Head Up Eating Bites

Continuing with the Simpson's theme is this little gem poking fun at eating when you're not hungry.



A while back I read a great little post about a way to tell if you are truly hungry. Ask yourself, where does my hunger come from?

If your feelings of hunger originate from the neck up, your hunger is emotionally based.

If you feel hunger from the neck down, your body is telling you it is hungry.

This advice was great when I heard it the first time, but I figured out why it didn't always work for me. It's because I was eating my "Trigger Food."

When I ate sugar, my emotional eating increased and I often overlooked the fact that it was emotional because I just wanted to eat the food I was addicted to.

So, identify those trigger foods, stop eating them, and learn to eat from the neck down. It's a pretty liberating feeling to be in control of your appetite. And next time you'll know when to stop eating, even when you "can't seem to stand up under your own power any more."

Sugarholic Synonymous

30 days!

I just completed 30 days without sugar.

Yes, it's like being on a deserted island taunted by sweets

How do I define "sugar?" Anything on a label that says sugar, evaporated cane juice, cane juice, high fructose corn syrup, or corn syrup. I do not include natural sugars that are associated with fruit. I consume xylitol and agave (for now - might cut that too). My two sweeteners of choice are honey and dates.

I have never experienced the traditional vices. Never drank alcohol. Never smoked a cigarette. Never tried any drugs. Never had an issue with prescription drugs. But I've had an addiction. I've been addicted to sugar in the traditional sense of the word.

I've learned over the last year or so that sugar was my trigger food.

• It triggers greater consumption of sugar. 
• It triggers my appetite.
• It triggers fluctuating emotions. 
• It triggers eating when I'm not hungry.
• It triggers weight gain. 

I've heard "Everything in moderation" all my life. But it does not work for me and sugar. Sorry Mom.

One of my wonderful co-workers has a candy dish filled with M&M's. If I have one M&M, I have five.   If I have five, I have twenty. I can't eat just a couple pieces. 

For a while in our home, the only sugar we had was a 3 lb bag of chocolate chips from Costco. We went through two of bags of chocolate chips a month. If I had 10 chocolate chips, I'd have 50. 

I am addicted to sugar. 

So how have I felt the last 30 days without sugar?

• In control of my appetite. I listen better to my body's cues when it says it is full. This is a whole topic by itself, but suffice it to say, my senses are not dulled or dimmed by sugar
• I've been happier. I don't get discouraged when things aren't going according to plan. I feel more motivated to get stuff done. 
• I don't feel tired when I get home from work. This is a combination of a few factors, but still a great side effect.
• I feel empowered. The other day I had to buy donuts for an activity for the church youth. I walked into that donut shop and the sugar in the air and other aromas caused me to crave it immensely. All I wanted was to eat a donut. That night as they sat out in the open the only thing that kept me from eating the donuts was the tally sticks on my glass wall at work. I didn't want to end my streak. It empowered me to avoid sugar.
• I'm losing weight. Again, other things factor into this.  
• I don't have to count calories to lose weight. More on this in another post.

My original goal was no sugar in January (we weren't going to buy chocolate chips). My revised goal became no sugar until my birthday in May. But I will take it to a greater extreme and say, "No sugar until our family cruise this fall." That would be 9+ months of no sugar. 

Ironically, that's the length of time a certain book advocates for expectant mothers to have a wonderful pregnancy experience. Jenny did this to a certain extent with the last baby with success, but intends to follow the diet completely for our next one. 

In sharing this, my purpose is not to declare that sugar is as addictive as heroin. That could be true, but studies change, science changes, and who knows what contradictory evidence will come out against that statement.

I firmly believe that the right diet for you is not found in one book or website or that it comes from avoiding that one food or group of foods. It's found in acquiring truth from many different sources and then listening to your body and spirit teach you what things you need to do. It's about learning precept upon precept and here a little and there a little. 

For now, for me, I need to avoid sugar like the plague. So that's what I'll do. 

What's My "Why?"

It wasn't until our foray into "Network Marketing" that I heard about the concept of your "Why." What's your "why?" What's the reason behind the effort? Why do you want to be successful?

In the case of weight loss, the question is "Why do you want to lose those pounds?"

It hasn't been until this year that my "Why" behind weight loss has been this strong. Before I reveal my strongest "why" let me go over the other top five whys over the years:

6. Circumstances

This isn't a why, which is why it's my lowest rated option. But when I spent two years in Venezuela (heat, walking, parasites, remember?) or played High School Football I naturally lost weight because of the circumstances. In 2006 I played a lot of basketball because I had a good group of guys to play with so I slimmed down a bit because of all the exercise. It didn't motivate me to lose weight, I just did.

5. Fear 

I have a family history of diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart problems. My dad died at 54 of a heart attack. Mom has Type II diabetes. I don't want to get diabetes and I don't want to die young.

4. Incentive

The first time I lost a significant amount of weight my brothers in law offered me one month of a health product for free if I lost a certain amount of pounds. I've lost weight as part of a weight loss challenge with family members. I lost weight when my company offered to pay for my Weight Watchers membership. Monetary incentives can certainly help.

3. Worthy Goals

Before I was married someone made a comment to me about how I needed to get into "Naked Shape." That was a very good goal to have right before the marriage and honeymoon! In 2007 I wanted to hike the Grand Canyon "Rim to Rim" and needed to get into better shape for that.

2. Spite

I hate to admit it, but the thing that prompted me to do HCG back in 2011 was a comment someone said to me. In anger over something completely unrelated to weight and health this person said, "Steve, get your fat a$$ out of my life!" That was the first time someone had called me fat since I was a kid in school and that motivated me. I didn't want to remove myself from this person's life, but I decided I'd get my "fat a$$" out of that person's life by not being fat. It worked.

1. Love

Love is my strongest why. For three reasons:

1c. I love my wife. She believes in me. She wants me to accomplish this goal and she's shown me a path to health and been super supportive. I love her so I will do my best to reach this goal.

1b. But loving Jenny isn't enough. I need to love me. I need to love the person I am, but more importantly love the person I can become. When I was dating Jenny, I chased after her. I did whatever I could to be with her and win her love in return. Now I need to chase that man (that sounds weird) but what I really mean is I need to chase with love the person I can be. I need to pursue him with the same intent I had when I was dating Jenny.

1a. I love the Lord, Jesus Christ. He is the one who can help me become what I can be. I have felt promptings over the years that encouraged me to cease to be idle, to work hard, to not spend my labor and my money for that which is of no worth. I feel like my extra pounds are a personal symbol of the extra sin I have. I love Him and I want him to help me purify my life, even in this temporal arena of weight loss.

And that's what makes a lifestyle change stick. Love. Love of self, of that special someone, of the Lord, and love of the journey.

Slim & Sassy Lifestyle Competition

This is my first year doing doTERRA's Slim & Sassy Lifestyle Competition and first time since 2011 that I've used January as the impetus to begin "lifestyle changes."

Here's one of my entry photos. Oh sweet hot body. Look at those voluptuous curves!! That's me at 205.

A few years ago I would have looked at this picture and thought, "Not bad! Better than you used to be." Fortunately I don't have any pictures of my bare chest at the peak of my fatness to lull me into a false sense of accomplishment. The bottom line is I can do better. I did do better.

Here's a shot of me after the last baby was born (190). I promise the belly fat was not as voluminous under that white shirt. You'll have to take my word for it when I say that right now, I can't comfortably button the collar on that shirt. :(

Fact is, my weight over the years shows a marked disparity between what I am and what the BMI calculator says I should be. Last year I celebrated the fact that I had successfully crested the hump and was on the downhill slope towards overweight from obese. 

Unfortunately, gravity couldn't keep me down and my little fat cells ballooned up into obesity. 

This little chart shows my ups and downs since I was in High School and how far I have yet to go.

That green line on the bottom represents 163 lbs. That's the top end of "normal." I don't believe in that number yet. I'm shooting for 170 because I do believe in that number. But the closest I've ever come is 190 lbs whilst I walked the streets of Venezuela, in the hot equatorial sun, with no car, and parasites lining my intestines. 

So the choices are work towards the elusive goal, or get some more parasites. 

Wellness: Chasing a Cold

CHASING A COLD

We haven't been to the doctors for an illness in 2 1/2 years. That number coincides with our oil use. We are fast approaching out 3 year anniversary and I love it.

When little sickness happens we simply look up the symptom in our Modern Essentials book, A-Z Usage Guide, or Everythingessential.me and off we run! I often find that if I oil the sick person, every hour, with On Guard and whatever else we need for the symptom, we can get nearly 100% better within 48 hours. It's awesome.

However, every so often, we will come into contact with a nasty virus that will run through the family and stick around for 7-10 days. Or first experience with it was November 2012. Everyone in Spokane called it "the Gunk." They were sick with it for 6 weeks. It lasted 5 LONG days in our family for the first person and 48 hours by the time person #6 got it. Why? Well as soon as we knew there was something infiltrating our immune systems, I got right on it and started oiling everybody several times a day. It helped.

Fast forward to today. First my 3-year-olds got it, within a couple of days my baby got it, and then I got it. BUT the other 3 kids and Daddy did not. Why? We oiled everybody! I know that letting all of us indulge in Christmas treats suppressed our immune systems, and neglecting to oil everybody while knowing they were consuming said treats was a problem too. Frankly, I'm human! I got tired of being ever vigilant. It's nice to see why it's important and recommit to it again.

The last 10 days I've been chasing a cold. As soon as the throat started to feel dry and sore, I oiled. Then sinus congestion and pressure hit, I oiled. The bug moved to my ears? I oiled (and switched up to a few different oils). Then to my eyes? I oiled. Back to my sinuses and mouth, I oiled! Yet, through all of that, I kept the virus captive from the neck up. My body felt great through the whole process, super healthy. My head? That was a different story. And that's the beauty of oils.

I believe that we are meant to see adversary during our life, so I can't claim that with oils I will never get sick again. But with oils, I can keep it captive in one location and keep loved ones around me healthy!

I See Fat People

I liked the movie "The Sixth Sense" and it's famous quote, "I see dead people." Ooooh, chills....

I also love my sweet mother. I had major self esteem issues as a child. By age 10 I was putting on the pounds and kids would call me fat. That made me sad. Mom would tell me that I wasn't fat, I was "big boned." She helped me to reject the fat label and improve my self image.

I do have to insert a funny interchange that I became aware of when the father of a friend told my friend that "you need to be careful with what you eat or you will start to look like Stephen." I guess inserting that means I haven't fully recovered from that lovely insult.

Because I played high school football, being chubby was beneficial. I played on the offensive line and was named "All League - Honorable Mention." (Yes, only honorable mention, but it was one of my first major awards!). I embraced the fact that I was destined to be between 210 and 225 lbs.

Early in our marriage, Jenny told me that she thought I could weigh 175 lbs. "No way honey. The last time I was 175 lbs was when I was 9." I didn't think I was built that way. Remember, I was "big boned."

As I started to lose weight and see the progress I had made, I started to see how much further I could still go. Suddenly 175 lbs seemed possible.

And that was the difference, I embraced the label of "fat." Because I was. I could no longer brush off the BMI scale and say "Well that doesn't apply to me." I was moderately obese. That means fat!

The first step to change is to recognize. I recognized the person in the mirror. He was fat. And I could finally see the fat person that mattered.

Our Story: Part 2

"I have what doctors call a 'Little bit of a weight problem'. As a kid I used to eat bear claws two at a time and they'd get lodged, right in this region here!"

It was nice to be the chubby kid in high school who could do the Chris Farley impersonations and quotes from the movie Tommy Boy. Did it set the stage for a sustainably healthy life? No.

I got fed up with his weight in early 2011. He only saw one option. Urine.

No, not really urine, but HCG. It seemed to be a fast and relatively painless way to drop 20-25 lbs in one shot. And I really needed a kick start.

So I got my Melba Toast and cucumbers. I even bought a little red meat, which made the house stink and made Jenny cranky. I was very pleased with my after photo compared to the before.

One of my many fat pictures

Right after HCG

A miracle you ask? No. It was just a rapid weight loss that was in no way sustainable. In fact, I found after HCG I had lost strength. I felt lighter on my feet when I ran, but I felt weak. I know some of the 25 lbs I lost initially was muscle.

To that program's credit, I have never ballooned back up to my peak weight of nearly 240 lbs. And I was grateful for the early momentum in provided. But it did not set the stage either for a healthy lifestyle. That required a change in context, in how I viewed myself. 

Our Story: Part 1

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead? No. Not quite.

Fat? Yes.

Sick? Yes

Nearly Dead? Well, I guess we are all one breath away right?

In 2008, Jennifer and I were definitely fat and sick. According to America's least favorite calculator I was definitely "moderately obese" and had been since 1991.  Jennifer was definitely sick. And as her husband, I can safely say Jennifer was at least overweight, er, chubby, uh, wait, plump? I'm getting a stare and an elbow to my side. I'll stop.

Our third child was 6 months old. We also had a 21 month old and a three year old.

We were enthusiastically moving at "Ludicrous Speed" to start what many would call a "big family."

Well, one day we were visiting a fellow, picking oranges from the small grove he and his wife had in their back yard.  Suddenly we had a book in front of us that became one of the top 5 books that changed our life.

You see, Jennifer was suffering from a few ailments besides being plump…uh…curvaceous. She had been on anti-depressants since late high school. Her thyroid was dead, killed by some guy named Hashimoto. She had terrible allergies and weekly subjected herself to allergy shots, which caused her arms to swell like pustules. She was tired, needing at least 10 hrs of sleep a night to keep up with the fatigue that had set in. Finally, she had been to a doctor and offered "Prednisone" a steroid for her up and coming "rheumatoid arthritis." In other words, her hands hurt.

This 20-something young mother of three was already feeling broken.

"Breaking the Food Seduction" spoke to her. It challenged our thinking about diet, nutrition, and our overall health. Summed up, the overabundance of animal products in the typical American diet was the source of many of the ailments we face: diabetes, obesity, heart problems and auto immune diseases.

Suddenly we were in the middle of a 21-day Vegan Kickstart. At least, Jenny was.  I was a supportive husband, maintaining a flask of chocolate milk hidden in the toilet tank for a rainy day. We found our vocabulary expanding to include words like quinoa, millet, tempeh, seitan, tofu, spelt, amaranth, and texturized vegetable protein.

A month later our fridge got a makeover. No more home made bacon egg-mcmuffins for breakfast. Cheesy Chicken? Haven't had that in years. We were "veganizing" favorite meals and creating a brand new "make again" list. I continued to cheat and when Jennifer did, the pain in her hands came back and lasted for 2-3 weeks. Every time she "cheated" her resolve to completely abstain from dairy products and her beloved cheese increased.

The result? Jennifer began dropping a lot of pounds. Apparently I enjoyed the whole grains and legumes a little too much and fattened up some more. But at least for our family's "Early Adopter" Jennifer was already on the road to feeling Less fat, less sick, and much more alive.

BABY POOPS..or Not

As a mother of five you'd think I've experienced it all right? Well, almost. It was #5 that introduced me to infant constipation, and I finally understood the stress other mothers feel. Lucky for me, I've got a fix to that problem.

I sell doTERRA essential oils because I couldn't stop my enthusiasm for how wonderful they are for families, pregnancy to death they are wonderful! I pulled out my handy-dandy resident expert, the Modern Essentials reference book and looked up Children/Infants. Under sluggish digestive it listed "Wild Orange" and under constipation it listed "Ginger". Well, I know that babies can taste anything you rub onto their feet so I tested the ginger a few times. Just a drop diluted a bit in fractionated coconut water made baby cry. Nope, doesn't like the taste so I stuck with Wild Orange. It wasn't an immediate magic fix. In fact it took about two weeks before I saw an improvement, but I did see one eventually!

Baby was only having one poopy diaper every five days or so. Not often enough if you ask me. With our diet, I spend a lot of time cleaning toilets because they get used a lot with all seven of us eating so much fiber! You know? So at first I guessed he was using a lot of the yummy mommy milk and having little left over as waste, but I wanted to help the problem along. I started with just a drop of wild orange once a day on his feet. Nope, not enough. Increasing the dose to a drop at every diaper change was much better. MUCH BETTER. That's typical with oils, a little bit frequently is better than a whole bunch one time. So the messy diapers started shortening, every four days, then every three. I was so happy to see two in one day! Yeah baby! Keep that intestine working!

If you are interested, or know someone who is, I'm very happy to share and help another mother feel the relief I get when I can heal my family without medications!

The Mormon Vegan

My husband and I have come to the conclusion that its time to pen the name "Mormon Vegan."

We love being whole-food plant based. It started due to my failing health and has transformed how we view eating animals. Often we think, why eat an animal when there is so many other good foods in the world? It has also changed our hearts, feeling much more compassionate about the animals that share our world. In fact, on a recent camping trip I had a thoughtful talk with my son who so badly wanted to hit a squirrel. He confessed he only wanted to knock out the squirrel, not kill it. I shared with him my feelings and added that their is a fine line between knocking out and death. He would be crushed if he actually killed a squirrel. He understood. And now he knows how mommy feels about animals.

But then again, things changed in my recent pregnancy with my newest son. As the pregnancy came closer to a close, I craved protein, so I ate every plant source available. Still it wasn't enough. Not only was I craving protein I was craving beef! The thought disgusted me (you get that way the longer you go without meat) and up until pregnancy the only meat I even remotely liked was poultry. Yet I couldn't deny that this child had a dietary need so I indulged in the "cleanest" meat I could find. Oh how my body loved it! Now my sweet baby boy is here and every so often I have the same craving and I indulge. I still diligently put all sorts of legumes, nuts and whole grains on our dinner table but there are those instances I have learned my men need meat!

Hence we reached our conclusion, just as my kids can recite, we are the Mormon vegans, only eating meat in times of cold, winter, or famine and loving all things whole-food, plant. Dairy and eggs are a big no-no in our home, as is sugar. But what do we love? Honey! Yes, we need a new name for ourselves and look forward to meeting other Mormon Vegans, or other vegan eating members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Biscuits...what a kick!

It feels so good in the tummy on a cold winter day. I've been on a biscuit kick for the last week and I have two creations for you.
First, if you haven't gotten "Vegan with a Vengence" for your cooking library, it is a must. I checked out a lot of cookbooks from the library until I found a book that had more than 3 recipes worth using. I love all her recipes! Some have to be altered slightly for the younger tastebuds in our home, but here's why I fell in love with biscuits all over again -

Biscuits with sausage and mushroom sauce

First, the garlic cheese biscuit recipe I posted yesterday works great with this. Second, place the tempeh sausage crumbles from Vegan with a Vengence (also on theppk.com) on the biscuit and lastly, top with Isa's mushroom gravy (again, both book and website)

Tempeh Sausage Crumbles

by IsaChandra
Makes about 2 cups
This is delicious over pasta with marinara sace or as a pizza topping. It’s also good as a burrito filling or served for breakfast alongside scrambled tofu.
Ingredients
8 oz package tempeh
1 tablespoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried margoram or oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Directions
In a saute pan, crumble the tempeh and add enough water to almost cover it. Over high heat, steam the tempeh until most of the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Drain the remaining water and add the rest of the ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

ISA's Mushroom Gravy
The nutritional yeast is optional here, but it does make the gravy a little more creamier, plus adds an extra depth of savory flavor.
4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 medium yellow onion, diced small
2 Tablespoons olive oil
16 oz cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced and chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoons salt
Several dashes fresh black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine (chardonnay is great)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
In a small bowl, mix the flour with about 2 cups of vegetable broth until well dissolved. Once dissolved, add the remaining broth and mix. Set aside.
Preheat a 2 quart pot over medium heat. Saute the onion in oil for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Add mushrooms, garlic, thyme, sage, salt and pepper and saute for about 5 more minutes.
Add wine and turn heat up to bring to a boil. Let wine reduce for about 3 minutes. Add the broth/flour mix and the nutritional yeast, if using. Lower heat to medium and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring often.
Taste for salt and pepper and serve.

And that's how I re-heat it all, without a microwave

Better than Bis*quick

This is my recent favorite side at dinner.
Biscuits
Super yummy and I daresay relatively healthy with only 5 ingredients.
This recipe is based on one I found in Babycakes, but with my own twist of my favorite biscuits in my college years -

Garlic and Cheese
2 c. whole wheat flour - for lighter cakes, do 1/2 and 1/2 white and wheat flour
1 T. baking powder
1 t. garlic salt
1/4 heaping cup of coconut oil (solid form)
3/4 c. hot water
vegan cheese, to taste (I used Daiya Pepperjack)

Combine flour, powder, and salt. Add oil and use pastry blender to combine until the oil is mixed to very small pieces - like combining cold butter to a mixture for pie dough. Add water and mix to soft dough. Add in a handful or more of "cheese" and mix in. Turn out on floured surface and cut into biscuits with whatever circular thing on hand - upturned child's cup is my favorite! Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Slightly cool and enjoy!

(The green is zucchini - helps improve the moisture so it takes great a day old!)

Disowning mommy

My daughter wants to switch mothers. She likes a family friend better than me. Why? The other lady feeds her quesadillas.

I laughed, poor thing. We never have quesadillas, first off, because it doesn't match my "whole foods, plant-based diet" and second, I hadn't found a cheese alternative I liked, but then I found...







But now my 3 yr old is willing to keep me around as her mother.
I guess a little fake and processed cheese won't hurt!