once in a while "ignore it and it will go away" actually works in our favor! LOL Seriously though, if we don't feed our fear, it will wither up and die. If we indulge in it and feed it (with our time and attention) it will grow stronger. Don't feed the fear!
So, the qustion is, how can I succeed after all these years with my abysmal track record when so many other are failing? Am I smarter? No. Am I blessed with a better metabolism? BAHAHAHA!! Do I work harder? Not in most cases! Some people I know work super hard at doing everything "right" with painfully little to show for it. Do I have more willpower? No. Only two things come to mind to explain this. One, I hit my own personal rock bottom which put me in the perfect position to be truly willing to do whatever is required. Most people look at my life style and only focus on what they would have to give up. They immediately zero in on whatever their particular weakness is. "No steak?!" "No doughnuts?!" "No McDonalds?!" NO WAY!! Whereas my focus is on NO PAIN! NO WEAKNESS! NO WHEELCHAIR! NO STROKE! NO HOSPITAL! NO MORE SIZE 28! So when someone asks me if I'll never have a cookie cake or a pizza ever again, I can calmly, truthfully and with no regrets say, "Not if you paid me!"
The second thing is much simpler for me but resisted by so many because of the pervasive lies we have been fed as a society about diet and nutrition. It's the plants. That's it. Beginning, middle and end. It's. The. Plants. Plants heal and nourish. Fake foods and chemically and genetically modified crap posing as food destroy and damage and disease. Plants heal and nourish. It. Is. The. Plants.
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!!
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.
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
Saturday, November 9, 2013
11 WEEKS IN - An Update
It is pretty crazy to think that we only started this new lifestyle 11 weeks ago. I haven't blogged as much lately because I tend to think I don't have anything interesting going on. I'm just a mom and grandma dealing with day to day life just like anyone else. I forget that certain things about our lifestyle nowadays are considered "non-norm." I forget that it is not "normal" to find no meat and no dairy in the average kitchen. I forget that not every mom hears their teenagers arguing over who took all the mushrooms in the salad. "I want mushrooms too!" LOL The average home probably doesn't have 10 pints of beet/apple/carrot/ginger juice in the frig. For about a minute; until the teenagers discover it. Not every house on the block contains 3 ladies who have lost a combined total of 115 lbs in the last 3 months. Is it normal for you to spend 90% of your grocery shopping time and money in the produce section? I used to barely glance in there; maybe to grab some bananas for the grandkids or a bag of potatos. Is the average families trash made up almost entirely of juice pulp and peelings? Where are all the cans and boxes and plastic containers?
Here are the problems we have lately:
Honey, should we sell the microwave?
No! I heat up my lemon/ginger water in there in the mornings!
I am NEVER going to finish my holiday knitting if I don't find some time to sit and knit!
Mom! We're out of celery!
I can't BELIEVE I was dumb enough to consume gluten again! Gluten makes me ill! What was I thinking?!!!
So life around here is just the same old boring routine as anyone elses.... With a few twists;o) And the most beautiful part is that I am actually participating in that routine. I'm not sitting in my room watching life go on without me. Yes, I am still on the program. Yes, I am still losing weight although it isn't beating any speed records. I have broken through to the 200s again but since I hit 299 last week, I haven't lost any more. The scale likes to screw with me like that. I'm not worried. I am giving my body what it really needs and trusting it to do the rest. Meanwhile, I feel fantastic!
A few things have changed. I no longer have to mindfully create positive dialogue about my food. I don't have to say to myself, "Those foods are poison to me. I am not the sort of person that eats whatever is easiest. I nourish my body." I don't have to mindfully say those things any more than I have to mindfully say, "I am a mom. I am a wife." They are just who I am. And did I mention I feel fantastic?
Here are the problems we have lately:
Honey, should we sell the microwave?
No! I heat up my lemon/ginger water in there in the mornings!
I am NEVER going to finish my holiday knitting if I don't find some time to sit and knit!
Mom! We're out of celery!
I can't BELIEVE I was dumb enough to consume gluten again! Gluten makes me ill! What was I thinking?!!!
So life around here is just the same old boring routine as anyone elses.... With a few twists;o) And the most beautiful part is that I am actually participating in that routine. I'm not sitting in my room watching life go on without me. Yes, I am still on the program. Yes, I am still losing weight although it isn't beating any speed records. I have broken through to the 200s again but since I hit 299 last week, I haven't lost any more. The scale likes to screw with me like that. I'm not worried. I am giving my body what it really needs and trusting it to do the rest. Meanwhile, I feel fantastic!
A few things have changed. I no longer have to mindfully create positive dialogue about my food. I don't have to say to myself, "Those foods are poison to me. I am not the sort of person that eats whatever is easiest. I nourish my body." I don't have to mindfully say those things any more than I have to mindfully say, "I am a mom. I am a wife." They are just who I am. And did I mention I feel fantastic?
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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