America, Land of Plenty - Home of the Fat

Our food has been subsidized, cornified, processed... and the abundance is making one in three Americans and one quarter of our children fat, fat fat! Whose at fault?

More about the cornification of our food by Organic Lifestyle Magazine: "High fructose corn syrup is made by treating corn (typically genetically modified corn) with a variety of enzymes (many of which are also genetically modified) to first extract the sugar glucose and then convert some of it into fructose (fructose is sweeter than glucose). The end result is approximately 55% fructose and 45% glucose." Read the full article.

Reversing Diabetes with a Raw Foods Diet

A significant event that influenced why I decided to incorporating more raw foods into my diet is when I watched the documentary Simply Raw with friends at a raw foods meeting and potluck last fall. Having been informed by my doctor that my test results indicated that I am pre-diabetic (also, a genetic predisposition in the women in our family), which means if I don't watch my diet more closely, lose some weight and exercise regularly - I will become diabetic... the subtitle of the film Reverse Diabetes in 30 Days seriously piqued my interest. What I saw and learned was absolutely astonishing.

Based on what I have read and been told by the medical profession all my life, I believed that once a person becomes diabetic, their diabetes it's irreversible. The shocking truth is that diabetes can be avoided altogether and completely reversed in most diabetics - both Type I and Type II - in 30 days!

Because of the impact this documentary film has made on my life, I have modified my diet to eat more raw foods (delicious by the way!), I am exercising more and I am loosing weight. I look forward to seeing the results of my next tests. There should be a significant change in the results! I will report back and let you know.

I encourage you to watch the video and learn the truth for yourself, and order a copy to share with your friends and loved ones who are suffering, even dying from the ravages of diabetes. There is hope!

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days:

Home Body Fat Test, True Confessions and more....

In order to track my health and fitness progress, I am logging my body measurements and percentage of body fat. I wasn't sure how to estimate my own body fat, until I discovered a slick online body fat calculator at Health Central. According to Fit or Fat guru Covert Bailey, the American male has 22% body fat, while the average American woman's has 32% body fat. Mine is lower than the average American woman, but higher than the average Caucasian woman. Okay, if you really want to know, my body fat is 28%. I can't believe I'm sharing that tidbit with you! So, I hope by being perfectly open and honest I will encourage someone to take this health and fitness challenge with me. We can do this!

Before you go to Health Central to plug in your measurements, take the following measurements with a cloth tape measure: waist, the widest part of your hips (with your feet 4-inches apart), calf (place your weight on your dominant leg and measure your calf at its widest part - about half way between your knee and ankle), thigh (stand with your feet about 12 inches apart. Measure your upper thigh at the widest part) and wrist (measure in the dip between the bony part of your wrist and the start of your hand).

I also measured my neck, chest and arms. I've created a chart to track my weight, body measurements and body fat throughout the year. I'ts my intention to reach my health and fitness goals within 5 months, before my 60th birthday coming up on July 22nd. Yikes, I can't believe I just told you that, too! Crazy! Where did the time go?

Besides including more raw foods in my diet, keeping my body hydrated and getting regular exercise and quality sleep, eating optimally nutritious foods regularly will as help to stimulate my metabolism. If I eat right and burn calories, I will reduce my body fat. Common sense and consistency is the key. That's my plan in a nutshell.

Back in the '80's, I went on the Cabbage Soup Diet and lost 14 pounds in 14 days. Fad diets come and go - weight loss is inevitable, but often the weight packs back on. Anyway, my weight always did. because fad diets are not sustainable. The most sensible approach is to eat clean and eat three meals a day, following the one o'clock rule, occasionally cleanse our system by fasting and burning more calories than we take in. What I did take away from the Cabbage Soup Diet was the soup recipe. It's a nutritious, tasty soup and you can change the ingredients and seasonings for variety. I enjoy this soup cold.

I made up a batch of this soup last night to have on hand throughout the week to ease my way back into adding food back into my diet after a 6 day fast. Tonight, I start adding more raw foods to my diet.

Cabbage Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

6 large green onions (I also add one yellow onion)
2 green bell peppers
1 or 2 cans of tomatoes (diced or whole) (or 4 whole fresh tomatoes, chopped)
3 carrots
10-ounces mushrooms
1/2 head cabbage
1 package Lipton soup mix (I use 2 vegetable bouillon cubes)
1 48-ounce can V8 juice
Flavor with any of these seasonings: cayenne pepper, parsley, curry, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, cilantro, mint, etc.

Directions:

1. Slice green onions, chop onion and saute in a pot with a splash of olive oil.
2. Cut, stem, de-seed and chop the peppers and add to pot.
3. Take the outer leaves of the cabbage and chop into bite-size pieces and add to the pot.
4. Slice the carrots in rounds or chop and add to the pot.
5. Slice the mushroom and add to the pot.
6. For variety, you can add 1/2 pound of green beans, 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
   
7. If you like your soup spicy, now is the time to add seasonings to the pot.
8. Add about 12 cups of water or 8 cups of V8 juice, cover and cook on low heat.
9. When the vegetables are tender, season to taste with salt and pepper (I've never had to).

To add protein to your diet, you can add cooked beans and rice, crispy tofu or tempeh or prawns during the last minutes of cooking. Add more water, as needed. Eat this soup for lunch or dinner or in-between meals instead of snacking when you are feeling a bit famished.

Interested in transitioning to a raw foods lifestyle? Read the Boutenko Family, also known as the Raw Family, story and visit the All Raw Directory website for a plethora or raw food resources.

P.S. One way you can challenge yourself to shoot for your personal goals is to take a contract out on yourself with StickK.com. Last year, I completed a 12-week commitment to exercise a minimum of 3 days per week, and at the beginning of January I took out an identical 12-week contract. The incentive is that if you don't meet your weekly goal, it costs you. An incentive that works for me is to donate to an anti-charity, if I fail. So far, it hasn't cost me a penny.

Fit to Serve Basics

My friend Brad Bloom, publisher of Faith & Fitness Magazine, posted a fitness challenge for 2010 inviting readers to submit an application to be considered to be one of five participants in a yearlong fitness challenge to reduce their overall body mass, while being personally coached by Coach Tim Powers.

Click on image to read the Faith & Fitness article about Coach Powers' book Fit to Serve.

Here is an excerpt about the 2010 Fit To Serve Challenge from the Faith & Fitness article Read, Set, Engage! by Coach Powers:

THE FIT TO SERVE BASICS

"... I want to share with you common strategies that I am having all (the "fab five") of them integrate into their daily and weekly physical fitness workout programs:

- All five on our team believe that they need to reduce their overall body mass, i.e. Body fat percentage. So, I have invoked the “one o’clock rule” for each one them. This rule states that they are not to ingest any starch carbohydrates after lunch. Starchy carbohydrates are considered a “super sugar” and include grains, flour, breads, cereals, chips, pasta, rice, beans and potatoes. They have been encouraged to have as much starch as they want for breakfast and lunch, but not after that. If you want dessert, have it for breakfast.

- The five will all be on an eating modification system where they will eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen and supper/dinner like a pauper. God created the human body to have its highest metabolic rate of burning calories from three o’clock in the morning through approximately eleven o’clock in the morning. By one o’clock in the afternoon physiology starts to ramp down. Supper is still a significant meal, but only in terms of actual hunger and not appetite and the enjoyment eating good tasting food.

- The team will be eating as organic as possible in terms of finances and convenience. The biggest concept will be to not eat any genetically modified breads and cereals and meat and poultry that have been shot up with growth hormones and antibiotics. Additives, preservatives, color dyes, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides are considered toxic and unsafe to consume for your 75 trillion cells. God has hard-wired them to recognize danger, so they encapsulate these poisons with body fat to protect the body.

The team will for the most part be engaging in two exercise sessions per day five days per week – 90 to 120 minutes in aggregate duration. The morning is the best time to train in resistance exercise such as weight-training and run sprints. Most our five will be weight-training three days per week and running sprints three days per week (trust me, they will all be easing into these protocols). The best time to train aerobically is at the end of your day and before your last major meal. Our goal to achieve an arterial blood cleaning and strengthening of the heart and lungs with a non-competitive workout such as power walking, light running, cycling, swimming or any other workout that they can sustain a “steady state” of 70% to 75% of their maximum intensity."

Great tips! Meet the team and join me to take the fitness challenge at home. Read more.

Faith & Fitness Magazine is a lifestyle resource to build physical and spiritual strength. It helps readers make connections between the Christian faith and their fitness lifestyle. It is your tool for powerful, healthy, and passionate living.

The Master Cleanse Lemonade

Since having surgery, I've been thinking about a body cleanse to rid myself of toxins, and post-op medications. I've come across the Master Lemonade Cleanse and am going to give it a try, starting tomorrow through Sunday. I hope it works for me. I do have a black pepper allergy, but not sure about cayenne pepper. I should know within a day or two. I'll report back how I did on The Master Cleanse Lemonade detox.

Before you try this cleanse, read the book The Master Cleanse by Stanley Burroughs or visit this The Master Cleanse website for more information about the The Master Cleanse. You can buy all the ingredients locally or order online a Master Cleanse 10-Day Organic Kit.



The Master Cleanse Lemonade is prepared by mixing the ingredients in the following recipe:

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice. Use organic lemons, fresh, not bottled juice. Limes may be substituted. Lemon zest and pulp may be added, making sure that the lemons are organic and not artificially colored or treated with pesticides

2 tablespoons of maple syrup. This must be pure maple syrup, not pancake syrup, Grade B, which has more color and nutrients than Grade A.

1/10 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Water. 8 ounces, preferably spring water, but not tap water or chlorinated water. Drink 6-8 glasses minimum each day.

AnswerBag - It is recommended to do this cleanse either once a week or do it twice a year, spring and fall for 6-10 days. Galeanda claims to experience after a few days increased energy and after day 6 or 7 feels like it's time start adding foods very slowly into the diet, starting with veggies and fruits and maybe some rice. You can add a food group back as you feel the need. It is recommended to stay away from 'white' foods such as white sugar, white flour and processed foods for as long as possible."

Do not use honey in the lemonade.

Do not take any kind of supplements or vitamin pills or using illicit drugs. You shouldn’t smoke or drink alcohol, coffee, tea, cola. Evidently, when you are on this cleanse your cravings for them usually completely disappear.

No other food or drink should be consumed at all. If you get hungry, you can drink all the lemonade without harm.

To help you eliminate your bowels during this liquid cleanse, it has been recommended to either take Trifala (triphala) capsules (available at health food stores), drink an herbal laxative tea like Smooth Move or drink a sea salt water flush (2 tsp. with 32-oz. of luke warm water - listen to Jim's recommendation in the video below).

Watch this short video for making larger batches of the Master Cleanse Lemonade. I found this to be very helpful. Jim shops at Whole Foods for the ingredients, then takes it all home to make 32-ounce or 64-ounce jugs of the cleansing lemonade.

Let me do a little math for you here for larger batches. For every 8 cups of water, add 1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice and 1 cup of Grade B pure maple syrup, along with 4/5 of a teaspoon, or to make it easier measure 3/4 of a teaspoon, of cayenne pepper. I mix and store this size batch in an empty distilled water jug. Shake well, before measuring out each 6-8 ounce serving throughout the day. One large batch provides your enough servings for one day of a 6-7 day cleanse.

Diet for a Pain Free Life's Berry Nice Smoothie

Two weeks and four hours post-op and this is the first time I have been able to sit at my computer for more than a minute or two. So, I have to make this really short.

First I want to thank my daughter Effie for the amazing meals she cooked for us, which nourished us for a week and a half. And thank you to my husband who has taken care of my every need for the past couple of weeks without complaint.

Pain makes you cranky, exhausted, agitated... and did I say cranky?

A couple of days ago, I remembered a book I have on my shelf that I wished I'd thought of pre-op. Diet for a Pain Free Life by Harris H. McIlwain, MD and Debra Fulghum Bruce, PhD. Although my current diet pretty closely matches the recommended diet to live "pain-free"... anything I can do to better manage and reduce my level of pain nutritionally is essential.

My husband has been making me the Diet for a Pain Free Life's Berry Nice Smoothies for the past couple of days. Probably the best smoothie I have ever had. I love the zesty zing of fresh ginger.

Ingredients:

2 cups ice
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (or raspberries)
1/4 cup fresh or frozen blackberries or raspberries
1 cup calcium-fortified vanilla soy or rice milk
1/2 cup pineapple chunks (fresh or in juice)
1/2 banana (frozen)
1 tablespoon Splenda
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Directions:

In a blender, pulse all the ingredients until smooth.

Serves 2

Wishing us all better health and a pain-free life!