Ok, so I have had some requests to further explain WHAT I'm doing exactly.
There are 2 Challenges I am completing currently. One is a system cleanse and burn; and the other one is a person challenge for myself.
The Overall Goals
The goal of both of these challenges is to:
1. Create a Healthy Eating Environment in our home
This will encourage Alice and David to eat food that is better for them and make healthier food decisions when they are on their own.
2. Jump start Weight-Lose
I plateaued, backslide, yadayadayada and I need a jump-kick to get me going. This is it.
3. Create a healthier food mentality for me
I have always went without (eating lunch and dinner and maybe a snack) because I thought it would be easier than having to worry about all the extra cals I was putting in my body. I'm seeing now that I was wrong and that I NEED all this good food to help keep me energized during the day. We'll see how that goes after the 24-challenge is over.
Challenge #1: Advocare 24-Day Challenge
What it is:
The 24-Day Challenge is dietary and supplement driven system of cleansing your body, introducing GOOD eating habits and learning to maintain those habits.
It includes a 10-day Herbal Cleanse that uses Fiber Drinks, Pro-biotics and Cleanse supplements on a daily schedule to help get everything out of your system ... and this is while piling foods that are GOOD FOR YOU into your mouth. It requires 3 meals a day and at least 2-snacks, lots of fruits and veggies, and lean protein. Yes, there are some things that should be avoided if possible like dairy, refined sugars, ALCOHOL (eeeeek!) but I personally haven't found myself "lacking" ... except for craving junk foods and those are just not good for you! They have a whole meal-plan, checklist thingy available (you can even find it online) if you are really wondering. I'm totally amazed because I'm eating MORE than I have every ate and I am losing ... but I'm learning new habits and my body is responding to being fed properly. Me having coffee for breakfast previously was obviously not helping my weight lose.
The next phase is the 14-Day Burn that includes meal replacement shakes for breakfast and several supplement doses during the day. It is supposed to fuel your nutritional intake, give you energy and appetite control, and help shed more pounds. I'm getting ready to enter that phase and happily look forward to having diary in my life again!
On both phases we are taking Omega 3 tablets for lunch and dinner (bad fats out and good fats in!) and Spark: their nutritional-energy drink. Really: I've been Sparking for a few weeks now and it's made a HUGE difference in my energy level. Weekends especially. When I could barely function on a Saturday or Sunday morning and I "needed" diet coke ... this has totally replaced it and my head feels MUCH better than with soda.
Why this one:
My friend, Dre, hosted a Biggest Loser competition back in Janaury (and at the time I wasn't able to afford to do it). I watched as many of my friends lost between 10-20 pounds over the course of 24 days. What's more impressive to me are those that are STILL losing and those that are maintaining. When it comes to any "lose weight quick" scheme, I worry about the long-term effects it has on weight-loss. I can't look for a short term solution because that won't help me lose and maintain in the end. THIS is not just a weight-lose challenge; it's a learning to create a healthier lifestyle. We forget how we are meant to feed our bodies and how to eat right and more and more we turn to the quick solutions and fast food. This is a constant reminder for 24-days, that you can eat well and right and STILL lose weight in a healthy manner.
So Dre became a distributor. I tried out Spark here and there. I decided we were going to do the program. Dave said, "What you want to do, I will do it with you," and we are doing it. Thank goodness he is too because I NEED to have participation around me or I will fail. I always do! We are doing this program and we will see how we end up at the end. I would like to maintain my lose at the end without help so that will be the next step after the 24-days is up.
Have questions? Contact Andrea! She. Is. Awesome. One of the best friends I have, seriously. She'll answer your questions and help you out! SparkYourDiet.com
Or you can ask me on FB and I'll be happy to help you find the answers!
Challenge #2: Buy Fresh. Make Fresh. Eat Fresh.
I already posted some of this on a previous post, but I want to reiterate this challenge here and let y'all know: this 2nd challenge is going above and beyond what is required for the 24-day challenge. You can buy bagged salad and low cal dressings at the store. Buy your meat where ever and season however. This personal challenge came about as a result of knowing that we needed to change the way we think about meals in our house.
In an effort to get my family's eating habits on track and stop consuming processed crap, we decided to take a huge step in our dietary adventures: go as natural as possible! Buy Fresh. Make Fresh. Eat Fresh. This is my new mantra. Have we bit off more than we can chew? That remains to be seen. But if I can get my 2.5-year old to start eating real food and vegetables instead of just surviving on fruit and crackers, I'll consider the entire food-plan a success! Because we need to eat healthy to get the best benefits from this program (the 24-day challenge), I decided this would be the best time to launch our new "fresh" menu.
So far, I have been successful in buying most of our veggies/salads, turkey, lamb etc. at the local Farmer's Market. I feel that the price is comparable to shopping at the grocery store and I personally think the food has more/better flavor ... but maybe that's because I'm used to veggies coming from Indiana soil considering I grew up on garden foods! Maybe I'm just crazy ;) And I LOVE that I can get fresh ground white turkey right there on the spot. I was planning on buying chicken, too but didn't plan right when I was there. Anywho, between buying organic oats, nuts etc at the Health Food Store, veggies and meat at the Market, and most of my fruits and some meats at the regular store, we are eating a lot of GOOD FRESH FOOD in my house.
The challenge of not using processed anything has been not tough but time-consuming. Even when I'm prepping ahead of time, I barely feel like I'm keeping up. I'm trying to implement more cooking systems that give me even more leftovers for future meals, too. Plus, having no dishwasher makes for a longer time in the kitchen cleaning between all steps of the process. I have mostly successfully navigated this step. While my spices/vinegars are store bought, I have also caved and bought frozen corn, chow mein noodles, and soy sauce. Life happens :)
As many of you might notice, I'm making all sorts of different foods! Why?
Because 1. I wanted to try making things I've never made before;
2. I'm learning more and more about flavor combinations with each thing I try;
3. we aren't getting bored nor are we lacking in flavor! Eating healthy doesn't have to be boring and I'm making it fairly lively for myself. Probably a bit too lively sometimes but such is life.
As part of our challenge: we are eating dinner as a family. We all sit down at the table together. Alice eats what we eat (plus usually a fruit) but she's only allowed to eat what's on her plate and if she wants more of anything she has to eat everything on the plate first. She only gets a "treat" after she takes a certain number of bites of whatever food we are eating. Some nights that's been a struggle. After a week, she's at least putting it in her mouth, making a face, and swallowing several bites. She's learned the age-old trick of putting food in your mouth with juice and chewing to dilute the flavor of the food LOL BUT it's worth it. When she kept asking me for bites of my salad this last weekend: it was totally worth it! And David has now tried fish, chicken and smushed pieces of whatever we eat. He will be on whole foods in no time!
This second challenge is really the biggest game-changer of everything. Getting Alice to participate in what we do and eat is FABULOUS. Plus I know everything I'm making I can feed to any person in my family without fear of what it contains ... because I know exactly what I put in it!
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Questions? Let me know and I will be happy to answer any of them! Thanks!
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