OneHealthyGirl.com - Carla Golden's Get Healthier! Blog

The Reality of Incorporating 80/10/10 Into Actual Life

Earlier today my brain and eyeballs sort of felt like they were jostling behind my skull, the bones of which felt like they were being unkindly squeezed. It was not a good feeling...very disorienting and distracting. This is one of the many new feelings I get when I don't eat the 80/10/10 way. Low and behold I had snacked on some wheat/buckwheat waffles after enjoying two fried local farm eggs (in ghee) with two slices of toasted California Bread and then my daughter made some homemade oatmeal banana chocolate chip cookies. Tastes great, feels not so great.

When embarking upon the 80/10/10 journey my husband Chad and I discussed whether we could actually live and eat the 80/10/10 way for the rest of our lives. We believe the good and smart reasons for doing so and we had already felt the benefits from doing so, however, it saddened us to think that we wouldn't eat out again or be able to socialize over food with friends and family. So we decided that we'd eat 80/10/10 during the week and then starting Friday night through Saturday night we'd go back to our old way of eating which meant foods like homemade Caesar salad, restaurant salads, sushi, eggs and other relatively healthful, whole foods. Nothing radical, for sure.

The foods that have been hardest for me to forgo during the week are seaweed paper (I'm currently hooked...SeaSnax or Annie Chun's) and hard boiled eggs. For me, eggs are my go-to comfort food. They fill me up, I especially like them warm (just boiled) with sea salt and I have fond memories of coddled eggs, scrambled eggs, omelets and egg salad sandwiches growing up. They are totally not vegan and they are completely off the 80/10/10 radar. 

So, has 80/10/10 been easy? Pretty much. Have we been doing it 100% perfectly. Nope. And that's ok with me. It's a self-correcting method and requires patience during transition.

(Here's an amazing Before & After of a woman who started following 80/10/10 in March 2009.)

I love the way I feel after eating copious amounts of fruit. I feel like I'm fasting, but yet I'm never hungry. My skin and eyes glow, my mind is clear, my energy is off the charts and my whole body is at peace. If I take in the occasional egg, seaweed or my friend's awesome veg nutritious and delicious gourmet soup, I'm ok with that. These foods digest easily and don't make me feel all that much different than when I eat just fruit.

If I were to come down with a cold, illness or injury, I would NO DOUBT do 80/10/10 completely 100% until the issue cleared. Doing mostly 80/10/10 on a regular basis would make that so easy to accomplish.

So how would I describe how we are currently eating? We're 80/10/10 low-fat raw-vegan high-fruit 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time we are eating a very limited/restricted Pescetarian (including raw parmesan cheese, organic ghee, anchovies, sashimi, clams, farm eggs...no other dairy or meat) diet. It won't surprise me if over time the weekend foods slowly fade away naturally as one can eat foods that lead to discord only so many times before one isn't motivated to continue eating those foods. 

Chad and I are inspired to avoid the ravages of illness, especially cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. Recently watching the movie Forks Over Knives profoundly emphasized how diet is directly correlated to these ailments. We love youthful living and aging gracefully and believe the 80/10/10 approach will help provide this.

GRAINS: I never thought that I had a grain or gluten issue but now that I've stopped eating these foods regularly (brown rice, whole grain waffles, cereal, etc.) I have noticed that my lower belly "pooch" aka Wheat Belly has dissipated. I've heard it said that we really all have a gluten (and lactose) issue, we just don't know it because we rarely give the body a break from eating grains and dairy. I believe it's the grains that send my body, especially head, into a fury of discomfort. *

SUSHI: I ate sushi (actually sashimi w/o the rice) for the first time in years about two weeks ago. Oddly enough I am more open to eating raw fish than common restaurant cooked vegetarian food. Unless you go to a restaurant which specializes in and/or understands vegetarian or vegan food, it's just not worth the hassle in most cases. (And can I tell you how tired I am of paying full price for salads that have had their meat & cheese removed? If I don't want the chicken or bacon, I certainly don't want to pay for it. Add chicken? Charged extra. Remove chicken? No price cut.)

EGGS: We eat only local farm-fresh eggs. There is concern in the vegan world for B12 deficiency and some vegans supplement with B12 pills. I'd rather supplement with an egg. Between eggs and avocados, I'm certain I'm getting more than 10% of my calories from fat, however overall it's less than I was eating. My blood cholesterol went from 113 to 134 recently (too much EVOO!) and since going mostly 80/10/10 it's come back down to 119.

WATER: It's been Chad's amazement how his desire for a glass of water has faded. I anticipated this change because Dr. Graham's book mentioned it. Water filtered through fruit is more perfect than any water bottled, distilled or mechanically filtered. Eating high water content fruit, the need to add water to the diet becomes unnecessary. Also our overall salt intake has reduced whereby requiring less supplemental water. We've noticed during our weekend food mode (cooked meals!) and increased salt intake (anchovies! parmesan!) that we are more dehydrated and desire additional water. 

Eating the 80/10/10 way is an ideal and a goal. Being unable or unwilling to follow this method 100% does not lessen the worth in starting a dietary shift. It is still to one's advantage to embark on the journey towards this ideal because the body will recalibrate along the way, sending messages that lead one toward higher and cleaner nutrition. Eat more fruit, reduce protein and fat and listen to your body. Watch it change, heed its signals and delight in the results. 

Be well, Carla.

Would you like to find a nutritional coach in your area? Search WellnessDestinationsCentral.com for this and 68 other types of alternative healthcare practitioners.

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* "Many research studies link diets high in complex carbohydrates to negative health conditions. The gluten-containing grains (primarily wheat, but also rye, barley, and oats) contain at least fifteen opioid sequences, which are strongly addictive, morphine-like substances that have potent psychoactive properties and produce serious neurological disorders, constipation, urinary retention, nausea, vomiting, cough suppression, and other symptoms." Dr. Douglas Graham

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Live Light, xo-C.

Retiring My One Healthy Girl Blog!

The time has come to say goodbye. I've reached a point in my wellness journey where retiring the blog is a healthier choice than continuing it. 

I went from peddling a product in September 2007 to making food choice a personal and spiritual destiny today, December 29, 2009. Here marks the point where blogging about veganism no longer makes sense. It has become so personal, so spiritual...gasp, so religious....that there's no point blogging about it.

One can argue days on end about the nutritional and/or environmental and/or animal welfare benefits or detriments of veganism, but at that day's end it boils down to a spiritual choice to kill and eat animals and their by-products or not. I don't like other people shoving their dogma down my throat and I won't do it to you. Defending veganism has become a waste of my time.

There are so many passionate, intelligent and successful nutritionist online that I shall not be missed. If you still wish to stay in touch and get minute doses of One Healthy Girl, I will keep feeding my Facebook Fan Page with interesting articles and links to other sites.

I continue to reach for my PhD in Holistic Health and Healing through the University of Natural Health and this year I plan to complete my first 1/2 marathon as a vegan runner using the principles of ChiRunning. The journey continues as an inward one.

Best wishes to you and I hope 2010 brings you divine growth to enrich your life. Thank you for reading and supporting OneHealthyGirl.com.

Be well and live light, xo-C.

REST ASSURED. CARLA IS NOT STARVING!

A Facebook reader and longtime friend asked of me "seems you avoid a lot of foods! what DO you eat??" So I thought I'd take a break from Food School to answer this excellent question.

First of all, I must confess. I eat a lot. I love good food and I enjoy an ample meal. This morning I've already had my matcha tea and two (not one, but, yes, two) Sunshine burger sandwiches on toasted Ezekiel bread with Veganaise. YUM!

  +   +   +  

I wish I had had some lettuce or tomatoes to add, but I used up my produce last night at dinner and today is Produce Tuesday, so I'm out until this afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon, after school, we went to the grocery stores. Yes, these days I can't just go to one. All my neighborhood standard grocery stores carry different organic goodies in their "special sections," so I can't get all I want from just one store. 

I still have the receipts, so I can tell you what we bought at Harris Teeter Southend (omitting non-food items):

Organic applesauce
Kashi cereal (I've weaned Bella off Newman-O's and now cereal is her "dessert.")
Rice noodles
Raisins
Penne whole wheat pasta
Naked Food Green Machine
grapefruit
lemons
orange bell pepper
romaine lettuce
yellow onion
red bell pepper
cremini mushrooms

At Publix Southend, we bought:

Coconut milk yogurt - finally found it! It's delicious!!!
organic raisins (yes, we have a raisin demand in our house and we're nailing down favorite brands)
raspberry lemonade (for popsicles)
star fruit
organic mac and cheese
Cascadian Farms cinnamon cereal
Cascadian Farms honey o's (on special 2 for $5)

Last night I made a sautéed garlic, onion, orange and red bell pepper, mushroom rice noodle soup with a romaine, orange and red bell pepper, garlic, Bragg's ginger & sesame dressing salad which my husband and I shared. I added some diced carrots and cucumbers to my salad serving. Bella had organic cheese tortellini and carrot sticks.

That's an example of what I/we eat. I do avoid a lot, but I also eat abundantly of real, whole food. If it's not organic, local, artisan or homemade, I rarely eat it.

I know more about food that I do about cooking, so this is most certainly a journey for me. I'm learning to like cooking more, but it does take some extra planning on my part to find foods and recipes that my family will enjoy. It's worth it though because our robust health is obvious and I wouldn't sacrifice that for the world.

Hope that answers the question and gives you a peek into a typical food day in my life. 

Live Light, xo-C.

Be sure to read what Bella and I have been up to at OneHealthyKid.com!

What do you eat? If you have a recent grocery store receipt, will you share what's on it? Click here to leave a comment at this post on my blog.

FÜKITZ, DIAMONDS & WONDER BREAD!

It's Thursday evening as I write and I have a bad case of the fükitz. If you don't know what that is, it means that I've reached my limit and feel like tossing it all out the window.

This is why. 

About mid-day today after walking the dog, taking the kid to riding lessons, toiling in the garden and generally operating the household (dishes, laundry, cleaning, sweeping) and some checking in with the virtual world, I focused on getting ready for Food School.

Since my home printer is on strike, I couldn't print off new Food School hand-outs. So I re-worked them all into web-based Google Documents so that I could drive to our office and use the printer there. Which I did...well, everything but print the documents because the browser wasn't a recent enough version to handle Google Documents. WTF? So I resolved to print them off at Oasis Life Spa (the host for Food School) on my friend's computer there and mooch some copies.

Off to the pool from the office to squeeze in some laps before getting in the shower and dressing for Food School. Swim, swim, swim, lap, lap, lap...I'm tearing up the water with the dark chocolate (which I haven't eaten in a while so was extra turbulent!) storming through my veins. 

Quick, quick...out of the water with the kid. Dry off. Get home. Jump in the shower. Soap. Shampoo.

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! BELLA! CHAD! MY EARRING IS GONE!!!!!!!!!!

If you know me well, you know that I have a very special pair of earrings bolted to my head. They are diamonds from my grandmother, reset into beautiful earrings designed by my husband. These earrings are so sentimental and one was G-O-N-E. Poof!

A mere 15 minutes until I'm due to be at Food School. Panic. Cry. Don't cry. Can't show up with red eyes. Surrender. Ommmmmm. Husband and kid dash off to the pool to look for it in the water. Half my sparkle is missing and I was feeling it, oh so profoundly.

Get dressed. Dash out the door with food props and one earring. Run into the grocery store for Wonder Bread, whole wheat bread and Ezekiel Bread....fresh food props.

Arrive at Oasis. Thank gawd my dear friend is the owner and always receives me with love no matter how I show up. This time with no printouts and one earring. And HER computer is in the shop! No mooching some printouts. 

Just as well, because no one...NO O-N-E...NOT ONE PERSON...showed up for Food School.

I have the fükitz. Do you blame me?

I push through my day with child in tow to meet the commitment that I've made to the two people who said they were coming and the 26 who said they were maybe coming.

And I'm left with Wonder Bread and half of my sparkle.

Husband and child (and Life Guard!) did find the other half of my sparkle. Thank you, thank you!! You saved my sparkle!! And my dear, sweet, kind-hearted friend listened to my fükitz rant and still loves me anyway.

I wonder (bread) why I do what I do. I love to learn about food and health. I love to write. I feel compelled to share what I've learned. I hope that pieces of information fall into the hands of someone who needs it. I hope I am a conduit that helps and effects change. I want to live a live of purpose and productivity. I make absolutely no money doing it. Not a cent. No advertising, no products, no book sale affiliations...nadda.

Is it worth losing my sparkle? Should I be caring about the health of strangers more than making a glorious edible mess in the kitchen with my daughter? Should I be on the computer right now instead of watching a good independent film *with subtitles* with my sparkle-rescuing husband?

Maybe this is God's way of saying "no."

So I have the fükitz and will be writing again when the Wonder Bread molds. I've got some thinking to do.

Live Light, xo-C.

MY ABSOLUTE FRUSTRATION WITH EATING A HEALTHFUL & ETHICAL DIET

As my blog states, I'm one healthy girl getting healthier. Like happiness, health is a journey, not a destination. There is no end point, but rather something to move towards every day.

While I consider myself to be fairly healthy - no sign of illness, adequate energy, clear eyes and skin (occasional blemishes), physically fit, happy - I know there is MUCH more I can do to be even healthier. 

But it's so hard. Waaaaa! Boo.Hoo.

Wherever you are on your journey, the presence of challenge is the same. Change and self-discipline are required at each and every step. It doesn't necessarily get easier the healthier you get, but it certainly becomes more rewarding and enlightening. 

Here are my current complaints challenges:

1. Lack of FABULOUS food purchasing options in my town

I read, listen and watch others in life and online live out their health stories and I learn about superfoods and organic everything and I cry a little cry inside because that stuff is not available here. I could mail order it...but then there's the carbon footprint, the expense, and the packaging. I could grow it....well, some of it may grow here. Very few restaurants are vegan friendly...oh, to be indulged locally by knowledgeable vegan chefs like at The Laughing Seed in Asheville, NC or Cafe Gratitude in San Francisco, CA. Waaaa!

2. So many organics come packaged in plastic

Plastic may save your head in a bike fall or regulate your heartbeat in a pacemaker, but I am sick and tired of so many good, delicious foods being unnecessarily packaged in plastic. "I don't feed myself junk, but I'm oblivious to the fact that I make the planet eat indigestible junk at the land fill." Do plastics really get recycled? Can't we - us so-called superior thinking species - think of a better food packaging than plastic?

I question the morals of any health food/organic food company or store who packages their pristine food in plastic. Who cares how healthy you are if you choke the planet with litter. Really. 

3. It was to be expected, but the vegan critics are maddening

I've had several omnivore's who wish to convince me that having a house pet (dog, fish) or riding a horse is equally as cruel as slaughtering and eating an animal. While imprisoning a dog, cat, horse or fish certainly robs that animal of it's rightful freedom, I don't think it is anywhere near as cruel as the treatment received by the animals in CAFOs.

Their logic is that if I'm willing to have a pet dog or ride a horse then I might as well eat meat. Veganism is not a black and white issue, there are many, many, many shades of gray.

While I may not be a perfect vegan, I certainly feel that I am doing the right thing by the environment by not supporting a system that destroys forests, pollutes water and produces pharmaceutical infused meat from sick, diseased, maltreated animals.

4. The raw food diet plays with my mind and heart strings

There's a lot of good to be said for the raw food diet. Amazing stories about people who have overcome major diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes with nutrition generally employed a raw food vegan diet. I have yet to read studies of anyone who employed the Atkins Diet (meat based) or similar to overcome any one of these diseases. Meat does not heal. I do not read about meat smoothies.

The body loves plants. The body loves raw plants. I would like to eat more raw plants. See #1. The organic section in my main grocery store is sad. All the organic produce sections in my small town put together make for a marginally decent produce section.

Tangent: Yesterday in the grocery store there were white grapes on special. The sign read "Product of the USA"....well, how local. It does make a difference when you're in South Carolina whether those "local USA" grapes came from California or Georgia. Local does not equal USA, guys. What's really funny is that the bags of grapes actually indicated that they were from Mexico. Well, in this case I guess "USA" meant North America! Is there such a term as "LocalWashing"??

5. The "if I only knew then what I know now" self-destructive kick-yourself mental tape

I certainly did not eat as well as I do back when I birthed and nursed Bella. It is a huge regret of mine. The breast milk she received was built off chicken, steak, pizza, bread, cheese and ice cream. I didn't home grind her baby food of fresh, organic sweet potatoes or avocados. She didn't pinch little goji berries into her precious toddler mouth. Her first birthday cake wasn't a raisin sweetened bran muffin.

I didn't introduce these natural flavors to her until she was already set in her ways. I have radically changed my diet because I consciously understand the benefit, but those reasons don't fly with a 7.5 year old. 

"I'm the mommy and you eat what I tell you to eat" is not my approach. I hope to encourage Bella to adopt at least some of my eating patterns. She's as proficient at saying "NO, I won't eat that" as I am with saying "NO, I won't buy that." I can at least cut myself a break by knowing that she has never eaten a Happy Meal, never drank a Coke and never been on antibiotics.

Bella is not a mini-Carla in the food department. But she, like we, is on her own journey, and I am merely her guide....until she's 18. (Oh dear, I must get busy!)

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I share all this with you because I struggle every day, learn every day and make the best choice with the information that I have. It is a full-time vocation to stay up to date on food options and health studies. I am but one source and one opinion and I hope that my findings and experience help you in making the best decision for you.

None of us live in a food utopia. (I hear from all the raw food gurus food utopia is actually in Ecuador where they're all relocating.) I don't want to move. I don't think that abandoning a broken system is the way to fix the system. It may be in an individual's best interest to abandon the system, but for the benefit of all, I believe it is important to stay in the broken system and work on fixing it from within. I am an idealistic optimist, I know.

These are ways that I intend to help improve my local food system: encourage vegan meals in local restaurants, support local farmer's markets and encourage expansion, and get more bold and creative in the kitchen and find vegan/raw recipes that my family loves for the taste, if not for the ethics or nutritional benefit.

Live Light, xo-C. 

MAY 11th JUMP & JUICE FAST FEAST FEST plans!!

As you may have noticed, I've made mention of my upcoming SIX WEEK Jump & Juice Fast Feast Fest which I will start on Monday, May 11th. 

I've title it thus because I will be actively employing my new rebounder (the JUMP) and my relatively new Jack LaLanne juicer (the JUICE) for six solid weeks. These are my rationales and objectives:

1. Spring is the time for liver cleansing and I was totally taken when I heard Deepak Chopra tell that it takes six weeks to regenerate new liver cells. I want to feed my body extremely health giving foods in liquid form (for optimal assimilation) for six weeks for total liver renewal support. I don't think my liver is in a compromised state, however, the liver always needs extra love for all the good work it does for us everyday - over 600 functions!!

2. I've already written about the benefits of juicing and will be referring to Natalie Savona's the big book of juices: more than 400 natural blends for health and vitality every day for recipe inspiration. I aim to stick to the juice recipes and maybe the quenchers, though I'm not a big fan of ice cold beverages, but not the smoothies because they contain dairy. I will also drink my beloved matcha green tea, coconut water, kombucha and perhaps vegetable broth.

4. If I can get my daughter off my Needak rebounder long enough, I aim to jump three 10 minute sessions daily and/or 2 minutes each hour (when feasible). Confession: I have discovered that my bladder is not as strong (ie: leak proof!) as it used to be, unfortunately. This came as quite the surprise and has made me hesitant to bounce often. I believe if I work through an uncomfortable phase (TMI: wear a washcloth while I bounce!) that I will strengthen my bladder...and my other internal organs too! One of the many benefits to rebounding!!

5. This six week phase will mark for me my transition into a whole food (much raw) vegan diet. Dr. Will Tuttle's World Peace Diet has convinced me that this is the most enlightened and spiritual way to eat in our world. Because I care about my health, world hunger, the environment, peace and the respect for life, it makes sense for me to transition now in order to do my part toward these causes. 

I will take "before" and "after" photos to see if my body composition visibly changes. I will document my daily food and exercise. If you are interested in joining me in your own version of this project, I welcome you. It may be helpful to beging one day after I do so that you can benefit from my juice recipes which are distributed by blog the morning after I post.

If I get the craving to chew on something, I'm not going to chastise myself for eating a piece of fruit, a salad of veggies or munching on some dried goji berries, but I will try to make it six weeks just on liquid. I hope to feel renewed and cleansed. I aim to GLOW and inspire you to modify your diet to help improve your wellbeing, physical health and perhaps the world. 

Change Vegan Believe In! ;o)

Live Light, xo-C.

HORN TOOTIN' and SOME eVEGANgelism

First, I am thrilled and honored to have been featured in this month's edition of Hilton Head Island's CH2 magazine.

Words of Wisdom-"Do What you Love"

You can read the entire article by clicking on the blue link above. Thanks, CH2!!!

Secondly, I wish to share with you a bit about my experience seeing and hearing Dr. Will Tuttle speak about his World Peace Diet book and philosophy on Sunday. I am more convinced that ever that a non-animal product diet (ie: vegan) is optimal for our planet, to reduce world hunger, for our health and for our global ethic.

This topic is a sensitive one. Most people don't like thinking about it, much less talking about it. Changing one's diet even slightly can pose great challenge for many people, let alone radically changing it to a vegan diet. However, I must share what I have learned.

To clarify: I am not yet vegan. I still eat eggs, anchovies, organic sour cream, butter, parmesan cheese and occasionally yogurt. But after my Six Week Jump and Juice Fast Feast Fest starting May 11th, I plan to transition into a fully vegan lifestyle. 

Will it be easy? Hell no. If you know me, you know how much I love eggs. Not long ago I wrote a post justifying my eating of them. Do I wear leather shoes and carry a leather handbag? Yes. These are real issues I will have to address if I am to live in accordance to my ever re-calibrating beliefs and understanding. 

Am I brave? Yes. Am I braver than you? No.

Now I'm going to get a little eVEGANgelical on you....

"When we buy eggs we instigate theft and violence against horribly abused females and contribute to environmental contamination, social pathology, and disease." Will Tuttle

I was certain to purchase my eggs from a local, small farm operation that allows the chickens to live like chickens as to avoid the common, yet inhumane, treatment of factory farm chickens and I felt at peace about that. However, I have now been confronted with the issue of feminism. 

I am not what I'd consider a feminist in the stereotypical sense, but certainly a humanist in that I believe we all have equal worth. Being the mother of a daughter for the past seven years I have become more sensitive to issues that I may have ignorantly absorbed and accepted in my own youth, but would vigilantly oppose for my daughter's sake. (She is unknowingly helping me to grow.)

Taking an egg ~ whether fertilized or not ~ away from a mother hen is robbing her of a sacred feminine cycle. Would I want this to happen to my daughter with or without her consent? Or to me for that matter? Supporting this act remotely by purchasing the eggs from the person who did swipe them passes along the ethical burden to me. I have stolen a potential baby from a mother whose very existence lives and breathes with the instinct to reproduce and nurture. I have interrupted her actualization of motherhood. Repeatedly.

Some people say chickens are stupid and that they don't think or feel. Here's an article that will illustrate that chickens do think, just differently than we do. They are not stupid. We're stupid for comparing their thinking abilities to that of humans as if the way we think is the only way to think.

Don't even get me started on the cows!

We eat how we live. With awareness and compassion or with ignorance and denial, with many stops in between. Life's a journey, indeed. Taste Peace. Try Veganism. 

"To meditate for world peace, to pray for a better world, and to work for social justice and environmental protection while continuing to purchase the flesh, milk, and eggs of horribly abused animals exposes a disconnect that is so fundamental that it render our efforts absurd, hypocritical, and doomed to certain failure....Cultivating awareness, we can transcend the imposed view that animals are mere food objects. With this, we will see consumerism, pornography, and the disconnectedness that leads inexorably to slavery and self-destruction evaporate. As the mentality of domination and exclusivism fades, we will be able to heal division of gender, race, and class." Will Tuttle

Or you can live in fear and doubt. It's just a choice. Be the change.

Live Light, xo-C.

FIRST HARVEST FROM THE GARDEN! A pictoral.

I am an excited first time gardener! Look at these darling radishes just peeking a sweet hello from the earth:

And here are a few radishes, freshly harvested, on the chopping board:

And here I am getting ready to take a bite of the very first food I have EVER grown:

Bite!

OMG! Ewwww! Did I plant Horseradish??

Hot and Spicy! OK, tell me what to do with radishes now. Recipe call!

And while in the garden, I captured the beans reaching out and grabbing onto support. The beauty and sweetness of the inherent miracle nearly broke my heart.

What's your support system? 

Live Light, xo-C.

CONFESSIONS OF AN EX-FOOD JUNKIE

I am still in sunny Florida enjoying family time with my daughter and parents...my younger brother too! What a bonus. Before I left for my trip I had mentioned in my blog post that I would be sharing some information of a more personal nature.

Weekly I read other wonderful health blogs and am so inspired by others' sucesses: overcoming illness, losing weight or meeting athletic goals. And sometimes I am criticized that my blog posts are too harsh: over opinionated, too judgemental or filled with unrealistic expectations. Let me, if you will, bridge what I admire and how I've arrived at my "blogging voice."

I am a recovered bulimic. For five solid years I stuffed myself silly with horrible food and threw it up, often several times a day. I had one of the clinically worse relationships with food that a person can have. I lied, I concealed, I stole and I was full of shame day after day. I had mastered which food combinations had the highest rate of binging satisfaction while still being easy to throw back up. Hours were spent in drive-thrus and I'd eat meals on the sly on the way to meet with family or friends for the "real" meal. Drug store pharmacists started keeping their ipecac syrup (vomit inducing medication) behind the counter to make it harder for me to get...all pharmacies in my area. Sometimes I'd stock up when I was out of town where they didn't know me.

For years I had all the behaviors of a drug addict. I lived out of my mind always consumed with the next high (binge), I went through money like water, I poorly managed my obligations and responsibilities to family, friends, school and work and I even sneaked into people's houses to eat their food. I created chaos and spewed it freely on others. It was an ugly time of my life and I still suffer some long term dominoe-effect consequences of those bad choices and circumstances.

Evenutally I was helped with medication and pshychology and I quickly weaned myself off the drugs. It was during this transition, when I was grasping for answers, that I began to consider the biochemical and physiological effects of food on the body, especially the brain chemicals. The hardest part about recovering from bulimia (or anorexia) is that you just can't abstain from your nemisis of addiciton unlike alcohol, drugs, shopping, sex, or gambling. You have to learn to have a healthy relationship with food if you want to live.

This is a brief rendition of where I've been. I can share more with you if you think it could help you or anyone you know. But this is my success story. I've never wanted to flaunt or exploit it, but I now wish to give myself credit for overcoming a very grave illness. I have been on the down side of food and am on the up side now and feel that I do have the experiences and the knowledge to help others, if not from bulimia, then from emotional eating and/or poor dietary habits. Sometimes I can lack the sugar-coating in my advice or opinions and it's not because I think i know everything there is to know about food, but because I've seen, felt, and lived it's disasterous and also it's beneficial effects on my body, mind and soul.

I belive that the current state of health is 60% based on what you put into your mouth (food and drink). Genetics, fitness and stress affect the rest. According to Deepak Chopra in Quantum Healing, our bodies regenerate 98% of their cells EVERY YEAR. The liver regenerates in six weeks and the stomach lining in 3 days! The body is in constant state of renewal.

DNA provides the blueprint, but food provides the building material. If you've been given a great design and try to build with marshmellow puffs and soda, your temple will crumble. If you've been given a decent design, build it with fruits, vegetables, grains and smart oils while giving it movement, water, sunshine and rest, you will be the best illuminated temple you could possibly be.

That's my story, that's my goal and that's my voice.

Live Light, xo-C.