Monday, June 8, 2015

Eating Clean and Loving It!

Over the past four weeks, I’ve embarked on the “Strike Out Sugar Challenge”.  It is a 30 day process to purge your body of sugar and simple carbohydrates in order to “reset” your glucose levels and rebuild good flora in your gut.  I have to admit that I was skeptical, but with continually reading about how terrible sugar and simple carbs are for you, I decided to give it a try.  After all, it’s only 30 days…if it doesn’t do anything for me; I can always go back to how I ate before.

Well, I am now 23 days into this endeavor, and I can tell you that I will never go back to my old way of eating!  The first 7-10 days are not for the faint of heart, I’ll tell you!  Depending on how dependent you are on sugar, you will go through some serious withdraw…not to mention the “cleansing” process that takes place flushing your body of everything bad and rebuilding good flora.  This all occurred with still having some minimal flour.  The plan I followed wants you cooking items from either almond flour or coconut flour…neither of which are cheap.  I still had a lot of regular flour at home, so I split the recipes with ½ regular flour and ½ almond/coconut flour.  This makes the almond/coconut flour last longer and uses up the regular flour as well.  I found online how to make your own almond flour, so I plan on trying that once my bag runs out.  How you feel, though, makes it so worth it!

Let me tell you to date what it has done for me in just 23 days:
  • I've lost 6 pounds without any additional exercise (my current normal activity is light walking 2-3x a week and mowing 1-2x per week since it’s spring).  This is not water loss because the plan has you drinking 64 ounces of water a day!  I’m adding weight training and running this week because I do have about 20 more pounds I need to lose.
  • I sleep better at night
  • Overall, I feel better and have more energy
  • PMDD symptoms are now only normal PMS
  • Menstrual flow is lighter (it had been extremely heavy when the PMDD symptoms started about a year ago)
  • Better regularity
  • My skin is clearer
  • Mid-day sluggishness – GONE!
  • Hypoglycemia – GONE!
  • Middle age brain fog – GONE!
  • No more need to count calories/fat/carbs

If you have been thinking about trying something like this, I would highly encourage you to do so!  Initially you will notice your grocery bill is more expensive because you need to get items I can almost guarantee you don’t have in your pantry like almond flour, pumpkin seeds, and chia seeds, not to mention all the fresh vegetables.  However, after a couple of weeks, it evens out because you only have to then replace what you’ve used.  Plus, I noticed that with eating this way, I am eating far less volume at each meal because it fills me up quick.  Because of this, I think long term you will actually save money eating clean.  I also found a site called www.abesmarket.com that has many of these items like the almond flour for far less than I could find it at the grocery (even with paying shipping).  If you order through the Ebates link to the right, you can also earn cash back for each purchase you make through Abe’s Market.

If you do want to do this, I recommend going with the eBook Strike Sugar 4 Week Challenge by Tosca Reno #strikesugarchallenge.  You can find it at www.toscareno.com.  She has a great weight loss testimony herself, and provides not just do how to do this, but explains why certain foods are good for you and others are not.  She also has cook books for eating clean and recipes on her site if you do want to continue after the 30 day challenge.

I know this is an odd post for me because I normally write about inspirational topics, but felt in my heart this is important to share as well.

You see, last month I turned 40, and any age milestone makes you reflect on your life.  I can recognize that true youth and the natural stamina that comes with it are starting to wane, so if I want to be able to continue strong to do the things at home I need to do and continue strong serving the Lord, I need to take better care of the body He has given me.  1 Corinthians 6:19 tells me, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”  I need to take care of my body because it belongs to God too!  So, here I am 40 and turning over a new leaf of eating clean & bumping up the exercise.  Hope you will join me too!

Still on the Potter’s wheel,

Danielle

Thursday, June 4, 2015

The Power of a Smile

In 2011 when I started working at the Women’s Health Boutique, a provider of post-mastectomy products and wigs for women going through cancer treatment, I quickly learned that, although a person may look like nothing is going on in their life, you never know.  I met ladies that were enduring their 2nd or 3rd time battling cancer, met family members that had lost numerous family members in a short amount of time, and fit ladies with wigs which looked so closely like their hair that you would never know they were in the middle of enduring chemotherapy. 

Because of this revelation, I made a conscience decision.  If I passed someone, anywhere, and made eye contact with them, I would smile at them at a minimum, if not also say “hi”.  I also made a decision to keep my face up to intentionally make eye contact with others.  You see, before, I was a keep-your-head-down-and-plow-along kind of person.  No more!  If my countenance is going to reflect Christ’s love to others, how can I do that by keeping my nose to the grindstone all the time?  I couldn’t, so I don’t any longer.

What happens when you do this?  It opens up the opportunity to meet and even pray with amazing people.  People start talking to you.  They share their stories.  They will ask you to pray for them.  They will grant you the privilege to pray with them.  You see, a smile is an amazingly powerful, yet simple tool we possess.  It shows a person that we acknowledge them as a fellow human…they are not alone in this world.  Also, I believe, that lifting our face to smile must also somehow reveal something deeper than only our smile to them.  If not, then how do they “just know” to ask for prayer?


So as you go along with your day today, smile!  You never know whose day you will bless!