I’m a big fan of success stories. I hope I can be one of those stories and that this picture will change.
somebody loves red and stripes!!
Hello anyone who wants to read about what I’ve been up to. Some of you have followed my journey either in person or in the virtual world but if you have followed for some time you will see that I try, I try and I try to often fail, fail, fail. I don’t mean to but it seems this health journey isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do on this planet. I have tried often on my own and for many years. I have noticed rather than lose weight and feel healthy I somehow have gained with each passing year and feel worse and worse as the days go along. I feel tired more than I should, I lack motivation to even get out and take in the fresh air, a little depression, lots of stiffness, and always that anxiety and itchy itchy skin. I’m tired of living this quality of life and in my heart I know I’m responsible.
I decided to pay a professional and get educated on what I may have been doing wrong all along. I knew in my heart upon meeting my holistic health coach that I most likely had a sugar addiction. I knew I consumed entirely too much sugar in many different forms. Yet I didn’t really want to stop. The more I ate the more I wanted. I wanted a dessert after every meal and the in between meals too. I’ve watched a few documentaries on sugar and I’m completely convinced it’s a drug. A drug I’m addicted to. I have no prejudice, I eat all foods, really good and really crappy. I’m open to it all but because of my constant need for sugar this journey has been very difficult.
I have seen first hand tremendous results in other people, like my cousin Miss Moonspinner who gave it up and has been successful for some time now. I can tell you this, she radiates! Her body has found it’s natural weight and she is gorgeous. My sister she also glows, she has bright eyes and has healed her health issues with food. My holistic health coach, Maritza is also another example of what healthy looks like. There is just something plain different about them. When I use words like glow and radiate it’s no joke, they just look fresh, bright and alert! They have learned the art of taking very good care of their human temples. I admire them as I daily fail. I’m tired of beating myself up. Of thinking I can’t do it because it’s too hard. What if I fail yet again?
But I will never know unless I try. I’m always up for a try. Always. I’m on day 15 today without refined sugar, without gluten, without soy, without dairy, without caffeine and eggs too. While it doesn’t mean I have given it all up for good, it’s the first steps as Maritza says for healing my gut and fighting the bad stuff off. I do know I don’t want to abuse sugar like I did. So if it means being really, really strict for a while then I should try.
It helped that she gave me a lot of new recipes to try when she could tell I was teetering on the edge. I spent last Saturday making my own coconut yogurt, sauerkraut, a flavorful quinoa with black beans, peppers, onions and spices I don’t normally use, like turmeric, curry, cayenne pepper, nutritional yeast etc. I made this really yummy purple potato salad with a flavorful cashew dressing and I couldn’t find he nettles so I used dill and it tasted terrific. I made my own bread out of plantains, (that takes some getting used to but it’s actually growing on me.) I made green tea lemon zest gummies and cashew/garlic/dill cheese. In my entire life I had never made any of these new things. Of course I’m still waiting on the sauerkraut, that takes 2 to 6 weeks. There is this satisfaction knowing that I can make these things by myself and in most cases save money rather than buying these healthy things pre-made and then I also know exactly what I have put into them.
I believe it takes a few things.
- A mindset. This is so important. If your mind isn’t right then it will not work.
- A willingness to try new things.
- Parting with a few dollars and especially in the beginning while you build your healthy staples. Better to spend it now on good health choices than later for medications and doctors bills.
- A community. It’s important to have support, lots of support.
I am yet AGAIN, trying. I say things to myself like one step at a time, literally while on walks I will sing that song, put one foot in front of the other and soon you’ll be walking cross the floor, remember that song from “Santa Claus is Coming to Town?” It gets all whirled up in my head. my new mantra is just keep swimming, taken from my most favorite fish Dory.