New Goals for 2014

Super busy end to this year. Thought we were going to have to move and got packed up before a surprise vacation to Hawaii last month. Got a new tattoo. Got to see one of my nephews after a 6 month absence. Grandma moved into an assisted living home. Robert and I have been being tested up the wazoo for fertility and now Christmas is just around the corner, whew.

Hawaii was amazing! Such a beautiful place to visit. I had made an appointment, before I was told of the trip, for a new tattoo, the day before we flew out. Needless to say I couldn't fully enjoy the sporting opportunities they had there but we had a nice time none the less. Got to see nearly the whole island of Kona. While we were there we found out we didn't have to move after all. Nice. We still haven't completely unpacked this time in case a pending move springs up.

The long awaited visit from my nephew couldn't have come at a better time. We have been struggling to get pregnant and being tested for everything is taxing. It helped to renew my spirit and to push on with whatever they need to test next. We so want to have children and my clock is ticking loud and clear. When we returned from Hawaii I had planned to be in a place to continue my toning efforts with the Insanity program. Since the move didn't happen, I have rethought my goals for 2014. I have decided to cut back on my efforts to 30-45 min exercise sessions instead of an 75-90 min sessions. I can effectively tone with weights, cardio and yoga without pushing myself so hard. No need for a washboard stomach when I want to fill it up with babies.

So while 2014 will still be filled with a healthy diet and exercise, I'm hoping it will be filled with a healthy pregnancy as well. Do what's right for you when setting your goals for the upcoming year. A little restructuring never hurt. What would you like more than anything next year? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all that read this blog. May peace and happiness be yours!

Supplements and Vitamins

In a much earlier post I touched on the topic of supplements and vitamins and that all are not created equal. We have learned through research that most contain an ingredient that in high quantities (taking several different ones a day) can be harmful. The ingredients is called Magnesium Stearate, I'm even skeptical when it comes to vegetable based forms. It is used in mass production to lube the machine so it can produce high quantities of pills. Doesn't sound healthy to digest this chemical to me. If you look hard enough you will find brands that don't contain this ingredients. Like with food, you should look on the ingredients list to find the best one you can for yourself, otherwise what is the point? I recently had a lot of blood work done for a annual physical and have found that my mineral intake is optimal. With plenty of healthy food and a few key supplements I'm doing pretty good these days. I forgot to note that I usually don't follow the supplements recommended dose. I only take one a day of each one I take. Being as my numbers were good, I guess my diet is so that I don't require a lot of extra supplements. A few of the brands that we like are pictured above.

Before and After

This is my before and after that I have posted on my Facebook page Size 18 to 8. I don't have a whole lot of pictures from when I was my heaviest. Like most over weight people I was behind the camera or hiding from who was taking pictures. I have yet to hit my goal of toning and losing the left over flab but for now this is me from size 18 to 8. Looking forward to posting a new before and after, maybe for the New Year. Good luck on your journey! Whether it be losing 10 or 100 lbs or maybe like me you lost the weight awhile ago and now are working on toning what's left. My hats off to you because I know the hard work and dedication it takes to get there.

New Muscles, Bring Em On

It's been a few weeks since my completion of the P90X program and I'm still feeling great. I had wanted to start on a new program called Insanity upon my return from vacation. Well technical difficulties have kept me from that goal, however I am not letting up. I've decided to start the P90X program over in doubles mode until I can start Insanity. I have gained all kinds of new muscles and am motivated to continue my journey. I actually enjoy looking in the mirror from time to time for the first time in many years. Even the parts of my body that are yet where I want them to be. It feels nice for a change.
I've come a long way from the overweight, out of shape person I was in the beginning of my journey. Back then I had to work up to just 30 minutes on the treadmill and just 5 minutes on the elliptical machine would leave me red faced and out of breath. Slowly the weight came off and there was less jiggle when exercising. I worked up from 3 days a week to 5. Then slowly from 30 minutes 5 times a week to 45-60 5 times a week. The muscles that were being formed under my fat were finally peaking out. Then the P90X program upped me to the next level with an average of an hour ten minutes 6 days a week with an hour of stretching on day 7. My body is on it's way to a youthful tone. I'm not giving up and ready to bring it to the next level

Doctor or Drug Dealer?

For the last 5 years living a healthy lifestyle I begin to wonder why doctor's don't ask, "How is your diet? Do you drink enough water everyday? How much sugar/caffeine do you consume each day?" Some really basic questions that would prove to be very helpful in determining what health the person is in, don't you think? I'm not a doctor, or licensed health practitioner and yet when someone comes to me with health concerns or issues, those are the questions I ask.

In the movie Food Matters, I believe, there are 4 statements that hold a lot of truth. They are; you are what you eat. food can change your mood. you are everything you have ever done to your self. and the choices you make directly affect the outcome of your life. Very powerful information that should be taught in schools. I remember having health education in school at a young age, too young in fact, it should be taught closer to graduation when it is more likely you will be feeding yourself at that point. However some adjustments need to be made to their basic information. Like the food triangle for example, it's backwards. We should be eating mainly fruits and vegetables. I wish I knew then what I know now. More importantly, I wish my parents knew then what I know now. We are setting ourselves up for failure out there people.

Even if the doctors did ask those questions, would the society as a whole listen to them tell us to change our diets instead of giving us the easy way out with a pill? I say easy lightly, because usually the one pill leads to another, which leads to another. Adding more fat onto our bodies and in turn causing even more problems. Ugh. It is so frustrating. I wonder how many would go the healthy route and stop saying yes to easy, over processed junk food? Not many I'm afraid. The power of suggestion is far too great. Just felt the need to get this out there and maybe start people wondering for themselves what has happened to make us the most unhealthy and fat country on the planet.

Blood Type Diet

About a couple of months ago now we started following the Eat 4 Your Blood Type Diet by Dr. D'Adamo. To sum up, there is a list of food that is beneficial, neutral and to avoid given for each specific blood type. It makes it real easy to know what to eat and what you shouldn't to maintain a healthy weight. So far it seems to be spot on. I have noticed less gas, bloating and discomfort. My fiancee and I eat the same meals each day and it was a little difficult since we are different blood types. But with a few adjustments we are managing just fine. For my type I'm supposed to follow a near vegetarian diet. Who would have guessed? I definitely wasn't raised on one. Over the last 5 years though I have been working toward that anyways, so good for me. I just received word the other day that they now have cookbooks made up for each blood type, might have to check them out. Here's to your health!

Had to add this lesson to this post as well as it pertains to BTD. We recently went on a trip to Cabo to have a memorial for my Grandpa. Needless to say that meant going off our BTD. Not completely but enough. After a couple of days of eating some "no no" foods I began to have tummy troubles. It lasted the rest of the trip. Although we were eating fairly healthy foods, just taking in the ones that I had stopped eating, like (tomatoes, peppers, pork) my stomach started to rebel. It continued for a couple of days after our return to our normal diet. All is back to normal now and I have to say I am convinced that this will be a lifestyle change for our future. My body is much happier staying away from foods that cause me intestinal trouble. Lesson learned.

Being a Highly Sensitive Person

This may or may not pertain to a healthy lifestyle for some. However for me it helps put all the pieces in place from where I was to where I am now. I found myself looking for anything to help numb myself. My need for perfection drove me to become a workaholic. All of which led to my chemical imbalance. For most of my life I have known that I was really sensitive. Sensitive to light, sound, fragrance, chemicals, emotions, pain, digestion, etc. The list goes on and on. Until recently, however, I had no idea that HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) is actually an inherent characteristic trait and about 20% of the population have it. Wow. Had no idea. I have now bought a copy of the book the Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron. So far it's like reading a book written about me. Quite enlightening!

I have also recently joined a couple of groups on Facebook and Google+ just for people like me. For once I don't feel so different. What a wonderful feeling. There are some books out there that have been recommended that I really need to get my hands on as well. I feel it will help me to continue on my current path. Since finding this community I have also determined that some of my other family members more than likely have this trait as well. What a blessing it would be to help them with my research as well. I wonder how many people out there that struggle with their weight, fight addiction problems and personality problems are HSP's? They may not even know that is what they are dealing with. Hmmmm. Makes sense.

My P90X Journey

So on a previous post I mentioned my road to tone. I completed the 90 day program of P90X this month. It took me two weeks longer than scheduled due to a kidney stone around week 10. I persevered by taking 3 days off to heal, then continuing with some of the lighter workouts until I felt back up to a 100%. I was so proud to graduate that course. It was pretty tough. With exercise 6 days a week and 1 stretch day for 12 weeks, eating clean, and drinking good water, I was able to lose 9 inches total from my body. I am physically in the best shape of my life. I'm not stopping there though folks. I am continuing on my journey to tone. I now not only workout once a day but added in a half hour of weight lifting as well (thanks to my brothers advice and direction). Looking for definition and strength now. I am still a work in progress..........

What do you think? Not bad huh?

Learning: Trial and Error

So the Blood Type Diet says I should avoid ice cream. Been following the recommendations of my type A for a few weeks now. Seems spot on. Last week I had some frozen yogurt and had no digestion problems at all. Last night my sweetie decided to pick up some vanilla ice cream as a treat. Only had a scoop and almost immediately had bloating and excess gas, ugh. Sure did taste good though. No more ice cream for this girl. If I have a cheat dessert, it will be frozen yogurt from now on.
On our recent trip to Cabo we went off our new BTD as well, as little as we could anyways, but still. I had stomach problems almost the entire time. Gas, bloating and more. My commitment was reconfirmed to adhere to this new lifestyle (diet) immediately upon return. Living and learning along the way to my goal of optimum health and fitness. Posting to sharing to help others.

Healthy Digestion

I used to struggled with my eating habits for many years. When I was OVER working in the retail industry, I would starve all day (minus a smoothie in the afternoon most days) to avoid getting a bloated stomach. Not healthy. Then when I had gained weight on medications, I began to have a weightloss drink two times a day and then eat dinner. Of course I lost a little but not much. Once we began the "Candida Diet" including portion control, I started to really lose weight. Robert and I had to do lots of research to figure out how to make our body happy with food, especially mine, I've always had some digestion issues. I used to have to take antacids all the time! 

Over the last 6 years, I've finally found the key to digestive happiness. For me, drinking 10 oz of water first thing upon rising, followed by 10 more oz of water with a cap full of Bragg's ACV maybe 15 mins later, gets my digestive track off to a great start. Moves things along if you know what I mean. I drink more water while I exercise, then eat my breakfast @ 9am. I also always drink water at least 20 mins before I eat meals (not during or after, because you don't want to dilute the stomach juices). I drink 10-20 oz water @ 11am. At 11:30am I have a small cup of unsweetened juice (mixture of cranberry, aloe, lemon + calcium powder) and supplements. 11:45am I have my quarter grapefruit/plum or apricot. Between noon and 1 (depending on hunger) I have a mid day meal. Around 2:30, depending on when I had my meal, I drink 10-20 oz of water. Between 3-3:30 I have my lunch. Around 5 I have a green drink and supplements. Around 5:30 I have my carrot/celery/apple/sunbutter snack. At 6 we eat dinner. I don't have any more fluids til morning. Happy tummy. Eating 4 small meals a day with two snacks is very helpful with weight and overall health, as long as you have had enough water throughout the day. I also don't get anymore stomach bloating since I began the Blood Type Diet.

Toning is just as Hard as Losing the Weight

Been eating clean for about 5 years now. Do I cheat occasionally? Yes. Since we came back to California there has been more eating out, with family mainly, although we try to pick Mexican or Thai food which is usually pretty safe and MSG free. Still. I went from a Size 8 to a 10 in six months. So I decided to kick up my exercise routine a notch and borrowed my brothers P90X videos. DANG. So glad I've been pretty dedicated to working out before hand, cause they mean business. BRING IT! No kidding. I'm into my 5th week. So I work out an average of an hour and 17 mins a day and sweat my butt off, literally. I'm bound and determined to get rid of all the toxins that are stored in my fat from 6 years of medications. Cellulite be gone too! I'm 41 this year and in the best shape of my life and not done yet. Look forward to posting the after picture on this blog when 90 days is over.

Helping Others While Helping Yourself

On this journey, I found a calling to try to help others to find the path to weight loss, health and betterment. It started with my family of course and has branched out from there. First with starting a Facebook page called Size 18 to 8 and then eventually this blog. I'm not a licensed coach or health practitioner and don't have any desire at this time to become one, however, I do care about other people and sympathize with the struggle they face in this day and age eating the SAD (Standard American Diet). If I can help even one person to better their life and circumstance it will be worth my effort. Even if I don't, I gain renewed conviction each time I give my testimony to another person, so it's really a win win. I would love to hear from anyone who has found this blog? Have you found it helpful? Have any suggestions for future topics? Any questions? Look forward to hearing from you.

You are Worth the Effort

I know first hand how hard it is to lose weight. Not only lose it but maintain it too. There are going to be times where you get frustrated and want to quit. I know I've felt that way more than once, even after doing this for almost 5 years now. It's not easy when society is pummeled by commercials everyday selling unhealthy products, that look so dang good. Not to mention the grocery stores that are filled with 80% junk food. If your like me, most of your friends and family don't eat healthy and your constantly placed in situations where you are tempted to join them. Stay strong! Look in the mirror and tell yourself, "You are worth it". I like to reflect on what life was like back when I ate unhealthy, was overweight and was pretty much toxic and how far I've come from that time. That alone usually kicks my butt back in gear. Don't give up! YOU ARE WORTH IT!

Learning and Growing along the way

As I write this today I remember how it was in the beginning like it was yesterday. Along the path to better health we have constantly taken steps to improve what we eat, drink and think. Until I reach my ultimate goal of losing all of the fat and cellulite that hold all of the toxins from 6 years of poisonous medications, I will continue to search for solutions. If you hit a plateau like I did several times, don't just quit, see what could use improvement first. Are you drinking enough good water, eating clean, and having a positive outlook on life? All three are crucial to having a slim healthy body. Did you go a step further in your workout regimen if you have hit a plateau? So what can you do to make it to your goal?

To Cheat or Not to Cheat

I'm not perfect and not many are when it comes to watching what you eat. In the beginning, if your as addicted to sugar and processed foods as I was, you'll feel deprived. It's pretty normal. Even with strong self will you will fall pray to cravings and temptations. Or I've heard some people say they schedule a cheat meal like once a week. Why not, if you feel you need to. Do what works for you to stick to a better diet. For me, if the craving lasted very long, I would finally give in. That's okay. Just go back to better eating the next meal. Over time, when your body has adjusted to the new way of eating, the "cheat" won't taste as good as you thought it would. Not only that but I no longer "reward" myself with junk. Now that's change.

Checking Progress

In the beginning I was a scale checker. Don't get me wrong it can be a good thing. Overtime I decided it wasn't always helpful. Like times when I would look down and be disappointed at no change. So for me, its helpful just to judge by my reflection in the mirror and have a goal size, not so much weight. I try to see the thin me in my mind and be appreciative of what is in the making. For example, I like my arms, chest and back. I'm still working on the rest and that's okay. Progress photos are great too. When I look at my before pics, I can barely remember looking like that now. That's a good feeling :) Do what works for you, everyone is different!

One Step Forward Two Steps Back

This journey was frustrating at times, I'm not going to lie. When you are learning for yourself ways to be healthy and stay away from the chemicals, toxins and poisons that are in our day to day life one can become overwhelmed. This is what has driven me to start writing on this blog. If I can help take the guess work out for even one person, all the work will be worth the effort. When Robert and I were first starting on our path we would constantly be taking one step forward and two or more steps back. For example taking supplements. Vitamins and supplements are good right? Well they are, if you can find some that don't have a lot of added ingredients in them. That's another topic all together but it's one example of a step back. Key is to not let any set backs stop you on your road to better health. We haven't! Stay strong and keep pushing forward!

Finding Inspiration

Along the way I have found a few things that have rekindled our fire and kept us motivated to push ourselves to the next level over the past 4 1/2 years. The first was the movie Food Matters. Lucky for us my chiropractors office loaned it out for free. I highly recommend it to everyone! The information they provide not only affirmed what we had already been doing but helped us kick it up a notch. Next was the movie Supersize Me. Wow! Sure helped steer us away from the temptations of fast food. The latest movie was Hungry for Change. A must see for sure. If you are struggling with finding inspiration and motivation I suggest watching one or all of these right now. What are you waiting for?

Don't be Hard on Yourself

We are creatures of habit and bad habits are hard to break. Good habits can take 21 times to form. Be kind to yourself when you have a bad day and fall off track. Corporations and fast food chains spend a lot of money advertising their products and put addictive chemicals into the food and drinks to have customers for life. It's not always easy to turn them down. The best thing is to avoid bad food choices if you can, and if you can't, just get back to healthier eating the next meal. If you have strong cravings from time to time and can't talk yourself into a healthier alternative, go for it, just don't lose control. As time goes on it will get easier. Especially when you realize how harmful most of it is to your health and well being. Try to stay strong and know your not alone

Add in the Veggies

Upon reflection I see that there was a long process of changing what we put into our mouth. For me it was a slow road to healthy eating. Although I had cut out most of the junk food, I was still not eating an optimal amount of fresh produce. I was still eating cereal for breakfast, having rice cakes in the afternoon and eating pasta or potatoes at night. Little amounts of fruits and vegetables.  I just wasn't raised eating a lot of veggies or fruits for that matter. Especially not raw veggies. If you can add in as many different color variety of vegetables into your daily menu and eat as many of them as you can raw, you will be on the fast track to bettering your health. I'm sure the weight loss would have happened even faster as well. The main drive for me in sharing my weight loss journey with all of you is to save you the time and energy in researching a healthy way to do so. I hope all of the tips I post on this blog will help to do just that. Good luck on your journey!

Healthy Mentality

The hardest thing for me to realize was that I had to change the way I looked at food. No amount of dieting or exercising was going to last long term unless I made a mental switch. It started for me by not eating for pleasure but eating for life. Robert's brother often said, "nothing tastes as good as thin feels". He may be right, however that's not going to do the trick for a lot of people out there that are addicted to the sugar, MSG and other ingredients in the food that's out there these days. The switch for me was made when I watched the movie Hungry for Change. They make mention of a mental switch from, "I want it but can't have it" to "I can have it but I don't want it". What a paradigm shift! Try that on for size and see what it can do for you.

Exercise

Very important when losing weight to add in some exercise. Just a half an hour 3 times a week is a great start. Walking, jogging or running. Indoors on a treadmill or outside. A couple of my favorite exercise videos are "the Butt Bible" and "Weight loss Yoga". There are also tons of free exercise videos on the internet if you can't afford to buy them, or like me, you can't afford a gym membership. Don't let a tight budget stop you from getting fit.  Slowly build up from 30 mins on up, depending on your physical fitness level. Gradually build from 3 times a week to 6. Best to alternate different routines to work different muscles whenever possible. This shocks the muscles. Like I found in the P90X program you will here about later. My new favorite workout videos. As the weight comes off, the inches will too. You want to build your muscle as you rid the fat. Never over do it. A little soreness is fine but not hurting so much you have an injury. Be kind to yourself and take it easy in the beginning. But most importantly get your body moving!

Portions

I've covered the foods to eat, reading labels, the importance of water and health benefits of ACV, now lets talk about portion control. I went to a nutritionist in Mississippi who taught me a valuable lesson on the size of our stomach and how limiting your intake of food is key in losing weight. Did you know that your stomach is about the size of your fist? That's right. Now look at the size of your average plate and bowl you use each day. Not the same size is it? I have found the perfect size portion for us is a 2 cup pyrex bowl. Not only is it the right size to fill us up but it is also glass which is great if you want to avoid the unnecessary chemicals in plastic. That's another topic all together though. Back to portions. Once eating smaller portions you will also find that you can now add in a few snacks of veggies or fruits into your day. Several smaller meals and snacks a day help raise your metabolism as well. All told we eat 6 times a day. Here I thought not eating or drinking slim fast was the way to go, but no, that actually makes your body store fat. As well as starve your body and mind of important nutrients for proper function. Try it and see!

Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar, otherwise known as ACV is my next topic of discussion. Our preferred brand is Braggs for continent and flavor. ACV has many health benefits. We have been taking it daily now for quite some time. Just a cap full in 8 oz of water every morning helps with bowel movement, weight loss as well as aids in digestion and that's just a few benefits. The taste is tough when you are still addicted to sugar. I recommend adding a bit of honey to those just starting the regimen. I myself had to start with a very small amount and work my way up to a cap full. It's also good as a pick me up throughout the day as well as a natural gas reliever. We've recently come across a book that tells the health benefits of vinegar that was published in 1994, titled The Vinegar Book by Emily Thacker. An interesting read. Here's to your health!

WATER

Now that your home is free of toxic food and restocked with health food you begin your journey to a new you. One important word of advice is to drink plenty of good clean water. Not tap water or bottled water (chlorinated) but filtered if not reverse osmosis water. You don't want to put any new toxins in your body when trying to rid it of the years worth that are already in there, would you? Probably not. You are supposed to drink at least eight 8 ounce glasses of water a day or half your body weight in ounces minimum. I highly recommend giving up coffee, soda and high sugar fruit juices all together and just drink water and decaf tea. You can add slices of lemon, lime, oranges, strawberries or even cucumber to the water if that helps get it down. Also try not to drink anything while eating, it dilutes your stomach acid, which could lead to digestive problems. Drink at least 20-30 minutes before meals. I try to get a third of my fluids first thing in the morning. Which also helps move things along, if you know what I mean. I also want to mention that we do not store our water in plastic which is full of harmful chemicals. They sell tons of great bottles these days in steel (like the one in the photo) or even glass. If you have to use plastic try to find one that is BPA free.

So go grab some fluids and get hydrated today!

Reading Labels

 So I mentioned what a chore it is to read labels in the previous post. It does take more time to shop when you are eating healthy and trying to avoid any harmful ingredients. The easiest thing is to stock up on veggies and low sugar fruits, which by the way have no ingredient labels to read, yea! Try to pick organic whenever available. Back to label reading. An important website to check out is http://www.truthinlabeling.org/. You'll be amazed by what is in the foods that most people eat. It's really bad at most major grocery stores, but by all means don't think that by shopping at the health food stores you are safe. You still have to check the labels. The fewer ingredients the better. Don't be discouraged. Don't give up. Your health and well being are worth the effort! Here's to your health!

Making the Switch

The decision was made to begin on this "diet",  a word which I use lightly these days, in November 2008. It's more like a new way of eating, really. We, as in Robert, went through the whole house and pulled all the food that we were not going to eat anymore, (best to do this before you restock your house), and put it in boxes to distribute to the local food bank. If you don't clear your pantry completely, you'll set yourself up for failure. Next,  make a list for the store of healthy foods to replace the junk that you just got rid of.

Keep in mind the first several trips to the store will take much longer than usual with time spent reading labels. Oh yes, labels. You would not believe some of the ingredient lists out there. Ugh. It's a chore, but well worth the effort when you are trying to avoid several harmful chemicals that they are putting in food-like-products these days. This was a process for us, mind you. I had to be gradually weened off all of the sugar, yeast and simple carbs that I was used to consuming. This was so that I didn't feel deprived. I was addicted to sugar! Seriously. I still have a hard time in the coffee aisle and sometimes the bakery section. Dang if they don't smell good. Its like a drug folks.

One thing that has really helped me stay focused is making the mental switch from, "I want it, but I can't have it" to, "I can have it, but I don't want it". It will happen over time. The more healthy foods you put into your daily meals the more the bad food gets pushed out. If you have to just cut back on the sugar like I did, cutting down to things that were less than 10 g per serving is a good start. The more you cut out sugar, the more your taste buds transform. Real food started tasting sweeter. An example, grapefruit. In the beginning you couldn't get me to eat one. Robert had to squeeze the juice for me to drink for quite awhile and he would eat the fruit. Now I eat 1/2 a grapefruit everyday along with the cuticle of the skin. It's full of vitamin P, which is good for healthy gums and teeth (http://www.pittmandavis.com/articles/citrus/grapefruit/eat-grapefruit/grapefruit-benefits/the-many-benefits-of-the-grapefruit.html.)
Woo hoo. What a long way I've come. You will too. Just give it time.

Diet Guidelines: Beginning a Healthy Lifestyle

My fiancee Robert was the one that truly guided us onto this path of healthy living. I am so grateful to him and appreciate his support in this endeavor. Through internet research he was able to find a diet that we would begin that November 2008. It was called the "Candida Diet". You may be suffering from Candida overgrowth and not even know it. Do you have chronic yeast infections? Crave sweets all the time? If so you may suffer from this common affliction. This diet is not only for Candida sufferers however it is a great starting point for clean eating. Here are the guidelines we would follow for many years and still do to some degree;

BREADS: Brown rice, Kamut, Millet, Rye, Spelt and yeast free sourdough

CEREALS: Oat, rice bran, Rice, Millet and Quinoa

DAIRY: Soy milk, Nut milk, yogurt (if tolerated) and eggs

FLAVORINGS: without alcohol, sugar or salt

FLOURS: Amaranth, buckwheat, garbanzo, millet, potato, rice, soy (all wheatless and without gluten)

FRUITS: Grapefruit, granny smith apples (peeled), all berries in the beginning and then the others can be added once sugar cravings and weigh loss is steady

MEATS: Natural red meats, poultry, pork and fish; organic if possible

NOODLES: Bifun, soba, rice and buckwheat

NUTS: all in moderation including nut butters

OILS: 100% pure cold-pressed olive oil, safflower, sunflower, sesame, coconut and flax oils, clarified butter

POTATOES: all in moderation

RICE AND OTHER GRAINS: Brown rice, buckwheat, millet, quinoa and wild rice

SEEDS: Chia, hemp, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, etc

SUGARS AND SWEETENERS: stevia or honey in moderation

TEAS: herb and decaffeinated in moderation

TOMATOES: fresh, packaged, pastes and sauces without citric acid or sweeteners

VEGETABLES: all; organic and fresh when possible

VINEGAR: Apple Cider Vinegar

The main thing is to avoid white flour, white sugar, corn syrup,  and MSG as well as hormones and antibiotics

200+ lbs

The year was 2008 and I had become the largest I would ever be in my life. How? Eating way too much over-processed foods, sugar, yeast and gluten. As well as 6 years on highly toxic medications. What to do? Find a better way to live!

Thus November 2008 will mark the start of my weight loss journey. Here is a before picture