Saturday, August 30, 2014

A New Life

Seven weeks ago, I adopted a new lifestyle.  I was on meds for blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. As an unwilling participant in this med-fest, I finally decided that since it just wasn't going to work for me, I needed to find a holistic doctor. I had been to a few doctors who either shamed me into going along with their plan, or "lied" to me by telling me that they would be willing to work with me toward getting healthier. I was not a happy camper.

One day, my lovely daughter texted me a picture with an excerpt from a book she was reading. "Mom, this sounds like this would work for you." Yep, it sure sounded like Peggy!!

So I got the book, read it in two days. Made up my mind right then that this all made sense to me and that I was going to try to see this doctor. And I can't begin to tell you how life changing it's been for me.

The long and short of it is I've gone from 5 meds down to 1.  The doc says I will probably NOT be on that one med forever.  In the first four weeks, I lost 15 lbs., my blood pressure numbers dropped about 20 on the top number and 14 on the bottom. I regularly workout because I have energy. I have energy because I'm not on the 5 med regimen. See the cycle here?

This Tuesday, I go back for another follow up. My plan is to share my adventure on this blog. If it helps even one person, it will all be worth it. Plus, let's just admit that writing is therapy for me.

Okay, so I'll bet you're asking what it is I'm doing. Here's the basics of it. No grains, no sugar. Eat when I want. No calorie counting. No carb or fat gram counting. NO GUILT! This plan works for me. I will readily admit that it won't work for everyone. Part of the problem is the indoctrination we have all had about fatty red meat. Wait, I'm loading you up with way too much information too fast. Let's just take this slower.

Image from
amazon.com
The book I read was titled "Living in Wellness, Volume One: Let Food Be Thy Medicine" by Dr. Larry Kaskel. Once you read that, and start digging into research on the way he thinks, you will find tons of stuff that support this lifestyle.

Picture modified from
againstallgrain.com
One of my favorite sites is Danielle Walker's Against All Grain blog. She posts the yummiest recipes. My current hobby is finding and making some of the most amazing grain-free recipes. I made this sandwich bread that gives me exactly what I need when I want a piece of toast. Oh, yeah...this totally works.

So there's more for me to tell you about, but it's too much at one time. I will say this. Once you adopt this lifestyle, and people see the results (in your loose pants...YEA!), they ask. And when you tell them, you find out that others are doing the same thing. And you realize that there's a network out there for you.

Let me end this post in saying that I have always been a believer that what I've gone through in my life is out there to the benefit of others. I am a three-time cancer survivor and I will talk to anyone who needs to talk about their fight. The same goes for my weight/health issues now. I will advocate this lifestyle because I believe it works. So feel free to comment with any questions you have. No, I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV. But I love talking about my passions. And this is one of them.