Breaking Unhealthy Addictions by Replacing them with Healthy Ones.

The nature of addiction is a curious one, but I have to say if I were to boil down in a word what we are looking for when we are addicted it's this: COMFORT.

Somehow, some way, the food, substance or activity we over-indulge in COMFORTS US.

Now, I'm not saying it's wrong at all to be comforted, but when you turn to a friend for comfort and after they comfort you they stab you in the back, that's not such a sweet deal now is it?

That's the way it is with most things that us humans turn to for comfort. They are not true friends.

So, dear friends, we need to be our own best friend and do this:

Relationships, even with food, need to be reciprocal. We need to get back what we give. At least most of the time.

So how do we do this? We walk away. We "break up". We sever ties. AND....

We find new relationships. Ones that heal. Ones that nurture. Ones that know how to love.

It doesn't happen over night, but gradually, we build up that which supports us.

As far as food goes, it means we find healthy dishes that we are crazy about and that we look forward to as a 'treat'.

For me, tonight I had the best coconut water EVER....Man, it felt like I was having something I shouldn't be having....it tasted like I was drinking pure vanilla with some slight salty taste...even my husband said it smelled good. I did not feel deprived at all.

Some of my other favorite healthy dishes: hummus, sloppy Joe's, beet noodles with marinara, tabouli.

I am gradually adding to my favorites list...so that I am treating myself all day long and loving eating the way that makes me look and feel great.

You can, too. It takes some effort up front, but the end result is so worth it!

Crush Your Cravings

I love the message of this photograph.

If you are eating to lose weight or for cosmetic reasons, unless you are an actress or a model, it's not going to be enough.

If you are eating for health and have a serious illness, then you REALLY can't have that.

If you are eating for ethical reasons such as veganism, then certain foods you CAN'T have either.

Our "why" is a big part of our motivation and commitment and follow through.

What is your WHY?

Remember to watch your self-talk and how you word things.

Good health is a CHOICE.

I have to admit, that I have craved off and on something sweet since giving up fruit. But once I eat my protein meals, and make sure my blood sugar is up, I'm fine again. I have to plan, though, and that's key.

It's choices you make every single day that add up.

Sugar in Fruit

Fruit is so controversial. And for good reason. What's one person's elixir is another person's poison.

Think about alcohol. Some people can drink one beverage and be fine and not have another drink for a month. Others take one drink and they are hooked and their lives are destroyed.

If some people even touch peanuts to their lips they go into anaphlactic shock. Others can eat peanuts all day long with no problems.

I have always had problems with grapes and watermelons making me spacey and gassy. Bananas, too.

In the Raw for 30 Days documentary, there is a scene of one diabetic who said that orange juice is the single one food that makes his blood sugar sky-rocket. And yet I've known other that have literally lived on orange juice for 90 days and they say they thrived and I have no reason not to believe them.

I continue to be amazed at how unique we all are. At the end of the 90 day experiment, I will for sure experiment yet some more by adding in some berries again for some variety and a treat and see how I feel. And, on occasion, even some bananas.

I've always had a sweet tooth and I've eaten fruit as a complete meal at least once every day for over 30 years now. I thought it would be interesting to give it up and see what difference if any it makes since I've never done this before.

Today I added garlic to my hummus. I normally don't eat garlic, but I love it and it was so good. My husband is not going to be happy tonight with my garlic breath, but oh well.

I also had some more brazil nuts tonight. A handful in fact. I've been craving them and ate them with no ill effects. It appears that eating fats WITH fruits are the problem. Eating fats alone? No problems. :)

I am amazed at the mental clarity I felt today. Noticably stable and clear. 

Sometimes it might feel that our bodies are our enemies, but we need to learn to live in harmony with them. Once we do that, we find balance and we find peace.

Documentary Raw for 30 Days--Comparison is Violence Against the Self

So I am on Day 4 of my 90-day low-glycemic low-fat raw vegan experiment. I have to admit, I woke up hungry and was hungry most of the day until I had my spiralized beet noodles with marinara tonight.

I am re-watching the documentary "Raw for 30 Days" made with Gabriel Cousens and 6 diabetics who went on a raw vegan diet to treat their diabetes.

In the beginning, there is one woman (Michelle) who doesn't have as great results as everyone else (they all came off of their insulin with the exception of the Type 1 diabetic) but eventually her blood glucose came down by week 2.  And she felt great. But in the beginning, she was devastated and wanted to leave because she felt "inferior" to everyone else.

One man eventually left early and the Type 1 young man really struggled.

So, the words of the above picture really resonate with a lot of us. We really can't compare ourselves to other people or them to us. We are each unique and have to honor those differences.

I have found it interesting people's reaction to my experiment. Some are finding it really threatening to their reality. I think it's possible that we can all react differently to fruit sugar just like some people become alcoholics when they drink alcohol and some people don't and are able to drink moderately with no ill effects.

I don't know "why"--if it's genetic, or damage from years of a bad diet, or stress or what. It just IS.

We need to honor what IS and that what IS is that we are all DIFFERENT.

I think what's important is that we need to do what is right for US. We can see a beautiful woman, want to imitate her (if we are a woman of course) and then buy the same dress she has on , or fix our hair the same way she does so that we can look as pretty as her, but at the end of the day, we need to buy the dress that accentuates OUR assetts and wear our hair in a style that suits US and our features.

Uniqueness need not be so threatening. We can embrace it. I think sometimes we need to connect and make  some sense and order of our world that differences frighten us. Differences don't have to be so scary..

Many Asians are lactose intolerant. Many diseases affect certain populations more so than others. It is what it is. And its okay. We just need to design a program that works for us and stay open to it by listening to feedback so we can refine it.

Finding our own path can be exhausting and aggravating and frightening sometimes. It can also be exciting and exhilarating and empowering. It's all in how you approach it.

I can't provide answers for anyone else, except to say that time has a way if bringing out what we need to know if we pay attention to the signs along the way. We need to stay open and stay aware and be open to change.

I'm not the only one experimenting...experimentation is GOOD!

Above is a Facebook page I "liked" called "Eat to Keep Fit". She did a week long experiment and took before and after photos..the left is the "before" and the right is the "after" where her tummy is not as flat and she's a bit curvier and puffy..

Below are her comments on what she did and why:


Results are in for my experiment! The picture of me on the left (the before pic) was taken last Thursday, 11/1. I normally limit my bread/pasta/rice/potato/cereal intake to one serving per day, maximum BUT since the USDA/myplate recommendations are 4-6 servings per day, I decided to follow that to see what it would do to my body. The pic on the right (the after pic) is me today, Monday, 11/5. 

For the last four days, I ate four servings of the above mentioned foods (80% of which were whole wheat/brown) and I gained almost 6lbs. I started at 121lbs. and am now very close to 127lbs. I DID NOT eat any fast food, fried foods, desserts etc. I simply substituted things like whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, cereal, and potatoes in for my typical veggies and proteins. For example, instead of having eggs, yogurt and fruit in the morning, I had eggs, fruit, and toast. Instead of having a salad at lunch, I had a whole wheat sandwich. Instead of having two servings of veggies and protein at dinner, I had one serving of veggies, whole wheat pasta, and a protein. If one wants to lose weight or tone up, we seriously recommend limiting bread/rice/pasta/potatoes/cereal to one serving per day, maximum. As you can see, these items will cause weight gain and bloating. *I meant to follow this experiment for a week but at this rate of weight gain, I won't be able to fit in a dress for a wedding this Friday so I had to stop.

 see what you are saying but I am positive that if I were to continue on with eating the myplate recommendations of at least four servings of grains/starch per day, I would not have just stopped gaining weight and returned back to the pic on the left. If I could have lasted one month with these new food habits, I think it's safe to say that I would have put on at least 15 pounds. I also think it's safe to say that based on my before/after pic, if one is trying to lose weight or tone up, those myplate recommendations of four servings of grains/starch per day will only impair weight loss/toning efforts.

he pic on the left is me, normally...the pic on the right was taken four days after eating four servings of grains per day as an experiment. I was still working out during the experiment. I went back to my old food habits today (with same workout habits) and should be back to the left pic by this weekend or next week

 Kara Cruz - Yes, I felt so sluggish and had much less energy; I usually don't mind working out but it was rough feeling so full and bloated. Laulieta Garrido Hovnanian - Yes, I kept my workouts the same....I work out around three days per week...this experiment only last four days (had to quit early since I was gaining too much) so I ended up working out twice in the four days. Kris Hernandez - My caloric intake was roughly the same as before. I didn't just add on four servings of grains to my regular food intake, I substitued more grains for less protein/veggies/dairy. For example, I usually eat egss, Greek yogurt and fruit in the morning but for this experiment, I would take away the Greek yogurt and have whole wheat toast instead

When I asked which fruits she limits she said:

We just limit the really sweet ones like watermelon, pineapple, mango etc and they eat 

 Grapefruit, apples, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries are our favorites but I'm sure could find more.

 Trying to answer all questions/comments here but let me know if I missed you...we do eat carbs but we go for low glycemic carbs (they don't turn to sugar as quickly) like veggies, nuts, low-fat dairy, quinoa, lentils, oatmeal, and low sugar fruits. Yes, I do have some more meat on me in the right picture and it still may look okay to many but my point with this experiment is that I gained almost six pounds in only four days by following recommendations by USDA/myplate. If I keep going, I will gain more and more weight - at this pace, I will be 20lbs heavier by next month. We believe that 4 servings of whole wheat bread/pasta/brown rice/cereal/potatoes per day is too much. We're not saying to eliminate it completely as we do eat around one serving per day of those items. The average person who works out 2-3 days per week (like me) does not need the excess carbs of several servings of whole wheat bread/rice/pastas/cereal/potatoes. You will get ample carbs which are lower in sugar from things like veggies/nuts/low sugar fruits/low-fat dairy. One other thing - we like to eat nutrients that are naturally occurring (like in veggies) - things like bread/cereal have fortified/added nutrients that can be found in a multivitamin.



What I find interesting about this is that all the foods she included were high glycemic foods. This throws a lot of light on high-glycemic fruits like bananas and dates. She is obviously fit so that wasn't the problem. She kept her work-outs the same, so that wasn't a factor...the only thing that changed was her diet.

Thoughts?

Making Choices that Benefit Us

As I close out Day 2 of my Low-fat, low-glycemic raw vegan experiment, I appreciate the above words.

Even the way I am describing it as "low" this and "low" that sounds, well, DEPRIVED.

I am not "low" anything.

It is HIGH nutrient, high healthy, and even high flavor.

I had some tabouli tonight and some sloppy Joe's and earlier had my hummus. I just need to experiment with adjusting some recipes for some more variety....and I need to plan and fix my food more....

I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and Sunday and just catching up on some rest and play and just loafing around in bed as tomorrow is supposed to be really chilly. A perfect cat day. (what I call a day spent in bed just reading since my cats lay around and sleep all day).

I think that learning to make vegetables beautiful and flavorful is an art and it can be learned, so I intend to pour over recipes on the internet and make some really tasty recipes this weekend and also try out my new glucometer and compare it's readings with my old one. It should make for an interesting comparison.

Bon appetit!

I got my Blood Test numbers back..

So my doctor's office called and I got the results back from my blood work.

I am not diabetic and my fasting glucose was 75.....this morning I took 3 glucometer readings within 2 minutes of eachother from the same finger and the same blood drop: the first one was 115, the second one was 107 and the third one 103. I think my glucometer has multiple personality disorder. Really.

I am still going to do my 90-day dietary low-glycemic experiment just to see what happens if anything. I am still taking the 2000 IU's of Vit D and will retest everything in January and start B-12 injections at that time if necessary.

Mentally, I am relieved to see that my blood work is fine, and I still haven't used the new glucometer my doctor gave me which is supposedly more accurate. I'm tired of having sore finger tips, though. :)

She (through the nurse who called me with the lab results) did tell me to eat a wide variety. Translated, I think that was her code words of not just fruit. I found that funny.

I am on Day 2 of my low-glycemic diet and feel fine.