"For years I noticed that my clients who lived in a mind-set of scarcity had trouble controlling their weight, even though they dieted assiduously...
I also read studies showing that poor women - particularly those who periodically starved themselves to feed their children - were particularly plagued by obesity. Researchers hypothesize that when the body knows it may be starved, whether by poverty or by dieting, it activates automatic just-in-case mechanisms that store fat on the body to get through the next "famine"...
...my focus is on helping people go from fear and suffering to relaxation and happiness. So I was baffled when many of my clients told me, 'I'm finally losing weight - and I'm not even trying.'
...I'm convinced that the though 'Everything good is readily available' kicks the body out of its panicky, fat-storing mode and into a state that helps it shed excess fat." - from Just What You Need by Martha Beck in April 09 Oprah Magazine
More than enough. I have everything I need. Money comes to me easily and often. I accomplish my tasks with ease. My body is getting stronger every day. Every day in every way I get better and better.
If your mind is occupied with thoughts of this nature it is almost impossible to be distracted by anxiety, complaints, fear, worry, guilt and all the other robber-thoughts that break the law of abundance.
When I first started eating the traditional way I was a bit panicked. I was afraid I'd gain weight. I was afraid I'd eat too much.
My fears are fading. I'm not gaining weight, I'm gaining health. I eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm sated.
Notice I said "sated" and not "full". Eating this way satisfies my appetite long before I'm full.
It's incredible to feel nourished by food instead of intimidated or panicked by it.
It's nice to feel good about every morsel I put into my mouth. No guilt. No worry. No deep down feeling that I'm poisoning myself. No nagging regret of knowing that someday I'll have to "give up this stuff".
Little by little my body is calming down in the presence of wholesome food.
My urge to eat past full is disappearing. I trust that there will be more when I'm hungry again. No one is snatching the plate out from under my nose.
I've earned my own trust.
I trust that the universe will provide for me, out of it's infinite abundance of resources.
I'm slowly coming to life. I'm developing trust.
I'll never go hungry again!
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Talk about sustainability. Check out the Veritable Vegetable! 75% of their employees are women. Really cool. click here or click below
"Unsoaked raw nuts and seeds contain phytic acid which is indigestible and bonds with minerals in the digestive tract, leeching them out of the body and possibly causing mineral deficiencies." - Spinach and Honey blog
My little garden of unearthly delights is important to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the flowers are fake. Made in China. Plastics are bad for the environment, yadda, yadda.
But that doesn't diminish my garden's value!
I'm looking at what that garden represents for me: ability to move.
I've always wanted to decorate the outside of my apartment for the holidays. I like having seasonal stuff to welcome me home as I walk up the front lawn. I like my guests to feel they are entering a special space when they visit.
There was a time in my life when I could barely hang a wreath on my front door. Standing was too much for me. Forget about hammering a nail into the door and hanging something on it!
My "victory" garden represents how far I've come. There's more to come, farther to go, a prettier, more naturally growing garden to be sown. I'm on it. But first, my health. That's the real garden.
Today is starting kinda low. My energy is barely pulsing right now. I already had to take a morning nap. I even had a mini-nightmare.
In my dream a female doctor was scolding me for living an unhealthy life. She asked why I was smoking for 9 hours a day instead of working for 7. She wanted to know why I was eating junk food.
I was crying saying I'VE CHANGED! I DON'T LIVE LIKE THAT ANYMORE!!
She didn't believe me. She said my body doesn't lie. She said I was in bad shape and that I needed to change drastically.
I was so frustrated in my dream because I HAVE CHANGED DRASTICALLY!
Still, I have a lot of healing to do.
After sleeping well last night and napping deeply this morning I'm still tired.
I just took my daily teaspoon of Maca root hoping for the best.
I juiced carrots, tomatoes and parsley this morning.
I'm sipping some homemade bone broth (aka jiggle broth).
I need energy. Today is the day I fax my CV (an academic resume) over to __ for a full time teaching position that just opened up. It fits my qualifications perfectly. I need to write a KILLER cover letter.
I can barely keep my eyes open.
I'll fight. I'll fight the fatigue.
I better win. This is my life, here.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* I was looking for a video about food and fatigue. Of course I found the usual low-fat diet meat-phobic propaganda. I even found advice to keep a CAN of nuts in your desk drawer for energy. CANNED nuts?? They're dead. They've gone rancid from not soaking them first and then fast cooking them in high heat. God only knows what preservatives are barely keeping them edible. Right now I'm slow roasting my own raw almonds (soaked overnight to leech out the enzyme inhibitors). Not crappy dead nuts from a can! Ugh! Anyway, I had to really look for a video that didn't say the same old thing about low-fat, denatured, processed, irradiated, crap food and how to beat fatigue with some sort of powdered, denatured, nonsense. I want to feel more ALIVE. Wouldn't it make sense to eat food that's ALIVE?? Eat apples, not Cheerios. Watch this. click here or click below
Check out REAL FOOD WEDNESDAYS at Kelly the Kitchen Kop's Blog (click here) on the importance of fats in vitamin absorption!
"Two common examples of hydrogenated oil are Crisco and margarine. In the 1990s, it was realized that these products might have deleterious health effects, a tragic irony since they were originally produced and promoted as being healthier than conventional oils." - What is Hydrogenated Oil?
Cook your own food. If you can, grow your own food.
If you can't garden, buy as local and fresh as possible.
You've gotta either know or grow your own food.
Know where it comes from. Know what's in it. Be able to pronounce and understand every ingredient on the label (if it has a label).
As a matter of fact, products that have labels should not be the main portion of your diet.
Get your meat and dairy from a reliable organic farm. Get your produce from a farmer's market or community garden.
Go home. Make your food.
No time? Schedule it in. No, really.
"Grabbing food on the run" is doing what for your health? What kind of food are you grabbing exactly??
You can grab a nice apple. Maybe smear some nice organic peanut butter on it.
But I don't see people doing that.
I see people eating packaged foods that are full of hydrogenated, dead, rancid oil. I see people eating prepackaged convenience store food or fast food from the drive through.
Or worse yet, packaged "diet" foods. Low fat, denatured, processed, non-nutritive, unsatisfying, dead, full of denatured oils and chemicals and fake sugar.
Not good.
Make time to make food. If that means saying "no" to some other obligation, then say "no".
Let me ask you this: Do you schedule meetings/work/workouts etc., for 3:00am??
Do you pencil in a social occasion or a play date for 4:30 in the morning??
No. Of course not. Because we set aside time to sleep. We're human. We all sleep. It's simply understood that a certain portion of our time is dedicated to sleep.
But eating?
We're expected to be able to "grab" something and go go go!
I'm saying that we need to schedule time for preparing and eating food. Just like sleep. We need it or we'll die.
With sleep, we'll just collapse if we don't get it. With food, we slowly deteriorate with different "mysterious" illnesses until our bodies break.
With sleep it's more obvious and socially agreed upon to be "exhausted" all the time due to lack of sleep. We know we need more. We drink caffeine so that we can cheat our bodies out of our much needed rest. We KNOW we need more sleep.
With food the deprivation is less obvious. The effects of poor diet are not always linked to poor diet.
We accept illness as inevitable. We blame our genes. We accept "I don't know" as an answer from our doctors when we ask WHY we got sick.
Connect the quality of food with the quality of health??
We've heard the expression "You are what you eat" all our lives and yet we forget about that when we sacrifice our health to packaged, preserved, denatured, genetically modified food.
I'm learning. I'm actually scheduling my life to include food preparation as a necessary part of my day.
Necessary.
I am what I eat, necessarily.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* My meat comes from healthy, pasture fed animals. They don't eat soy. They don't eat genetically modified corn. They don't need antibiotics because they're not sick. Who controls YOUR food? Where does it come from?? Have you SEEN or visited the farm? If we keep trusting big agribusiness to feed us we'll continue to be sick or worse yet, starving (if you live in an underdeveloped country with no system for fairly and humanely distributing food). click here or click below
Man, oh man I busted my ass today. Shopping for my mother is a haul-ass job.
Even going to lunch with her is work. We go to the little Chinese buffet on Franklin Ave. in Nutley. Mom can't walk that well on her arthritic ankle so I get her food for her. I carve the giant pork roast on the buffet for her. I fetch her soup, her clams, her lemon wedges, her salads. Up, down, up down.
By the time I fetch my own food (today was pork roast and string beans with a side of egg drop soup), I'm so hepped up from taking care of her I don't have much of an appetite.
Then we hit the Stop and Shop. I have to park the car so she can face the sun and take her car-nap while I shop.
Then the Vitamin Shoppe for her Ginkgo Biloba. Then the Dollar Store for her napkins and a bunch of fake flowers. Then a different Dollar Store because the first one didn't have the shade of flowers she wanted.
Then we stopped at my parents' house to unload the first round of stuff, feed Mufasa (outdoor cat and half brother to my Gabriel, cut Jay's nails (my father's 21 pound cat), and freshen up.
Then to the Drug Fair which is going out of business. Everything is 10% to 50% off.
We rounded out the day at the farmer's market on the border of Paterson and Clifton (behind Corrado's). THAT was more work than all the shopping put together. Lots of walking with heavy bags of produce. Lots of lifting, bending, carrying and packing the car.
Back to my parents' place to unload all the produce. Finally home to my apartment where the bags of groceries are now strewn across my living room floor.
The cats are noisily investigating the bags, especially the ones from the farmer's market. Lots of interesting smells, dontcha know.
Company is coming tonight. I'll be cooking up something fresh, not sure what yet. More work, but it's all good because something comes from it!
So this spring I've chosen two "gyms" to go to in addition to my Saturday shopping workouts. One is my father's garden. The other is the soon to be community garden at the UCC Church in Montclair, part of the Food Not Lawns initiative.
Who needs the treadmill when you're involved in sustainable living! And if it sustains MY life for another 40 or 50 years it's worth all the work.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* This looks awesome! Well, except the meatless part. But this looks like the kind of "exercise" that means something. It changes the world. It matters. It feeds people. Fetch me my pitchfork! click here or click below
Perfectionism works (or doesn't work) both ways. I tend to have such high expectations of people that they're bound to disappoint me. This buys me something.
It buys me an excuse to hide out and avoid people. It justifies my not wanting to have intimate relationships. I convince myself that folks will always disappoint me, that they're untrustworthy, competitive, out to get me or incapable of really loving me. Then I don't have to take the risk of trusting anyone.
Their failure to be truly close, loyal or caring is a foregone conclusion. By setting impossible standards I set folks up to fail before I can get too attached to them. They can't hurt me if I've already written them off.
Maybe that's why I'm not married. Maybe that's why I don't date. Maybe that's why I don't have a boyfriend.
I'm so busy saving myself from being hurt. I keep my standards impossibly high so folks can disappoint me early on thereby saving me the trouble of having to get close to them.
Why is all this on my mind?
I came across (no, I didn't come across. I deliberately looked, hard) the profile of an ex lover from 22 years ago. Every year or so for the past 22 years I'd do a Google search for him and come up with nothing.
The latest Facebook surge finally stirred up a family member of his. Six degrees of separation later, I found his wedding picture and his wife's profile. She's thin. They have 3 kids.
Two things I'm not: thin and reproductive.
I made the inevitable comparisons. Made myself feel like crap. Stayed up all night fretting about it.
Now I'm busy wondering what's wrong with me. It must be MY problem that I'm some kind of big, fat, loner.
Why can't things just be what they are without me finding flaws and blaming myself for them?
Is that really what I want? To be married with kids??
Well, no. I'm kinda happy with my life.
Maybe I'm just worried that I'll LOOK like an unwanted spinster hag when my ex whatevers do the inevitable Google search for me.
Ah, screw 'em.
When my head hits the pillow at night, I know who I am.
A colleague is coming to my class on Tuesday to "observe" me. I warned my students today that they should be on their best behavior. They're rooting for me. They want me to be hired full time.
One of them asked me, "Can we tell him how awesome we think you are?"
He wasn't kissing up. I could tell. He meant it.
I think I'll go to bed and cry now.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* I told my students today that when they hear a love song on the radio they should sing it to themselves, about themselves. In order to combat all the negative messages we receive from media and the rest of the negatory world we need to bolster our self esteem with self love. Like love, love. Verbal love. Like 'I'm in love with me' love. Take this song for instance. Be your own best friend. Sing it to yourself. click here or click below
"Use the dipping sauce,
it really brings out
the
flavor
of the HAM." - Hurley to Jack and Katein LOST Season 5 Episode 10
Myth: To avoid heart disease, we should use margarine instead of butter.
Truth: Margarine eaters have
twice the rate of heart
disease as butter eaters.
(Nutrition Week 3/22/91 21:12) Copyright " 1999 The Weston A. Price Foundation. westonaprice.org All Rights Reserved.
Myth: Heart disease in America is caused by
consumption of cholesterol
and saturated fat from animal products.
Truth:During the period of rapid increase
in heart disease (1920-1960),
American consumption of animal fats declined
but consumption of hydrogenated
and industrially processed vegetable fats
increased dramatically. (USDA-HNIS) Copyright " 1999 The Weston A. Price Foundation. westonaprice.org All Rights Reserved.
Myth: A low-fat diet will make you
"feel better . . . and increase your joy of living."
Truth:Low-fat diets are associated with
increased rates of depression,
psychological problems,
fatigue, violence and suicide.
(Lancet 3/21/92 Vol. 339) Copyright " 1999 The Weston A. Price Foundation. westonaprice.org All Rights Reserved.
Proud to be part of Real Food Wednesdays!! (click here)
There's something to be said about preparing fresh foods.
Well, there's PLENTY to be said about it.
What I mean to say is I'm eating less anxiously now that I'm working in my kitchen more.
I'm careful about how I'm wording that.
I almost used the phrase "over eating" which I don't even believe in any more.
Over eating is a term that's been misused for too long.
It's a "blame the victim" phrase that plays into addiction-as-failure-of-will mentality.
People don't overeat for no reason.
There are physical, emotional and spiritual imbalances that lead to compulsive behaviors.
I'm learning about the physical dimensions of eating disorder recovery.
Not just the biological implications of eating real food as opposed to low fat over-processed diet foods, but the actual actions that are leading me to a feeling of balance and calm surrounding food.
Shopping for fresh foods, washing, chopping, cooking, preparing and eating traditional style foods makes me less interested in eating past full.
The cooking and juicing is putting me in a better relationship with the foods that enter my body.
I'm honoring my body with my own hard work.
Preparing fresh foods is therapeutic and I think it's essential for eating disorder recovery (and health in general, of course).
Food is no longer this glittery, packaged, falsely alluring thing to be avoided and denied.
Food is nourishment.
It's living.
I'm really getting to know my food before it enters my mouth.
The (grass fed and finished) burger I'm eating now is the product of my hard work.
I had my hands in that ground beef.
It's full of eggs and egg whites (I needed yolks for my ice cream)
that I broke myself, not icky egg-beaters from a carton.
I broke up the farm cheese with my fingers.
I crumbled the spelt bread (for the most part I'm off of grains for a while but I won't waste the food that's in the house) into the meat mix.
Then I squeezed the meat, eggs, cheese and spelt between my fingers like a giant, meaty stress ball.
Meanwhile I'm sipping kombucha that I fermented myself
and nibbling crispy nuts (pumpkin seeds) that I slow roasted in a low oven after letting them soak over night and rinsing them to leech out the enzyme inhibitors.
I'm signing up to be part of a community garden this spring.
I may take over my father's backyard garden since he's surrendering
in the battle of the woodchuck by growing his plants on the second story sun deck this year.
Talk about a workout?
I got your workout right here!
Where's my spade?
Where's my hoe??
I was watching LOST last night and laughing at the synchronicity.
Hurley was serving Dharma ham (presumable raised and smoked on island).
Sawyer was drinking his real milk from the local Dharma cow.
Juliet was frying her bacon.
And Illana ordered up a rib eye steak, "bloody"!
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
You would think that The Dharma Initiative and/or The Others
would be strictly fish and fruititarian.
Nope.
They eat their eggs and wild boar!
Guess that's where they get all that energy to go running
through the jungle. click here or click below
"When cows are raised
on a well maintained
rapidly growing grass pasture,
vitamins and minerals
are in high concentration
in the milk...
...Using this milk
as a source of raw butter,
raw cheese,
or other raw dairy products,
gives the one who consumes the dairy products,
vitamins and minerals
not available
in today’s pasteurized
homogenized
dairy varieties....
...Dr. Crewe,
as a result of his experience,
became convinced
that much of modern disease
is due to an increasing departure
from the simple preparation
of plain
nutrient rich
foods." - The Power of Good Nutrition
Can real milk cure an eating disorder?
I wonder.
Of course any new thing that I try works in the beginning.
I'm carried along by excitement and faith that this new plan will
be "the one that works".
New Year's resolutions are like that too.
The old "and this time, I mean it" gets us through a month or more until we run out of enthusiasm and really have to force ourselves to keep our commitment.
I kept up my gym commitment for 10 months, riding high on the endorphins and my sense of accomplishment
...and stimulants.
So, I'm cautious about putting faith in traditional foods and lifestyle.
I'm afraid I'll be disappointed...again.
The research seems rational and sound.
There's nothing sales pitchy about it.
No one really stands to make much money off this lifestyle.
I'm not getting any red flags in my thinking.
The only red flags are from other people who are suspicious of this "politically incorrect" way of eating.
And you know how I get when people try to tell me what I can't do.
Enthusiasm is a powerful motivator
but so is spite.
Who ever heard of getting healthy for spite?
I might, in the beginning, be motivated by the counter culture aspects of what I'm doing.
But my hope is that I'll be nourished back to health
the way Heidi nourished Cousin Clara with fresh air, goat's milk and love.
Hopefully this will be the lifestyle that carries me to my vision
of balance, health, vitality and strength,
not just for me,
for everyone around me, too.
Or anyone who wants to share the vitality.
What would life be like if health were no longer a "problem"?
We shall see.
Oh yes we shall.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* I wept when I saw these little Amish girls at the market.
Really, I did.
I took one look at those girls in their bonnets and cried.
Hot tears poured down my cheeks as I snuffled a prayer of thanks to God.
Because of their simple life and hard work, I might be saved from illness.
What an incredible blessing!
The film is shaky in the beginning as he walks.
He's wearing a camera around his neck so as not to startle the Amish and Mennonites who
are very camera shy.
click here or click below
My Intro to Religion textbook describes this Venus of Laussel as having "exaggerated hips and breasts". I was thinking she looked just like me. No exaggeration at all!
"Many of us are convinced that making women afraid to be fat is a form of social control. Fear of fat keeps women preoccupied, robs us of our pride and energy, keeps us from taking up space." - Feminist.com
"For the Amish obesity is ordained by God, and only stout men are considered suitable for hard work in the fields - thin women are believed to be infertile. The ideal of slimness which dominates the Western world is completely foreign to the Amish." - Dr. Petra Platte in Science Blog
I just want to be healthy. If I can be fit and pain free, I don't care what size I'm wearing. I just want to be strong.
Energy. I want energy. I don't want to be in pain.
How much more weight would I have to lose to feel better??
I have a better question. How healthy can I get?
My body will find its own fat to lean muscle ratio. I need to feed it, move it and honor it.
In my readings and research I keep coming across the same theme: love your body.
A body that's despised will not get well.
Despising my body has exhausted me.
Enough already.
Weight loss advice is exhausting me, too. Focusing on fat loss has not helped my health. Too much pressure, too much guilt, not enough nourishment.
I need replenishment. Fresh air. Fresh food. Clean water. Kindness.
I just juiced 2 giant red peppers, a bag of radishes and a bunch of carrots. Should I really care how many calories are in my juice?
For supper I had home made meatballs in tomato and bone broth with spinach and cheese. I dolloped fresh, farm sour cream and 2 tablespoons of real butter on top.
Yes. I added a heaping dump load of full fat dairy onto my dinner. Why? Because the grass fed beef is too lean. I'm learning that if you eat protein you need fat with it too.
Don't even THINK about mentioning calories or cholesterol to me. (See those little words in "red"? Those are links to information. Peruse!)
I only had a little bit of starch today in the form of potato chips cooked in lard. I ate the chips with a nice chunk of farm cheese and a delightful cabbage, pepper, apple, pear and romaine salad (from my lunch box in my car between jobs).
It's been a long day. I'm fighting a sore throat. I need to sleep.
I'm going to soak my raw pumpkin seeds now so I can make crispy nuts tomorrow!
God, I'm tired. Hooray for food....zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Where food comes from matters. Community supported agriculture programs share in the harvesting of local food and forge a deeper connection between the land and our food supply. These folks took a year long locavorechallenge! click here or click below
Three awesome things: Hurley (aka Lolly the Lol Cat), LOST and traditional potato chips!
Could my cats be any more spoiled?
"HR 875 is such a massive bill, with such massive requirements and restrictions that, in effect, only huge agribusinesses would be able to effectively meet all its requirements. The small family farm would be history and, along with it, farmstands, farmers markets, most food cooperatives and CSAs." - The Nourished Kitchen
I'm fighting hard over here. I'm fighting fatigue. I'm fighting the urge to say "screw it" and give up. I'm fighting the urge to take a nap.
Everything exhausts me. I get a few hours of productivity before I have to either nap or falsely stimulate myself with something (not coffee but still, caffeine is caffeine).
I'm too busy to be a victim of illness. I'm too young to feel like I'm dying.
In my mind I'm active. In my goal-vision I'm robust and sturdy as a farmer.
Right now I'm eating like a farmer. I have the most gorgeous string beans and white asparagus with raw butter heating up on the stove. I'm hungry but I'm too tired to eat.
I've been moving with intention lately. What I CAN do I've been doing with mindfulness.
Folks like me who are not hamster-wheeling at the gym tend to beat ourselves up for not being "active" when in reality WE ARE VERY ACTIVE. But if we're not acknowledging our activity in our mind we end up doing it half assed and not getting as much out of it as we can.
Take shopping for instance. For someone of my size and fitness level shopping is a huge workout. The walking, the lifting, the pushing, the bending, the carrying. When I acknowledge the movement AS MOVEMENT I do it more whole heartedly. I use more muscle groups. I get a better workout from it.
Same with cooking. I'm actually building up muscles in my back from chopping, washing and handling my food.
These are HUGE steps in my fitness level but they'll only be half as beneficial if I do it half assed.
Meaning, if I put my mind into what I'm doing and notice my muscles, notice my posture, notice my breathing, stretch as I go, really move with intention, I get more physical benefit from what I'm doing. Activity becomes exercise.
I remember a time when taking a shower was a workout for me. Standing in the shower was a huge deal.
I've upgraded. Now shopping, chopping, cooking and keeping myself nourished is a workout. It's a huge step. And it will be even MORE beneficial for me if I honor myself for doing what I'm doing.
No negative self talk allowed! No "I should be at the gym" permitted in this get-well paradigm.
Like fitness superstar and super hip Weston A Pricer, Erin Cummings says:
"Never Say Anything Negative About Yourself. Ever. Instead - become an ego maniac! If you want to lose weight you have to give your body the respect and love it deserves. Imagine if someone came up to you and said, “you look fat today,” or “your ass looks huge in those jeans,” or “your stomach is so nasty?” You’d want to practice your new fancy muay thai moves on their ass. So knock it out. Step into the shoes of the most confident, sexy and egotistical person you know. And become that person. Just like an actor rehearses a new role, rehearse your new “rock star” personae in your mind daily like a meditation until you see this new slimmer more confident and healthy body come to life!" - Erin on HealthyUrban Kitchen's Blog
Ok, I really need a nap now. I'm teaching a 2 1/2 hour class tonight. God help me. Please.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* This is from an INN Report from FreeSpeechTV HR 875 as it is written today, could very well mean the end of the vibrant and growing local foods movement. HR 875 is such a massive bill, with such massive requirements and restrictions that, in effect, only huge agribusinesses would be able to effectively meet all its requirements. The small family farm would be history and, along with it, farmstands, farmers markets, most food cooperatives and CSAs. PLEASE contact your representatives and Senators about this!
Click here to find your rep! You can say: "I am writing to implore you to oppose HR 875 - The Food Safety and Modernization Act It is imperative that giant agribusinesses like Monsanto do not take over our food supply. We must support small farmers in our nation. Our future of food depends on it. Thank you for taking time to consider my concerns and for acting in the best interest of consumers and small farmers."click here or click below for video
"Don’t listen to what “everyone else” is doing. Learn what works for you which may mean changing your diet and exercise habits completely the other way." - Francesca on Healthy Urban Kitchen's Blog
"Although most people think cardio and running is healthy, they are DEAD wrong. Aerobic work produces cortisol. The more you run, the more cortisol you produce. The more you run, the more ‘feel good’ hormones (endorphins, enkephalins, dopamine, serotonin) are released which is why you get the ‘runners high’. The more you get high, the more carbs you will crave." - Antonio Valladares in "The Economy Can Make You Fat or Skinny. You Decide"
I remember back in my working-out-6 days-a-week phase how HUNGRY I was all the time. Gosh, I remember eating 4 - 6 cups of brown rice in a day! I was hungry before my workouts. I was hungry after my workouts.
And in pain. My joints were so inflamed. I lived on pain killers and stimulants.
But OH BOY folks were really cheering me on!
Positive reinforcement can be a dangerous thing. Peer pressure isn't always about not smoking that joint on the way home from school (as those anti-drug commercials would have us believe).
There are all kinds of peer pressure including pressure to diet and exercise.
"Keep it up!" has always been my favorite.
It reeks of not-good-enough perfectionism. Like saying "you're not there yet but you're doing the right thing by trying to shrink yourself in the most harsh way possible...keep going and soon we'll REALLY approve of you!"
Yuck.
How come no one ever pressures me to go work in my garden? Why do I always have to be pounding on my joints (joints like ankles and knees, not playground cigarettes..lol) in order to be doing "real" exercise?
Building a fitness level is a very personal thing especially for someone in recovery.
Pushing me to starve, pushing me to eat, pushing me to do anything will likely result in my PUSHING BACK.
Most eating disordered or body dysmorphic folks are like that. We're struggling so hard for self-hood. We make a timid advance toward taking care of ourselves then someone comes along and shits on our heads with their misplaced attempt at motivation.
Ugh.
I'm fighting for my health over here. The fatigue is real. I feel like someone is pushing on the top of my head and pushing my eyes shut at the same time. I'm so tired all the time I could cry.
With no health insurance I can't really get the tests I need to find out what's going on with me hormonally (or otherwise). Until I get some health coverage I'm going to do what feels right for me and for my health.
Nourishing food. Outdoor activity. Plenty of rest.
And indoor activity, too. Do you know how much work it is for me to prepare and cook my food? To make fresh juices? Heck, to even go shop for the stuff??
I'm exhausted. But I push myself because I have faith that I'll get well doing what I'm doing.
I'm as active as I can be right now. And I'm pushing myself along at my pace.
Today is another farmer's market day!
God give me the strength to shop for produce. Please.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* I found the MOOSE meat video!! Now I see why I didn't use it. The sound is out of sync. So, just listen to it. One woman ran 30 miles a week and lost NO WEIGHT but did terrible damage to her joints. Another tried every diet under the sun and got nowhere. What helped these folks, finally? Traditional foods in the right proportion for them! (Some folks do better with more carbs, some with more protein). and lots of GOOD FATS! They did movement that was right for them; for their bodies, for their fitness level, for their whole being. click here or click below
"My paternal great-grandmother (Carmella Toglia) lived to be a robust 96 years old. I don't think she'd ever been to a supermarket." - Me in Food is Medicine
She "put up" jars of pickled vegetables for winter. Great Grandpa Anthony made his own wine.
The top pic was taken in January 2009. I felt sick,tired and puffy. The bottom pic was taken one week ago. I felt tired but a little more robust. Am I getting better?
"Researchers are only now discovering that the epidemics of heart disease and obesity are rooted in the low quality foods available in most mass food outlets." - Farm to Consumer Foundation
"Weston A Price found that cultures who ate a lot of seafood were the very healthiest (with more meat based cultures in second place, and vegetarian based cultures placing third. He didn’t find a single vegan culture to study)." - Kimi Harris Nourishing Foundations: Why Traditional Foods?
Saturday is shopping day with Mom. She pulls up in front of my apartment in her car, beeps repeatedly and emphatically, climbs over the gear shifter into the passenger seat and waits for me to come out to begin our day of eating and errands.
Saturdays are a workout for me. Often her shopping list includes 10 jugs of scoopable cat litter or trips into multiple super sized supermarkets for specific things. (Do you know how hard it is to find Jif creamy peanut butter??)
By the time I'm finished with the first store's worth of shopping my knees and ankles hurt so badly I have to fish a few Advil out of my purse to give me some relief.
Shopping is only half the battle.
I have to carry all the groceries inside my parents house following specific instructions on where everything goes.
Saturday's are a workout! Lifting, pushing, bending, walking, climbing, reaching.
By the time I get back to my place in the afternoon I'm wiped out.
Today I was wiped out, as usual. As I got myself ready for a nice nap I realized something. I had not taken the Advil.
Today was a particularly rigorous day. We went to more stores than usual. There was lots more walking involved for me.
Yet, I was not compelled to kill any pain. I didn't have any.
"The Wulzen or 'anti-stiffness' factor is a nutrient unique to butter. Dutch researcher Wulzen found that it protects against calcification of the joints -degenerative arthritis- as well as hardening of the arteries, cataracts and calcification of the pineal gland. (American Journal of Physical Medicine, 1941, 133; Physiological Zoology, 1935 8:457 ). Unfortunately this vital substance is destroyed during pasteurization." - Sally Fallon in Why Butter is Better
Could I actually be healing myself with the wholesomeness of real food? I wonder.
I have FAITH that I am, but I've had faith in things before. I've had faith in things that made me feel better at first, in the short term, then dumped me on my ass with fatigue or weight gain or malnutrition or lies.
I've been excited like this before about things but then I eventually abandoned them for greener, grass fed pastures and the next new thing that promised to help me.
Sometimes I wonder if eating traditional foods is just another one of my "phases".
But then I look at my great grandmother and think it's arrogant of me to imagine that low fat veganism is better than the hardy high fat meaty diet that kept her healthy for almost 100 years of life.
Sometimes old wives and their tales and their diets are just plain right.
We shall see.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* I don't trust the government with my food. Big agribusiness is too corrupt. They're ruining the goodness of food to support their multi-billion dollar chemical business. What if Max Gerson was right about fruits, vegetables juicing as a way to remove cancer causing toxins from our bodies? The government would tell us if there was a cure for cancer, right?? click here or click below
Oh, My, Goodness. I've been wondering why it takes me till 7pm to start to feel energetic!
This is the ump-teenth time I've heard about adrenal fatigue recently. I have the symptoms.
Sure, I may sound like a naturopathic hypochondriac, but you know the old saying: Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you!
I'm so tired of my blood work coming back 'normal' and feeling completely misunderstood. I'm ESPECIALLY tired of people who tell me to "go take a walk, you'll feel better" as if I'm somehow too lazy, stubborn or stupid to have tried that already.
You can go back in my blog and read about my hepped up days of working out 6 days a week. Notice how I complained that I STILL HAD NO ENERGY! I propped myself up with energy drinks, caffeine and stimulants. Still, everyone cheered because I was exercising and you know how this society venerates hamster-wheeling at the gym.
No one, no expert, no doctor, no nutritionist, no dietitian, NONE OF THEM heard my cry for help. Folks were too busy applauding me for doing-the-right-thing. Losing weight is considered a virtuous, saintly act in today's society. Fitness is next to Godliness.
Toast it with a protein shake.
I bought into that crap instead of attending to my poor body and its actual needs.
Now I'm nursing myself back to health, nourishing myself back to life, fighting for the energy that I believe is my birthright!
And it's tough. Being tired all the time is depressing.
Taking on the traditional foods lifestyle is counter culture and oh, so, politically incorrect. It's radical to insist that certain fats are good and necessary in order to be well.
Butter? Eggs? Coconut Oil? Whole Milk??
Yes. They are essential to balancing hormones and restoring health.
"Good Fat is your body's most efficient and valuable energy source - and it is essential for long term acid/alkaline balance and proper mineral metabolism!" -Health Advantage
Gosh I wish I could write more but I need to take a nap. God help me.
No, really. God please help me.
I want to be well.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* "People don't want to drink shit!" Right on Jerry!! In 1999 Jerry Brunetti was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and given 6 months to live. He did not submit to chemotherapy, but rather, developed his own unique dietary approach to enhance his immune system. In this informative video, Jerry shares his personal experiences and provides his recipe for healthy living. click here or click below
"Tell people they can do
what their body naturally wants to.
All of the other rules
require willpower,
and willpower
doesn't
work."
- Sally Fallon in The Washington Post
Proud to be part of Fight Back Fridays! (click here)
I helped to pluck the mini feathers off those chicken feet!
My great grandmother used to speed pluck a whole chicken
the same chicken whose neck she'd wrung moments earlier.
No, I never watched her do it.
Having actually rescued a live chicken from the railroad tracks near the Lincoln Tunnel back in 1990 and almost got myself run over for the sake of the animal, I can't imagine hunting or slaughtering my own food.
But I'm still eating meat regardless of my squeamishness over wringing a bird's neck.
Do I differentiate between house pets and food animals?
Yes.
Maybe PETA would call me a hypocrite but I'm not asking them for nutrition advice.
Let them concentrate on ending animal abuse on factory farms.
That's where the cruelty of the meat industry needs to come to light so it can come to an end.
Factory farms are cruel to animals and bad for humans.
Small local farms where the animals are raised with a conscience need to be supported and protected.
Do animals die there?
Yes.
But they live in a natural, free environment,
are fed what their bodies need,
and are killed with consideration.
Sorry if you don't like death.
I don't like it either.
I've had three of my beloved cats die of old age in my arms over the past 3 years.
I know what death feels like in my hands.
Someday I'll have to die too.
We all do.
It's nice when our loved one - humans and animals alike - can live a good, long life and die of old age. Through our loving care their bodies and spirits are honored all the way to the end of their lifespan.
But without our loving care nature isn't set up that way.
Stuff dies all the time.
Farm animals die so we can eat well.
Game is hunted and we flourish because of it's life-giving flesh.
Animals prey on other animals.
Welcome to the food chain.
I feel much, much better eating meat.
Of course it's grass-fed, farm meat, but it's meat none the less.
Would I still dash into oncoming highway traffic to save an animal?
(I've done it for a dog, a woodchuck and a chicken all on separate occasions).
Of course I would.
And when it's time for dinner, I hope someone with my great grandma's fortitude will wring that chicken's neck so I can eat it and give some of it to the dog!
The groundhog?
He's busy digging up my father's garden.
For real.
Pictures coming this summer!
Eat hearty.
Live well.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* John and Colleen Nyman put ethical meat on the plates of their neighbors. That's why they branched off from their traditional farming backgrounds in 2006 to do it their way on a farm near Picton. They make no claims of being certified organic. Rather, the couple employs organic, sustainable and ethical practices wherever they can.
They raise animals on a diet of fresh "green chop" and vegetables and keep grains to a minimum. The animals get plenty of fresh air and are allowed to breed in-season. The Nymans sell their meat through their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. John and Colleen get lots of help from their parents and their young son, Shea. click here or click below
“The modern habit of eating chicken breasts and other lean cuts trimmed of all offending fats is new, an aberration in three million years of human history. Most people never ate protein without fat for the simple reason that in nature, protein and fat go together.” - Nina Planck in 'Real Food: What to Eat and Why'
“America has been on a low-fat diet for over 30 years. Yet we’re fatter than ever, we have an epidemic of diabetes, and our cholesterol levels are rising, not falling.” - Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP in The truth about cholesterol and fat
Fast foods make you fat. Diet foods make you fat.
High fat fried foods made me fat. Low fat or non-fat foods made me fat.
For years I flip flopped back and forth between a high fat/ low carb diet and a fat free/ high carb diet.
On my low carb swings I would drive thru at Burger King and McDonalds and eat Big Macs or Whoppers without the bread.
Then, when that failed, I'd reform my habits and go non-fat eating tons of rice, breads, pretzels and non-fat dairy instead.
Every step along the way I thought I'd found "the answer". I'd demonize whatever I'd been doing previously claiming that my new approach was the lifestyle I'd been looking for all along.
Those approaches always worked in the short term. I'd lose 10 - 30 pounds. Then my body would crave, crave, crave what I was depriving myself of and I'd gain all the weight back PLUS some.
Desperate and diabetic, I had the gastric bypass in hopes that cutting way back on portion size would solve my problem forever.
The portion cutting plus lots of forced cardio (that injured my already inflamed, arthritic joints) got the first 140 pounds off of me.
I ran out of steam. I hit a weight loss wall, a plateau that's lasted over a year. My energy bottomed out. The pains in my knees, feet, ankles and back kept me from renewing my gym membership. The pain and fatigue were too much for me.
The pounds were sneaking back on (not many, just 10 or 15).
Folks naturally blamed me for not going to the gym anymore. "What happened to all your exercising? You were doing so well, what happened?"
I'll tell you what happened: fatigue and muscle weakness. Depression. Malnutrition. Loss of hope.
That's what f*cking happened.
Now I'm here trying to clean up the damage.
I keep thinking about 630 pound Lisa Sellers. In part 1 of her video (click here) shows her eating her evening snack in bed. I recognize that snack. It's a butterscotch krimpet (either that or a jelly krimpet) made by renowned poison pushers Tastykake.
I've eaten many of them. MANY of them back in my binge eating days. I could polish off a box and a half in a night.
Why did I buy them? Because I'd look at the label and see that they were low in fat. I believed that because they were low fat they were of no consequence. I could eat with impunity.
After eating a box and a half of them I'd still want more. The only things stopping me from eating more were either my running out of them or my being in such pain from overeating I'd pass out.
Perfect night time snack. I'd wake up on the sofa surround by the crinkling of clear cellophane wrappers and empty boxes. Desperate for some hair-of-the-dog that bit me I'd hope that I'd left myself one or two.
I ate those foods and was never satisfied.
My blog title yesterday was called "Twinkies are not food".
Hey, I did the indulgent thing where I ate on demand. There was a time when no food was either "good" or "bad". I legalized all the forbidden foods of my childhood and ate till I could eat no more. I gave myself permission to eat devil dogs, ring dings and krimpets by the box in the name of demand feeding.
Maybe that was a necessary step on the road to eating disorder recovery.
Making the foods "ok" helped me to see that whey weren't really all that good. And yes I mean taste wise. The flavor of those Tastykake or Hostess, or evern worse Lil' Debbies, are disgusting. The refined sugar is so intense they make my teeth sing. The flavors are phony - like phoned-in phony.
Eating them is terribly unsatisfying. My inner child got her snack cakes but was still undernourished physically and emotionally.
The demand feeding helped to reduce the lure of the forbidden foods from my childhood but they left me fatter and sicker than ever.
This past year I've been trying to eat much better. I thought switching to soy milk was a good idea. I thought eating whole grains and tofu was going to help me. I still ate low fat diet foods to help sate my desire for sweets.
Still I suffered. My energy got worse instead of better. I did not lose any more weight. I felt weaker than ever.
Now I'm trying this new OLD thing. Eating like a human being.
Real milk, real full fat dairy, grassfed meats, lots of par-cooked produce (damaged digestive tracts need cooked veggies rather than raw veggies), nourishing bone broth and soaked/dried crspy nuts.
I'm eating good fats like real butter (unpasteurized), coconut oil, lard and tallow.
I'm cooking for myself. Fresh natural foods. I'm avoiding the processed foods that have betrayed me for so long. I'm staying away from the grains that make me foggy and fatigued. I'm avoiding processed soy.
I've given up coffee but I'm still drinking some tea.
The fatigue is still pretty bad but I've only been eating well for a couple of weeks.
My hair and skin look better already.
I'm hoping to feel more alive.
Any minute now.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Part 2 of the Lisa Sellers video. That table full of food was MY daily intake as well. Is going on a diet going to help her? It didn't help me. click here or click below
People keep talking about compulsive overeating as if it's a weakness-of-will-addiction. We use language like "I heard the cookies calling me" or "I couldn't help myself" or "I can't seem to stay away from carbs"
and we're missing the biological drives that make us reach for those foods.
Didn't you ever wonder why folks don't talk about apples calling them? Folk don't talk about that piece of blackened tilapia making them feel out of control. Folks never seem to complain about not being able to break the green tea habit.
It's "carbs" or soda or coffee or chocolate or candy. All can be called a 'drug' if we analyze their chemical make up.
We forget that there's more to all this than a lack of willpower.
Look at smoking cessation. Mainstream society seems to accept the idea that nicotine is a drug. We have patches and programs for nicotine withdrawal. We even have nicotine gum to help us ween off the stuff!
When it comes to food we get way too general.
"Let's also acknowledge the difficulty inherent in being a food addict. Those addicted to booze or cigarettes or drugs can live without those substances, but we need to eat in order to live. And as we addicts know, a little something often leads to a lot more of that something. And we don't have the option of staying away from food altogether." - Deborah King in her Letter to Oprah
We make the mistake of thinking of all foods as equal.
Lest we forget, a Twinkie is not a banana.
We talk about our "trigger foods". Notice how you won't hear someone claiming that pickled beets are their trigger food, or asparagus, or baked chicken.
The foods that f*ck us up are the foods that are full of concentrated, refined stuff. Even the most wholesome dessert will have a high concentration of sugar, more than what you'd find in something sweet off the vine.
Chemically these trigger foods start a snowball effect of imbalance till we end up feeling powerless over a plate of chocolate chip cookies (see today's video).
It's not enough to look at any one aspect of weight loss or eating disorder recovery and say we've found the root cause of the problem.
Deborah King says: "Many people are not willing or able to look inside and see the reason they are starving or stuffing their bodies. They are trying to stave off the hurt and the pain without confronting and releasing it."
Yes. The emotional aspects of eating are real. Whatever substance we're using to make us feel comforted, calm or safe is evidence of an imbalance in our emotional, psychical or spiritual sphere.
AND We can't forget to look inside our food for answers as well.
It takes a village, ya know?
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* This is from the show "I Eat 33,000 Calories a day" which airs on Discovery Health & TLC. Notice the CONTENT of her snacks. Notice what kinds of foods are tormenting her. Sure there are emotional aspects to her eating habits, but the FOOD ITSELF is contributing to her illness. The shelves at our grocery stores are full of these sick-making, processed empty foods. At what point do we hold the food manufacturers responsible for what they're selling us?? click here or click below
"I am a huge fan of raw milk and cultured raw foods. I believe that 'living' food, with its natural enzymes and friendly flora, are key to human health. Our family considers raw milk a 'gift of the gods!' Plus the flavor is INCREDIBLE. We never seem to get sick, or if we do, recovery time is quick! Bonus: my teenager has NO ZITS!" - Anita on Local Forage.com
"McAfee had seen his milk cure asthma in kids and irritable bowels in adults. For thousands of years, man and cow had shared the same space. The farther we as a society had moved away from our cows and our soil, science was showing, the more sick we had become." - Friends of Freedom
I had a busy day yesterday. Shopping and cooking is a workout, but a meaningful one.
I like the idea of meaningful work. Gardening, farming, house painting, yard raking, sweeping, swimming (yeah it's work...it's the work that keeps you from drowing), romping around in the grass, cleaning, shopping, keeping up with kids.
There's something about work that's so much more satisfying than running on the treadmill (hamster wheel) at the gym. Look, if that's your thing, God bless ya. Do what you enjoy. Do what works for you.
Yoga is prayer that's done with the body, soul, heart and mind.
Dance is art.
Martial arts are...well...arts!
So those things don't count as "exercise" though you're getting plenty of it when you're doing them.
I'm doing what I believe will work for me. If I believe it, it already has power.
I'm looking at the list of 'Things to Do for 5 Minutes a Day in 2009" to see how I'm doing so far.
Food log? Check See what I'm up to over at The Daily Plate (click here)
Intentional Movement? Getting better at it. The muscles in my back are really getting a workout from shopping, food prep and other kitchen work.
Preparing for class? I've been doing a GREAT job of keeping myself on the job. I have lecture notes and media PRE PLANNED. Much less improv. Much more intention.
I've still got so much to do. I really want to enjoy this half of my life. If I get my health in order I'll be able to have more fun.
In the end, fun and enjoyment are the things that motivate me most.
Gotta keep your eye on the prize.
Ok. Busy morning with mother. Time to sip some real milk and put myself down for a nap.
The laundry aint' going anywhere. It can wait.
My body needs what it needs.
Right now, it needs some sleep.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Wanna know how to make real Jiggle Broth?? Here ya go. I think the seasonings she's using are for Korean style bone broth but no matter what you season it with, the basics are as follows. click here or click below
was the scariest thing I had to do on the road to sensible omnivory. Eating more meat and eggs was easy by comparison...
...I was 25 pounds heavier on a low-fat diet. And missing all kinds of nutrients. Here’s a message for ‘good’ eaters: getting ALL your fat from olive oil - as I did - leaves you lacking many important nutrients, including certain fatty acids, both saturated and polyunsaturated, and several important vitamins.” - Nina Planck as quoted by Cheeseslave in the comments on Letting Go of the “Low Fat Mentality” from Kelly the Kitchen Kop I really should get myself a milking stool!
I said will not pray to the kernel headed overlord! Down with high fructose corn syrup! Up with organic sweet corn!
A snapshot of what's to my left right this second including my faaaaavorite Polish Salad in a jar!
After a vigorous walk through that HUUUUGGEEE famer's market in Paterson I'm happy to have a back seat full of groceries! Produce and some cheeses.
I worked my ass off today for my household of one. Well, one human 5 cats, but still.
My friend Lilyan took me to the giant farmer's market on the boarder of Paterson and Clifton off of Crooks Ave.
The prices made Costco look like Kings!
You know those half pound containers of Earthbound Organics lettuces, heirloom lettuces, spring mixed greens, etc.??
They go for $4.98 at the Food Basics! And Basics prices are pretty darn good.
You know how much the half pound containers were at the farmer's market??
One dollar.
ONE DOLLAR!
I got 5 of them. I'll be eating lots of salad for the next few days! lol Good thing I'm having company tonight. I hope they're in the mood for salad!
Right now I'm making a giant pot of red "gravy" on the stove full of fresh parsley, basil, onions, garlic, grass-fed and finished ground beef meatballs, and Akawi cheese.
Ingredients? Cheap.
Other amazing bargains?? 4 bags of radishes for a dollar. Yes, you read right. A dollar.
Big bunches of asparagus for a dollar fifty each.
Three heads of romaine hearts for a dollar.
Bargain after bargain after bargain!
Was it all organic?? No.
Some stuff was organic. Most was not.
But for those prices, my body will have to just love what it's getting!
And it will.
Ok, time to stir my homemade cinnamon kefir ice cream!
Good food = good life.
Namaste.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Hey, no one's as busy as a busy New Yorker!! They found a way to make traditional eating a way of life. Their exercise routines are tailored to their bodies and their capabilities. I like these people. I want to be as fit, healthy and happy as they are. Fast foods and processed crap will not get me there. Slow foods and traditional eating will. click here or click below
Kelly the Kitchen Kop is Busting "Politically Correct" Nutrition!! (click here)
She's giving away a limited number of copies of Nina Planck's new book "Real Food for Mother and Baby"! (click here)
I’ve never been a fan of... any powdered “protein shakes” because they just don’t seem like a natural way to get protein… from a powder. It just sounds too processed and denatured to me. (Back to that common sense factor that I like to go by.) However, for a natural, super healthy “protein drink”, try something like this egg nog"
"Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people." -Henry Kissinger, 1970 "In the campaigns against salt and fat, Taubes has outlined how committed and responsible scientists can look at the same ambiguous evidence and come to very different conclusions. That's normal science. The problems start when such ambiguous evidence is transformed into government policy." - Ronald Bailey in "Weird Science: How Fat and Salt Became Bad"
"The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (H.R. 875) was unveiled on February 4, 2009, by Representative Rosa DeLauro (Democrat-Connecticut), to both the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Committee on Agriculture. Cosponsored by 36 other Congressmen, all Democrats, H.R. 875 would essentially transfer all state control over food regulation to the Food Safety Administration (FSA), a newly-established federal bureaucracy to be created within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)...
...It is important to keep in mind that Representative DeLauro's husband, Stanley Greenburg, works for biotechnology giant Monsanto, the multi-national corporation responsible for the creation of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) in cows" - "Stop Federal Takeover of Food Regulation"
There are plenty of reasons to continue eating cheaply, conveniently, and unhealthily.
1) Some say the price of health food is prohibitive. 2) Some say they don't have time to prepare fresh foods. 3) Some say that organics are unreliable or that "free range" farms are sometimes just as bad as factory farms in their treatment of animals so they shouldn't bother.
I say: 1) Buy in bulk. It's cheaper than the supermarket. 2) Don't have time for fresh food? Will you have time to be sick when your "busy" lifestyle catches up with you? 3) Buy from local farms that invite you to VISIT so you can see for yourself where your food comes from.
I know, I know. Easier said than done. It took me YEARS to get to this point in my life where I am willing and able to make these changes for the sake of my health.
As an addict I lurched from one binge to another. There was no such thing as budgeting or planning. Food was a drug. I needed cheap, convenient, quick fixes. Not only did I binge eat I binge spent on the very foods that kept me sick, weak and addicted.
Planning ahead? Buying in bulk? In-con-thee-vable! And forget about cooking for myself! I neither had the energy nor the wherewithal.
It's important for me to be part of the solution rather than the problem, meaning I want to help people get well.
After a few weeks of eating love-filled traditional foods, giving up the poisonous ones and receiving two Reiki sessions I think I'm read for a big step.
With this paycheck I'm going to (finally) renew my membership to the National Guild of Hypnotists so that I can practice.
I especially want to work with people who are considering bariatric weight loss surgery. Maybe I can help them to keep their insides intact. Maybe I can help them with pre-op hypnosis to ease the recovery from surgery. Maybe I can change their minds about food and their own willpower.
Food is a POWERFUL thing. It can promote life or drain it. It can bend us to its will.
Did you know that corn is the leading cause of food addiction? (click here) Do you know whether or not your artificial sweetener (yes, even Splenda) is safe for daily and multiple times daily consumption? (click here) What about the additives in fast foods like the ones that changed "Super Size Me"'s Morgan Spurlock for the worse after a month of eating at McDonalds every day.
I remember when I lived on fast food junk and felt hungry all the time. My stomach itched and growled. I'd eat till I was foggy and limp.
That sounds like addicted behavior to me. How much of that is the substance itself causing biological demands for more more more?
We tend to blame our addictive personalities or emotional eating without looking at the actual food and its role in our unhealthy patterns.
Now that I'm healing my biology my psychology is easier to handle. The emotional aspect of eating is not even much of a problem any more.
The better I eat the better I can continue to eat.
The more I fall in love with the food I'm eating and how good it makes me feel the more I want to cut, chop, cook and savor.
I'm more focused. I'm more capable of budgeting my money so I can buy in bulk.
I think if I get into practice as a hyno-counselor I can help people make that transition. Maybe share some of the good energy.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Too many diets! Too much advice!! Somebody simplify this for me! Watch the first 10 minutes of the latest DVD, Part 1 of 3: "NOURISHING TRADITIONAL DIETS, The Key to Vibrant Health" - Over Five Hours of Life-Changing Information on Diet and Health Based on the Best-Selling Cookbook "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon. Learn from nutrition expert Sally Fallon about the pioneering work of Dr. Weston A. Price; the vital role of animal fats in human nutrition; the dangers of modern vegetable oils; the safety and health benefits of raw milk; the dark side of modern soy foods; and practical steps to change your diet for the better. Produced by Derick Moore, Moore Productions. All 3 parts are on one DVD. Available from NewTrends Publishing at www.newtrendspublishing.com or toll-free at (877) 707-1776 click here or click below
"...the Texas and Georgia peanut plants that were sending out salmonella riddled peanut butter also had federal organic certification. It’s what happens when you put “organic” labeling in the hands of giant agribusinesses. They cut corners and fall through the regulatory cracks just like everybody else... We ought to be asking a different set of questions altogether. Questions like why is our food supply so susceptible to contamination? Does scale have anything to do with it? Should we be opting for a more localized food economy?" -Kristen M in "Organic is Not Enough"
"People with high cholesterol live the longest." - Dr. Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD
I just ordered a quart of organic lard from grass fed farm pigs (uh...the lard comes from the pigs' bodies the farmer took the order).
Yes, lard.
With that I'll be able to make homemade potato chips and sweet potato chips.
I mentioned this to my class the other day and almost in unison they exclaimed, "Ewww lard! Oh my god! Aren't you worried about your cholesterol??"
No. I'm not. Besides, worry causes stress which leads to heart disease. Stress causes more heart attacks than lard ever did or will.
According to Dr. Uffe Ravnskov, there is very little cholesterol or saturated fat in arterial plaque or clogs. Most of the material is calcium deposits akin to lime and most of the fatty acids are unsaturated.
Did you ever wonder why the rates of heart disease has gone up since we started worrying about cholesterol?
We've replaced healthy animal fats with trans fats and other chemically altered, overheated, denatured oils.
Pasteurization of milk has been linked to heart disease as well. J.C. Annand, a British researcher, observed an increase in heart disease in districts that implemented pasteuriztion compared to those where milk was still sold unpasteurized.
Did you know that protein powders, yes my bariatric victims, PROTEIN SHAKES, ARE DANGEROUS because they give you too much protein without the necessary nutrients from animal fats. Too much "lean" protein depletes Vitamin A which leads to heart disease.
So why do we bark like trained seals when it comes to our fear of animal fat? What's with the "omg cholesterol" response to the suggestion that I'm consuming a diet that's high in grass-fed animal fats?
We've been trained to believe that animal fats are bad. And they are if they've been raised in concrete bunkers and fed processed corn and soy.
Farm raised, organic grass fed animals produce clean, natural, much needed fat.
I'll let you know how my lardy potato chips turn out!
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Store bought meats (even the so-called "grass-fed" beef at Hell Foods is grass fed up to a point then they feed them soy and corn....those liars!) are raised on a type of corn called YELLOW DENT. Don't believe me that it's dangerous stuff? Watch this. click here or click below
Busy busy busy. This is the semester where I actually prepare detailed lesson plans once and for all.
When I say once and for all I mean that I can use them next semester, and next semester and next semester.
I can tweak them and add to them but the basics will be pre-written. They're all organized in individual binders. All the syllabi saved and ready to use again. YouTube videos selected. Activities planned.
I'm teaching 4 classes this semester. 4 different classes. Intro to Religion Religions of the Word Women in Religion and Social Psychology and I'm doing them at 3 different colleges!
Can you see why my energy level was a priority for me? I didn't want to spend this semester speeding on stimulants.
I'm glad I've made the changes in my diet.
Day by Day I'm feeling better.
And next semester and for the future I won't have to work this hard. I'll already have my lesson plans made!
You might call this the semester from hell, but I don't want to put such a negative spin on it.
And yet, part of me believes that this IS the semester from hell. A boot camp.
The blog is short today for this reason.
I have to go teach in Jersey City!!
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* A blast from my past. At age 11 this was MY song! I listened to the Godspell soundtrack on vinyl till it wore out. "Day by Day Oh, dear Lord three things I pray: To see thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, Follow thee more nearly, Day by Day" click here or click below
"The exact cause remains unknown. There may a combination of factors, including genetic predisposition and environmental factors. The immune system is thought to play a major role. Despite research over the past 30 years looking at many triggers, the 'master switch' that turns on psoriasis is still a mystery." - Medicine.net
"Research indicates that psoriasis is likely an autoimmune disease which means the autoimmune system has an abnormal reaction to healthy cells... Omega 3 fatty acids can significantly improve symptoms... Although there are no firm studies on the use of probiotics for psoriasis, anecdotal reports say that the beneficial bacteria help relieve symptoms... include probiotic foods including kefir, tempeh and yogurt in your daily diet." - Complete Book of Nutritional Healing by Deborah Mitchell, Winifred Conkling
I remember my psychiatrist wanting to prescribe a steroid cream for my psoriasis. Mind you this was a few years back. I still weighed around 400 pounds and was SEVERELY diabetic.
I remember telling her that I didn't want to mask the symptoms with a steroid cream. I wanted to observe how the psoriasis reacted to different changes in my health. By observing it I was hoping to determine the underlying cause.
You know what she said to me? "Sometimes there IS no underlying cause!"
A psychiatrist said this. Her entire discipline relies on the detection of underlying causes!! Without underlying causes she'd be out of business.
I declined her offer of steroid cream.
The psoriasis was much worse then. It extended from my elbow half way down my arm then continued in a giant patch on my hand. In the pics above you can see the scarred area of dark skin surrounding the remaining patch of psoriasis. That whole area used to be inflamed.
As the diabetes fades into the past my diet continues to improve the psoriasis area has gotten smaller and smaller.
That one stubborn patch remains. Like my last stubbon X-amount of fat on my body.
I'm counting on my new eating approach to help heal me. I'm counting on the ENERGY to romp in the outdoors and to move more in general.
I'm counting on the healing properties of bone broth. And no it can't be purchased in the store. Even if it's top notch, pricey, snooty organic soup stock it has about as much nutrition as salt water.
Broth has to jiggle at room temperature. Not from fat. You skim that off the top as it cools. It gets the jiggliness from gelatin. That's where all the nourishment is.
"Short cuts mean big profits for producers but the consumer is short changed. When homemade stocks were pushed out by cheap substitutes, an important source of minerals disappeared from the American diet. The thickening effects of gelatin could be mimicked with emulsifiers but the health benefits were lost. " - Sally Fallon in Broth is Beautiful
Bone broth nourishes and heals So does raw butter and real milk. So do living, fermented foods.
Remember Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, said, "All disease begins in the gut." Our guts have the job of digesting food, absorbing nutrients and preventing toxins from entering our bodies. When the gut is sick the whole organism suffers.
As I heal my gut I'm counting on healing my psoriasis.
We'll see how that goes.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* I know someone who died from a perforated intestine! (Dude, remember Beth's sister??) Leaky gut is NOT to be taken lightly. Heal the gut, save the life. Thanks, Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN! He talks about supplements which I'm not into right this second, but he does a great job of explaining leaky gut syndrome! click here or click below
"...Price noted that all of these diets contained a source of good quality animal fat, which provided numerous factors necessary for the full expression of our genetic potential and optimum health....
... Ms. Fallon applied the principles of the Price research to the feeding of her own children, and proved for herself that a diet rich in animal fats, and containing the protective factors in old fashioned foodstuffs like cod liver oil, liver and eggs, make for sturdy cheerful children with a high immunity to illness." - review of "Eat Fat Lose Fat" by Sally Fallon
Down with Diet Dictocrats! I will not be dictated to. But I will listen to testimony.
I'll always listen to "I ate _______ then I felt ________." or else make my own observations of what folks are eating and how sick or well they are.
It's tricky though cuz I look at Susan Powter and she's truly the picture of health. She talks the talk and walks the walk of Lean, Strong and Healthy. I bet if she did a Metabolic Typing analysis she'd turn out to be a carb type (requires about 60 percent of your food as carbs, 25 percent protein and 15 percent fat).
I haven't done any labs yet but by observing how I feel I'm most likely a protein type (typical ratio might be 40 percent protein and 30 percent each of fats and carbohydrates, but the amounts might be closer to 50 percent fats and as little as 10 percent carbohydrates depending on individual genetic requirements). With such a low carb requirement I can easily get my carbs from fruits and vegetables. For the rest of my life I may rely less on grains and starches for my energy.
That's fine with me.
Yesterday I picked up my first farm order: real milk, cheese, yogurt, bone broth, preserves, grass fed and finished beef, raw butter, free range eggs and fermented relish (OMG please try the fermented relishes and salsa from Zukay! Like nothing I've ever tasted!)
I was nervous about tasting these things for the first time. I imagined they'd taste gamey or sour or strange.
All of it is surprisingly mild and light. The real milk is sweet. It's light and thick. Not like heavy cream or half and half from the store. It's not sticky or syrupy like commercial milk. Like I said, light and thick at the same time.
The butter is delicious. It's sweet and salty. I thought it might have that strong sweet creamery butter taste like the tubs of sweet butter from the store. Nope. The taste is simple. Butter, just butter is how I'd describe it.
The bone broth is simple too. Not fatty or gamey. It tastes like good homemade soup.
The cheese is like a semi-soft Havarti with little bits of rosemary in it. I had some this morning with my farm eggs. Yummy!
Yes, it's weird, it's radical, it's counter culture, it's anti-diet and it's not for everyone (well, maybe traditional foods ARE for everyone, but we should all eat for our metabolic and genetic type).
Since they don't list real farm foods on the site it will show that I'm eating name brand store-bought stuff. I'm not. It's just for calories' sake and to get a sorta accurate fat/carb/protein ratio. Until I can maybe add my own nutritional info to the site I'll list the name brand foods.
We'll see how this goes.
I really should find a scale someplace and weigh myself so we can get a "Starting" weight.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Processed Soy = Bad. ENOUGH of this toxic crap showing up in ALL our foods (including being fed to our meat/dairy animals and farmed fish so we get it in EVERYTHING we eat!) I like that this interviewer says Sally Fallon is not politically correct. Politically incorrect?? Love it! Right up my ally, Sally! click here or click below
"Healing is proper management of personal energy. We are born with an endowment of ever-replenished resources. To be spiritually healed is to be so connected to these resources that you are never depleted" - Oasis Reiki Institute
"The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words - Rei which means 'God's Wisdom or the Higher Power' and Ki which is 'life force energy'. So Reiki is actually 'spiritually guided life force energy.'" - Reiki.org
This past Friday I had my first Reiki session with a Master Level Reiki healer. As I'm making all these physical changes it's important for me to pay attention to other areas of my health too.
Reiki restores vital energy to a body that has become unbalanced.
I had heard that surgical scars "leak" energy. Kinda like leaky-gut-syndrome of the soul. With all the surgeries I've had in my life I was alarmed by this news.
I showed the practitioner my long train track abdominal scar from the two gastric banding surgeries (they weren't doing gastric banding laproscopically back when I had them done). I showed her the 6 inch scar on my left shin from the bone graft I had back in 1982 when they took pieces of my hip bone, grafted it onto my tibia and clamped the broken bone back together with a stainless steel plate and six screws.
She told me we were going to let the energy find its own way trusting that wherever it was needed it would go.
As she did the energy work on my abdomen her hands were drawn to the middle of my torso on my left side. It was one of the few times she actually put her hands on my body.
She pressed down right on top of the spot where I had that painful hematoma after the gastric bypass. (Don't blame the surgeon! He did an excellent job of getting the old gastric band out of me and converting me to a bypass despite the gobs and webs of scar tissue and adhesions).
I knew the Reiki Master was doing well sensing my energy. How else would she have felt that spot on my body? I had not shown it to her nor had I mentioned it any time previously.
It makes sense that she would gravitate to a spot that needed some active chi. It would make sense if she were good at her art and she was good.
She knew what to do for me.
Do I feel different after the Reiki? Yes. Not sure how much is due to my diet. Not sure how much is due to my getting off coffee and saccharine.
But I know that systems work together. Eating well (click here) is not enough. Food is foundational to well being. It's a great place to start.
You can't build the house without pouring the foundation! But you can't live on the cement foundation either. You need to build walls, a roof, windows, plumbing, plant a lawn, etc.
Reiki is an essential part of building my healthy house.
Today I laid more foundation. Through "connections" that will have to remain quiet (one more reason for me to become a very noisy food activist!) I acquired my first real farm order: bone broth, raw butter (the first two ESSENTIAL foods recommended to me by my nutritionist), grass fed/finished beef, real yogurt, real milk, real cheese, fermented relish, free range farm eggs and sampled real ice cream, real cottage cheese, real sour cream and fermented soda.
With all that fat you'd think I'd be sick to my stomach. I'm not.
I feel grounded. My stomach is at peace.
It's time for an experiment.
Starting tomorrow I'm going back on The Daily Plate. I'm going to keep a food log.
I'm doing something radical here. It will be worth it to track my progress. As I become stronger and healthier it's important that folks are able to see exactly what I'm eating.
When I break this plateau and get nice and lean, who's going to believe me when I'm telling them I've been eating high fat dairy foods and grass fed red meat? We're supposed to be afraid of high cholesterol aren't we??
We're supposed to be suspicious of any kind of healing done by someone outside the AMA.
That won't stop me from getting more Reiki this Friday! And it won't keep me from eating from the farm.
Stay tuned.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Back in January I posted my first video from HealthyUrbanKitchen (click here for the original blog post). The first video I watched featured a young woman talking about grass-fed beef. I swear she mentioned moose meat. I thought "no way" was I going to put that on my blog! Now I can't find the original moose meat video. Ah well. What I CAN find is Antonio Valladares and one of his clients talking about the benefits of real dairy fats and good oils! Hey, if eating low fat was so good for me why did my hair fall out? If eating soy and whole grains was right for my body type why did I have NO energy? Guess I'm a "protein type" who NEEDS the benefits of a traditional diet. Click here or click below
"If... *You eat all the best foods, take only the finest quality supplements, you exercise and lead a healthy lifestyle. Yet you still don’t feel well.
*You believe in nutrition, but you’ve given up on it. It’s impossible to make sense of the confusing and contradictory information flooding the market.
Put an end to the confusion about what diet is right for YOU and which supplements YOU really need. Have your metabolism analyzed and eliminate the guessing game once and for all." - Erin Huggins Health and Wellness with an Edge
"I’m starting to recognize MY body again - the body that easily takes me up a hill in Hollywood and the body that can easily twist, bend and extend. Bliss in baby steps. I still don’t have much appetite though. I know I should be eating more, but I’m just not hungry. For dinner, I literally only ate two chicken thighs. Eating for my metabolic type certainly has kept me feeling full for much longer." - Erin Huggins creator CEO Rebel With A Cause Inc.
Here's my prediction: Traditional foods are about to become the latest "thing".
This could be good or bad. It can be the dawning of the age of Aquarius or it can be something that gets mainstreamed, misunderstood and ruined.
What might save it is that it is not parented by a multi-billion dollar industry. It's not corporately sponsored. There is no huge lobbying organization behind it. There's no hidden agenda to ruin its karma.
Every "system" that's ever been adopted by the mainstream has eventually failed.
Low-fat failed for many reasons. It didn't take into account the garbage quality of low-fat diet foods AND it failed to account for our need for good fats.
Atkins style high protein low carb failed because it did not distinguish between quality proteins and chemically, corporately unhealthy proteins (sick chickens produce sick eggs, corn fed cows and steer produce meat that raises the 'bad' cholesterol, farmed salmon is ruined by soy and corn feeding so there's not absorption of Omega 3's)
Veganism is ill defined and tends to rely too much on soy products that suppress thyroid function and cause all kinds of problems (click here).
Weight loss Diets in general provide too few calories that lead to rebound binge-eating and weight gain.
In the end diet victims are still fat, sluggish and unhappy. Folks like me end up on the operating table rearranging our guts out of desperation.
You see how I've been searching for years for a way to eat that will help me find my healthy weight and have abundant energy.
These hip Weston A. Price-ers are turning me on to something I had not considered before. THERE IS NO DIET THAT IS RIGHT FOR EVERYONE.
See, I figured that all I had to do was find a person who was healthy, vibrant, active and thriving and just copy what they did.
I'd looked at my beloved Susan Powter and figured all I had to do was copy her. I tried. Believe me I tried. The grains and soy made me too spacey, sluggish, moody, and weak.
My metabolic type cannot tolerate all those whole grains (right now). The amount of soy I was consuming in a day was ridiculous: soy milk, tofu, soy flour, soy sauce, soy yogurt, soy cheese, soy soy soy! Ugh.
It's as if there were some multi-million dollar marketing strategy designed to make us believe that soy is good for us o_O.
You saw how my health was failing. I was slowing down to a stop. I could hardly move.
The whole grain, high soy approach was not what my body needed.
I needed protein. I needed meat. Not just any old meat. (click here for info on grass-fed and finished meats and dairy)
I'm feeling the way I did when I first read/heard that I wasn't a failure for being fat. I'm feeling that blessed affirmation of my inner disposition to be well.
My disordered eating was not a "disease" or failure of will. Along with all the emotional work that goes into recovery there are physical changes that MUST happen in order for a lifestyle change to stick.
These traditional foods folks recognize how special I am, how special you are, how as individuals we need certain things and not others.
Trainer developed workout routines are not just about pinpointing which muscle groups we want to develop. There are specific exercises for stimulating specific glands, organs and meridians. Flailing around at the gym may not be what our body needs. We need to be more specific about HOW WE MOVE.
Over the next few weeks I'm going for blood work, I'm going to figure our my metabolic type, I'm going to find out what type of movements my body needs (Have inflamed joints? Walking or running may not be the best idea. No wonder you're not walking or running. You're smart! You're preventing injury! Find out WHICH yoga or WHICH weight training or WHICH stretches you need to be doing).
Are there any generalizations left that apply to all of us? Sure. Oranic is the way to go.
Beyond that, we're too special for a one size fits all diet approach.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* There's a difference between FOOD and products that are edible. Eat real food. "Weight loss is simply a matter of the right conditions coming together. Your weight loss goal is EASY if you have all the right ingredients. You have to think about what you will gain from losing. Stop thinking about your weight loss goal and start thinking about the benefits from your goal. This is VERY important. To many people only focus on the big picture weight loss goal and they dont focus on the steps or the conditions that will make weight loss inevitable. This is crucial to your success." Thanks Erin Huggins! click here or click below
"I hope to help you understand why you are using food as self-medication. It's not because you are weak willed, it's because you're low in certain brain chemicals. You don't have enough of the brain chemicals that should naturally be making you emotionally strong and complete....
...In the late 1970s, I was the supervisor of a large San Francisco alcoholism treatment program... For reasons that we understood only later, our clients just couldn't stop eating the sweets and starches that eventually led them back to alcohol. For six years we struggled for a solution, then, in 1986, we found one.... The technique involved the use of specific amino acids that could rapidly feed the addicted brain exactly the type of protein that it needed to naturally fill up its empty mood-chemical sites. The results were spectacular." - Jeff Figearo, Holistic Nutritionist
If you have an affinity for eastern religions, fantasy, sci fi and have a high tolerance for multiple (parallell and imaginary) timelines then see 'The Fountain" starring Hugh Jackman.
A beauty from start to finish this film deals with immortality, rebirth, reincarnation, metaphysics, religion, outerspace and so many other themes that just tickle my Elmo.
I could do without the gushy love story but it made sense to the storyline so I tolerated it. Rachel Weisz did a fine job but there wasn't much to her character. She was bascially the love object of Hugh Jackman's desperate character(s).
For the most part smooching and faux movie sex do nothing for me....except irritate me. Watching the staged love scenes, I can just picture a bunch of sweaty grips standing around, the bright lights and the totally unsexy vibe of the movie set when the actrons are trying to convince me of how passionately they feel for each other on screen.
But last night something happened. During a rather annoying scene where Hugh Jackman's character is affectionately bathing the cancer-ridden Rachel Weisz they started kissing.
I got squeamish as I usually do when watching a scene like this. I start imagining that one of them had garlic the night before or that it was early in the morning and one or both of them had coffee/empty stomach, stinky mouth.
The phony duck bill lip-slapping that passes for movie kissing was just starting to really irritate me. Then Hugh Jackman stuck his tongue in her mouth.
Glurp. (I don't know if that's the sound of their tongue kissing or the sound my sleepy sex chakra made while I watched them.)
It got to me. It was definitely hot. Partly because I like Hugh Jackman (X-men, The Prestige), partly the way it was shot, and partly because I received it on a night when my health was on the upswing, I kinda liked what I saw.
When our health is out of balance our sex drive suffers. It can rev too high or plummet to non-existence. Lately with my lack of energy I imagined I was done with sexy or romantic feelings forever. I figured I was middle-aged, past the baby-making age and in no need of a sex drive any longer anyway. I resigned myself to being chaste in the second half of life.
But that kiss. (click here...the "moment" is at 2:28 into the video) It got me wanting again.
Now, I can't stop thinking about Kirk Fox (blame FGS for that one!). He reminds me of Hugh Jackman only Kirk is much more strange - looking and acting. And of course Kirk is funny which is very sexy and just about on par with Wolverine's overall hott-itude.
Could my romantical physical revival have something to do with having my first Reiki session yesterday?
Getting one's aura cleaned and one's energy aligned and healed are definitely some things that can clear the bats out of your plumbing and release some chi.
Could be the change in diet. I feel much better, more alert, more energetic, more clear headed, less fatigued.
Could be the approaching spring where all reproductive creatures come back to life.
What ever is stirring within me it can only mean that I'm getting healthier. I'm getting back in balance. I'm getting nourished.
A fully functioning human is on her way back to life.
*Lisa's Pick of the Day* High Fructose Corn Syrup is Not Sexy! says Dr. Belonzi of Austin Wellness Nutrition Find out the truth about high-fructose corn syrup and it's effect on the diet, obesity, health and fitness of your body. How much corn derivatives and corn sweeteners are in YOUR diet? and HOW DO YOU FEEL?? Eat real food. Eat real food. Eat real food. click here or click below
"You're overwhelmed, overweight, exhausted, underslept, underfed, have bags under your eyes, blood pressure is off the charts! Welcome to Burnout. A much more intelligent, sustainable and profitable approach to reducing stress, improving health and vitality and preventing burnout, would be the exact opposite of what’s most popular." - Antonio Valladares in Top 5 Foods That Fight Stress
I'm suddenly able to button the third button on my peacoat. When I first started wearing it back in November (just a few months ago) I could only button the top button. I reasoned that I needed to keep the bottom ones unbuttoned so I could get in and out of the car.
Today I was able to button all the buttons and still get in and out of the car easily. No strain on the buttons.
If I told you I was eating lots of red meat, whole milk, cheese and eggs would you believe me? I've removed grains (temporarily) from my diet. I don't crave them. My blood sugar feels more level. I have abundant energy and I'm losing weight.
Fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy.
NO this is NOT the Atkins diet.
I am trying to fight fatigue. Not fight. Let me use a different word. I am restoring balance to my depleted body.
After years of eating processed oily, sugary crap foods then the starvation that follows Weight Loss Surgery, everything nonfat including too many grains and beans, plus an army's worth of coffee every day, I need real and I mean REAL food!
It's late in the day (7:15pm). I need to cook a hearty meal for company. Meat, vegetables, cheeses, salad with pickled cabbage and whole milk ice cream.
Now that's eating!
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Despite what you may have heard, eggs do NOT raise your cholesterol. They do NOT cause heart disease. The nutrients are in the yolk. Don't throw it out. Get rid of your Egg Beaters and enjoy the whole egg. You'll be healthier for it! Thanks, Underground Wellness!
See how much better I look after only a few weeks of dietary changes?
Above: me, yesterday
Below: me, two weeks ago
"I became a vegan and a vegetarian and my health suffered. I started eating beef and crème fraîche, eggs and raw-milk cheese, and my health improved. I thought, Hmmm, this is interesting. I wonder if I’m going to get a heart attack. So I started to do some homework...
...nutrients are destroyed when you cook food. But they have the foods upside down. We should be cooking broccoli and carrots to make them more nutritious. And we should be eating raw beef, raw fish, raw egg yolks in Caesar salads, and raw milk." - Nina Planck author of 'Real Food: What to Eat and Why'
In the past I've been on the Atkins diet. I'd pull in to McDonald's drive thru, order 4 double cheeseburgers, eat the meat and cheese, and think I was doing something good for my health and blood sugar.
I knew about food additives, hormones in beef, antibiotics in meat and milk bearing animals, the hydrogenated oils in the cheese and the meat cooking process, the corn feed and fillers but I was hungry and poor. I ate my commercially altered meat and cheese.
Atkins never lasted for me. The next thing I knew I'd be driving thru for McDonald's breakfast, ordering steak, egg and bagel sandwiches and McMuffins, eating the meat and cheese then FAILING to throw all the bread to the birds. I'd throw most of it out the window but I'd nibble at some of it.
Eventually I'd go back to eating all kinds of crap, defeated and blaming myself for not having any willpower.
Two big things were defeating me: food quality and mindset.
Watch 'Fast Food Nation' and 'SuperSize Me' and you'll never look at commercial foods the same way again. Fast Food? They actually ADD substances to their food that make us crave more. And I'm not being all Michael Moore about this. I lived it.
I know that eating crap leads to eating more crap.
But mindset is also important. Crucial to making lasting change.
When I was on Atkins I always felt deprived of carbs. I wanted my bread, my chips, my corn products, my cereals and grains. I craved them.
So I did research to justify my cravings. I found out that carbs are essential to good health. Carbs feed our brains. Carbs are a wonderful source of energy.
Whole grains are just plain good for us.
I'd fall off the Atkins wagon into the carbo swamp. All or nothing all or nothing all or nothing Whole gains, beans and tofu!! Hooray!
I sniped at the folks who tried to tell me that meat and fat were good for me. Meat? Butter? Cheese? I used to say "cheese is the enemy."
I went all vegan (except for my stonyfield farm fat free chocolate underground yogurt).
Of course I nearly died from lack of energy. Figuring I was anemic I took iron pills and started eating more turkey and chicken. I ate more almonds and tons more soy.
I made my Pots O' Lisa with barley or brown rice. The leftovers would disappear out of my refrigerator very quickly because I was always hungry. And tired. My energy was bottoming out. I stopped exercising. I could barely move.
That brings us almost up to date.
A confluence of information came at me from multiple sources. I was looking for answers and I got them.
The more I read the more it all makes sense, BUT....and every one loves a big BUT... lots of other stuff has made sense in the past. Stuff that conflicts with what I'm doing now. Stuff that used to make sense to me no longer does. WHY??
Because of how I feel.
Last night my BFF and his wife were here to watch LOST (p.s. The Dharma Initiative and The Others drank real milk. Remember Mikhail's cow?) I made beef and vegetable soup, no starch. We had wonderful cheeses: a nice Danish Fontina and some beautiful Stilton with pear and apple.
We had a giant tub of hummus from Costco (that I won't buy again because it has Canola oil in it). I served Wasa, corn chips and rice cakes for dipping.
I refrained from the grains. I wanted to reach for a corn chip (I will not bow to the kernel headed overlord!) but I didn't. Now, here's where the mindset kicks in. I made the choice based on wanting to FEEL better and BE healthier NOT to deprive myself, NOT to lose weight (being healthy strong and active leads to weight loss naturally... dieting has never worked so why would it work now?).
The Atkins mentality (and the crap quality of the meat, cheese, eggs and dairy I was eating) failed me because I was doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons. Labeling a group of foods as "bad" really screwed up my thinking. I was either labeling carbs as "bad" or fats as "bad" in the name of being thin. I failed to distinguish the quality of foods. It never occured to me to find out what balance of carbs, fats and proteins was right for ME.
My body was a quagmire of cravings. Totally out of balance.
Last night I didn't abstain from chips because I was "doing the low carb thing" I did it because I feel foggy, hazy and crappy when I eat those foods.
Right now I need to avoid them. There will come a time when I'll eat quinoa, oats, brown rice etc.
But for now it's all about getting back in balance, getting my energy back, becoming strong and healthy so my body will find its own best weight.
There's a difference between trying to be thin and trying to be well. It's all in our minds. But guess what. Our actions follow our minds.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* "...the higher your HDL cholesterol the longer you live..." Not corn oil. Not canola oil. Not hydrogenated oil. Not industrialized corn fed meats and dairy. Not all fats are created equal! Not all Farmers' Markets are created equal either. Listen to Nina Planck, author of Real Food. click here or click below
"Much like the millions of undiagnosed people who are allergic to gluten and don’t know it yet, they suffer all sorts of weird health problems, many people who eat synthetic chemicals, especially artificial sweeteners, suffer seemingly ‘unrelated’ health issues. From skin issues to cravings to addiction to mood disorders, artificial sweetener is a potent neurotoxic poison that causes chaos inside the human body and imbalance in brain chemistry. As soon as my clients gave it up completely, the issues disappear. Here are some facts for ya…. 94% of the people I have worked with that were eating artificial sweetener, were addicted to it. 100% of the people I have worked with that gave it up, found radical improvements in their health, well-being and ability to lose weight." - Antonio Valladeras
The problem with food allergies and toxicity is the symptoms are not acute.
I'm not talking about severe food allergies like the folks who sniff a peanut and explode. I mean folks like me, folks who have an undiagnosed gluten intolerance or celiac and aren't quite sure what's wrong. The blood work looks normal. The tests come back negative. The doctors call you crazy. They dismiss your fatigue as a "willpower issue" or depression.
Is food really the culprit? I think it's a big one.
Mindset is another biggie. If we are resigned to feeling like crap we condition our minds to accept our crappy health as inevitable. We take it into our personalities. When someone tries to offer us a possible solution we growl and bark like they've just poked an injury.
Our reasons for being sick (or just low level tired, irritable, unfocused) are built up around us like impenetrable walls. We know what we know about ourselves. We don't want someone coming along and telling us that change will make us into someone different. We're too used to feeling like crap (to the point that we won't even admit we feel like crap), defending our reasons to feel low-level sick and using our symptoms as currency to buy us out of doing things that are uncomfortable.
It's human to want to protect our own interests. It's normal to want to survive.
Our symptoms and excuses ("It's just the way I am" or "It runs in my family" or "I've had this for a long time and tried everything") protect us from further disappointment, judgment, discomfort and the scary possibility that we could actually live differently.
A reader made a comment recently that supports my point. She said she had been reading my blog for a whole year. That day was her first time commenting. The gist of her comment was how "bugged" she was by my talking about coffee addiction and dietary change. She had joined Blogger that very day just to protest what I had written (I looked up her profile).
I was suggesting that we're addicted to coffee and convenience. She was "bugged". I had betrayed her. Instead of commiserating in making excuses for the status quo of coffee addiction and convenience foods, I suggested a change that she wasn't ready for. She just HAD do say something.
I've done that. Check back to some older (or recent) posts in my blog. I HATE being told what to do! When I'm trying to figure something out for myself I get very, very annoyed when someone tells me I'm on the wrong track, need to do something different or that I might be doing something too extreme.
If my mind is made up forget telling me that I shouldn't do something especially after I spent so much time and effort figuring it out for myself.
Don't get the gastric bypass?? You couldn't have told me that back in 2006. I was convinced I needed it.
I had built up my wall of reasons and defenses. I had made my decision. There was no talking to me.
So, I know what I'm talking about when it comes to being resistant to change. New ideas are irritating. Other people speaking as if they know better than I do are highly irritating.
We love the condition of addiction to a substance, to a lifestyle or just to being right. Our addictions protect us from the scary free fall of possibility. They're safe. They're familiar. They're part of who we are.
It took me 40 years to come to this point. I've struggled with addiction all my life. I've JUSTIFIABLY put up defenses. People have been cruel to me. People have abused me. I've been treated unfairly in my lifetime.
I have some major anger inside me. Poke me in just the wrong place and I'll scream. I may even bite you.
Folks have to do things in their own time. Folks have to work our their own karma.
I'm going to share what I'm doing to get well. Maybe deep down I wish we were all doing it together but that's unrealistic.
Mindset is a powerful thing. Until we're ready to change our minds we can forget about changing much else.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* "...allergies cause inflammation and water retention which block the uptake of nutrients which causes nutritional deficiencies." You'll watch this and I GUARANTEE your first reaction will be, 'But I'm not retaining water.' Enjoy this clip and montage from Joan Matthews-Larson, Phd. click here or click below
"'Overeating is a symptom of a deeper mind-body problem, and if you force a person to stop overeating, then of course that underlying problem will find a new way to express itself.' Adams calls conventional medicine, 'clueless about how to actually help patients heal.'" - Mike Adams
"I find it absolutely stunning that the sugar industry continues to deny any link whatsoever between the consumption of sugar and chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes. The sugar industry says that sugar is a completely healthy food, that there's no such thing as an unhealthy food, and that sugar can be part of a healthy diet." -Mike Adams
I'm drinking a little caffeine in the mornings. English breakfast tea with stevia and organic whole milk with all the fat intact.
Breakfast this morning is two organic brown eggs (whole with the yolks intact), 2 slices of organic cheese and a big dollop of red cabbage with parsnips (organic of course).
Yummy. Nutritious. Low carb BUT not because I'm trying the latest weight loss approach. The low carb part of my breakfast is for clarity's sake.
Yes, clarity. I feel more clear headed and energetic when I avoid grains. Giving up gluten was not enough. I took it further.
Does that mean I'll never eat grains again? I will. I have a nice bag of organic Quinoa in my cupboard and I'm looking forward to baking some REAL sourdough bread.
For now I need to steer clear of starchy grains. I'm experimenting to see which foods give me a negative reaction, which foods make me groggy and foggy, which foods give me digestive problems.
Giving up coffee (for Lent at least) is part of the experiment. Masking my fatigue with a pot of coffee every day was not helping me. The coffee crashes were worse than the fatigue itself.
My interest in traditional foods (real milk, grass-fed pastured meats, bone broths, fermented foods) comes from my reading and watching folks WHO HAD THE SAME SYMPTOMS AS I DO. They report feeling better. They're symptoms disappeared. They don't show up on YouTube to sell me something in a sales pitchy way (though they may be helping to promote a book). They're not talking about a "system" or new fad diet. They're reporting the benefits they've experienced from changing their diets.
The changes are outside the mainstream. Bison meat and unpasteurized milk are weird. Folks think it's crazy or dangerous to eat outside the mainstream.
Then I look at the general health of the mainstream. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, digestive disorders and psych disorders are perfectly acceptable. Ailments are expected and accepted as normal. Meanwhile we're eating our Cheerios and our skinless chicken breasts thinking "It can't be our diets making us sick. Look at how healthy we eat!"
Cheerios are made with trisodium phosphate. General Mills claims that they only use a little bit to stabilze the dougb and that our gastric juices dissolove it before it enters our systems so it's no danger (only a few flipper babies).
Well, I don't have regular gastric juices. I had a gastric bypass. Am I in danger of poisoning myself with their cereal??
They (whoever "they" are) say that Cheerios helps to lower cholesterol because it contains water soluable fiber. They (whoever "they" are) forget to mention that an apple has 4 times the water soluable fiber found in a serving of Cheerios.
Skinless chicken? If it's commercially raised in a cramped filthy environment you better take off the skin because it's full of synthetic pesticides, fungicides and artificial fertiliser (from the food they feed it). They've also fed it meat by products, you know, ground up beaks, claws and baby chicks (don't believe me? Do some research).
But if your chicken was free range and organic you better cook it with the skin. Yes it has fat but it also contains the Omega 3's you need to be healthy. The nutrients that we need are found in the skin so don't remove it till you've cooked it OR just eat it and stop being a fat phobe.
Look, I'm not telling anyone to do what I'm doing. I'm experimenting here. I'll have to see some major improvements in my health before I'll speak with authority on this issue.
It does seem strange to me that when I talked about drinking a whole pot of coffee every day I didn't hear HALF the flack I'm hearing now that I'm writing about wanting to eat real dairy and other traditional foods.
Probably because coffee is an approved addiction. It's socially acceptable. It's virtuous because it can be consumed with fake sugar and fat free milk making it diet-friendly. Our society would rather condone the consumption of dangerous sugar substitutes than a cup of milk straight from the animal. Now THAT's strange.
Every diet I've ever been on has "allowed" coffee as a "free" food. Black coffee was always permissable. No calories. No fat. Just gut flora killing jittery inducing caffeine.
Hey, if I'm gonna pick my poison let me do it my way.
You'll know every step of the way how this new approach to eating works for me.
If it does work, I'm reserving the right to do the I told you so dance.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Antonio says to notice HOW WE FEEL after we've eaten. If you feel great then keep doing what you're doing, it must be working. I feel like crap so I'm looking to change. After today's breakfast of eggs, cheese and cabbage I feel pretty good. I'm not nauseated. I don't feel like I want to pass out. I don't feel like eating more. I feel ok. click here or click below
"There's no such thing as a diet that is universally healthy for everyone. This applies to any diet that is purportedly right for all people - whether it’s the Atkins Diet, MacDougall Diet, Ornish Diet, (or pick any diet you can think of!)." - William Wolcott, Founder, The Healthexcel System of Metabolic Typing
"Malnutrition - nutrient deficiencies - from consuming a highly processed diet is one reason why many people cannot lose weight, because it leads to overeating." - Dr. Mercola
I just want to feel better. I want to feel awake, alert and alive. Why is achieving this so difficult?
I used to be able to get that frosty, crisp alert feeling from drinking coffee. My coffee consumption was up to a whole pot a day. Those crispy frosty feelings were becoming more and more difficult to achieve.
The caffeine crashes felt like sedation. All I wanted to do was sleep.
I've been off of coffee for one week. Only some caffeine gets into my system from tea but for the most part I'm drinking decaf tea. The coffee withdrawals are over but I'm struggling for energy.
We're having a blizzard here in NJ. All schools are closed so I slept in. Now, after getting PLENTY of rest I want to crawl back into bed and sleep some more.
There's that foggy, drowsy feeling in my head making me groggy. I just want to cry and sleep.
Yes, I'll go for my blood work. Of course I will trust doctors to help me, but I know that chronically low energy is a tough one to diagnose.
It's very likely that I'm out of balance hormonally and nutritionally. It's time to yank my system into alignment.
Finding the right diet FOR ME will be challenging. The information out there contradicts itself. Folks compete with ideas about what's good for you and what's bad. Really healthy, peppy, vibrant people tell different tales of how they got that way.
Some swear by whole grains and veganism. Some are anti-carb. Some are pro-protein but get it from shakes and supplements.
I'm sitting over here in my fog hoping I land on the right information.
It's guinea pig time. In order to save myself I'll have to be a human experiment. Eliminating certain foods from my diet and introducing new ones. Staying active, breathing deeply, walking with less impact on my joints, and keeping my surroundings clean are all part of my plan no matter what.
The food thing is trickier. Right now my gut (literally and figuratively) is telling me to try traditional foods. Organic food. Real dairy. Grass-fed beef. Lots of vegetables. Less grains. Fermented, living foods that are full of enzymes.
I've been making these changes gradually. I'm introducing more protein and fats. Some days I feel great. Some days I'm still struggling, like today.
I'm willing to give it time. I will persist.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Am I a fast oxydizer? A protein type? Probably. Even when our diet LOOKS really healthy and wonderful it may not be helping us to be strong and healthy (lean just naturally follows). Erin Huggins was a vegan for political reasons. She felt like crap so she changed her diet. click here or click below
“Americans have more food to eat than any other people and more diets to keep them from eating it” - Anonymous
One of my women's studies professors once said that women sitting around eating and talking is a radical act of feminism.
She said that silencing and starvation are tools of oppression (this is true for any oppressed group but especially for women...there are approximately 8 million people suffering from anorexia nervosa in the U.S.; 90% of them are women).
Eating disorders aren't the only reasons that women starve, often to death.
According to an article (and tons of other research) by the Director of German Marshall's Fund's Trade and Development program, based in Washington, D.C., "three-fourths of the world's hungry are politically marginalized people who live in rural areas. Within the family, women and children are the most likely to go hungry."
Our professor invited us to bring food to class. We sat on couches and comfy chairs in her large office in Seminary Hall eating and talking. She said we were challenging the belief that eating is unladylike. She said we were defying the idea that starving is a virtuous, sacrificial act.
Last night was one of our girls' nights in. As I was looking at the pictures of us I noticed my size in comparison to my friends'. I thought I had some nerve eating when I was the fattest woman in the room. I thought I looked saggy, old and misshapen.
I thought I had some nerve eating breakfast this morning when I still have so much weight to lose.
I feel like I'm going through my ugly phase. My skin is loose. I have the signature sag of someone who's lost a ton of weight.
This morning I felt guilty eating my eggs. I felt guilty having eaten cheese, meat and delightful dippings last night with my friends.
I noticed these thoughts. Part of me knows how foolish it is to judge myself so harshly. Part of me remembered that small class with my old professor and how empowered we all felt by having permission to eat and talk.
My fear of meat and cheese makes me uneasy. My shape makes me uneasy. My appetite freaks me out.
I'm afraid of someone thinking, "Look at what she's eating! Fat as she is and she's eating like that?"
Yet there is a part of me that knows I deserve to be nourished. My bariatric doc has been trying to get me to eat fatty protein for years!
I deserve to eat.
That is a radical statement. It takes some getting used to.
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day* Eggs, meat, butter. I've been taught to fear these foods. Fats are bad, right? Some are. Some aren't. Dieting has kept me fat all my life. Maybe it's time to eat hardier foods. Weston A. Price thought so. click here or click below
Surviving Weight Loss Surgery – My personal experience with multiple bariatric surgery procedures beginning with a failed Gastric Band and revision to a Gastric Bypass (RNY August 2006 at 400 lbs). I've been blogging EVERY DAY for over 3 years about healing after a lifetime of suffering from a severe binge eating disorder, morbid obesity, yo-yo dieting, adrenal fatigue and depression.............................................
In my struggle to be well inside and out I am discovering REAL FOOD, nourishing habits and the mind body connection. I've learned the hard way that health is not a "result" of weight loss, rather fat loss happens naturally when we take care of our health! ..............Lisa holds two Master’s degrees: an M.T.S. in Theological Studies (Drew University, 2002) and an M.A. in Counseling and Human Services (Montclair State, 2006). She earned her B.A. in Philosophy, from MSU in 2000. Lisa is a professor of religion, psychology, women's studies and philosophy, a certified hypnotist, peer support group facilitator, public speaker on topics ranging from health and nutrition to spirituality and eating disorder recovery.
"For years I noticed
...I'm convinced that the though
*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
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