Struggling with weight

MY FIRST GUEST POST!!!!!

****************** DAVE POIRIER ****************

Who happens to also be my dad :^) Be inspired!!!

I'm writing this because my daughter (Crystal) suggested that I may be able to help others by gleaming from my experience of dealing with excess weight. I didn’t even realize how much of a weight problem I developed over the years. It was as if I was living in denial. I was just like the frog that boiled to death and didn’t even know it. Put a frog in water, and when the water temperature is increased, ever so slightly, the frog will eventually boil to death without a chirp.

Another thought that comes to mind is when I used to smoke. I would say, “I really like to smoke.” Then one day I realized, I didn’t like it when I first tried it. Funny, the first time I tried a smoke I coughed and hacked through the whole experience. Eventually I turned addict, and denial set in. Slow weight gain can act the same way. Eventually you’re eating your way to an unhealthy lifestyle, and potentially an early grave.

Truth is, I’ve always had a problem with weight and for awhile I kind of controlled it by smoking (curved my appetite). Smoking is a TERRIBLE habit, and it took all I had to give it up. But it's worth it! It was about ten years ago when I quit, and like so many others before me, I began packing on the weight. I gradually put on about 50 lb growing from 190 to 240. In my mid 40’s the doctor put me on blood pressure medication, and most recently was introduced to a C-Pap machine, a unit helping you breath at night. The real issue was keeping my wife up all night with loud snoring, also caused from large deposits of fatty tissue in my nasal and throat passages. Everything was weight related! It was time I woke up from the denial.

(Me, back in the day)

Like the frog or the confident smoker, I didn’t see myself as being THAT overweight. I was blind, looking in the mirror, still seeing myself as if I was in high school. Now that’s funny! Here’s a guy 50 lbs over-weight, approaching 50, and thinks he’s still all that hunk! Then my youngest began to struggle with excess weight. As the years went by, the problem continued to grow and I didn’t know what to do. The situation affects the family dynamics, long with my marriage, and we still struggle with the best approach with what to do. So, we pray……continually.

It was praying and asking on behalf of my daughter when God answered. "Son," He said, "how can you expect anything from your child that's not operating in your own life first?" That’s it! Soon after the Lord spoke this to me, my employer had enlisted Weight Watchers to help employees lose weight. I jumped at the opportunity!

BEFORE and AFTER: Going for a run w/Brandon

So, now I'm 40 lbs (soon to be 50) lighter, off the blood pressure meds, off the C-Pap machine, all after changing my diet! WW is teaching me healthy ways to eat and how to listen to my body's hunger signs. I'm no longer addicted to food. They promote a lower fat, low carbohydrate intake while increasing protein and fiber. Regular exercise is also important (1/2 hour of exercise a day). I didn’t do that right away. So if your new to it, it's ok. I started very gradual, running further and further every week. And now I'm running 6 miles consistently! I never thought I'd be doing that at 50! If I can do it, you can do it too!

If you're struggling with getting healthy I HIGHLY encourage you to begin changing your diet and eating whole foods that are natural and nutrition-dense. This is what your body needs.

WW also introduced me to a varied number of supplements that I found beneficial and take on a regular basis:

1. Psyllium husk – (2) table spoons every morning – See http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-psyllium-husk.html , or read about it on Dr. OZ.
2. Chia seeds – Great fiber super supplement, put in all kinds of food, reduces points for yogurt from (2) to (1) point because of the extra fiber. See: http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/lindsey-duncan-nd-cn/chia-ancient-super-secret
3. Astaxanthin (10 gm) – (1) a day. Great antioxidant.

2012 brings in a new era at the Poirier household. My wife has embraced most of the new changes and has 110% supported the healthy lifestyle approach (it works best when everyone’s in the same boat). Our general practitioner has given my youngest approval to join WW this year and we find that the new insurance will cover some of the cost. So, here's to a year surrounded by God’s favor (2 Peter 3-11)!! Be blessed!

what's in YOUR fridge?

Well, I'm gonna show you what's in MY fridge. Will you show me yours?

I cannot lie. I totally took this idea from another blog. If you ever want to check out a blog I have recently been reading its really cute. You can view it here, and she's got some great disciplines in eating healthy with all 6 of her kids and hubby!

I thought this was a great idea to start some discussion, but also to show you that I really do try my best in all that I am talking about. It's not something I fantasize about, but that I really have tried to commit myself and my family to eating healthy. I don't claim to have all the answers, because its seems the more I know the more I feel inadequate to say the least. I am still learning along with everyone else. And there are still things in my cupboards and fridge that I wish you didn't see, but I still think its good to let it all be out in the open. And if you have questions about why I have something or not, feel free to ask. To tell you the truth, if I took a picture of my fridge next week, a lot of it would change. but this is to give you an idea of what I do and maybe help you in making some good decisions about what to put in your own fridge and cupboard. You will notice that I hardly have any prepared foods at all. Everything is done from scratch in this house.

So what is all that stuff?

So, not having organic peanut butter really bothers me because peanuts hold on to the pesticides sprayed on them. But for the time being I was going through so much peanut butter that I had to buy the natural stuff instead because it was getting so expensive. I need to just start making my own! And of course the pre-assembled breadcrumbs really bothers me as well, but when time is on a crunch they are there when I need them. But this is so much better made yourself as well.....

I add wheat germ and flaxseed to everything. Flaxseed has so many benefits along with vegetarian omega-3's and fiber, and wheat germ has folic acid and is great for aiding in stabling your immune system and recouping after being sick. I add to my granola, my fruit smoothies, my cereals. But make sure you grind your flaxseed so your body can easily absorb its nutrients:)

So can you tell yet that we really like asian food? We love sushi and all the thai dishes! Lee's Asian Market in Henrietta sells everything you need for a much more reasonable price than Wegmans. I think I remember Wegmans was selling 10 seaweed wraps for $4. While Lee's was selling 100 for &8. Geez! What a difference....it pays to shop around!!!

Can you tell this is a lot of what Abigail snacks on? Ha ha. hence all the goodies, cookies, crackers and raisins. I usually do organic raisins as well, but gotta blame this one on the hubby. He picked those up for me. Love him, but he would ultimately go for what's cheap, not what's good for you. But I give him a lot of credit, after watching Food Inc. he couldn't bring himself to buy the regular milk. i was so proud of him when he came home with the organic! Good job sweetheart!

I love how people think you're crazy until someone who is smarter than you shares with the world what the heck you're talking about. A must read for all is Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. if you get a chance, its an awesome resource on what is happening with our food today.

So, share! Questions, concerns, comments? What's in your fridge?

Spring-Cleaning the Diet

You may be offended by the comic above, but it may be the fact that its true. We look at all other addictions and find fault, but when its comes to being unhealthy as a nation we choose to look the other way.

So why are we not eating fresh food anymore? I mean, admit it, a lot of us were raised in families where our meals could be thrown in the microwave or in the oven with little to no preparation involved. If it wasn't that, than it was your typical American plate with corn, meat and potatoes, smothered in salt and butter. With all the easy, cheap, pre-packaged foods on the shelves of our grocery stores, why settle for something that is going to take more time, work and money? - Especially if I've worked all day, have to take the kids to practice and have a list of chores and projects to do around the house. Americans are getting busier and busier, and there's not enough time to give priority to a "real" home-cooked meal anymore. Most dads and moms are both working and the kids are always going from one thing to the next. Where's the family meal? We don't have time for it anymore. What's happened is a society who is increasingly getting fatter, sicker and more toxic.

Get this: An estimated 125 million Americans (43%) have at least one chronic illness, and 60 million have multiple conditions. 1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men will develop cancer sometime in their lifetime. Breast-cancer in women is 1 in 7, while in the 40's was only 1 in 22. Even men are now diagnosed with breast cancer with a growing rate of 25% in just the past 25 years. Asthma has doubled in 20 years. (The Essential Green You! Deirdre Imus) And lets not even discuss the huge rise of diabetes, where at one time was unheard of in children. Yes, we are becoming sicker and sicker. And I believe a huge reason is the food we eat and the toxic chemicals we are exposed to in our foods and products in our stores.

I realize that encouraging people to buy organic can be a huge step when there are several who probably have yet to even make the switch from white enriched pasta to whole wheat. Then I realized it's probably a whole other thought when it comes to figuring out what to put with that pasta - especially if your use to the Rice-a-roni, Chef boyardee or any other pre-packaged foods.

So, today I want to give some ideas on how to spring clean your cupboards and begin to fill them with foods that will actually give you more energy, help maintain a healthy weight and keep your body functioning at its best. We live in a "grab-and-go" culture ( I call it a microwave society), where if it's not fast, then its not worth it. Our impatience with good nutritious food is unfortunate because as we become less and less concerned about what's in our food, we are growing sicker and sicker as a nation. Apart from the increasing rate of obesity, we also have a scary increasing climb of people with cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Unless we change this pandemic, the next generation will be the sickest we've ever seen with some radical irreversible diseases. I want to inspire the average individual to go back to three or four square meals a day.

We easily fall into the "healthy junk food" trap because so many manufacturers know that if they add vitamins and minerals to our food, we are more likely to buy the processed food with the additives over fresh because of its convenience. "We're an unhealthy nation obsessed with learning how to eat better," says Michael Pollan. We struggle to put nutrition into our time-crunched lives. If you can begin to change the processed foods in your cupboard, then when your out and have to snack on pizza or a donut, its not a big deal because the majority of the time is spent on eating healthy.

It's no wonder the food industry introduces about 20,000 new products into supermarkets each year. Approximately 3,000 candies, 3,000 snack foods, 2,000 sodas and juice drinks, 1,000 backed goods and more than 100 new versions of breakfast cereals. These companies' marketers claim they're trying to help you fit nutritious meals into your busy lifestyle. But the middle aisles of every grocery store in the country are bursting with candies, chips, cookies, sodas, and other junk, all of which are loaded with way too much sugar, fat, and salt, not to mention synthetic chemical additives that are harmful to your health.

- What to Eat, Dr. Marion Nestle

Your processed foods contain saturated fats, trans fatty acids, excessive salt and modified sugars, along with some artificial sweeteners (to cut calories - beware of fat free and sugar free advertised foods) and other harmful chemicals like potassium bromate, propyl gallate and artificial colorings. If you can't understand what one of the ingredients are on the back of the box, then it probably shouldn't be consumed. Get in the habit of checking your labels on everything you buy. Your nutrition bar on the back is important. It's amazing to me how much high fructose corn syrup is in our food that should never be there (such as bread, peanut butter, cereal, juice, ketchup, even tomato soup!) Read your labels and buy food with no additives such as the ones I listed.

If your cupboards are filled with pre-packaged dinners, its time to start fresh. Learn how to bake mac & cheese and get rid of the box of Kraft. Try brown or yellow rice and beans with some seasonings instead of the Rice-a-Roni mix. Try replacing your cake and brownie mixes with some whole wheat flour and real cocoa. Start making some burritos from scratch instead of the quick hot pocket in the freezer. Replace your sugared cereals or instant oatmeal with bran-fiber cereals, home-made granola, or stove-top oats and add some honey and raisins. Count the white-enriched products in your cupboards and write them down. Try buying whole wheat, whole grain or raw in those products (pasta, noodles, rice, cereal, bread, sugar) the next time you grocery shop. You want to go for "whole wheat" and not just "wheat" because a lot of wheat on our shelves today are still refined and are more concentrated, with higher calories than whole wheat. Whole grains contain more fiber, protein, magnesium, potassium and other nutrients.

These are just a few ideas. In order to live healthy, you have to get creative. We live in a society where grab-and-go food is mass produced. To eat differently will fill awkward at first. But I promise, the more you stay true to changing bad habits to healthy ones, the easier it becomes. Good luck spring cleaning!

Short and Sweet: My Story from the Beginning

So what really prompted me to start blogging about healthy living?

Picture to right is before my health journey.

Is it really greener on the other side? My answer...YES! Over-time, starting mostly in high school, food became a comfort. When I was bored...I would eat. When I was lonely or depressed...I would eat. When I went out with friends...I would eat. I don't think I rarely ever felt hungry because I ate to much to really know its true feeling. Once I got to college, most of my activity and mobility came to a halt as I crammed in late night studying and was consumed by classes and work. With the combined powers of over-eating, eating junk, not getting enough sleep and no exercise, it didn't take more than a year for me to gain a whopping freshman 40. As I entered my second year I felt more and more lethargic and less and less happy about who I was becoming. It was then at my all time high of 210 pounds (and also when I started dating my husband) that I realized I had a problem and if it didn't get cleaned up then my future was going to pay.

In this blog, i desire to not only share my journey to weight loss, but to living a healthy life. Diets don't work because they substitute calories for nutrition. They might give immediate results, but put your body in a even more unhealthy state than when you started. This blog is not about being skinny or trying to get down to your ideal weight. This blog is designed to help others like myself...mothers and fathers, our children, young women and men who desire long life. Over the past four years I have learned so much more beyond using food as my god, but I have also learned how to be a good steward of the body God has given me. Over time I would like to share with you and others about this journey, without information that can seem overwhelming. This is why I plan to start slow and I promise to never say or recommend something I haven't already tried or seen proven true. I also will try to sight any resource I have come across that I may have gotten my information. Of course there are things I will not be able to sight only because I have come to learn them over-time and have studied them leisurely.

Picture to left is after 2 years of getting healthy.

What we put in our bodies can determine how long we want to live! "Ignorance is bliss" is the good old saying, but the truth, ignorance can kill us. Here are three basic biblical principles I will continually hit:

1. Eat foods God created for you.

2. Don't altar God's design.

3. Don't let any food or drink become your god.

My small disclaimer is that this blog is not being written to prevent or cure any specific disease. But my prayer is that you will be inspired....inspired to live healthy lives, so you may able to enter into the ultimate measure of God's blessings.....LONG LIFE!

If you would like to follow this blog I would love to hear your comments and your own experiences or even questions. I appreciate any disagreements or constructive criticism to be sent directly to my email. The blog is designed to help people, so anything that could cause discouragement I would try to refrain from commenting. May this be a humbling experience for all of us!

Love,

Crystal