Problems with Blogger

It is so great to be able to post on my blog again. I've been out of commission for at least a week and a half. Blogger is now no long a Beta version and I was having trouble signing in.

I emailed them a couple of times and didn't get a response so I finally decided to do a new blog and copy everything over.

As I began to post to a new blog, I had this one (the old one) opened. I was going to mention the problems I was having and then proceed to copying and pasting and as I was looking at this blog I noticed I was signed in. Each time I would try to sign in I would get an error saying there wasn't an account. So I guess somehow by signing up for a new account it recognized my email account.

Well whatever happened I'm just glad that I don't have to do all the copy and pasting. And I am glad to be back posting again. Hopefully I won't have any more problems.

I hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends during these past two months and are looking forward to the new year. I am expecting, hoping for some improvement in health. I need to make an appointment to see my PCP and have her check my blood work. I really want to get on with the 10 day fast and a month later I can do another 10 day fast.

This is short but I will catch up on the challenge days and how they are going. The challenge is coming to an end but we will begin a new one in January. I'll see you later today hopefully!

More benefits of Eating To Live

Saturday was a Kale day. Let me see if I can remember what I had.

B-Blended salad smoothie

L-None

S-Golden Austrian Califlower Soup over green leaf lettuce with steamed broccoli on top

D-Banana Oat bar

Carry over balance - $4.00

Exercise 30 minutes 1.00

Exercise + Kale .50Tab

Tab = $2.50

Today I had another SAD meal so it is a Blueberry Day. We were away from the house today and the place we ate lunch didn't have salads nor anything else that would be a good choice for an E2Ler. So $4.00 + $2.50 = Tab $6.50 (my highest yet) Tomorrow will be a better day. I've made my mind up.

I'm going to continue with some more of the benefits I've had "Eating To Live". My hopes are that some of you reading this may be encouraged by what I write.

I think I wrote about the excruciating headaches I have each and every day. They are not migranes and I don't believe they are sinus headaches. At least they don't feel like the sinus headaches I get periodically. These headaches are on the right side at the temple area and above the ear and go behind the ear. Whatever kind of headache it is, it causes so much pain. I took Relafin for awhile and when Dr. Fuhrman said that you need to be off medications to be able to fast, I made the hard decision to try to endure the pain without the Relafin.

Around that same time that Dr. Fuhrman said I needed to be off medicines, I had my Relafin refilled and they gave me this long list attached to my perscription of all the side effects of NSAIDS. So that helped me to make the decision to go off of the Relafin and bear the pain as well as I possibly could. Well the pain was absolutely awful. It was so difficult to not take something to help lessen the pain. It was so overwelming to continue to endure each and every day without something to ease the pain! The Lord helped me day by day to continue without the help of medication and to carry on with E2L. I don't even remember when I began to feel some ease of pain. I guess it was probably around 4-6 weeks before I noticed that the pain had lessened some. It isn't totally gone yet but it is so much better.

Also what is interesting is that a strange thing happens to me when I eat a non-E2L meal. At least I thought it was strange at first and you may think I'm crazy, but after a day or two if I eat SAD, the pain in my head will get really bad again which encourages me to get back with the program. I may never be able to really go back to eating SAD, not that I want to, but it just goes to show you the tremendous benefits there are from eating a plant based diet. I am probably at the beginning stages in the healing process of getting rid of the headache all together and I keep interferring with the healing by eating a SAD food or a SAD meal. I could kick myself in the seat of the pants!!! So what a great benefit I receive from eating this new, healthy, nutrient rich diet!

Another thing that would happen each day is that my heart would fibrillate. Every single day I experienced pain and fibrillation of the heart. This is caused by the fibromyalgia or I guess I should say it is a symptom of fibromyalgia. If you want to learn more about fibromyalgia, please click here http://www.fibromyalgia-symptoms.org/fibromyalgia_treatment.html. If you can't click, then you can copy and past it in your browser (internet explorer window). Again, I can't remember exactly when I began to feel some relief of the fibrillation but it was at least a month of following E2L that is such a nutrient, plant based diet. The pain is still there and hasn't completely gone but it has lessened quite a bit. I still probably experience pain every week and maybe for a day or two at the most, and that is it. I don't have to put up with the pain every single day like I was. How wonderful is that! ;-)

And then there was pain I use to have in my left arm along with numbness and tingling. I thought it was totally gone because I experience pain and numbness so infrequently now, but it has almost disappeared. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have so many things disappearing from sight or almost gone! It is just so exciting for me. I also had pain in the back of my thighs that use to cause pain every single day. Especially as I sat in the car or on a couch without the benefit of being able to raise my legs and rest them on a foot stool. I can't remember the last time I felt pain there.

Another great joy in my life from eating so healthy is that the HOT FLASHES are almost extinct. If I drink too much caffiene, I have noticed that they will return but as long as I am careful and only drink decaf coffee every once in awhile, I don't experience the hot flashes anymore. I am talking about serious hot flashes too. I am drenched and dripping with water when I experience one. In the evening when I lay in bed, trying to fall asleep, I play the covers on, covers off game, (reminds me on wax on, wax off if you've seen the "Karate Kid" movies ;-) all night long. And during the day I'd be drinking ice cold water all day and place the ice to my face while trying to find the coolest room or find the coolest vent to get under. My poor husband had to put up with a colder house because of me and he was so sweet about it too. There was always this weird feeling at the pit of my stomach every time a hot flash came upon me. I guess you just need to experience it to know what it felt like because it is hard to describe. I guess the closest thing to it would be an anxious feeling. Ahhhhh, what a relief to have that gone as well.

It's about that time again, it is getting late again so I guess I'll continue with more later. I just want to encourage anyone who has some health issues to consider "Eat To Live". I'm not going to lie and say it is easy. For some it may be easier if you are already eating lots of fruits and veggies, but I have found that many, when beginning a new way of eating, have had to transition into E2L. For me, I jumped in with both feet and plunged the depths of E2L because my goal is to fast and I had to eat healthy before I could do the fast. So I had great motivation going on in my life.

Even if you don't have health issues, or don't think you have health issues at this time in your life, if you continue to eat the Standard Amercian Diet, chances are your arteries are clogging which causes heart disease. In the China Study, they autopsied some of the most fit and healthy men that were soldiers during the war and found that they had clogged arteries already and these men were in their 20's. I know, I said I was going to bed so I will. Just remember to Eat To Live!!!!

A Blueberry Day - Day 15 of the Holiday Challenge

Day 14 was much better, it was a Kale day!

1. Breakfast was a blended salad smoothie.
2. Lunch I made the Golden Austrian Califlower Soup. (UMMMMMMMMMM) Also ate a clementine.
3. Supper was Vindaloo vegetables on green leaf lettuce with added steamed asparagus.
4. Dessert was banana oat bar and a banana.
5. Exercised 1 hour. My hip is me. Not sure how much longer I can walk. May need to take a break. DH is telling me not to quit but the pain is awful.
6. Verdict Kale - Tab = $0.00

   Today wasn't such a great day. It ended up being a blueberry day for me. I am so bummed with myself. I was doing so well this morning deciding that I was going to have another Kale Day. I started out great for breakfast. I had my normal blended salad smoothie.

   For lunch I had a bowl of Golden Austrian Califlower Soup that is absolutely delicious. I made it yesterday for the first time and it is just as good the second time around. It makes 4 servings so I'll be eating it for the next 2 days. I didn't want to freeze this one until I hear from another E2L buddy that it freezes well. When I make a vegetable dish I usually freeze half of it and eat on the rest for a couple days. I also ate a banana after lunch and was quite content.

   DH came home from work and we decided to go get something to eat from town for supper. Big mistake for me. I wasn't feeling well. I have been walking each day for about 1 hour for the past 3-4 weeks. These past two days though the pain from the arthritis has gotten worse in the hip. And also I have tendonitis around the same area. I was not going to walk today but decided to not give in to the pain and walk anyway.

   By the time I got home I was ready to collapse into the bed to get off my feet. Well I changed into my grungies and sat instead on the leather couch and checked my email on the laptop. A few minutes later is when DH came home and I didn't want to lift a finger to prepare or cook anything so we went to go and grab something. I could have chosen more wisely but didn't and so it costs me $4.00 for today.

Most everyone is struggling with the challenge. This is a month for so many temptations and busyness to drag us away from eating healthy. Being tired, stressed, in poor health are already trying but added to that for most is holiday shopping, parties, crying kids, what to buy for whom and etc. I am enjoying this challenge though and for the most part it is helping me to stay the course. Well I need to continue with my E2L story so I will post this and hopefully post a little more of my journey if I don't get too tired. So please stay tuned and "Eat To Live"!

Catching up on Challenge Reports

This picture to the left is pineapple sage. I just love the red blooms.

I love to garden when I am feeling well. I just may add this to my herb section.

I only have at the moment some chives and also I think I have sage. I also had some basil this year but it didn't do as well as other years. I also had planted some lavender, which I absolutely love for the fragrance but for some reason it died. It could be because we got a new puppy this year and he loved getting into my garden. We finally had to put an electric fence around it so he wouldn't ruin my bell peppers and tomatoes.

Challenge Day 6

Another kale day for me.

1. B - Oatmeal with blueberries and flax
2. L - Vegetable soup
3. D - Vegetable soup
4. Ds - Pineapple banana sorbet with pecans on top.
5. Tab = $0.00
   
   Challenge Day 7
   
   I had a Kale day again! I bought 4 clementines. Didn't see any mandarin oranges. The clementine was good but it had a couple of seeds which is okay but I prefer seedless. I think I like navel oranges better but I did like the clementine and glad I got them. So thanks to those who recommended them.

Here is my day.

1. B- Blended Salad Smoothie


2. No Lunch, got up late again.


3. D- 1 clementine, 2 bananas and Asian Vegetable Stir Fry on a bed of romaine lettuce. I want to put in a plug for this recipe. This is the best stir fry. It is a little more work but well worth it. This is my favorite dish so far.


4. Tab = $0.00
   
   Challenge Day 8

Another Kale Day!

1. B- Fruit.


2. L- Vegetable bean soup and fruit.


3. D- Asian Vegetable Stir Fry on a bed of romaine. Now it's gone, darn!


4. DS- Pineapple banana smoothie with walnuts.


5. Tab = $0.00
   
   Challenge Day 9
   Yesterday was a blueberry day. Had a non-etl meal. Blueberry day - $4.00 - 1 hour exercise - $2.00Tab = $2.00
   
   Challenge Day 10
   
   Saturday I had a Kale day with no exercise so my Tab is still $2.00.
   
   Challenge Day 11
   
   Yesterday was awful. When I'm sick, it is dangerous to not have frozen meals already prepared and I ran out this week. So I had a blueberry day again because of a non-E2L supper. I hope I can prepare some meals and get them in the freezer today or tomorrow. So $4.00 plus $2.00 gives me a tab of $6.00.

Challenge Day 1

1. Breakfast was at noon and had some fruit.


2. No Lunch.


3. Supper was Vegetarian Chile from the recipe section on a bed of romaine, topped with tomato and avocado.


4. Dessert was a banana oat bar from the recipe section.No exercise today. Kale day.


5. Tab - $6.00.
   
   Challenge Day 13

Bree and I had a similar experience today as far as temptations go. I left the house to go shopping and I usually take my salad dressing with me. I know that I can always go anywhere and get a salad. Well I forgot the dressing.
So I am in the mall doing my walk and it was time for lunch. What a big mistake. Each time around as I get close to the food court, I am trying to decide which is the best/worst food for me to eat. Gosh what a battle of the mind. I kept going back and forth trying to make a decision.
Problem is I just don't like salad without dressing and I didn't want what they have to offer. Then I could choose a chinese stir fry but probably loaded with oil and sodium. I thought of some other things I could eat too but it ended up being which is the best of the SAD to eat and I just didn't want to eat SAD. I was thinking of all of you hard working challengers. So guess what I did. After I finished my mall walk, I went to the grocery store. I had to find something I could eat with my fingers because I had too much running around to do. So I got a banana, some cashews, and frozen petite peas. I ate the banana and 1 oz of nuts and probably about 1/2 cup of peas. I was so happy that I didn't give into tempation. I was sooo close.

So here is my day.

1. Breakfast - Blended Salad smoothie.


2. Lunch - 1 banana, 1 oz cashews, 1/2 cup petite peas.


3. Supper - Vegetarian Chile on a bed of lettuce, topped with tomato and avocado.


4. Dessert - 1 banana oat bar.


5. Kale Day.


6. Exercised 1.5 hours - benefit $3.00


7. Two consecutive kale days - benefit $0.50


8. Kale day plus exercise - benefit $0.50


9. Total = $4.00


10. Tab ~ $6.00 - $4.00 = $2.00

The Benefits I've Experienced Eating To Live

In many ways I feel like I am this little sprout pushing its way through the earth as it's being nourished by the soil it's rooted in, benefiting from the sunshine and rain it so needs to grow up a healthy plant.

So also, I feel like a little sprout, I am being nourished as my physical body is being rooted into good soil (eating to live), a plant based diet, receiving my vitimin D from the sunshine here in New Mexico and drinking water, growing more healthy as each day passes.

In the last post I shared how I transitioned from SAD (the standard american diet) to E2L (Eat To Live). It was probably easier for me than some, since I have health issues that were a great motivation for me to change the way I ate. I'm not sure I would have been as successful or even if I'd be doing E2L if it weren't for the need to get well.

So about a month after I began E2L, I broke a toe and sprained a couple others. This made the transition a little more difficult. They had me wearing one of those boots that are meant for those who break more than a toe but they had me wearing one to make it easier for me to walk and to protect the toe. What an experience this was, trying to shop, cook, clean, do laundry and etc.

I hear you............just how did I break my toe? I was attempting to get something down from a high cabinet and lost my balance off of the step stool and came down hard at the ball of the foot and the toes ended up going backwards as I fell to the floor. Ouch! Yes I cried it hurt so bad. I am still healing from that experience. I still have a little pain left but it really is mostly healed.

As I was reading some of the forum comments I began to wonder if something was wrong with me. Many were saying how much better they felt. I couldn't say I was feeling better, in fact I was feeling worse. But then I had to remember that they didn't have all the health issues I did either. But I felt like I should be feeling some better, but I was actually feeling much worse. My fibromyalgia was so painful at first. I also was having trouble sleeping at night and I know that always affects how I feel. It has only been around a month now that I really can say that I began to sleep better.

So many nights I would lay in bed and not be able to fall asleep and so I would put on a movie and watch it in bed. I would then turn off the tv and try to fall asleep. After 30 minutes of tossing and turning I decided to put on another movie and quit fighting. Weeks went by with me gettting 2-3 hours of sleep per night. On a good night I might get 4-5 hours. I was dragging through the day and in so much pain. It was such a difficult time and I was beginning to wonder just what benefit I was reaping from this new diet. I can only guess that maybe my body had allot of detoxing to do, I'm not sure. I guess this is a question I won't have an answer to. But I kept on because even though I didn't feel like I was being helped, in my mind I knew that I was eating healthier and that eventually my body would respond.

Around a month ago I began to sleep through the night. Wow, it felt so good to have a good nights sleep. I was so apprehesive the next night just knowing I'd have to have a stack of movies ready for the sleepless night that lay ahead. But no I didn't need them. I slept through the night again a second time in a row. Ahhhh it was so nice to sleep. I wanted to jump for joy that I was sleeping normally again. And after a week or so of sleeping, the pain was beginning to ease a little and felt I could function like a normal person again.

I am beginning to find more recipes that I am enjoying and I really was doing well with avoiding most SAD food. Every once in awhile I would end up eating something that was not E2L food but overall I was doing pretty good at sticking to the plan. Preperation was the key to being successful for me since there were so many days I didn't want to cook or prepare a salad.

My husband mentioned how much more I was eating. I wasn't quite sure what he meant, but after thinking about it I realized that before E2L, I was counting all my calories and the foods I ate were calorie dense so I didn't get to eat very much if I wanted to stay at a healthy weight. I worked at trying to stay within the fda standards according to height, and build. So one of the benefits of eating to live is that you are able to eat so much more food than before without gaining weight. And it is healthy food so I am eating nutritionally where as before I really wasn't even though I thought I was.

So I am working towards doing the extended fast. My friend Jodi who loaned me her book, fasted 3-4 different times for 20 days or more. My goal was to fast for at least 21 days. I read that for some diseases it takes 21 days. Fibromyalgia is a disease caused by diet and I also have severe headaches and was hoping that fasting would help with both of these.

I forgot to mention too that when I found out I had high cholestrol, I mentioned to the doctor that I was having pain in my back so she ordered xrays. It came back that I also had osteoarthritis/porosis and disk degenerative disease. So that is what those sharp, pains were. I thought maybe they were new pains associated with the fibromyalgia.

I also forgot to mention that during the time when I was hyperthyroid (graves disease), I also was having chest pain. The doctor ordered a echocardiogram. The heart is fine except I have mitro valve regurgatation. Which means that as the is being pumped into the heart, the valve doesn't completely close and some of the that came in, goes right back out. I'm not sure if his is a serious problem later on, but it isn't something the doctor was concerned about.

I kept wondering how much more a body could take. But I know there are others who are experiencing much worse aches and pains and heartache than I am. I just wonder how people make it through the day with all the pain and suffering. I guess that is why the pharmacutical companies are a multi billion dollar entity.

I went off the medication I was taking to prepare myself for the fast, and it has been so difficult to make it through each and every day. I have learned to lean on the Lord to make it through the difficult times of life. Those trials we all face during our lifetime. God's word brings peace and comfort and so does prayer. He helps me make it through each day's struggle.

Dr. Fuhrman said I needed to be on this diet and eating healthy for at least 3 months before I could do a fast. The doctor ordered some more work to check on the cholesterol and thyroid and some other various tests. She also checked my pressure 3 times. The nurse checked it and the doctor checked it twice. My pressure after 3 months on this diet came down to normal at 118/70. Also my high cholesterol dropped from 295 to 231 I think it is. All in just three months. Gosh was I excited. All the funny glances I got for eating this way and negative comments that were made. This made it all worth enduring the scoffers who didn't believe in eating for health.

Well I want to continue because I tend to loose my train of thought, but its late and I need some sleep. I'll try and post tomorrow and catch up on the challenge also. Eat To Live Everyone!

Continuing my story

During this time I had a colonoscopy. No problems there. I was 50 so Dr. S wanted all these test done along with the lab work. I also had a bone density test. All looked fine except some osteopenia in the hips.

It ended up that it wasn't my fibromyalgia getting worse. After some work, the verdict was hyperthyroidism (graves disease). I had a goiter on the thyroid too. So the treatment for this autoimmune disease was to kill the thyroid with radioactive iodine and put me on synthroid for the rest of my life. That sounded terrible to me, but I felt I didn't have much of a choice. It was that or surgery. A radioactive pill sounded much safer and less intrusive so that is what I chose to do.

What they usually do is give you antithyroid meds before they give you the radioactive iodine so as to avoid so many hormones dumping into your system. What happens is when they kill the thyroid with the radioactive iodine, the thyroid dumps way too many hormones into your body and that will make you really sick. It can be really hard on the heart. I, unfortunately was not a candidate for these because my liver enzymes had gone way up. So now during this time I am going to a liver specialist too. I had to ask him if the thyroid specialist can give me the antithyroid medications and after he looked at my liver levels, he said no. I guess the antithyroid can be hard on the liver. He thought I might have fatty liver (although he wasn't convinced of fatty liver because I weighed 127 at the time and I was 5'7") or something worse, but wanted me to take care of the thyroid first.

So I went o the hospital and they administered the radioactive iodine. My thyroid specialist gave me some beta blockers to protect the heart. It was a good thing she did because the pulse was fast during this time already. Well I did end up getting really sick. I was in bed for around 2 weeks except to use the bathroom and to eat. I was in so much pain, couldn't sleep, gosh I felt horrible. I saw the Dr. every 3 weeks. She was hoping to catch me before I went totally hypo but missed. I went totally hypo and so I continued to be sick and not sleeping. What a horrible experience, I'm glad it's over. My muscles felt like someone punched each one especially the legs. I'm on synthroid and doing well now.

During this time my motherinlaw is sick in the hospital. She had a stroke and within 6 months she died. That was a diffficult situation. We didn't know she was dying, the doctor said she would recover. It was hard on everyone.

About 1 month after getting on the synthroid, I began having pain where the leg and torso meet. It was swollen and I was about to have my yearly checkup so I asked the nurse practitioner I go to for that to see what she thought. She thought it might be a hernia and said I use go see my primary care physican. Well Dr. S was on maternity leave so I went to a doctor that was taking her patients until she came back from leave. He checked it and said it was tendonitis. I asked if the pain would go away and he said he didn't know and gave me mobic to take for the pain. It's a year later and the pain is still there. I live with it day in and day out without pain medication. I try to walk every day. Sometimes it will make the area swell. I am hoping to feel well enough to go to the gym and do water aerobics.

Another thing going on during all of this is that I was going to the dentist. I was having so much pain on the right upper teeth and the pain was into my head. Previously I had 2 different root canals done on one tooth and one done on another. This dentist was referred to me by family members that were happy with him.

So he looked at the teeth and took xrays and said he could help me and did 2 more root canals on the two teeth. Well, long story short, he didn't help me. The pain was even worse. This dentist said the only thing he could do was to pull the teeth. I went to another dentist and he said there was some surgery that needed to be done and I might need to have this continually done for the rest of my life. I was so tired of the pain in my head that I had been putting up with for over a year that in a desperate attempt to relieve the pain, I had all my teeth pulled.

Oh my gosh was that the worse experience. It was so painful and what a time of healing the gums and getting use to dentures. I would have had implants if I could afford them but my gosh they are so expensive. I think I read 2-4 thousand per tooth. Ok so now I have no teeth, I am trying to get use to dentures. I wouldn't take the dentures off in front of my husband for awhile because I was so embarrased about the way I look without teeth. It takes awhile before you can eat solid food, at least for me it did. And guess what, the pain is still there. This pain is so excruciating that it is difficult to make it though the day. I had a cat scan done and all is well there.

Okay I think I've covered everything I was going through during this time. If I think of anything else I'll edit, but I think that is everything.

So I, after all of this now have a report that my pressure and cholesterol are high and the doctor is wanting me on medications. Well not so fast my good doctor. So she agrees to allow me 4 months to bring both of those down or she was putting me on meds.

I left the office thinking how in the world I'd do this in 4 months. I was at least going to try!

To pick up where I left off, I heard about Dr. Fuhrman, read his book, "Fasting and Eating for Health", and joined his website as a member, downloaded the free book for becoming a member, "Eat To Live", and began the diet.

This was the hardest diet I have ever been on. Eating SAD (the standard american diet) for my whole life and enjoying it to going to E2L was oh so difficult. I was depressed, and even cried. I just didn't think I was going to make it through this new way of eating.

I like salads once in awhile but my gosh, every day and twice a day. Forget it!!! Also, you can't use regular dressings from the store. You either have to make your own or find some with no fat and very little salt if any. We are not allowed oil and are only allowed 300 mg of added sodium per day. I really thought I would never enjoy food again. So basically, here is the diet for the first 6 weeks.

A minimum of 4 fruits per day
1 oz on nuts/seeds
1 oz of avocado
1 Tbl of ground flax seed
work towards 1 lb of raw veggies
work towards 1 lb of cooked veggies
1 cup beans/legumes

After the first couple of days I was so tired of salads. I was having a hard time finding any of the dressings with no fat and low sodium. I think if I had been able to find something to put on my salad that tasted good, it wouldn't have been so difficult. So instead of salads, I began to drink a salad smoothie. I would put everything I would eat for a salad, along with some fruit for sweetness and blend it all together and drink my salad.

That was okay for a couple of weeks but that got old pretty quickly and I wanted to chew some food. So I decided that I was going to find a store bought dressing somehow if it was the last think I ever did. I was determined! ;-) I looked online and went to every store until I found one. I began with Newman's raspberry walnut dressing but it had oil in it and sodium but it was tolerable. I figured I'd start with it until I could find something else. And then a couple of weeks later I saw Vidalia had a raspberry vinagrette. It didn't have oil nor sodium but had some cane juice. Well, we are not allowed sugar on the diet either so I thought, which is worse, the oil and sodium or the cane juice. I decided to buy the Vidalia and if it brought on food cravings I would not use it but that never happened so I continued with it. Then I found that Lighthouse has a pomblueberry dressing with no fat and no cane juice but has within limits sodium. So I use both of them for my dressings for now.

The reason I don't make my own is because we are living in our RV for now and the refrigerator is a little small. My husband worked for a national company that was bought out and the new owners had to decrease their employees and my husband was one of them that lost his job. We really toughed it for awhile and were able to see how the Lord provided for us when the going was so difficult. God provided for us in so many ways. My husband is now making a little more than half of what he was recieving as a salary with the other company and we are getting bills paid and hopefully within another year or two we'll be able to buy a house.

So now that I have some salad dressings, I need to begin with some new recipes for vegetable dishes. That was depressing too because I ended up throwing so many dishes out because I didn't like them. That made me leary to try new dishes because of all the money I threw away. But I did keep at it and slowly I have a few recipes I really love.

This new way of eating really grows on you if you can make it through the first 6 weeks. Becoming a member of the website and being able to talk with others about their journey in the forums was so helpful. They all were so supportive and helpful, offering suggestions to anyone with a question. I also read the archived posts and recieved allot of wisdom without having to ask every question I had. I was even able to ask the doctor questions and read his archived "ask the doctor" questions too. It is so wonderful to be a part of a group that is so positive and willing to help out in any way they can. Okay, I need to stop again here but will continue next time with how this diet has helped me so far. See you then and "Eat To Live"!!!

My Journey Continues

When I got home from our friends home it was already late at night. But I did flip through the book and started reading "Fasting and Eating for Health" the following day. I finished the book and just knew that this was my answer to all my health problems.

I immediately got on the internet and did a search for Dr. Joel Fuhrman. I wanted to find out more about this guy and what else he might have to offer. Well low and behold, he has a webite! How awesome is that! And on top of that he also has some recipes. And then to top it all off I can be a member and ask him questions and he also has a forum for members to encourage each other on this journey and also to ask each other questions and share what is working for them and what isn't. I just couldn't believe that this went way beyond a book. So much support was available and so I joined the memebership. And then, after signing up I found that he has supplements you can buy and some food products too along with some other books he has written. Wow, I just couldn't believe all this. I was just so encouraged by finding Dr. Fuhrman's website.

So I joined up and asked the doctor a question about fasting. I wanted to fast right away. No time to loose! Well it just doesn't quite work that way. I have been a SAD (Standard American Diet) eater all my life. In my mind though I thought I was eating pretty healthy because I avoided trans fats, I ate whole grain breads, I went from 2% milk to skim, I used smart balance margarine instead of butter or trans fat margarines, I chose low fat cuts of meat and cheese. So in my mind I was eating healthy and I was ready to fast.

Well not so fast Lana. Dr. Fuhrman said I needed to be on the diet for at least 3 months so that I would be healthy going into the fast and so that you avoid going through so much detox symtoms while fasting. You still might have some symptoms of detox but they won't be as severe. So at first that was disappointing because I didn't want to wait, I wanted to fast! But the time went by quickly. I am eating so healthy it makes me feel good all under to think about the changes in my diet.

Was it easy to transition from SAD to E2L? NO, no, no!!! It was horrible. I tell you this in all honesty so that if you decide to do this you'll be prepared. It was so difficult for me. First of all I am doing this for health reasons so that brings its own challenges to the forefront. Let me digress here so that the reader will understand emotionally what I was going through when I decided to make this drastic change in my diet, to my life.
I am 52 years young! ;-) Two years ago when I was 50 I was experiencing some weird symptoms. I was loosing weight so easily which wasn't normal for me. I wasn't sleeping at night. I have trouble sleeping already because of the fibromyalgia but this was different. I tried taking benedryl and it helped but my primary care physican, Dr. S said for me not to take it so I quit. I also had some other symptoms too. I had palpitations already which they say is a symptom of fibromyalgia but the palpitations had increased, I was going through menopause at this time, so I had horrible hot flashes, I was really nervous, like I just drank 10 cups of coffee. I was also so tired all the time which is normal if you have fibromyalgia. So it was as if all the symptoms of fibromyalgia increased in intensity.

Well its getting late and I'm getting tired so I'll continue this again hopefully tomorrow. See you then! :-)

Challenge Day 5
Another kale day!

I wasn't feeling well this morning. It feels like a cold or some kind of virus is trying to make my life miserable. So I made a vegetable soup just in case so that I would have something to eat for a few days if I don't feel like cooking.

Today's menu
B- oatmeal with flax and blueberries
L- vegetable soup
D- vegetable soup
Ds- pineapple banana sorbet with pecans

My Tab is still $0.00

Monday - Day 4

Yesterday I was so tempted to eat non ETL which we call SAD (the standard american diet). I did my exercise in the mall which is walking 2-3 miles. I would like to work up to 4 or 5 miles but I think it will be awhile before I am able to do that.
I walked 2.5 miles that took about an hour to do and while I was walking you have to go by the food court. So many food smells were calling out my name and I had to work hard at not answering them. Before Thanksgiving I wasn't having this much of a struggle so I am guessing that because I went off a little for Thanksgiving, my body is detoxifying to get rid of all those cravings. So I was successful at avoiding the temptation but boy let me tell you it was a struggle. I think also because the food challenge in going on at the forums, there is more pressure to not go off plan.
I finished my walk, went to the store and bought some bananas for freezing and a pineapple for my morning smoothies. They were a little ripe, but that is perfect for smoothies because the sugar content in them is increased which sweetens the kale and spinach.
So the good news is that I finished with a Kale Day and my Tab still = $0.00. So far so good. I have two luncheons though coming up and I just know that I will be eating nonE2L food. I need to make sure the other days are Kale and make sure I get my walking in.

How my journey began

To begin with I had been having some health issues recently and this doctor's visit was to check and see how my thyroid meds were doing and basically it was a yearly visit to check and see how everything is going. My cholesterol was up to 295 and my pressure had slowly been creeping up the last few visits and this time it was 135/99 or something like that. I can check to be sure. Anyway, my doctor had been wanting to put me on pressure medicine before this, but I kept asking her to let me try to bring it down on my own. And now the cholesterol was up and she wanted me on meds to lower that too. So I asked one more time to please let me try to bring them down on my own. I was really let down. More medical issues to deal with. What a bummer I thought. What is happening to me? I am 52 and going downhill for sure. At 50 I was diagnosed with hyerthyroidism (graves disease). I'll share more about this later in the story.

I wasn't really sure how I was going to do this. I was already eating what I thought was a healthy diet. I was avoiding transfats, ate mostly chicken, lean pork and 96/4 ground beef and the leanest beef cuts I could find. I went from 2% milk to skim milk and chose low fat dressings. I used smart balance margarine and ate very little eggs. So other than tweaking my already low fat diet, I began searching for supplemental help. I had heard someone on the radio talking about how they lowered their cholesterol this way. Gosh I thought I already took all the supplements available. :-)

So during all this research and speaking with a friend, Mimi, I was just about to purchase a mass of supplements to help with the cholesterol. And I thought I'd increase the amount of miles I walked.

One evening we were visiting some friends that we don't get to see often because they live in another state. It is only about a 50 minute drive. We brought some food with us and we sat down and ate supper with them. They have 6 of the most well behaved children I have ever seen. They are fun and enjoyable and just so respectful. I applaud their parents for bringing them up so well. They also have a friend in her 20's I believe that lives with them. She (Jodi) and I have become friends and she has a bowel condition that causes her allot of problems. She was sitting next to me at the supper table and I began telling her my story and how I needed to do something because the last thing I wanted to do was to go on medications for the rest of my life.

After we ate supper, we shared about what was going on in each of our lives and how the good Lord was blessing us in so many ways and just sharing life and all that means whether it be struggles and hardships or joys and peaceful days or a little of both. ;-)

After a time we needed to get back home and so while saying our goodbyes. Jodi went to another room and brought back a couple of books for me to read. She explained a little about both of them and how they were helping her. I don't remember the name of one of them. I only skimmed through it, but the other is called, "Fasting and Eating For Health", written by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Jodi explained that she had fasted 3 or 4 different times to help her with her health and something in me just lit up and I thought, "This is my answer."



Well I need to stop here. Hopefully I can continue some more of the story either later today or tomorrow. See you then. ;-)

Eat Healthy Everyone

A Day Behind

Today is Sunday and I didn't get a chance to post yesterday so I need to catch up with what is going on with the challenge and "eating to live". Saturday I had a Kale day.
Breakfast - my normal morning blended salad smoothie
Lunch - none. I got up late this morning and didn't want to overeat by eating lunch 2 hours later so I just skipped this meal.
Supper was an Asian Vegetable Stir Fry. Ummm so delicious.
Dessert was a strawberry smoothie with walnuts. Verdict = Kale Day Tab = $0.00
Sunday I did okay but I did have some peanut butter that is not allowed. Any other raw nut butter is okay, but peanuts are roasted and so contain acrilamides which are cancer causing agents. So if we are cooking a stir fry and it calls for peanut butter we can add small amounts to a recipe. But to eat peanut butter regularly is just not a great idea. Sunday's Menu was:
Breakfast - fruit.
Lunch - skipped.
Supper - Asian Vegetable Stir Fry again.
Dessert - Pumpkin Smoothie
Exercise - 30 minute walk
Tab - $1.00

Challenge Day 2-an eggplant day.

Basically E2L is a plant based diet. We eat lots of veggies, a minimum of 4 fruits, 1 oz of nuts or seeds, 1 oz of avocado, 1 cup of grains, minimum of 1 cup of beans, 1 cup of starchy veggies, 1 Tbl of ground flax. We drink mostly water and avoid, salt and fat. We are allowed 300 mg of added sodium per day which is a very small amount.

I encourage you to read the book, "Eat To Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. He dedicates his life to research and is on the cutting edge of nutritional health. He has already helped me with lowering my high pressure and high cholesterol. My daily headaches are improving. I still have them every day but the intesity has lessened. The longer I am on this diet, I believe the more my health will improve. I have other health issues too, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis/porosis and degenerative disk disease. There are other health issues too and I really believe this diet is not only going to help me to loose weight, but will also help me to become more healthy and live a longer enjoyable life.

The challenge is going strong. I think there are 8 of us that have joined in the fun. I think most of us have gone off plan a little today. But we have a way of recouping what was lost by exercise. For every 30 minutes of exercise we do that particular day is worth $1.00. So it benefits us greatly to exercise each day or at least the days we are off plan. Today I ended up being eggplant which costs $2.00. I ate 1/2 of a white roll - totally not an E2L food. So here was my day.

Breakfast
One banana
Familia soaked in water

Lunch
Salad with spring greens, iceberg, pinto beans, cucumber, broccoli, califlower, raisins, pine nuts.
Melon, strawberry, kiwi, grapfruit
1/2 of a white roll

I ate at Golden Corral for lunch and did well with my selections of food and feeling great that I was avoiding all the temptations that were calling my name. Normally a buffet spells disaster for me. I guess today I had more willpower and I'm sure the challenge helped me to do well to resist temptation. I really do better if I eat my meals at home.

When I came to the table with my plate of food, there was a roll in a basket just awaiting me. Errr I gave in and I only ate half. I even brought my own salad dressing with me so I wouldn't use their's because it has fat and salt.

Supper
Topped some romaine and spinach with Vindaloo Vegetables. Was going to make a stir fry but didn't have time to make it today. I'll probably make it tomorrow instead.

Dessert was another strawberry sorbet with ground flax.

Walked 3 miles, took 1 hour.

Verdict = Eggplant = $2.00

Minus 1 hour exercise = $2.00

Tab = $0.00

Challenge

Today I was going to give some background as to how I began my ETL journey but that will have to wait. I am tired again tonight. I guess I need to do this earlier. Maybe I'll begin doing this in the morning. Today we have a challenge going on. Some E2L friends are doing a challenge through the holidays and I am joining in. The picture to the left is a field of "kale." Kale is king of the greens. It is the most nutritious.

Ok here is what I have decided to do. Nicole came up with this and I tweaked mine a little but it basically is close to hers. It is just a fun graph to help us continuing with E2L and enjoy it in the process.

10 - Kale -NOTHING NON E2L- 1T. Flax, 1 starch serving if desired, and take my vitamins and 1 oz of nuts and 1 oz of avocado.
9 - Broccoli - Snacked on E2L food.
8 - Eggplant - Ate something non E2L that was within the 10%.
7 - Lentil - Ate E2L except used oil, sugar, or salt in a recipe.
6 - Blueberry - eating bad non-ETL food for one meal.
5 - Potato - eating bad half the day and then turning it around, or eating well in the morning and then saying "screw it" after lunch
4 - Brown Rice - eating a good breakfast or dinner but then messing up the rest of the day
3 - Cashew - eating badly all day except for two parts of meals i.e. eating a vegetable at dinner and a piece of fruit at breakfast
2 - Cheese - eating badly all day except for one part of a meal
1 - Cookie - no ETL food

We will decide to give the money collected to a charity, that is if any of us go off the wagon. We'll see how it goes and will report on how well we all do.

Kale days cost nothing
Broccoli days cost $1
Eggplant days - $2
Lentil days - $3
Blueberry days - $4
Potato days - $5
Brown rice - $6
Cashew - $7
Cheese - $8
Cookie - $9

Ok, here is what I ate today.

Breakfast - Blended Salad Smoothie - took vitamins

4 kale leaves
1 large handful of spinach
1 heaping Tbl of ground flax seed
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 frozen banana
.5 dha purity

Lunch
Vindaloo Vegetables

Supper
Huge salad with romaine, tomatoes, cucumber, apple, celery, carrot, avocado
Dessert Strawberry sorbet

Exercise Walked two miles.

Verdict - Kale Day Tab $0.00

A Good Day

This morning I had a blended salad made in my vitamix.

Breakfast
4 kale leaves
1 large hand full of fresh spinach
1 cup of frozen strawberries
1 cup of frozen blueberries
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 cup soy milk unsweetened
1/2 cup water
1 heaping teaspoon of ground flax seed
.5 DHA

Lunch
Salad with romaine lettuce
cucumber
carrot
apple
tomato

I didn't make a large enough salad and couldn't make it to supper so I had some nut butter and a banana right before supper.

Supper
I made a recipe called Vindaloo Vegetables. It is one of my favorite recipes. It can be found at fatfreevegan.com. There is a crockpot version that I used. I love crockpot dishes. Right after supper I had a fresh fruit salad.

Excercise
Walked 2 miles today. Wish I had done more but I didn't sleep well last night. Hopefully tomorrow I'll walk 3 miles.

The only thing not 100% is that we are to have 1 oz of nuts and I probably ate 2 oz. It is okay for those of us who don't need to loose weight but I still need to loose 9 pounds.

Today's post was going to be my introduction into E2L and why I decided to begin this new way of life, but I will post that when I have more energy. I am tired tonight.

Eat to Live is not only a diet, but also a way of life as I relearn how to eat.

It has been four months since I began this new diet. My reason for eating this way is for health reasons. The added benefit is that I lost a few pounds also. I will write about my health issues in another post.

I needed to loose around 18 pounds according to Dr. Fuhrman's recommendations and have lost 11 of those pounds. I guess I should be more serious about loosing the weight, but I know that the holidays will be a challenge for me and I will get more serious in January.

Overall I have been following the diet at least 90% . My challenges have been nut butters and dates. I am almost getting to the point where I don't want to buy cashew butter anymore because I love it so much. And it is difficult to stop at one or two tablespoons.

Thanksgiving I gave myself permisson to indulge some off diet foods. We call these SAD (standard american diet) foods. We traveled 6 hours to my daughter's home and enjoyed visting with them and went around the table thanking God for what we were grateful for.

My daughter cooked a marvelous meal and I did partake of some of the food but ate a very large salad so that I wouldn't eat very much of the Thanksgiving meal. My challenge was more in the sweets department and did indulge. Since we are allowed 10% of non "Eat To Live" food, I saved up my calories for the holiday.

This was my first Thanksgiving while following "Eat To Live" and have decided that next year I will make some pies that are healthy according to what is allowed in the E2L (eat to live) diet. I'll also make a couple of dishes that are healthy so that I won't have just salad to eat. Overall I am happy with my choices. I ate salad each day. I had my morning blended salad smoothie or some fruit so I mostly followed E2L.