[inspiration]
warning: FIRST: this is long. very, very long. SECOND: this is the story of a junk-food-addict turned...healthy. Proceed at your own risk of wanting to cut out junk-food too! :)
McDonalds: Big Mac, fries, medium coke [or] Egg McMuffin (minus pig), hash browns, medium coke if it's Friday morning on my way to work OR Sunday mornin' at home.
Taco Bell: Bean Burrito, Mexi-melt, medium Pepsi
Carls Junior: BBQ Chicken Sandwich, fried zucchini, small coke (their "medium" is too gigantic)
Togos: Pastrami Reuben with extra thousand-island, chips, medium coke
Del Taco: Big-Fat Chicken Taco, fries, medium coke or vanilla shake
Favorite Donut: Maple or Chocolate Bar with whip-cream filling
Starbucks: Vinte Vanilla Latte, Coffee Cake
Olive Garden: 2 breadsticks, salad (with extra parmesan), fettuccine alfredo, coke
Okay. I could go on and on, but I think you get my point. I know the menu at every fast-food AND popular restaurant around. This is just a *sampling* of my normal order at any one of these joints. Are you laughing? Are you disgusted?
Do you know what you would order at McDonalds (or, insert any restaurant here) without having to look at the menu? Starbucks maybe? No? Good for you. Really...because most people can.
We (and by *we*, I mean in particular Americans, but I'm sure it can be said for many others in the world...) are not a healthy country. MANY (dare I say most? Too brazen?) people have issues with health, weight, sluggishness, tiredness, sickness, illness, frequent colds/coughs, frequent headaches. Just go to a mall and sit on a bench and count how many people walk past you that...appear to be overweight. Or...ever notice how many children have weight issues at an early age?
*I* believe that most of it has a direct correlation to what and how we eat. But I'm not a nutritionist. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a specialist in the area of "health and nutrition".
I'm simply a woman-wife-mother that woke up one day and realized that at 42 I am continually saying that "Monday I'm gonna go on a diet!" and then proceed to eat unhealthy foods (lots of junk foods but also meals-at-home that included canned foods, boxed foods, frozen foods, foods in a bag with a token vegetable or fruit here and there) throughout the week. And I've been living my life that way for years! The "I-need-to-go-on-a-diet" syndrome. All the while, eating processed food. Bad food. Food that is ladden with sugar and fat and chemicals that man adds all in the name of "keeping it fresh and edible".
At what point do we say ENOUGH? At what point do we take control of our lives and decide that we don't HAVE to feel tired every morning? We don't have to feel sluggish, only to be dependent on COFFEE for a false "pick-me-up"? We don't have to feel sick all of the time? We don't have to keep buying *bigger* clothes every year all the while making room in our closets to *keep* the skinny clothes until we lose our weight?
For me, it was exactly...THIRTY DAYS AGO.
That's the day I set off on a journey that...has literally changed my life. It was a test, really. I decided to *test* my body and use myself as a guinea-pig in a 30 day trial of...cutting out junk-food, coffee, caffeine, sugar-ladden foods, sodas (meaning, ugh...my beloved McDonald's cokes).
The week before, I had watched "Super Size Me" about the man that ate nothing but McDonalds for 30 days...and his journey into complete physical "deterioration". What if *I* did exactly the opposite...what if *I* cut-out McDonalds and fast-food joints together with all unnatural foods and processed foods and ate only fruits, vegetables, whole-grain foods, natural foods and limited meat with water and fresh juices? What would happen to my body in 30 days? Would I really notice a huge difference in how I felt? Would I no longer feel sluggish in the morning and tired at the end of the day?
What REALLY set me off on this life-changing experiment was a very alarming, startling discovery: we had recently found out that our dd who is a very lean, fit, and healthy-looking xx year old, was not so healthy. Upon a medical check-up required by entrance into school, we were told that her cholesterol was...extremely high. Dangerously high. Together with very high Triglycerides.
She had been eating too much fat. She had been eating too much sugar.
If we didn't get ahold of it and make some drastic changes in her diet, and soon, she would be headed towards an adult life of doom and gloom. She would have potential health issues in her early 20's much like a 50 or 60 year old might have. Very startling.
I felt extremely responsible. While some of it is hereditary, most of it is dietary. And I felt 100% responsible. As her mother, and the "cook" in the family, I had to wake up and realize that our diets were atrocious. Absolutely atrocious. While we didn't eat out every night, we would eat out at least 2 times a week. Plus, our weekends were made up of "fun snacks" like Dairy Queen, Coldstone Ice Cream, Donuts. Like so many people, our meals were comprised of processed foods: white rice, cheese and dairy foods (milk, yogurts, cottage cheese, etc.), white pasta noodles, sauces made from jars and cans, frozen and canned veggies with a few fresh ones...here and there.
Lots of foods with preservatives and additives. Bad food.
How could I possibly expect dt to change her diet when...she had only learned from me? How could my family eat healthier when I was the one that was so tired at night that I didn't even *feel* like cooking? How could we eat healthier when I only wanted to make the easiest, quickest meals possible?
I decided to incorporate a diet into my life that would be a 30-day test. It's patterned after the "Fit for Life" diet that supports "natural hygiene", with the concept of eating lots of fruits in the morning, lots of fresh vegetables in the afternoon, and veggies and/or salad with a protein or complex carbohydrate choice at night. So, basically, LOTS OF NATURAL, FRESH, FRUITS AND VEGGIES together with a properly combined balance of lean meats, carbohydrates, whole grain pastas-rice-breads, nuts, legumes, etc.
Could I do it? Well, honestly, I was very humble in the first week. I knew my history spoke volumes. After all, I had tried to "diet" to lose some weight for years. I had been miserable and down in the dumps about the fact that I had more than one dress-size in my closet. I had been completely un-motivated to lose weight and here I was thinking I could drastically change my diet overnight?
This time was different...I wanted to do it for a different reason than to lose weight. Sure, I knew I would lose weight and that was very motivating, but suddenly it was more than that. I wanted to FEEL better. I wanted to incorporate healthier foods into my family's meals. I wanted to show dt that I had been wrong all these years...I had been teaching her how NOT to eat. I knew I couldn't tell her how to eat right...I had to show her. By doing it for *me*, first.
I wrote the sub-title to this blog 30 days ago today. This was an "un-published" blog entry that allowed me to journal on a daily basis. I've read the sub-title every single day for the past 30 days to "enforce" my will-power and determination to...cut out the junk food in my diet! Then, I journaled daily...writing down the effects of this radical change in my diet on my body, my mind, my over-all being.
Attached is my daily-journaling, for the first 8 days of this test. The most difficult days. Really, the first 3 days were the hardest; after that, it got easier and easier day by day. This very honest account of my experience will let you peek into what it's like to drastically change your diet. Maybe, and hopefully, it will let you peek into what it might possibly look like...for you.
And...I survived!
This is a very honest account of what I've done to change my health. My attitude towards food. My outlook on life. It's a true story. It's a real story. And I'm so excited to share it with you. Because I have found something that has truly changed my life:
Instead of eating 80% processed foods and 20% live, fresh, natural foods, I've started eating 80% live, fresh, natural foods and 20% other foods!
Am I a vegetarian? No. Not much meat, but no. (NOTE: I tried vegetarianism in the past and realized I wasn't any healthier because I was still eating all the same foods without the meat only! I wasn't incorporating healthy legumes, leafy greens, etc, to replace the protein! I was ordering a Bic Mac MEAL without the meat! My health actually deteriorated because of my poor choices. I DO, however, believe vegetarianism the *right way* is the healthiest way to eat...)
Okay. Let me share something with you:
I am a junk-food addict.
But I've proven that any person that loves junk foods, processed foods, fast-foods, candy, coffee, sodas, donuts, chips, burgers & fries, fried foods, STARBUCKS COFFEES (!!!), ice cream, milkshakes, CAN CHANGE THEIR WAY OF EATING AND THINKING ABOUT FOOD. PERIOD.
We eat out too much in this country. We eat junk-food too much. We look for the easy way and the quick way to make and eat a meal because our lives have become so busy and full of activities that don't allow us time enough to prepare our foods in a natural, healthy, delicious way! It's true...it takes TIME to be healthy. But...it's an investment in our health. Our lives. The lives of our families. And it's challenging.
BUT IT'S POSSIBLE.
I don't profess to be a pro now that I've succeeded this 30-day self-induced test. I have a long way to go. A very long way. 30 days is not a lifetime! But I can tell you that after 30 days of feeding my body healthy, *live*, natural foods together with other healthy choices and drinking ONLY water and fresh fruit and vegetable juices I feel better than I can remember feeling ever. REALLY.
I have more energy than I've ever had. I wake up and am ready to face whatever lies ahead of me for the day. My head is clear, my mind is alert, my body doesn't fight me as I get out of bed. I feel positive and excited about things that I never even noticed before! I love playing with the kids again...I always did before but it was a physical-chore...my body was so tired. I love taking walks with my family, rough-housing with the kiddos, and have lots of *extra* energy I had been missing.
And, just a little side note: I've gone down ONE WHOLE DRESS SIZE IN 30 DAYS. Such a benefit! But more importantly? I feel so HEALTHY AND ALIVE. I wouldn't even care if I hadn't lost a single pound...this feeling is worth it all.
I can't imagine ever going back to feeling like I did before this change. I look at food differently now. I think in terms of "what's in that food; what will it do to my body?" instead of "oh, that will taste so good!". Amazing how God can work in your life...I prayed that God would give me the strength to do this and He did...on the days I felt weak and felt like giving up, He was right there with me every step of the way. He wants us to take care of this very incredible, awesome, amazing thing we call our "body".
One thing that I've learned these past few weeks is this: MODERATION IS THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL, HEALTHY EATING. I allowed myself 2 days (separate days, each 1 week apart ONLY after 3 solid weeks of successfully NOT eating a single unhealthy food) of eating a few foods that I enjoy and that I had been "missing". After eating some "snack foods" on these 2 separate occasions, I noticed a drastic decrease in energy coupled with a severe case of the "blahs" and an over-all "icky" feeling.
I couldn't wait to get back to my healthy eating, because I had learned to *love* the way I felt each morning as the weeks went by! But these 2 days "off" allowed me to satisfy my desire for some favorite foods in "moderation".
The following "7-day Journal" is a glimpse into the beginning of it all. I wrote sporadically throughout the day, so sometimes the writing is present-tense, other times it's past-tense.
To summarize the whole experience, I've learned that FEELING FABULOUS ALL COMES DOWN TO...HOW WE FUEL OUR BODIES. And...even slim and fit people can feel tired, sluggish, sick, unhealthy. Skinny people can be just as unhealthy as over-weight people It's all about eating..."mostly" *live*, fresh, foods...*real* foods...un-altered foods...in my very humble opinion!!! :)
INTERESTING READS ON THINKING ABOUT YOUR HEALTH:
The "Fit For Life" Plan that I am following
Are You Supersizing Yourself with Fast Food?
Changing Your Eating Habits...For Good
Vast Majority of Americans Likely to Become Fat
We finally did something right...
More American Kids Eating Deep-Fat-Fried Fast Foods
Okay. For those of you that have actually read this far, here is my "8 day journal" if you are interested...click on the button "continue reading"...
