My Transformation to Healthy Eating

Long Post Alert!!!  Proceed with Caution:

According to our local library, March was National Health Month.  Who knew? 

As I was thinking about this I soon realized that March has been a unique time for Danny and I to change specific areas of our health.  Not just this year alone, but over the last three years since we’ve started running.  He and I were never serious runners to begin with.  In fact, our journey started long before three years ago:  

Danny and I started running on and off as we started dating.  We use to run around BYU campus a few days a week with me complaining about how hard it was and that I could never make it up the hills, and him trying to convince me otherwise.  I hated it.  I also hated trying to keep up. 

During our second year of marriage, the running started up again.   It stopped when I got pregnant. 

After getting pregnant, we both stopped running and soon fell fast into a terribly unhealthy lifestyle.

Looking back, I am ashamed that we took such poor care of our bodies.  We were busy:  Danny was finishing his Master’s program at school; I was pregnant and teaching second grade.  We couldn’t adjust to make room for the health part.  Plus it was just plain easier to drive to Arby’s and get the 5 for 5$, than it was to think of something to make, let alone actually make it.  It was cheep, fast, and boy did it taste good!  Oh, and don’t forget the Monday night Family Home Evenening runs to Apollo Burger or sharing an entire 5$ Little Caesar’s Pizza for Date Night.  On occasion we would splurge and eat at Ruby Tuesdays, but we had our favorite locations.  YUM!     

A few months after Jakob was born I tried to start running again.  I had gained so much weight that every attempt to run only made my knees ache several hours afterward.  It wasn’t until we made the move across the country to Connecticut that our lives finally changed:

We didn’t have family around for support; I was trying to adjust to having just had a new baby and living in a completely new environment.  We had to struggle through the difficult balance of our family dynamics as we went from “We” to “Three”.  We didn’t get out much—if AT ALL.

 This struggle proved to be the best life changing experience we could have ever asked for. 

We started eating out less and I started cooking more--which was a great learning experience for me.  At that time Danny was the chef in our family and very proud of the fact that he knew more about cooking than I did.  That had to change.

Little by little I began learning about health.  I started picking up on healthier eating:  fresh meals vs. Hamburger Helper; ingredients; spices; the ease of preparing a great tasting meal; and so forth.  I was introduced to recipezaar.com, which is now food.com, and I used that for my meal planning just about every day.  I was able to find recipes that were simple to make and that required the ingredients available in my pantry.  Luckily Danny was very patient in eating what I made.  It was never burned; it just didn’t always taste right.

Along with learning the tricks to better cooking, I started running on the treadmill provided by our landlords.    I ran about three days a week, 30 minutes each time, and loved knowing I could run the entire time on my own.  I didn’t have to keep up with Danny or force myself to run up a hill, it was just me and the machine and I loved it.  It was the first time in my “running life” that I actually enjoyed it.  I enjoyed that I was being physically active again, as well as setting goals for myself…by myself.  No Hubby.  (as much as I love him)

This was phase 1 of my health transformation:  I was loosing weight, eating out less, and setting goals for my running improvement.  All was fine and dandy…until we went on vacation to Switzerland and then moved to different city—and no longer had the use of a treadmill. 

No more running.  No more goals. (At least I was still cooking).

I kept thinking about running again, but I just couldn’t justify doing it without a treadmill.  I had seen so much success in those few short months that I felt it was the best way for me to keep up with it.  Thank goodness I eventually learned that running outside is by far better than running on a treadmill. 

A year or so had passed and we were a few months away from welcoming the second addition to our family when Danny proposes this question:  “Do you want to run a marathon with me?”  

We had both heard that a member from our church had recently run the Hartford Marathon.  He was a normal hard-working engineer, just like Danny, with no formal training or running experience.  He was a busy father who just one day started training to run a marathon.  It was all Danny needed to hear. 

“If he can do it, I can do it.” 

I was just months away to having a baby and my sweet husband asks me if I want to run a marathon.  How would any rational thinking wife respond in this situation: “Sure. That sounds fun.”

I must have been out of my mind, but I actually agreed to start training for the 2010 Hartford Marathon. 

Molly was born in February and Danny and I started our training in March—the month that nationally recognizes health.  We started with one mile and day by day increased our effort and endurance to 26.2 miles by October. 

It was an amazing accomplishment.  I find it a little ironic that our very first race was A MARATHON, but hey, we knew we could do it.  (Even if I was up every 2-3 hours with Molly each night, or taking care of two little children 19 months apart and trying to keep up on house work…somehow, we did it!)

Of course we stopped running again after the Manchester Road Race in November.  Go figure. 

Luckily Danny was determined to start running again in February the following year, and as a birthday present to him I started running again on his Birthday, March 1^st— health month.  In 2011, I trained for the Hartford Half marathon (Danny the full marathon) and was able to make it in my goal time: 2:00:00.  Another accomplishment!  There were a handful of 5ks in the summer, but the marathons were the big events. 

After our Marathons in October, Danny decided to actively train for the 2011 Manchester Road Race in November for a personal record (PR) in his qualifying time--which he did.  At this time I was pregnant with baby #3 and therefore not training for any races at that point, but running none the less.  Danny and I decided not to quit running through the cold, nasty winter months (which is much easier said than done).   We both did very well, until the pregnancy morning sickness hit and took every ounce of energy in me.  My goal was to run 3 miles every other day, but I was hardly running.  It was more of a slow jog.  I continued running until my miscarriage and D & C in January and then was forced to stop (Doctors orders)—I was given a two week break.

After two weeks I thought about running again.  I really wanted to get back in the game, but I couldn’t muster a single ounce of commitment or motivation to do so.  I had gained 6 pounds, I was tired and very sad about our loss, and generally not interested in running.   I wasn’t interested in a lot of things at that point, but running especially.  It was just so much work to get out of bed in the morning!

Finally in the middle of February I talked myself into making a change.  I wasn’t trying to train, or reach certain goals, I just needed to start running.  I knew it was important to stay active, so I did it for that reason.  Plus, I knew it would help me feel better both mentally and emotionally too.  I was really struggling with the loss of our baby, so exercise was my outlet to balance that out--even if I really REALLY didn’t want to do it. 

Obviously I was a little bored with running this time around.  I was trying to figure out how to change my approach so I could start enjoying it again.  I remembered a while back that my friend wrote an interesting post on her blog: http://cotterell.blogspot.com/2011/10/eating-to-live.html  about her journey to eating healthy and losing weight.   Since I was in the market to lose a few pounds (mainly those 6 pesky pounds I had gained) I decided to read up on it a little more and experiment to see if it could work for me.

I’m always skeptical about approaches to losing weight.  I’m never convinced it works for me, which is why I have never been on a diet or made restrictions for myself.  I have always enjoyed my philosophy, “I run so that I can eat whatever I want!”   And I have lived it to its fullest. 

Unfortunately, that philosophy no longer defines me.   

After reading my friend’s blog and ordering the book Eat to Live, I decided to proceed with caution:   I read the entire book cover to cover, as suggested by Dr. Furhman, and then decided to commit myself to the 6 week diet plan towards successful health and a 12 pound weight loss. The book was educational. It shared powerful knowledge about how and WHY one should change their eating habits—reversing everything one has learned since grade school (a.k.a the food pyramid). 

The main focus: making sure 90% of our diet is plant-based.

I was skeptical, but still very curious.  I enjoyed the idea that I wasn’t committing to a life of vegetarianism, or even restricting my diet from the things I enjoy, but that I could make a simple change in my diet to receive all the nutrients that I need to be healthy and also lose weight in the process. 

I love that the suggestions in the book are parallel to the Word of Wisdom (the health principles that we practice in our church), which helped me feel comfortable approaching this lifestyle.  I also love that it is completely compatible with pregnancy— obviously this is not just a 6-week plan; it is a lifestyle change that will keep me healthy until the day I die. 

Before:

I have since completed the 6-week challenge (I’m actually entering my 8^th week) and I have chosen to continue this lifestyle.  I am a true Nutritarian, as we are called.   90% if my diet is plant-based and I love it!   I have encouraged Danny and the kids to jump on board, but that doesn't work so well for a husband trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon--he needs all the carbs and quick energy burning foods he can get a hold of. Plus he eats twice, sometimes three times, as much food as I do and he would break our food budget right now.  (Hopefully when his training is over he can make some bigger changes in his diet as well.)  The kids, however, have learned that there is more to eating than just macaroni and cheese.  Molly loves her veggies, but Jakob still fights me on it; he really only likes cucumber.  He watches Danny and I eat our veggies (and me eating my huge plate of salad), so I am convinced he will eventually give in to eating more of the same foods we enjoy.

I am proud that we have made a major change to our breakfast diet.  Instead of sugar-cereal we eat oatmeal!  I enjoy that Jakob prefers his oatmeal in the morning:  One Saturday morning I thought it would be a nice change to make buttermilk pancakes.  Jakob, however, wanted his usual breakfast so instead of the pancakes he and I ate oatmeal together and left the huge stack of uneaten pancakes on the counter for Danny and Molly.

With the changes I have made to my diet, I have seen so much success!  I know for a fact this lifestyle works for me:   In just two weeks of eating a plant-based diet my skin was noticeably softer and healthier (it was also starting to turn orange, which is typical when you first start out).  Also, I couldn’t believe the incredible energy I was starting to feel!  Sure, I was slowly coming out of depression, but I’m talking about physically energy--the kind of energy that helps me run faster and faster each week, shaving off 30 seconds to 1 minute per mile more than my usual pace.   I have trained for a full marathon and a half marathon and in both trainings I never saw that kind of improvement.  My fastest mile in my last training was 8:30 (that took me 8 months) and now my fastest mile is 8:05 and I accomplished that in just 6 weeks! 

Also, I am pleased to see the weight coming off.   I don’t believe I’m in a position to lose serious weight, but I do have problem areas that I want to get rid of (mainly belly fat, buttocks, and thighs)

--we all do.  Eating a plant-based diet has been the only way that I have been able to see the weight come off. In two weeks I had lost 4 pounds—  in just two weeks!  That was unspeakable in my usual lifestyle equation: run a few miles + eat whatever I want = lose 1 pound or even gain 1 pound.  (Even when I was running 10-18 miles in my marathon training I never lost that kind of weight). 

I am entering week 8 and I have lost a total of 12 pounds (and counting).  I will lose as much toxic weight as my body allows and is healthy for my age and height.  I have had to count my calories to make sure I eat enough for the day and is compatible to my running schedule, but in doing so I am still losing weight….which tells me I still have something to lose.  I’m okay with that. 

After:

As a result of this lifestyle I am cooking healthier (baking whole wheat bread every week), making appropriate health related choices, and altogether making a huge turn around in how I use to treat my body.  It is completely worth the effort based on how I feel. 

One of my greatest heartfelt appreciations for this lifestyle is how quickly I was finally able to “get out” of the deep depression I was experiencing from losing baby #3. Unfortunately at the time I didn’t even consciously know I was in it so deep.  I was only able to recognize the issue after comparing how I felt then to the lightness and joy I feel now.   I can very much see that I was experiencing major difficulties after losing the baby; they were out of my control and very difficult for me to explain.  I never knew how bad it was until now.  I still grieve for our loss, but I am no longer in that dark place that was so unusual to my normal, everyday outlook on life. 

I am ESPECIALLY grateful for this! 

I reminisce walking through our local library in March, noticing the sign hanging in the children’s library: March is National Health Month and taking a step back and thanking my Heavenly Father for the opportunity to find health and happiness in my life.

Everything I have learned has been through life changing experiences on the East Coast.  I miss my family terribly and there are moments when I just wish we could move back tomorrow, but I have to be grateful for the experiences that have strengthened me and have caused me to choose a different path—a different approach—to my health. I have had to figure this out all by myself and it has been a difficult journey, but I am so happy that I was able to make a change and stick to it.

I can’t make healthy choices for everyone around me, but I can share and encourage others to at least try to change something in their own life to see if they, too, can feel a difference. 

I want to thank my friend for sharing her knowledge with me on her blog.  It has made an amazing difference in my own life.  

Cheesy, I know, but I worked hard for those muscles.  :)

 Danny is tapering his training to run the Providence Rhode Island Marathon this weekend.  This is one of the last marathons he has available to qualify for the Boston Marathon next April.  GOOD LUCK DANNY!  

At least his shoes will motivate him: