Category Archives: 90 Day Challenge

FMD Food Journal Motivation

I am hoping to do the FMD method of eating again. As I get older, I realize I need more motivation to take charge and get my weight to a healthy level. I recently shared a post about my efforts to improve my health called Improving My Health One Day At A Time. FMD is a proven method of eating that still falls in line with the principals I shared that were important to me.

However, I haven’t used FMD for a couple of years. It has been on my mind to start again. It is a wonderful way of eating and rotating the main sources of energy: carbs, proteins, and fats during the week for a total of 4 weeks or 30 days. However, I struggled the last time I did the program. I had challenged myself to do 90 Days, but I was going through some health challenges that I couldn’t figure out, I struggled to eat as planned 5 times a day, afford the amount of protein, and I desired my favorite comfort “foods” which are sweet creamy coffee, honey, and dairy.

I first used FMD in 2013 and had lost 18 lbs in 30 days on it. I saw several improvements in my health from the nutrition program and fuel source rotation. Besides the rotation of fuels (carbs, proteins, and fats) each week, there are a few foods (corn, wheat, white potatoes, sugar, honey, dairy, and coffee are the main ones) that are completely eliminated for 30 days to help give the thyroid and adrenal glands a rest, remove candida overgrowth, and rev up the thyroid which increases the metabolism. Hence the acronym FMD stands for Fast Metabolism Diet.

At one point while trying to figure out what was going on with my health, and desiring more sweets and comfort foods, I tried a different meal program called THM that is similar to FMD, but it includes cycles through the carbs and fats more often as long as they are spaced at least 3 hours apart. THM also includes more food varieties including lots of deserts, comfort foods, and ice cream, and only eliminates sugar, wheat (unless it is sprouted first), and white potatoes, but still includes lots of dairy (cheese, butter, yogurt, etc) and creamy coffee. It really is a terrific program and I was able to loose some weight (at about 1/2 the rate of FMD but more satisfying) but my my health issues, hives, continued and I suspected I was also allergic or intolerant of the main sweeter used in that diet called Stevia and a Stevia Erithrytal Blend. I also tried the Low Carb plan that so many folks have been able to loose lots of weight on and is similar to Phase 2 of FMD for a little bit that keeps carb intake below 20g a day, and again it brought my weight down a few more pounds. But on Low Carb (LC) it was really hard to go with only 20 carbs per day, all week, with no treats, and my allergy to something I was eating continued. So I gave up trying the different diets / meal plans for a while.

FMD focuses on eating 5 times a day, with a focus on protein. It divides a week into 3 Phases alternating pairing proteins with the other fuels of fats and carbs. It is generally considered a 4 week plan to help you rev up your metabolism but can be a forever plan if you desire. I’ve listed out what is in each Phase below under the heading “Meal Plan For 1 Week”.

Below is also a food journal entry I made last time I followed FMD in 2015, and I thought I would share it online today to help motivate myself (and anyone else who might need a little push) to get started again and make health a priority. Sometimes just putting something in front of your view is enough motivation to move forward. I used to record my foods, supplements, and how I felt about the day in my food journal. Sometimes I also noted how much water or exercise I had. I should have been more diligent to record more details at that time because it helped me succeed back in 2013. As you can see from the meals I ate, if I repeat a meal plan like this, I will need to make adjustments for the elimination of eggs when I make the new meal plan. You can see more food journal entries and goals from that season of my life the post meal planning strategy and my 15 Goals for 2015. You can see lots of food photos of what I am ate on my Instagram account if you are interested.

When I journaled this particular week back in 2015, I had joined an online challenge group for FMD and was really excited about it. However, I failed at getting through the full 90 day challenge (three sets of 30 days). 30 days is the normal length of the program, and I struggled to make it an ongoing lifestyle vs. just a 30 day or 90 day plan.

The main problem I was having doing FMD (and THM and LC too) at the time was an allergy to eggs that I didn’t realize I had developed. You can use several different sources of proteins on FMD, but sometimes you need a protein with a fat such as whole eggs, and sometimes just a lean protein such as egg whites. I was relying on eggs for protein as they are inexpensive and I had my own flock of chickens that gave us fresh eggs daily. However, without realizing the cause of my health issue, I believe I made it worse. I was having hives on my hands and fingers that worsened every time I put them in water. Doing dishes literally made them crack and bleed as well as itch like crazy. It took me a long time to solve the riddle of what was happening. After a couple of years of trying to figure it out, and having given up following any specific diet plans, the last thing I eliminated from my meals was eggs and that finally stopped the hives.

I would have never guessed that could happen to me. I loved eggs. I loved having my chickens. The irony of being back on the homestead, with my beautiful chickens producing wonderful eggs, and I couldn’t have them. It truly was bitter sweet. I suspect the egg allergy is related to a flu shot I received while pregnant. I learned through doing research into various medical studies that people can develop allergies to proteins that have been injected into the blood stream. When the blood comes in contact with a foreign protein in the blood stream, the body creates antibodies to attack those proteins and increases the histamine and inflammation response. So every time I ate eggs, my histamine went into overdrive.

It has been a huge adjustment in my life to cut eggs out of my diet for the past year and a half. I wasn’t sure I could ever do FMD or any meal program again as I didn’t know how to substitute the eggs and not violate the rules of when to eat proteins with fats and just egg white protein. The main egg substitutes I found that actually work for use in baking are flax seeds (fat), or bean water (carbs) and neither of these meets the requirement on Phase 2 for lean protein only, and flax could only be used on Phase 3. So right there I could not longer use boiled eggs on days for protein in my snacks and whole eggs for protein and fat, or any baking, or even using egg whites in tuna salad. So I couldn’t quite figure out how to solve this dilemma.

Because I really want to do FMD again, and repeat the success I once had, I recently wrote to FMD and asked them what they would recommend. Their simple answer was to eliminate eggs and find some other source of allowed protein. Simple solution. I just need to accept my limitations with the diet and try again and use only recipes that don’t need eggs or if a substitute for eggs works during that phase without working against it, then go ahead and use the recipe and sub the eggs. Frustrating to have to make these changes, but doable if I put my mind to it.

One other thing about FMD is to include some exercises. During phase 1 it is cardio focus, Phase 2 is weight resistance focus, and Phase 3 is a stretching focus. Once again, I felt like I had a roadblock to using this part of the program. I have a foot injury and haven’t been able to walk long on my foot. It has made getting any amount of exercise that involves walking difficult. When I did the program before, I was able to take lots of walks, and also went to YMCA. But that is not an option now. I think combining the low impact program called Ttapp for regular exercise will meet this need.

Meal Plan for 1 Week:

Here is one of my journal entries on FMD from 2015.

Phase 1 (Monday & Tuesday)

Breakfast:

Fruit
Grain/Bean

Snack:

Fruit

Lunch:

Fruit
Protein
Veggie
Grain/Bean

Snack:

Fruit

Supper:

Protein

Veggie
Grain/Bean

Phase 2 (Wednesday & Thursday)

Breakfast:

Protein
Veggie

Snack:

Protein

Lunch:

Protein
Veggie

Snack:

Protein

Supper:

Protein
Veggie

Phase 3 (Friday & Saturday & Sunday)

Breakfast:

Fruit
Protein
Fat
Veggie
Grain/Bean

Snack:

Protein
Fat
Veggie

Lunch:

Fruit
Protein
Fat
Veggie

Snack:

Protein
Fat
Veggie

Supper:

Grain/Bean

Protein
Fat
Veggie

Monday:
Phase 1 Day 1 (FMD)

B- Rainbow Turkey Chili
S- Clementine
L- Tuna and Green Apple Salad, Sweet Potato
S- 1/2 Serving Strawberry GGMS (2 strawberries, 1/2 lemon juiced, 1/2 lime juiced, 1 Tbls Braggs Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, 1/2 tsp ginger, 2 cups water, stevia to taste)
D- Red Onion Spinach Sage Burger with Tomato Romane Lettuce on 1 slice of Sprouted Bread, cucumbers, radishes
S- 1/2 Serving Strawberry GGMS (2 strawberries, 1/2 lemon juiced, 1/2 lime juiced, 1 Tbls Braggs Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, 1/2 tsp ginger, 2 cups water, stevia to taste)

Supplements: 2 tablets Kelp, 3 tablets Spirulina, 2000mg Vitamin C, and 500 mg Vit D

I was so hungry at breakfast, I decided to eat the chili for breakfast that I had planned to serve for lunch, and then I had to make something else at lunch. I know it wasn’t exactly correct to eat for my breakfast that was supposed to be a grain, protein, veggie and fruit. It was legumes instead of grains. But it was so delicious and nutritious!

I put the recipes and everything I ate into My Fitness Pal to help me keep track of my progress. I love this app. It calculates so many great things for me and lets me know if I am under or over my goals.

Also I know I am not going to bed early enough, and I am also not drinking enough water so these are things I need to change this week.

Here are pictures of my main meals today, but not the snacks. Recipes coming soon!

Rainbow Turkey Chili

Tuna and Green Apple Salad seved with a sweet potato.

Red Onion, Spinach, and Sage Turkey Burger
Served with lettuce and tomato on sprouted Ezekiel bread, and a side of cucumbers and radishes.

Tuesday:
Phase 1 Day 2 (FMD)

Repeat meals from Monday

Wednesday:
Phase 2 Day 1 (FMD)

B- Mini Frittatas, cucumbers, and bell peppers
S- 0
L- Grilled Chicken and Turkey Bacon on Salad.
S- Lemon Lime GGMS (lemon and lime juice, water, raw vinegar, ginger, on plan sweetner to taste) basically a fancy lemonade.
D- Sirloin Steak and Egg White on Salad
S- Off plan: Tiny bite of son’s 10th birthday cake and ice cream.

Supplements: Spirulina, Kelp, Vit. C, Vit. D

Good day. I drank 64 ounces of liquid plus the GGMS.
Still need to increase it more, but I am pleased with the progress.
I did have a bite off of son’s cake and icecream that was not on plan,
but it was important to him that I share a bite, so I am just going to trust
that it will not throw off my progress. He wanted me to eat a bite with him, but I did not have a plate or bowl, I just took a bite with my finger and then took a bite of his icecream from the scooping tool. He was satisfied with that. First thing this moring, I created a Phase 2 Mini Frittata recipe that I was happy with too and have extras in the fridge for tomorrow. But I ended up eating breakfast later than I should have and didn’t feel up to eating a snack before lunch. I had so many veggies in my meals today that I could not get down snacks in between the meals. My stomach is so full, even now at bed time.

Thursday:
Phase 2 Day 2 (FMD)

B- 2-Mini Frittatas, cucumbers,
S- 1-Mini Frittatas
L- Stuffed Mushrooms (from the FMD book)
S- Lemon Lime GGMS (lemon and lime juice, water, raw vinegar, ginger, on plan sweetner to taste) basically a fancy lemonade.
D- Groundbeef with veggies
S- O

Supplements: Vit. C,

I felt very tired today. This always seems to happen to me when I eat meals on Phase 2 which are low-carb and low-fat on the same day. I find Phase 2 the hardest of the three Phases. I had hoped to create a great breakfast and make homemade chicken sausage, but I was too tired. I did not want to cook. So I just ate leftover frittatas from yesterday, and I was really glad to have them on hand or I may have skipped eating altogether.

I did make one easy recipe called stuffed mushrooms, that I had prepped the day before so the only thing I had to do was remove it from the fridge and bake it. I was so glad I did because the flavors are so wonderful.

I drank 80 ounces of liquids, a lot better than I have been drinking for a long time. Still need to increase more fluid, but I am pleased with the progress.

Here are a few pictures of my food today.

Mini fritatas

Stuffed Mushrooms

Lemon Lime GGMS

Friday:
Phase 3 Day 1 (FMD)

B- Chicken sausage patty, eggs, zucchini and mushroom saute, sprouted toast, blueberries
S- 0
L- Coconut Chicken Curry (from the FMD book)
S- Greek Chicken Garden Meatball
D- Grilled Chicken Breast on sprouted bread with bacon, lettuce, and tomato
S- GGMS (sugarfree lemonade with ginger and raw vinegar)

Supplements: Vit. D, Vit. C, Kelp, Spirulina, Redwine Extract, Bilbery Extract, Coconut Oil, Accidophilis, Enzyme blend.

So excited today to get back to fats, fruits, and sprouted BREAD!
I ate breakfast late and skipped the morning snack and went right into lunch. Somtimes it is hard for me to work in a morning snack in the winter if I ate a big breakfast. I am just not hungry inbetween breakfast and lunch.
I drank 48 ounces of liquids, and I need to do better.

Here are a few pictures of my food today.

Chicken Sausage, Overeasy Eggs, Sprouted Toast, Zucchini Mushroom Saute, Blueberries

Coconut Chicken Curry

Greek Chicken Garden Meatballs

Grilled Chicken & Sprouted Bread Sandwhich

Saturday:
Phase 3 Day 2 (FMD)

B- Berry Green Smoothie, egg salad, turkey bacon, sprouted toast, romaine lettuce, cucumber, celery, carrots
S- 0
L- Pizza on sprouted tortilla (beef, mushrooms, pepper, onions, pepperoni)
S- Bulletproof Coffee (black coffee, butter, coconut oil, truvia, vanilla) This is my cheat food today and is not FMD approved)
D-
S- 1/4 cup roasted cashews, Lemon Lime GGMS

Supplements: Vit. D, Vit. C, Kelp, Spirulina, Red Wine / Grape Extract, Bilbery Extract, Coconut Oil, Accidophilis, Enzyme blend. Missing all this week was my calcium supplement and liquid herbal iron supplement. I should have taken them, even though I don’t like the taste. I want to add in cod liver oil during phase 3, but I forgot to do it. I normally would take CLO every few days or so, but since I am on this plan I would like to be sure and include it during Phase 3 when fats are encouraged.

Sunday:
Phase 3 Day 3 (FMD)

Repeated leftover meals from Saturday.

Phase 3 is my favorite phase. I love the comforting feeling of healthy fats, nuts, seeds, fruits, and sprouted BREAD! I Love Phase 3!

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Week 14 Update: Yes We Can!

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Update! It’s week 14 and I have lost a total of 21 lbs so far! If I can do this anyone can!

I have always been a healthy eater, and live an active live, but I still gained weight over the years. I have always been interested in natural health and nutrition too. But it took me time to understand how my body responds to various foods and nutritional supplements.

Life has a way of getting in the way (moving, pregnancy, raising kids, coop, relationships, jobs, etc). Many times I had to put my desire to work on myself on the back burner to focus on daily life.

But I was shooting myself in the foot so to speak because when I had a health crisis, I found it really hard to get back on my feet. It took too long to recover and I knew something was missing, but I wasn’t sure what it was.

I began to make my health a real priority in January. I just told myself it has to be now. I can’t wait any longer.

I am really glad I did because in addition to the weight loss, my skin is healthier, I have more energy, my immune system is stronger, and I lost 4 inches around my waist. I have achieved a monumental goal already this year, and I feel healthier than I have in a long time.

I will keep going in my journey to better health. My body is healing. There is balance. This method uses plants that God created, and it is natural and nourishing. It works with my body the way it was designed by my creator.

I am going to continue on this journey to better health, and I want to take you with me. I want to help my family, friends and extended family achieve their goals and live a healthier, stronger, vibrant life.

Will you join me on this journey? We CAN do this!

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Getting In More Fruits and Vegetables

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I’ve been making healthy changes in my life. I’m 45 and I realize I haven’t always made the best food choices. There are things about my health I can improve. One of those is to consume more healthy fruits and vegetables.

It is recommended that we eat at least 9 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Those are minimum numbers for basic nutrients. You will want to eat a lot more to stay healthy and fight disease, and also if you do athletic activities.

4 Ways To Get In More Fruits And Vegetables.

Here are 4 ways to include more fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet:
1. Make fruit bowls, fruit or fruit and veggie kabobs, and smoothies at breakfast.
2. Include vegetables on your sandwich, in a salad, or as a fresh crunchy side dish for lunch.
3. Set out vegetable trays, or make your own “???” (salad, taco, loaded potatoes, veggies and dip, etc) for supper, and offer bowls and plates filled with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to choose from. The more exposure your kids (and husband) has to seeing and sampling these, the more likely they will be to develop a desire to eat them.
4. Take Juice Plus+ Capsules or Juice Plus+ Chewables.

The Next Best Thing

I know I don’t eat enough servings of fruits and vegetables in a day. Over time this creates a gap in my nutrition and health. I am thankful for the option to eat additional whole food nutrients in a simple way, dried and encapsulated. It is the next best thing to fresh fruits and vegetables and supplies a full spectrum of nutrients, enzymes, probiotics, and the synergy of the live food my body needs.

I am bridging the gap with these 6 capsules. I am eating the nourishment of 30+ fruits, veggies, berries, and grains. All the nourishment is in tact, just like when I use my juicer and dehydrator to preserve my garden harvest. It is still whole food and all of the nutrients are there including vitamins, minerals, enzymes, prebiotics, probiotics, antioxidants, cartenoids, phytonutrients, chlorophyll, anthocyanosides, polyphenols, immune boosting and histamine lowering herbs, and so much more. I wish I had known about this years ago, but it’s never to late to make a positive change.

KIDS

And I don’t have to worry about my kid’s diet missing out on vital whole food nutrients. Juice Plus+ offers the same whole food nutrition in gummy chews that kids love.

My kids love these amazing chewy fruity gems of nutrition.

On average most kids in the USA get less than 5 servings a day of fruits and veggies. That is far less than the 9-13 servings that are recommended. Let’s face it, kids don’t always have big appetites for fruits and veggies. They prefer cookies, junkfood, hotdogs, and chicken nuggets. So what is a parent to do?

Keep trying. Keep introducing fruits and veggies at each meal and snack times. And then do the next best thing to be sure you have covered all the bases.

But with Juice Plus+ Chewables, parents can have the confidence that they are bridging the gap in their child’s nutrition too. And Juice Plus+ offers the chewables to children for free with the parents purchase of adult capsules or adult chewables.

Let me know if you would like more information about how Juice Plus+ can help you and your family with bridging the gap in your healthy lifestyle.

Be blessed!

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Week 12 Update on the 90 Day Challenge

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Life is changing fast around here. Winter has gone and spring has arrived. Snow and ice is no longer my enemy keeping me captive indoors! So it is time to get outside and move. Yeah!

I have completed week 12 (90 days) of this health and wellness journey and I can’t believe I have reached the end of the challenge. Be assured I will start another health focused challenge, as I am not done with my “getting healthy make over”!

As a matter of fact, I am so excited about several things I have implemented during this challenge that have really helped me more than any thing else I have ever done, with the exception of attending the Zumba classes at the Arden North Carolina YMCA two years ago. I do wish I could still attend that class, and believe it would make the outcome of this healthy makeover even more amazing. My instructor in that class was my hero!! She’s the mom of a special needs child, and her life testimony was so inspiring to me. I hope to find a good substitute for that dance class here in rural Indiana soon, but up to this point I have not found it.

What WORKED?

I am so excited to share with you that I am down 2 pant sizes and have lost 19 lbs on this challenge. That is about a 1.5 lbs per week average. Slow and steady wins the race, right? RIGHT!

So what have I done during the 90 days that worked for me?

I think the two most significant improvements in my lifestyle were that I joined:

Juice Plus+ and their Transformation 30 program,

and doTerra essential oils and supplements.

Combining these two amazing all natural strategies with my on going strategy of creating healthy meal plans with the Fast Metabolism Diet, incorporating some Trim Healthy Mama and Low Carb Paleo recipes is the pieces of the get healthy puzzle I needed to move forward.

I am getting in a little exercise. It was so hard this winter to do anything as I was snowed in for most of it. I have joined a plank challenge with my Juice Plus+ friends. A plank is a strength exercise where you stretch out on the floor and then hold yourself up off the floor with the strength of your own forearms (arm is bent and the entire forearm touches the floor), and toes. It works a lot of the muscles in the body just by holding yourself still in that position. You start off with doing 20 seconds and slowly increase your time a few seconds longer each day.

Another “little” activity I finally got motivated to do is walking on the eliptical for a few minutes each day, just enough to get my blood pumping and move my lymph fluids. I am glad to start using it again as it usually just collects dust until one of the kids notice it and play on it. My husband has wanted to get rid of it many times as it takes up space, but I usually say “hey I plan to get on this thing” and then it sits. Speaking of sitting, sitting at the computer is very unheathy as it doesn’t promote the movement of either of my blood flow (nourishment of cells and organs) or my lymph fluids (immune system, detoxing, and prevention of disease). We have a small mini-trampoline and I like to jump on it, but it is outside on the porch and it was too cold all winter to use it. Hopefully I will get motivated to use that some each day. I definately need to increase my exercise level. Now that the weather has warmed up a little (we are still in the 40’s during the day and 20’s at night), I can get outside and walk around and work in the yard soon.

I am so excited how these programs are pieces of my health puzzle and are coming together as a wellness makeover strategy to bless me on my journey.

Things I am accomplishing:

1) nourishment to the whole body

2) healing vital organs and body systems:

liver, digestive, lymph, immune, skin

3) weight loss

4) energy

5) renewing my red blood cells and DNA (takes about 5 months on Juice Plus+)

Sharing my journey isn’t about making a buck, or sales. However, I am excited I can earn money sharing health and wellness products and give my testimony how they have helped me. I also like the benefit to help my family out financially and be able to purchase these products to better my health. But sharing this journey is about health. This is serious. This is my health. It is your health. I am 45 years old. I don’t have any more time to Mickey Mouse around with fads or gimmicks.

It has to be real. It has to heal.

I am doing so much better with the healing of my body and having more energy. Once I incorporated doTerra Mito 2 Max, and LifeLong Vitality Pack (vitamins, minerals, herbs, probiotics, omega fatty acids), and Terrazyme enzyme blend that promotes cellular function and communication through out the body, it began helping me detox and helped me digest my foods so my gastrointestinal system is working at its best. These are the best vitamin mineral health supplements I have ever used. I am really pleased with the quality and the results.

I figured out that I had a weightloss stall for a few weeks while my body was making some serious repairs. It takes time to heal! I don’t think you realize this when you are young. I didn’t figure it out until I was over 40 and went through major sugery with an emergency C section. I know I have a damaged thyroid and adrenal glands, in addition to being over weight. So I wanted to increase the nutrition to those organ systems, but how? I already eat a healthy diet and it wasn’t helping me heal or loose weight.

So what could I do that was all natural (I am not a fan of synthetic pharmacuticals), to heal? It is nearly impossible to eat enough fresh fruits and vegetables to heal adequately when you are dealing with a healing crisis. However, once I incorporated Juice Plus+ and thier Transform 30 program I began to see more healing and my weight has continued to go down as my body has detoxed and organs have been nourished with over 30+ fruits, veggies, grains, and herbs in the Juice Plus+ Trio Blend, and over 20+ plant foods in the Complete.

Yes, I do get frustrated when the scale is slow to show progress. When I started this challenge I expected more. I seriously thought I would have accomplished a 30lb loss by now, but that didn’t happen. Instead the scale went down and back up a pound and down again over and over and I didn’t feel that I was making very good progress. The progress seemed so small some weeks that I was embarrassed to even tell anybody I was working on it. But even though I may not see it on the outside, or even on the scale, I am making progress. My body is healing on the inside. I can see little things like the improvement in my fingernails, having more energy, sleeping better, thinking clearer, pooping healthy, and even the integrity of my skin has improved and there is healing of my cracked heels. That is progress!

It is happening. Slowly. Change is taking place.

In 12 weeks, I have lost 19 lbs.

My Next Get Healthy Makeover:

I am dedicating this whole year (and the rest of my life) to getting healthy and staying healthy. So I am going to do this again, on a 30 day cycle now. I have everything in place and have made the big changes these first 90 days, and now it is about making little tweaks.

The Transformation 30 program helps you implement one simple healthy change in your life every 30 days while using Juice Plus+. A small tweak here and a small tweak there adds up to big results! That is do-able!

So for the next 30 days I will be focussing on:

1) Meal Planning

I will continue with recipes from the Fast Metabolism Diet, Trim Healthy Mama, and Low Carb Paleo strategies. The biggest help in these programs is to not overload on carbs and fats in the same meal, either focus on carbs and proteins this meal, or focus on fats and proteins in this meal and alternate the meals every three to four hours, but to always incorporate nutrients dense veggies and proteins into each meal.

2) Staying hydrated.

I am trying to drink 3 quarts of water per day. I am adding in doTerra essential oils for flavor and a boost to my health. So far Lemon or Lemon and Lime are my favorite oils to use for flavor. I am also drinking the Trim Healthy Mama beverages called Good Girl Moonshine (ginger and apple cider vinegar lemonade and sometimes adding in fresh fruits for more flavors) and the Shrinker tea for even more hydration.

3) Juice Plus+

I will continue to take Juice Plus+ Orchard, Garden, and Vineyard Blends (Trio Blend), and Complete for nourishment from over 50 plant foods with all the nutrients and vitality intact.

4) Transformation 30 program by Juice Plus+ for health and vitality and weight loss.

If you decide to enroll in the Transformation 30 program, be sure to get in on the $100 Cash Giveaway I am doing with some friends. We want to motivate you to get healthy and what better way to get a little motivation than some free cash in your pocket that you can spend however you want.

5) doTerra essential oils and Life Long Vitality vitamin and mineral and healthy supplements.

I am continuing to use my doTerra supplements because I know it is a part of my healing journey. I am helping repair my body and recover. The doTerra oils are superior to other essential oils. They are Theraputic Grade and work better than pharmecuticals to keep me healthy. I love the way God had designed the human body to respond to natural methods of healing. It is an ongoing conversation with our creator.

6) Healthy Activity

Incorporating healthy activity into my personal time and into my family’s day too.

7) Spiritual Healthy Activity

Pray and talk with the Lord daily. Spend time each morning reading his word before I start my day. He is my daily bread. Sing praises to him daily for He is worthy to be praised. Thank Him each day for my life because He is the Author of it and He is the air I breathe. His mercies are new every morning and I am greatful. His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven will endure forever and ever.

Praise the Lord! I know I am healing and making progress to achieve my naturally healthy weight and I have confidence that God has given me wisdom and resources, and I will get there!

So there you go.

What have I been up to the past few weeks since we talked last? Are you working on your health? What are you doing to reach your goals? Please leave me a comment and let me know. I love to read your comments!

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Keep Trying!

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I fail.

I try,

and try,

and keep trying.

Sometimes I succeed.

I have a lot of dreams.

I have made a lot of mistakes.

I have a lot of hope for the future.

One of my biggest struggles is my health. One of my biggest accomplishments is also my health. I am 45 years old, and I am trying to get healthy after challenging health issues of infertility, thyroid issues, adrenal fatigue, 9 pregnancies between ages 30 to 45, surgery, anemia, weight gain, allergies, and auto-immune issues. WHEW! It has been a challenge! Learning about my body, and what works and doesn’t work for me has been a lifelong journey.

It’s not easy.

For a long time, I kept falling further behind. Even though I tried, I wasn’t going forward to reach a better level of health. But there are successes and I do go forward, even if I also take a step back or sideways from time to time. I will get there, I will reach my goals.

Sometimes I don’t even know where to begin.

So I pray.

What else can I do?

God has the answers and solutions to my situation.

He has the answers for yours too.

I’m on a journey.

I am getting better.

I am healing.

I am working toward a healthier me.

I keep trying.

I saw this video today. I was inspired to go further as I watched these two women encourage each other to keep trying.

I hope you will keep trying too!

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 1:2

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Week 8 Update of the 90 Day Challenge

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Can it be that I am already in my 8th week of this get healthy challenge? I am just amazed at how fast the time is passing. I am so glad I chose to focus on health and wellness at the start of this year. It truly has been a learning journey that has blessed me and my family in many ways already. I have worked and done extensive research in health and wellness for over 25+ years, worked as a medical social worker and social service director, and also owned a health foods store in Indiana, and a healthy foods coop in North Carolina. I closed the store when we moved to NC, and closed the coop two years ago when we moved back to Indiana, and I have truly missed the variety of natural healthy people that I crossed paths with in both of these.

Someday when my kids are older, I hope to go back to school and finish graduate school in Naturopathic Health Care and open a new healthy foods store again. I love working with a wide variety of health care providers that are interested in natural health care: nutritionists, midwives, massage therapists, physical and occupational therapists, chiropractors, herbalists, and more. Natural health care is very exciting to me, and I love to keep learning about our amazing bodies and all the wonderful natural ways we can care for them. I also love to help others and share this knowledge with them too.

Three months ago, in December, I became a Wellness Consultant with doTerra Essential Oil company. doTerra has furthered me along in my health and wellnesss journey this year, including helping my family overcome winter illnesses, improved skin integrity of my hands and feet, and assisting me in weight loss and healing my adrenal and thyroid glands. Check out my Week 6 Update for more information about how supplements are helping me.

Included with my doTerra enrollment kit was my own website storefront to sell products, access to doTerra’s online university to study and complete my Wellness Consultant Certificate, a beautiful wooden box containing several essential oils, and several healthy natural living products. I completed my studies at the doTerra Online University and earned my certificate. This training and the kit with all of this wonderful knowledge and great products have truly been a life changing tool for wellness in our home this winter.

Here are some of the doTerra products that I have been using during this 90 Day Challenge to boost my family’s health and wellness:

On Guard Toothpaste
My husband and I both love this. It whitens your teeth naturally as it cleans them. It also provides antibacterial support for your teeth and gums and your over all immune system. It tastes wonderful and I love to kiss my husband after using this toothpaste!

On Guard Beadlets
These are tiny soft gel beads that we take internally to fight off infections. If we feel like our immune system is under attack, we quickly take one a couple of time and it helps to fight it off. The beadlets contain wild orange, clove, cinnamon, eucalyptus and rosemary in tiny vegetable beadlets that melt in the mouth quickly to freshen breath and support the immune system. We often just swallow them and let them dissolve further down in our digestive system when we feel we are fighting an illness too. There is also a larger soft gel available that has On Guard plus three additional immune boosting oils designed for that purpose too.

This winter, in early January, our family was hit by the resperatory flu. But it came and it went! When we began having symptoms, I gave everyone one in the family a beadlet, in addition to the other supplements we take when fighting an illness (elderberry extract, echinacia goldenseal extract, three B’s, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin A from fish oil) and staying hydrated, and daddy and I took the beadlets twice a day for two days. I also diffused On Guard essential oil blend around the clock. Several of our friends battled this flu illness for weeks, including some having to go to hospital and lots of medications. One friend is a nurse and she was even vaccinated, but she still got the flu real bad. Some of her coworkers were hospitalized up to 10 days. But not our family! Though the illness came on strong, with high fever, aches and pains, it quickly dissipated once our fevers were over. We had no further effects! No chest congestion, no further sickness. Praise the Lord!

On Guard Hand Soap
Safe non-toxic natural alternative to synthetic anti bacterial soaps. It smells wonderful! I feel so good knowing that my kids are using a natural cleansing product on their little bodies.

Life Long Vitality Pack
This is a pack of three super food supplements to support the body’s nutritional and immune system needs. Included is a whole food formula of vitamins and minerals (MicroPLEX VMz), cellular vitality complex (Alpha CRS+), and an omega oil complex (xEO MEGA). Each of these formulas is designed to promote health in the body functions and includes botanical extracts and essential oils.

These are some of the best quality supplements I have ever seen in my 25+ years of learning about health and wellness. I am going to post a more in-depth story focussing on these wonderful supplements. They are re-building something in my body that is allowing my heals on my feet to re-grow new skin and replace the rough skin. My finger nails are growing stronger and I am feeling more energetic using these supplements.

TerraZyme
This multi-enzyme blend supports healthy biochemical functions including healthy digestion of food nutrients and cellular metabolism of nutrients to energy. TerraZyme includes a variety of whole-food enzymes that help with digestion of proteins, fats, complex carbohydrates, sugars and fiber.

As a side note, TerraZyme also help ward off a stomach illness. When a nasty stomach bug hit the whole family in February, I was cheif nurse made. The family illness caught me off guard, and I was cleaning up vomiting and diareah on the hour for several days, ehausted, and praying I wouldn’t catch it too. When I got my wits about me, I remembered that taking an enzyme blend could help reduce the effects. I started to feel the nausia too, so I took TerraZyme and I could feel it stop the nausia within a half hour of taking it, and I never threw up as everyone else in the house did. TerraZyme helped the stomach virus pass on through to the bowels and be eliminated. I still got a milder case of diareah lasting about one day, and several others had the diareah for several days, but the illness was greatly shortened for me. I am 100% convinced the enzymes prevented me from going through the vomitting and days of diareah that those who got the illness before me went through.

Deep Blue Rub and Deep Blue Rollon
This lotion style rub and the rollon is for soothing sore muscles and joints. It feels like cold and hot at the same time. My skin tingles when I apply it and my muscles relax. My husband loves the way it relaxes his tense muscles after a stressful day at work. He also had a sore lower back after lifting something heavy, and we rubbed Deep Blue on him and he was able to go to sleep and rest allowing his back to repair itself, and was good as new the next day.

Diffuser
I love using my diffuser to diffuse any and all essential oils into the air. This technology is one of the most amazing little secrets of a healthy home. I remember as a child learning about pioneers burning herbs and sulfur to cleanse the air in the home when there was a sickness. That is essentially what a diffuser does and more. It sends the oils into the air to cleanse it. It also helps to manage moods and behaviors too. Diffusing oils is amazing.

Essential Oils
doTerra has a large number of Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils. Fruits, Vegetables, Herbs and Spices are Natures Medicine Cabinet. doTerra has captured these healing properties of plants in their essential oils.

OilSingles

I have been studying and learning how to use essential oils to clean the house, create amazing massage oils and relaxing baths, as well as treat any and every illness that has come our way this winter. Encounter the respiratory flu? no problem! Encounter the stomach flu? no problem! Encounter a head ache? no problem! Encounter an ear ache? no problem! Encounter a sinus infection? no problem!

I have also learned to use the oils for emotional well-being of the family too. I can mix up my own oil combination blends, or use the wonderful blends doTerra already has put together for me. They have blends for everything: mood, aches and pains, breathing, balance, cleaning and purifying, digestion, headaches, calming, relaxing, first aid, skin care, anti-aging, weight loss, bug repellant, and more.

Even as far as I have come in learning in my healthy living journey, I am just getting started! Learning about healthy living is a life long journey. I have many more doTerra products on my wish list to further our healthy living journey. I am truly impressed with their quality. You can view their product catalog online for free and put together your own wish list. I will share more about the products I am using in upcoming stories too.

Are you interested in health and wellness? Would you like to use doTerra products in your home? Drop me a note and let me know.

Be blessed!

Melinda Weiser, BSW, QMRP
Wellness Consultant

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Disclaimer: The information here is provided for information purposes only, has not been reviewed by the FDA, and is not intended to cure disease. Please consult your personal medical provider before making any changes in your lifestyle. Some of the links in this web site are affiliate links and are used to support the costs of running this web site.

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Week 6 Update On The 90 Day Challenge

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Well I don’t have big changes to report this week. The past two weeks feel like they flew by, and I am sure I didn’t accomplish as much as I could have. I can’t believe I am half way through the 90 Day Challenge to better my health and wellness in 2015. But thankfully I didn’t lose ground in the past two weeks in the progress I have made so far since the start of the year.

My weight has barely changed over the past two weeks and this was a little discouraging as one of my main goals in this challenge is to reach a healthier weight for my body. I lost and re-gained the same pound or two nearly every other day and I’ve definitely been at a stale mate with my weight loss goals over these two weeks. It has been frustrating going up and back down a pound on the scale and not seeing any real progress in my weight loss goals. Yes, I wish I would have lost more, but I choose to remain positive and see the little the scale did move as a good sign that I didn’t go backwards. My total weight loss as of week 6 on my 90 day get healthy challenge is 15 lbs so far! YEAH! I truly hope I can continue to achieve at least this much more or do even better with weight loss as I complete the second half of the 90 days.

I’m maintaining the healthy changes I have made since the start of the year, including positive dietary changes in my meal plans inspired by FMD (Fast Metabolism Diet) and THM (Trim Healthy Mama), I’m drinking more water, choosing nutrient dense foods including daily sources of low glycemic foods like greens and fresh vegetables, fruits, fermented foods (raw apple cider vinegar, kombucha, Kevita, etc.), coconut oil, eggs, sprouted bread, broth, lean meats, etc. I try to get the most nutrition I can from my food sources, but I also see the need for vitamins and superfood supplements too, so I try to take supplements daily to support my nutrition.

I try to remember to take my vitamins and superfood supplements each day, but some days I forget to take them. Some days I just don’t want to take them. I don’t like swallowing pills. I don’t like things getting stuck in my throat which tablets sometimes do. They have a rough edge and it bothers me if it turns the wrong way. I don’t have any problem swallowing capsules, as they are smooth, I just don’t like taking tablets. I compromise sometimes by using nutrient dense smoothies to boost nutrition. I also sometimes take half a dose of some of my vitamins and supplements, especially the tablets and also the more expensive ones. For example, if a whole dose of Spirulina is 6 tablets, I usually only take 3. Cutting back like this allows my body to use as much as it can from the whole foods I eat first, and then it hopefully gets what else it needs from the supplements and hopefully also avoids flushing the ones not used down the toilet. It also helps to stretch the dollar in the budget, because lets face it, vitamin supplements are expensive.

I am trying to heal Thyroid and Adrenal fatigue, and heal my reproductive organs after multiple pregnancies, in addition to supporting my daily nutritional needs while I lose weight. It is a huge task! I’m 45 years old, and I have had 9 pregnancies in 14 years since the age of 30, which resulted in 6 live births all of which I nursed, and 3 miscarriages around the 4th month of pregnancy. Though a woman’s body is designed for this amazing task of childbirth, I got started late, and my body is tired. In addition, the last birth was an emergency C-section and that has also taken its toll. I have had some trouble with my energy level in the afternoons since that surgery, and notice my lack of energy is worse if I skip my supplements. But the past few weeks, I have been extra tired, perhaps from surviving the flu last month, and also because of the ongoing lack of sunshine during this long Indiana winter. What ever the reason, the low energy level is taking its toll on me.

Modern farming practices and food manufacturing, have resulted in foods that are deficient of the right balance of nutrition the human body needs. That is why superfood supplements can be an important factor in our overall health, recovery from illness, prevention of disease, etc and bridge the gap left by nutrient deficient modern foods. I hope that by combining nutrient dense foods and superfood supplements, and eating healthy, I can achieve the healing balance my body needs. This week after talking with a knowledgable natural health guru, I decided to put Mito 2 Max and Zendocrine supplements on my wish list, a few additional essential oils on my wish list, implement using some essential oils that I have on hand to boost energy levels, and then I also changed up my supplements by increasing my Vitamin D3 and also added several of doTerra’s vitamin supplement products.

I hope to add doTerra’s MITO2 MAX and Zendocrine as soon as I can to promote cellular health and oxygen to the cells and further support my Thyroid and Adrenal glands. There are some simple remedies I want to implement to help support the adrenal glands too. One remedy is adding lemon to drinking water, and another is rubbing basil essential oil on the skin around the area of the adrenal glands. I don’t have basil oil yet, so that is going on my wish list. Another suggestion was to diffuse specific essential oils in the house that help promote energy. Hopefully adding these changes to my routine will resolve my thyroid and adrenal fatigue in the afternoons.

My current vitamins and superfood supplements include: Water mixed with Vitamin C powder, Vitamin D3, Vitamin K2, Kelp, Spirulina, chlorophyl, acidophilus, TerraZyme (multi-enzyme blend by doTerra), Microplex VMz (multivitamin plus superfood supplement by doTerra), xEO MEGA (Omega Oils plus Essentail Oils by doTerra), 3 B’s (bee pollen, bee propolis, royal jelly), bilberry extract, red wine complex, turmeric, fiber. I have used a psylium fiber capsule at night a few times a week since starting this challenge, but plan to add a glucomonnan fiber capsule daily earlier in the day. Glucomonnan fiber has a lot of health benefits, including helping to regulate blood sugar, but it is not recommended to take it at night. Many times I forget to take my supplements until night-time, and then I can’t take this one. But I want to change that, and set a new goal to get my supplements taken in the morning.

A wonderful improvement in my life over the past three months has been doTerra Essential Oils. I was blessed with an amazing kit of oils and superfood supplements, a wholesale membership, and an opportunity to learn and teach others about using essential oils by an incredibly generous person. She is a natural health expert, and so are her three sisters as well as one is a naturopathic doctor too. She has an amazing background of knowledge and has taken me under her wing to teach me. She will never know the true impact this blessing has had on my life. I used to sell essential oils in my healthy foods store for several years. During that time, I had several customers who diligently used them in their personal health care and often had me special order special ones in addition to a shelf I kept stocked all the time. Several customers also used them as a raw ingredient in their own brand of soap and lotion making that they turned around and re-sold the finished products at local markets. I occasionally used a few of the oils myself for crafts and baths, and body massage. But I did not take the time to educate myself on their many healthy uses in everyday life to keep my family healthy. I don’t know why I let that opportunity pass me by. BUT now I am studying! I am applying every opportunity I can to learn and implement using essential oils in my life. This has far-reaching effects in every area of my health and wellness.

My Essential Oil Tool Chest. An essential oil tool chest is a “must have” in every home.

For example, to boost my energy level, I was encouraged to diffuse Peppermint and Wild Orange throughout the house, and also to rub it between my hands and inhale as needed. I put Wild Orange on my wish list as it is not one that I had on hand yet. So I improvised and used the oil I had on hand called Citrus Bliss in which Wild Orange is the first ingredient as well has a few other citrus fruits and vanilla. It smells so good. I combined Citrus Bliss with Peppermint every day for week six and I have been amazed at the improvement in how I feel, and how much more alert I am, but also in how my children are feeling too. They are more alert and motivated to complete their school work. I also noticed my husband seems more alert and less tired when he returns from work in the evening. He doesn’t know about the oil in the diffuser, he is just reaping the benefits. I am so grateful to have started using this as a daily remedy for the whole family. This is an amazing energizing combination!

I am drinking more water, but still not enough. I find it a challenge to stay hydrated as I don’t like the taste and smell of our iron rich well water. I can unintentionally go most of the day without drinking water if I don’t constantly remind myself to drink something. I just don’t notice that I am thirsty until the end of the day. That is a very bad habit that I have tried to change during this challenge. To help with intentionally hydrating myself, I make a fancy strawberry lemonade called Good Girl Moon Shine that was inspired by the THM (Trim Healthy Mama) diet plan.

I need to implement the GGMS everyday again as I did in the summer, but it is a cold drink and I am in a cold farmhouse house in the cold Indiana winter and sometimes I just want to drink hot mocha lattes all day instead. I was drinking a smoothie everyday, but again, I get so cold. One smoothie I love as a snack on FMD is a recipe I created called the Mango Orange Julius. OH YUM, it is soooo good! I have also been using the GREENS by It Works in my Berry Green Smoothies some times at breakfast on Phase 3 days. The It Works Greens are not exactly on plan for the FMD, because of the protein source, but it is full of amazing nutrients that really give you a boost and I like it in this smoothie. I have whey protein powder at home, but it is not approved for the FMD either, but is approved on THM. The only protein powders approved on the FMD are either egg white protein or pea protein. I created a Cinnamon Chocolate Frosty treat I can use on Phase 2 days and I can up the nutrients if I purchase an approved egg white protein powder, so that powder will go on my wish list too. There is also another drink called the Singing Canary by THM you can make at home that is very high in Vitamin C and supports the adrenal glands. I love making bulletproof coffee lattes and also occasionally a special protein shake THM style. I know I still need to drink more fluids though, and it would be a good goal for me to drink a quart each of GGMS and Singing Canary everyday (some women drink two quarts of each of these a day, as well as a special THM tea and additional water too. Their bladders must work overtime, but I can’t handle that much liquid in a day). I will try to get re-organized and make more of these drinks this week.

THE BAD NEWS

I am NOT YET getting regular exercise worked into my routine since I started the challenge. I need to establish a daily exercise routine, but I honestly lack motivation right now to do it. Is it laziness? Is it winter blah’s? Is it related to Thyroid issues? Is it due to recovering from another lost pregnancy? I don’t know! We have been in a winter lockdown here, as it is too cold to do anything out side. The kids and I have spent most of the winter finding fun ways to play inside after our school work is done. We all long to get back outside on a daily basis. The overall lack of sunshine this winter just makes me feel BLAH! I have access to a few indoor exercise videos as well as YouTube on the computer where lots of these things are posted for free too. Two years ago, I used Ttapp DVD videos that really helped me and want to start doing them again. I also went to a zumba class at the Y, but that is not really an option now, so I need to try the Ttapp and free online videos and make a plan for daily use of some physical activity. The Fast Metabolism Diet suggestions for the week include an aerobic activity during Phase 1 (Monday or Tuesday), a strength training activity during Phase 2 (Wednesday or Thursday), and a relaxing activity during Phase 3 (Friday, Saturday, or Sunday). I just need motivation to get started and energy to carry it through.

One thing NOT WORKING in my favor to help me with exercise, physical activity, and weight loss is the time I spend SITTING at the computer. And I am about to get even busier with the computer writing more product reviews again. I have been on “break” for two months from writing reviews, but the new season has begun and it’s time to start writing curriculum reviews for the 2015 Schoolhouse Review Crew year. I think this will be my fifth or maybe sixth year writing for them.

We started several new curriculum products over the past several weeks. I feel busier than ever as we have adjusted our schedule and are trying out these new items to tell our readers about in the upcoming weeks. I feel like my to do list is growing instead of getting smaller. I’m getting organized and have my calendars hanging on the board, notes, and drafts, etc. But when I evaluate why I may have lost less weight the past two weeks compared to what I was loosing before, I realize it is partly because I am adding too many other priorities to my daily routine. Suddenly it feels like my hopes to work on weight loss and a healthier me are taking a back seat to my other really important goals and responsibilities like raising my family, building my marriage, and writing reviews and working at the computer. I am thankful for the opportunity to write reviews. It is a wonderful opportunity to receive amazing curriculums to try out with my kids, but I need to find a good balance between all of my goals including: healthy physical activity, spiritual activity, family activity, friendships too, homesteading, ministry, writing, etc. to have a balanced life. Otherwise the increased time it takes to sit and write at the computer could potentially take a negative toll on my health. I really need to be diligent and not allow that to happen.

GOALS NEXT WEEK

My steps for reaching my smaller goals for the upcoming week as I continue to work on my 90 Day Challenge to better health and wellness:

-Set aside time daily to take my vitamin supplements, even though I dread swallowing pills.
-Set aside time daily to sing and praise the Lord.
-Set aside time daily to study my bible and pray.
-Set aside time daily to build relationships with my husband and kids.
-Set aside time daily to journal and update my daily planner.
-Work with the kids daily on school work.
-Continue to make healthy foods from scratch following my meal plan strategy posted before. Post pictures of foods to Instagram and or Facebook to help others on the 90 Day Challenge with meal ideas.
-Log foods consumed, vitamins and supplements, physical activities, weight changes, etc. onto My Fitness Pal account to help me reach my weight loss goals and monitor where I need to make changes.
-Continue to drink a lot of water and other fluids. Make several quarts of GGMS and a quart of Singing Canary this week.
-Start exercising according to the FMD plan with the different phases listed. My goal is to Ttapp once or twice a week (high intensity on Monday and low intensity on Friday). I would like to strength train once a week (simple repetitive lifting of items I have around the house on Wednesday). I’m not sure yet what other activities to add, but if I can do 20 to 30 minutes in these areas, this will be a good enough place to start this coming week, I just need to get motivated.
-Get to bed by 11:30pm
-BIG GOAL AND BIG CHANGE: Set aside “office hours” time each day when I can write blog stories and product reviews, and then officially close my office at a decent hour rather than stay up late and harm my health by lack of sleep. I want to get the younger kids to bed by 8:30, then write from 8:30 to 11:00. Then get my teenage son to bed (he never goes to bed before 11), get husband’s lunch ready for the following day for work. Update my to do list for the next day and have breakfast planned for the kids. Then hopefully I can get to bed by 11:30.
-Maintain Balance

I hope you have a blessed week!

What are you doing to reach your goals on your 90 Day Challenge to better health?

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Week 4 Update On The 90 Day Challenge

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I can hardly believe four weeks have passed since I started this challenge. I am happy to report that I am making progress with my goals and I am down 14 pounds!

No dieting, well unless you believe what Hailey Pomroy says that diet stands for Did I Eat Today? In that case then YES I am eating and eating and eating! There is so much food on this meal planning strategy to rev up the metabolism that I can’t hardly eat it all. I’m always stuffed! How can I loose 3.5 lbs a week, or about .5 lbs a day on average, when I am eating so much food?

This strategy is about eating 5 times a day, including lean proteins at each meal, and separating carbs and fats in different meals. That is it in a nut shell! I can find all the ingredients to create delicious meals in my local grocery store that fit right with my budget. What I choose to eat is up to me, as long as it is on the list. The list is divided up into three phases.

I keep meals focussed on either:
Phase 1: protein and carbs (high glycemic fruits and veggies and grains),
Phase 2: protein and low glycemic veggies,
Phase 3: protein and fats with low glycemic fruits and veggies, and grains and nuts.

Hailey Pomroy, a clinical nutritionist, has designed this strategy called FMD (Fast Metabolism Diet) to help rev up the metabolism and help the body focus on one fuel source at a time. The THM strategy (Trim Healthy Mama) works the same way too. Both of the strategies are awesome!

When the body has an over abundance of fats and carbs at the same meal, it burns one fuel type and stores the other one. By feeding the body one fuel source, it burns up that source and this doesn’t lead to weight gain, but effectively helps balance out to a healthy weight. If you are over weight, then this strategy efficiently helps the weight come down to a normal level creating a balance in the body. If you are at goal weight, then this strategy will help your metabolism to stay efficient and healthy and maintain your weight.

A few tips that have helped me get this far:
I posted my food list on the fridge, and it shows me what foods and ingredients to combine on what days. That has helped me overcome any last minute confusion about what foods to reach for.

I posted my goals on the wall in front of my computer too so I can look at them often.

I fill up a quart jar with liquids to drink through out the day. Sometimes it is filled with water, other times a fancy lemonade, and sometimes a fun fruity smoothie or a delicious homemade dairyfree sugarfree shake.

I am eating a huge variety of awesome foods made right at home! For the past 10 years or so, I have taken some food based supplements like kelp, spirulina, vitamin C, vitamin D3, probiotics, enzymes, etc. to naturally help my body get all the nutrients it needs. I use a green food powder a couple times a week in a morning Green Berry Smoothie too.

I set small goals for myself to progressively reach the bigger goals.

I am really pleased with my progress so far, and I can’t wait to see my outcome after the next four weeks. I am so excited about challenging my self at the beginning of this year so that I can attain to a healthier version of me this year. Lord willing, this new me at a healthy weight by making healthy choices is going to happen!

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Week 3 Update on the 90 Day Challenge

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I started my 90 Day Challenge on the morning of January 5th. It’s now the evening of January 25th and I just completed my 3rd full week of the challenge. I’m plugging right along on my goals to better health and wellness. You can read about my goals and my menu planning strategy to learn more about what I am doing.

Since I have completed 21 days of the challenge I thouth I would give you an update on my weight loss. I have lost 12 lbs to date. I had lost a few additional pounds, but I kept gaining and loosing those pounds, so only 12 lbs have stayed off so far. I am very happy with this weight loss and I am looking forward to where I will be at the end of this next week! I re-set the weightloss ticker at 0 for the start of this year so it can keep track of this years progress.

I am focussing on protein filled meals, but also focus on seperating fats and carbs at meals. Five meals and snacks are eaten each day and are eaten 3 to 4 hours apart. This method of seperating fuels in meals works to help you loose weight while eating tons of food. As a matter of fact, there is so much food to eat, I can’t eat it all. That may be hard for some to undertand, but it is true and it works. It is a good problem to have, so I am not complaining at all.

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Meal Planning for 90 Day Challenge

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I have listed my 15 Goals for 2015. I am doing a 90 Day Challenge to help me jumpstart reaching my goals this year. One of those goals is to eat healthy nutrient dense foods to live. I will be posting my meal plans / food journals during my 90 Day Challenge for better health and wellness to give you an idea of what I am eating and where I am at on my journey. Sometimes I will include nutritional data if I have had time to calculate it, and I will post some of the delicious recipes I use too.

I am using recipes from several different “camps”. Some are common recipes I will re-make into a healthier version. Nearly all recipes will comply with the Weston A Price Foundation and Nourishing Traditions foods, FMD, and THM. Some recipes are gluten-free, sugar-free, some are grain-free, dairy-free free, some are low histamine, and many are found in the FMD, THM, Lowcarb, Paleo, Raw Food, etc. strategy camps that go along well together. My main focus will be a merged FMD and THM strategy.

I have learned a lot about healthy foods and natural remedies over the years. But even though I ate healthy, and avoided many of the common cultural pitfalls of medications and used natural methods, the pounds still continued to add on each year. Though I was generally healthy, I could not stop gaining weight. I didn’t know there was a strategy to seperate fuels in meals to promote a healthy weight. But over the past two years, I learned from both the FMD and THM camps that I don’t have to deprive nutrients to get achieve weight-loss, I just have to know what foods to combine and when to use them. This knowledge is completely liberating. There is the light at the end of a long tunnel, it is a hope for a better tomorrow, and a basic truth that everyone can achieve a healthier version of themself if they have and apply this knowledge.

How FMD and THM diets are similar:
Both of the Fast Metabolism Diet (FMD) and THM diets encourage eating a lot of food. You are not eating small portions. You are reving up your metabolism by eating a lot of healthy foods, and burning the fuels. Both stratgies recommend gluten-free meals, soy free meals, sugar-free meals, and promote eating healthy meals and snacks throughout the day. Both diets encourage eating and discourage focussing on calorie counting. Both also encourage protein at each meal. Finally, both programs encourage you to either focus on protein and carbs, or protein and fats for each meal, and to eat meals at least 3 hours apart to be sure your digestive tract has emptied of the previous meal, and helps to keep the body’s focus on using one type of fuel at a time. Otherwise, when consuming a high amount of both carbs and fats together in the same meals, your body will use one fuel and store the other fuel creating a vicious cycle of weight gain. Both programs also encourage you to consume half your body weight number in ounces of fluid to stay hydrated and promote detoxification, healing, and weight loss. Both programs encourage mild exercise, every other day with days of rest built-in, but also state that exercise is not a requirement to weight-loss and that you can cause a stall in your weight-loss if you exercise too much every day.

THM suggests alternating between different meals and snacks (S, E, and F) every 3 hours:
S Meals (protein and fats)
E Meals (protein and carbs)
Fuel Pull Meals (low carb and low-fat).
There are also some crossover meal options for maintenance.

FMD suggests alternating meals and snacks (in phases 1, 2, 3) every 3 to 4 hours:
Phase 1 2 days a week (Monday and Tuesday)
High Carb-Lean Protein (grains / legumes, lean proteins, veggies, high and low glycemic fruits);
Phase 2– 2 days a week (Wednesday and Thursday)
Low Carb/Low Fat-Lean Protein (lean proteins, non starchy veggies);
Phase 3 3 days a week (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday)
Medium Carb/Healthy Fat/ Protein (grains / legumes, proteins, veggies, low glycemic fruits, and fats including nuts, oils, avocados, fatty proteins and fatty cuts of meat, etc).

How FMD and THM diets are different:
FMD focusses on switching fuels from Carbs to Low-Carb/low-fat to Fats every two to three days. It also eliminates all dairy, caffeine, and alcohol. THM focusses on switching fuels any day or any meal you want to as long as you have had a 3 hour break in-between each meal. So you don’t have to wait days and days to get your fats or your carbs, as long as you have spaced them out, you could have them both in the same day. Ahhh…that is so much more refreshing to me than waiting 5 days to get in my fats for 3 days on rotation. I really struggled with this before, and I feel it is a little bit too strict for me. THM allows certain dairy products like yogurt, kefir, real cream, butter, cheese, and allows coffee, etc. too. They both use different low-carb / low-fat / high-carb / high-fat versions of foods to comply with their specific meal type S,E, or F and Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3. So, for this dairy loving gal, I enjoyed many of the recipes in THM and felt much more emotionally satisfied with my meals after eating the THM way.

THM was developed by two very smart sisters who have self trained themselves in the science of food, health, and wellbeing. Through their collaborative efforts and years of experimenting and studying the work of various doctors and specialists, they developed a strategy of seperating carbs from fats, and a long list of recipes that clearly made a difference in helping themselves and their friends be at a healthy vibrant weight while carrying for the needs of their families. Since they published their book, they have successfully helped thousands of women loose weight and acheive a level of health they could not reach on their own. But there are clear advantages to following FMD too. FMD is more restrictive than THM by excluding dairy and caffeine, but it works quicker, and it is a proven healthy lifestyle that was developed by a certified clinical nutritionist who specializes in healing the thyroid especially, and also include healing adrenal glands, the heart, and brain while getting to a healthy weight. The author of FMD has had tremendous success in her long career with four nutritional clinics, a long long list of lives that have been changed, as a practitioner of healing the body through nutritional foods.

Most of the foods I plan to choose for the next 90 days will comply with the 3 meal types and phases of both the Fast Metabolism Diet (FMD) and the Trim Healthy Mama (THM) programs of eating 3 to 4 hours apart, eating within a half hour of waking, separating carbs and fats in my meals, etc. However, looking ahead, I do plan to cheat from the FMD program occasionally by using some of the dairy recipes from the THM deserts which may contain dairy or peanut flour (not allowed on FMD), but are still sugar-free and gluten-free, and highly nutritious. I hope to work one or two of these delicious treats a week during Phase 1 when higher carbs are allowed, and during Phase 3 when higher fats are allowed. I think it is better to start out acknowledging a plan for healthy treats / cheats built-in.

For example, I love THM (S) shakes and THM (E and F) GGMS (Good Girl Moon Shine: glorified ginger lemonade recipes that change based on what fruit you add or leave out).

The GGMS has made a huge difference in my ability to stay hydrated as I do not like the taste of plain tap or well water.

The THM style (S) Shakes taste just like the real milk shakes I grew up with, but they are a much healthier version. They are high in protein, and moderate in healthy fats, and sugar-free.

I also enjoy coffee with cream or bulletproof coffee with butter and coconut oil, so I may work in at least one, and maybe a few of these coffee treats a week. Coffee is not conducive to healing the adrenal glands, that is why FMD has removed it from the diet, so it needs to be used wisely. But I read recently an article in the Weston A Price Foundation that said one cup a day or even a few cups of bulletproof style coffee a week can be a healthy choice if not used as a breakfast replacement and also if paired with a protein. That is good news, as I love a creamy frothy coffee and could drink it all day long, but that would be a bad idea. But I am not ready to give up dairy and coffee completely because I believe there is great health to be acheived in using them correctly. So even though FMD does not encourage use of dairy, or coffee, I plan to use them from time to time in the similar appropriate phase (fats). I do not want to sabotage my progress, so I will have to re-evaluate this plan as I go along and be careful not to over indulge, and be sure that I am achieving the results I am hoping for.

I have tried both of these strategies in the past, and I am confident they both work.
On the FMD program, I was able to achieve a weight loss of about 18 lbs a month, or about 4.5l bs a week, or about .6 lb a day. That is incredible! I slept well too. I started FMD in April and by mid May I saw a huge change in myself. I felt energized and I was truly excited about this way of eating Friday through Tuesday, but felt out of energy by the evening of Wednesday and all of Thursday I was completely exhausted. I do not do well on two days of low-carb/low-fat eating. It was devastating to me to give up my farm fresh milk, kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese and butter I loved. We moved across country the end of May 2013 and I was not able to successfully repeat the program in our new location. When we first moved, I didn’t have a stove or dishes until mid July (about 6 weeks). Then my husband was without work for several months and I could not afford the ingredients. So I felt defeated. By December 2013 I had gained back the weight I lost on FMD. A supportive friend kept telling me about her success with THM and that it was more affordable. She suggested I give it a try. I found out I was pregnant in January and I started THM in February 2014. I miscarried the baby in April 2014, but kept going with the THM diet. With the THM program, I was able to enjoy my dairy, and achieve a weight loss of about 22 lbs in four months which equals about 5.5 lbs a month, 1.4 lbs a week, or .18 pounds a day. However, by the third month on THM, my weight loss had slowed to .8 lb a week and then stalled for many weeks on end before losing the next .8 lb and during that struggle to get it moving again, I lost my desire to continue after following it successfully for four months. I felt desperate to find a way to jump-start my weight-loss again, even though I loved and continued many of the recipes, and I then switched to a low-carb focus, and lost a few more pounds and then maintained the weight I lost for three months, but again I seen maintaining as a long stall, and then went off dieting altogether. I should have jumped right back on either THM or FMD when that jump start happened, but I didn’t have the foresight to see it. Over time, I slowly re-gained the weight and was back to where I started by December. So from February of 2014 to December 2014 I lost 22 lbs, lost an additional 3 lbs, and then gained it all back by the year-end. Talk about a yo-yo, HOW AWEFUL!

Why Try Again?
I had my 45th birthday in December 2014. I had decided once again that I don’t want to be this heavy and I must do something about it. I want to be a healthier version of me for 2015. I am tired of the constant ups and downs of my weight. The only way I know to achieve this healthier me, is to implement the FMD and THM strategies again, with some much-needed modifications to keep my energy and my desire to persevere while on them. If you take away all the joy of my creamy shakes and treats, or the hydrating wonder power of GGMS, or my love to enjoy the whole egg, not just the whites, then I would not make it long on FMD. But I still want to use the FMD plan to organize my days, and see a quicker results for my efforts.

Both programs are great, but in my opinion, the FMD helps the weight come off faster and focusses on healing the thyroid, which for most of us, especially me, is so important on our journey to better health. I definitely feel my thyroid needs healing. THM is great too, and helps address the needs of the adrenal glands and is calming because it provides lots of comfort foods, deserts, and emotional and spiritual support in your Christian faith, support in your duties as a wife and mother, and helps to heal the emotional side of why people over eat and are malnourished. THM even has a an awesome Trim Healthy Mama Pregnant and Nursing support group to help you along your journey. I wish someone would combine both of these amazing programs, FMD and THM, in a proven weight-loss strategy, because they are both great and both seem to contain an amazing key of wisdom to helping people lose weight. But I don’t know of any combined approach out there. So I am going to experiment with somewhat merging these programs for 90 Days, and see if I can achieve a healthy well nourished body that includes weight loss, healthier skin, healthier hair, more energy, and a more normal size for my 5’2″ frame.

For 90 days I am following a merged plan of both the FMD and THM strategies, and using great recipes from both. You can follow my pictures on Instagram for the most current photos of my meals. It is easier for me to wrap my brain around the FMD method, with my days organized with the same phase meals, but I love the freedom in eating desserts and treats that are allowed on the THM too. So I will evaluate some of the THM recipes and fit them into the FMD plan on the appropriate phases as much as I can. I will also be supplementing my diet with a few herbs, superfood supplements, and essential oils which I will post in my food journal.

My daily food intake goal is to eat 3 nourishing meals and 2 nourishing snacks, 3 to 4 hours apart:
Phase 1 (FMD) and E (THM) Meals: Monday and Tuesday
Phase 2 (FMD) and F (THM) Meals: Wednesday and Thursday (if I can last the full two days)
Phase 3 (FMD) and S (THM) Meals: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

I will start posting my meal plans and food journal soon, and keep you informed of my progress on this journey to health and wellness during the 90 Day Challenge.

I realize my plan to combine these approaches may offend the purists, those who only believe THM works, or those who believe only FMD works, or those who believe on Paleo or LowCarb diets work. I have known many of these folks who can only believe in the one diet that has benefitted them, and I don’t have any desire to convince anyone to choose one over the other, or to even try this combined approach. Not everything works 100% for every person, as I found out when I did these different programs by themselves. I realize why all of these programs work, and why each of these programs have shortcomings for people with various different needs. My journey is different from someone else’s journey. I am on a journey to find out what works best for me. I hope my readers, and everyone desiring a better healthier 2015 can find what works for them too.

Be blessed!

I pray that God, who gives peace, will make you completely holy. And may your spirit, soul, and body be kept healthy and faultless until our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 1 Thessalonians 5:23

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