Fasting

Don't get all excited-we are not getting ready to fast. Although, we have contemplated it. I am reading this book entitled Hunger: An Unnatural History by Sharman Apt Russell. It is really fascinating.  The book discusses the role that hunger plays in our lives and how hunger, in and of itself, has had the power to heal and inspire.

Fasting is the main focus of the book so far...there was a story about a man who weighed 456 pounds and decided to complete a fast under medical supervision. He ended up fasting (going entirely without food) for 382 days and lost 276 pounds! I can not imagine how someone could go that long without eating. Apparently there is some truth to the idea that the more "padding" you have, the longer your body can survive without food. You actually start to break down the stored fat in your body and your body, in essence, lives off of it. Crazy.

The healing power of fasting is what amazed me even more...there are so many stories about people who fasted and rid themselves of a variety of diseases and medical conditions. Studies done on a number of animals, from mice to rhesus monkeys, showed that when given a limited amount of calories (though consuming all essential nutrients) animals programmed genetically to develop Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, developed the disease more slowly. The study also showed that calorie restriction inhibited the growth of cancerous tumors in animals genetically designed to have cancer.

I remember participating in a 30 hour fast for several years with my youth group as part of World Vision's effort to raise money for famine relief. It was pretty hard to get through those 30 hours, but we spent at least half of the fast in a lock-in, doing fun things with others going through the exact same thing...and then of course we pigged out when it was all over. If I were to do it now, I would be most motivated by the health benefits-and I hate to say it-but it is probably something I would only do for a lengthy amount of time if I was actually sick. In reading this book, apparently the first 2-4 days are the worst, but then the hunger feelings dissipate and you begin to feel very "alive" and energized with the fresh feeling of fasting. I wonder how I would manage to get through those days and still manage my daily responsibilities as a mom and school psychologist...not to mention my role as a responsible citizen and driving a car. Hmm... you never know where life may take you-the things you thought you may never do, may not seem so unreasonable after all.

If only I ate as well as my 10-month old...

It's true...our child eats way better than we do. If we ate what he ate, we'd be the epitome of health. It's funny that I make it a priority to ensure that my child eats a 100% organic, healthy diet, yet I don't do the same for myself. Hopefully this year that will change. I was listening to the radio this morning and I heard a pretty cool idea...they were talking about the "highlights of 2011." You read right, I didn't make a typo...highlights of a year that has just begun. The idea behind it is to think, plan and believe that the things you want to happen, will. I really love that idea. I've been thinking about it all day, what my highlights of 2011 will be. One will definitely be to achieve the 90% organic goal that I originally set, but also to conquer this "Sarah vs. Food" battle I've been fighting all my life.

Have you all seen Food, Inc? If not, it is a must see. We saw it a year or so ago and would probably say that it changed our outlook, maybe even our life. It is a documentary about food...how food is made, what is in our food, how food production has changed over the years, etc. It is eye-opening. One thing I was remembering today is how they talked about food being a drug. Not all food, mind you, but specifically salt, sugar and fat. Processed foods that contain high levels of these things keep you coming back for more...like a drug. There is a commercial out right now (maybe for yogurt or something) and the message it is trying to get across is that one good eating decision leads to another good decision, and so on....same for making a bad eating decision. It's not so much that the "bad" decision is a deal breaker, it's just that the bad food item you ate likely consists of things that trigger negative responses in your body that then make you crave more and before you know it, your whole day is shot. In my experience, if you're not careful, one bad day can lead to another bad day....your plans to exercise lose their importance, the salad you planned for dinner doesn't sound nearly as good as a pizza, and there you are, at the end of a week...wishing things had gone differently. I envy my child who doesn't have that salt, sugar and fat addiction going on in his life. I want to fight to get it out of mine.

Farmer's Market Flop

In the winter, Matthews Farmer's Market is open every other Saturday for a few hours, selling winter produce, eggs, meat and other treats. With our decision to go organic, the initiative to buy local seems to go hand in hand. Going organic, but buying locally as well, is a way to support local farmers and also control how far your food is traveling before you purchase it. A farmer's market, in theory, is a healthy eating-environmentally-conscious person's dream! Unfortunately, our experience today was a bit of a let-down.

We bundled up to brave the 30 degree weather around 8am this morning and headed in to the Farmer's Market-hopeful to purchase some winter produce, organic eggs, etc that we could incorporate into our meals this week. There were probably about 12 vendors and majority of what we saw were bakers (selling bread and treats), a vendor selling some radishes and a few other things, a guy selling mushrooms, a pick-up site for co-op participants and a vendor or two selling meat and eggs (there were some other things there, but nothing that we had gone there to purchase). None of the eggs were organic and a dozen eggs ran between $4-$5. Now, I am not knocking the non-organic eggs....I am still in the research phase to discern the difference between cage-free, hormone-free vs. organic, but $4 to $5 for  non-organic eggs seems like a heck of a lot of money!  I really do want to support local farmers and when prices are close to grocery store prices (or even a tad more), I will do it, but we are on a budget and have to go with the best deal we can find, and unfortunately the eggs at the Farmer's Market were not it. On a side-note, we did get organic eggs today at Wal-Mart (remember, budget shopping) for $2.97 which made me super excited!

Perhaps it was a flop because it was FREEZING this morning and it was the Saturday after the big ice this week...but we were disappointed not to see more winter vegetables being sold.  We may head over there again in a couple weeks and see if there is more to choose from, but in the meantime, we'll have to stick with the grocery stores in the area and do the best we can.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend and staying warm :)

Until next time...

A long week...

Whew...it's been a long week. Even though I've only been at work one day, thanks to the ice, I still feel exhausted from the week anyway. So glad I'm not eating strictly raw this week :)

I have to say that I am pretty obsessed with the Nutritional Typing that I blogged about a couple days ago. I truly find it fascinating. If you have 20 minutes to spare, I sincerely think you'll find it worth it to take the quiz and read up on your Nutritional Type. You also get the free cookbook to download and the first 50 pages (before the recipes) are absolutely fascinating. I am really curious to hear what you all think about it and if it  strikes a chord in you like it has in me. Jude and I are both the "mixed type" and are planning to start following the plan in the near future. Here's the link if you want to check it out:

http://products.mercola.com/nutritional-typing/

One of our goals to save money and prepare for all the food changes we are about to make, is to clean out the fridge and pantry. It's time...we have a lot of food in this house. We are going to go through and decide if there is any food that wouldn't be a healthy choice and give it away, and then for the rest of the food, we are going to get creative and make meals out of what we have. Of course, we'll be having to make trips to the store to get produce and milk, but hopefully we'll manage to eat through the rest of the stuff within a few weeks and save money while we do it. After we "clean house" I'm going to start reporting to you how our grocery bills are looking by gradually adding in more organic items.

Just so you know...we have started January out with dairy....all dairy we buy from here on out will be organic. We were already buying organic milk and yogurt, but eggs, cheese, sour cream, etc will all be new purchases. I want to spend time this month looking into the cheapest ways to purchase these items, the difference between hormone free dairy and organic dairy and try and come to a conclusion about what seems the most logical route to go for our family.

Hope this week is treating you all well!!

Sarah

Revelation

So I have to confess about what happened last night and tell you where I found myself at the end of it.

After Carter went to bed, Jude headed out to get us dinner for my birthday...we had previously decided on soup and salad from Panera-delicious, but not too guilt producing. For those of you around the area you are aware of the icy conditions...apparently, Panera didn't want to risk endangering their employees, so they closed at 1pm...as did all of the other restaurants in the area, unbeknown to us. So, here it is, 8pm...we are starving and we are limited to basically Taco Bell or Cook Out. Such a depressing set of circumstances. In hindsight, we should have postponed getting dinner out and just eaten something at home, but since we were starving and it was my b-day and I didn't want to have to cook, we went with Cook Out. Gross, gross and gross. A month ago, it would have tasted good. Last night I felt sick. Yes, the physical effects of eating some onion rings (I know, I know) and part of a BBQ sandwich were nauseating in and of themselves, but what I didn't expect was the emotional effects it had on me.

A month ago, I would have felt bad for eating that meal, but would have gotten over it shortly after I finished eating. Last night, my guilt lasted for hours. It took a lot of thinking (and talking to Jude) to figure out why I was having such a hard time. I think that for the first time in as long as I can remember, I went 7 entire days feeling fantastic about every piece of food that went into my body. Then, in one moment, I felt like I ruined it. Yes, the circumstances weren't planned and Cook Out wasn't something that we usually took part in; however, we could have made a better choice, despite the circumstances. I think what scared me more than anything is that I would wake up this morning and start craving bad food again, losing the motivation to continue on the road that we had started a week ago. I didn't want to fall back into the traps that I had fallen into over and over again with this food drug. So, more than anything, I was scared that I wouldn't be strong enough to counterbalance a poor decision.

Luckily, I have Jude. While he was in the same boat I was in, wishing we hadn't eaten that greasy food, he was ready to do whatever it took to jump back on the wagon this morning...and that's exactly what we did. We decided to eat raw for most of the day and throw in a few other healthy foods (non-raw) when needed. It ended up being a great day and I do feel motivated to press forward with this healthy eating journey. In a way, I think eating Cook Out may have been a good thing because it caused me to have a revelation that my life has changed, my outlook towards food is different and I am not interested in returning to a lifestyle I wasn't proud of. So there you have it: my confession, raw and unfiltered. I am all about putting myself out there-after all, what is this life, if not utterly and completely real.

Last night I told you guys that I would pass on info about nutritional typing.  The information comes from a program by Dr. Mercola, a well respected physician in the area of health, diet and nutrition. This is not a gimmick to get you to buy anything...trust me, I wouldn't have looked into it if it was. It's basically a way to discover the types of food that work best for your individual nutritional type-all for free!  As noted by Dr. Mercola:

Your body responds uniquely to food -- your fuel -- based on your genetics, biochemical makeup, family history, and your own interaction with your environment. That's why you will advance your health by discerning your Nutritional Type .

The science of Nutritional Typing is the only system that customizes nutrition based on the way your body reacts to food. Your Nutritional Type determines your individual nutritional requirements and dictates your individual responses to what you eat and drink.

Last night I went online and answered some questions about the type of food that satisfies me, how I feel after I eat certain foods, etc and it then told me what Nutritional Type I was and provided me a lot of information about what foods I should eat, recipe ideas, etc...all for free. It is a lot of great information and explained food in a way that I had never thought about before. It's definitely worth checking out if you're interested. Here is the link to follow:

http://products.mercola.com/nutritional-typing/

Let me know what you think! I definitely found it helpful and hope that you do too!

Until next time :)

A bagel for breakfast :)

Aaahh....real food.

I'm sure many of you are wondering if I stuffed my face today with all the foods that I couldn't have last week...well, I definitely wanted to, but managed to restrain myself to some degree. Now, keep in mind, it is my birthday, and there are different rules regarding food when it is your birthday...but overall, I did okay. I had been craving a bagel from Panera for about 6 days straight ever since a friend (who shall remain nameless...cough, cough Fiona) went into a 5-minute monologue about how delicious a particular bagel shop was and got me wanting a bagel like nobody's business! So, yes, my lovely husband ventured out into the snow this morning at 7:30am to get bagels :) I tried to keep it tame for the rest of the day eating salads, soup, some fruit and two small slices of Amy's Organic Pizza...though I will have to have a small piece of birthday cake before the day is over...I mean, come-on,  you only have a birthday once a year.

I will admit that part of me missed the raw eating today...isn't that weird? I almost felt like I shouldn't eat that bagel this morning, even though I knew it wasn't something I commonly did or would be doing again anytime soon...but I think I feared how I might feel afterwards. Most of the day I felt fine...although shortly after lunch, I did feel nauseous for about an hour or so. Not sure if it was the lunch (salad and pizza) or aftereffects of the bagel. Nonetheless, there is definitely truth in how foods impact the way you feel.

So what's up next, now that I don't have raw food to blog about? I have so many thoughts and things to explore....tomorrow I want to tell you all about  nutritional typing and will provide you a link to find out what your nutritional type is...very, very cool!!

For those of you with snow outside, stay safe and warm and cuddle up to someone you love :)

The Last Day

We've just eaten our last raw meal...a big (very big) part of me is ridiculously glad that this diet is over; however, I have learned so much by eating raw for a week that I truly think we will add more raw food into our daily and weekly meals.

Understanding the health benefits to eating raw is one of the most important parts...once you realize how good raw food is for your body, it makes it a little easier to stomach the changes. There are a lot of websites and books that outline the benefits of raw food, but in a nutshell, these statements give a great overview:

Fruits, vegetables and plant foods are packed with nutrients, including vitamins, minerals and other health-promoting phytochemicals. Heating, however, destroys a fair bit of them. Vitamins are destroyed, proteins are structurally spoilt, and minerals are converted from their organic and absorbable state to a state whereby they are not easily assimilated by the body.

Dr. Ann Wigmore, one of the most well-known proponents of raw diets, even suggests that over 80% of the nutrition in food is destroyed via cooking!

Raw foods contain high levels of enzymes, which assist in digestive processes as well as contribute to good health in other ways. By eating raw foods, we reduce the need for the body to produce its own digestive enzymes. This frees up energy which the body can then use to carry out other important work, such as healing, cell repair and rejuvenation, fighting off foreign invaders, etc. More enzymes would also be available for various uses by the body, including healing and the regulation of metabolic processes in the body.

On the other hand, since enzymes are killed by heat, cooked food is virtually devoid of them. The consumption of a largely cooked diet thus hampers digestive processes in the body, causing the production of excessive amounts of toxic by-products. Excess energy usage, poor digestion and excessive toxin production – these are the reasons why we often feel tired, sluggish, and lethargic after a heavy meal of cooked food, while we would feel light and energetic after having a salad and a glass of fresh juice.
                                         http://www.all4naturalhealth.com/eating-raw.html

Jude and I would agree that we definitely feel better-cleaner, healthier and having more energy than we would typically feel with our regular diet, which did consist of a good amount of cooked food. My personal goal is to try and have 40% of my daily diet be raw on a regular basis. Now that I've learned some good recipes and ways to prepare foods, I don't think it will be as big a challenge as I once thought. Even for the average joe, I think if you could try and eat a good portion of raw veggies (either through a big salad or lots of cut veggies for snacking) and fruit (at least 1-2 raw pieces a day) you would be steps ahead nutritionally than not eating anything raw at all.  So just keep that in the back of your mind....when you can grab a handful of raw fruit or veggies...do it!!

I do have to share with you one last raw recipe we made for dessert tonight: apple crisp with a banana vanilla shake. Yum!! The apple crisp was made of sliced and chopped apples mixed with lemon juice and cinnamon and then topped with a crumble topping that consisted of chopped walnuts, maple syrup, dates, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice. It was no baked apple pie, but for a raw dessert...not bad at all! Our banana shake was made using our Vitamix and consisted of almond milk, banana, ice and a splash of pure vanilla extract.  Great way to end out this diet!

                                         

Thanks for your support through this week-long eating adventure!! I am looking forward to continue exploring health and nutrition with you and learning how to best adapt my lifestyle to the things I learn. I promise to keep things interesting :)