Beginning a food frenzy

So in terms of a diet as previously described, mine currently is part raw/acid-alkaline/yeast free/paleo. I forgot to mention also 95% gluten free and dairy free except for the cottage cheese blend I make twice a day.

In a large part this started out as a way to improve my health and just detox my system. My fibromyalgia for example can be almost completely controlled by diet and exercise but, you know, that also necessitates the diet and exercise actually happening.

This current food plan seems rather restrictive from an outside perspective but once you're a few weeks in it is actually pretty easy. Sort of. You start out the diet cursing at dietary labels once you figure out that 90% of them have at least one ingredient that completely sucks and then get to the point where you can look at the label, just sigh heavily and move on to making your own foods again.

I would actually recommend my diet for anyone because it has made me feel better than I have in my entire life but if you don't have health issues it doesn't need to be quite as restrictive. If for some reason you're trying it out my way, please give it at least two months of straight out sticking to it. Why? Because it helps. Because you'll see a difference. Because it takes a little while to get the bad stuff loosened up and out of your system.

This is me at my heaviest in a fabulous red dress with the lovely miss Andrea. Adorable I may be but not my favorite look.

This is me currently

I need a better picture because my polka dot dress is a little baggy, but if you look at my face especially you can see a huge difference.

Here we go...

• My weekdays
• All day
• TONS of water. Reverse osmosis filtered water. Never tap water. Ever ever ever. Very important. 
• Morning 
• Essiac tea, 2oz, used in detoxing, cancer treatments
• Green Smoothie 16 oz 
• Spinach, zucchini, romaine lettuce, dandelion, tomato, sometimes some other veggies like beets
•  Cottage cheese (about 2-3oz, blended with about 2-4 tbsp organic whole milk, flax seed (1 tsp) and flax seed oil (2 tbsp), mixed in w/ a few ounces of fresh fruit usually berries of some sort, this is the Budwig Protocol, used for detox, cancer treatment, cholesterol among other things
• Drinks: 
• Peppermint tea
• 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar w/ 8 oz of distilled water
• Mid morning snack
• Usually carrot sticks and celery sticks with almond butter (not peanut butter because that tends to be one of the highest fungus/yeasty foods)
• Sometimes a small handful of almonds
• Mid day
• A tomato
• Sometimes a small salad
• Always some type of veggie
• Afternoon Snack
• Organic non gmo corn chips, sometimes with homemade salsa or guacamole
• Almonds
• Veggie
• Afternoon/Evening
• Cottage cheese blend again
• If I'm still hungry then I'll make something. If I eat something cooked, usually this is when
• Ideas:
• Hummus tacos (collard green leaves with hummus and sprouts, totally got that idea from Tumerico in town, she sells some great vegan prepared stuff at the health food stores here in Tucson)
• Veggie fajitas (organic corn tortillas, avocado/tomato/bell pepper slices with salt/pepper and garlic powder sprinkled on top)
• Salad
• Drinks: 
• Essiac tea, 2oz
• Peppermint tea
• 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar w/ 8 oz of distilled water

• Weekends
• Similar to weekdays with the cottage cheese, green smoothie, at least one of my snacks, but usually I eat a larger healthy cooked meal on these days. These are my reasonable cheat days. Usually the only days I eat meat (once a day). Sometimes I'll have a small piece or two of homemade chocolate. At night I'll have a frozen fruit smoothie (about 12 oz or filling up a cereal bowl to the rim, not over and no sweeteners).
• Important to note: I eat ALL DAY. Like I'm literally snacking all day long. No calorie counting. Despite this I still lost 45 lbs. Never get super hungry just always grazing.  Also, there have been no issues with cravings past the first three months of starting this way of eating. My biggest cravings were surprisingly not for sugar but for cheese. Oh I miss cheese! But I don't crave it anymore. If you eat the right things your body will know what to use and when to tell you its hungry.
 

 

• How to eat
• Eat all day!
• Breakfast is a must. Proteins, fruits, veggies all ok, try to avoid lots of grains
• Mid morning snack
• Lunch
• Mid afternoon snack
• Dinner (try to eat by or before 7. The reason is your body does a lot of its healing at night, you don't want to divert energy from that to digesting dinner)
• 2 cheat days a week. 
• Going hardcore just makes you feel super denied. So have 2 cheat days a week. This doesn't mean get a big mac or go pig out on funnel cake. No no no. But if you've been raw all week, have a nice healthy cooked dinner on these days. My cheat days I have my meat in my dinner and frozen "ice cream" which is really just a bowl of frozen fruit put through my dessert bullet (best purchase ever besides my food processor) that totally comes out like soft serve. Not unhealthy, but just not as restrictive as the rest of the week.
• Fruits
• Ideally only one or two servings a day unless an alkaline fruit (grapefruit, lemon, lime for example).   Fruit is still mostly considered an acidic food and depending on which one can raise your glycemic levels.
• Veggies
• Lots and lots of veggies. All day long! Not cooked. You want these raw as much as possible. At least 80%. If you eat them in salads, skip premade salad dressings. I make my own with lemon juice/olive oil/salt/pepper.
• Grains
• In cooked form, occasionally. Usually I get at most 2-3 servings a week of something like quinoa, brown rice or amaranth. Oats also possible.
•  Taking a fiber/seed like flax (which I do twice a day), psyllium, hemp or chia is important daily. Flax, chia and hemp also provide a great source of omegas and fiber. Seeds need to be either sprouted or freshly ground (try to grind your own with a coffee grinder) to provide maximum nutritional benefits. 
• Meats
• 2-3 meals a week tops. 
• Meat, even organic meat is considered highly acidic. I promise you that you can get all of your nutrients and proteins from plants too. 
• Make sure all meat and dairy is organic. This is extremely important because they are the most often and highest contaminated of all the foods available. 
• Mix it up. Not all red meat if you do eat red meat. That should be a small amount. I do chicken one dinner on my weekend and red meat on the other day.
• Nuts/Seeds
• Eat lots! Pay attention to the acid/alkaline charts on this. Be aware that peanuts and cashews tend to be the most susceptible to having high amounts of fungus and thus yeast, so you really should avoid these two except very occasionally.
• Dairy
• Give it up. Seriously. Please. At least for the first two months unless you are following the Budwig Protocol that I mentioned above. Then only the cottage cheese mix during that time. After that, if you occasionally want organic dairy go ahead and add in one or two servings a week tops. Ideally less than that. 
• Dairy goes straight into your system and primarily raises your sugar levels. Yes it is often enriched with vitamins like D and some of the B's but to be honest, often enriched foods are enriched with synthetic vitamins that are not easily absorbed by the body anyway.
• Example: Taking a synthetic calcium can get you generally at most a 40% absorption rate. So you might get 400mg out of that 1000mg that you took. Get your calcium from a plant based source can up that absorption to 60-80%. Your body just knows how to use natural sources better.
• Cook for yourself as much as possible. Make your own snacks. My new favorite kitchen gadget is my food processor because it can slice my veggies in about 2 minutes tops. If you need ideas before I post more, just ask me :)
• Supplements:
• Eventually when you get your diet down, you really won't need to take many supplements. 
• Choose wisely. My rule of thumb is there should never be more than 5 or 6 "other ingredients" in a pill other than fruits and veggies and never should it contain sugar, soy, artificial ingredients or food coloring. Who cares if it tastes or looks good? Its a pill.
• For the moment here's what I would suggest:
• One a day food based multi
•  Probiotic w/ prebiotics 2x a day morning and night
• Greens powder 1-2x a day
• There might be more than this depending on your situation. 
• Things to ditch
• All drinks that aren't water or unsweetened tea. No juice (the exception to this being that which you make yourself), no coffee, no sweetened drinks, no soda, no alcohol. These are all excess calories. With the exception of the coffee they all raise your blood sugar levels and give you pointless calories. Each time I gave up soda (yeah, it happened a lot) I lost five pounds in less than two weeks. And coffee actually dehydrates you. So that's not helpful. 
• Once you're out of the first two months if you want to have one or two drinks within reason (organic juices, no sugar added, limit alcohol, never again soda...ever) on a cheat day then go for it. The key is keep it to ideally to one or two a week tops.
• Non-Organics
• In an ideal world, all of your food should be organic. If you can't or don't want to start it all at once, please start in the following level of priority:
• Meats/Dairy/Corn/Soy
• Any fruits or veggies that don't have peels
• Any fruits or veggies that can be peeled
• All GMOs
• Seriously, they literally blend poison into the food. Don't eat a GMO if you can avoid it. 
• Processed foods. Enriched/processed/non whole grains. 
• If you are trying to detox I would recommend giving up the following at least on a short term basis.
• Dairy
• Soy
• Gluten
• Alcohol
• Sugar
• Additives. There should be absolutely no added sugars, weird chemicals (google is your new best friend for figuring out if that is a fancy name for an herb or just junk), soy for no apparent reason, etc. If you get food, it should just be the food in it. I once found frozen chicken taquitos that had sugar in them, why on earth...? Those should literally have been only chicken and corn tortillas. 

My new(ish) diet - an intro.

Diets are a curious thing. You can follow a recipe from one of those books...Lose your love handles, keep your tushie!, try a quick fix cleanse, or give up that one item that will change everything (soda pop I'm looking at you!).

I think what you need to do a lot of is follow common sense. Eating a salad does not make up for a giant milkshake for example. If I eat a giant hamburger with a pickle, (99% meat and bread, 1% pickle) that doesn't count as eating my vegetables.

In my quest to healthier lands I wound up with a combination of the following diets:

• Raw (like 60-70% of the time)
• Acid/Alkaline (20% acid/80%alkaline)
• Sugar free (honey and agave still used very sparingly, once maybe twice a week in very small doses EXTREMELY SMALL DOSES, they still affect your blood sugar levels)
• Yeast/Candida free (goes along with the sugar free. Basically there's good bacteria in your body and bad bacteria, if the bad bacteria overruns the territory then the good can't do its job as well. This negatively affects your energy, immune system, etc. One of the primary causes of candida overgrowth is too much sugar or yeast)
• Paleo (sort of. Paleo has some great recipes but when I see them they tend to trend towards fried, lots of meat and sugary things that don't have actual sugar in it but pretty much everything else.)
• All organics.  Literally all organics. That's the only food that enters my mouth.

These diets actually overlap a lot. Here's how they go together:

• Raw: Don't cook everything. Don't overcook everything.  Certain nutrients are only available when food is fresh, and yes sometimes cooking can unlock certain nutrients but generally they just wind up being overcooked and killing all the good stuff inside.
• Acid/Alkaline: cooking everything turns it acidic because there's no good stuff left for your body to nourish itself with. Eating a little bit, totally ok, but it should only be about 20-30% tops.
• Yeast/Candida free: lots of cooked/processed foods turn almost instantly into sugar in your body, raising the candida levels, not only not providing you anything useful, but pretty much the human body equivalent of putting sugar in your gas tank.
• Paleo: use what God gave you lots of. Veggies, some fruit, meat, skip the processed foods especially sugary bits, grains, overcooking.
• Acid/Alkaline: Some foods are acidic (usually those that are lacking lots of nutrients or raises your sugar levels too much) and some are alkaline (usually full of good stuff for your body, lacking high amounts of sugar/oil/cooking). When your body is in an ideal alkaline state (generally at 7-7.5) it can heal itself more easily, and the theory is that disease cannot thrive in an alkaline environment. An acidic state causes inflammation, pain, fatigue, and diseases. It is quite useful to measure your ph levels using strips to see how your body reacts to certain foods. I measure my ph levels A LOT. This is the baseline I use to see how things are working.
• Raw: Cooking your food kills the good stuff and turns it acidic
• Yeast/Candida Free: Eating foods that discourage candida growth enables your body to reach an ideal and healing state. Helps in avoiding disease. Sugary/yeasty foods tend to be acidic.
• Paleo: Too many processed foods (ie acidic) leads to imbalance of the system, obesity, disease etc.
• Yeast/Candida Free: Avoid foods that encourage growth of yeast. Sugars, grains, processed foods. Eventually your body will balance itself out in the see-saw between too much candida in your system and allow it to start functioning as it should.
• Raw: Eating uncooked foods allow the nutrients to all work together as they should, fostering a balanced environment.
• Acid/Alkaline: Yeast/sugar/processed foods/grains are acidic. Eating too much of these and not enough of the alkaline foods causes illness in the body.
• Paleo: Avoid processed foods as often as possible. Stick to nature.
• Paleo: Things you would find in nature, not processed, bringing out the hunter/gatherer skills of our human ancestry but you know, in the grocery store. No more kraft mac & cheese for example.
• Raw: Found in nature, enough said.
•  Acid/Alkaline: The most alkaline foods line up with what you would get straight off a farm.
• Yeast/Candida Free: Avoiding over processed foods. 

Oh and the all organic thing? In my mind...supremely important. Without going into too much debate, I'm not a fan of pesticides in my foods or genetically modified foods (GMOs). And when I say genetically modified, I do not mean hybrids, which are crossbreeds of foods, but straight out growing things with chemicals engineered inside. Eating organic is not a 100% failsafe against GMOs but it sure lessens the risk. We'll talk about that another day. I just know in my experience if I eat conventional food (non organic) I can see an almost immediate difference in my body, my hormones, etc.

All of these diet components together can boil down to a simple thought...what is your food doing for/to you?

Coming to terms

Hello. My name is Deanna and I am a reformed sugar-holic (also junk food but sugar was my kryptonite).

Don't get me wrong, for the majority of my life I have eaten pretty decently, my mother especially being into healthy eating, (she tried so many new things my brother and I lovingly refer to ourselves as mommy's favorite guinea pigs).

But somehow about a year and a half ago I found myself at 5'0" and 165 pounds. And while I'm adorable no matter what size that was not at all comfortable. It felt like constantly being under a heavy net, weighed down both figuratively and literally. For some reason my chest absorbed most of the weight so finding clothes became the bottom half being one size and the top being three sizes bigger, and really you might as well forget about zippers and buttons, those just pop open.

I've always had some health issues, the biggest of which being fibromyalgia which for me manifested primarily in headaches and overall pain as well as fatigue. Also chronic sinusitus, killer painful periods, and often yeast imbalance which I didn't realize until I found this great naturopath June Stephens who wound up starting my reform by putting me on a yeast free diet (but more about that later).

You would think that for someone who was used to being sick (I've pretty much had issues with all of the previously mentioned mishagosh my entire life) that I'd take better care with myself, but no.

At my worst I could for example down 4 thirstbusters (my favorite was pepsi!) in a day. Candy bars and burgers were my friends when I was out because honestly, always working left me just exhausted and not wanting to cook. When I was at home or around family healthy eating was easy because I didn't always have to make everything so about half my life was healthy the other just about the worst McDonalds commercial meets Snickers commercial that you could ever find.

It was easy to justify my food and beverage choices because of the following:

• oh so tired
• too close to my next appointment
• no time to cook
• I'd rather do something else with what little time I have
• Cheaper to buy fast food than organic, etc.  
• I "mostly" eat healthy

There were more than that, but those were the most frequent.

Its easy to justify anything given enough motivation but have you ever noticed it's harder to be lazy than to just do what you need to do to begin with? The need to be lazy takes work to figure out. Work to see how to get around it. Wiggle room. What would take 5 minutes to finish winds up taking an hour or two to get around. And usually it causes problems.

So my need to be lazy about my health definitely caused more problems. As of a year ago my health was at the worst its ever been and now I'm on the journey back to me. Currently I'm down to 120 (woohoo! lost 45 lbs), my fibromylagia rarely if ever causes me any more problems, barely any headaches anymore, the sugar fog has lifted and so many other things have progressed positively. I think this blog is going to be part of my therapy and hopefully me sharing can help other people. If nothing else we aren't alone :)

Its a choice to be happy

I am making the decision to be happy.

This year started out with a couple of huge bombs in my life. I utilized whimpering, whining, anger, anxiety, depression, pick a sad word and there it was.

It has been a lot to handle.

I'm a naturally happy soul. Like a boomerang that always comes back to where it starts. But being that way is equally hard and easy.

Every circumstance that gets thrown my way and feels like a wrecking ball to the gut takes some rebounding.

Here's my process:

• Get hit. Ouch.
• Let it out. For me that could involve screaming, crying, punching a pillow, going for a really long drive with no destination in mind. 
• Optional: Take a day or two to avoid it. No more than that. This won't make it go away but sometimes I just need to catch my bearings.
• Decide how much of this is controllable. 

• Start planning on my life's "route adjustment." What now? What happens next? What can I do and what do I need to remind myself (usually incessantly) to let go and let God?
• Keep moving. And pray. Keep praying.

The keep moving part is the most important. You walk hand and hand with God. Keep moving your feet. Sometimes he carries you. Keep moving so desperately and courageously until you leave the middle of the storm because if you don't then you'll never see what light is coming your way.

Most of the things that effect us the most, we have the least control over. 

• Health....in the hands of God.
• Life and death....in the hands of God.
• The actions of others....in their hands.
• Bad drivers....up to ineptitude of drivers and God willing their ability to change.
• Natural disasters....God again.
• Bills....it'd be nice not to have bills or things break. Half God, half budgeting for things you don't know about.
• Work....do your best. Its only partially up to you and partially up to the goodwill of your bosses. And you can't control your boss.

Its a choice. To let life break you, or teach you to fly. Its a chance to re-evaluate your priorities and find a path that is worth spending your time on.

I'm choosing to be happy right now.

Open to references or Surviving vs Thriving

In my life I have been blessed.

Honestly, some seriously trying times have occurred but nothing I wasn't strong enough to handle with a bit, and sometimes a ton of help. Those times have frustrated and strengthened me. Quite often they've tested my limits to extremes but really, every life on the planet has had those. I can look into your eyes and hiding behind them is your set of hurdles. I dwell on mine every so often and then keep moving.

Progression has occurred.

This day is light years farther than ten years ago and again, what a blessing. It is time to set another fire me thinks. Metaphorically anyway. Realistic fires I tend to burn myself on especially during baking. That love that goes into cookies as the special ingredient? Every so often might also involve some hidden curse words.

You know what I got asked this week?

"Deanna, do you think you're average?" My answer? "I've never been average."

I haven't. Never will be.

I think I forgot that.

I'm kind of amazing. Not perfect. But I'm passionate. I steer towards honesty, persistence, kindness and love. I'm the gal you come to for answers, support, projects, creativity. I collect knowledge like a kid would collect coins for their piggy bank storing it up for a rainy day or a really great opportunity or just something really fun. I have great common sense. I'm a bit nerdy and a lot fabulous. I sparkle!

You know one of the saddest things I hear on a day to day basis? "You don't get a job and expect to be happy." Why not? Do you really think God put you on this earth to suffer? My parents raised my brother and myself to do something that makes you happy because you're going to spend an awful lot of time doing it. I've met people who are ecstatic to be homemakers, retail clerks, real estate developers, beer makers, even insurance agents. They don't settle for it. It speaks to them. Yes, you need to do what you must but why do you have to stay there? Let someone else find their happiness doing that something while you go find your own. I want to find my happiness.

I've been happy at jobs. I've gone into work 5 days a week when only one was required just because it was fun. I've felt my heart sing. And to be an adult doesn't mean giving that up. I think it kind of makes it that much more important. When you're an adult you're given the greater opportunity to put your heart in motion.

I want to be in love with my life. I will be. Right now this is a great crush waiting to turn into an epic love affair.

I want to see the ripple

Sometimes I get a little caught in myself.

Honestly, my path in life is a little bit cloudy to me at this moment. Its the watched pot I keep staring at with a stalker's intensity and so of course the sucker isn't boiling yet. So I wait. And while waiting I hold on to what I do believe which are some pretty simple premises.

• If you can do something to make someone's life easier do it. Especially if it doesn't hurt you.
• Examples: 
• Smile at a stranger
• Pick up a paper towel on a public bathroom floor. Seriously. They're almost always clean as they are physical evidence of someone washing their hands. And if you're that afraid of the germs you can use another paper towel to pick it up once you've washed yours. A custodian isn't a maid. They get long days too. 
• Send your friend a letter, its kind of fun and who doesn't like getting mail? Real mail is fantastic. Its like manna from Heaven in the midst of a dozen credit card offers.
• Don't purposely make someone's life harder
• This one shouldn't need examples. Don't be a douche. And if you hold grudges like I do...it doesn't matter, that has nothing to do with it. If they're good people they probably already feel bad for whatever hurt you. If they suck, nothing you do is going to fix how much they suck.
• Try to do things that make yourself happy. 
•  Do what you have to do of course, dishes and whatnot, but spend your extra time on something important to you. Here's what I've got so far:
• Fabric Art
• Books. Many many books. Do you realize how amazing the library really is?
• Online games with my loved ones, kind of fun how you can connect through wizardry. 
• Finding my courage for adventure one outing at a time.
• Looking for more things that make me happy
•  God put you here to learn, and to be happy. Do him proud and work on those. As long as it doesn't hurt anyone, you're good to go.
• Find the beauty in things.

                    Pick anything. This is especially important when its something that you wouldn't like normally. Try
                    to understand a different view. That sounds hokey but its what I do especially when I meet a person
                    who is so vile you can't understand how they have gotten through life this long. "You are horribly
                    evil, but what a nice manicure."

                   Understandably its kind of hard for encounters with certain people/circumstances/whatnot but think
                   of the process as re-training your brain. It expands your horizons. Or just know it makes you into a 
                   total detective which may someday have its merits elsewhere in getting you props. Maybe someday
                   there will be a party game you totally win because of this observation thing.

                   Plus side it also encourages you to keep your mouth shut long enough to look for something and
                   someday might save you from being terribly stupid.

• Acknowledge beauty. Especially to others. 

                    This is an extension of the last one.

                    Life is kind of a pain in the ass sometimes. I don't think its intentional but you know those days
                    when God and the entire universe are on a mission to teach you patience, and so sends you every
                    horribly inconsiderate person that ever existed in one day?

                    Those days happen and they suck.

                    Amazingly enough they happen to EVERY SINGLE PERSON. Every last one. Even babies have     
                    those days when pacifiers taste like floor.

                    So when you see someone do something good, kind, considerate, showing their talent, looking nice,
                    tell them so. Maybe just thank them for being in a good mood. I don't know about you but I
                    remember those things and hold onto them as desperately as life preserver until things start getting
                    better again.

                    Oh and remind people that you love them (only those you do of course). It doesn't have to be
                    words, but people like reminders.

• Laugh. Often. And Sing. 
• It makes you happy. It makes God happy because you're happy. Win-Win. 
• Make your word mean something.
• If you say you're going to do something, do it. Otherwise don't agree to it. Really now, most people would rather know right away instead of waiting and then you flake out.
• When you say something, choose your words carefully. Don't scatter them about so they lose their meaning, or wind up being misconstrued.
• This last one I'm honestly still working on. Geez its tough work.

 Now back to the original thought, I get stuck on myself.

I want to see the good I've done and how it affects others. I want to mean something. Be something. How self centered is that? I don't do anything with the intention of the action earning me points but on the other hand am so desperately seeking my path I want to see that at least I've mattered in this life somewhere.

Have you heard of the ripple effect? A butterfly flaps its wings and somewhere a tree falls down or someone gets a new car or something? You do something and it affects a dozen other people because of it? I love that idea. We matter to each other regardless of it being recognized. You matter to me. I don't know why, but thank you. Its a really fantastic idea.

So to remind myself to get over it, I'm watching The Five People You Meet In Heaven (based off a book btw). If any movie can pull at your heart, this definitely does. Its all about a man who doesn't know how incredible his life has been until after he dies. All the little things he's done to do the right thing, to be respectful to his parents/brother/co-workers, to be good to his wife, the little things he did to make kids smile at the amusement park where he worked, they led to some pretty incredible results. But even after he sees the results, he doesn't think they were necessarily anything special, but he mattered to a lot of people. Many of the little things were really huge things. His life without meaning had purpose every time.

How beautiful that is!

Time to be fearless

So today I had a somewhat schizophrenic conversation in my head.

Centered around whether to go to a polo match for my dear Krystine's birthday celebration extension.

Reasons not to go:

• Lots of people I don't know
• Tumultuous relationship with the one friend I actually do know (and one Im not certain that the person in question is aware of that adjective in connection with it anyhow)
• New place...eek scary
• No money. Well, very little money. Most of it got spent on my dear friend's wedding last week. And ideally I'm supposed to eat before payday. 

Reasons to go:

• Krystine - sweetest person ever! She could make a hurricane look like a pleasant day to be had. And there'd probably be board games too.
• Fun!
• A new adventure
• Chance to make new friends
• Polo - chance to stand around looking pretty, and kick stuff into the ground, how cool does that sound?

Final decision?

Fear won out. By the time I decided to go money or not it was already too late to make it to Phoenix in time.  How sad is that?

The good news is I think this is the final straw to put my tushie in gear and stop letting fear win out so often. How much have I been missing out on? Lets see if I can let my freedom flag fly more often.