Second Year Slump

It's been over two years of Eating to Live. I haven't blogged since a year ago. Much of the reason is that I hit a slump and didn't want to acknowledge it! My first year, I didn't 'taste' anything that wasn't purely Eat to Live. I wish I could say that for the second year. I also stopped exercising. Both those together caused me to gain 30 pounds! Yikes! My take-away from this slump year is that I need to be faithful to this lifestyle. I have soooo much energy if I'm faithful, and my mood is superior. I fall into a negative, depressed attitude if I 'taste' sugary desserts.

The other habit I had returned to, was FEAR. Fear of being hungry and not having food. (Goes back to childhood issues). So, I'd overeat on the good stuff, have a big chocolate (Eat to Live) smoothie AND a BIG bowl of (Eat to Live) oatmeal. Then I'd wait until I was hungry (most of the time) and eat too much again. That on top of my 'tasting' and not exercising is what caused me to pack on the pounds. My energy went way down and I was getting into negative self-talk because I felt like I was slipping down a horrible slope into my morbid obesity again. I couldn't fathom having to wake up each morning (again!!) with over a hundred pounds to lose! That's not to say that if you have 100 or more to lose, you should be depressed and down-trodden, NO, do the journey and learn from those of us that have goofed it up, and don't look back, work on your 'stuff', childhood issues, fears and feelings of failure, so that you can arrest the negative when it rears it's ugly head.

I'm so thankful that I caught it relatively early and I'm doing everything that I was doing in the first year. I signed up for a 10k to keep my running motivation high and I'm doing yoga at least twice a week. I'm making yummy recipes that I look forward to. My sweet friend has joined me on this journey and we are each making a soup or other food item and sharing with each other once a week. (Food not made by yourself tastes so good!) That keeps me accountable and excited to make yummy food. I'll have a list at the end of this post of some of the things I've been eating. The other thing I'm really working on, is having a good solid breakfast that sets me up right for the day, filling, and tasty. I make sure I listen to my body and stop before I'm super full. I don't drink during the meal, so I make sure that I haven't filled my stomach too much that I can't drink a good glass of water when I'm done.

My mood is unheard of good. My poop is great (TMI:)) and my energy is insane! I'm so thankful, because that is what is keeping me motivated to keep it up. I'm always amazed at how well life flows when I eat the way I'm designed to.

I'm super excited to be back to blogging and sharing in my journey, I sincerely hope that whoever reads this will feel the nudge to join me Eating to Live :)

Feel free to join me on my third year of this journey by subscribing to my blog :)

Recipe Links...
Lentil Soup (this is one my friend shared with me, sooo good)
Happy Herbivore Cookbook: Garden Chowder
Roasted Red Pepper Dressing
Red Beans and Rice
**I do NOT do affiliate links. Any links are for your convenience ONLY**

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.

Tuning Up

I've been following the Eat to Live lifestyle for 10 months now.  My health has improved tremendously. I'm so excited to get blood work next year to see how my numbers look now. I had blood work done when I was about three months in and it was amazing!! Super low cholesterol and my thyroid, which had been out of whack, was in the normal range!! My blood sugars were great too! So I can't wait to see what the next test will show. My blood pressure is great too, sometimes too great. My blood pressure runs 90/60.

When I first started Eat to Live I had been jogging for 8 months at a 13 minute pace. Now I jog at a 10 minute average. My next step in the journey is to focus on improving my pace and distance. But for now I'm focusing on consistency in getting out there and jogging. I aim for 7 days a week of activity and am happy with 6. I love to do Just Dance with my kids (or alone :)) and that kicks my butt! I also love yoga and I love that I love it because it takes care of stretching and strength training. I knew I needed to start strength training, but the thought of lifting weights did not thrill me, so finding a love for yoga was such a blessing.

I've been stuck at the same weight for a couple of months. I'm happy with where I'm at, but there is definitely some fat that needs to be gone. So I figured that after all this time, I might be doing things that I'm not aware of, so I decided to do the 6-week Aggressive Plan from the Eat to Live book. This is how I started Eat to Live and really thought I was still fully on it, but after a day of doing the Plan diligently, I realized that I had let things slip. Nothing too major, but enough to make the weight stop coming off. I must say, though that doing the Aggressive Plan hard core, no slipping is so much easier now. My sweet husband is doing it with me. He has a bit of fat he wants gone too, but his transition is so much rougher. He's in bed with a headache and nausea. He ate good before, but not Eat to Live good. His detox is really something :( I have no headache and no nausea, so thankfully we aren't both feeling yucky.

So you might be wondering, what was I doing that was keeping my weight stagnant? The answer is, I was eating too much. I was eating past full and eating at night, a couple hours after dinner. And I realized too, that I was eating too many seeds and nuts. I was still Eating to Live, just too much. Dr. Fuhrman is right that you can't gain weight eating this way (minus too many nuts), but if you have weight to lose, it won't come off very quickly if you are over-eating. Once I get to my ideal weight, I will be able to eat more seeds and nuts, just like I've been doing and maintain my weight. I know that because that's what I have been doing, maintaining! But I still have 20-30 pounds left to go, so it's not my time to maintain. This has caused an issue in my head. I have a hard time being content in life, so to have accomplished so much and be bummed that I can't lose more was a wake up call to just be content!! I've had to remember to be thankful to God for where He has me :)

I'm back to the basics, doing the exact menus in the Aggressive Plan. It's actually really great. I have been in a rut, so to have variety is a pleasant treat. And to have my husband doing it with me is an added bonus. We'll see how he feels once he wakes up from his detox! Detox is so hard!! I'll keep updating and sharing about our progress.

P.S. If you are on the fence about this lifestyle, I must give you encouragement and say "Go for it!" Let me know how you do :)

Eating to Live in an RV

I spent 3 weeks in an RV with my husband and 4 kids. It was the best thing ever! I loved the small space, or should I say, I loved the small space to vacuum. I also loved that we had a plan. We knew where we were going each day and how many miles it would take to get there. My sweet husband is an Excel wiz and he prepared a chart of all of our meals and what we would need to bring and made sure in his planning that all of it would fit in our small storage and the small fridge. He was so diligent to make sure I had enough room to fit 18 baggies of soup in the freezer. On top of making sure I had freezer space, he made room for 15 cans of beans and 5 cartons of almond milk and my Vitamix and all the nuts I brought. He spent a while trying to figure out a container for my salad makings in the fridge too.

On this journey, God has shaped my husband's heart as well. He has always been open to trying new things and supporting me on whatever adventure in food I take. This eating journey is no exception. He loves the changes in me. He loves my new confidence and he really loves my (for the most part) constant, peaceful mood. So to have him plan so well for me was no surprise, but a sweet treat none-the-less.

We hardly ever ate out on our trip, but the times that we did, I'd eat my food that I brought. That is the benefit of an RV, we always ate in the RV, so my food was always there. Walmart was a huge help. I wasn't expecting that. The Walmart I shop at doesn't have any organic produce, but the ones we found on the trip did!! I was so excited to have a resource for organic fruits and veggies. Thankfully, my family doesn't eat a bunch of junk, so there wasn't any temptations staring me in the face, plus my body was so nourished from my healthy diet that I wouldn't have been tempted anyway.

I said before that I brought my Vitamix. I also brought two bags of frozen bananas and kept refilling those bags with fresh bananas as I used them to make sure I was never out of them to use for Strawberry Ice cream* or Chocolate Banana Ice cream. Eating treats with the family is fun and I didn't want to miss out on any of it. I packed some brownies that I baked and froze them for the kids to have a non-processed treat. I'd eat my Ice cream right along with them. Most nights, they want my Ice cream instead. I love that!

We planned for the worst. We made sure I had enough soup to last in case we couldn't find a source for good veggies to cook. Walmart took care of that, but I knew I was taken care of, just in case. I kept my expectations very simple. I knew I'd have a cooked meal (soup) and a raw meal (salad). Another reason I brought my Vitamix was to make salad dressing. I pre-measured all the ingredients for the vegan ranch that I love. That was a huge relief to know that I had dressing. I do not like a dry salad, so dressing is a must for me!

We took a Rhino tour of Bryce...I didn't worry about not fitting in the seat!

The trip was amazing. We hiked for miles and miles in beautiful country. We hiked Zion, Mount Rushmore, Grand Tetons, through caves and the finale was Bryce Canyon. I thanked God the whole time that I was able to do the hikes. 100 pounds ago, it would have been a very different vacation. That finale at Bryce was so hard, but I was able to do it with no problem! We went on a 3 mile hike down into the canyon and you know, what goes down, must come up and for about half of the up part, I had my 40 pound daughter on my back! What a blessing to be the leader of my pack and finish strong with energy to spare. I'm still in awe of coming this far and accomplishing so much. Thank you, Lord!!

*Strawberry Ice cream
2 cups frozen strawberries
1 banana (not frozen)
3 dates
1/2 cup almond milk (more or less for desired consistency)

Blend all ingredients in high powered mixer until smooth.

215 pounds and running a 10K?!?!?

At the completion of the 10k, wanting to lay down!!
215 pounds

This post is about my journey in jogging, you can look around my blog and find out how I eat to fuel this exercise. I don't touch on the food side of the health equation, but feel it is EXTREMELY important and more-so than the exercise. I love this saying, 'You can't outrun a bad diet!!'

God can have a funny way of getting our attention. I was perusing Facebook one morning and  a friend of mine posted that she had registered for the Disneyland 10k and wasn't able to run in it. She was asking if anyone would want to buy the 2 registrations from her. I talked to my husband and we decided to do it. No, big deal, right?!? Wrong! We had never ran 1 mile before, let alone 6.3 miles. I was very skeptical that I could lug my 235 pound body around Disneyland while jogging! We had five months to train. Thankfully, I found an app that would train us, and it was free! It's called C210k. The few months previously, I had been walking about a mile every other day, so I wasn't completely out of shape, but FAR from being able to jog a mile. The first day of training, we (my husband and I) followed the app and walked for 3 minutes, jogged for 1 minute, walked 3 minutes, jogged 1 minute and so on for 30 minutes. The app is so cool, it speaks to you when to run and when to walk.  I

Eating Out

I have found that I choose to eat at home way more than before. I love the food I prepare, soups, Red Beans and Rice wrapped collards, spagetti squash spagetti and just a yummy big salad! But for those times when I do eat out, I've found some things that help me out.

We took a trip from our home in Southern California to a small town in West Virginia. I was so apprehensive! We were there for a week and ate out the whole time. When we first arrived, my husband found a market for me. I bought peaches, bananas and apples. In my suitcase, I had raw cashews, dates, and raw almonds. So in a pinch I could have a banana and cashews and know it would fill me up.

There was a Denny's just down the road from our hotel and we ate there a lot. Which was great, because they have a veggie skillet meal. It comes with eggs and is cooked in oil and of course has salt. I asked for it with no eggs, and no oil and salt. Plus, they had avocados!!! So I added an avocado. The skillet was so filling and yummy with veggies and potatoes. It easily filled me up to the next meal.  We also ate at Bob Evan's. That was not so nutritarian friendly! I ended up ordering off the 'sides' menu because there was literally nothing on the standard menu that could be modified. So I had a baked potato, with steamed broccoli and whatever other veggies they had, plus a side of fruit. They had smoothies that looked awesome, but they had a bunch of junk in them and dairy, so I passed.  My plate was full and so was my belly when I left the table. As you can see, potatoes are on my plate at every meal. In my everyday, normal life, I might have a potato once a week, so this was an exception. But I felt it was necessary in this situation. I didn't want to be hungry and the choices were so small that I ate those potatoes with out any issue :) For one dinner, we dined at the hotel restaurant. They were not vegan friendly and the waitress offered to have the chef come out and talk to me to work out a meal, but I was in a big group and feeling self-conscious, so I declined. But I did find a hummus appetizer with fresh pitas that I ate. It's was not 100%, but it did the job. On a different occasion, I have talked to managers and such and they've been more than willing to make sure I'm satisfied :)

Starting Out and How to Overcome Food Addiction

How do you start changing your diet so drastically? The way I did it was to take one step at a time. I started by getting information. This lifestyle of eating food that God made just makes sense. I watched many documentaries from different sources and read blogs on the subject. I also googled the different 'diets' that are vegan, plant strong, and low-fat vegan. I found the evidence for a long, disease-free life in all of them. So rather than get overwhelmed, I chose one plan to follow and that was Dr. Fuhrman's, Eat to Live lifestyle. I read his book. Then I decided to do the first 3 days of the aggressive weight loss plan. I bought all the ingredients and prepared what I could. I made the soup and froze it in about 1-1/2 cup portions. I had my salad made and ready to go. Those 3 days of menus lasted me all week because I was the only one eating that food. My 12 year old daughter had a few meals with me, but for the most part, it was just me.  I found that I loved these 3 days of menus and looked forward to eating, so I kept making these recipes and kept going for another week. At that point I was losing weight every day, down 9 pounds in two weeks. I was feeling better than I had been before starting Eat to Live, but still had brain fog and was tired in the afternoon. I tweaked some things over the next few weeks, like dropped oatmeal in the morning. After changing to quinoa, my brain fog went away.  At this point, I was about 4 weeks in and down 15 pounds. I felt better, but still not quite as good as I should. I didn't start feeling great until about 6 weeks in and I just keep feeling better every day. At the 6 week point, I was down about 20 pounds and about 3" off my waist. Currently, I am going on 8 months eating to live and down 64 pounds (94 total weight loss on this journey).

Do I Prep and Cook EVERYDAY???

I actually love to cook and make food, but take the help when I can get it. One helper is storing salad makings already prepped in the fridge. They last for days and I have the convenience of having a salad whenever I want one. Here's what I do and have found that works the best.

I buy organic leaf lettuce of varying varieties or whatever is on sale. Some weeks I add finely chopped kale or whatever green I feel like adding. My salad spinner gets used a lot. I will wash the lettuce and chop it, then spin it in my salad spinner. My aunt gave me my spinner years ago and I've finally started using it regularly. The dollar store has spinners too, if you need a cheap option. They actually aren't that expensive, but you can't beat a dollar. So I spin the lettuce and/or greens to get them as dry as possible. Then I put them in a plastic or glass bowl that is fairly large. Large enough to hold a head of lettuce plus added peppers and such. Other veggies that I have found that last a while in this storage method are cut up peppers, cut up or shredded carrots, radishes, and other not-too-juicy veggies. On top of all the salad, I put a paper towel. The paper towel is the magic trick in this! It keeps the lettuce dry and helps prevent that nasty black goo that can form. On occasion, I will cut up cucumbers and tomatoes and store those on top of the paper towel, away from the greens, but they don't last as long.

Health Issues, REVERSED!!

**In this post I share about my health experiences, I am not a doctor and in no way claim to know about your health. I am strictly sharing about my journey and what I chose to do. You have to make your own choices and consult with your doctor if needed.**

I spoke about how my skin issues reversed, now I want to share about the issues I had that were internal. I had developed hypothyroidism while I was obese. My doctor wanted me to start medication, but I really didn't want to be on medication for the rest of my life (as my doctor told me I'd have to be). This was in the middle of my journey, before I had fully started to eat healthy food. But I knew by then that I shouldn't have to be on medication forever. I knew my body could heal itself. After watching 'The Gerson Miracle', I was even more convinced. I consulted with another medical professional who I thought was into natural healing, but she also told me that food would not cure this. I knew in my gut that I had to try. But it would take me a couple of months to fully dive into the Eat to Live lifestyle.

My blood pressure had always been in the normal range, but as I teetered toward the 246 pound range on my 5'4" frame, my blood pressure showed the stress on my body. The bottom number would delve into the 90's.

Sun-dried Tomato Dressing (Nutritarian Style)

Sun-dried Tomato Dressing for Nutritarians
1 cup raw cashews
1 cup water
2-3 gloves, peeled garlic
about 1/2 cup dried sun-dried tomatoes and 1/2 cup soaking liquid
1 tsp basil

Soak the sun-dried tomatoes in boiling water for about 15 minutes. While those soak, blend the cashews and  the 1 cup water for about 1 minute in a Vitamix or other high-powered blender. (If you don't have one, just blend on super high speed to achieve a creamy consistency. Add the sun-dried tomatoes with the hot water and the basil and blend until creamy. Refrigerate until ready to serve and keep in fridge for up to a week.

Enjoy!

Food Morphing

This has been such an amazing journey. I've mentioned before that when I was 246 pounds when I woke up in the morning, I HAD TO EAT!! I was grumpy and didn't want to communicate, until I could eat. Breakfast was my comfort food place. I loved a super big (like 7) stack of freshly homemade pancakes with butter and syrup. My mouth is watering as I type! Oh, how I loved my pancakes. I also would have loved to take a nap about an hour after consuming that delight, though. Well, I was thinking about writing more about the specifics of what I eat in a day and it struck me as I was going through in my mind what this day has entailed what a morphing my mind has taken. Here's what made that evident, I had cauliflower curry and quinoa for breakfast 2 hours after waking up! I would have laughed you out of here if you would have said I'd be eating cauliflower for BREAKFAST!

Here's the skinny on how my day went, in the food department. I had a banana about 10 minutes after I woke up because I was going on a run and my time has been slipping, so I thought instead of going on an empty stomach as I have been, that I'd try a little of natures sugar to see if that helps. Oh, Man! It did. My time was 1-1/2 minutes faster and I felt sooo much more energy. Here's the rundown, I woke up at 6:30am , had the banana at 6:40, ran from 7-7:35, then had the curry at 8:30am. On my running days (which are every other day) I serve my husband and myself a beet, cucumber, ginger, carrot, kale juice after my run. I drink it as I'm making my family's breakfasts so that it will get in my body before I dump other food into my digestive system. So all that to say, what a change in breakfast from before, not just time and food but my mindset! I'm not obsessive about my food. I don't get crazy when I haven't eaten. It's all just normal and good now.

It astounds me now how obsessed with food I was. Now, I'm not saying that for the first four months on Eat to Live I wasn't obsessed, I was. It is a transition time to get used to buying a lot of food that might go bad in a couple of days. I felt like I was always shopping and preparing. I've tamed that down a lot now. But please know that it takes a while for this to become normal. Plus, it's hard to mentally be ok that you aren't hungry after 3 hours. I had to get used to what my body needed and how it was going to tell me it was hungry. Got off track....lunch today was a leftover veggie 'stir-fry' in a tortilla. I made it a couple of days ago with red pepper, mushrooms, onions, garlic and a spinach salad with a sun-dried tomato dressing that I made this morning. I had watermelon for a sweet ending.

Sun-dried Tomato Dressing for Nutritarians
1 cup raw cashews
1 cup water
2-3 cloves, peeled garlic
about 1/2 cup dried sun-dried tomatoes and 1/2 cup soaking liquid
1 tsp basil

Soak the sun-dried tomatoes in boiling water for about 15 minutes. While those soak, blend the cashews and  the 1 cup water for about 1 minute in a Vitamix or other high-powered blender. (If you don't have one, just blend on super high speed to achieve a creamy consistency. Add the sun-dried tomatoes with the hot water and the basil and blend until creamy. Refrigerate until ready to serve and keep in fridge for up to a week.

Dinner was leftover red beans and rice stuffed collard greens. I put my homemade (homegrown) spaghetti sauce on top, so delicious! That was also my large salad meal. My family had spaghetti with meat sauce, so my collards look very similar and I served a salad too. After eating huge salads for 7 months, you'd think I would be sick of them, but I'm not. Changing dressing every 5 days helps. I start with a dinner size plate and cover it in green leaf lettuce, spinach and sometimes finely chopped kale. Then chopped peppers, tomatoes, radishes, cucumber 1/4 avocado and sometimes onions go on next. Beans are the next layer. Whatever fabulous dressing is the next step and last is sunflower seeds. So delicious. I look forward to it each day.

As you can see, I eat a lot of leftovers. I have 4 different dishes in my fridge that I made within the last week and have been eating off of them since. Did you know you can also pre-make quinoa and keep it in the fridge. I have yet to have too much, but if I did, I'm sure you can freeze it too.

Let me know if you end up making any of these and what you think and what you tweaked :)

Skin issues, REVERSED!

I have had so many more benefits from eating to live than just a 93 weight loss (and counting). From my teenage years until about six months ago, I had psoriasis on my hands. It was so painful, especially under times of stress. It would start with a very itchy rash and turn into a red patch that still itched, then would dry out and crack and bleed. I went to the doctor on and off over the years and tried a couple different creams that would work for a while, but were a pain in the neck. I'd put the cream on at night and then rubber band a baggie on my hand to keep it moist all night. Consistently, I'd have an outbreak in some form on my hand. If it wasn't itchy and bleeding, it would just be a dry patch. Probably unrelated, my knuckles had started to turn darker brown and very dry. I also had dry brown patches on my elbows. All this to say, about a month after starting to eat only plant based, whole foods, all of those skin conditions went away, GONE! My hands are smooth and even toned all the time now, without lotion needed. It's amazing! I haven't done anything special besides strictly following the Eat to Live way of eating.

My son is 14 and for years before he came into our lives, I had beautiful skin. People would compliment me on my smooth, beautiful skin. Well, after giving birth to him, it all went down hill. I had (at times severe) acne. I was 25 when I had him and the acne never went away until recently (I turn 40 this year). The acne hasn't cleared up completely like the other skin issues did, but it is tremendously improved. I'm a picker, so I do have scars, but they are diminishing. My hormones are still working on going back to normal now that I feed myself the ultimate diet :) The difference is that I get 1 or 2 zits once a month rather than 4-10 all month long. I've had two months when I had NO zits. I'll take it!

The other skin related issue that I had were two skin tags. I tried tea tree oil and it didn't work. Well, do I even need to say, that eating to live has taken them away. It took about 7 months for the one to go away and there is still a tiny bump where the other one was. It's amazing to me that when I started feeding myself just the way I was created to eat, my body systems got rid of the stuff that wasn't supposed to be on my body.

I wish that I had a magnifying glass to the inside of my body, I'm sure I'd be amazed at the changes that are happening in there! Check out my post about reversing my hypothyroidism and getting my blood sugar normal.

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 :)