Fertilehealthy

I love the internet!  There is so much information out there!  And I love the blogging world for bringing a lot of that information to our attention.  There’s so much to learn.

This from Kristen over at Kristen’s Raw:

Here’s an interesting tip… according to the author of The Body Clock Guide to Better Health: dimming the lights in the evening can help snack cravings go away, because “darkness can act as an off switch to your body clock (sending messages to your brain to stop eating).” Hey, whether you try this tip, or you put Vicks Vapor rub under your nose when you’re at the movie theater so you can walk by the popcorn stand without smelling it (my mom does this) - nothing is off limits when it comes to fast and easy tips for losing weight!
 

MetroKnow from Almostfit.com wrote a very enlightening article called How to save a ton of money by buying fresh organic produce, complete with a price comparison table.  Certainly eye-opening and worth a read.

Gerry, Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s resident blogger, revealed a good strategy, from a recent study, for dealing with chocolate cravings.  He also shares his recipe for chocolate pudding.

Still on the subject of cravings, I found this post by Evita at Evolving Wellness about our love-affair with sugar and what it does to us.

Jonathan Myles from Life and Fitness Coach had a great article about how to lose weight more quickly by eating high volume foods, which is very similar to Dr. Fuhrman’s plan of eating nutrient-dense foods.

In his usual straightforward style, Craig Harper, well-known Aussie motivational speaker, wrote about why we stay fat.  Anyone serious about weight loss and determined not to fail this time will benefit from this article.

If you’re still wondering whether it’s worth your while to change your diet and lifestyle in order to improve your health, you may want to read these two posts by Paul Eilers regarding the financial cost of cancer treatment and the shocking personal cost of coronary bypass surgery.

Urban Sprout wrote an insightful article about how our food choices can help combat climate change.

And finally, did you know that what you feed your kids has an enormous impact on their health later in life?  Some chronic degenerative diseases are conclusively linked to childhood feeding practices.  You may want to read this article about Chicken McNuggets by the good people at FoodMatters.

The knowledge is out there, we must just claim it and implement it.

I was also grateful to learn that while my fellow bloggers enjoyed the bounty of Thanksgiving, most of them employed clever strategies to ensure that the thankfulness continues beyond Thursday, but not the eating.  Well done!  I am proud of you.  We can do this and we will not wait until January.  Every day is an opportunity to march confidently towards our goals.

Have a wonderful week filled with many small victories!

An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I should have known…

What do you get when you take out all the unhealthy, toxic food from your diet and replace them with lots of nutrient dense foods?

Detoxifiction!

My body is cleaning house.  And how!  I’ve had a streaming nose and a bone-rattling cough for the last three days, and there’s no sign that it’s abating as yet.  The first night I put on my pathetic face, hoping for a little sympathy from my husband, only to be told to please suffer in silence,  because he doesn’t complain when he’s sick, he just gets on with things.  Which is true.  The man is tougher than nails (except when I attempt to squeeze a pimple - then I’m torturing him).

So I have been suffering in (relative) silence up to now.  And then I thought:  “Bugger that!  I have a blog!  I can complain all I like!”

Consider yourself complained to.

Actually, in the spirit of Thanksgiving (which is still hovering around - Africa time, you know), I am very grateful that my body is up to the task of eliminating some nasty stuff so soon after changing my diet.  Rather out than in, even if my sinuses and lungs are not my favorite organs of elimination.

To help the process along, I’m drinking lots of water and resting more.  Fortunately I haven’t had to do much in my new capacity as house-wife (as opposed to stay-at-home-useless-wife), since the maid’s last day was yesterday and everything is still fresh and clean.  I’m watching the male occupant of this house with a beady eye lest he messes something and doesn’t immediately clean up after himself.  This may signify the end of the honeymoon… ah well, it was good while it lasted.

In other news, in one week I have gone from loathing oatmeal to loving it.  I swear breakfast is now my favorite meal of the day!  We’re only allowed one cup of starchy vegetables or grains per day (on the six-week plan) and I’m more than happy to forego brown rice or potatoes in favor of oatmeal.  

We were visiting my parents on Sunday and I left my copy of The China Study with them.  My dad phoned me yesterday to tell me that the book was phenomenal, fascinating, well-written and utterly convincing.  They want to change their diet!  My mom doesn’t want the (unhealthy) recipe book she originally requested for Christmas anymore.  She wants Dr. Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live.  I’m so impressed with them!  It just goes to show that you’re never too old to improve your life and your health (my dad is 70).

Here’s a recent picture of my mom and dad (better than a recent picture of my red nose):

While Thanksgiving is not usually celebrated outside the USA, I have decided to join in this year and spend the day reflecting on my many blessings. 

To all my American readers, who definitely count as blessings, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

When we feel the first stirrings of hormones during puberty, our taste in men (boys!) is undeveloped and very immature.  As long as he’s cute, right?  We’re not worried about substance.  And if he smiles in our direction, we are excited and tingle all over.

Some men are deliciously ”dangerous” and very sexy.  They are never good for us in the long run, but it takes us a long time to realize that we’d be better off staying away from them.  And even longer to stop missing them and wishing that we could have tamed them.

Some men are glamorous, but shallow.  They’ll string you along, but never bring anything meaningful to the relationship.  They’re just not that into you.

Some men are real bastards.  These are the jealous, controlling, abusive types.  Getting away from them can be tricky.

Then there are the true gems.  The good guys.  The ones who may not take your breath away at first glance, but get more interesting as we get to know them.  The ones who make us feel good about ourselves.  The ones who don’t enslave us, but work with us towards a brighter future and a greater goal.

As we get to know the good guy, all the other men in our past fade into insignificance.  

We, the overweight, often talk about our unhealthy relationship with food and our need to change that relationship. Our relationship with food can be compared to our love life (for the sake of convenience, I’m going to assume we are all female and attracted to men).

Just as we love men, we love food. And we should. Both are there for us to enjoy and find sustenance from. But neither are here to fulfil us or define us.  They are part of our lives, but they are not our whole lives.

Just as there are bad, addictive, abusive and dangerous men out there, there are foods that harm us.  Sure they taste wonderful in the moment, but they don’t sustain us.  They don’t add value beyond their taste.  In fact, they cause us to gain weight and compromise our health.  What we don’t realize is that they are deliberately addictive, but we have been conditioned to despise and blame ourselves, instead of the food for our compulsions.  Just like in any abusive relationship!  They exert power over us.  The relationship is not one of love, but one of master and slave.  And we are the the slaves!

This is not a healthy relationship and we cannot nurse it to health.  We need to walk away and start looking for the good foods.  The ones that don’t addict us, compel us and damage us.

Like the good guys, the good foods may not immediately catch our eye.  They are not aggressively marketed and don’t come in garish packaging.  They may even seem a little bland and uninteresting.  But as we get to know them, our lives change for the better and we fall deeply in love.

These are the foods that satisfy us.  Not only do they protect us from harm, but they bring vibrant, sustained health.  And they make us lose weight and keep it off.

And just like the unworthy men in our past, the foods that we thought we could never live without fade into insignificance.

If you are ready for a mature, healthy relationship with food, read this excerpt (kindly forwarded to me by Diana) from Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book Eat For Health.  It’s the first 55 pages of his new book, so you may want to bookmark it and read it when you have time.  It includes several pages of testimonies from people who have not only managed to lose large amounts of weight at a similar rate than people who have had weight loss surgery, and keep it off, but have healed themselves from lupus, heart disease, acne, headaches, infertility, arthritis and many more debilitating conditions by following Dr. Fuhrman’s plan.

Dr Fuhrman is a medical doctor who have been helping his patients get off their medication and regain their health for the last sixteen years using the principles in both Eat to Live and Eat for Health.  The difference between the two books is that Eat to Live is dive-right-in-and-go-cold-turkey approach, while Eat for Health is a more gradual way of changing one’s diet.  But the principles and the objectives are the same.

True health, like true love, is within your reach!

I am very pleased to report a loss of 2.6 kg (5.7 pounds) this past week. This is despite the fact that TOM arrived this morning.

Who am I kidding? 

I’m freaking delighted!

See!  That’s me jumping for joy!

Craig had to leave quite early this morning, so last night I made a big fruit salad which we had for breakfast instead of oatmeal. It was delicious! I even had some left over for lunch.

We visited my folks yesterday afternoon and I had some rooibos tea. Then I realized that I hadn’t drunk anything other than water (and my twice daily Barleylife* of course) since Thursday. I just have no desire for other drinks, but I go through at least 3 liters (about 3 quarts) of water per day. I consider the extra trips to the bathroom exercise…

* Juice made from the leaves of young barley plants, available here.