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 extreme weight loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label extreme weight loss. 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.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
ONE YEAR RESULTS ON JUICING and WHOLE, PLANT-BASED FOOD
So it's been a year. In some ways it seems that it can't possibly have been that long but mostly it just seems like it has to have been longer. Not in a bad way... in a "this is just how I live and completely normal" kinda way. I can't imagine not eating this way. Yesterday my 18 year old, Harmoni, saw some horrible food advertised on tv and said, "I sometimes wonder why we ever wanted to start eating like that to begin with. Now it feels like I should have always wanted to just surround myself with fruit and salad and juice. Why would I NOT?!" Made me a proud and happy mom, I'll tell you that. (You should hear her go OFF when pharmaceutical commercials come on. LOL)
So on my one year anniversary I completed a 5K with my gorgeous and amazing oldest daughter, Bonni. It was literally surreal. This was me, Natalie, at a 5K in the late August heat! I won't go all into just how sick and in pain I was one year ago, I described that pretty thoroughly in my early posts. We all know I was headed for a wheelchair and an amputation and not long for the world the way I was headed last year. This post is my victory song. This post is about JOY. But standing there in the heat, waiting in line for my packet for about 2 hours, the old Natalie couldn't have even been outside on a day like that much less on my feet the whole time. Here is a little vid I took while standing in line and a pic of the goofy gear we put on for this GlowRun. A year ago my main focus when out in public was to remain as invisible as possible. I didn't want to subject anyone to noticing me any more than necessary. As you can see, that doesn't exactly describe me now;)
The little glow tubes we made our glasses and necklaces out of came in our packets but they were duds. No glowing:( So I bought the dreads and the bracelet and got my face painted. We then had another hour to wait in 95 degree heat in a big park for them to start lining people up for the start of the race. So we go looking for someplace to get some water. Well, no luck. They only sold beer. At the 5K. In AUGUST. No joke. I am thinking of writing to them about that because that is dangerous. Most of us brought a bottle of water but only one. We assumed water would be available at a 5K! That is not only foolish but dangerous. Thankfully I am very conscientious about staying well hydrated. The only water available that entire hot afternoon and evening (nearly 5 hours altogether) was one 12 oz bottle at the halfway point and one at the finish line. And many people stayed for the after party as well so even longer for them with, I'm sure, plenty of beer:/ But enough griping about that. Once it got dark, they lined everyone up at the starting gate and boy were there a LOT of people! They had people start in waves and since I'm pretty slow compared to most of these youngsters, we joined the last wave - wave 6. So that means we stood in line for another half hour. LOL In my old life I was extremely claustrophobic and a bit agoraphobic and really, really needed my personal space. I couldn't stand to be in big crowds; couldn't stand to be bumped and jostled. I would have full blown panic attacks. But there I stood in the middle of the road with hundreds of people crowding up to the starting line and all I could do was thank God for bringing me there. For allowing me to fulfill the dream that began a couple of years ago when my Bonni took up running and, one day after watching the Biggest Loser, she said to me, "Wouldn't it be cool if we could do one together some day?" Inwardly I wept because I fully believed that it would never be possible. I knew how rapidly I was declining but I hadn't told my children. It would become obvious to them soon enough. But my God wasn't done with me yet. And when he placed the way before me, I took it without hesitation and guess what...
There you have it. My celebration of my rebirth. My declaration to the world that I am back. That August day in 2013 when Fat Sick and Nearly Dead popped up on my suggestions in Netflix, I knew immediately that everything was about to change. I NEVER EVER took pictures of myself. But I took one that day. I had my kids help me out to the yard and I took a picture. I knew I would need the proof one day of how far I had come. I knew I would need to remind myself from time to time of just how bad off I was. I usually didn't write doom and gloom in my journal but I had written very openly of my despair just the week before. God knew I would need to remember just how far I had sunk into that despair. The way was prepared before me in so many big and small ways. It is really amazing to look back on.
I still have a long way to go. Anyone want to put money on how far I will go by next August? I'll be riding horses again on a regular basis I can promise you that. I'll be completing more 5Ks with and even without my daughter and this time I will run them the whole way. Me with the tore up, bone-on-bone knees and the leg with damaged circulation that would need to be amputated and TWO crippling bone diseases in my back WILL be running 5K. Running is actually starting to feel good to me now so I know I'll get there. I feel like I have probably lost about half the weight I will eventually need to but I know that as long as I keep my tunnel vision locked on my health that the weight will take care of itself. Over the past few months there have been periods where I maintained my weight loss for a while and then got into "reboot mode" and lost some more and then maintained for a while again. How fantastic and liberating to know that I have the tools I need to do both. To lose and to maintain.
I knew I would need to put together a new progress picture when I hit one year. My last one was done at about 9 months I believe. I was a bit worried I would feel let down as would my friends and family since I haven't lost all that much weight in the last 3 months. I don't know exactly how much since my scale quit working and I'm not going to replace it for a while. I need to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and focus on health and joy instead of numbers on a scale. But I dutifully went into the bathroom to take my progress picture. As I was taking it I thought, "I should probably change into some nice tight jeans to hold that gut in.... except my jeans are all baggy so I'd have to borrow some from my daughter, Gini. ... Oh ugh that double chin is just never going to go away... Wow my hair has gotten long!" And then I looked at the picture. I pulled up the picture next to that one I took last year and I wept. I look like me again. I am excited about losing more weight, sure. Big time! But I really have to stop under-valuing what I have already done. A few observations... my hair has NEVER grown very fast. I couldn't believe how much it had grown in that year. And because of hypothyroidism, I didn't have any outer eyebrows at all and now they are coming back! And best of all... sorry if this is TMI, my boobs stick out further than my gut again! Been a long while for that!! LOL
So even though I had intended for that to be a test run and I would fix my hair and put on cuter clothes and then take the one I would share with people, I just used that one. It's real. It's me. And for today I'm 100% happy with that. Now bring on year number 2! Life is good on da juice!!!
So on my one year anniversary I completed a 5K with my gorgeous and amazing oldest daughter, Bonni. It was literally surreal. This was me, Natalie, at a 5K in the late August heat! I won't go all into just how sick and in pain I was one year ago, I described that pretty thoroughly in my early posts. We all know I was headed for a wheelchair and an amputation and not long for the world the way I was headed last year. This post is my victory song. This post is about JOY. But standing there in the heat, waiting in line for my packet for about 2 hours, the old Natalie couldn't have even been outside on a day like that much less on my feet the whole time. Here is a little vid I took while standing in line and a pic of the goofy gear we put on for this GlowRun. A year ago my main focus when out in public was to remain as invisible as possible. I didn't want to subject anyone to noticing me any more than necessary. As you can see, that doesn't exactly describe me now;)
The little glow tubes we made our glasses and necklaces out of came in our packets but they were duds. No glowing:( So I bought the dreads and the bracelet and got my face painted. We then had another hour to wait in 95 degree heat in a big park for them to start lining people up for the start of the race. So we go looking for someplace to get some water. Well, no luck. They only sold beer. At the 5K. In AUGUST. No joke. I am thinking of writing to them about that because that is dangerous. Most of us brought a bottle of water but only one. We assumed water would be available at a 5K! That is not only foolish but dangerous. Thankfully I am very conscientious about staying well hydrated. The only water available that entire hot afternoon and evening (nearly 5 hours altogether) was one 12 oz bottle at the halfway point and one at the finish line. And many people stayed for the after party as well so even longer for them with, I'm sure, plenty of beer:/ But enough griping about that. Once it got dark, they lined everyone up at the starting gate and boy were there a LOT of people! They had people start in waves and since I'm pretty slow compared to most of these youngsters, we joined the last wave - wave 6. So that means we stood in line for another half hour. LOL In my old life I was extremely claustrophobic and a bit agoraphobic and really, really needed my personal space. I couldn't stand to be in big crowds; couldn't stand to be bumped and jostled. I would have full blown panic attacks. But there I stood in the middle of the road with hundreds of people crowding up to the starting line and all I could do was thank God for bringing me there. For allowing me to fulfill the dream that began a couple of years ago when my Bonni took up running and, one day after watching the Biggest Loser, she said to me, "Wouldn't it be cool if we could do one together some day?" Inwardly I wept because I fully believed that it would never be possible. I knew how rapidly I was declining but I hadn't told my children. It would become obvious to them soon enough. But my God wasn't done with me yet. And when he placed the way before me, I took it without hesitation and guess what...
There you have it. My celebration of my rebirth. My declaration to the world that I am back. That August day in 2013 when Fat Sick and Nearly Dead popped up on my suggestions in Netflix, I knew immediately that everything was about to change. I NEVER EVER took pictures of myself. But I took one that day. I had my kids help me out to the yard and I took a picture. I knew I would need the proof one day of how far I had come. I knew I would need to remind myself from time to time of just how bad off I was. I usually didn't write doom and gloom in my journal but I had written very openly of my despair just the week before. God knew I would need to remember just how far I had sunk into that despair. The way was prepared before me in so many big and small ways. It is really amazing to look back on.
I still have a long way to go. Anyone want to put money on how far I will go by next August? I'll be riding horses again on a regular basis I can promise you that. I'll be completing more 5Ks with and even without my daughter and this time I will run them the whole way. Me with the tore up, bone-on-bone knees and the leg with damaged circulation that would need to be amputated and TWO crippling bone diseases in my back WILL be running 5K. Running is actually starting to feel good to me now so I know I'll get there. I feel like I have probably lost about half the weight I will eventually need to but I know that as long as I keep my tunnel vision locked on my health that the weight will take care of itself. Over the past few months there have been periods where I maintained my weight loss for a while and then got into "reboot mode" and lost some more and then maintained for a while again. How fantastic and liberating to know that I have the tools I need to do both. To lose and to maintain.
I knew I would need to put together a new progress picture when I hit one year. My last one was done at about 9 months I believe. I was a bit worried I would feel let down as would my friends and family since I haven't lost all that much weight in the last 3 months. I don't know exactly how much since my scale quit working and I'm not going to replace it for a while. I need to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and focus on health and joy instead of numbers on a scale. But I dutifully went into the bathroom to take my progress picture. As I was taking it I thought, "I should probably change into some nice tight jeans to hold that gut in.... except my jeans are all baggy so I'd have to borrow some from my daughter, Gini. ... Oh ugh that double chin is just never going to go away... Wow my hair has gotten long!" And then I looked at the picture. I pulled up the picture next to that one I took last year and I wept. I look like me again. I am excited about losing more weight, sure. Big time! But I really have to stop under-valuing what I have already done. A few observations... my hair has NEVER grown very fast. I couldn't believe how much it had grown in that year. And because of hypothyroidism, I didn't have any outer eyebrows at all and now they are coming back! And best of all... sorry if this is TMI, my boobs stick out further than my gut again! Been a long while for that!! LOL
So even though I had intended for that to be a test run and I would fix my hair and put on cuter clothes and then take the one I would share with people, I just used that one. It's real. It's me. And for today I'm 100% happy with that. Now bring on year number 2! Life is good on da juice!!!
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Wheelchair OR 5K... I think I'll RUN!
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!!
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!!
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!!!
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.
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!!
Friday, January 10, 2014
JANUARY JUICE AND CHEW DAY 10
So with the van broke down, it was late evening before we got any groceries. We usually get our groceries on Thursday afternoon so we were out of just about everything! No greens! No carrots! No oranges or lemons! It was pretty crazy so I didn't have any juice today:'( I did take my water way up. I was a bit constipated for the first time since I started this whole thing and I realized that with the cold weather I was literally, even with herbal tea, only getting about 20oz of water each day. No bueno. I ended up just doing a lot of snacking and water drinking today. We'll see how that plays out on the scale tomorrow and the next day (I don't believe results of what we eat today always show up immediately.) So without further ado...
Weigh-in this morning 280.6
76oz water
Large salad
Grapefruit
3 tangerines
1 banana
Quinoa with red peppers and spinach - 1.5 cups
Small apple
1 oz raisins
1 cup popcorn
I suspect my calories were low today. That definitely might slow me down a bit but maybe with the increased water I'll be okay. Anyway, I feel like my body felt sufficiently nourished. As I said, it was just a lot of snacking. I prefer when I divide my eating into some semblance of meals but I'm not really concerned. I have a lot on my non-food "plate" right now and I'm keeping it healthy, which is the bottom line. But I have to say I really can't wait to get up in the morning and get my juice on:) Speaking of which, JUICE ON!!
Weigh-in this morning 280.6
76oz water
Large salad
Grapefruit
3 tangerines
1 banana
Quinoa with red peppers and spinach - 1.5 cups
Small apple
1 oz raisins
1 cup popcorn
I suspect my calories were low today. That definitely might slow me down a bit but maybe with the increased water I'll be okay. Anyway, I feel like my body felt sufficiently nourished. As I said, it was just a lot of snacking. I prefer when I divide my eating into some semblance of meals but I'm not really concerned. I have a lot on my non-food "plate" right now and I'm keeping it healthy, which is the bottom line. But I have to say I really can't wait to get up in the morning and get my juice on:) Speaking of which, JUICE ON!!
Thursday, January 9, 2014
January Juice and Chew Day 9
Day 9
4 pints juice
3 tangerines
1 banana
1 boiled egg
1 large baked potato with Mrs. Dash
I'm a little overwhelmed by my non-food related life today so I'm going to leave it at that for today.
JUICE ON!! Everything is better with juice! Even all the sh** the world throws at you.
4 pints juice
3 tangerines
1 banana
1 boiled egg
1 large baked potato with Mrs. Dash
I'm a little overwhelmed by my non-food related life today so I'm going to leave it at that for today.
JUICE ON!! Everything is better with juice! Even all the sh** the world throws at you.
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.
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