Wow - Chipotle Nails It!

This video is amazing.  Makes me cry every time I see it.  I feel like this is exactly what I want to scream from the top of my lungs every day!

Watch it.

Watch it again.

Share it.

Talk about it.

DO SOMETHING!

Chipotle's The Scarecrow

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I posted this picture on Facebook last night and it is just really near to my heart right now.

If you'd like to read about our decision to switch from primal to plant based you can check out this post from the beginning of April.   Once my (typical and yet ridiculous) concerns about protein were addressed, I was 100% on board.  I mean how can eating more plants be bad? :)

I would say that we stick to eating plant based about 85-90% of the time.  There have been a few occasions where we've made some meat from our freezer, ordered a pizza, or went out for ice cream - but definitely less frequently than the 1x per week we were planning on when we started.

It has now been 2 1/2 months since we started and I have lost over 15 pounds and my blood pressure has gone from 130/80 to 102/70.  I feel fantastic, my skin looks fantastic, I am never hungry and this is by no means a "diet".  We eat AMAZING foods!  The reclaimed produce definitely helps to make it a cheaper way of eating, but we are so blessed that we actually get more produce than we can eat and share it with not one but at least two different families! :)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that we are still living Plant Strong here at the Hive and LOVING IT!!!

Now...I'm out to the garden to take some pics for all of you beautiful people!!! :)

From Primal to Plant Based

Making the switch was really not that big of a deal.  We've done it before.  It was summer of 2011 and Wolverine had just had his annual physical for the DoD and his cholesterol numbers were higher than he was comfortable with...still "normal", just high.

We had just watched Forks over Knives (a great documentary even if you aren't remotely interested in changing your eating habits) and we decided we didn't have anything to lose so we gave the 30 day vegan challenge a try.

Wolverine's cholesterol dropped 30 points in 30 days.

WHOA!  That was amazing....but apparently not enough to keep us eating plant based...maybe it was the new baby....maybe it was laziness....maybe it was just familiarity....

Fast forward to February of 2012 and my blood work showed that my cholesterol was a little higher than I wanted as well.  Also, I had some trouble with my blood pressure during the last few months of my pregancy and was put on bed rest.  Everything worked out ok, but ever since then my blood pressure has been higher that I'd like.  Since then, my diastolic blood pressure has never been below 80 (It used to be 60).  Everything was still "normal" so I ccould just stick my head in the sand, right?

We went primal again back in February 2013 and it was great - but even with all of our free produce, do you know how easy it is to get sucked into the cheese/eggs/meat/greek yogurt/sour cream/etc trap?  That stuff is GOOD!!!

After a lot of research, book reading, soul searching, discussions, looking at family histories of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc. we decided that plant based was the way to go.   I can list a bunch of titles of documentaries or books if you'd like, but this post is already a novella, so message me if you'd like them.  :)  I will say that the extended interviews from Forks Over Knives are available on NetFlix and are worth every minute and can provide a very condensed summary of the information found in countless books.

We got rid of all our dairy products, and anything with dairy in it.  That was hard - I mean this girl, LOVES cheese!   But I didn't really have any issue with it and no pangs of loss.  The major question was what to do with the freezer full of meat?  There is a lot of money all nicely packaged and organized in that freezer.  We decided that we will be eating meat 1x per week until the meat in the freezer is gone and then we won't be buying any more.  In all honesty, my guess is that Sushi will be on the menu occasionally ;)

What are we eating?

No meat, eggs, or dairy (see above comment about meat).

No white flour.

No high fructose corn syrup or anything "from concentrate".

Minimal sugar/sweeteners.

Minimal soy (no soy milk or weird to-furkey, "meat" crumbles, etc).

No weird fake "vegan" foods (vegan mayonnaise, vegan margarine, etc)

As many whole plant foods as possible, including fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, whole grains (corn, quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat flour, steel cut oats, etc).  

No technically vegan, but full of processed chemical foods (I'm looking at you Oreo and your dirty friends).

Am I trying to convert you?

No.

You are an educated consumer and you are able to make your own decisions.  I do not want anyone telling me what is best for my family, and I am in no way, ever, trying to say that what is best for my family is best for yours.

I am simply telling you about our journey through this amazing life.  A life with all of the little adventures and changes in direction that living life with an open mind and an ever evolving understanding of the world around us brings.  

What Does that Mean for the Challenge 2013? 

This Challenge was so fun....while it lasted.  I just can't justify making a bunch of recipes that my family isn't going to eat.  There are still quite a few recipes from the book that I can make and I will be making those throughout the year...and maybe even a few that I can tweak.

What is the point of this longest post on record?! 

This is a quote from Forks Over Knives that resonates in my ears every day:

Some people say that eating a plant-based diet is extreme. But millions of people this year will have their bodies cut open, and a vein from their leg sewed onto their heart….Some might also say that’s extreme.

Grok On!

Do you remember this post from back in January where I was talking about getting serious about my health again and just generally removing my head from my rear end?   Well, in addition to everything I mentioned there, the ante has been upped this week. 

Back in 2008 I was so unhappy with how I felt, just sluggish and "blah" all the time.  I thought it was because I'd put on a few pounds and maybe buckling down on things would make me feel better.  Well, a coworker was doing Atkins and I thought, eh....what the heck, I'll give it a try.  

At first, it was great. I felt AWESOME!  It was like someone had turned up the dial on my energy level and was stepping on the gas pedal.  I was eating more fruits and vegetables than I'd eaten in my whole life!   But then....we found ourselves {Wolverine joined me in this adventure, so we could do it together, just as we do in all our adventures :) } trying as hard as we could to make "Atkins" versions of the food we used to eat before.  These were mostly horrible.  I mean they had some kind of weird after-taste or the texture was awful or they just tasted like chemicals.  Ugh.  We found ourselves wondering is this what we want?  The answer was no.....so Atkins was not for us*. 

Fast forward a bit to January 2009 and I stumbled across a book called Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson.  This book was literally life changing for me.  It made me realize that the way I was feeling when we were doing Atkins (in the beginning) was they way I could feel all the time.  I just needed to start looking at food in a different way.  If I filled my body with the right type of fuel (vegetables, meat, fruits, nuts, etc), it would reward me with energy and health.  

I had the epiphany that eluded me before. 

I struggled on Atkins because I knew certain foods weren't "allowed".... but wasn't it my "right" to eat those foods?  Isn't that what people ate?  The lunch bags and plates of people around me and everyone's shopping cart was filled with CRAP.   I mean I wasn't going crazy and eating tons of junk food, just normal stuff - so shouldn't I be fine?

But then after reading Primal Blueprint it changed my way of thinking....it wasn't my "right" to eat those foods, I was eating them because that's what I have always eaten and I would rather eat what I wanted and be miserable than feel amazing and fill my body with nutritious and delicious food.  But would I?  No....no I wouldn't.  My mind set had changed.  It was no longer I wasn't "allowed" to eat those foods, it was I didn't want to put that food in my body.  

Our primal adventure began in January 2009.  Was it always easy?  No....not really.  Did I "fall off the wagon" a few times - yeah I did.  But what kept me coming back was knowing that when I was eating primally I felt like a well oiled machine.  It was incredible.  Will I tell you that I didn't build "carb days" into my life - no I won't.  There was a period of over a year that we would eat carb heavy once every few weeks and I was in the best shape - physically and mentally of my life.  

I was primal through my entire pregnancy with Te-Man - everything went amazingly well, almost zero issues, not even the normal pregnancy complaints.

Then....well....we didn't so much fall of the wagon as drive our wagon off the cliff.  I could bore you to tears with excuses and reasons, but they don't matter.  What matters is that the entire time I wasn't primal I had a nagging....almost guilt....that I was filling my body with junk that I shouldn't and that even though I wasn't eating all of the processed junk in boxes and bags from the grocery store, my body was still starving for nutrients and I was feeding it food from which it couldn't get those nutrients.  I have a Grok On t-shirt in my closet and every time I would wear it or see it hanging there, I would feel like a fraud.  

I am fraud no longer! We re-committed ourselves to eating primally on Monday and I feel AMAZING already.  I feel great physically - but mentally I feel a weight lifted off of my shoulders because I know I made the right decision.  

Is it more expensive, yes.  Is it a pain sometimes when you just want to be lazy and order a pizza, yes.  But it is worth it 100 times over.  

I would really encourage you to take a peak at Primal Blueprint.  Not because I think everyone should "go primal" (we have experimented with a standard way of eating, vegetarian, vegan, Atkins, and primal and we found what works best for us), but because it might be the first step towards realizing what the food you put in your body does for you.  

And if that encourages you to add more fruits and vegetables into your diet then how can that be a bad thing? 

Grok On! 

*Please note, that Atkins and Primal are VERY similar, heck, almost the same - we just weren't prepared with all of the information we needed at the time we were doing Atkins and we were doing it wrong.  Atkins isn't about combining weird chemical laden ingredients to form some kind of edible concoction that is similar to a "non Atkins" food....we were making it that and completely "missed the boat".  

Operation Movitvation

Do you have a friend that always keep you in check?  Doesn't let you get away with the BS all of your other friends do?

You know how sometimes you wanna just punch them in the throat?  But really what you should do is say THANK YOU.    

This is my thank you to SGT Steve.   I just can't ignore his constant honesty and example of how health plays into your life on all levels.  I figure that if his posts are getting under my skin what they are really doing is making me uncomfortable because I'm not happy with my life choices.  

 I HATE New Years Resolutions.  I think they are a waste of time because if you're really interested in bettering yourself, really changing your life - you'll get started anytime, no matter what day it is.  That day for me was last week Wednesday.  I had one of those epiphany moments when you ask yourself, what am I doing?

I was Primal and doing P90X for over 2 years and LOVED it! I felt amazing all the time.  I have a million excuses for why I stopped, but I won't bore you, or myself, with them - they don't matter.

All that matters is that I want to feel that way again.  I'm not going to go fully primal, but I am committed to making myself feel better again and that starts with what I put in my body.  (Don't worry I will never go low-fat on you and I can not live without excitement and flavor!)  I know that the most important thing I can do for myself and my family is to eat foods that are full of vitamins and minerals and I also know that I can make that happen while keeping them tasting amazing! 

I am back on the P90X (1 & 2) wagon.  I have been doing it again for a week and I LOVE it.  The way you feel after a work out makes you feel like a Super Hero.  

So between eating better, working out, and taking Roland on 3 miles worth of walks each day in our crazy hilly neighborhood - I think I'm on the right path to really getting healthy again.   

Do you need help getting started or do you need a little motivation to keep going?  Would you just like to be a part of a group of real people being honest about life?  SGT Steve is your guy.  You can find him on Facebook and you can also get his BOOK (paper or kindle).  You really should read his book.  He's so funny but also serious about no BS, no Excuses, it's time for you to take charge of your life and decide what it is you really want.  

Then get it.