My weight loss journey part 2 June 27th, 2024
Weight loss journey part 2 May 10, 2024 (I wrote this blog on May 10th but just now getting around to posting it. You can see my update notes at end of post)
Great news! I made it to my ½ way point! Over 20 pounds gone! I am thrilled to be at this part of my journey. And this morning I weighed in at 159.2. I am in the 150’s!!!! It’s a celebration! But how did I do it? You can read about the first ½ here in my blog post.
April was a rough month. At the end of March, I noticed a lot of chest pains and extremely low energy level. A few days before Easter I got to a point where I couldn’t even eat or drink water. My son asked if I had done anything new. Then asked about any vitamins I was taking. It occurred to me that I had been taking new vitamins for about 3 weeks. After googling I realized that others were having similar reactions. I immediately stopped and contacted the company. They reimbursed me for the costs but it still took another 30 days before I started feeling better. I even went to the doctor for blood tests since I was feeling so out of sorts.
Now this left me with a dilemma on what to eat. I was still doing My Fitness Pal and trying my best to figure out how to feed myself food that would heal my body. After googling I came across Edgar Cayce’s advice to follow “food combining”. This was the 3rd time I ran across this advice. The other 2 were Louise Hay and Wayne Dwyer. I remembered that I had kept 2 food-combining books that I had used and practiced in the 80’s. I found them on my bookshelf and committed to starting immediately. I devoured the first book in one night. They are the “Fit for Life” books by The Diamonds. I remember how much I loved the recipes and the principles of these books.
I would highly recommend purchasing the book. I ended up buying another copy of the first book since mine was from the 80’s and falling apart. I bought mine at thriftbooks.com.
The next morning I quit “dieting” and went on a recommitted journey to my health. No more weighing and counting calories or logging foods. I went to the grocery store and stocked up on fruits and vegetables. Even though I had steadily been losing approximately a pound a week, on my first week of Fit for Life, I lost 3 pounds. I was shocked! I was eating so much delicious food, never hungry and the meals were so satisfying.
Fruit is the meal and snack every day before noon. According to the book the whole process of eating runs into cycles in rhythm with our body’s systems. Before noon we are still in an “elimination” phase. My morning meals consist of fresh sweet juicy pineapples, freshly squeezed citrus juices, raspberry fruit smoothies, chunks of fresh cantaloupe, watermelon, and honeydew, organic grapes, and berries. Fruit should always be eaten on an empty stomach. I also tend to eat a piece of fruit 3-4 hours after lunch. I love those little yellow honey mangoes. Best peeled and eaten over the sink to slurp up all the juices. If you followed my other posts, you know I had a fondness for jelly beans. I now eat fresh berries in place of my beloved beans.
And I am eagerly looking forward to fresh apricots and dark juicy cherries!
The next principle of food combining is to eat protein and carbs at separate meals.
Lunch is usually a big energizing salad with avocado and drizzled with olive oil and fresh lemon juice.
I add carrots, cauliflower, sprouts (I started making my own), celery, red cabbage, cherry tomatoes, English cucumbers, and anything else I might have handy. I can choose to have a carb or protein with my salad. Today my salad was sprinkled with a handful of raw cashews and some delicious olives. Since the cashews are considered a protein I skipped any bread or carbs for lunch. Tonight I am making a big stir-fry with soba noodles for dinner. Two of my other favorite lunches from the book are the avocado sandwiches on multigrain bread with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sprouts, and mayonnaise, and the New York Goodwiches-raw vegetables cut cup and wrapped in a whole wheat flour tortilla layered with avocado and BBQ onions! I make sure to have a salad once a day either for lunch or dinner.
Dinner-I love, love, love the recipes in this book. Particularly the dinners. We have feasted on buttery baked potatoes, steak salads, Cantonese shrimp salad, shepherds pie with mashed potato crust, and delicious mushroom gravy. And the soups are sooooo delicious! Creamy cauliflower soup, split pea, creamy potato corn chowder, vegetable etc.
My life and eating have changed quite dramatically. This style of eating completely vibes with me. I am feeling so much happier and healthier and the weight keeps flying off!!! Wow, it is just amazing! I think one of the things I appreciate most is the feeling of being able to keep the weight off by continuing these eating principles. I am definitely still invested in seeing 142 on the scale (my normal BMI), but I don’t feel like I am on a “diet” where I will need to find a way to maintain the weight loss. It feels freeing.
Here is a typical day for me:
Before noon:
Upon rising I will drink about 16 or more ounces of distilled water. Lately, I have been also warming up a cup of water with the juice of ½ a squeezed lemon. About 30 minutes later I also mixed up a cup of water with “chlorella”. There are many benefits. I find it to taste rather “clean” vs the algae taste of spirulina. Which I still like to use in green smoothies.
Depending on my mood, I will also then squeeze 2 grapefruits and an orange for a delicious nutritious beverage. I find that I am rarely hungry in the morning so this suits me. Next might be a bowl of fresh melon. After about another hour I then prepare a “fruit salad” with any leftover cut-up fruit in my fridge. Mango, papaya, grapes, berries, kiwis, pineapple etc.
About 11:30 I will start preparing a big salad. I love having cut-up veggies in my fridge ready to go. I also buy tubs of fresh lettuce and spinach, arugula, etc for my salads. I usually eat lunch between noon and 1 pm. But I love having it already prepared to eat for the time I start to feel hungry. I like slices of Ezekiel buttered toast to also go with my salad. (If I am not using nuts).
If I have a day that I am running errands I make sure to pack food to take with me. I will often eat my meal in the car when I am hungry. I have a lunch bag with a cooler. I suppose this is also another one of my strategies, I usually wait until I am hungry before eating but when that time comes, I like to be prepared. I often will purchase a carton of organic raspberries on my grocery trips and devour them in the car before heading home.
About 3:30-4:30 I will have another piece of fruit. Maybe a delicious navel orange or an organic honey crisp apple sliced up.
I like to allow up to 2 hours for meal prep so I don’t feel rushed. I like to put all my ingredients on the counter before getting started.
I usually enjoy dinner around 6 pm with my wife Molly. I am enjoying eating many more plant-based meals but I do try to have a protein meal at least once a week that Molly will enjoy. Since I am not eating animal protein as often I will then splurge on New York steaks, Swordfish steaks or wild-caught salmon. These protein meals are served with fresh steamed asparagus, a salad, sauteed garlic mushrooms or anything else fresh and in season. But again, no carbs with our protein dinners. But really, our plates are full and we don’t miss them.
A big change for me is no desserts. Or alcohol. I am not saying “I can’t”, but for now I am choosing not to, but I always give myself the right to choose whatever I want. I really don’t feel deprived.
I love to bake and cook. And I am known for my desserts. Since I am not doing desserts right now, and whole grains are a part of my plan, I have decided to bake as many things from scratch as I can. In the last few weeks I have made delicious whole wheat pitas and chapatis. Ten days ago I started a sourdough starter. Tonight will be my first attempt at making my own sourdough bread. I am pretty excited about it! I am looking forward to making a lot more goodies.
I have currently lost a total of 21.8 pounds since January 1, 2024. I have 17.2 more pounds to go. I am expecting to hit my goal weight by September 15th.
Every day I am sorting through more and more of my clothes and continuing to add to the donate pile all the clothes that no longer fit. I have eagerly enjoyed my weekly shopping excursions to the Goodwill. I have a closet full of size small capsule clothes I am curating in my new chosen wardrobe pallet ready for summer. Stay tuned. I will be blogging about part 2 of my wardrobe journey coming soon.
Have you ever tried “Food Combining?” What were your experiences? As always, I appreciate all the support and comments. Would love to hear from you in the comment section below.
Update: Today is June 27th, 2024. A lot has happened since I wrote this unpublished post in May. My daughter Robin and her fiancée Jason just got married this past Friday. Our home was filled with family and lots of food and lots of wedding activities. I spent 3 days off my eating plan but jumped right back on track. (unfortunately for my diet plan, my son Brandon is an incredible cook and baker. I could not resist his sourdough pecan caramel sticky buns and cinnamon rolls). Yes I did gain some weight but I stuck back to my plan and this morning I weighed in at 153.6! Total loss 27.4 pounds since January 1st, 2024. I am really excited to be 11.6 pounds away from goal.
I am still following food-combining principles. But after much research, I have also discovered Blender Girl LINK. I appreciate Tess’s approach to food combining and her use of adaptogens. I have ordered 3 of her cookbooks and really enjoy the thoughtful principles she has laid out and delicious recipes.
If you are new to food combining and want to give it a go, I suggest starting with Fit for Life. I think it’s a very simple easy book to follow with great results and delicious recipes.Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks.
