eat to live

I got the  book Eat To Live through Inter library loan and am in the process of reading it. At first I thought I should wait to post til I finished it and give a book review. But that just seemed like I was out to convince people that this is the way to eat. I'm not. Although, I have written about nutrition and probably will again. I really am not trying to convince anyone to change. I am just telling you what is going on in my life and sharing the good news!

For most of my adult life (probably some time after my youngest was born, she's 21 in a couple of days) I have been overweight. I somehow managed to take the weight off after the birth of each child but, when Jayme was a couple of years old I began to gain weight. I tried numerous diets. Including one that I feel has a lot of healthy ideas and nutritional information that I completely agree with. You can get a general idea here. I agree with their ideas about raw dairy, healthy oils and eating more fermented type foods.

I ate this diet pretty religiously before we moved to TN. It made me fat. That is a bit blunt I know but, well, it did. I had good access to raw milk, ate pasture fed meat, yogurt and even tried my hand at making my own cheese. I continued to gain weight. Just before we moved the scale was nearly to 200 lbs! I'm 5'4"....that's pretty heavy.

When we moved I no longer had access to good dairy. So, we used less. Finances were tighter so I ate more of the standard american diet (SAD). I slowly lost some of the weight. Just by not eating so many dairy products. Unfortunately for me, SAD offers very little actual nutrition. I had lost some weight but, I felt terrible. I was tired.....most of the time. It seemed there was a little voice in my head constantly chanting "I'm so tired....I wish I felt better....I'm just so tired."  This is a picture of me not quite two years ago. I can almost hear the words, can't you?


I began to study herbs and vitamins in earnest trying to feel better. It did help, alot, actually. The better I felt the more I studied. For the first time, the little voice was getting quieter. I wasn't quite so tired. But I still seemed unable to lose much weight. I had reached a plateau. I feel better, yet I'm still overweight and out of shape.

About a month ago a friend on facebook starts posting and writing in her blog about green smoothies. It peaks my interest and as I read about the huge nutritional qualities it begins to make perfect sense. I studied more online and I began making them. First it was one a day, then two. After the first week I began to replace  breakfast with just a smoothie. Lunch is a salad and a smoothie. Supper is salad with lots of veggies, small portion of meat (some days none) and I try to have some beans (legumes of some kind). Maybe with a tortilla. I eat til I'm full at lunch and supper. Not much dairy right now. A little feta cheese on the salad and for a while I was putting yogurt in my smoothies. I haven't been the last week. Just frozen fruit, greens of some kind, water and a little stevia. They are good. Tim drinks them.....without complaining!

I've also been walking. 1.4 miles a day. First I was just walking at a comfortable pace. Now I really walk. Like I used to when I worked at a busy restaurant. (tip your waitresses people, they work hard!) :)

 How is it going? I've lost 7 lbs in less than a month. That leaves me about 22 to go to reach my healthy weight. Maybe another 5 when I get there, we'll see how I feel. Notice I said when, not if....."Confidence is preparation, everything else is beyond your control." Read that on a blog the other day. For the first time in a long time I have confidence that I can lose weight and get in shape. In shape enough to keep up with Tim. To go that extra mile higher. To not feel like I'm going to die climbing up those stairs at Chimney Rock!

Why do I feel so confident? Because, despite the fact that I have lost weight and am eating a lot of "rabbit food" I feel so gooood! The voice that used to chant "I'm so tired, I'm so tired...." is very quiet these days. I had forgotten what it was like to feel this way. The fog in my brain is lifting and I can think more clearly than I have in years. No, I don't feel like I'm 19 again. I don't think I want to, I wasn't very smart back then.....did some pretty stupid things, that I would not like to repeat. But, I feel good. Simply, good.

No, I've not become a vegetarian or vegan. (they're different you know) I am just choosing to eat the highest concentration of nutrients possible. Fruits and vegetables far outweigh dairy or meat. I have a hard time digesting too much meat. Dairy just puts the weight on me.
I read a book years ago called The Endless Steppe. It's the story of a Polish-Jewish family that was deported to Siberia during Hitler's evil reign. They, of course, had very little food and were desperately poor. The young girl decides to try and earn some extra "pay" in the form of milk, by knitting a sweater for one of the "better off" residents in town. It takes her weeks to finish it. She had carefully measured her customer and was sure the sweater would fit. But, when she brings the finished product she's horrified to see the woman has gained weight! Quite a bit! Of course it doesn't fit....the woman laughs and says "It's the cow I've gotten......the milk has made me fat!"

Not against dairy....not at all. I actually love milk and milk products. I was under the assumption we really needed it to be healthy. No, we don't. At least, that is the conclusion I've come to, after much study and seeing the evidence on the scale and in the way I feel. I had thought it was where we got most of our calcium from....nope. There are actually a lot of greens that far outnumber milk in calcium. So, for now, I have said good bye to dairy products. Don't worry if I come to your house, I'll still eat the ice cream you offer and be ever so grateful for it. With a nutritarian type diet these things are allowed, just on rare special occasions. Don't depend on them for your nutrition.

Why am I changing my "eating lifestyle"? Because I love my husband, my kids, my grandkids and the rest of my family and friends. I love God, I love being out in His beautiful Creation. I love tramping through the woods, looking for that elusive special herb or wildflower. I did not love sitting on the steps, left behind, while Tim made it to the very top of our hike. I do not love feeling like my lungs will explode and I will pass out with the exertion, as I try to keep up. I want to feel good. I want to be healthy and live as long as the Good Lord lets me. He'll let me choose the way I want to eat and not stop me. But the piper always gets paid in the end, doesn't he?

If you think of me, say a little prayer, asking for the Grace and self control to do the right thing. To make the choices that offer  me a better way of living. A chance to someday be an old, old gramma. To smile at my great grandchildren and say "let's go for a little walk and pick some wildflowers along the way."