I'm 40 pounds overweight and scared about the future. I've tried several diets/lifestyle changes that have worked in the past, but not this time around. I've always gone up and down with my weight (who really wants to eat all those salads?!?), but I've never been this heavy, and actually just tipped into the obese category on the scale. Ouch. When I try to exercise more than 30 minutes, I get kickback from my knees and back, which are screaming at me for putting on so much weight. I'm reaching a point where I don't want to meet with friends or others who may judge me for the weight I've put on. I can't take my daughter ice skating, can't hike with the older one, etc. I'm no longer living my life and that terrifies me even more. My mother died from cancer at 54, and I'll never know if her diet and extra weight contributed to the cancer, but it didn't help with the fight.
I found two documentaries that have caused me to think about what I'm doing to my body and given me a plan to focus on getting healthier. I decided to blog about it so that I can track (I hope) my progress, and make me more accountable.
The first documentary (both available on Netflix or Hulu), Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead , inspired me to start thinking about what I was putting into my body, and a possible way to change. Joe Cross chronicles his journey to lose 100 pounds and rid himself of an autoimmune disease that created a painful rash all over his body. He decides to go on a juice fast for 60 days, which seems extreme, I know. But by juicing, he means primarily eating veggies and fruit chomped up and spit out as juice (no added sugar). One juice has 6-8 servings of veggies/fruit, which is amazing. There's no way you could eat all of that in one sitting, but it's easy to sip. Other than prepping the food, nothing else is required. At one point he goes and buys veggies at a farmer's stand and juices it from a juicer in the back of his car. Talk about farm to table (in this case, farm to cup). I'm intrigued, I have to admit. I don't eat a lot of fast food, per se, but I do eat convenience foods--frozen meals, bars, etc. They're supposed to be healthy, but I'm always snacking and hungry for more. Maybe focusing on a plant-based diet wouldn't be so bad for a month or so. If you want to to know more, you can check out his website, www.rebootwithjoe.com.
The second documentary, Hungry for Change, is more scientific, and goes through why we are obese as a nation, but starving ourselves nutritionally. Our foods are high in calories, but have very little nutrients to nurture our cells. Our bodies go looking for more nutrition and end up craving more of what we give it, which is often high in sugar and low in everything else. I forget the unit of measure, but one guy shared that in 1900, the average person ate 15mg(?) of sugar a day. We now eat 20-60, with some teens consuming up to 150 mg a day. Yikes! Processed foods are manufactured with the focus being on shelf life rather than nutrients and leave us less than satisfied. Our bodies crave more nutrients, but if they only know the high calorie/low nutrient stuff, then that's what they want more of, hoping that the nutrients show up this time. Only they don't.
Enough scientific mumbo jumbo! I know that eating processed foods isn't working, and I'm not going back to work until January 20th, so I have time right now to chop and juice to my heart's content. I started today, and so far, it's been fine. Joe's website lists possible side effects, such as irritability, lethargy, etc., but it only lasts for a few days while the unhealthy stuff leaves the system. The hard part will be not eating the other food that's lying around the house, but I'm committed to making this change.
For today I had an apple/berry combo with cinnamon and nutmeg cooked in the oven. Seriously simple and yummy. For a snack I had a carrot/ginger/apple juice from Nektar. Lunch was a huge salad and sweet potato fries. I could get used to this. The roughage in the salad always upsets my stomach but I hope that will go away. I'm not hungry, but I'm restless, like I want to find something to eat. That's the mental part I need to struggle with. My snack is supposed to be another juice (wish I had paid attention to that and just got double at Nektar), so I'm off to make my first juice. I ordered a juicer, but it hasn't come yet, so hopefully the carrots won't break my blender.
I'm back. We don't have a working blender--just a small, hand held one that can barely do anything. After going through bits of pieces of the blender and 2 Magic Bullets, I want to pull my hair out. I'm getting seriously hungry. I try the chopper, which makes fine little pieces but no juice. Now what?!!? My husband shows up and points me to an old juicer his aunt gave him, tucked way in the back. It's slow, messy, and loud, but an hour and a half after I started this damn process, I have my first cup of juice! It's incredibly delish and has 4 carrots, 2 apples, and a slice of ginger. Soooo good.
For dinner I had a salad with homemade vinaigrette (oil, balsamic vinegar, honey and basil), avocados, tomatoes, kale, and red cabbage. The vinaigrette makes it sweet--I don't usually like straight kale. Throw in some more sweet potato fries and I'm stuffed. I finish the night with a ginger tea. By 10:30 I feel hungry and want to raid the fridge, but I'm ready to see where this takes me. My husband is watching an Anthony Bourdain show (seriously?), so I'm keeping busy by typing here and then going to read a book.
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