The China Study and Forks Over Knives- A Review August 31, 2011

 

 

I saw Forks Over Knives for the first time yesterday. Thank you Netflix streaming! It was really good and completely inspiring. It made me want to just travel around the world as an activist and an advocate for veganism and using food as medicine. I read The China Study a couple years ago, one of the books that convinced my husband and I to ditch the meat, dairy, and eggs and go vegan. Best. Decision. Ever.

 

For those of you who are not familiar with the book The China Study, it is a book written by Dr. T. Colin Campbell that links the animal protein casein with a whole host of western diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, and that is just a few of them. This book describes the results of a 20 year study Dr. T. Colin Campbell conducted in China looking at the relationship of eating animal products with western diseases. What he found was astounding: The animal protein casein promotes the growth of cancer cells and is responsible for all other western diseases. Eliminating the protein from your diet not only ceases the progression of cancer, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, and other western diseases, it REVERSES IT! NO MODERN MEDICINE IN EXISTENCE CAN DO THIS!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Forks Over Knives is a documentary about the research and findings of Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a researcher at Cornell in nutritional sciences and Dr. Esselstyn, a top surgeon and head of the breast cancer task force at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic both came to the same conclusion through completely independent and very different research: animal products are bad for our health and eliminating them from our diet will not only treat, but cure the most common western diseases.

 

In the documentary they also introduce a few other doctors that are treating their patients with a vegan diet as well as chronicle a few of the patients dealing with a myriad of diseases. The results are insane!

 

Joey Aucoin was diagnosed with dangerously high cholesterol and type II diabetes and was on at least 5 different pills as well as injections that caused at least 27 different side effects including overeating, depression, insominia, bloody stools, nasal drip, just to name a few. Joey stopped taking his medicine and went on a vegan diet. After 8 weeks he had lost 40lbs, 26 of the 27 side effects were gone, and he had lowered his cholesterol to normal levels and cured his type II diabetes!!! HOLY CRAP!!!!

 

The documentary chronicles several other patients similar to Joey, including a stage 4 breast cancer patient who chose a vegan diet over chemo and radiation and not only beat cancer but went on to win a gold medal in an ironman triathlon!!!

 

The vegan diet does what modern medicine has failed to do: REVERSE DISEASE!

 

I highly recommend this documentary to anyone and everyone who cares about the health and well-being of themselves and those they love.

Losing the Baby Weight- Progress Report #1 April 2, 2011

 

I weighed myself yesterday, for the first time since consciously deciding to make an effort to lose the leftover pregnancy weight I am still carrying around. I have been trying to follow my goals for almost three weeks now and I wanted to let you all know how it is going!

 

Here is a quick recap of all my goals and how well I have been doing with each of them:

 

1. Start doing cross-fit in the morning- This has been one of the easiest goals to follow. I love cross-fit and actually look forward to doing it first thing in the morning. It is really tough but short, which means I have enough time to start and finish my workout in the morning before Harper gets too fussy, but I still feel like I worked hard! It also puts me in a really good mood and starts me off on the right foot for the rest of the day. I have found that doing cross-fit in the morning makes it easier for me to make healthier choices throughout the rest of the day because I feel so good about myself!

 

2. Walk Chester or Swim 5 days a week- Harper and I have a new morning routine now. We get up around 8am and I do cross-fit, then we take Chester for a walk. It has been working out great and I have been able to keep my routine almost everyday since I started. I really want to start swimming again but have not yet done so. I am still not ready to leave my precious baby! I need to though and it is my goal to start swimming again soon!

 

3. Cut way back on Sugar- This one has been much harder. I have cut back on sugar and am trying really hard not to have dessert after dinner. But I have been making tons of vegan cheesecakes and it seems we constantly have dessert at the house. I am testing out new cheesecake recipes, and to test them, I have to taste them (How else am I supposed to know if it is any good?!). Consequently,  I am still eating sugar, but I am trying to just have a bite of cheesecake instead of a whole piece and not eat too much other dessert. I am definitely doing better and have cut back on the amount of sugar I eat, but this is a goal that I still need to work on.

 

4. Drink more water and tea- I have been better about drinking more water, tea has been harder, especially since it has been so warm. It cooled down today, so I think I will go make myself a cup of tea when I am finished writing this post. I still have not met my goal of three glasses of each a day but I have increased the amount of water I am drinking, which is really important for me as a breastfeeding mama!

 

5. Plan out meals in advance- I have been doing really well with this one as well. I do not plan out exactly what I am going to eat for all meals for each day but each Sunday I have been sitting down and coming up with five or six dinner ideas to choose from the next week. Then, when I go grocery shopping, I make sure I have all the things I need for each meal and each night I decide which one I feel like making. I have also been making lots of salads and dishes ahead of time that I can eat for lunch. It has been working out great and my meals have been full of veggies and lots of yummy raw foods!

 

6. If I eat a heavy or calorie dense meal, follow it up with a light meal instead of continuing to eat heavy food- I thought this would be really hard for me but so far it has been easy! Luckily, my other goals have helped me make healthy choices and I have not really been eating anything that I regretted or had second thoughts about so I have not really had to follow this goal too much but the few times I have it has been great because instead of derailing from my goals and feeling bad about myself, I get right back on track!

 

7. Weigh myself, but only once a month- I have decided to weigh myself twice a month, on the 1st and 15th of each month instead of once a month. I weighed myself for the first time on April 1st and I was 130lbs. I have not lost any weight yet and initially I was a little disappointed but then I realized I just started trying and the most important thing is that I feel good about myself and not the number on the scale. I am not discouraged and I am still optimistic that I will eventually get back to my pre-pregnancy weight of 120lbs!

 

8. Take more naps and remember it is okay to take a break every once in a while- I have definitely had a few days in the last few weeks where I have had to remember this goal and just take a deep breath and realize I am just not going to get my “to do” list done that day and that is okay. On those days I just decide to relax and spend time enjoying my little baby girl! It has definitely helped, I have not really felt over-stressed or anxious at all the last few weeks, two things that usually lead me to over-eat or make bad food choices!

 

9. Remember that it is not about losing the weight but feeling good about myself- Although I have not lost any weight yet, I feel great about myself and my body! This, to me, is much more important and the ultimate goal that I am striving towards so overall, I feel like the last three weeks have been a huge success!

 

I am really happy with my overall progress and will continue working on drinking more water and cutting back on sugar over the next few weeks and maybe I will even start losing some weight!

 

Losing the Baby Weight… March 15, 2011

 

Harper is two months old today! It has been two months since I gave birth, and two months since I was last pregnant. After Harper was born, I only had 7 pounds to lose to get back to my pre-prego weight. Now, two months later, I have ten pounds to lose. You can imagine how bummed I was when I realized I was gaining weight, not losing it! After thinking about it though, I was not very surprised.

 

I had gestational diabetes during my pregnancy and was very careful about what I ate. I stopped eating all carbohydrates and dessert and ate a ton of vegetables and protein. Because of this, I did not gain much weight during my pregnancy. After Harper was born, I did not have to watch what I ate anymore, so I started eating carbohydrates and dessert again and stopped eating so much protein. There was a period of a couple weeks where I think I ate dessert everyday! Normally, I would not worry about it too much because I have always been a very active person, but with a new baby, I have no time to work out and I have decided it is time to get serious about losing my baby weight.

 

So I have set a few goals for myself:

 

1. Start doing Cross-Fit in the morning- I need a workout that is intense and will get me results, but with a new baby in the house, I only have about 20 minutes a day to work out. I have never done cross-fit before but it seems like the perfect workout. The workouts are super short but kick your ass! The two websites I am using for my daily workouts are www.crossfit.com and www.crossfitla.com.

2. Walk Chester or swim 5 days a week- This will hopefully be an easy one for me because I have been walking Chester almost daily for a few weeks now. As for swimming, I absolutely love it, but have not had a chance since Harper was born and I am excited to get back into it.

3. Cut way back on sugar and no sugar after dinner unless it is a special occasion or we are having dinner with friends- If you have not been able to tell by my food journals, dessert is a HUGE weakness of mine! I have noticed the more I have it, the more I crave it… the less I have it, the less I crave it. It is time to wean myself off desserts and sugar again. I, however, have to be realistic and realize if there is dessert in front of me, and other people are indulging, I will have a very hard time saying no. So, during times such as dinner with friends or special occasions, I will allow myself to eat that super sugary dessert, but the rest of the time, I will try to refrain.

4. Drink more water and tea-My goal is to aim for three glasses of each a day

5. Plan out meals in advance- Especially dinner. I have been in a dinner “rut” lately and end up throwing something together for convenience or out of laziness because I did not plan ahead and was just not feeling creative. Planning my meals in advance helps me make sure I eat healthy, snack less, and do not get caught eating that last piece of cheesecake because I did not plan out a healthy alternative to eat instead.

6. If I eat a heavy or calorie dense meal, follow it up with a light meal instead of continuing to eat heavy food- This is an important one for me. I often, after eating too much or eating a very calorie-dense meal, will just keep on eating that way the rest of the day because I have already “ruined” my diet for that day. I need to stop doing this, so I am going to try to be better about following a heavy meal with a salad or something very light for the following meal.

7. Weigh myself, but only once a month- I am trying to lose weight, so I have to weigh myself to check if what I am doing is working, but I do not want my focus to be my weight, but rather how I feel. So, I am only going to weigh myself once a month. That way I can track my progress, but the majority of the time I will not be focusing on that number on the scale!

8. Take more naps! And remember that it is okay to take a break every once in awhile- With a new baby, a good nights sleep is a thing of the past for me and I often am very exhausted during the day. I have never been good at napping, but when I am really exhausted I lose all will-power and end up eating things I should not or eating out of stress instead of hunger. It is amazing how much better I feel when I force myself to sit back and just relax during the day when the baby is sleeping, something I need to do more of.

9. Remember that this is not about losing the weight but feeling good about myself- When I eat healthy and exercise I feel great and my goal is to keep feeling great!

 

Now, there are a lot of goals here for me to remember. And losing weight and following goals is much easier said than done. So to help me remember and keep these goals fresh in my mind, these goals are now posted on my computer desktop. So, now, when I go on my computer everyday, they will be right there in front of me!

 

What are your weight loss goals? And what do you do to make sure you follow them?