“Living de Good Life” by Eating Healthy and Feeling Better

“Living de Good Life” is not just the name of my blog…or the name of my farm…or the name of my online presence….although it is all of those, it is more. SO. MUCH. MORE! “Why?” I hear you ask? Because, there are many things that contribute to living a good life.

One of those things that may seem illusive for some people is really feeling good. Feeling good…healthy…energetic and happy are things that are easy to take for granted until you don’t feel well, aren’t healthy, have no energy and are discouraged! I have had my share of years feeling well but when I turned 50, things seemed to take a downward turn. I severely injured my knee and discovered after a delayed visit for an MRI, that I had torn my meniscus. I had definitely taken being able to run and play with my kids, jog and walk down the street, and even go up and down the stairs doing laundry for granted!

Finally, with fear and trembling, I scheduled surgery. The recovery was rough for several reasons but the effects were much longer lasting that I expected. Possibly due to the pain pills I was given, and possibly due to years of stress and anxiety, mostly of my own doing, I developed a sliding hiatal hernia in which my stomach would slide up into the hernia and get caught, causing esophageal spasms which were described online as “pain like a heart attack”. Yes! It was! The pain was so severe that I ended up passing out and having a seizure in Whole Foods with my children present. It was frightening for them as well as for me!

A “chiropractor” (and I put it in quotation marks because he is so much more than a chiropractor) was recommended to me by a friend when my then family doctor interpreted my abdominal ultrasound as gall bladder disease and instructed me to call the surgeon and have it out immediately! I knew from doing research that my symptoms did not line up with gall bladder symptoms, so I was thrilled when Dr. Lewis was willing to take a look at the test results.

He said my diaphragm and digestive system were so inflamed that the inflammation and resulting distress was causing the recurring issues and severe pain attacks. He immediately put me on an anti-inflammatory diet* which in essence cut out all white/refined flours and sugars and listed other inflammatory foods to avoid. He also put me on an alkaline diet with a chart* of acidic foods to avoid, as well as some natural supplements to help me heal. This was turning point number one for me!

Immediately my system began healing. At the worst of it, I couldn’t even lift a gallon of milk because the muscles in my stomach and diaphragm were so inflamed. I had to be careful not to eat too much at a time and not to bend forward after eating so that my stomach wouldn’t slide up into the hernia. This meant no bending forward to do laundry, let alone lifting the laundry basket. My poor boys! They learned to do a lot of things they had been sheltered from doing. But, I did heal!

I began this regime in spring of 2013 and by mid 2014, the esophageal attacks were only a bad memory. I was beginning to get my life back! I began using natural sugars like maple syrup, coconut sugar and flours like almond and coconut. It was a challenge to learn to eat and cook a new way, but for me, it was well worth it to not have the pain and suffering I had endured.

With this new way of eating, the pounds began to fall off. I again felt like exercising and was able to lose more than thirty pounds. I was thrilled and felt like I had a new lease on life. However, even natural sugars will put weight on you and eventually, I realized I was gaining some of the weight back, even though I wasn’t eating white sugars and flours.

I tried eating more protein as in shakes and yogurt but for the most part felt like I was starving. My family really couldn’t eat the way I felt I needed to eat, so either I made two meals or tried to modify what I made for them so I could eat it but, what usually happened is that I made a meal for them and I ate next to nothing, rarely feeling satisfied.

Enter Trim Healthy Mama, at the suggesting of several friends. This was turning point number two for me. The books were gifted to me by friends as well as some of the special ingredients. Again, it took some time for me to absorb the concepts of separating fuels but what was so life-changing for me was that the sisters’ books included recipes…LOTS of recipes. I tried a few and they were delicious! My family was even willing to eat them and liked them!

Now, almost a year later, I have lost twenty-five pounds, feel like a new woman and now have a new way of eating that sustains and energizes me! The recipes are delicious and most are fairly easy to follow. You can choose not to buy special ingredients but even the few that I buy have enhanced my feeling that I am not deprived and I finally have good food to eat! I am so thankful for Trim Healthy Mama and the friends that pointed me in this direction!

This is now a way of life for me! And, (ok…you know I had to say it…) it’s such a good life!

Please comment below if you would like to know more about Trim Healthy Mama. I would be happy to share with you what I know!

*I am happy to make these charts available to you. I have a chart for anti-inflammatory foods and I have a chart for acidic/alkaline foods. Please leave a message below if you are interested in receiving either of these charts to help you heal.

Grain-free and Sugar-Free Living

First, I want to say that I am no expert and I am not trained in any health or dietary profession. I only know from my own experience what has helped me to be healthier for now more than five years. For me, it was a decision I made based on my quality of life and my need to feel better.

I was having severe “attacks” which I came to discover were NOT gallbladder attacks as my (now former) mainstream, general health practitioner would have had me believe which would have led to my gallbladder being unnecessarily removed. Thanks to a wonderful MORE THAN CHIROPRACTOR (Dr. Keith Lewis, Healthy Life Doctors in Upper Arlington, Ohio) who really cared to dig down and find what was causing my digestive distress, I discovered I had a sliding hiatal hernia that was causing esophageal spasms when my stomach got caught in the hernia. It was so painful that I thought I was having a heart attack and even had the squad called for me when it happened in Whole Foods once.

My doctor gave me a list of anti-inflammatory foods and inflammatory foods to remove from my diet. He also gave me a list of acidic/alkaline foods to help me understand what foods to try to eat more of that would help heal my digestive tract. One thing I have discovered is that when you are contemplating a change, it is your motivations that will determine whether you are able to make those changes stick in your life. For me, my motivation was extremely high. While going through this period of time, my digestive tract and diaphragm were so damaged from the attacks that I was unable to lift a basket of laundry or a gallon jug of milk (this was before I had my own fresh milk), and I was unable to bend forward for just about any purpose including switching the laundry or picking up something from the floor. I felt so sad watching my children pick up the slack of the things I wasn’t able to do. I never knew when an attack would completely immobilize me. So, for me, having the map to wellness that these lists provided was like an answer to prayer and I was willing to give up almost anything just to feel better.

The first big changes were no refined sugar and no refined flour. These two food items are hidden in more processed foods than you may realize, and it is sometimes difficult to recognize them on the ingredients list due to the number of aliases companies now have for them), but that wasn’t the big challenge for me because I already did most of my food prep from scratch. I made homemade bread and rolls once or twice a week, homemade ice cream, baked cookies and cakes, etc. You get the drift! My cooking/baking was healthy in that it was organic and made from “real” ingredients, but was also full of refined sugars and flours.

It’s pretty easy to say “no refined sugar” until you begin to realize the huge commitment that is. As alternatives, we began using coconut sugar which is higher in fiber and a lower glycemic index than sugar. We also increased our use of maple syrup which is packed full of minerals and also has a lower glycemic impact. We also use raw honey, which is a natural sweetener with health benefits of its own, but it has a higher glycemic index. I tried using various forms of stevia, but had trouble with the aftertaste, so my use of it was very limited.

As for cutting out the refined flour, I began experimenting with coconut and almond flours. Please keep in mind that when I began this journey, “keto”, “paleo” and “grain-free” weren’t popular catch words like they are now. Whole Foods didn’t even carry items that I could use for this journey. I frequented the customer service desk asking for various brands and items as I became aware of them and gradually Whole Foods began stocking some of them.

I also found that not all almond flours are created equal. Some aren’t as finely ground so the foods made with them don’t exactly have a palatable texture. Eventually I found some brands that worked for me and I began scouring the internet for recipes that would help me navigate this new nutritional journey.

I discovered many bloggers who had “grain-free, sugar-free” recipes on their websites and slowly made my way through them trying some of their recipes. Some FLOPPED badly! Micah still reminds me of the “foam chocolate muffins” I made one morning when my friend/pastor’s wife was coming over for coffee. Oh my! They had no taste, no texture, it was like putting tasteless, brown foam shaped like a muffin in your mouth. They didn’t even taste chocolate! How can you mess up chocolate? But I did find some bloggers/sites whose recipes were fairly dependably edible, even tasty. Over the years, I have compiled a list of websites and bloggers whose recipes were fairly reliable in producing edible grain-free, sugar-free foods.

Now, the next step in my journey was to realize that maple syrup, coconut sugar and almond flour, as healthy as they are, didn’t help me much in the weight department. Initially, after giving up grains and sugars, I dropped about thirty pounds, and I felt so much better as I began to heal. However, maple syrup still has calories that turn to fat, so as my use of maple syrup increased, so did my weight.

Enter Trim Healthy Mama. It was introduced to me last year by several friends all in the span of a couple of weeks, so I began reading about the plan. Part of what made eating sugar-free and grain-free difficult was my struggle to make meals that both I and my family could eat without necessitating the need for two meals to be made. The plan (which I will explain in a coming post), recipes and products of THM have been a life-saver to me and my family. Finally, I have the resources to eat how I need to eat to lose weight and maintain that weight loss and the recipes to prepare meals that both I and my family can enjoy.

Since being on the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan, using some of their products (their baking blend and sweeteners have made the biggest impact for me), I feel the best I have felt in years. I have lost almost twenty-five pounds since last July and I no longer feel like I am starving. I feel well and energetic and I enjoy trying the recipes in their cookbooks. I have been very pleasantly surprised with the ease of most of the recipes and with how they taste. The men in my life agree even though sometimes I need to add a few items to help fill them up. It has been such a blessing to me.

If you have questions or comments about going sugar-free or grain-free, please contact me. I would be happy to encourage you along your journey to get healthier and give grain-free and sugar-free living a try! It may feel overwhelming at first, but when you realize the benefits, it will become easier and easier to make that choice, one day at a time. Not all of you will want or need to be as strict as I am, but I never want to go back to the way I used to feel and that is my motivation to keep on track!

Watch for an upcoming follow-up post where I will make the anti-inflammatory guidelines as well as the acidic/alkaline foods chart available to you!

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