Let’s call this a retro-active beginning. A beginning that occurred back in March of 2013. Here I was, living “the American Dream” with a good job, a family and money in my pocket. And a lot of health issues! My meals consisted of fast food and boxed meals. I knew how to cook, yes. But frankly, I found myself too busy to cook more than opening a bag and heating it up.
Overweight. Over-stressed. Over-sick! In March, it was the height of my asthma issue. Counting the minutes between puffs and maxing out on them daily. Three plus asthma attacks a day. And I have GURD. This means I was also eating a very large Sam’s Club sized bottle of Tums every month. So what happened in March 2013 that has led me here? Well, on top of the asthma issue, I dealt with my esophagus closing. I could eat food but it got to the point that I could no longer swallow food that was any larger than the circumference of a dime! Upper GI, ballooning of the esophagus and scraping out the scar tissue to hopefully prevent the possibility of esophageal cancer. YIKES! Talk about a wake up call!
And so then my lovely sister-in-law pulled me aside and mentioned her eating habits and how they had made such a drastic health difference in my brother. It was like a lightning bolt to the head, followed by the choir from heaven lowering and making a thunderous “LAAAAAAA”. Oh yes, this was my moment.
GLUTEN-FREE ME:
My husband and I sat down and had a long talk. We decided to try this new life-style in an all or nothing start. This means that we went gluten-free, processed food-free, refined sugar-free. Why this particular diet? Aside from the possible gluten-intolerance, it is considered an anti-inflammatory diet. And with my GURD and asthma and depression, anti-inflammatory was key to being healthier. Within 30 days, we felt drastically different and better. Oh so much better. Was it easy? NO. There were days I could have killed for a piece of bread. K-I-L-L-E-D. It took about 3 weeks for us to get over most of the cravings. And even now, we crave bread. Especially IHOP pancakes. But as a family, we went from 13 medications to only 5 within 3 months. And of those 5, most of those are at half the dose. Without getting into more personal details, let’s just say that the differences were profound.
Here’s one of my progress pictures. This is from March to September 2013. 7 months. Now the actual pounds has not been that drastic. My body has been pretty stubborn about letting go of it’s fat. It’s owner has been pretty stubborn about not starving herself either! I eat approximately 1400-1600 calories per day. But as you can see, I am no longer drowning in my own chin fat. And notice the temples? Those are the same glasses! Apparently my temples needed to lose weight too. My weight loss is very slow, but it is second in nature to overall gaining a healthy lifestyle.
What I noticed during this transition, is that the more organic I went, the better I felt! I’ll detail in other posts what exactly I have done, and what my plans are for my future crunchification! (Yes, I enjoy making up new words.) The purpose of this blog is for you, my readers, to understand where I came from, and where I am going as I trek into the land of Crunchy! (The best definition I have come across is the one here: http://www.crunchybetty.com/so-i-ask-the-tribe-what-does-crunchy-mean), a life style of learning how to be healthy and natural.
Getting Crunchified! 