4 Week Update on Getting Healthy

Today marks 4 weeks since I started my get healthy journey.  I am not sharing this because I have "arrived" nor because I think I now have the best road map.  I am sharing it for a few reasons....I need to be accountable to people and by making this public I will be less tempted to go down the alleys.  This blog is also my diary where I keep record of the highlights of our lives here on the farm and in our personal lives.  I know that losing weight is not an easy thing and all of you who may be thinking about starting your journey, or may have already started it - it is good to have a cheering squad and to encourage one another.  Whether you have 10, 35, 75 or over 100 lbs. to lose, the experience is the same.  Habits have to be examined and changed (and that is no easy feat!), nutritional knowledge has to be learned, and a drive and determination has be present.

I am going to be vulnerable .....what finally drove me to seeking help was the fact that my eating was wwwaaayyy out of control.  I had become so disgusted with myself, with my lack of self control, with not liking what I saw in the mirror, and being limited in my physical activities.  Dear friends, you don't need to guzzle alcohol, snort drugs, or view pornography to be called an addict!  Oh, no!  Addictions can come quite close to home and we turn our backs on them and call them a "weakness" or some other name that makes us feel more righteous than drunks, druggies, and perverts.  Addiction is addiction is addiction.  Same control, same power!  I am not a expert on "addictions", but there is something in all of them that effect our physical (and emotional) bodies and drive us back for more, more, more!

For weeks before my journey, I spent my days feeling hungry all the time!  I was addicted to eating.  Never satisfied!  I hated it!  I sought help and I will briefly tell you what was mapped out for me.  For the first week, every day I had to have 6 servings of vegetables, 3 fruit, 3 grains, 3 milks, 6 proteins and 3 fats. NO SUGAR! And I was to walk 1 mile every day.  I felt better for the first 2 days and then those "hungries" came back full force.  It is horrible to diet when hunger is present all the time.  My nutritionist made some changes the 2nd week.  No milk, more protein and walk 40 minutes every day. The next day - still hungry all the time and feeling lightheaded and giddy.  She took me off all wheat and added a fat.  I immediately felt much better and best of all, I was not hungry, however, I had to eat every 4 hours or my blood sugar would drop.  Believe me, that is worse than the hungries!  By the end of the 3rd week, I felt significantly better. In the 4th week, I could go longer than 4 hours without eating and when I do eat I can hardly eat all the food I am suppose to.  I am still off milk, wheat and sugar and food no longer controls me - I control the food and that makes me extremely happy.  According to my nutritionist, sugar is addictive and with me, so is wheat.  Both effected my body to create the "addictions". The more sugar and wheat - the more hungry I was.  I have lost 9.8 lbs.  (25.2 to go), and 8 1/4 inches.   It has been worth it so far!    To all my fellow travel companions - hang in there!

Until next time...........

My Journey to Better Health

Sigh!  Were you ever on a trip that seemed more like you were on a roller coaster rather than a highway?  You have a destination in mind, a vision of how wonderful it will be to "arrive". You pack your bags, load the van, and look around for your map.  Well, there is Rand McNally Atlas, National Geographic Atlas, and Michlin Atlas to pick from. Which one to choose?  Which is the easiest one to follow?  Hopefully they all have the same information, but maybe, just maybe there are some differences.  Well, there are more, many many more, "atlas es" out there proclaiming that their highways are the best to travel to arrive at better health.  Just follow their directions and you will pull right up at your totally healthy, sleek-looking, drug-free destination.  They must all be correct, for they each have wonderful testimonies from people who have traveled their roads right to the perfect ending.   I have traveled with some of those "atlas es" - one by Dr. Atkins, another by Diana Schwarzbein, still another by Sally Fallon.  For some reason, I always ended up at the same destination - the city of Frustration!  So, instead of finding the atlas that was right for my journey, I gave up on all of them and wondered down the road of Don't Care Anymore.  Ever been on that road?  Oh, you have perfect freedom - feeling sad? Eat! Feeling happy? Eat! Mad? Eat!  Who cares??  But, soon you realize you're not alone, for every so many miles you gain another companion - and their names are all the same "Add Another Pound"!   They are sneaky companions!  They sneak up on you and latch on without you realizing it and all of a sudden! you look at yourself and wonder how on earth you ended up with all these companions!   Oh, dear friends, it is not a fun destination!  For some of us, desperation sets in and we are tempted to keep traveling on the road named Don't Care Anymore, but we now realize it is lined with enemies waiting to attack us and make us more sick and weak. 

Many of you know that I have thyroid issues for 23 yrs. and for about 5-6 years now I have been having trouble getting my levels to stay at an even keel, where I feel good for a long period of time.  I have also weighed the same for the last 6 years.   My desire is to lose 35 #'s in hopes of helping my thyroid function better and for me to be more healthy.  I know that may not sound like much to lose, but it is enough to be difficult for me. The first thing I knew I needed to do was to find someone to be accountable to, someone who could help me get a personalized map for my journey.  I visited a nutritionist and she mapped me a travel plan.  It had to be tweeked a few times since then (which was 3 wks ago), but I have learned alot.  Portion sizes are the biggest thing that has got my attention.  3 cups of veggies is alot of veggies! An ounce of bread is next to nothing.  3 oz. of meat can fill you up, 1/2 banana is a serving of fruit. Wheat makes me hungry all the time, and beans for breakfast are wonderful.  I have also learned that I have low blood sugar and if I don't eat every 4 hrs. I am in trouble.  Another discipline that has been really good for me is I have to walk for 40 min. every day.  I love to walk and I love to walk on the road, however, if it is raining or really cold, I walk in the barn.  Well, yet another thing I have learned is 40 minutes (2 miles) walking in the barn is about more than I can bear!  :) It is 42 times around and around and this is my view......up one side

down the other......

I have my challenges on this journey.  I am tempted to go down Chocolate Ave., and Donut Lane.  They beckon to me and leave me under the impression that just alittle detour won't hurt, but I know that if I am serious about reaching my destination, I cannot be looking out my side windows, but straight ahead toward the goal.  I have left a few pounds behind in the dust already, which my nutritionist says is almost a miracle because of my thyroid, but I so want to reach my destination and to do that I have to travel this road, sometimes roller coaster, that will get me there.  Only with God's strength and His timing! . . . . . . . . . . . .

Until next time. . . . . . . .

You're Invited To Breakfast!

Finally got the scrapple and sausage finished.  Now, anyone want to come for breakfast?  : )  My menu prices are reasonable and we would enjoy your company. 

Scrapple being made....all the bones have been picked, broth and meat are in kettle....we add cornmeal, salt, pepper, sage and this time we used oat flour, instead of buckwheat because Dave cannot have any wheat.  Turned out good...



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Taste testing is VERY important, you know! : )

With the sausage, first we run it through the grinder with a large hole plate, then we add seasonings (salt, pepper, sage), and run it through the grinder again using a smaller holed plate.  Some we packaged bulk, most we put in casings....

Taste testing is VERY important for sausage, also!  : )  It makes all the work more fun if we stop for a tasting break.

Yes, we did this in the milkhouse.  Please don't tell the milk inspector!  He would be extremely upset with us!  For don't you know?  Some of that raw meat just might sneak into that tank of milk and spoil the whole load.  Boy, did we have to keep our eye on those sausages!  Heehee!! 

Scrapple with apple butter smeared on top, sausage fried with onions and ketchup squirted zig zagged down the full length, sunny side up eggs with home made bread toasted with a slab of butter melting on top, cold creamy fresh chocolate milk - all for the price of. . . . .ummmmm.....let's see ......$8.95.  Is that reasonable?  Call to make your reservations!

Until next time. . . . . . .

Happy Birthday Ben!

Yesterday, Jan. 1st, our first born child turned 23! May the coming year bring many blessings to you, Ben, and thanks for being you - a wonderful son, friend and helper.  We love you!

On his birthday, we had a game day.  Ben, George and Solomon played Risk and Dave, Uriah, Oliver and I played Settlers of Catan.  We had so much fun!

And for you who play settlers, this is what our game looked like.  It was the closest game we ever played with 3 of us having 8 points at the same time.  

Happy New Year to all of you!

Until next time. . . . .