Okay - been away for a bit - but oh my gosh - what a FABULOUS week or so its been! I discovered a (not new concept) way of eating and living that has changed so much for me in such a short time, I can't help myself but to gush here about it. Marilu Henner's Total Health Makeover. Wow...really...just WOW!
As I read more and more and put this lifestyle into my life I have come to understand that its very much based on macrobiotics. For every yin there's a yang. For instance...sugar would be yin (candy bar, for instance) and a salty pretzel would be its natural yang. That's why so many people crave salty with or after sweets. The goal is balance, in eating, in money, in life. Amazing thing to actually live.
So - I started "boot camp" on 10/23/05. Basically 4 days without sugar, meat, dairy or alcohol. For me the biggest of those would be dairy. I love(d) milk, butter, yogurt, cottage cheese, and well, Cheese. Love cheese. Could eat it all day long. I've known forever that I had an intolerance to it, but still I pushed through. I thought it was worth the price.
So, in the first four days I withdrew from dairy I had stuffy sinuses and a little mucus in my lungs, but by day three that was feeling MUCH better. I felt "lighter" but how much really could I be having done no exercise, didn't increase my water, and didn't really watch anything else but those three things (I don't drink so that's a moot issue). I was down 4 lbs. at the end of 4 days. I know, I know, water. But still. Doing nothing else - 4 lbs. So, I jumped on ready to give it a month.
I bought THM 30 day program (see book on the left) and dove in. Now, my hubby and I were vegetarian (not healthy, just didn't eat meat) years back so some of the foods were not foreign to me...miso, barley, couscous, etc. The premise is really about food combining. Never combine protein with carbs - they call on two neutralizing acids in digestion making our system take forever to digest the food, and ultimately it decreases the amount of vitamins, etc. we naturally absorb from foods.
So - day 5 - the big day, the start of purple week, the most restrictive of the program. No meat, no sugar, no soy, no alcohol, no drinking fluids with meals. The first day was tough, the the dinner was tasty. Day 8 was my favorite dinner by far. Fish and broiled vegetables drizzled with a balsamic dijon dressing and a side salad with the veges on top and the remaining dressing poured over. OMGosh, how good foods taste when there are no chemicals or additives...just pure food. Unbelieveable.
So, today is day 9, my first day of exercise (survived 25 minutes on the treadmill at 3.6 mph, .5% - 1.0% incline) not too shabby...and my weight...a total loss of 7.5 pounds. And, I'm not hungry. I get hungry, but only about the time I should be eating anyway. Unbelieveable.
The first few weeks are a little costly, having to stock your pantry with the basics...but once its stocked then its a breeze....I'm almost there.
And energy. Holy cow. I was an insomniac. Now, I have so much energy during the day and am so busy doing things rather than couching it to watch TV, I'm actually tired by 10 or 10:30 and like this morning, went to bed last night at 10:30 and rose at 5:30a - I actually went back to bed for an hour because I thought I was crazy getting up so early. Sheesh - that's a problem I always dreamed of having.
I'm not as moody with my kids in the a.m. (I'm not a morning person) and that's been a great benefit for all of us.
So - go check out www.marilu.com or buy her book and just read it.
Shay
