Archive for Success Story

I’m 50! Here’s my Diet and Body Image Story, See If You Relate.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERATomorrow I turn 50, woo-hoo!  Big day, and I thank God for all my blessings.  One of those blessings is that I’m healthier at 50 than I was at 40, and even 35.  Are my abs leaner? No. But that’s about the only health marker that hasn’t improved in the past several years since I gave up Dieting and switched to Real Whole Food.

Confession:  I used to be a food addict; and I had an obsession with wanting to be thinner and leaner. Now, after 28 years in the fitness and nutrition business, I can definitely say that way too many women feel the same way, and those thoughts rule the mind, and ruin the body.

It doesn’t have to be like that!

Here’s my story of dieting and negative body image, see if you relate.

I was a typical female teenager. I’d read Teen Magazine and Seventeen, stare at the models, and dream of looking like them. My first diet started when I was 15. I’d busted through the 114 pound weight limit I set for myself in 9th grade, which compelled me to sneak home a pack of Dexatrim – it worked, for a while. Til it didn’t. Next, I tried the Fruit Only diet; which worked less well than Dexatrim. In 12th grade I bought a pair of special pants that – for real here – attached to our vacuum cleaner, and I had to wear them while exercising – while the vacuum was running. I believed in those pants, but they didn’t work either. I still just looked like me.

Reality Check: at 5’6 and 128 pounds, I wasn’t overweight; I just didn’t look like the girls in the magazines, or on TV. And it bugged me.

Fast forward to 1987, I’d graduated from college and married Mark. My 4 years of college had me totally committed to the world of fitness,  I loved exercising!  Not only did I get a serious endorphin rush from workouts, (and still do) but I fully, deeply believed that exercise would keep me slim; the whole “calories in – calories out” theory. I took a full time job managing the Aerobics Department at a local gym, and my career was born. Through the rest of the 80’s, and the 90’s, my desire to be fit – and weigh less – never waned.

Well, actually, after my first baby, Megan, in 1990, between heavy nursing and working out, I got down to 114, my 9th grade goal weight! Let me tell you all: Happy. Days. But then she quit nursing and I got pregnant again (Amanda), and again (Macy), and again (Shelby).

Through constant diet efforts, I managed to stay around 128, but I never looked like Cindy Crawford. It bugged me. I wanted that thigh gap.

Sometime in the mid 90s, I switched from reading regular women’s magazines, to body builder women’s magazine. This did so much for my self esteem! Now my dream shape wasn’t just thin; it was ripped, lean, and muscular. (Strong is the new skinny.) Since I was a group ex instructor, and personal trainer, I had the opportunity to workout hours a day. I fueled myself with frozen diet meals, diet desserts, diet drinks, cereals that had more fiber than hay, and (thank you mom! ) vegetables. Meat was a rarity, and fat was an absolute no-way. I ate 5 to 6 “mini-meals” a day, carried my protein bars with me everywhere (I was scared I’d get hungry), and counted the hours to the recommended “cheat meals”, which sometimes consisted of a whole pizza and a pint of ice cream. No, actually, and honestly, that was just starter food; because I was never full from crap like that; I was just triggered to eat more.

Anyway, I thought it was such a great Diet Plan! Just like the women in the magazines! Except for when I fell off the wagon, which happened all the time. And not for a meal, but for a day, or two, or more. I lived on what I call the Diet Roller Coaster: Starve – Feast – Starve – Feast, for years. My weight actually averaged out, but it was all so consuming that I started to worry about myself. I didn’t want my 4 daughters disliking their body, or obsessing about food, like me.

I began to see the insanity of this cycle, but I couldn’t stop. I wanted to stop, badly, but I literally couldn’t. I went to a counselor sometime in my late 30s to describe what I guessed was bulimia, or food addiction. He told me I was probably either depressed or anxious, and did I want a prescription. I was neither, and I was pissed he’d even suggested that.

(Ever notice how often a doctors default with a woman’s health issues is, “do you want an anti-depressant?” )

This is when my health started to take a nose dive. Really, it started to go downhill at 30, when I developed asthma, but it took 10 years for me to see what was happening. (Inflammation from the crap I ate) The asthma came on quick and strong, and I was put on 3 separate daily drugs to “manage” it.

Then, after my 4th baby at 31, severe IBS began. Severe. Like, sometime starting in my mid 30s, my stomach would bloat every afternoon to the point of me looking 5 months pregnant.  And.. I had bad gas. It was awful. I thought it was a side effect of eating so healthfully….

Right around then my period stopped, for the first of many times. My GYN ran a blood test which determined I was so low in estrogen that the lab listed me as “post-menopausal”. I was 34. The solution? Put me on The Pill to force a period, and make me “normal” again. I did it, but it kept happening, for years. (Today I know that low estrogen isn’t normal, and it’s fixable.)

At 36, fatigue and low energy set in; a test showed my thyroid hormones were low, which meant daily thyroid meds. At this point, our medicine cabinet was loaded with drugs to deal with all the symptoms I considered completely normal: Gas X, Beano, Tums, Seravent, Advar, Fast Acting Inhalers, Armor, the Pill, Midol, and Advil. I popped these things in my mouth every day without a thought. I carried them in my car…. Now I carry systemic enzymes and “bitters”.

The final straw, my Ah-Ha moment, came at 40. I got my second blood clot. My doctor told me that since this was my second one, I needed to go on Coumadin, a blood thinner. OMG. Grandmas take that stuff! Thank you God for the clot, because THAT was my wake up call. Instead of Coumadin, I went to a Functional MD, and was put on systemic enzymes and big doses of fish oil, (actually, those were my starter supplements). Every blood test I’ve had since then has shown zero “sticky blood”, just normal blood.

For the first time, I started to look and connect what I ate, with the health problems I was having. Up til then, I’d just Dieted, which I thought was supposed to make me healthy, but it hadn’t. The big shocker: I realized that the majority of what I put in my mouth wasn’t actual food, it was Pretend Food that looked real and tasted great, or at least I thought it did at the time. But except for pretty big daily serving of vegetables, I lived on processed foods high in carbs, chemicals, and bad oils; in other words, pure crap.

I served COMPANY frozen diet dinners with vegetables added, topped with slices of fat free cheese! I thought I was a smart Gourmet! I wasn’t.  Those “foods” slowly made me sick, and kept me constantly hungry.

Over the next few years, I morphed from a “Diet” based paradigm, to a Real Whole Foods paradigm, eating (seriously) copious amounts of healthy fats, healthy meats, and absolute loads of vegetables.

I quit eating grains, then sugar. That was hard because I was addicted, but I preserved, and thank goodness! Today I use ZERO effort or will power to stay away from that stuff.

The “no grain/no sugar” scares people, but consider this. Imagine what it’s like to never have gas, bloat, or constipation. I said my stomach’s not as lean, but it’s flattish! Or to not constantly think about food.  Or to have more energy at 50 than at 40? My asthma’s gone. My thyroid labs are normal. My estrogen’s still low, but I made it through menopause, fully, without one hot flash or night sweat.

Best part? My weight’s not an issue. Not because I weigh 114 or 128, but because the obsession is over. The Diet Roller Coaster, which was caused by dieting, is over. I don’t gain every weekend and lose every week. I don’t promise myself every Monday morning that “this will be the week I lose weight.” I’m just…. stable, and normal. There’s still no thigh gap. I don’t for a moment look 20, but, I look fine.

I’ve stopped being so ridiculously hard on myself.

I feel like I used to live “Under The Dome”, but now I see how I was manipulated into wanting someone else’s unattainable ideal body image. Those images are just Temptations, trying to entice us to spend our money on products!

This brings me to the point of my piece: Women, I think many (most?) of us are the victims of slick marketing created to make us feel bad about our looks.

I think said marketing conspires to convince us that we’re too fat, too busy, too depressed, too stressed, and too inadequate to handle life with out special diet food, diet pills, diet aids and diet groups. Science Daily reports a study that says 75% of American women surveyed report unhealthy thoughts, feelings or behaviors related to food or their bodies.

Really? 75% of us feel badly about ourselves and/or food? Is this what we’re teaching our daughters? Talking about with girlfriends? We’re being duped into wasting most of our lives stressing and obsessing about our weight! This is criminal, and the efforts aren’t just making companies money (billions!) while we continue to gain weight; they’re making us sick, which leads to pharmaceutical drugs, which have side effects, which leads to more drugs.

Yes, I’m a conspiracy theorist. Here’s a few statistics that I base my conspiracy theories on: In 1960, about 10% of Americans were obese and an overweight child was a rarity. Today, we have 68% of our adult population either overweight or obese, and 1 out of 3 kids. In the 1970s, new Federal policy stated that Americans needed to lower their intake of fat and cholesterol from animal or tropical sources, which they did. Butter decreased and margarine and vegetable oils increased. Weight, Heart Disease, and Cancer rose.

In the 1970s, the same policy recommended that Grains comprise a majority of our diet, up to 12 servings a day, which we did; consumption of grains – and sugar – skyrocketed. Weight, Heart Disease, and Cancer rose. As weight and heart disease and cancer continued to rise, our doctors medicated us for the ills, and told us to eat less and exercise more. We have. Weight and disease continue to rise.

In the 1980s, weight loss centers, diet foods, and diet drugs, as a business, were booming. Today, Dieting is a multi billion dollar industry. We’re all dieting, and yet weight and disease continue to rise. This makes us feel pretty badly about ourselves.

Meanwhile, in 2015, 1 out of 4 American women are on a psychiatric drug. Read that sentence again. It doesn’t have to be like this. Women, we don’t have to be fat, bloated, tired, and unhappy. We’ve fallen prey to companies and foods that cause addictive behavior, that lead to weight ups and downs which cause depression, and Moms, if we don’t stop the cycle, our kids won’t just be on the same boat we are, they’ll be on a worse boat.

The Surgeon General says that there’s a strong possibility that todays children might be there first generation of American children to have a shorter life span than their parents.

I started by opening up to you about a decades long body issue and food battle. I put myself through some crazy crap, which I know from my work with other women is not unique. I don’t do crazy anymore, I changed. You can change. Anyone can change. Everyone can break cycles and habits.

If you’re ready to change, evaluate what you’ve been doing. Get in touch with me. The definition of insanity is doing the same old thing and expecting a different outcome, right? Change your belief system from Calories In Calories Out, Low Fat blah blah blah, to Food Is Medicine, or Food Is Poison.

Understand that good fat is good for us; starving ourselves backfires; our hormones always rule; and small plates and baby forks for weight control are Dumb. Come on! We can be positive examples for our kids; we can be the one in our circle to stop the cycle and start a trend; and let’s not waste another minute lamenting our stomach, thighs, butt, or weight. There’s so much more to life than that.

Success Story: Pain Gone and Weight Off

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI love it!  Another client who’s lost weight, eliminated pain, and – this isn’t in her story – got rid of daily bloat and IBS.

Its. The. Food.

But it’s not “diet food” that you need, as a matter of fact, Chrissy lived on a diet.  A typical low fat, healthy whole grain diet.

That doesn’t work, not for weight loss, and not for inflammation; no matter how intuitive it might sound that to lose fat, you shouldn’t eat fat, it’s the exact opposite of the truth.

Chrissy didn’t see me for weight loss, she already looked great.  Her weight loss was just a bonus side-effect of eating for health.  She came to me because of the daily pain she experienced, which wasn’t getting resolved despite multiple attempts with doctors-tests-drugs.

Her back pain, and her bloat-IBS, were just symptoms of inflammatory chemicals in the foods she was eating.  “Healthy” foods by normal standards, but foods I believe are causing terrible health, pain, and weight gain in most people.

Grains and sugars and chemicals aren’t good for any of us, that goes for our children who often recover quickly from any acute damage they cause.  No one can recover forever though.  Eventually, the side-effects of grains/sugars/chemicals will present themselves, every day.  

If you have issues you’re dealing with, from PCOS, to headaches, to sore joints, poor immune system, issues other than just weight, you’re not deficient in medicines, you’re nutrient deficient and damaged.  You can fix that!  

Read Chrissy’s story, and then get in touch with me.

“I’ve been dealing with terrible back pain since September 2013. I’ve had every medical test you can get – sonograms, X-rays, CT scans, MRI, back injections, physical therapy, blood work and finally a colonoscopy. I was tested for celiac. No one could give me an answer as to why the pain would come and go and vary in intensity. Meanwhile, I was LOSING days every single month because I couldn’t get out of bed due to the extreme pain. I was becoming very depressed and starting to lose hope I’d ever be out of pain. Until a follow-up with the gastro doc in January – 16 months after the pain started. They said all this pain could be food related. Rather than go on the diet they wanted me to go on, I got in touch with Debbie Brockett Abbott -a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner – and she has absolutely changed my life! Within 5 days of going grain and gluten free, 95% of the pain was GONE. ALL the pain was gone within 1 week of the diet change. Very quickly I realized that I have a terrible reaction to corn and that corn is in everything! I’m back in pain if I get even the tiniest bit of corn – corn starch, dextrose from corn, corn syrup, etc. It’s crazy. Yes, this way of eating takes time in the kitchen cooking and it took hours just to de-grain my kitchen. But my family has been incredibly supportive because they finally have a happy and FUNCTIONING wife/mom back in the house! And I’ve lost 6 pounds in the almost 2 months of eating this way and have a ton of energy – total BONUS for me! If you are dealing with any sort of pain, do some research. Look at food labels. See if eliminating certain foods could be an answer for you. We’ve all heard we are what we eat – I was eating way too many processed foods and cooking with things that had hidden ingredients I wasn’t even aware of. And if you are local, meet with Debbie!! She’s truly awesome. I’m learning so much about food and nutrition and am finally PAIN FREE! Whoo, hoo!!

Guest Man Post By Mark!

Here’s my husband of 27 years, Mark, with some of his Secrets to being a Lean and Fit 50 Year Old:) 

fullbodymarkYes, that’s me in the picture. Look again. I just turned fifty years old last week.

By this age, I should be that paunchy middle-aged guy, looking haggard, falling apart, displaying signs of fatigue, and complaining of a lack of sex drive. Those pharmaceutical mens ads remind me that my symptoms should include energy deficits, decreased strength, altered body composition, sexual dysfunction, and not surprisingly, depression. I should be, in this age of enlightenment, well into andropause, a clinically recognized term to describe the age related decline in testosterone. However, recent studies demonstrate that declining testosterone may not just be attributable to simply aging itself. So the question then becomes: Is there a way to stave off declines in testosterone production? YES. Lifestyle factors, particularly physical activity and diet, can influence testosterone levels.

I have not always had low body fat, above average muscle mass and a good and healthy outlook. I am a recent Success Story sculpted by Debbie Abbott and Rock Solid Nutrition & Wellness. If you’ve read and follow Debbie’s blog, you already know testosterone levels are falling worldwide at astronomical rates. Men, there is one very important hormone for us. It is Testosterone. Every man needs it. The older you get, the more you need it. You are dependent on it. You will be forever, regardless how you feel about it. Stop withering away and submitting pitifully to growing old, you can take matters into your own hands. Here’s how:

First, I know there are many men reading now, who have concluded immediately that I live in the gym, don’t work, and this lesson doesn’t apply in their lives. (That’s OK. You’re having an estrogen response- keep reading, I will explain later) Now I will tell you the fallacy of your argument. I am a top executive at a premier global corporation that requires and demands peak performance every day from its leadership.

I work sixty HOURS minimum each week.
I commute fifteen HOURS each week.
I workout in the gym ninety MINUTES each week.
No additional time in your life is required to make the changes needed to raise and maintain your testosterone to levels integral to health and well-being. Follow these guidelines and you can expect to feel like a MAN. As simple as that.

THE WORKOUT- Terrell Owens, Hershel Walker, Tim Tebow, and Suzanne Somers:
You do the WORK you get the RESULTS.

As a former collegiate athlete, I admire retired NFL players that have maintained their physiques well beyond their playing careers. Two of the fittest, Terrell Owens and Hershel Walker utilize bodyweight training, no equipment necessary, exercises put together in grueling workouts to push your body to the max, and it can be done just about anywhere. It’s all about getting back to basics. My workout consists almost entirely of sets of 100 push ups, pull ups, sit ups, thrust squats, and lunges. Get in, get it done, and get out. I’m rarely in the gym longer than thirty minutes. No social hour, no cell phone, no breaks- do your business and leave.

Make your workout mandatory in your daily routine. Resistance training is a must tomarkbicepcurl raise and maintain testosterone levels. Research consistently shows that lifting weights improves androgen activity. A number of studies have shown significant increases in testosterone levels immediately following resistance training, especially bodybuilding type training using multiple sets of a moderate number of repetitions while taking fairly short rest periods.

The Tim Tebow workout contribution to my testosterone boost- when you think you can do no more reps, demand ten more. See above. I can now exceed 130 pushups and beyond in one set. Anything is possible when you push yourself to the max. Break through limiting beliefs.

Suzanne Somers was right. I believe in the Thigh Master. I call mine a squat rack.

Lower body exercises increase anabolic hormones. Large muscle weight training boosts testosterone, increases testosterone receptor density (so the hormone works better) helps control abdominal fat, increases muscle mass, and enhances self confidence- all critical for maximizing testosterone levels and its effectiveness. Whole body exercises such as squats, lunges, and deadlifts increase testosterone much better than isolated exercises for the biceps and triceps such as curls and triceps pushdowns.

Your Estrogen Talking:
“I don’t have time to go to the gym”
“I’m too tired to work out after a long day at work”
“I don’t have enough time to work out”

Your Testosterone Action:
Get up 30 minutes earlier and exercise before you shower and go to work. You will be more alert during the day and you’ll sleep better at night.

More Estrogen Talking (no man should ever think this, but they do):
“I don’t want to get muscular and bulky from weight training”

Immediate Testosterone Response:
“Muscle takes up less space than fat, making you smaller and allowing your clothes to fit better”
Start working out. Take back your testosterone.

THE DIET- Man, I feel like a Woman (…..not anymore)

Processed foods cause women to act like men and men to act like women.

If you have been following Debbie Abbott’s blog at Rock Solid Nutrition and Wellness, you know by now that soy is estrogen enhancing and will alter testosterone concentrations in a negative manner. Soy is in practically every boxed and processed food product. Wash it down with that bottled water in a plastic container, and you have been eating and drinking three estrogen laden meals every day of your life.

It is no wonder that research shows the prevalence of andropause is widespread amongst middle aged men. In fact more than thirty- nine percent of all males aged forty- five and older have total testosterone levels considered below normal.
All the modern food we men have been eating our entire lives has estrogenic effects which have resulted in advanced deterioration of your testosterone levels.

Thanks to Debbie’s protocol I have eliminated the following “foods” from my diet in the last three years, all of which suppressed my testosterone production:

· No more processed boxed and packaged foods, sweets, pastries, and snacks
· No more sodas, diet sodas, colored or flavored waters, energy drinks
· No beef or meat products modified with hormones
· No bread products
· No homogenized and pasteurized dairy products including milk, ice cream, yogurts, cheeses
· No grain based alcohol, especially mass produced beer products (more on alcohol later)
· No fast food, chain restaurants, or convenience store foods

I do not enter 95% of the aisles in the supermarket. If you are a man in the processed food aisle, you’re probably more of a woman than you think. Stay away from estrogenic products. Take Debbie’s advice, go to the shelves or your kitchen right now and look at the ingredients in your food.

Testosterone is derived from cholesterol. As Debbie’s blog reiterates, what makes cholesterol? That’s right, lipids. Therefore, as you might expect, low fat diets are associated with a reduced testosterone production.
To optimize my testosterone levels, I load up entirely on quality saturated fats from animal sources. My diet consists mainly of:

· Raw unpasteurized milk. I drink one half gallon per day minimum.
· Fresh fish, beef, and lamb cuts.
· Fruits and vegetables
· Organic coffee
· Coconut Oil
· Eggs
· Water

Your Estrogen Talking:
“That food doesn’t work for me”

Your Testosterone Action:
“Studies show an inverse relationship exists with high stress levels correlating with low testosterone levels. Bad nutrition choices will stress you more and undermine efforts to improve your well being”

Your Estrogen Resisting:
“It’s too hard to get started”

Immediate Testosterone Response
“Remember, it is only effort until it is routine. It is much easier to keep going once you’ve gotten over the hump of starting. If you are chronically stressed out, a symptom of low testosterone, here’s yet another reason to take charge and do something about it now”

And finally for today,

Another factor that seriously affects your testosterone levels negatively is the consumption of alcohol.
Alcohol intoxication is shown to inhibit testosterone production for hours after ingestion. Alcohol interferes with testosterone production in a number of ways, including negative alteration of enzymes involved in testosterone synthesis, suppression of steroidogenesis in the Leydig cells of the testes (yes, your balls), and a down regulation of luteinizing hormone receptors. So, if you are slamming drinks on a regular basis, you most likely have chronically suppressed testosterone levels.

Less clinical, much more meaningful for men:

Alcohol fuels low testosterone, resulting in visible disappointment when those special moments arise (or not) with your significant other. We’ll discuss bedroom topics on a later post. But for now, in closing remember the word soft. From your beer belly to your attitude, if you can call it soft, it’s an estrogenic effect.

We will move towards hard in upcoming testosterone posts. Debbie has invited me to share my intermittent fasting, sleep, circadian rhythm, cold thermogenesis; glutathione, and antioxidant regimens which optimize hormone production in males. Till then………………………….

Success Story! Use It to Motivate and Inspire You

Terry’s Success Story is going to sound awfully familiar to many of you.  So many men and women today feel doomed to a negative, self-destructive relationship with food, regardless of weight or age.

You can be free from “Diet Prison“, I promise.  When you’re finally free, it’s amazing.  It’s like angels singing on high – LAAAAAAHHH!  The guilt, the burden, the self-recriminations, the anxiety driven eating, it’ll all go away.  You are not sentenced to an entire life of Misery By Food,  YOU CAN JUST BE NORMAL, I promise, I swear.  But you have to take action steps, because deeply engrained habits and addictions don’t just change spontaneously; it takes a plan, and a different belief system.  Enjoy Terry’s story and let me know what you think.

When Debbie asked me to share my “success story”, I told her that I just didn’t feel all that successful when it comes to eating. It is difficult to look back on my life and see it as a success story. I think back on all the bad choices I have made, all the damage I have done and all the years I’ve focused on my weight in a negative way. Where was the success in my story?

My terrible habits began at the young age of 14. I was only in 8th grade when I was recruited to run track and field at a high school level. I was a good runner, I loved the competition and I especially loved winning. I was tall (5’9) and skinny which was an asset to my sport, but my coaches feared that I would gain weight. That negative attention towards my body made me very self-conscious and I began to hate my height and, more importantly, my weight. I was never overweight but any negative feedback during such a delicate developmental age was taken to heart. My fear of becoming fat made me crazy. I obsessed about it and started to search for anything and everything that claimed to be “fat-free”. I read labels, I counted fat grams and I watched the scale like a hawk. Bagels, pasta, bread, candy, yogurt were all “fat free”.  I became addicted to carbohydrates and sugar but the self-imposed diet seemed to be working because I never gained a pound. Maybe it was because I was so young or maybe because I worked out at such a high intensity. It doesn’t really matter why I didn’t gain weight; to me it was proof my diet was working.

Sadly, weight fluctuations aren’t the only negative side effect of a bad diet.  Looking back, I suffered from many side effects. I had terrible acne, I was depressed, I experienced moods swings, compulsive behavior, low self-esteem and body dysmorphia. I slowly began turning to food to eradicate all my irrational feelings. When I was tired, I’d eat. When I was sad, I’d eat. When I was happy, I’d eat. Eating was an outlet that brought me relief and eventually, like with any addiction, things progressed. Binging soon followed. After I binged, I would panic and need to get rid of it. These irrational feelings grew into an uncontrollable eating disorder that followed me through high school and into college. It wasn’t until my early 20’s, when I started a job as a nanny for three small children that my eyes were opened to the impact of my disorder. I was watching two little girls and a baby boy and I feared that I would pass my problems onto to them. I never wanted those sweet kids to do what I was doing. They saved me from self-destructing and I never did it again.

Writing about my past is weird. I rarely think about what I went through much less talk about it. It is not who I am anymore but it is an important part of my story. I abused my body for over 10 years – binging, purging, yo-yo dieting, excessively working out and eating chemically enhanced “fat-free” foods. I suffered through years of sadness, anger, low self-esteem and self-loathing. Changing my past behavior took time, healing my mind and body took more time but forgiving myself has taken the most time. The lesson I have taken from my journey is that you have to forgive the past you for the mistakes you’ve made. I cannot change what I did but I can forgive myself so that I can move forward and take better care of myself now.

Moving forward has been really exciting. I have been cooking real whole food meals for my family and friends for two years now. I have been writing for a blog, 11 Magnolia Lane, and I share many of my recipes there. I’ve also started cooking for friends who either work outside of their home, don’t like to cook or just need help with eating healthier. Cooking for my friends has turned into a huge blessing for me. It has helped me through a very difficult year and it gives me purpose. I feel like I was meant to help people reach their healthy goals. Debbie has been a huge part of my success. She has mentored me through this whole process and I have learned so much from her over the past two years. She has been generously sharing her knowledge through her blog and nutrition classes with me. She simplifies the physiology of digestion, she explains why certain foods are toxic and she provides healthy recipes and alternatives to processed eating. Debbie has opened my eyes and my heart to this real whole food movement. She inspires me on a daily basis to take better care of my family through education and nutrition. She has challenged the way I shop and she has encouraged me to prepare and cook nutritious food for my family and for others. Debbie has inspired me to take something that I was interested in for myself and turn it into something that I share with others. That 14-year-old girl who used to view food as the enemy now sees it as an ally – – something that will improve her life and the lives of the people around her and that is what makes this, in my mind, a success story.

Need Willpower to Lose Weight? Build Habits, It’s Easier!

5 of us snorkelingI received a couple emails this week that I want to share.  The first one is from a woman named Chris who’s struggling with staying on a plan.  Here goes:

Hi Debbie,

I’ve been reading your blog, and other paleo blogs, and trying to follow the paleo eating plan.  I’m starving and I’m miserable, and I can’t go more than two days without eating cereal, crackers, or whatever is on the conference table at my office.  Is this impossible for someone with no willpower like me?

I told Chris I’d answer her in my blog, because this scenario is very, very common.  But first, here’s an email from Missy, who’s been working with me for a few months now. Missy is a single working mom; the definition of busy.  She’s struggled with food addictions and consistency, but her PERSISTENCE is paying off:

I hit the 10 lb mark on Saturday, already…. without even really thinking about it or concentrating on it other than to not eat grains. my mood and energy keeps slowly getting better and better and i’m feeling very motivated. people are starting to ask me what i’m doing and I go off like a crazy person about eating real whole food. hahaha I usually apologize and give them time to let it sink in and I give them the resources that I’ve found as well as your website and just tell them to inform themselves. be a smart consumer. don’t allow yourself to be misled by big food and big pharma. there’s no magic pill. there’s no starvation diet. one of the best lines in this book so far is “your body can’t tell the difference between jenny craig’s packaged meals and concentration-camp fare.”

I want to shout all this stuff from the rooftops!

I made a new dish over the weekend with spaghetti squash. it was creamy pesto chicken with peas and carrots over spaghetti squash. YUM! I made my boyfriend try it (he stopped at taco bell on the way to his house – I stopped at the grocery store), and he said that he would eat it if he HAD to, but that it tasted funny. haha as we were sitting there watching tv, me satiated and happy, him complaining that his stomach didn’t feel good and that he was starting to get hungry again (already only about an hour after he ate his taco bell), so I offered him some of my “pasta”. he said that he would eat it….. and then I got him to admit that it was good. 😀 I win. he ate a whole bowl!

The book Missy is referring to is one I recommend all the time, The Mood Cure or the Diet Cure, by Julia Ross.  She and I are meeting this week to discuss the protocols and science behind it.  I’ve said again and again, the amino acid therapy this book uses to re-adjust moods, addictions, anxiety, etc,  is incredible, honest.

Back to Chris,.. is eating Real Whole Food possible if you have no willpower?  YES!!  I used to eat literally a few boxes of ice cream a WEEK, and I could finish off a box of Kashi or Mini Wheats in TWO days.  And there-in lies the problem:  sugar, flour, and chemicals are incredibly addictive. You have to give them up if you want a healthy body and a healthy weight.  Unfortunately,  your addicted mind will rebel badly if your addicted body isn’t getting them.  What to do?  Be patient with yourself.  You’re breaking years ( decades??) of bad habits; neural pathways and brain patterns that have been nurtured and sustained over and over again.  You’ve got to build healthy habits!

Here’s a little strategy:  (1) You’re going to have to change the way you think about food.  Do the donuts on the conference table call to you?  Then you don’t think of them as sugar/flour/chemical bombs that cause cancer, diabetes, and heart attacks.  Want to dive into the bread basket?  Then you’re not thinking that the high insulin and blood sugar will give you wrinkles or make you impotent.  Think you’ll satisfy your needs hypnosis slimwith Weight Watchers frozen desserts?  Those chemical cancer factories will in NO WAY satisfy your brains desire for ACTUAL NUTRIENTS, and before you know it, the Rebound Binge happens.  Educate yourself!!  Read my site, read Grain Brain, read Wheat Belly, read Mood Cure.  Stop thinking of food in terms of calories; look around.  Where has the Calorie Myth gotten us?  70% overweight, and everyone’s sick.  That whole line we tell ourselves, “I’ll eat this now and exercise/starve/purge/just eat broccoli.. later”  DOESN’T work.  Ever. Your body is a Chemistry Set, not a Math Equation.

(2) Set yourself up for success.  If you’re hoping that you can keep your trigger foods in the house and ignore them, you’re wrong.  No One In Your House needs those foods.  Kids DON’T need sugar, flour, or chemicals, it has the same destructive effects on them as it does on you.  The average disease takes 20 years to manifest.  Just because your kids are slim now doesn’t mean poison food isn’t affecting them, because it is.  Toss that excuse out the window.

You MUST start planning your week; ask your self:  when can I shop, when can I cook, when can I pack?  What can I freeze and use later?  Then plan it and write it down on your schedule.  It’s a mind set.  Go into your office on a full belly, have a great lunch packed, know you’ll be eating Real Whole Food for dinner, and junk food at the meetings won’t call so loudly.  Out running around all day?  PACK!  and not stupid diet food, but Real Whole Foods, and those toxic fast food/gas station restaurants won’t be tempting.

If you’re persistent with your self education, and consistent with your planning and scheduling, change happens.  New habits form. The best thing?  Willpower, which uses up a lot of energy, is quite draining, and completely limited, isn’t necessary anymore.  Do you look at a dirty cigarette on the street and ever have even a tiny desire to put it in your mouth?  No, because you think it’s gross.  There’s no effort whatsoever involved with that decision.  Keep learning, stay determined, and pretty soon, there’s very little effort involved with your food choices.  You’ll just choose delicious food that you know your body needs to thrive.  You’ll become a Nutrient Seeker to your very core, and then the issue of willpower isn’t even an issue anymore.

Chris, and everyone else struggling out there, please don’t give up on yourself.  Real change, Brain Change, takes time. You’ve had a lifetime of hypnotizing by BigPhovernment that CaloriesInCaloriesOut works, and now consciously, you know it doesn’t.  It’s your subconscious that needs work.   If it’s important to you, then schedule a few minutes every day to fill your brain with the thoughts you want to think.  It’s not going to happen with luck; our life is what we make of it.  If you need help with your habits and consistency, get in touch with me.  I can help you understand your Biology and give you tips for your Psychology, to turn you into a Real Whole Foodie. ***** REMEMBER, TESTOSTERONE LADDEN GUEST POST BY MARK ON APRIL 13, TUNE IN FOR A MAN’S PERSPECTIVE ON BEING HEALTHY AND LEAN. *****

Success Story: Conquer Your Blood Sugar and Your Food Addictions

dominos energy liftYou’re going to love today’s Success Story.  Aida has been working with me since last Fall, and so far, she’s lost more than 30 pounds ( so has her husband ). She’s also reduced and eliminated several medications, become a regular “packer” and
“cooker”, and broken her food addiction.  Really broken, as in, it’s amazing.  Thank goodness she listened to her “fear”.  Too many people AREN’T afraid of the state of their health, they think their prescription drugs actually make them well.  They don’t.

If you’re on meds, say like, BP pills, statins, mood meds, migraine/headache pills, pain pills, stomach pills, etc, you’re got  problems.  These medications aren’t making you better, they’re suppressing and managing your symptoms;  the CAUSE of the symptoms is still there and still doing damage. If you want to get healthy, you have to (1) eat for health (2) figure out the root cause of the symptoms and address that (lifestyle changes).

Aida’s a Type 2 Diabetic; diabetes 2 is a LIFESTYLE disease.  It can be reversed lucky strikethrough lifestyle changes.  Insulin and blood sugar rise and fall according to our food choices, exercise/activity, and stress management. No One has diabetes because they’re deficient in diabetes drugs.  Did you know that by 2020, the CDC predicts that 50% of the US will be diabetic, and that it will cost 3.35 TRILLION dollars to “manage” it.  Not CURE it, or REVERSE it, but MANAGE it.  No health care system EVER could afford that.  EVER.

What about Food Addiction, because this is HUGE.  I know I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: if you’re trying to get healthy/lose weight with Low Fat, No Fat foods, or Diet Processed Foods, you’re just feeding and nurturing your addiction and furthering your inflammatory state.   You’ve got to ditch Grains, Sugar, Chemicals, and Hydrogenated Oils, and you’ve got to focus on a diet full of healthy fats, good proteins, TONS of vegetables, some fruits, some nuts and seeds, some dairy if you can tolerate it.  Grains, sugars, and chemicals stimulate the Addictive Areas of Your Brain.  Always.

Think you can’t live without your Cereal, your Bread, Your Beer or Wine (liquid donuts)?  You can.  Lot’s of people break their addictions, why couldn’t you?

7UPMoms and Dads, are you raising future Diabetics, or future Food Addicts? If you’re raising your kids on a diet of pop tarts, cereals, sandwiches, pizza, and junk food, rest assured, you are.  And it will happen to them far quicker than it happened to your generation.  No One can eat those foods without accumulating damage.  No One.

Take control of your thoughts, instead of nurturing your addictions, nurture positive habits and attitudes about food, yourself, and exercising. Forget everything Big Food, Big Pharma, and our government has told you about Healthy Whole Grains.  All carbohydrates are broken down to single cell sugars in our gut; that means ALL CARBS BECOME EITHER GLUCOSE OR FRUCTOSE.  ALL OF THEM. High blood glucose and fructose levels and high insulin create an inflammatory state, and inflammation’s the cause of EVERY DISEASE OUT THERE.  You can change yourself.  Honest.  You can be an inspiration and example for your children.  You can feel energetic and well; you can be a healthy weight, start with Real Whole Food.

Here’s Aida’s story:

Last fall, I was scared. I was tired. I was frustrated.

I had let my health go unchecked, even though I knew better, and was on a lot of medications.  I had let my appetites go unchecked, knowing that it was hurting my body, but I was addicted.  Now, my doctors were getting really serious with me, and it made me scared. They kept adding more and more medications.  I had to do something, but I felt as if I had tried everything before and failed. Why try it again to just fail again?  When I tried to do what the doctors told me to do, it seemed as if I never improved, and sometimes got worse.  I was also seeing my husband’s health getting worse as well.  We didn’t want to do another weight loss diet. We needed to get healthy.  We wanted to get healthy.

Someone suggested I look at this website, and enter Debbie! Debbie sat us down together and began teaching us.  This is the first time I had heard most of the information she was sharing.  Her plan for us began with just eat real whole foods!  Our health would begin with what we put in our mouths, and our attitudes towards our foods.  Stop wheat and other grains – which we had done before and were somewhat successful with.  We knew we could do that.  Stop sugars, including most artificial sweeteners,  which would be tougher, because I was addicted.

We listened to what she had to say and began implementing this new approach and were shocked that almost immediately we saw improvement in our health.  Hunger went away.  Cravings went away.   For me, my blood sugars normalized within days!  I began to look forward to my next round of doctors, just to make sure that this new way of life was really working.  And it was!  All my “numbers” showed improvement within a couple of months, and have continued to improve with each doctor visit.  I have been taken off some of the medications.

Through monthly meetings and daily emails, Debbie has continued to teach and encourage.  She has helped me understand what makes me personally healthy. She has helped me with my food addictions. My husband’s health also reflects the changes we have made.

Now, I am looking forward to this spring, with clarity, with energy, and healthier (and lighter) than I have been in over 30 years!

Aida M. Kling

 

 

Want To Lose Weight? It’s Simple, Honest. & Another Success Story – Use It For Inspiration.

jigglemacineI was checking out at the grocery store the other night and the lady behind me, who had a few pounds to lose, was unloading her items onto the conveyor belt.  She had a cart full of Diet Products: diet bread, diet soda, diet ice cream, diet frozen meals, diet cookies, diet cheese.  She looked at me and said,” time to do this again because I’ve gained so much weight with this snowy winter”.  I wish I could have said something, but that would have been rude.  She was a stranger. I save unsolicited advice for my kids and husband, (who appreciate it tons and hang on my every word).

Just an hour earlier, I’d wrapped up a nutritional consult with someone who’s under a tremendous amount of stress (seriously, if there were a competition, she’d win.  I don’t know how she does it.)  She comes from a heritage and country where rice and noodles are common and normal. (sounds like America, but it’s not.) She’s lived here several years and feeds her family traditionally.  She and I have met before about her weight and her willpower, and my advice is the same now as it was then.

To both ladies, and everyone out there trying to lose weight:  Traditional dieting,fat banished w tapeworms where you cut calories and fat, and maybe use Diet Products, is PROVEN to MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT.  PROVEN, in study after study.  You might lose a few pounds or several initially, but if you lost the weight DIETING, you’ll gain it back.  Unfortunately, the havoc you wreck with your hormones (thyroid, estrogen, neurotransmitters, insulin, cortisol) and your liver, will slow your metabolism and create signals in your brain that are focused on GAINING weight in case the starvation situation happens again.  

Let me repeat:  If you’re eating products like pasta and bread, or any sort of Diet Product, you’re putting substances in your body that make you GAIN WEIGHT and cause disease.  Also, those foods are addictive.  “Moderation” doesn’t work with these foods.  As long as you’re eating flours, sugars, and chemicals, you’re nurturing the addictive areas of your brain.  If you want to lose weight you’ll have to Ditch Those Foods Forever.  Scary?  I know.  And sad too.  Trust me though, once you’re free, you’re FREE. You won’t miss them once the addiction is gone; as a matter of fact, fake foods and processed foods will taste horrible once you switch to Real Whole Foods.

Here’s the amazing thing:  we’re all smart people.  In most of life, if we try something and it doesn’t work, we move on.  That’s normal.   That doesn’t happen with Dieting.  It’s NEVER worked. Ever. In all these years.   I’ve counseled people now who’ve literally done more than 20 attempts at losing weight through several different and some repeat Diet Methods.  There’s some initial weight loss, regain, additional gain, and eventually, NO WEIGHT LOSS AT ALL using methods that previously worked.  And yet, there’s this odd willingness to keep trying the same old thing over and over and over.  What’s the definition of Insanity?  Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Listen to what your body is telling you:  Flour, Sugar, and Diet Products make your mind and body sick.  You’ll never lose weight permanently, feel energetic, and be healthy as long as that’s your paradigm.  Ever.  If you read this and you think, “no way can I give up my cereal/crackers/wine/girlscoutcookies etc, know this: your addiction centers are calling your shots.

You can quit, you can change, you can lose weight and feel great, but ONLY on Real Whole Foods.  Really, google “keep weight off after dieting” and read the depressing headlines that pop up.  If you’re struggling, get in touch with me.  People with the same addictions to food that you have have successfully changed their life because they developed HABITS and ATTITUDES about their health and their food that makes their body happy and calm, as opposed to the stress and anxiety of Dieting.

Here’s that Success Story, use it for strength.  Cindi is a single mom with a more-than-full-time job and 2 boys who play lacrosse every day up and down the East Coast.  She’s busy, and she’s managed to make Real Whole Food work for her and her sons.  ( No, she doesn’t have a cook.)  It’s just an attitude, a lifestyle pattern, remember that other quote I love: It’s just an effort until it’s a habit.

I am a 54 year old mother of two teenage, very active boys.  I am the Program Execution Director for a large business unit of a major defense contractor.  I commute roughly four hours each day and have a demanding job while at work.   I am active and energetic and am used to feeling good most of the time.  I have suffered from periodic migraines for many years along with annual bouts with colds, bronchitis and allergies.  Overall, I felt pretty healthy and other than my migraines, I viewed the colds, etc as somewhat routine.  I love to cook and make many of our meals but we eat out often or I turned to convenient meal options at home (tacos with taco seasoning mix, recipes including packaged ingredients, lunch meats) due to my hectic work and my boys’ hectic lacrosse schedules with year round games and tournaments.  Over the last year or so, I began feeling increasingly achy, particularly in my knees and joints.  I also was unable to shed the extra 10 pounds that I had gained over the last couple of years despite following multiple regimens (very, very frustrating and demoralizing!).  I was tested for arthritis and went to the orthopedist as well for a knee check…..nothing abnormal.  I continued to exercise regularly by walking, lifting weights, doing yoga and ballet barre work but always felt very stiff even after yoga stretching and ballet.  Given that there are so many variables to how a person feels, along with the marching of time, I just assumed I felt bad because I was getting older and had a stressful life.

I have known Debbie Abbott for over 9 years and have trained with her regularly throughout this period.  She is extraordinarily positive, compassionate, educated, and interested in learning and teaching friends and clients about nutrition and health in a non-judgmental, kind manner.    I value immensely my time with Debbie as I always feel good after being with her.  I mentioned how I was feeling to Debbie during a training session and she suggested I do a nutritional analysis.  I completed the paperwork.  Debbie also suggested a simple 10 day detox that consisted of organ supportive supplements and easy-on-the-liver-and-organs organic whole foods such as a fruits and vegetables, homemade broth, lean protein AND NO CARBS other than those from fruits and vegetables.  Debbie was very supportive leading up to and during my detox, offering to gather the foods that I needed and bringing over homemade bone broth to kick start the process.   I have to admit that I did not have very high expectations for this 10 day period as it just didn’t seem like I was doing that much that was different from my regular eating routine.  Boy, was I wrong.  I got on the scale routinely during the 10 day period and the number was going down almost every day.  At the end of the detox period, my weight had dropped almost 10 pounds and my general feeling of achiness was subsiding.  I did another 10 day detox.  After the 20-day period, I had dropped 14 pounds and my knees and joints felt much, much better.  It was as though my system had been clogged and my revised diet and supplement regimen had freed the clog to enable my body to function normally again!  I went through the detailed nutritional analysis with Debbie after the detox and she recommended specific supplements and enzymes for me to correct what appeared to be a general inflammatory condition that had probably developed over years.  I have now been taking the supplements and eating (for the most part) a sensible whole foods diet with very few carbs for over 15 months.  I do not place limits on any real foods, including the use of butter and nuts.  My weight has remained stable within a pound or two over the 15 months and overall I feel very good.  I have not had a migraine in 15 months which is remarkable as I was having one almost every month prior!  I have not had a cold or any digestive upsets in 15 months.  As a matter of fact, this is the first 15-month period since I was in middle school that I have not gotten bronchitis and had to go on antibiotics!  I am mindful of the things that I buy and eat by asking myself if the food will do anything for me and my boys nutritionally……..sounds like a little thing, but over time it works.

I am thrilled that I now have a sensible diet that is flexible with few restrictions.  I eat well and feel good almost every day.  I am thoroughly convinced that the marching of time is not a leading indicator for feeling bad and that what we eat is hugely important!  I am very grateful to Debbie for her insight, support, and nutritional guidance.  If you have the opportunity to work with her or interact with her, seize it!  You will be rewarded in many, many ways.  – Cindi Shelburne

Success Story! Recipe and Meal Ideas:)

You’re going to love this Success Story – I do!  Aimee so perfectly describes a Diet Roller Coaster that it should be in a dictionary.  Here’s her story:

After years dieting and just coming off of a strict low/no fat, 750 calorie diet AND topped off with 10 days of a Liver Detox, my body was MESSED UP. I came off the cleanse with out of control cravings and immediately gained 45lbs in a matter of three months, not to mention that I was a weepy, grouchy, exhausted mom. Did I mention that I was grouchy? I could not stop eating things that I knew were wrong for me – especially at night – I couldn’t stop to save my life! I heard of Debbie Abbott from a good friend of mine who said “Debbie has a gift of explaining things so that they make sense.” I signed up for a class that she had on Digestion and it really answered many things that I had been struggling with for a long time. Following the advice has completely changed my health around from the inside out:) I hadn’t realized that even though I was eating, my body was literally starving for nutrients. It is taking a while to undo all of the damage that I have done but Wow! what a difference in my energy and mood! The inflammation in my joints has significantly decreased as well. It is such a relief to know that I have the information that I need AND that I trust. I was also able to relay this message to my mom who had a blood sugar of 210. She and I rejoiced in the fact that within a few months of monitoring and eating correctly, her blood sugar is now staying around 80. No medication…just eating correctly and exercise. Thank you Debbie for all of the words of wisdom that you are so willing to share with everyone. You have truly made a difference in my life:)

If you want to be a healthy weight, and have a healthy mind and body, you’ll need to give your body what it wants.  And it doesn’t REALLY want ice cream, crackers, wine, or cookies.  Honest.  That’s your self-destructive urges talking there.  Your body wants the Nutrients necessary to perform all it’s functions.  Let’s look at just a few.

Your body needs to build your brain, which is 60% fat/25% cholesterol.  Glucose/sugar has a devastating effect on brain cells/neurons/connections. Glucose “glycates” parts of the brain, that means function and communication is ruined.  How well do you think a low fat, high carb diet is going to make your brain function?

Your body needs to digest food and then absorb the nutrients from it so that those nutrients can be sent throughout your body.  If you’ve compromised gut function by taking acid suppressors, then food breakdown and nutrient absorption isn’t happening.  Pretty soon, all those warnings on the antacid box will start coming true:  weak bones, weak immune system, vitamin B deficiencies, etc.

Your body needs to make Neurotransmitters, so that you can feel Even and Normal.  You’ll need protein, fat, and minerals to do that, which are absent in Cereal, Pasta, and Bread.

Your body demands a certain level of calories or it’ll TURN OFF your thyroid gland, and quit making Serotonin (a feel good neurotransmitter).  Low calorie diets also force your body to take muscle proteins and convert them into fuel, slowing down your metabolism even more.

Your body wants a LOT of healthy fats (saturated animal fats, coconut fats, olive/avocado oils), Tons of vegetables (everything from leafy greens to cruciferous, to starchy), some protein, some fruit, and some nuts and seeds.  Real Whole Food.  Eat enough at each meal that you’re not hungry again in 2 hours, that’s ridiculous.  We shouldn’t need to be on an all day eating schedule for several reasons; two are: (1) to go into hormonal Fat Burning Mode, glucose levels need to be completely NORMAL, 80-100mg/dcl of blood  (2) the gut’s not meant to function constantly, it’s a long explanation, but it needs rest periods.

I’ve posted enough Success Stories now that you should be seeing the pattern:  no one improves by going on a diet and adding medications.  No one.  Your body doesn’t want to starve, and will resist you, and NO ONE IS DEFICIENT IN A MEDICINE.  No one.

To reinforce that starving yourself isn’t necessary, and is in fact, disastrous, here’s a chocpbcakecake that we made Friday night for a family dinner, it was Delicious!!!  I got the recipe off of All Day I Dream About Food.  We served it after eating a dinner of 10 hour chicken (put a bunch of breasts in a big pan, a cup of water, lots of S&P and herbs,cover w foil,  200*, then shred), a bunch of broth/kale/onions/tomatoes/garlic/asiago cheese,  and roasted sweet potato (lots of butter and salt).

Honestly, Honestly, I SWEAR, if you want to be a healthy weight, with a healthy mind and body, low cal/low fat/tons of exercise ISN’T the way to do it.  You have to, you MUST, work with your body.  Give it the nutrients it uses to build every cell, every tissue, and give it the calories it needs to NOT SHUT YOU DOWN.  Go back and look at Aimee’s Diet Roller Coaster description.  Then make the decision to get OFF the Diet Roller Coaster like she did.  You can do this!

P.S. I didn’t make that cake, 2 of my daughters did.  I actually never make anything that has that many ingredients; I trend towards shorter recipes, like this recipe here.

 

Got Bloat? You Shouldn’t. Food Ideas:) Success Story!

Got Bloat? Reflux? Gerd? Ever heard of SIBO, or Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth?   You know how I say that Stomach Problems Aren’t Normal, and if you’ve got bloat/gas/cramps/reflux/constipation, don’t medicate it, FIX IT?  That’s because these symptoms are the beginning of and signs of much bigger problems: leaky gut, migraines, auto-immune conditions, decreased immune function, obesity, skin problems, etc etc.  If your digestion’s off, you’re in trouble, and it’s not because you’re deficient in antacid.

Not ENOUGH stomach acid is the problem for most people, and it becomes too low because it’s effected by so many things:  birth control pills, pain meds, OTC meds and prescription meds, obviously Antacids, chlorine/fluorine in municipal water, STRESS/CORTISOL, and sugar/refined flours/chemicals in foods.  Mess with the pH of the stomach, and all downstream gut function is compromised.

One thing that can happen is the Small Intestine, (which should hold anywhere from zero to a “few bacteria”/up to a million), develops an OVERGROWTH of normal bacteria ( not necessarily the bad stuff,  although they can and do proliferate if there’s insufficient acid to kill them). Another possibility? Studies show that LARGE INTESTINE bacteria (which numbers about 100 TRILLION) can migrate UP to the small intestine.  AHH!!  Not good, they don’t belong there.   Why would they do that?  The pH environment is off, so undigested and slow digesting carbs/sugars are not being absorbed properly in the small intestine. They call to those Large Intestine bacteria like cookies call to you.  Eat me eat me… How do you know if this is happening?

BLOAT’s a big sign.  There should be NO fermentation that causes bloat/gas/pain/cramping in the small intestine.  The small intestine is for digestion and absorption.   Fermentation is ONLY supposed to happen in the Large Intestine, which was set up and designed for it.

If you’ve got any of these stomach issues going on, and you follow the advice to “eat more fiber”, you’re probably NOT noticing any improvement.  The fibers (there’s several types), which are undigested/hard to digest Carbs, are just feeding that Small Bowel Overgrowth. On the other hand, if everything’s NORMAL, fiberous foods and slow digesting carbs shouldn’t bother you.

What about constipation, could that be a result of SIBO?  Yep.  MMS stands for Migrating Motor Complex, that’s contractions in our intestines that move food and SWEEP THE AREA CLEAN OF THINGS THAT DON’T BELONG.  MMS is impaired by Stress/Cortisol and eating too often.  Do either of those ever happen to you?

If you’ve got Bloat/Cramps/Reflux/Diarrhea/Constipation/GERD, you need to Heal and Seal your gut.  It’s not difficult, but it can take a while to normalize and repair damage, months. Your body wants to return to normal though, so you’ve got that on your side.

Changing the subject, how about No Recipe Food Ideas, with pictures?

stuffpotatThis first picture is Stuffed Potatoes:  bake the potatoes for an hour, scoop out the insides and mix with bacon, butter, cheese, broccoli, and broth or milk, rebake for 15 minutes.  Kids love this one!

Next is a mix of Broth, Sausage, Onions, Carrots, andpotstove Brussels, tons of herbs, salt, and pepper.  No Recipe, no measurements.

Last is a meal I made for Shelby after a late practice (wet fields, everyone’s sharing the gyms), of chicken sausage, roasted potatoes (from a previous meal, frozen), and broccoli (frozen), that I just cooked fast shellatein a pan with coconut oil.

Cooking’s not Rocket Science, but it can take practice to get in the Mind Set of always having ingredients on hand, scheduling the time, and planning.

Let me leave you with a Motivating Success Story and the phrase, ” Your body is a Chemistry Set, not a Math Equation”:

Hey Debbie, I would like to thank you for introducing Paleo to my life. Today officially I have lost 10 lbs since your Paleo Christmas party. My husband lost more than 20 lbs and he doesn’t even work out !
So thank you very much! Xoxoxoxo

 

Success Story! Weight issues, Fatigue, Joint Pain, and Reflux – sound familiar?

motivation and habitI love when I get to post a Success Story because they always hit home with so many people.  This one will also:  smart woman, years of weight issues, several diet attempts, stomach problems, joint issues, fatigue.  Ring any bells?  Rebecca solved all this without counting any calories, or following any traditional diet paradigms.

Here’s her story:

Like most women, I have struggled with weight my whole life; it wasn’t until I really started to have some significant quality of life issues, that I realized that something had to change….and fast!
I had met Debbie Abbott years ago where my husband Tim and I belonged to Old Town Athletic Club where she was a trainer/instructor, but had not really seen her in years. As God would have it, she ended up coming to Grace Bible Church where I had been a member of for years. Debbie was offering the women of the congregation some nutritional counseling classes and that was when I became aware of her nutritional training. I was unable to make the classes due to my work/life schedule in the Fire and Rescue Department, but took this as an opportunity and prompt to call her to make private appointments with her which I shared with my Mother, who was also having some health concerns.
It was February 2011 that we first got together, prior to our meeting, Debbie asked me to read some information on Mark’s Daily Apple “with an open mind” so I would have some knowledge on the subject of Paleo eating before we met. Well let me paint the picture of what my life was like at this point: in early 2011, I was 44 years old, a wife, mother of two children ages 24 and 6, and a 21 year Firefighter/Paramedic/Supervisor. Overall, I have always been active, considered myself healthy and obviously my job demands a certain minimum level of fitness. With the exception of a few very short periods of time in my life, I always seemed to be carrying that extra “20 or so pounds” around and praying/wishing/making new years resolutions that they would go away! Sound familiar? I followed every conventional diet known to human kind and with each one, I would loose some weight and it would come right back because it was never anything that I could maintain or feel good enough to want to. I had a life long history of elimination miseries and lactose intolerance, food sensitivities that would cause my skin to itch and break out, brain fog etc….. Finally, I had hit a wall, I went to my Doctor and had every known test done to find out why I was having chest and back pains, severe joint pains with weakness and disability, fatigue and trouble sleeping. I truly was fearful I had something really seriously wrong with me. I knew if things didn’t turn around soon, the state of my health was going to end my career long before I could really afford to retire! Well of course the Doctor said I was “fine”, maybe a little vitamin D deficiency but otherwise all my vitals looked great, BP 100/60, resting heart rate of 56, cholesterol and all blood levels NORMAL. I can tell you, I was far from normal or healthy!!! Now I had just given up cream in my coffee cold turkey to stop having the chest and back pain that the dairy was causing, but when I met with Debbie that first day and we talked about “grains and processed foods” something in me just clicked! I had tried conventional wisdom, the standard American diet and the laughable food pyramid to no avail. I was ready to really make a change that would be permanent and not only take my pain and fatigue away but lengthen my life and it’s quality….remember I had a six year old at the time and I really want to be able to enjoy the eventual grandchildren from both of my kids!
So I really took to heart everything that I was learning from Debbie about blood sugar and digestion, that is where it starts folks! After that very important first revolution and enlightenment, it is an adventure in real whole foods that has been so rewarding! The kicker is that not only did I start to feel better right away, no more roller coaster of ups and downs but the weight literally started falling off me : ) Everywhere I went, people would say something about how good I looked and asked me what I was doing. My self esteem had really taken a beating all those years with all the weight I had been carrying. People would always tell me that I was not overweight but “large framed” but I knew better, I felt terrible in my own skin. I was an educated health care provider for Pete’s sake! I was supposed to be an example to those I work with and here I was, unsuccessful in loosing the weight and keeping it off despite my “healthy lifestyle”. Oh we all thought we were doing everything right, grilling, baking, eating salads, using all the right oils and eating a “balanced” diet full of veggies, lean meats and fruits and yes lots of whole grains…the complex carbs, Hah! I felt so betrayed! After I got over the “I wish I had learned this 30 years ago, I got busy. I had to rethink everything I ever knew about healthy eating….low fat, high complex carbs, taking a multiple vitamin daily…blah blah blah! In a matter of weeks, there was such a noticeable difference both on the inside and out. The pain in my shoulders, elbows and wrists had just about disappeared, (caused by the inflammation in the grains I had been consuming daily) I was sleeping better, my mind was clearer and get this? I would eat three meals a day, with out snacking and I was really satisfied (and not hungry an hour after just eating a normal sized meal) throughout the day where I hadn’t been before following all the other “diets”.
I love to shop for and cook fresh food and I am blessed to have a wonderful, supportive husband, which I know is a big part of my success! My Daughter (who has lost 70 pounds!) my Mother,and my Husband have all experienced improved health and weight loss due the changes we have made in our daily eating, choosing real whole foods. Debbie frequently says , “leanness is a side effect of good nutrition”, and “nutrition is 90% of it”! I have adopted another saying from “Paleo Mom” when sharing this lifestyle with others,”It is only effort until it becomes routine”, that is so true!!! If you know me, you know that if I believe in something, I will talk your ear off about it! I just love telling people about real whole foods and staying away from anything processed or artificial. What breaks my heart is seeing all the people who you know could be so much healthier and happier if they could just get past the “I can’t give up this or that”. If they only realized that they would be getting so much more out of their lives and enjoy each day more if they would just “open their minds” and give real whole food a try. I am a true believer, never going back to the old way of eating, why would I? I have maintained a 25 pound weight loss for almost 3 years now…without dieting, exercising to excess or feeling hungry or deprived.

I am starting my 25th year in the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department as an EMS Supervisor/Captain II, and I no longer doubt that I can do my job and I look better in my uniform and feel like I am being the positive roll model for others in the department that I have always wanted to be.

I am so very grateful to Debbie Abbott for her tireless dedication to bringing the truth about real whole food nutrition to me; her passion is contagious and I hope everyone gets “the bug”!