Why Not Wheat? 1

*The following information is from Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD*

I thought more explanation for the no wheat portion of our plan would be nice, so I am attempting to share some facts from Wheat Belly.  The reason I haven't shared so far is probably because it is such a difficult book.  It's very scientific, so it's difficult for me to summarize even 1 section.  So, what I think I will do is put a few of his "ending comments" that occur after every big chuck of scientific data and explanation.  If you want to know more, I suggest reading the book.  You'll be glad that you did! 33,34

Sooo Did you know:
1. Eating 2 slices of whole wheat bread is the same, often worse, as drinking sodas or candy bars! It raises your glycemic index of table sugar is 59...GI of whole grain bread: 72!  This is just a small part of his argument about wheat being possibly the #1 cause of developed diabetes.

2. Gluten Free?  Well Davis says yes, but not completely.  Most gluten free products simply replace the wheat flour with "cornstarch, rice starch, potato starch, or tapioca starch."  Although switching to gluten free products does have positive effects on people with celiac disease, the stuff used as a replacement "still trigger the glucose insulin response that causes you to gain weight." p.71,72

3. There are many studies about wheat & addiction and wheat & schizophrenia. "Wheat is an appetite stimulant: It makes you want more--more cookies, cupcakes, pretzels, candy, soft drinks." It is extremely typical that if you do eliminate all wheat from your diet, you will have withdraw symptoms. BUT if after that's over, everyone experiences these effects: "hunger and cravings diminish, calorie intake decreases, mood and well-being increase, weight goes down, wheat belly shrinks." 53,54

4. Diabetes: yikes. In 1980, only about 6% of US adults had diabetes. 2009? About 24% of US adults had diabetes. Here's the connection:
     "Products made with wheat dominate our diet and push blood sugar higher than virtually all other foods.[...] The cycle of glucose-insulin reaching high levels several times every day provokes growth of visceral fat. Visceral fat - wheat belly - is closely aligned with resistance to insulin that, in turn, leads to even higher levels of glucose and insulin." 103, 104
At the beginning of the book, we find out that William Davis himself along with numbers of his diabetes patients CURED their diabetes by eliminating all wheat and wheat containing products from their diets.

Phew! This is just a super tiny portion of the explanations and facts found in this book.  It's seriously fascinating and, in my opinion, extremely convincing.  This is honestly the most difficult diet change to make for me, and probably the majority of us.  Think about it.  Think about how much wheat we eat in one day...and yes you have to count wheat containing products (which is seriously the majority of groceries on the store shelves)!
I would love to hear your thoughts about this info, because it's such a BIG one, ya know.  No wheat? geez. And it's not just weight that is at risk, it's your health and well-being, which is the root of my big project here.

Day 14

Yay, finally a better day for us!  We did eat Chuy's with friends tonight, but I was good and got my veggie enchilada! It was too fun to care much about what we ate anyway.  Oh, well we did kind of get dessert at Cold Stone.

Breakfast:
Smoothie
broccoli
kale
red chard
flax seed
multivitamin
banana
almond milk
frozen strawberries
frozen blueberries
=
delicious.

Lunch:
left over veggies w/ quinoa and 1 slice veggie pizza
squash
zucchini
onion
garlic
mushroom
tomato
cilantro
bell pepper
quinoa
&
pizza w/ olive
bell pepper
tomato
mushroom
mozzarella

Dinner:
Chuys!
(Sarah) too many chips
salsa
tad bit cheese
veggie enchilada w/tomatillo sauce
charro beans
(Alan-less healthy, as usual;))
chicken quesadillas
refried beans
cheese dip
chips
salsa

Dessert:
(Sarah)
"like it" sized cake batter icecream
rainbow sprinkles
(Alan)
chocolate chip cookie topped with peanut butter, ice cream, and chocolate shavings

It gets harder and harder to keep up with eating healthy as we go along.  I want to pat ourselves on the back for today, but then I realize we've missed the big salad like 2 or 3 days in a row! That's the crucial part of our whole plan.  Not to mention neither of us has been disciplined about unhealthy indulgences.

I remember reading on Dr. Fuhrman's website one day in the FAQ section where one person asked him how he keeps this up EVERY day.  His answer was to keep yourself informed of the facts of nutrition everyday by reading.  This is something I've stopped doing for a few weeks now, and I think maybe it is why I'm so less motivated. I need to be reminded of WHY we are attempting this and kick it into gear!  Here I go.  Maybe this is something you could add to your challenge, too.  Buy a book, or look up an article and read one section or article each day.  Just a short 5 minute read.  It might be just the thing to convince us to just put the cookies down haha.

Day 13

Wow, today was not exactly good y'all!  I almost don't want to put what all we ate today because it's so shameful. How is it that we are doing SO terrible on this 2 week challenge??  One reason today went wrong was because I had no tomato sauce to make my soup with, and from there realized I was missing 1 essential ingredient for everything I know how to make haha.  So, I'll just say that we had a delicious smoothie (same as always) for breakfast, and from there it just wasn't all good except for the palm-sized side salad at lunch and a big scoop of fruit salad.

Better day tomorrow, surely! I hope your Sunday was more successful in the food department!

Day 12

Day 12 was a pretty good day.  We had all of our meals at home.  We did munch on bad things, but at least we had our vegetables.

Breakfast:
grapefruit
walnuts
pistachios
almonds

Lunch:
veggie pizza
tomato
mushroom
bell pepper
olive
mozzarella
pizza sauce
store bought crust

Snack: 
crackers & cream cheese
gelato

Dinner:
leftover cooked vegetables with quinoa

Day 11

Today was a busy day! I want to say that we did our best to stay on plan, but you must know that Alan had not 1, but 2 burgers today. Yeah. Seriously.  On top of that, we ate snacks at church like cookies and cheese.  So, not a disciplined day for sure.

Breakfast:
Smoothies - same as always

Lunch: (Sarah) turkey lettuce wrap w/pineapples, (Alan) burger and fries! so sad

Dinner: 
cooked veggies
squash
zucchini
onion
garlic
red, yellow, orange bell pepper
mushrooms
can no salt diced tomato
cilantro
cumin
cayenne

Evening Snacks:
(Sarah) 2 cookies, 5 cubes of cheese, Dr Pepper
(Alan) 2 cookies, 5ish cubes of cheese, Dr Pepper, Sonic burger & tots

Day 11

Hola!  So, today was good, but we did eat at a restaurant and I ate wayyyy too many chips and salsa!

Breakfast
Smoothie...
kale
almond milk
flax seed
blueberries
strawberries
raspberries

Lunch
3 cups salad - chopped...
bok choy
red leaf lettuce
spinach
romaine
strawberries
pecans
sunflower seeds
strawberry vinaigrette dressing

Snack:
grapefruit

Dinner:
Chuy's - no cheese dip.
Veggie enchilada & chicken chalupa, chips & salsa (Sarah)
Chica Chica Boom Boom, chips & salsa (Alan), and jalapeno ranch. shame on him. :)

Today has been such a busy day, I have no idea what tomorrow will be like.  I predict that lunch will not be where it needs to be, but at least I'll be able to cook soup for supper, and we'll eat our salads for supper, too.

Day 10

Breakfast:
Smoothie with...
kale
red chard
blueberries
raspberries
blackberries
almond milk
flax seed
multi vitamin

Lunch:
3 cups of salad! equal parts of...
red leaf lettuce
romaine
bok choy
spinach
topped with...
pecans
sunflower seeds
strawberries
& strawberry vinaigrette dressing
(Alan ate 2 slices of pizza for work, but one was veggie haha. I ate a piece of baked chicken at school.)

Dinner: 
We went with indulge night and had...
buffalo chicken bites

Dessert/Snack: 
grapefruit

Tomorrow, or today really, we will be eating at a restaurant with family.  I am re-reading my restaurant vow before I leave!

Menu & Shopping List

    I thought it could be nice for me to share my grocery list with you and what meals I have in mind for the week.  Thinking up meals is one of the hardest parts for me because I never know how I'm going to feel later into the week or if I'll have time to cook one night.  I do try to have something of a game plan though.  This week, I'm keeping it simple making only things that I can do from memory.  I also know that for this week, we'll be eating out one night. 
    I, Sarah, vow to make the best health promoting food choices when at restaurants this week.  Instead of chicken enchilada with cheese I will have veggie enchilada with tomatillo sauce.  I will refrain from ordering cheese dip and stick with salsa. I will make sure Alan does the same.

Breakfasts:
Smoothies
frozen fruits
unsweetened almond milk
ground flax seeds
kale
collards
broccoli
red chard
bananas

Scrambled Eggs
...eggs - grass fed

Lunches:
*left overs from dinners*
Salads
spinach
romaine
red leaf lettuce
iceberg
cabbage (maybe)
strawberries
dates
sesame seeds
balsamic vineagar

Fruit Salad
red grapes
strawberries
raspberries
blueberries
apples
oranges

Dinners:
Vegetables & Quinoa
zucchini
tomato
squash
onion
garlic
mushroom
tomato sauce
quinoa

Baked Chicken w/sides & a salad
Chicken - grass fed
squash
onion
green beans

Mexican Night - as salad or w/chips
black beans - no salt
pinto beans - no salt
corn
cumin
paprika
chili powder
cayenne
low sodium salsa
lettuces - shredded
chips

Indulge Night w/large salad
chicken
wing sauce
shredded cheese
ranch dressing
Pillsbury breadsticks

Desserts:
Fruit salad
grapefruit
caramel gelato (limit 2 times a week)

Minus just a few things that I already had at home (wing sauce, cheese, ranch, chips) this was my grocery list for today, and guess what. It was only $58.  Will it last a full week? I have no idea, but will keep you posted.  If you're taking the challenge, I hope your shopping trip was excellent, and I wish you the best!

Where's the Motivation?

Reasons I love this blog:
1. Keeping myself accountable - during my 9 blog-devoted days of eating only for health, this blog and my readers were always on my mind. I didn't want to have to type out that I had eaten a chocolate molten cake at the end of the day, so I wouldn't eat one.
2. Inspiring others - definitely the reward aspect of keeping this blog.  I know that I like to try new or difficult things with other people who are trying the same new or difficult things.  Support feels good and reminds you that your not crazy for trying something.
3. I like to write

Reasons I've failed at this blog so far:
1. I hate to write
2. I had one too-busy-to-write day, and just like a good workout schedule, if you miss on day the next thing you know it's been 2 weeks since!
3. I cheated big time and didn't want to fess up to myself or you.

Somewhere within the last 2 weeks, I've lost myf fire to wash, peel, chop, and cook.  I've gotten so lazy with it that I've convinced myself to make way too many non-health promoting food choices each day.  Can I just say that I feel horrible...physically bad.  I'm not going to lie, I have two things of fresh strawberries in the fridge that Alan bought last weekend that I still haven't touched--probably moldy by now.  Why? Because I just have't felt like it.

I for one think that is completely unacceptable! Two cartons of strawberries? Seriously, I couldn't just run some water over the things?  I do think that this is a stage that probably everyone would go through when starting this type of "diet".  It's  A LOT of work and thought that I've never had to consider on a daily basis.  But I want to do it so badly! So, I am going to set a challenge for myself starting tomorrow (or maybe Wednesday...not sure if I have the resources to start tomorrow) that from that point forward, I will stick to my healthy food choices and blog posts daily for 2 full weeks.  I challenge you to do it with me! Tomorrow, make a nice list of fresh produce to buy at the store, go have a successful shopping trip, I'll do the same, and by Wednesday we will all be ready to dominate the next two weeks.

I think we can do it! Let me know if you're going to take the challenge!

Day 9

Hi! It's day 9 of our big-time commitment, and I have an exciting announcement: I have a favorite healthy meal now.  I just made it for dinner, and I think it's absolutely delicious.  I improved my own version of a Dr. Fuhrman recipe called "Super Food Stuffed Peppers."  1. I didn't have all of the exact ingredients and 2. I cannot just eat that much bell pepper that way.  Also, the breakfast smoothie for this morning and the past few mornings is the MOST delicious one we've concocted. I LOVE it.

I have to admit that I was a bad dieter today and ate a very large brownie from McAlester's.  Our department won department of the six weeks for last semester, and they gave us a huge platter.  I avoided them Friday, but when I kept seeing them today I totally caved.  Temptations, temptations!

Breakfast: Smoothie
1 big kale leaf
1 radish
1/2 C almond milk (or a bit more if it won't blend)
1/2 C frozen blueberry
1/2 C frozen raspberry
1/2 C frozen cherry
1 banana
1 T flaxseed
1 multivitamin

Lunch: No-meat chili with beans, mixed greens salad with strawberry dressing, fruit salad
Chili - from the little brown chili kit box
1 can tomato sauce
1 seasoning packet
2 cans no salt pinto beans
1/4 bell pepper, chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
water
Salad
2 C mixed greens
1/4 C strawberry dressing
Fruit Salad
1 C apple, strawberry, grape, raspberry

Dinner: "Stuffed" Bell Pepper with Quinoa
2 bell peppers
1/4 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 large zucchini
1 vine tomato
8-10 mushrooms
3 radishes
1 can diced tomato
Italian seasoning to taste
serve with quinoa

I feel like these day by day posts are kind of boring. Any suggestions??

Day 7 & 8

We had a great weekend! Yes, we cheated, but we tried to keep it as balanced as we could.  We had the right breakfasts and at least one other meal right.  Alan ate donuts of all things! So, I ate brownies haha.  Anyway, it's a new week, and we're back into the swing of healthy eating.

One meal worth mentioning was the cinnamon fruit oatmeal.  It was old fashioned rolled oats with blueberries, apples, raisins, cinnamon, walnuts, and flaxseed.  It was actually really good! No sugar or anything unhealthy, either! I think as long as you have a nice mixture of fruit, sugar is mostly unnecessary.

Let me know how your first week of change went!

Fuhrman Fact 3: Mushrooms

*The information here is from Super Immunity by Joel Fuhrman, MD. pg 69-74*

I will not go into much detail this time, but just give you the super interesting facts for you to check out yourself.

Mushrooms have disease-fighting compounds, are immune-supporting, and reduce the risk of breast cancer.  Eating just one small mushroom each day can decrease your risk of breast cancer by 64%!  When eaten simultaneously with green veggies and onions, mushrooms can be even more powerful for your immune system.

All mushrooms are great, but the mushrooms with high anti-aromatase activity (I'll let you look that up) are: white button, white stuffing, cremini, portobello, reishi, maitake

Even better news is that cooking mushrooms does not take away any of their amazing power! I like to chop mine up pretty tiny and put them in soups or other cooked vegetables.  So if nothing else, make eating 1 mushroom each day a new goal. It's worth it!

Day 6

Today was good for us.  The cravings were hard, but we got through it! Since it was Friday night we decided to try a restaurant.  Alan picked this little vegan restaurant because he thought, hey it's vegan it has to be healthy or something.  So we gave it shot.  It was probably the most off-plan meal we've had all week! I got the veggie kabobs which ended up being veggie and fake beef & chicken kabobs dowsed in BBQ sauce over some kind of rice.  Alan got the "chicken" wrap, which was technically all processed foods except for the lonely piece of lettuce.  It was the weirdest meal we've ever had, and we can now say that we are definitely not vegans.  It's just not for us.  So, as far as nutritional value for the whole day, I have NO IDEA lol.

Breakfast: Smoothie & Scrambled eggs
1/2 C unsweetened almond milk
1 kale
1/2 cabbage leaf
1/2 banana
1 C blueberries, raspberries, & cherries (frozen)
(Alan) 2 eggs
(Sarah) 1 egg
1/2 small tomato

Lunch: Spinach salad w/strawberry vinaigrette dressing, Quinoa & pinto beans, Squash & Onion
2 C Spinach
1/4 C pecan halves
1/4 dressing
1/4 C quinoa
1/2 C pinto beans w/ bell pepper
1/2 C squash & onion

Dinner: (Alan) "Chicken" Wrap, chips & salsa. (Sarah) Veggie Kabob & rice
Positives: I did eat 2 whole mushrooms and Alan ate 1

We definitely still wish we were eating the unhealthy foods we really want, but I feel like the days are getting a little bit easier as far as sticking to what we're supposed to eat.  You might ask why eating mushrooms is such a positive...well I might just have to make a new post for that.  I had no idea how great mushrooms are for you, and I bet you'll be surprised too!

Fuhrman Fact 2: Protein

*The information here comes from Super Immunity by Joel Fuhrman, MD pg. 83, 121-133*

I know all of us hear all kinds of information about protein, and we usually hear that we need more of it. With all of my concentration on protein the last couple of days, I thought it might be nice to reread and share!  Keep in mind that Dr. Fuhrman suggests eating NO animal product, but says if you do make it only "eggs, grass-fed meats, clean wild fish, and naturally raised, hormone-free poultry." p. 133

"Try not to eat more than one or two foods a day that are not health-supporting." p. 130

Did you know that the average American gets about 100g of protein daily? Thats about 50% more than we should get! Much of these grams come from all of the animal product we consume throughout the day. The problem is that when we exceed our bodies' protein requirement, the extra is converted to fat or removed from your body via kidneys which causes a lot of wear and tear on your bones.  When we eat too much animal protein the process is even harder on our bones and stomach because it is acidic. Vegetable protein is significantly more beneficial to your body, and with the protein added from other foods like nuts, seeds, beans, fruits, and some grains you will get around 50 grams of protein per 1000 calories. pg. 122-123

So, make sure you have variety each day, and you will easily get the required amount of protein! Fuhrman says these are the essentials to eat each and every day:
Greens, onions, mushrooms, berries, beans, seeds p. 83

Measuring and weighing is really...annoying. But, I just want to make sure that we actually are getting what we need.  So, hopefully after a few days of this I will be able to eyeball it and move much quicker! What do you think about the protein debate?

I feel like I just wrote a research paper lol. Instead of doing this again, I'm just going to share with you his website!
http://www.drfuhrman.com/default.aspx

Day 5

Today was a good day.  We ate all of our good foods and didn't complain about it.  We are still trying to get used to exactly how much of each type of food we need to eat, and from what we can tell today, we are somewhere around 5 g short of the amount of protein we need.  So, tonight we are doing the math to make sure that tomorrow is where it needs to be.  

Breakfast: Smoothie & scrambled eggs

2 kale

1 cabbage leaf

1 1/2 C strawberries, blueberries, cherries, raspberries, blackberries

2 eggs (alan) 1 egg (sarah)

slice of bell pepper, chopped

Snack: Banana (sarah)

Lunch: Salad, pomegranate, almonds, & pistachios

2 C spinach & mixed greens

strawberry, date, sesame, balsamic vinegar dressing

1/2 C pomegranate seeds

1/2 C almonds & pistachios

Dinner: Salad, white beans & zucchini

2 1/4 C romain lettuce

1/2 tomato

1/2 carrot

2 T Italian dressing

1/2 C white beans & zucchini

(alan) 1 veggie enchilada - leftover

Dessert: grapefruit

Day 4

Yikes, today was challenging.  Alan ate all of his meals, but says he was still really hungry all day.  I dropped my lunch and spilled half of it lol.  I'm not sure about Alan, but I have just been grumpy all day, and when we got home the last thing I wanted to do was cook. 1. the kitchen was not ready to cook in, and 2. i just flat out did not want to cook!  So we decided to go out and practice making good decisions at restaurants haha. I don't think we did too bad, either.  Alan might have done kind of bad, but some of it wasn't his fault because they brought him the wrong things and kept forgetting to fix it.  But regardless, we didn't do bad today.

Breakfast: Smoothie
2 kale
1 cabbage
mixed berries
1/2 banana

Snack: Fruit salad w/almonds & pecans
strawberry
blueberry
orange
apple
10 almonds
10 pecan halves

Lunch: Salad & dressing with Zucchini & White beans
2 C Mixed greens
same dressing as last night
3/4 - 1 C zucchini & white beans

Dinner: Veggie enchilada with tomatillo sauce or chicken enchilada with tomatillo sauce--no cheese w/charro beans, chips & salsa
veggies: squash, corn, onion, spinach, zucchini, chiles

Over all, the day was pretty good.  I feel *bleh* about it, but I think I've just been in a bad mood today, so I'll just make sure I end this by looking forward to tomorrow!  I've gotten into Wheat Belly a little more today, so expect to see some wheat belly facts tomorrow.  It is really amazing information!  It's hard to convince yourself to no eat foods that we know are "bad for us" when we really don't know exactly why they are bad for us.  Much of what we judge "bad" food by is how it affects weight gain. Once you begin understanding the facts, it becomes clear that weight loss is only an added bonus to eating right, not the other way around.  And from there, the motivation to make healthy choices gets that much easier!

Day 3

So glad to write about a fully successful day on day 3 of our journey.  I had extra encouragement today from my cousin who has been eating healthy for a couple of months now: lost 35 lbs so far and now enjoys vegetables!  He says that the first 2 weeks was extremely hard dealing with cravings, but once that was over it was a breeze and his taste buds even changed! During the first week, he ate grilled asparagus by holding his nose and making faces. Last week, he had grilled asparagus for the first time since and was surprised that he could not eat enough of the stuff! That was enough to get me pumped about dinner tonight!

Breakfast: Smoothie

2 kale

1 cabbage leaf

1/2 banana

mixed berries

1 multi vitamin

Lunch: Spinach and mixed green salad with the pecans and strawberry dressing & vegetable soup

1 1/2 C greens

about 10 pecan halves

3/4 C veggie soup - celery, carrots, onion, and mushroom

Snack: fruit salad

strawberry

orange

apple

blueberry

Dinner: Mixed greens salad with a new dressing I tried tonight & either zucchini and white beans or black bean bundles (I had the zucchini, Alan had the bundles)

1 C greens

1/4 C chopped apples, carrot, red onion

Dressing: balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, raisins, almond butter, almond milk (Dr. Fuhrman recipe)

3/4 C zucchini, white beans, garlic

3/4 C black beans, avocado, bell pepper, garlic, cilantro, green onion, & lime juice with corn chips

Dessert: Peach slices for me, mixed berry smoothie for Alan

I have to admit that we both feel good to have accomplished today's meals! And you know what, these were all very enjoyable ones!  I hope you had a good day, too. 

Fuhrman Fact 1: Cruciferous Vegetables

*The information here is from Super Immunity by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. pg. 64-69*

We've all heard of vegetables, but have you heard about cruciferous vegetables?  These are the top of the top, the cream of the crop! These amazing vegetables are twice as powerful than others when chopped, chewed, blended, crushed, or juiced.  And cooking them doesn't take their power away! Just make sure to do the chopping, chewing, etc. before doing the cooking! Here's a shocking quote from the book:

"In population studies, a 20 percent increase in plant food intake generally corresponds to a 20 percent decrease in cancer rates, but a 20 percent increase in cruciferous vegetable intake corresponds to a 40 percent decrease in cancer rates."

Amazing! Check out this list of cruciferous veggies:

Arugula

Bok choy

Broccoli

Brussels sprouts

Cabbage

Cauliflower

Collards

Horseradish

Kale

Mustard Greens

Radishes

Turnip greens

Watercress

I have to disguise my vegetables to eat them most of the time. I can put them in smoothies or chop them up so tiny that they are stuck to the food I DO want to eat. What's your trick?

Our Daily Guidelines & Food Pyramid

Incase you want to know just what we're trying to eat each day, we are trying to follow the food pyramid found in Dr. Fuhrman's books.  There is SO much information in these books that you won't get just from reading what we're attempting to eat.  They tell you WHY these foods are either extremely beneficial or harmful to your body.

The percentages are for daily calories:
RARELY: beef, sweets, cheese, & processed foods
RARELY: eggs, oil, fish, & fat-free dairy
20% or less: whole grains & potatoes
10-40%: seeds, nuts, & avacados
10-40%: fruits
10-40%: beans/legumes
30-60%: Vegetables (excluding white potatoes)

Now, I'm also pairing this with the studies in Wheat Belly which means even less wheat or none--yep even the whole grains.  We'll probably have chicken 3 times a week and sometimes eggs.  The important thing to remember when buying these products is to buy GRASS FED, not grain fed.

Day 2

I am glad to say that day two was much better than day one, however not perfect!  We blew it at dinner tonight.  Alan had to go pick up his contacts and I needed one more ingredient at the store before making dinner.  Well, we folded and ate Mexican! We felt shameful, but what can you do. It happened. Moving on!

Breakfast: Smoothie
2 kale
1 cabbage leaf
frozen mixed berries
flax seed

Lunch: Spinach salad w/strawberry sesame vinaigrette and pecans & raw carrots and celery with almond butter
Bowl full of spinach with the fixins
A shared plate of baby carrots and celery pieces
1 T almond butter

Snack: Banana

Dinner: Big fail at a restaurant

Late night snack: Fruit salad

So, working on our control is definitely a challenge--we LOVE mexican food!  Tomorrow looks pretty good though.  The soup is ready, lunches are ready, and I have a plan for dinner too.  How did your day go?

Encouraging Thoughts 1

I needed a bit of encouragement today, so I started to think of all the positives I have found so far.

1. Eliminating processed foods is surprisingly the EASIEST part of the whole deal.  Buying a buggy full of only fresh produce, raw nuts and seeds, and canned or dry beans makes you feel totally accomplished!  Control yourself at the grocery store and you will have no trouble at home.

2. I do like SOME vegetables already, and Alan likes even more.  I've also learned that I love spinach salad if it has Dr. Fuhrman's strawberry sesame vinaigrette dressing on it. Alan will eat raw broccoli, celery, and carrots. I can do it by holding my nose and washing every bite down with water.

3. I enjoy the full feeling I have after eating a big salad.  I may have to force most of it down, but afterwards it feels 100% worth it. Every time.

4. Alan will try anything I cook once, and a lot of times he likes it more than I do. ...And that smells like a challenge.

Okay! I feel much better about today now.  Hopefully this can encourage you as well. Make one meal a major change today and let me know if you have a #3 experience!

Day 1

It's the first day of the new year, and I began the day with every intention to kick this new life-style change into full swing.  It did not exactly go that way!  There will be improvements tomorrow for sure, but here is how day 1 looked for me.

Breakfast: Smoothie

2 stalks kale

1 leaf red cabbage

1 C frozen mixed berries

orange juice

1 T flax seed

Lunch: Little Caesars *fail*

3 slices

Snack: Fruit Salad

strawberries

blueberries

oranges

apples

Dinner: Italian Stuffer (Dr. Fuhrman recipe)

1 whole wheat wrap

2 oz chicken

3/4 C iceberg lettuce

sun-dried tomato (next time, I'm using fresh tomatoes)

walnuts

fresh parsley

Late night snack: Nestle caramel hot chocolate

1 pack hot chocolate mix

7 oz 2% milk

So, some of it was good, some of it bad, but tomorrow will be better. I am cooking a vegetable soup, blending up some of Dr. Fuhrman's salad dressings, and eating my leafy greens! I might be holding my nose through all of this, but it's going to happen. Stay tuned, and let me know if you're trying anything new, too! 

What it's all about!

About two months ago, my mom encouraged me to read a book called Super Immunity by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  We were both immediately hooked on his claims about the importance of greater vegetable intake and basically reversing our current food pyramid to build up our immune systems and prevent illness and disease.
Buy Super Immunity

Becoming a "nutritarian" proved to be a very challenging task as we have attempted these changes half-heartedly for two months.  With this new year, I have made this healthy life-style change a major resolution, and I intend to stick to it!  Alan is game, too!

I'm also pairing Dr. Fuhrman's books with a book called Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis which claims that wheat today--yes ALL wheat--is the largest cause of weight gain, diabetes, and other common health problems that are becoming increasing present today. So, here's to a new year, new challenges, and eating for a healthy life.
Buy Wheat Belly