31 day challenge COMPLETE!

Well folks, I have completed my 31 day challenge of not consuming candy, ice cream or cheese. It was really easy to stop eating everything but the cheese. Even meat - I never looked back once. But cheese, soooooo many things have cheese! I never really noticed that until I stopped eating it. I would want to make Mexican for dinner a few nights, but what's a quesadilla or enchiladas without cheese? I have yet to try the imitation cheeses, or the imitation meat for that matter. I will try anything once. Needless to say, I did not run out yesterday to eat candy, ice cream and cheese! I'm still going to not eat these things for the time being, because I feel really good!!!


My NEW 31 day challenge is as follows:


** Working out 5 days a week **

I was really lazy last month and only went to the Y a couple times. No wonder why this was the first time I didn't meet my monthly goal. I wanted to be at 155 by June 30th, but I was only at 158. I'm now at 157 and I plan to be at 154 by July 31st, and 150 by August 31st. I like setting realistic goals instead of 'I'm going to lose 20 pounds in a month' kind of thing. I heard somewhere it's healthy to lose a pound a week - so that's what I'm focusing on at the moment.


** Not eating empty calories **

I will eat as healthy as possible. No fries, unfortunately I can't have my Mom's refried beans anymore because of the lard), graham crackers, things like that.


** Portion control ***

Keep a closer eye on how much I consume in one sitting. Like my sweet friend Kyla says, you don't have to stuff yourself - you will eat again soon enough. SO TRUE!!!

Rule # 3 - Avoid food products containing infregients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry

Ethoxylated diglycerides? Cellulose? Xanthan gum? Calcium propionate? Ammonium sulfate? If you wouldn't cook with them yourself, why let others use these ingredients to cook for you? The food scientists' chemistry set is designed to extend shelf life, make old food look fresher and more appetizing than it really is, and get you to eat more. Whether or not any of these additives pose a proven hazard to your health, many of them haven't been eaten by humans for very long, so they are best avoided.

My thoughts - I'm going to start paying closer attention to ingredient labels when choosing what little processed food I will be eating.

Family Garden

Rule # 2 Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.

Imagine your great-grandmother (or grandmother, depending on your age0 at your side as you roll down the aisles of the supermarket. You're standing together in front of the dairy case. She picks up a package of Go-Gurt Portable yogurt tubes - and hasn't a clue what this plastic cylinder of colored and flavored gel could possibly be. Is it a food or is it toothpaste? There are now thousands of foodish products in the supermarket that our ancestors simply wouldn't recognize as food. The reasons to avoid eating such complicated food products are many, and go beyond the various chemical additives and corn and soy derivatives they contain, or the plastics in which they are typically packages, some of which are probably toxic. Today foods are processed in ways specifically designed to get us to buy and eat more by pushing our evolutionary buttons-our inborn preferences for sweetness and fat and salt. These tastes are difficult to find in nature but cheap and easy for the food scientist to deploy, with the result that food processing induces us to consume much more of these rarities that is good for us. The great-grandma rule will help keep most of these items out of your cart.

Note - if your great-Grandmother was a terrible cook or eater, you can substitute some else's gradmother- a Sicilian or French one works particularly well.

The next several rules refine this strategy by helping yo navigate the treacherous landscrape of the ingredients label.


My thoughts - so true! There's so much CRAP out there it makes me sick! Look at what most people feed their children, and they wonder why the kids act up and are hyper all the time - probably because of all the sugar and processed foods they eat. Not a good combination.

My goal is to eat as less processed foods as possible. I'm going to challenge myself!

Rule # 1 - EAT FOOD

These days this is easier said than done, especially when seventeen thousand new products show up in the supermarket each year, all vying for your food dollar. But most of these items don't deserve to be called food - I call them edible food-like substances. They're highly processed concoctions designed by food scientists, consisting mostly of ingredients derived from corn and soy that no normal person keeps in the pantry, and they contain chemical additives with which the human body has not been long acquainted. Today much of the challenge of eating well comes down to choosing real food and avoiding these industrial novelties.


My thoughts - I have cut out a lot of processed foods, but I still eat some, like tortilla chips (I love chips and salsa), Chex Mix, graham crackers. But, when I do eat something like this I can definitely tell that my body isn't happy. Eating real food is the way to go!

Food Rules

One of my favorite books that I have read so far this year, is Food Rules by Michael Pollan. There are 64 rules in the book, and I try to stick as close to the rules as possible. Every week day I'm going to post a rule. This will help me stick to the rules and make better choices, and it will give you a chance to see what the rules are without buying the book!

Daily OM

Cleansing and eliminating toxins from our bodies can help slow the aging process and allows for clearer thoughts.

Missing you

I miss you Brandie. Been thinking of you a lot lately, and I would give anything to have you here with us.