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 :)
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 :)
