Weight a Minute…

For the past 4 ½ weeks I have upped my game and added in exercise daily for my health. I do at least an hour of dance on Dance Central 3 each day. I also try to hit my daily goal of 10k steps on Fitbit. You would think a drop of 40 lbs. with just clean eating that at least 20 lbs. should just melt away with added cardio…wrong.

I wish I could say that I enjoy it and have been doing so great and just dropping weight here and there however, I cannot.

The truth is, this has been an eye-opener.

When I began my clean eating I realized right away I have a sensitivity to gluten. I then found out, even in gluten free products, I am intolerant to wheat. I avoid wheat like the plague now. I have tried organic and sometimes it really jacks me up. I also have avoided refined sugars from the beginning. These two things have been on the list for over six months now. Avoiding these have really made me change my eating habits. Processed foods are a no-go so everything we eat is made from healthy, organic (when possible), scratch.

So my list so far has been:

NO…

Refined sugars

Refined flours

Processed foods

Gluten

Wheat

Artificial sugars

Pretty easy list to follow. I use a lot of bean flours, tapioca flour, coconut flour, raw honey, maple syrup, and stevia. I do not really miss breads and I make healthy, delicious tortillas.

I assumed, when I began exercising, the foods I ate would be beneficial. I added more fresh, organic fruits and vegetables to get the healing nutrients. This has kept my body from being sore from exercise. I drink smoothies and they are so yummy. With the healing powers of fruits, my “fibromyalgia” has not been a problem.

However, I want to go back a few months to January and February. I was in the states with my children when I began to notice a rash on the inside of my forearms. By the time I got back to Germany, it was coming up on my feet in crazy circle patterns. I went to see my doctor and he said allergy for my arms and possibly Schaumberg’s disease for my feet.

Schaumberg’s, the great physicians believe, is a type of autoimmune disease. I have done some research on it and realized it can be triggered by an allergen. So I did some thinking as to what I might have discovered in America that was causing me problems.

Oh, I discovered Pirate Booty! This is like cheezy poofs for the healthy folks. I also started eating popcorn. I came home and found both of them at the store and carried on eating them.

I realized that the rash, which at this point is behind both knees, on feet and ankles, inside forearms, and around my elbows, was probably from the corn I had been consuming for the past few months. Some grains and oats can be sensitive to a person’s digestive tract just like gluten. So out went the corn. But I was dancing daily and still not losing weight. I was actually gaining water weight. Oh the frustration. So back to the drawing board on why this was happening.

After dancing, I get extremely hungry and I love oatmeal. So I started eating it daily. I noticed after a week or so that I was fatigued and my muscles were tired. I was struggling to do my workouts. I quit corn because of the rash and weight gain but now I was having water weight gain with muscle fatigue. I was just about ready to give it all up.

In the midst of all this I watched a documentary called “Unsupersize Me”. It was about a woman losing 200 lbs. Her coach was a wellness instructor who tested all sorts of weight loss plans. He decided that a raw diet with at least an hour of exercise a day would shed the body of excess weight the fastest. Watching this documentary made me decide to try a raw diet for a few days. In 3 days, I lost 2 lbs. What the heck was going on with my body that my clean eating was not working?!?

In doing a test run on the raw diet, I had eliminated oatmeal and dairy. I felt awesome. My muscles were not tired and I was, ahem, pooing better. So I quit oatmeal. But I carried on my love affair with cheese. I figured it was not much since I do not drink milk.

So my muscles were not fatigued after quitting the oats. Such a relief. I was getting my dance on but guess what…still had weight gain. It would take me a week to lose a pound only to wake up and realize that I gained 3-5 lbs. of water overnight. I was already at the end of week 3 of my 6 week dance. I am over half way done and lost a total of 4 lbs. only to gain about 12 lbs. in water (off and on).

So I had to eliminate one more item from my eating lifestyle…dairy.

Now I know you are thinking, “What the heck do you eat?” but believe me, I eat plenty. I eat fruits all day long and eat a big, healthy meal at night. Just last night we had fajitas and they were so delicious. I ate so much that I was afraid to get on the scales this morning. But I did. I said a little prayer and got on them and I had no water weight gain. I was so thankful.

Organic fruits are very crucial for your body. The recommended allowance a day is two servings which is a crock of crap. Do not listen to the FDA and their guidelines. Keep away from all those crappy carbohydrates such as breads. Your body needs all the nutrients from fruits to heal and to energize the cells. It is fuel for your cells. Eat it all day long, every day. It is so good for you. God gave us fruits and vegetables to heal our body and to keep it functioning.

If you take away anything from all this rambling, take this…our bodies are complex machines. When we put things in them that are not from God or are screwed up by man, then our bodies will not run right. We need the carbohydrates from fruits not from a big mac. We do not put anything but gasoline in our cars because it will just break them down. That logic needs to be applied to our bodies as well. We need nourishment in our bodies for them to be maintained and healthy.

Fat is not normal and is not healthy. Our hearts were not made for excess weight. Heart disease and diabetes are two diseases that can be avoided if we take care of ourselves. Be disciplined and not gluttonous.

Proverbs 23:21 (ASV) For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.