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| Perfect nutrition, green beans caramelized with nuts and pomogrante seeds |
This is my challenge. Thirty days no sugar, no dairy, no processed food at all. What can you eat? Fruits and vegetables, nuts, meats in moderation, and whole grains. What are whole grains? Fresh ground flours, whole grain rices, like red, brown, and black. Whole grains cooked up and eaten with out processing them. Follow me in this blog and I will teach you just how you can do it. Start with the cleanse and go into the thirty days. It will change your life.
Ok, Are you ready for the adventure. Weight loss is a hard thing. But if you do it right it can be a great blessing to you and if you adopt the things learned it can be a lifetime blessing for you.
Saying that, I love food. It's what life is all about. All my life I have eaten what ever I have wanted, whenever I wanted. Needless to say, I paid the price. I ended up over 275 lbs. My ideal weight should be 220. That is over 55 lbs. That is a lot of weight to be carrying. In addition to not feeling good most of the time, the health risk of being overweight is horrible. From heart risk to diabetes, the list goes on and on. Being over weight is not a good thing.
For me it is all about how I feel. When I am over weight, I feel bloated and uncomfortable in all areas of life. It effects everything I do and how I act. I have learned that feeling great is far better then the taste of foods. I still love to eat, and it is still work to keep in shape and I am far from where I want to be, but I am over 50 lbs. lighter and I have developed some great skills that keep me in line. I have kept off the majority of the weight, but it does involve work and effort.
Here are a few facts that have helped me.
1. I cleanse regularly.
2. I exercise often.
3. I avoid processed foods.
4. I only eat Sugar in moderation.
5. I eat a lot High fiber grains
6. Good fats are a part of my diet.
7. I enjoy the foods I do eat.
So the Cleanse. A few times a year I do a cleanse. I love the lemon, cayenne pepper cleanse. For me it is a jump start to staying on track. When I do the cleanse it breaks my bad habits and gets me back on track and the side benefit is I drop a few unwanted pounds. I feel great after and it motivates me to work harder and stay on track. I love it. This is the cleanse. Oh did I tell you, this is all you eat or drink for as many days as you can. I go from 4 to 10 days. I go as far as my body will let me. I listen to my body and I do what it tells me. Some times I go longer and other times it is short.
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (or more if you can handle it)
1/3 cup chia seeds
Water to a gallon
Mix all the ingredients in a gallon jug. I take the jug with me and drink when ever I am thirsty or hungry. Actually I am not hungry when I do this. It is actually amazing. I love it, I love the way I feel and I love how it works. I try to drink a gallon each day. Do what you can. It is an amazing cleaner of your entire body. It works and for me it is the perfect way to start any program for weight loss and a healthy life style. The Cleanse is so important, it helps break bad habits.
Exercise. Exercise is an important part of life and feeling good. It is different for everyone. I am not going to tell you to run, jump, or swim. Do what you love and enjoy. The important thing is you do something. Exercise is good for every part of the body. It is essential to well being of both body and spirit. From the heart to every part of your body you will feel the benefits of a regular exercise routine. I have found that when you exercise you can eat more of the foods you enjoy, (in moderation), and life is just better when we discipline ourselves to exercise. Exercising 3 or less times a week maintains health. 4 or more times a week improves fitness. And it is important to get the heart rate up. Go slow to start and build as you can.
Avoid Processed Foods. At all cost you should avoid processed food. They are the ban of bad health. They cause excessive weight gain and every other health problem you can think of. From the chemicals in the food to the poor quality of ingredients it wrecks havoc on the body. I would say that almost all healthy issues today can be traced to our devotion to processed foods. All good foods can be enjoyed more when they are prepared from quality ingredients from scratch. There is so much more food to be enjoyed then what we find in a supermarket or fast food chain restaurants. Processed food is of no value to your body if you are wanting a stronger body stay away from processed foods at all cost.
Sugar in Moderation. Sugar is a leading cause of weight gain and health problems. If you are addicted to sugar, you should not have any at all for at least 30 days, it will break your addiction. We develop bad habits and it has to be dealt with like any other addiction. Absolutly no sugar for at least 30 days or more. It works. After the thirty days develop a habit of eating sugar in moderation. Like maybe once a week or so. There are great alternatives to sugar that will fix your need. Fresh fruits are a great source of sweet that the body likes. Processed foods are packed with sugar, so that is just another good reason to stay away from the processed foods.
High Fiber Grains. Ok, lets face the facts. There is a lot of stuff out there that tells you grains are bad. Paleo is the big fad today that preaches just that. They stay away from any grain. I have read all about Paleo and have discovered usually when they refer to grains, it is a processed grain they are talking about. I have done the research and have discovered that whole grains are good. They actually promote weight loss and are so good for the body. Processed foods are not good. When they take anything and process it, the value leaves. Even whole grains when over processed loss value and nutrition. Whole grains are packed with nutrition and are amazing for the body in every way. The only reason that it would not work is if you have allergies to certain grains. If you don't have allergies get into the whole grain movement. It really will change your life.
Good Fats. There is such a thing as good fats. Our bodies need the good fats. Coconut oil, good olive oils, good nut oils, flax oil, and even good animal fat in moderation is good. Our fat free society has made us afraid of fats and in the process we have taken all fat out of our diets. Our bodies need good fats to be healthy and actually when we get the good fats we need the body gets rid of the bad fats. Fiber and Good Fat are key in having a good healthy body.
Enjoy the Foods You Eat. The biggest part of life is to enjoy the foods we do eat. Especially when the foods we eat that are healthy. Foods that are prepared from scratch, with fresh quality ingredients are meant to enjoyed. Guilt is not a good thing. If you are filled with quilt, you are eating the wrong foods. You should be happy with the foods you eat and our bodies handle the foods we eat better when we truly enjoy them. Part of giving thanks when eating a meal is enjoying the foods we just gave thanks for. Food is a major part of life and I believe that there is a spiritual side of foods. We destroy that part when we eat processed garbage foods.
Getting Fit, Staying Fit and enjoying life is a process that takes effort and work. It is worth the effort, no matter where we are in the process, we really can enjoy life more when we put effort into staying healthy. Our bodies are amazing in how quickly they respond to what we do to them. It works both ways, when we do bad things we are affected and when we do good things we are affected. We just have to choose which one we want, good effects or bad effects. I choose good. Even if it takes a lot of work and effort, I enjoy the results when I make good choices. Any time we make a good choice, we reap a good reward.
Over the next few weeks follow my blog for wonderful recipes that will inspire you and teach you how to eat healthy.
Enjoy the adventure and please let me know how it goes for you. Any questions email me at chef@chefbrad.com.
Chef Brad
