Our food makeover

I had a lovely weekend away in August when a friend of mine kept mentioning the book, “The Maker’s Diet”. She told me it was a surefire way to lose weight BIG TIME and to feel healthier!

Upon returning home, I told my husband about the book and mentioned that I was going to do the diet plan. He took a few days to think about it and decided he would join me.

Of course, we had NO idea what we were getting into at that time.

So we got the book and buckled down into the 2 week detox, followed by a slow reintroduction of foods. The main goal of the detox was the allow our gut time to heal from the horror of foods that we usually eat…LOL. Then, we could slowly reintroduce more healthy foods to our diet.

We basically could only eat goats milk dairy products, though we had to cheat and eat plain milk yogurt. Berries were the only fruits. Plenty of meat to choose from. Eggs were allowed. Lots of veggies to choose. No breads at all. No sugar at all. No caffeine at all.

The toughest adjustments were NO sugar and NO caffeine. And let me tellyou that sugar is in EVERYTHING, so we were quite limited.

Of course, for my soda guzzling hubby, this meant NO more soda. And for my sweet tea drinking self, this mean no more sweet tea and no more getting a caffeine kick from my tea.

The first week was TOUGH. We had pounding headaches and felt so tired. My hubby was pretty ill in general, with flu like symptoms. And of course, the book warned us about this, especially if your eating habits weren’t very healthy.

But we managed, using some Excedrin to wean us off of the caffeine and week 2 was much easier. By the end of week two, we had both dropped quite a bit of weight, but more importantly, we felt GREAT! We continued on the diet plan, enjoying the results in many areas.

1. Sleep. I found that I suddenly was sleeping soundly, something I rarely do. I was OUT cold until morning and struggled less to fall asleep.

2. Energy. Hands down, we both have more energy. I used to sleep in till 10 or later on a Saturday if at all possible. Now, I have found that I am up in the 8:00 hour, easily. I have NEVER been a morning person, so the change was significant to me. (and Eric, who has enjoyed more help on Saturday AM)

3. Weight. I lost all of my baby weight (7 lbs) and hit 140 lbs, my “typical” weight, in just 2 weeks. But then the weight kept coming off till I hit 134 lbs (13 lbs total). This had me at a size that I have NEVER been able to wear in my life. I had no idea I could even make it a goal to lose that much. My husband has had the most dramatic weight loss…50 POUNDS in just 4 months. AND he feels great! He is back on his bike regularly and looks quite sexy I might add.

4. Medication. My hubby has been able to half the amount of a daily medication he takes for health reasons. Clearly, our bodies are working more effectively and the way they were supposed to work!

Of course, the biggest change was all of the health information we began to learn. We began doing things like soaking our oats for oatmeal and making homemade sourdough bread.

Initially it was overwhelming, but over time we have made small changes that have started to add up. We aren’t at the finish line by any means, and like most folks, the holiday time threw us off course a bit. (yes, lots of sugar being ingested) But we intend to keep going a little at a time, trying to incorporate more into our daily eating habits.

I have been amazed now at the effect of eating too much “yuck” food. I can truly feel it, in my gut and in my mood. Amazing. And a great reminder to get back on track.

I’ll do another post with some specific changes we have made, but I can’t possibly write about all we have learned. Here are some great resources if you are interested in this topic – more whole food, natural food eating:

1. The Maker’s Diet – a great way to kick start this. It has some good information in it, and while it did help us begin this journey, we have found a lot more information out there.

2. Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon (cookbook) – GREAT information in the front of it, though admittedly a bit overwhelming. I am glad I began with, “The Maker’s Diet”, to ease me in.

3. I follow: The Nourished Life on Facebook and get great articles.

4. Of course, my best resource is a good friend who I shoot random questions at constantly. But if I give you her information, she won’t have any time for all of my questions…LOL!

It’s been a great change in this house, though the kids might not always agree. But they are definitely paying attention. They constantly comment on the amount of sugar in things!

Eric and I feel healthier and have a whole new way of looking at food.