We Have Finally Started Living

We Have Finally Started Living.  Never in my life did I ever envision that I would be where I am today.  For the past couple of weeks, I have had some rude awakenings of what exactly I have done to myself and how it has affected my family.  It breaks my heart as I come to the realization that the choices I made throughout my youth, young adulthood, and parenthood not only affected my life but those around me. I have learned some hard lessons and I can’t turn back anymore.  For the first time in years, I feel like we have finally started living and it is liberating. 

Fat is Making You Fat

As a child, I remember hearing you are fat because you are eating fat. If just eliminate it from your diet, you would lose weight. It’s that simple! So of course I did what all of America was told and went on a low-fat/no fat diet. 

As we all came to terms with the fact that we needed to eliminate fat from our diets, the food industry got to work replacing the animal fats in their products with unsaturated vegetable oils.  This included altering the structure of the oil, increasing the sugar, flour, salt, and adding preservatives to their products so that it could keep its taste and texture.  

To make it even worst, these foods were not filling and so we ate more of it in search of feeling full and ended up overeating and increasing the intake of bad fats, excess sodium, and preservatives to name a few.  The biggest frustration we faced was never feeling full and feeling like starvation was just part of the weight loss journey.

Processed Food

Nutrition has an overall impact on our health.  Processed foods are full of empty calories and lack nutrition we need from protein, fats, and healthy carbs. Unfortunately, we live such a fast paced life that eating these foods is a convenience and makes life much easier after coming home from a long day at work.

I must confess that I had my cupboards full of processed foods. I thought if they were low fat versions or the Point Value was just right, I could teach my children portion control. The problem is that not only was I feeding them foods that lacked the nutrients they needed but they were full of ingredients we couldn’t even pronounce and were harming their bodies.

Honestly, these foods were never filling and by the time bedtime came around we were up for at least one hour feeding our starving son.  I knew I had to make a change and as 2015 rang in I was determined to find a way to make changes. We already had a handle on our weight loss so this next phase would be easier an easier transition.

Life Changing Moment

I grew up believing if I ate low fat/no fat and counted points it would be ok.  This was the truth I was fed as a teenager, young adult, and even as a young parent. The truth is it isn’t ok and because our diet was wrong it didn’t matter how much medicine we had we never lasted well. We were always sick!

Ever since my son was one years old, all of us would get sick for at least nine months out of the year. It didn’t matter what it was we caught it, spread it, and kept it lingering around our house. We lived on antiobiotics and at the doctor’s office. Honestly, it was quite embarrassing to always be asked why our family was always sick. The truth is I didn’t even know the answer.

The big change I made in 2015 was to eliminate processed foods and incorporate healthy fats into our diet. Since we made this change, nobody has been sick in our home. It is now mid April and nobody has been to the doctor in 2015.  It was a sad moment for me to realize the way I fed my family for years had been affecting their health.

I was anemic for seven years and my hair was falling out abnormally. Just recently, I discovered that there is a direct correlation to extreme hair loss and anemia. Since changing my way of eating, I am no longer anemic and my hair no longer falls out. Not even the iron infusion I had stabilized my iron levels long term. Only changing my eating made the lasting change I needed.  

For the first time in 11 years we are finally living. We are living a healthy, sick-free life and there is no turning back. The change it has made in our family is life-changing and through these changes we have gained our life back and my husband and I continue on our weight loss journey. 

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