Eating to live

I've had ideas for this post floating around in my mind for a while. It's something I've wanted to share and I think it's time. I just hope it's coherent.

Just over three years ago my mom bought a book for me and all of my siblings. The book is called Eat to Live. At that point in time I was not at all ready to change my eating habits. And I really wasn't interested in a diet. We had just moved to Tulsa, Andy was about 6 months old, and, although I should have, I didn't think there was anything drastic I needed to change. After all, there are times and seasons for everything and it was my time to be carrying baby weight. (4 kids in 4 1/2 years can do that to you.) And, thankfully, I hide my weight pretty well. Or so I thought. It's possible that's not as true as I would like to have believed.

Fast forward to early February of this year. Anne was born. My mom came to visit. My parents have been eating quite healthy for some time, but when my mom was here she made a ton of casseroles and other frozen dinners. It was wonderful. And right in line with how we had always been eating. One thing my mom got for herself while she was here was a bunch of Sobe Life Waters. They were quite tasty. When she left there were about a half dozen left over and she wasn't going to take them on her flight home. She suggested I save them for when I was ready for a healthier treat and wanted to stay away from ice cream but still have something that tastes good. Honestly, I never thought I would get to that point.

The day after my mom left a book came in the mail. My sister Bethany sent my mom a copy of Michael Pollan's Food Rules. Unfortunately, because of all the snow we got that week, deliveries were delayed. Bethany told me to go ahead and keep it - also that I should read it. That became another healthy-eating book that was going to sit on our book shelf and collect dust.

Fast forward, again, to sometime in the spring. Spencer had been watching portion size for some time. Somewhere around August 2010 he decided that he should no longer be eating like a college athlete and he has been doing very well and was looking much healthier. I started feeling like I wanted to "fit" with Spencer. He was a very good example to me of what could be done. Starting around July (or late June) I decided to start eating smaller portions. I didn't change so much what we were eating because I thought it was still pretty healthy. I just needed to eat less. And then the right switch flipped. I knew I wasn't really eating how I should and I needed to change that. Sometime in the second week of July I read Food Rules. This book is quite short and contains 64 rules about how we should eat food. Some of these include eat food, shop on the peripheries of the store, don't eat anything with ingredients your grandmother wouldn't understand, etc. This was a good start for us.

And then came the big change. And it was only a day or two after I finished the book. I read Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live. Honestly, this book has been a life changer for all of us. This book contains the benefits of eating mainly a whole plant food diet. He doesn't say you can't ever eat any meat or dairy, but he cites the studies (The China Study in particular) that show the negative effects of eating too much meat and dairy: cancers, heart disease, diabetes, etc. It's amazing what you can avoid by eating the right things. It's not just about avoiding meat and dairy. It's about getting the right protection for our bodies from vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, and whole grains. I started to change how I ate immediately. Then I started changing what we were all eating. Spencer, wonderful man that he is, didn't complain about the changes I was making. He knew that he could get something else to eat if he really wanted it. I told him that I really wanted him to read this book after I was finished. I wanted us to be on the same page. This kids have complained at times but we have been able to tell them why we are feeding them the way we are. We want to give them every advantage we can and keep them healthy. They are now so much better at eating all the vegetables we give them. Benny and Andy have even said at different times: "I don't like vegetables, but I eat them because I know they're good for me." And just last night Andy said, "I love vegetables!" Hearing both of those things make me so happy!
I started writing this a couple of weeks ago, and honestly, I rarely hear complaining about all the vegetables they get on their plates. Lilia even knows to just eat what she's given!

I want to point out that per calorie there is more protein in green leafy vegetables than meat. Also, more calcium per calorie than cow's milk. We are not lacking for needed nutrients. Dr. Fuhrman points out that there is no way the biggest animals (elephant, giraffe, gorilla) could get so big on a vegetable and fruit diet if there were not adequate protein.

When my sister Eden was working full-time at BYU she took advantage of getting her blood-work done and was amazed at the change after she had been eating more of a whole plant food diet. You can see her results here. I'm not sure how long she had been eating better then, but the improvement in her blood-work is amazing!

After I read Eat to Live, I re-read the Word of Wisdom that was given to Joseph Smith in 1833. The Word of Wisdom is a modern-day revelation on what we should eat (fruits in their seasons, herbs, grains) and from what we should abstain (wine, alcohol, tea, coffee, cigarettes, drugs). Since reading Dr. Fuhrman's book, I have been so grateful to have found something to help me to live the Word of Wisdom better than I did before. I feel so much healthier and I feel like Spencer and I are able to help our kids in ways I never thought about. It really has been a blessing to all of us.

Now I am reading Dr. Fuhrman's Disease-Proof Your Child. I highly recommend it. I'm not through it yet, but it is getting me more and more motivated to feed our kids well.

One of the most surprising feelings I've had in this whole process is a wonderful sense of control. I posted some time ago about discovering a lack of control. I wrote: "other than my own choices, I don't have control over anything." (See that whole post here.) I think my view of control is beginning to shift. I still remind myself that there are so many things I cannot control, but the overriding feeling these days is that I am in control of myself. Instead of thinking I only have control over myself, I think: I get to control who I am. I get to make choices that will determine the kind of person I become. I am choosing now to no longer be a slave to my appetites. By being in control of what goes into my body, I have gained more of a sense of power. I am choosing to take care of my body in the way God wants me to. It's a wonderful feeling to know that the choices I am making are going to impact me the rest of my life. And it's a nice feeling to have that sense of control visualized when I walk past a mirror.

I have gone through waves of focusing more on the weight I'm losing and just being grateful I'm being more healthy (even if the weight-loss slows down). I will tell you, though, that since I really started losing weight I have lost 29 pounds! 21 of those pounds have been since my birthday on 21 July. I am fitting into clothes that I haven't for a long time. It has been wonderful in a lot of ways. I've even started running. I've never been one to love running. Getting out and walking has been a major feat for me at times. But, after I lost the first 10-15 pounds, I started having more energy and I decided that I should be exercising to add that element of health. And if you're interested in another life-changing book, go pick up Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. I started with 2 miles and I'm now running over 4.

What I really love about these changes is that it's about a lifestyle. Spencer and I feel different. We want to eat better because it feels better. I love that Spencer was mistaken for a vegetarian his first week in Dallas this month. No, we are not vegetarians or vegans. We just eat mainly a whole plant food diet. It's not about the numbers. The fact is there are many people with a fast metabolism and can maintain a low weight even though they eat horribly. That is not a great way to live and it won't prevent illness in the future. It doesn't matter what size you are. By eating the foods we should, we are protecting ourselves from future problems.

If you interested in what we've been eating, let me know.

And now the current "after" picture.
I only wish I had a picture of Spencer. He looks fantastic!!

I love half of Anne down in the corner.