This post is available in audio. I used Anchor, and a standard woman’s voice, instead of my own. I’m just trying it out.
I recorded the video below a week ago when I was out on one of my morning walks.
Like I’ve said before, a walk alone in the fresh air is like a personal retreat for me, and I often get motivated on my walks, or at the least, energized.
On this particular walk I wanted to provide an update about how my journey to health and an ideal weight is coming along.
I’ve made a real discovery about how what we feed our bodies makes our bodies want more of it, and THIS is why, I believe, it’s sooo easy to get way off track with our eating habits.
Although I’ve been off track for the last few weeks, I’m more resilient than I used to be, and I’m much less hard on myself. Now, I can recognize and focus on my accomplishments over the two months previous, instead of zoning in on my more recent “failures”.
If you’re someone who struggles with being consistent with eating healthier foods, or you feel like a failure when you get off track, this video is for you.
I hope my journey can give you a positive boost and help you on your own journey to health.
For a long time, I was trapped in a cycle of eating, overeating, dieting, losing weight, gaining the weight back, etc.
Sound familiar?
I thought there was something wrong with me, but as it turns out, I’m more than ok. There’s nothing wrong with me at all. 🙂
It’s the Pleasure Trap! (Learn about the book below).
Or more specifically, it’s the food produced by modern society that was keeping me in the pleasure trap (craving it and then going back for more).
Check out this video to learn how I’m losing weight and getting healthy by escaping this trap.
I learned all about the pleasure trap in the following book.
The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health and Happiness, written by Dr. Alan Goldhamer and Dr. Doug Lisle, is a detailed and science-based book that will open your eyes to what’s going on in the food around us today. Learn how it’s not your fault that you’re constantly drawn to calorie-dense, unhealthy foods, and discover how you can retrain your body to enjoy nature’s healthy foods.
Check out the Audible version.
If you’re struggling with your weight, give this book a try. It really opened my eyes.
Have you ever bought something you really wanted, and then once you got it, you kind of ignored it?
Well, that’s the way it was with my Instant Pot.
After seeing so many recipes that required an Instant Pot, I thought it would be a good idea to have one. Not sure what took me so long, but I finally bought one last year, and it sat in its box either in my basement or in my dining room ever since.
I think I was just a bit intimidated by it. Too much pressure! 🙂
This past weekend, my husband and I took the plunge and opened the box. After our intense test-run of 3 cups of water, we were officially trained and ready to go.
Our first recipe was from a new cookbook I bought specifically for the Instant Pot. But even better, the recipes use NO added OIL.
In case you’re an oil fanatic, or you just can’t imagine not using oil in your kitchen, we do not need added oil in our food. Oil is a man-made, highly fractured and highly concentrated, food-like substance that does not serve our body (nature didn’t give us olive trees with taps that dispensed oil).
I’ll have to do a more detailed post about oil soon, but in the mean time, if you have doubts about the negative health effects of adding oil to your food (any kind of oil), and are even moderately interested in your long-term health, read this book!
If you’re already aware of the dangers of adding oil to your food, then you know what a treat it is to find an oil-free recipe.
Plant-based, oil-free AND for the Instant Pot? Jackpot for me!
This recipe is NOT mine, like I said; it’s from Jill McKeever’s cookbook I ordered on Amazon last month (thankfully the book didn’t sit for a year or two; I probably wouldn’t have been able to find it!).
The recipe has only 5 ingredients, which makes it simple and easy to make. I want to eat healthy food, but I don’t want it to be complicated.
We used a baked potato instead of wedge fries, and layered some kale, the lentils, broccoli and yellow pepper on top.
Why add the veggies?
To increase the nutrients (= high nutrient density)
To decrease the overall calorie density (= low calorie density)
Veggies are the secret to optimal health (any health-related wisdom tells you to eat more vegetables!)
We loved the taste of these lentils, and they were even better a few hours later and the next day.
I would definitely make this recipe again, but I’d double it, so we could have more leftovers. You could put these lentils on a salad or on top of any whole grain as well. They’d work great to take to a pot luck too.
So, if you’ve been hesitant to break your Instant Pot cherry, have no fear. Once you make one recipe, it won’t seem like a multi-button, might-explode monster looming on your counter.
Thanks for reading, and I wish you success on your efforts to eat more healthfully.
After completing my 10-day water fast, I began what I think is the most important part of fasting: re-feeding: what I eat after the fast.
There are two phases of re-feeding:
The foods consumed in the first week to ten days after the fast
The way of eating that continues on a daily basis, for long-term health
I follow the re-feeding protocol used at True North Health Center (TN) in Santa Rosa, California. My confidence in fasting and re-feeding comes from my knowledge from two key books:
I also have first-hand experience fasting at TN for an 18-day water fast early in 2020 (right when Covid-19 hit, so I had to speed up my re-feeding).
My Re-feeding Phases
Day 1: fresh juice (celery/watermelon; celery/apple, celery/carrot/apple and celery watermelon). Day 2: fruit (except citrus) and juicy vegetables like lettuce, cucumber, zucchini and tomatoes. Day 3: Add all raw vegetables and citrus fruits as well as cooked veggies. Day 4: Add starchy vegetables like potatoes, squash, carrots. Enjoy thin soups. Day 5: Add legumes and thicker soups. Day 6: Add whole grains. Day 6: Add nuts/seeds.
Long -term way of eating: I am eating whole, plant foods without any added oil, sugar or salt. Occasionally, I will use mustard or a condiment that has a bit of sugar or salt, but that’s it. No alcohol for me. It is toxic to the body, and for a person like me recovering from breast cancer and wanting to prevent it from spreading or returning, booze is out.
Learn more about my weight-loss and mindset shifts that are helping me move toward long-term changes in my lifestyle and ultimately, optimal health.
