Day 9

Today started out really well. I got up early and made the apple walnut surprise for breakfast.  It was way quick and super yummy. The kids gobbled it up and a half a grapefruit each. Jordy liked it...I liked it. Great.
Lunch went way easy like usual. The kids had some more of the breakfast apples and a sandwich. This feels like getting the kids to eat fresh veggies is going to take forever. Tonight I made veggie meatloaf and asparagus. We used the left over cashew cream sauce we had from the "California creamed kale" and oh my gosh! Winner! The best ever way to eat asparagus diet or no diet! Far  Better than butter or cheese  if you can believe it. The kids fought the meat loaf. Not fans, they wouldn't eat the asparagus at first. Noah tried one and wouldn't try more. Livy was slow and picky with hers. But eventually she ate it all after she tasted the cashew sauce. The meatloaf....maybe half eaten for both of them. This is so long and drawn out it feels like. I know they snack all day on oranges and banana and strawberries and raw almonds and sunflower seeds and cashews and almond or soy milk. I remember a part of dr. Furhmans book that said....if they are snacking on all these healthy things its okay if they don't eat as much at meal times. So that does make me feel better, but it is still so slow with the veggies. I thought I was feeding them healthy before by feeding them so many veggies from the can. My only reason was they were softer and and easier for them. The transition to fresh veggies just isn't going well. All the things they used to eat on a consistent daily basis, like carrots and green beans and peas that they loved so much from a can, I just can't get them to eat them fresh. They try one or two things.....and by try I mean one bite. Its only been 10 days....perhaps im stressing too much? Man I wish Dr. Fuhrman was out there reading my blog lol and could offer calm to my anxieties. If I withhold fruit and nuts they love....to force them to eat veggies.....they hold out and go days with hardly any calories....I can't do that so if they refuse I just let them have any others whole food...mainly fruit and whole oats or whole wheat homemade bread. They wont touch lettuce of any kind....the only greens they get are broccoli because Livy loves it so much and spinach in their smoothies. If I keep letting them take one little bite then refuse..them give them fruit or something else...will they NEVER like the veggies? ?? Harrumph onwards to day 10

Day 8.1 Making Nut Butters

So the rest of the day went really smoothly! Livy was still picky but she is going to give in more and more. I am realizing I truelly just have to  stay away for most parties and stuff.
I was so nervous about money with this diet. I planed 3 days of meals on Sunday, and monday went shopping and spent 160 bucks! And I ONLY bought the ingredients I needed. I was really disheartened but here is what I realized. We are simply not going to eat these perfectly planned out meals 3 times a day. I look at my menu board and sometimes I pick one of those things to make and sometimes we go more simple ....a cashew butter date jelly sandwich for lunch...oatmeal instead of walnut apple sunrise for breakfast. I still have SO many ingredients and its Wednesday night. I will easily make it through the entire week with that shopping and plus I bought things like flavored vinegars that you only need to buy a couple times a .year ...
AlSO ....raw cashew butter is something dr. Furhmans recipes use a ton. It is 18.99 for a tiny little jar anywhere you can find it even online....totally not in my budget or any near future budget! Well im buying alot of cashews anyway  for snacking and cream sauces he calls for so I found online how to make it myself! So so easy...just requires some patience with the food processor and voila!  I made a pound of cashew butter and a pound of almond. Cashews I found were like 7.99 /lb at smiths.....so Yayyyy cheaper alternative!  Woohoo go team snell!

Day 8

I got major cravings last night for the first time since starting this diet. And I realized I hadn't spent the day snacking as much as usual. Normally I've been stuffing carrots ans other veggies and fruit down as much as possible and DUR turns out that's why I've been able to resist! So I better keep snacking until the craving for that other food is out of my system.
Spending the day babysitting at a friends house turned out to be a less hard than I expected. The kids are young and I can simply tell them they can't eat the other kids' food. Im so glad we are doing this this young so I don't have to explain in front of kids who are older why my kids can't eat what they are eating.  I hope I can explain well enough at home they learn not to make others feel bad

Day 7

<p>Its early a.m. for a post. But thought I would share that our week 1 weigh in this morning went AWESOME! We both lost the same number 9 lbs each!! Woohooo!! For jordan its really only like day 5 of doing it all out so he lost quicker than me, but we only did insanity 2 that week. This week it will be 6 times so weehaw im so excited to get moving and get losing! </p>
<p>It was hard being out and having to deny the kids things people around them are eating. It will be hard to find the right way to explain to the kids why we eat this way, and teach them at the same time not tofeel be critical of how others choose to eat. They will have to learn with us I guess. Im guessing we will offend alot of people without meaning to of course. But we will just deal with each day as it comes. </p>
<p>
I feel this incredible burden lifted. Yes I have to spend all day long planning meals and reading recipes right now, but I will get the swing of this and this eating will come more naturally and easily;) after reading the china study 3 years ago, I felt anxiety with every feeding with the kids. Some of this would have come naturly as a first time mother, but the rest was just awful. I cant count the times I spent in my bedroom crying while she was in her highchair because she wouldn't eat what I offered and I was nervous she wasn't getting enough. Then I learned she wont starve to death, she'll just have to go hungry for part of the day then she will eat it. But then jordan and I couldn't keep up the diet and then I would feel bad the kids were hungry because they didnt eat their veggies or something and I would just give in and give them mac and cheese or whatever we were eating. Everytime I finished a meal with them I would feel terrible, feeling like I was shoving poison in their mouths and creating future diseases for them. Which I was.
Now, the burden is gone wondering if I am feeding them the best I know how. However im dealing with the aftermath of what I did with them. They eat plenty of the healthy stuff, I know I have it better than I alot of moms going into this,  but a couple times a day they do just flat out refuse certain veggies or meals I make. And i feel stress because I think....okay this isn't just one day....its been an entire week of them being very picky about which veggies and fruit they will eat, and especially getting whole grains in them and making sure they get fat from cashews and avocados and walnuts and anywhere nature offers it. I need to stop this over analyzing. They are refusing their oatmeal this morning...which they ate wonderfully yesterday morning, and its stressing me out. I have to stop trying to force them and make this a better experience for them. I will just cover the oatmeal and offer it again at lunch time. I just hate how long this is dragging on. I expected a couple days of refusal but I guess it will be more like a month.  I just never know when to draw the line. Like, " put the oatmeal away and they get offered that everytime they are hungry until they eat it? Or offer other healthy things they like....but they will eat fruit all day long if i let them.  It took being stuck in the car for 2.5 hours yesterday for them to break down and snack on the raw carrots. Uggg I wish dr. Furhman was MY family doctor and he could give me the advice on this. I need to re-read his "disease proof your child" and see if there are more tips im not remembering.
8:30p.m
Well today turned put to be my best day yet! I told them it was okay and they didnt have to eat it. I gave them strawberries and oranges to hold them over. Then at lunch I reheated their oatmeal and Noah scarfed it down...Livy was picky about it still. She took s couple bites and I spooned her a couple. Then she got strawberries and a sandwich made on homemade wheat bread with sunflower seed butter and honey. They both ate so much Ahhh it was wonderful. We had such a great day. We listened to our productivity CD. The kids played nicely with each other, I got so much organized, and made California creamed kale and carrot cream soup for dinner....WHICH I the kids ate willingly! Okay except the kale....Livy asked for broccoli not gonna turn that down;) but Jordy and I liked the creamed kale. The soup was great too. Ended the night with insanity. We happy!!;)

Day 6

Well I dreaded day 6 all week because I knew I was going to have to go out of the mountains for the day and go get the food shopping done. I knew I would be gone all day and I wouldn't be prepared enough for what to eat. I got up early and packed some of the left over homemade bread and some hummus and raw cashews and sunflower seeds. I was out of everything else, but i had somw spinach and frozen berries,  so I stopped at the small store back here and grabbed some snack foods. Bags of mini clementines and apples and carrots and broccoli and cauliflower. Jordan left to go work for the day and I sent him of with a snack pack for driving around and crossed my fingers. The kids and I shopped and snacked on fruit and veggies and nuts. After lunch and naptime as went to the whole foods that was further away and trader joes. On the way back we got stuck in bad traffic for 2.5 hours! They ate all of the clementines in the car and some raisins and gave in to snacking on a few carrots even which was great. They LOVE canned carrots and eat them like crazy they used to go through a can a day everyday. I know that was a bad decision but I thought I was just helping them eat veggies that were easier to eat. I should have just steamed fresh veggies because they just are being slow to experiment with raw carrots and veggies . That's okay to me. I just wanted to get through the day. Jordan did AMAZING all day and he was HAPPY not ornery and deprived. Im so happy and proud of him. I feel so so blessed that heavenly father is blessing him with the motivation at the same time as me, that we are able to do this as a family and change for the better together. I could never have done it without him.

Day 5

Today has not been the best. We ran out of most fruit and seeds which I was using to snack on throughout the day. Jordy takes all the left overs with him to work from dinner the night before so I have to make new things for lunch....which is fine I would rather he stick to the diet and im glad he is. I just am craving instant potatoes and beef and rolls and butter. Im trying to satisfy that craving in a healthy way. Im making quinoa and lentil cutlets and vegan gravy and garlic broccoli and homemade whole wheat bread with hummus as a condiment. I know I will feel satisfied....but I also know I will want dessert. Which I've been having fruit at night as dessert and we are out. I can do it.....we can so this. Ohhhh I have some icecream that I made by putting frozen bananas and strawberries through the foodprocessor....we can eat that yum;)

later...
Dinner went great! I loved loves the quinoa/red lentil cutlets.....Jordy was so so....Noah loved them...Livy hated them haha. But Livy is so in love with broccoli im not concerned about her protien.
Insanity went well tonight. I can't believe 5 days are gone! This I unreal and to boot I am ENJOYING cooking and planning meals again. I thought this would stress me more. The lord must be blessing me extra. Its a huge adjustment and has its stressful moments. Really the biggest anxiety for me is that I have to leave this property one day lol. I mean I leave to shop for food. But im focused and quick. I am dreading spending a day out away from home. Packing whole foods for on the go is actually easier than packing anything....but trying to think what the kids will eat for meals.....without offending anyone who offers them things. I just want to live here on this little patch of land for like a month until this is all second nature and I can plan for time away from home. If we lived a little closer we could just always insure we get home in time for meals. But we try to budget our gas and want to make the most of time we get with family so we usually spend the day. I feel my heart rate increase just thinking about it haha. I am sure its easier for others. But if I had self control with those yummy fast food places I wouldn't feel be in this situation!

Day 4

Woohoo day 4 and already 6 pounds down for me! My weight fluctuates so easily I really shouldn't be weighing myself this often but its hard not too.  Jordan has even started mentioning his new diet to people ...which tells me he is committed, im so excited! I think I can say today with a surety....those are the last day 1..2...3s....I will ever have with dieting! I know I can stick to this. I know we can as a family. Fruit...or oatmeal with fruit in it or grapenuts in it for breakfast...sometimes a green smoothie for breakfast. Salad and fruit for lunch,  snacking on fruits and nuts and seeds and veggies all day....a water sauteed stir fry for dinner and rice..we've kept it WAY simple to start....but I will experiment with more and more meals. When we started this before I made these qinuoi and lentil cutlets and veggie gravy...they were yum I want to try them again.

I know this time is different. I've read more books, spent alot of time cleansing the house and bringing in the healthier ingredients.  I feel so positive today. And im so thankful to have the gospel I don't know how I would do this without it. Yesterday when I had my little meltdown I sat outside on the porch for a second and I could feel his love and support. I went inside and prayed and the feeling of love and comfort and I don't know...the feel he was proud of me, it was so overwhelming I snapped right out of it. I felt rejuvenated and ready to keep going. I know with his help I can do anything, even this;) here's to health, and my last day 4 ever. I know its he last time because we can make mistakes. As long as we use dr. Fuhrmans 90% rule...that 90% of our daily diet comes from fruit, veggies, nuts seeds and whole grains.  We can stick to that for life....and one cheat will never equal a total lapse ever again. Because we will pile on the veggies and whole foods the next day and our bodies will continue to have the high nutrient foods it needs.

Day 3

Im surprised day 3 is here and I don't feel out of control desires to cheat. I did begin with a fast,  but I've begun all of my diets that way for added strength. I think part of the difference this time, is a determination to prove I am in charge of myself. But also the snacking.  Dr. Furhman talks about having fresh fruit and veggies and homemade dips and nuts and home made trail mix out all the time for snacking. He says you should never worry that your kid snacks throughout the day and doesn't eat as much at meal time with this lifestyle,  because the bulkier whole foods fill your stomach much quicker than grease oil and sugar,  so you are hungry sooner and more frequently. Also the" snacks " are carrots, celery, broccoli, oranges, strawberry, melons,raw  cashews, raisins, raw sunflower seeds, they are packed with vitamins and other micronutrients.
I can't explain it, but before where I spent the day pining after icecream or candybars or even bread and butter, now, I feel satisfied,  and my house only has good things in it. There is nothing to cheat with, and sure I could go to the store but I just force myself to snack on fresh fruits and veggies all day. Dr. Fuhrman says carbs should be our main source of calories not fat and sugar and protein, that carbs only get a bad wrap because the refined overprocessed carbs are so bad for you and for your bloodsugar and especially for your wieght.  So I don't feel restrained from eating whole grain toast or whole wheat pitas. Now I can't slather my toast with butter anymore, but his dips are yummy and satisfying. I can spread some avocado spread on my toast or some hummus which I love.

Its hard to see advertisements or other yummy foods at the store. But I have to turn away my thoughts immediately from it like I would accidentally stumbling on nudity or something else. I have to master my thoughts. I can't dwell on that food for even a second.....I have to turn and grab some cachew or even some olives. Last night I got my regular night time craving for icecream....I always thought it was the sugar cravings....but im realizing its my body craving fat...because I got out some olives and dipped them in some hummus, so weird I know but yummy and after just a few I didnt have any cravings anymore. Off to bed I went with another day behind me.

I need to start exercising BIG time though if im going to lose 5.8 pounds a week lol. Jordy and I are going to do insanity in the garage at night. Ill do my situp routines in the house in the day and jog in the morning. That's the plan.

Tonight did not go as all as the day. Had a little melt down over my food processor breaking haha but still managed to stick to the diet. Did NOT manage to master my reaction to the food processor breaking !  Feeling the stress of realizing how much food my family is going through with this lifestyle. The kids and I are snacking on the fruits and veggies all day which is great, but I cant believe how fast it disappears! I sent Jordy to work this morning with what I thought was at LEAST a couple of days of snacking veggies and fruit...and he said he ate it all today haha! Which is wonderful.....yet wallet busting. And yes right now he and I are snacking more to overcome cravings....but we will always eat more in this lifestyle. Thats the price of high nutrient low calorie eating.  Hope we can handle the cost because we cant turn back now

Day 2

Day 2 was a huge unexpected success. I felt happy and motivated most the day. I Chanted my mantra that I wrote for myself a couple times throughout the day Out loud, It gave me such a feeling of power. I felt like by being so conscious of the things that I chose to think about, and do with my day, I was empowered with the ability to choose which traits in myself will become part of my overall character. I feel so driven by an unrealized power of choice. I can choose how to react to things, I can choose what I put in my body, I can choose whether I spend my day being acted upon by circumstance or gut reactions, or whether I act on the circumstances of the day consciously and end my day closer to being the person that my Heavenly Father had hoped I might become by coming here to this earth in the first place. I had my first success tonight with food with Jordan. Over the last couple of years everything that I have tried to make from this type of diet plan has been met with discust and even refusal to even try some of them. I made the tofu ranch dressing from doctor Furmans book to eat to live. Then I made a simple black bean, tomato avocado, type salad to go on top of the bed of spinach. Despite his total assumed disdain for tofu....( I say assumed because he hasn't even tried it) he loves the dressing loved the salad and said he felt satiated and full! He was happy because he felt like perhaps he could do this with me and still enjoy what he eats and I am happy because I am reveling in my first ever success with this lifestyle. I'm more excited to try other things now ...the California creamed kale in doctor Furman's book also went over really well with the kids and was okay for Jordan! I'm far more excited now than I have been ever over these last couple years after starting to read these books. I now know it's possible, attainable and enjoyable. It doesn't have to be starvation , and I don't have to spend my day wasted away craving processed sugars and fat and dairy. So here's to day 2! Hopefully, even though I expect set backs. it will only get better from here.

Introduction .....Wake up call

At the very end of my pregnancy with Livy, my brother called me with a new good read. He was reading a book called The China Study, and thought I should check it out. From this point on my thinking about food was changed forever. I don't want to go into the specifics too much about the different books and the information they present. I wanted to blog my journey, to adapt to the new information about nutrition that is out there and my parallel journey to get Jordan and I healthy and to lose weight. I suggest you read 5 particular books on your own. Form your own opinions, and adapt the information to your own families particular beliefs and needs however you feel the necessary. These are: Eat for Health, by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live, by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Disease Proof Your Child, by Dr. Joel Furhman, The China Study, by Dr.T.Colin Cambell, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D., also the DVD Forks Over Knives shows the correletion between these 3 doctors.

This was 3 years ago. So, as I am still hugely fat, if not more so, you must think the book clearly had little impact on me. Not true at all. I knew now what my goal was for our family and our diet. I knew what it Truelly meant to be healthy and I knew the steps to get there. I tried. So so many times. We did succeed in doing a month long juicing type fast where we drank green smoothies, juiced, and allowed ourselves any whole fruits and vegetables. We felt amazing, Jordan lost 35 pounds and I lost 30. We broke it and although we didn't dive right back in to crappy eating all the time.....we slowly migrated back to our old eating habits. Unlike other diets however, the weight took almost a YEAR to come back fully....it clearly was healing our bodies and changing our body chemistry for the better.

The drive to adapt these 3 different doctors lifestyles into ours stayed with me and has never left. If anything it has gotten stronger and more desperate feeling. Knowing that I could at least control what the kids ate, while we tried to succeed ourselves, I have at least succeeded in keeping their diet a consistent majority of fruits and vegetables and whole grains. I've xdfinately had periods where I've been lax about what they eat because jordan and I are eating crap.....but because I've been fairly consistent they gravitate  back to fruits and veggies easily. They are young still. With their age in mind, I keep feeling more and more strongly we need to make the change ourselves a final one. We've tried every single way I swear. Adapt one new recipe at a time....just add more veggies into our existing diet, just cut back on specific things fats or just quantity. But the truth is, Livy is old enough to know we are eating something different than her. Thank goodness she still likes the healthy things, but it isn't going to work anymore. We have to make the change.  And honestly you just cannot take a diet filled with animal products, dairy, processed and refined fats and sugars....and just try to play with it and make parts of it more healthy. That is just an excuse. Besides, the more subtle flavors of natural whole foods can never compete with concentrated sugar, fat, and dairy. You have to strip out your diet completely. Go back to basics, and start fresh. You have to reverse the roles, and make dishes that are primarily whole natural fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds ans whole grains. If you want to use animal products as a flavoring, THAT is their rightful place in our meals.

A few times before I have tried making the switch for us as a family....by taking fat free vegan recipes and simply adding a little lean  meat if desired, or animal based broth, or simply some olive oil orI other oil. Everything I've tried has been met with disgust from Jordy, the flavors just cant compare for him and I spend so much time making one elaborate dish that I throw in the towel in frustration when he hates it and the kids wont eat it.

Well I decided this is more a journey about self mastery, than anything else. Together,  Jordy and I decided the best thing to do was set goals, both physical and spiritual to make it a more well rounded journey,  and strip it down to basics. Eat raw fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and smoothies, and try out one different recipe however often I feel the motivation. Experiment, but not to feel overwhelmed with cooking this new way every night. If we eat rice and broccoli for dinner one night and fruit as desserr with some seeds sprinkled on top, well that day was a success and the cooking and experimenting will get easier and easier. It feels right, and its time.

Since we are poor and can't afford to waste food we first used everything we had on hand that is not in the new lifestyle. The cabinets now cleaned out I spent a couple weeks using what money I could to slowly stock the house with things in the recipes, and seasonings and nuts and seeds and beans and legumes to stock pile. Next step we wrote out goals. We each want to lose 70lbs in 12 weeks. Huge goals but why not shoot for the stars. We set spiritual goals, character goals, I set goals that had ANYTHING at all to do with self mastery, how I spend my days, how I react and with what emotions, how I will lean on the lord and invite the spirit in every possible way. Use the addiction recovery program, because Truelly this food addiction has taken the control away from us. The ability to chose health, to chose physical  activity, to choose happiness.

I believe journaling is important in all aspects of life but ESPECIALLY in trying to overcome an addiction or any major obstacle. I chose a blog for a couple reasons,  I can print it off later for a hard journal,  I know others struggle with food as if it were heroin the way we do and perhaps could use the motivation from hearing our struggle, and having others KNOW about the goals gives us more responsibility for them.
So here we go. And just to clarify we are taking the information from all of these books and using recipes from all of them. They all have their own sort of extremes they come to, in the china study he determines if going from 20% animal protein to 5% turns off cancer and so many other disease.....then none at all should be best. I agree,  however I think a little doesn't hurt and is sometimes a more convenient way to get those B vitamins. The research proved the cancer turned off at 5% and that's enough for me. Now in "how to prevent and reverse heart disease, he finds the same conclusions as dr. Campbell from the china study, however he finds that he successfully prevents heart disease and even halts progressed disease in its tracks.....but finds he can actually REVERSE the build up and disease by eliminating fat all together, including natural fats. Im good with just halting it haha;). The one who embodied the least extreme diet but still works in the same circle as these other doctors and still prevents sickness and disease and has become my favorite is doctor fuhrman. His books "Eat to live" and especially "disease proof your child"  are the ones we are using the most. I highly suggesting reading both of these books. I have to keep rereading to retain it all, and also its helping me keep motivated and stay on track.

So day 1 went by very simply. Whole foods, and rice and broccoli for dinner. The kids weren't happy about dinner but they gobble up raw fruits and veggies so readily all day that im not the least bit concerned that they didnt gobble up dinner.  I had to read my written mantra and goals outloud a couple times, and have some really intense prayer a couple times. I know I can so this. Im going to be going to bed ALOT earlier for a while hear because night time and chilling in front or the t.v. before bed will get me everytime. So its off to bed early. That's okay. Its all for health anyway.