Mistakes Made, Lessons Learned

Do you ever know what the right thing is to do but do the opposite of it anyway?  I guess the truest definition of that is 'sin' but no, this blog is not about sin and God's amazing Grace and Redemption (although I do love that topic!).  It's actually about being sick.  This week our family has been hit hard with fevers, sore throats, runny noses...basic cold symptoms that really wipe a person out.  Now, we used to get this in September, October, November, December, January...you get the picture.  We were one of the SICKEST families around.  I've often joked that I needed to take out stock in Kleenix because I was sure I kept them in business. 

Many of my childhood memories revolve around me, tissues and sore throats.  In college I sang in a choir and we would take a yearly tour for a week around California, singing in churches.  Every year I went and mouthed the words because I'd be sick and have no voice.  My first year of teaching, my biggest fear was what to do when I was sick and didn't have a voice, because it happened SO OFTEN!

I joked yesterday with a friend that I feel like I'm a living science experiment.  I went into Clean Eating/Healthy Lifestyle with Optimal Health as my end goal.  My supposition was that if you eat clean and healthy, your body will be able to fight disease and you will stay healthy.  And if anyone would know what it's like to be sick, it's me.  For the most part, I'm pleased to say, I'm proving my theory to be true.  Sickness and germs are still around me and my body is constantly under attack, especially on weeks like this one where the other 4 in my family have all been sick.  Would I get sick too?  Or would my food truly be my medicine?

I did really well last week.  I ate cooked food (clean only!) one time a day and otherwise it was all raw.  Broccoli salad, sweet potato salad, green smoothies, Walnut pate, etc...  Amazing food...seriously delicious!  I had no symptoms of sickness while everyone else was sneezing all over me.  Until...yesterday.

When I made my BIG mistake.

I was coming home at 6 p.m., exhausted and hungry.  Instead of going home and eating food I'd already prepared, I drove through Panda Express...our former favorite food.  We chowed down.  The kids wanted dessert and I said, "Are you kidding me!  You just ate sugar coated chicken.  You just HAD your dessert!"  Which is 100% true.  But my sweet tooth was kicked into high gear so I topped it off with the only sugar left in the house...1/2 bag of M&M's.  Within 30 minutes not only did I feel terribly sick to my stomach but I had a raging sore throat.  The germs in me had been fed with their favorite food, sugar, and I was getting sick.

I knew better!  I knew that I was in the middle of the battle ground but I still gave in!  Sometimes I frustrate myself SO MUCH.  I went to bed early and woke up with the same sore throat, if not worse.  So I went to my daily arsenal (which I had completely neglected yesterday) and fired it up.  I know there are many more things to do than this, but this is what I do DAILY.

• 1 spoonful of bee pollen (don't do if you're allergic to bee stings)
• glasses and glasses of water (should be 1/2 your body weight in ounces)
• hot tea with honey
• 3 vitamin C tablets a day
• 1 freshly-squeezed lemon to a glass of water + 5 drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract (it's nasty business but it works!)
• 2 green smoothies a day (both with 5 drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract)
• And most important...NO SUGAR!

Ironically, this is what a family friend, Kimbra Nungessar, wrote yesterday in her Menu Monday raw cooking emails.  Kimbra has been a Raw/Vegan for 9 years and her husband is co-author of the cookbook TopRawMen (click to link to their website).

"People wonder why they and their kids are always sick in the winter. We blame sick classmates, cold weather outside, too many germs inside, the list goes on. Think about this...Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter. Candy, sugar, Candy and more sugar. Sugar kills our immune system. Normally after Easter sickness disappears and our kids run healthy through the summer and early fall until....Halloween, Thanksgiving...etc. I encourage you to control the amount of candy and sugar in your kids diet. I can literally turn runny noses on and off in my kids via their diet. Some of the worst offenders are well meaning Sunday School teachers and school teachers which feed high sugar snacks to the kids on a weekly basis. 

Use the dollar store or garage sales to fill a basket with small trinkets. Let your kids cash in their candy for an item from the basket. However, don't stash the candy away in the house because guess who will eat it in a moment of weakness...you! Throw it away, give it away or send it to work with someone you know.  If your kids want to work together let them slowly put their candy treats in a collective jar. Write the prize on the outside of the jar: family movie night, trip to bounceU, whatever would motivate your kids. When the jar is full of sweets they get to go on the treat!"

 

I love it!  Thank you SO much Kimbra! 
It's now 1:40 p.m. and I am sore-throat free!  Yay to healthy eating!

Raw Green Smoothies

Raw green smoothies have been the #1 subject that has been discussed between myself and my friends and on facebook over the past 4 months.  It's amazing when I post "I had an xyz smoothie today - what was in yours?", the number of responses that come back astounds me.  I had no idea so many of my friends were already doing what I have just learned!  On the flip side, I've had people tell me: "Green smoothies are nothing new.  They've been around since the 60's and were a total fad of the hippies."  Well, my response to that is 1) They were totally new to ME and 2) This mama ain't no hippie! (excuse the improper grammar)  Whether it's a fad or not is completely up to each individual and whether we make a choice for the short-term (because everyone's doing it) or we make a lifestyle change because it's what's right for our bodies and will take us one step farther on the road to optimal health.

Believe it or not, just because something is new doesn't mean it's healthy.  And oppositely, just because something was a fad in the 60's (whether 19 or 18 or even father back!) doesn't mean it wasn't a completely wonderful and viable health option, both then and now.  So for me, I've chosen to incorporate raw green smoothies into my lifestyle.  In fact, this was the first step I took when I decided to learn more about eating Raw.

I'm going to give 100% of the credit for what I've learned about Raw Smoothies to Living Raw by Grace's Haley Turney.  Everything I've learned has either been from one of her classes or from her website (click her name above to go directly to her site's info on green smoothies).  In fact, I'm providing the link so that I don't have to re-write everything she said!  Please, visit her site and learn directly from the master!  I have learned from her the health benefits to eating raw (I'll share later in a separate blog post) and how important one simple food addition and/or replacement of smoothies into your diet can significantly change your health for the better.  For me it has aided in my weight loss, in cutting sugars from my diet and has helped reduce the asthma-related issues I'd been having for about 6 months before starting to drink raw smoothies.

My Smoothie Steps:

Everyone wants to know my recipe and you will all be sorely disappointed to find out that I don't have a recipe!  What I do, though, is fill the blender about 1/3 full of ice and then cover that either with water or coconut water.  (I used to use juice until I discovered that's the same as drinking pure sugar.  No nutritional value at all!  So other than flavor, there really is no point in adding juice.)  Then I add whatever fruits and greens I'm going to use, my seeds of choice and protein powder...and blend!

In every smoothie I make there are the following ingredients:

• ice
• water or coconut water
• 1 banana
• 1 green
• 3-4 other fruits
• protein powder (I prefer vanilla or wild berry to add flavor)
• a seed (usually chia, hemp or flax...I rotate which ones I use)

The greens I love the most are: spinach, collard, red chard, kale and cabbage.  I go for a more mild taste to my greens.  If you want some spice, try mustard greens.  I used that once and was literally breathing fire for the next 10 minutes!  (Definitely clears the sinuses.)  There is a full list of possible greens on Haley's site, in order from mild to WOW.

For fruits, go with seasonal for the cheapest.  I've never made one smoothie exactly the same twice in a row.  It's all dependant on what's in the fridge at the time.  Right now I'm using a lot of peaches since they're in season.  Last month it was strawberries and mangoes.  Before that raspberries and blackberries.   My base fruit for sweetness and texture is the banana.  My sister's is an apple.  Use what you will enjoy drinking.

I've learned that a nutrient in cabbage fights belly fat, so if you're trying to decrease the belly, use cabbage ~ red or white/green, doesn't matter.  It does have a strong taste so you might want to go light at first.  With the greens, you need to rotate them weekly at the very least.  Greens have natural toxins in them designed Naturally (i.e. by God) to keep pests away.  When blended at the high speeds, we are metabolizing them much more effectively than if we simply chew them.  Too much of the same green in a row could cause stomach aches or other issues (learned the hard way by me with spinach!).

To use chia seeds, I keep a container in the fridge at all times.  The ratio is 2 cups water to 1/3 cup chia seeds.  It'll last about 3 weeks in the fridge (but by that time it's usually all used up).  It takes on a jellyish/tapioca consistency.  Then I pour about 2 tbsp into my shakes pre-blending.  Chia seeds are great to have pre-workout to increase endurance.

I usually have 2 smoothies a day.  With Clean Eating, you eat 5-6 mini-meals a day.  So my smoothies account for 2 of those meals.  I tend to cheat on just about anything so I have one for breakfast but I'll usually split it in 1/2 and drink them an hour apart to trick my mind in to thinking I've had 2 meals instead of just one.  (It keeps me from snacking on other things.)  If I'm going out - which I am every morning - then I pack one of them in a cooler with a few ice cubes added and drink while out.  Then I'll have one either for lunch (if I'm home) or mid-afternoon snack.  Each smoothie I make is about 4 cups.  My last tip is to drink lots of water...because with all that fiber, you're going to want to flush it (if you know what I mean).

Enjoy your smoothies today!  The one pictured was my snack this afternoon and includes: water, 1 banana, 1 kale leaf, 1 peach, 1 pear and a handful of blueberries.  And let me tell you...it was GOOD!!!!  I'm off to make some Kale Crisps (the recipe of the week for next week!)

Share: What is your favorite ingredient for your smoothies?  AND how regularly do you enjoy raw green smoothies?

Progress

Today was a day of progress for me.  So as this blog is about my journey, I thought I'd do some progress posts every once-in-awhile.  It's quite possible no one will ever read them and that's OK, since they'll probably be more embarrassing than not.  Nevertheless they'll be a point of accountability for me.

Today marks an important day for me in my journey to optimal health.  My journey started at 199 lbs (I would NOT let myself see the big 200!).  My original goal was simply to lose weight.  That goal has not only been attained BUT I learned that weight loss shouldn't be the primary goal.  Instead it should be a strong and healthy body (here's to optimal health!!).  So today I officially reached 40 lbs lost.  It took 8 months to get here.  I've been saying I lost 40 lbs for over a month now.  But really I was off by 1-3 lbs, depending on what time of day and whether I'd eaten ice cream or not!  I can't tell you how frustrating it has been to be 1 lb from your target for over 1 month and just not able to hit it.

On this journey I've spent a lot of time praying.  When I get stuck or frustrated, or just can't give up a certain type of food...I take it to the Lord.  It seems like every time I've laid it out before Him, He's been faithful to get me past and onto my next goal.  So this past week I again went to the Lord and shared my frustrations.  Through that time with Him I began to re-evaluate what I've been doing differently.  And I also came to realize I have been victorious this past month in maintaining one weight (depending on the time of day and...yep, the whole ice cream thing again!) and that when I eat 100% clean I will maintain a steady weight.  No more yo-yos!  That really was huge for me.

This past month I also lost my craving for ice cream.  (WHAT!)  I know - I'm pretty shocked myself.  My tastes continue to evolve and I find I'm no longer desiring things that I previously couldn't live without.  The "secret sugars" I was still inviting into my diet.  Those would include Haagen Daz vanilla ice cream (made with all whole foods) and Fresh & Easy vanilla Greek yogurt.

This week I officially:

• reached 40 lbs weight loss
• stopped eating ice cream (I'm sure I'll still enjoy on occasion)
• made the leap from Greek yogurt with sugar to Greek yogurt without sugar!!!
• began eating a lot more raw snacks AND find them satisfying!

I also evaluated the things that I had changed the past month and added these back in, resulting in finally reaching my target:

• drinking 66 oz of water a day (3 of my big Tervis tumblers!), one as soon as I wake up in the morning
• drinking 1 glass of 1/2 squeezed lemon and 1 tbsp maple syrup then filling the rest of the glass up with ice water, also first thing in the morning
• drinking 2 raw green smoothies a day, 22 oz each  (I had cut back to 1 and then was sharing that one with the kids.  It's amazing what a difference the smoothie makes!)
• at the gym I'd cut out all core exercises (not sure why...other than I have been sick the past two weeks and before that...laziness??).  So I added two main ones back into my daily routine.

The great thing about meeting a goal is getting to set a new one. I love new beginnings and fresh starts! So here's to the next 10 lbs and the lessons I'm going to learn in getting there!

Have you reached a health goal that you're dying to "shout out" to the world?  Go ahead and share and let us cheer you on!