Day 4 of the 6-week Plan

Well, my husband and I have just started day 4 of the Eat to Live, 6-week Aggressive Weight loss plan. If you'd like to catch-up, look here and here. My husband got rid of his headache about mid-day 2 and feels good now. He's lost 4-1/2 pounds (in 3 days) and he wasn't a big guy to begin with. I've lost 2. I haven't had any detox symptoms which makes me feel really good that I've cleaned up my body enough to have very few toxic things left in my body. (At least that's my theory.) I feel even better following 'the plan' this strictly. The first 2 days, I wanted to eat, just to eat. But I trucked through it and now am very satisfied with the food at meal times and not thinking about eating in between.

So, what's been different these last 3 days that's different from that last 10 months? I've noticed that I was eating bread and pasta. And more nuts. The bread I was eating was whole wheat with very few ingredients, so I will go back to eating that when I've reached my ideal weight. That said, I was only having 1-3 slices a week, I rarely had pasta, so not worried about that. Nuts, though are where I think the stagnant weight issue lies. When I would eat them, I tried to be very aware about how many I was eating. It's easy to eat way to many and not realize it. But I wasn't looking at the cumulative nuts in my daily life. I was adding sunflower seeds to my salads, hemp seeds in my smoothie, plus almond milk in my dressing and smoothie, plus cashews with a banana after dinner and walnuts for breakfast. I didn't realize how much I was consuming in a day,  it's a wonder I didn't gain weight! Nuts are insanely healthy, just not that many when I still have weight to lose. I know that life isn't forever going to be this restrictive, so it's easier to enjoy this phase of restriction, knowing that everything will even out.

Some people have asked how much more I want to lose. My BMI is still in the overweight category, barely, but still there. I have 5 pounds to go before I'm in the normal weight category and I'll be at the top of that. Dr. Fuhrman suggests in his Eat to Live book that I should be around 111. I'm 149 now, so according to his research and recommendation, someone my height should still lose 38 pounds. I do believe his research and trust that this is the path God wants me on, so I know that I'll end up just where I need to be. I want to keep my eyes open and my ears listening to what God wants and not get stuck on a number or a size.

All this said, this is truly not all about the weight. I have my eyes fixed on seeing my Great-Grandchildren. The Lord might take me home before that, but I don't want to be digging my own grave by what goes into my mouth and what I'm addicted to. Honestly though, it is so nice to look decent and fit in a decent size. I hated being big and was constantly aware that I was the biggest person in the room and feeling guilty with every bite. For me, life was humiliating. So, for me, to not have the filter of self-perceived ugliness to see life through is such an added blessing.

I See The Finish Line!

Part 3
If you missed the first two parts, here's part 1 and here's part 2. To catch you up,  I watched Forks Over Knives and Hungry For Change and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Those changed my thinking. About 6 months after that and being more aware of fruits and veggies, I read Eat to Live. That changed my thinking more. I had already changed from the Standard American Diet to a whole foods diet, and lost 30 pounds, but stalled and was still in the throws of food addiction. Two months after reading Eat to Live and re-reading it, I just jumped in. I felt pretty crappy for a week and just not great for 6 weeks, then I turned a corner (never 'cheating') and feel great! My family and I would suffer through PMS, now that is gone! My food addiction was gone within the first month. Having that gone and feeling so good is what keeps me on the right track. I have it in my head that if I take even one bite of a brownie I will feel sick and be in bondage to it again, I immediately never choose to take that first bite. I was abused by my brother my whole life and he spoke lies and ugliness onto me. So now that I think so clearly, I spot those lies and tell myself the truth. So my emotional life is much cleaner as well. I'm able to work through feelings and situations whereas before, I'd stuff with food and not feel anything. I truly feel that this is the path God wants me on now and I think His help is what keeps me going too. There are times that I lose at least a pound a day, that is motivation right there!! I love this lifestyle and feel so much freedom. I jumped in with both feet and never looked back on December 26, 2013. I've lost 61 pounds since then (It's August 6, 2014) and am still losing, slower, but still losing. 

On the meat front, right now, I am not called to eat meat.  We had a cow raised organically for beef and that is in our freezer right now. I will taste a bite here and there, but that is it. I want my family (who does eat meat) to eat the best meat that I can provide. I know this cow was raised respectfully and I know that every part of him was used. With my family eating meat, I would much rather serve this meat rather than meat raised in a conventional meat operation. We thank God even more for his provision of this animal that we watched grow. It's a very humbling process. As of now, God has provided meat for my family, I'm very open to his guiding and will do whatever He asks of us. We each need to listen to God for what goes into our mouths. He really cares about the food we eat. He wants us to effectively minister for Him. When I was 246 pounds, I didn't have the energy to do the best ministry with my kids as He wanted. I was grumpy, tired, had hormone swings. My kids  love their new mom who has lot's of energy, has a consistent good mood, can hear the voice of the Lord, because there is no brain fog. Satan tries to lie to us that God doesn't care about food. Satan wants us in bondage to food, he wants us to only think about food and eat food that makes us sick and have no energy. How can we fully do the work God has called us to, if we are tired and grumpy? These are things that He has shown me, I pray you will find freedom, if needed, to break out of the lies of Satan and truly look at the food that God has given us :)

The Next Step in the Journey

Part 2
Once I got home from that life-changing Bible study, I knew I needed to follow God every step of the way. Change came slowly. I had always served decent food, made meals from scratch, baked my own cookies, but we ate way too much fast-food and not enough veggies. Over the next couple of years, I slowly changed things. We adopted a whole foods way of life. Stopped processed snacks and eventually have gone dye-free. Two of my kids are very negatively affected by dyes, so they don't even dabble in the dyed candy realm, but my other two have a sucker every once in a while. Places like Trader Joe's are great for dye-free gummy bears and jelly candies. We've also found a dye-free licorice that is tasty. There are lot's of flavors, too. It's a hard mental challenge to 'take away' the treats that my kids love. I felt like a bad mom, even though I knew it was so much better for their bodies, so to find alternatives is a blessing. Most of the time these are rare treats, but I admit to going through seasons of having these treats in the house all the time.

We stopped buying conventional ice cream and switched to organic. Eggs are now cage free. We had a pig and cow raised organically and have the meat in our freezer. I'm not sure if we are going to do that again for cost reasons, so I've already scoped out Trader Joe's for their meat to see the cleanest choices when are freezer gets empty. Our veggies and fruits are all organic now. We are so fortunate to have an organic farm 20 minutes away and a Sprouts 1/2 mile away. I'm able to shop organically for reasonable prices. I try to find beans and any other item in an organic form, if I can't I will buy conventional if I have to. I know that the good choices we are making far out weigh a few non-organic items. In the last 2 months (4 years after this journey began) we started buying organic milk. We used to drink 6 gallons of milk a week, now we are down to 2. That made organic affordable. All of us used to drink milk, now only my little two kids do. My older son (14) found out that his stomach liked non-dairy milk better than cows milk. We still eat regular pasta, but we only eat pasta twice a month. Those changes were slow. I'd change one thing at a time. It's too overwhelming to throw everything out and start over. Plus, I picked up different information as I went along.

My biggest epiphany came when I watched Forks Over Knives, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, Food Inc., Hungry For Change. I watched them all on Netflix. I've re-watched them all too. These movies gave me a visual on what our food choices do to our bodies. When I think about making a bad food choice, the visuals immediately come to mind and I don't go any farther down that road. I was 3-1/2 years into the journey when I stumbled upon these movies. A couple of months later I read Eat to Live, and that was IT!

A Typical Nutritarian Day

If you've been around here long enough, you know that I follow Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live plan. Many people have asked me what I actually eat in a typical day. I hope and pray that this helps you and that you find ways to make this way of eating work for you. I'll gladly answer any questions left in the comments. Let me know if you have any great recipes to share too :)

Breakfast has morphed from having to eat first thing after stepping out of bed to being able to wait for 2 hours. As the timing of eating has changed, my choices have changed too. From pancakes with butter and syrup to a grapefruit, banana, green juice. When I first started eating to live, I had a cup of oatmeal made with almond milk, cut up dates, cinnamon, 1 tbsp ground flax seed and 1 tbsp chia seeds and a banana on the side. (By the way, I don't measure anything except when making a recipe, I'm guessing on a cup of oatmeal) About 3 months of eating to live, I realized that I was still having brain fog. I stopped eating the oatmeal and switched to cooked quinoa, same add-ins as the oatmeal, but the quinoa took care of my brain fog. Now after 7 months eating to live, I dropped the quinoa and now eat  whatever fruits are in season. Like 2-3 plums, or 2-3 peaches, a banana, some almonds or cashews. I alternate between a green juice and this chocolate shake. I really watch my nut intake, so if I have the shake, I don't eat any nuts with my breakfast.

Lunch is a BIG salad. I like red leaf or green leaf lettuce as a base, then radishes, cut carrots, cut cucumber, 1 cup of beans, 2-3 tbsp sunflower seeds. I'll add 1/4 of avocado if I know I won't be eating it any other time that day. You can add or take out whatever raw veggies you like or don't like. I use a dinner plate for my salad. I have found some great recipes for nutritarian salad dressings like,Vegan Ranch from Amy's Nutritarian Kitchen. I double the spices that she calls for in the recipe, because I like lot's of flavor! If I need a little sweet, I'll have an orange.

Another of my favorites is a Red Pepper Dressing.
1 jar roasted red peppers with liquid
1 can artichoke hearts with liquid (I've made it without these and it was fine)
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tsp dried oregeno
1 cup raw cashews
almond milk (or other non-dairy milk) if needed to give it a 'dressing' consistency
Blend in a high powered blender for a minute or until your desired consistency*
*If you don't have a Vitamix or Blendtec, you'll need to blend it for a longer time.

I store my dressing in a mason jar with lid and it lasts for at least a week if I double the recipe. I've not had one go bad yet. I use about 1/4-1/2 cup on the salad, just eyeball it to your taste preferences. I use one dressing at a time and when it's gone, I either make a different recipe or remake the same one. It helps add variety to my salads. I'm still not sick of salads :)

Dinner is a soup and small salad or a nutritarian version of what I'm feeding my family.
I'm in a big lentil phase right now, so lot's of lentil recipes.
My Nutritarian Pinterest board has a lot of recipes on it. I have an astericks** in the description of the ones that I've used and enjoyed. Makes me hungry to try a new recipe after looking at that board :)

My go to dinner for the last month is this yummy lentil soup. I'm the only one in my house eating it, so it lasts me about a week. I have yet to get sick of it. You can also put a few portions in the fridge and freeze the rest in individual sizes for later. I use ziploc quart sized bags to freeze with. I can't find a healthier option. I make sure it's cool before scooping the soup or beans or whatever into the bags to diminish any possibility of the plastic getting into the food.

I've called these my lunch and dinner respectively, but if I know that I'm going to a restaurant where the only thing is a salad, I'll have my cooked food for lunch and have the raw salad for dinner. Or if I'm cooking a dinner where I'll be serving salad to the family, I'll have the salad for dinner and the soup for lunch. I aim to have one raw meal and one cooked meal with a small salad. I make it work for me. It's important it to look like I'm eating the same thing as the family. My mom was always drinking a shake during dinner when I grew up, I do not want my kids to think I'm 'on a diet'. I continually tell them that we are all on a diet, some are good food diets and some are not so good food diets.

The recipe that has kept me 100% eating to live is this 'chocolate shake' recipe. My kids gobble this one up!! I have to make a double batch! When I had PMS (which I don't anymore) I'd make this, sometimes every night :) I've had it for breakfast too. In the beginning when cravings were still an issue, I'd eat or drink it too. If I don't have hemp, I substitute cashews and add as much almond milk as I want...for a chocolate shake, I add the recommended  amount, if I want a soft serve ice cream consistency, I add way less.

**An easier version of the chocolate shake is to freeze 2 bananas (mashed up a bit). Use those frozen bananas with as much non dairy milk as you want for your desired consistency and 2 tbsp cocoa powder. Blend until smooth and add raw almonds or raw cashews and pulse for a chunkier consistency if desired.

I hope this is a blessing to those reading. Make it work for you. If God has led you on this journey, listen to his voice, this is His food and He will bless you with it :)