Eating Paleo

I've been eating Paleo foods for almost 2 months now. I'm feeling great and my skin is looking real good, like glowing. I have lots of natural energy and don't have an ounce of craving for processed foods or sweets of any kind.

I did try to eat a bowl of chocolate cereal about 3 weeks into it and had to throw it out. It tasted real nasty and I was actually trying to make myself eat it but then I thought, "why in the world would I do that?" Into the trash it went.

My last trip to the doctor was about 2 weeks ago and I've lost 30 lbs! Well I just couldn't believe it. I thought and felt like I had lost a few lbs but I was pleasantly surprised.

I've been sticking to eggs that we buy from local farmers, ham, mushrooms, vegetables, nuts and just a few fruits. I also eat meat a few times a week. I'm not hungry at all in between meals but do eat nuts, raisins, dried blueberries and bananas. I use as much coconut oil as I can, even put it in my coffee in the AM. I'm sure I'm not listing everything here but the idea was to keep it as simple as I could and as easy as I could in the beginning.

I love everything that I'm eating but starting this weekend I'm going to start cooking. I'm waiting form my Amazon order to come in with my coconut flour and cacao powder. I went to the organic food store and paid out of my ass for some quinoa. Next time I will order it online or look for it at Walmart.

I'm an 80/20 believer so I do get some cottage cheese with my fruits at times and I'm probably eating more fruit than I should considering my goal is to lose weight. But the whole reason I chose Paleo is so that I could eat fruit without feeling guilty so I don't feel a bit guilty when I eat a banana or musk melon. I love them. I'm perfectly happy with what I eat.

I can see how this could be difficult for some people to follow because of the preparing and "cooking" that's involved. It's hard when you can't buy something off of the shelf and throw it in a pan. I worked myself out of that thinking by just reminding myself of all of the poisons that are packed in there with them. Plus they don't taste good now.There's also more shopping and planning involved but it's doable. I go to the local meat shop to get my meat fresh and cut up then go home and sort it out and freeze it. I go to the farmer that sells eggs and buy several dozens at a time, I have to remember to bring my old egg crates. I've been doing this for years though. If you're wanting to cook like I'm going to start doing you have to source your cooking supplies. It's easy to find the organic items you need online but you have to wait...sometimes you can find what you need at the big chain stores but not always and not always organic. I'm also running to the store much more often for the staples of Paleo because they are mostly perishable.

Anyway this is where I'm at in my life. I've been posting at my other blog, On Turkey Lake. It's about the house improvements, crafts and sewing that go on at my place.  I love it all.

~~Show Faith, Always Dream, Share With Everyone, Hope hope HOPE and Love Ridiculously & Unselfishly and Be the Person you Dream and Hope to be remembered for~~

CHER

I Changed my mind

I've decided against any kind of surgery to lose weight. I'm not that much over weight that I feel its justified and after spending a lot of time pondering it I decided that I haven't exhausted everything that I can do . I couldn't shake the fact that I hadn't done everything possible for myself and therefore surgery would be the lazy way out...not life out death. Quit being so dreadfully dramatic Cheryl.
A few Weeks ago I quit eating after dinner. It was somewhat challenging for the first few days but now its old hat. I've lost a few pounds I can tell.since I drink only water i'm not worried about accidentally drinking something either. Its not just about not eating (although it's amazing how many calories I was eating at night), it's about shutting down my digestive system and giving my organs a break...therefore NOTHING goes in the mouth. No tastes, bites or sips of anything.
There's no rapid weight loss going on here but I feel better and I don't have any strange pains in my stomach. I don't wake up feeling like my food hasn't digested. This is just my first step. It's not a real small one either like I thought it would be. I'm constantly having to tell people "no thanks, I don't eat after dinner." I suppose this will die down when winter gets here. If I think i'm gonna want something sweet I eat it with dinner.
It's weird...I was talking to my mom and she's doing the exact same thing! Great minds think alike.

Weight Loss Surgery

So far I've only done a few video blogs but I'm gonna start doing more since I've been planning for weight loss surgery. I've been stalking several of the weight loss vloggers and it looks like it would be an awesome tool for me to use to keep up my accountability. They have ALL been successful. I've got several ideas to keep my accountability in check and to replace my bad eating habits. I've written it all out on paper but will post it here before I go in for surgery cause I know I'll lose the paper eventually. The insurance company requires certain things for me to do before I have surgery and Dr. Sloan also requires certain things for me to do. The doctor wants me to go to a seminar, get my annual pap and mammogram, do his optifast diet for 5-7 weeks. That's to shrink the liver so it doesn't get nicked during laproscopic surgery. I went to the seminar last month and also got pap and mammogram last week. I can't do his optifast until I get insurance approval. The insurance really just wants a letter of necessity from my family doc and to show that I've done 3 months of a doctor approved diet plan. I went to my first doctor visit on Nov 14th and my next is in a few weeks. I should have that completed by the end of February 2014. Then I will wait to see about my insurance approval then I'll be able to start the optifast diet that Dr. Sloan requires. Dr. Beitzel knows exactly what we have to do for the insurance company so I'm optimistic that I will be able to have my surgery by my next birthday. I know it seems far away but it's gonna give me time to work on my bad eating habits and save money for the optifast diet which is $400 and any co-pays I will have to pay. I'm just truely blessed that I'm going to have the opportunity to have this surgery. It was a difficult decision for me because I was the one who looked at people as failures for having weight loss surgery. I've had to face my previous poor judgements of others before in my life and this is another one of those times. It shows me once again that I shouldn't judge people. I'm not doing that anymore or I stop myself when I think I'm going to. When I tested in for fatty liver on top of all the other health issues that I have I knew I had to do something. The liver can heal itself but if it gets beat up too much it will turn into cirrhosis. That isn't the road that I'm looking to go down. Nothing can be done about that except a transplant and that's after dialysis and if I'm even a candidate with all of my other health issues. I wouldn't want to take a liver from someone else who needed it that had actually taken care of themselves. To make matters worse every time I diet I gain more weight back than I lost. My doctor had some term for this but basically said I was at a place where it was kind of a vicious circle since I'm unable to exercise because of the pain in my back and joints because of the weight. Anyway it's the best excuse that I can come up with. But really I want my quality of life back and would like to repair the damage that has been done....sleep apnea, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, depression, back pain, shortness of breath, metabolic syndrome and I'm getting an ultra sound in a few weeks to see if I test positive for poly cystic ovary syndrome. I might be forgetting something but I know that I'll be able to stop taking a lot of medicine and I'm looking forward to that.

~~Show Faith, Always Dream, Share With Everyone, Hope hope HOPE and Love Ridiculously & Unselfishly and Be the Person you Dream and Hope to be remembered for~~

CHER