Our Journey to Health: Juicing, Raw Foods, and all that Colorful Life-Changing stuff :)
It’s day 16 of adding juice/raw foods into my life. I feel like my body has been crying out for this my entire life and I didn't even realize it.
If you’ve been following us on instagram or other social media, I’m sure you’ve seen lots of photos of fruit and vegetables, juicers, and multi-colored juice. So why all of this health stuff all of a sudden? Here’s our story (or at least the beginning of it)…
So one day a miracle happened and I realized that I wasn't eating the way I should, "I’m not feeling the way I should, my mind’s not working the way it should"…. I knew deep down how I should eat (I’ve been a Type 1 diabetic since I was 11 years old so I know what healthy eating should look like, and I also studied nutrition in college when I thought I wanted to be a dietitian for a career) so I KNEW deep down that I needed to make changes, but never seemed to have the will power to make the changes in my life.
Somehow I decided that I did needed to make some changes right before the New Year, but I didn’t want it to be one of those cheesy and temporary “new years resolutions” that people always make and then go back the way they were in an a matter of days. So even though I thought January 1st of 2014 seemed like the perfect time to start, I was set on this NOT being one of those “new year resolutions”.
Step 1: I started by getting all the junk from Christmas out of the house. (Ok, to be completely honest, I ate a lot of it, but this was before January 1st *grin*)
Step 2: I asked God to give me the motivation and dedication I need (because that is such a weakness of mine. I have such a sweet tooth and I am a creature of habit and it’s hard for me to break the bad ones).
Step 3: I educated myself. I watched documentaries. I read up on the veggies and all the nutrients that are good for us. If you haven’t seen the documentary “Food Matters” on Netflix, it’s a great one to watch. Also, "Hungry for Change" is a good overview. And "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" is a great one on juicing. There are several great ones on there to inspire you.
Step 4: I got into the right mindset of “adding” and “incorporating” healthy habits rather than “taking stuff away” and feeling deprived. My plan was to add healthy foods and raw foods juices to my diet little by little so that I wouldn't have as much room for the bad stuff and over time I would be able to cut it out because I just wouldn’t want it anymore. (It worked!)
Step 5: I went to the grocery store/market and put lots of fresh produce in my cart. I also picked up a few gluten free items, almonds, Greek yogurt, and tried to stay away from the more processed foods, even though I didn’t completely cut all of that out right away. I definitely cut out all artificial sweeteners (I haven’t been using these for a while now, they are just so horrible for you from my experience, so thank goodness I didn’t have to wean myself from those so much!)
Step 6: Juice in the morning, have fresh juice for the whole day. I noticed that as I drank more juice, my cravings for sweets and carbohydrates (and even afternoon coffee) started to go away little by little. I’m eating less, and not feeling deprived. But I’m not being so strict that we can’t have some yummy gluten free pancakes from time to time as a treat (so much better than regular pancakes in my opinion). More juice (nutrients that my body has been craving) = less cravings for carbs/sweets/junk.
Step 7: …and here comes the energy and weight loss. (already 10 lbs!!) After a day or 2 it all felt too easy and I couldn’t believe the lbs were dropping so fast. I mean, I haven’t even quite gotten into a solid workout routine just yet (working on adding that little by little, one step at a time) and the lbs were falling off just with my diet change which is based on adding…. adding raw and healthy nutrients.
Step 8: I feel full of life, energized, more mindful, happy, content, and definitely not hungry. I’m able to cut down on my daily insulin little by little as well which is very good (the less insulin I have to take, with healthy blood sugar levels, the better).
Step 9: Adding more veggies to my juice and less fruit… getting used to the taste of the dark greens in my juice.
Step 10: …………………………excited to find out! On top of feeling better, I’m feeling so encouraged by the results, which makes me want to do even better.
So now you guys see why I’m so excited about all of this and why I’ve been posting so many photos of my new favorite foods. They are so good to me. They are meant for me (ok, I know that was cheesy). Jason is loving the juice too, we’ve both made the change in our lives, it’s so helpful to have someone who will join you on a journey like this! I want us to live the best lives we can possibly live, I want us to be as healthy as possible, as happy as possible for as long as we live. I want to be well enough to take photos my whole life!
I’m excited to see where this journey leads!
Going though the same thing? We would love to hear your story! How have you incorporated juicing into your life?
