Jeremy and I continue on our quest to get healthy and stay healthy. We had no desire to do a fad diet, or any crazy diet and exercise plans. We did a ton of research to be sure we didn’t just join the masses in craziness. But we also prayed and asked God to lead us to a doctor that understood our desire to get healthy and off prescription medication. We were so grateful when we found a doctor who listened to us and helped us make a safe and doable plan.
That plan is to eat to live. Basically, we eat raw fruits and vegetables most of the time (51% of our daily diet or more). Then we limit meats to about once a week. Dairy is eliminated from our diet. We continue with no processed foods in our home. Eggs are ok to eat, and nuts and grains in moderation. The biggest deal was getting lots of greens daily.
We wanted to come up with a diet plan for life, not just a short term change. We also needed our diet to meet our specific health needs.
We began the diet and within three days Jeremy was no longer diabetic. Neither of us were taking any prescription drugs anymore. I had recently been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s (an autoimmune disorder). Jeremy had been taking high blood pressure medicine, two different ones, insulin, cholesterol medicine, and metformin (which is one of the worst “free” drugs out there, opps did I type that). Our new doctor encouraged us to monitor our blood pressure, blood sugar, and heart rate for the first few weeks. If there was any concern we might need to consider medication. Within weeks we both had normal levels every time we checked. Jeremy’s sugar levels actually kept dropping so low for the first few weeks that he would have to get some sugar.
For the first few months we both lost weight and had a ton more energy than we had been having. The weight lose has sort of slowed down now. Which is actually good, because it is safer and research shows the slower we lose the more likely we will keep it off.
So, in an effort to be transparent and encourage others I want to share a little of how this works in our real lives. The way we work our plan is pretty simple. We make a weekly menu and we buy the groceries for that menu. We include snacks, meals, and even special occasion foods on the menu and grocery list. We purpose to not buy anything that is not on our diet. Then we are not tempted to eat things that are not in our house. We live out in the country so we can’t just run to the store in a few minutes, the closest store is 15 minutes away.
Our weekly menu goes like this: We eat mostly fruits(high in vitamin C and A) and greens on Monday and Tuesday, we have one pasta meal on Tuesday, usually made with a nut milk sauce sort of like a mac and cheese but made with a nut milk sauce (I prefer cashew milk). Wednesday and Thursday we eat mostly veggies(high in protein), and we have our one meat meal on Thursday. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we focus on eating berries and nuts(fats) with our greens, but we eat homemade bread one day, and we have a dessert on Sabbath. This is the general idea of our menu. But no matter what we eat we try our best to go as natural as possible.
(a copy of my fridge reminder of what I need to be sure and eat each week.)
Because our goal is 51% raw foods (fruits, veggies, and nuts), we can easily plan to eat them before we go some where like a party, family get together, Sabbath fellowship, etc. When we eat our veggies and fruits first we feel less hungry and more satisfied with less. Also, we have begun to prefer the taste of them. Jeremy and I love to eat out. But we don’t eat any fast food anymore, not since November 2014. But since starting this diet more and more restaurant food is just not so yummy. We do eat snacks and treats when at others homes, we do eat fun foods for fun celebrations. But we always stick to the goal of 51% raw.
Things I have noticed since we have made this change. Whenever I eat anything dairy now, I am very, very sick. For example, I got a smoothie the other night when we went on a family fun outing to celebrate Mary’s adoption. It felt like I got food poisoning and I got so sick and dehydrated that I actually passed out. This never seemed to happen before, I did get a little sick sometimes from dairy, but never as sick as I get now. Also, if I eat processed foods I get very sick, especially store bought breads. I think the reason is because when Jeremy and I started the diet we did a six week detox cleanse. We went in for ionic foot detox treatments every week. We did detox cleans supplements, and more (you get the idea). We both believe the detoxing of our bodies was key in getting healthy. After that my body started screaming at me anytime I ate something I shouldn’t. For me it seems processed foods are a big no no. So, since I can’t afford raw milk, dairy is out. (Just a note: when we lived in PA and drank a lot of raw milk our whole family was really, really healthy, and I lost 20 pounds). Since grain is hard to get unprocessed we eat a lot less grains. Another thing I have noticed if I have things in moderation, my body doesn’t freak out so much. For example, I can have a sandwich about once a week and not feel like my guts are turning inside out. I also realized I can get my protein from other places than meat. For me, meat is hard on my body, and it seems to raise my blood pressure. Again, we can’t afford to buy a lot of healthy meat, so eating it less often makes it more affordable. There are other things I have learned. But I want to say that health and diet is a very personal thing. What works for me, may not work for you. Jeremy and I are very different. But it is nice that we can both eat raw foods. Some people have medical conditions that make eating raw very difficult. So we are grateful we can be on this same diet.
The kids pretty much eat what we eat too. A few things that we keep on hand for just in case snacks or meals are canned tuna, canned pineapple, applesauce, jam, natural peanut butter (only for kids), lots of eggs, oatmeal, jars of beans and dry beans (the kids actually make dry beans twice a week and rice for lunch), nuts, pop corn (organic for kids only), honey, tea, and coffee (I only have a cup once in a while now, but it is a good natural pick me up).
Things I struggle with still. Now that it is summer I really like a cold coke. I especially like one after working in the yard or garden. So, I do once in a while have a pop that is made with real sugar instead of corn syrup. Jeremy and I both crave tortillas once in a while. So I am too lazy to make them. So we buy the ones that you cook at home with only five ingredients.
Just like everything in life, our goal is to please God. But just like we live out our belief that all the scriptures are applicable to us without legalism, we choose to live out this new diet change without legalism. After all the wisest man on earth wrote, “I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.” Eccles. 3:12-14
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We are Bible believing, scripture only people. We love to learn about the Hebrew roots of our faith. We believe it is important to not add or subtract from the Divine Word of God. The compiled scriptures that agree with one another and have no contradiction is the 66 books of what is commonly referred to as the Christian Bible, or the Holy Bible.
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