Ever since I turned 30 almost 1 1/2 years ago my body seemed to be falling apart. At least that is what I thought. All of my old injuries were starting to bother me, I started getting acne for the first time ever, I easily gained weight and had an even harder time loosing it, I had regular headaches, I was constantly bloated, constipated and gassy, I tired easily and I didn't sleep very well at night and the list goes on. I just generally felt NOT good. Of course I blamed all of the aforementioned issues due to the fact that I was getting "old". I dreaded turning 30. Well, almost 2 years later and still nothing had changed. I tried exercising regularly, I even started running (which I don't overly enjoy) and still I felt tired around 3:00pm everyday! Something had to change, but I had no idea where to start. I tried a few quick cleanses and lost a few pounds out of it but after I was done I went right back to my old habits and BAM nothing changed.
About a month ago I was watching Netflix while doing some laundry and I saw a documentary called "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead". So I decided to watch it. It as awesome! (www.fatsickandnearlydead.com). Basically this guy that was obese and had numerous health problems decided to do a 60 day juicing fast all while traveling across America and interviewing people about their health and diets. Well, he ended up loosing all of his weight, all of his health conditions disappeared, he got off of all of his medications, basically he became a different man.
After watching it I decided to do a bit of research about juicing and detoxing. I read a book that I downloaded on my iPad called "Juicing, Fasting and Detoxing for Life" and it opened my eyes to even more advantages of a primarily vegetable and fruit diet. The part that really got my attention was the chapter on the colon. (Now this is where you get to know probably to much information about me). Ever since I've had my children, love those little cuties, my body has changed drastically. Yes I have the visual reminders of stretch marks but I also have the internal reminder of constipation. I always thought that it possibly wasn't a good thing that I had only 1-2 bowel movements a week but I never really thought much more about it than that. Well let me tell you, it is NOT a good thing at all!! In fact, I found through all of my research that that is the root of all of my problems! A blocked up, unhealthy colon can cause a plethora of problems and have even been linked to larger chronic conditions like crohns, colitis, diabetes and even cancer, to name a few! Now I don't claim to be a doctor and as far as I know I don't have any of these conditions nor do I want to get them. But a lot of what I was reading was written by health professionals and it woke me up to the realization that this could happen to me.
Anyway, this is when I got my personal revelation that things had to change and NOW, as a lot of the aforementioned conditions run in my family. So this is what I have changed in my life:
- No more Dairy
- No more wheat; we've been eating small amounts of quinoa instead
- Exercise everyday (except weekends)
- Use coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil instead of butter or margarine
- Increase my vegetable intake substantially, basically I can eat as much veggies as I want!
- try to stick to low sugar fruits
- Eat only small portions of meat and only lean meats (chicken, turkey and fish)
- juice at least 2 meals a day
- start taking probiotics
- nuts for snacks
So we bought a juicer, and stocked our fridge full of fresh produce.
This was our fridge the first week, now our fridge is full of mostly green (oh and the Becel is gone, no more butter!)
The first day was pretty hard, mostly because we weren't prepared with good juice recipes, so our first attempt was, well, awful! Day 2 was much better. Now we have our menu and eating schedule down to a science:
Breakfast - fresh fruit and veggie juice with tbsp ground flax seed and probiotic
Snack - nuts/fruit/veggies/energy bites (recipe below)
Snack - fresh smoothie (we are still working on a good recipe for this)/popcorn made with coconut oil (which is AMAZING)Lunch - fresh veggie juice and probiotic
Snack - same as above
Dinner - a small portion of lean meat, lots of veggies (fresh or lightly steamed), optional 1/2 cup cooked quinoa and probiotic
(This is taco salad with ground turkey and quinoa with all the fixn's)
(Chicken stir fry, also with quinoa and also very yummy!!)
That's typically what we have been eating this past week. I thought it would be hard to get rid of my dairy and wheat but it hasn't been at all. The first two days I missed my occasional slice of cheese, but not all now. Breads don't tempt me at all. In fact, I rarely have cravings now! I also have incredible energy! Im going full throttle until about 10:00 at night. No more mid afternoon crashes. My face should be breaking out in acne about now as a pre-warning that aunt flow is on her way, but not a single zit is on my face! My keratosis polaris (a skin condition I've had forever) is clearing up. I have been sleeping through the night and waking well rested and energized. And the biggest change of all....I have had regular bowel movements everyday, sometimes twice a day, which has never in my entire life happened!! I feel "light" and full of energy! I haven't had a headache at all this week or felt any of my regular aches and pains. I seriously feel like a new person! I even lost 3lbs. All of this in just one week! My husband, who has also been doing this with me (I'm seriously so lucky to have such an amazing husband! I mean how many of your husbands would give up their meat and potatoes??) has also reported a bunch of changes to his body as well. Now he already takes really good care of his body, and in my mind is healthy to begin with ( he's an ironman for crying out loud!). But he told me he has noticed an increase in his energy as well, his BM's have increased/changed, has had the feeling of being "light" and he lost 5lbs in a week!
I actually had a real personal moment Saturday night, I felt like I really knew my body for the first time and it touched me in such a way that I just started to cry. My husband was wondering what was wrong with me! Lol. I just felt so incredible it was like waking up for the first time in a very long time.
Now you are probably wondering if I'm going to continue this or if its another "fad". I'm definitely converted! Never again do I want to go back to feeling like a heavy, lifeless blob of nothing!! I'm converted for life! I will gradually bring back into my diet lean red meats and eggs, but even then I will eat the red meat sparingly. I honestly don't miss it at all, so who knows??
Someone actually asked me the other day if I was Paleo now? I had no idea what they were talking about, so I researched that and I found their diet very similar to what I am already doing, with a few minor differences (like I still eat beans, and they don't eat ANY grains where as I still eat quinoa). So I guess if you need to give my diet a label, that is what I am, a juicing Paleo. Or you can just call me healthy, because that's how I feel for the first time in my life!!
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