My Journey

Hello all…

This is my journey so far…

On 3/10/2013 I weighed in at 263lbs.

Today on 5/10/2013 my weight is 229lbs

 I believe I had exceeded 270lbs before I started my journey, but I forgot to weigh myself, so 263lbs is my base. I am 6 feet tall and have maintained a fit body type, but I kept growing and expanding in all the wrong ways. I was becoming winded from walking up a small flight of stairs, and I hated it. I couldn’t even begin to think of running or playing sports again. My cloths were all tight, and I generally didn’t feel well. I have suffered from migraines most of my life and their frequency was getting worse, sometimes getting them several times a week. I felt fat, out of shape, and out of control of my health. I wanted to make a change, but also didn’t want to at the same time. I knew the direction my lifestyle choices were leading me were not those of a long healthy life and I was scared.

No one likes the idea of cutting out soda, energy drinks, pasta, dairy, fast food, boxed food, canned food, frozen food, coffee, sweets, or anything else that sounds good and I was no different. However, the diet is the most important part of losing weight. If you think that you eat well now, I’m sure you can still do better. I myself had been under the notion I was eating pretty well for a number of years. I didn’t eat much meat, ate fruits and veggies with most meals, but I knew I still had flaws. My family and I ate most of our food from cans and boxes. We added veggies from frozen bags. We cooked with a lot of cheese and butter. Since starting our new approach to healthier eating, we started finding better ways to cook. We started using only fresh veggies from local growers, stopped cooking from boxes and cans. Replaced meat with things like lentils and beans. Found alternatives for pasta noodles, like using long shreds of zucchini. We even replaced nightly snacks with nuts, berries, or healthier desserts. Don’t get me wrong, it is still tough to make the right choices, but in time it has become easier to spot the wrong ones.

I’m going to talk now about the subject of juicing. There is no better, easier way to add what your body needs in the large quantities require than juicing. I bought a juicer in March of 2013. Since then I began making breakfast for myself and my fiancé with it,  some of my lunches are juice only, and my workout “shakes” are juice too. I never would have believed that this would become such an intricate part of my life, but I’m glad it has. Think about it this way, our breakfast juice contains 6 large kale leafs, half of a lemon, 3 large apples, 1 large cucumber, 4 stalks of celery, and a piece of fresh ginger. Would you want to sit down and eat all that food? I know I couldn’t eat all that, but I can drink it in a 20oz cup! What juicing does for you body is give it the most nutrients with the least amount of work. Here is the nutritional information on this 20oz drink:

• Calories 356
• Protein 9g
• Carbs 86g
• Sugar 49g all natural
• Calcium 352mg
• Iron 4mg
• Potassium 2205mg
• C 186mg
• A 961mg
• Caffeine 0mg

After I drink this in the morning I feel alive and not hungry. I feel better after drinking this in the morning than if I had drank 20oz of coffee. Since I started juicing I have given up coffee, pop, and energy drinks. I consume no caffeine from beverages, and feel significantly more energetic all day than I ever did when I consumed all those other mainstream beverages. I without a doubt highly recommend incorporating juicing into your lifestyle. It will help you shed the weight you so desperately want to get ride of and it will make you feel better too.

I have always hated drinking water because it was flavorless, but after a while of not drinking everything else that is loaded with sugar, I actually prefer it now and drink more than I ever have in the past. It is vital to consume a significant amount of water per day. It is said that you should drink at least 8 glasses per day or half your body weight in water. I don’t keep track everyday, but I think I average about 100oz of water per day now. If your urine is clear or almost clear then you are drinking enough, but if it is even slightly tinged with color then you are not drinking enough.

I would also like to give you some ideas of items to watch out for while choosing your groceries. If it comes from a can or box then it is probably loaded with preservatives, sugar, refined sugar, missing almost all of its nutrients, and generally not worth eating. In todays age of mega processing, those types of foods are actually killing us. We consume so many calories that provide our bodies with nothing but fat, and this includes the “low fat” or “fat free” stuff. Most of the pre-packaged foods can actually make you more hungry more often, and they also make it too convenient for you to eat portions that would feed two or three people in one sitting. As an example of how conscientious we should be while shopping, I will share with you a story about one of my more recent trips to the grocery store where I needed to buy bread crumbs. When I found them, I turned over the packaging to read the ingredient list thinking I wouldn’t find much out of the ordinary, they were bread crumbs right? Well the ingredient list was over 50 items, and I couldn’t pronounce almost any of them. The one ingredient that stood out the most to me and threw me for a loop was the high fructose corn syrup. Why is this in bread crumbs? I put that package down and picked up the same price, same size package of Panko bread crumbs instead. What was in that? Four ingredients; wheat flour, dextrose(sugar), yeast, and salt. My point is to be mindful, very mindful of what you are putting into your body and it’s as easy as reading the package labels. Your body is a temple, not a trash can. If you question even for a second if this should be in your body, it probably shouldn’t. Remember that the food industries are a business, they are not farmers, or people that care about your health. They are corporations that want everyone to consume more food so their profits keep climbing. We are not designed to eat the crap that they call food. We are built to eat primarily a plant based diet. The “sharp” teeth we have are nothing like wild animals that are built for pure meat consumption, nor are our insides. Carnivorous animals have short colons, and short intestinal tracks. We as humans have long intestinal tracks, and longer colons like plant based diet animals. Our teeth are more like plant based animals. We need to eat more of a vegetarian or vegan style diet to make our bodies happy and function more properly. In my home now, there is almost no boxed or canned foods anymore. Our fridge is full, and I mean full of fresh, locally grown veggies, fruits, and some meats. Our pantry is over flowing with more veggies, spices, and lots of fruits. Our freezer has little more than ice in it. We cook as much as possible with only those ingredients.  When I do eat something that I wouldn’t have thought twice about a couple months ago, I feel like crap. Just yesterday for lunch I had eaten a small Jimmy Johns sandwich that a friend brought for me. After I had finished eating it, I felt like I had just consumed a large Thanksgiving day dinner. And for the rest of the night I paid for it. I tried, and my body told me no.

I will continue to update this page with more information, but I still want you to be able to read what I have so far!