Like Sugar for Coffee, but Not

As I transition from personal training to equipping friends with tools to prepare food more healthfully and quickly at home, I have seen a huge change in my own habits.

Making our own bread at home, it is now made exclusively with honey.  Honey!  No sugar.  

Could it be that that is one reason I savor each piece of bread and feel better, fuller?

It's taken a couple months to let this sink in.  Like any organic chicken with its head still intact, I look at trends upside down and sideways.  I'm never on the front end of them.  I thought I was with grinding my own wheat (check out Wendy's Fresh Mills), but my friend in Colorado corrected me that everyone on and west of the Rockies already has a food mill: it's this side that's behind the curve.

I had no trouble with sugar in bread - but changing to honey was a no-brainer.  Who doesn't love a good honey loaf?

Still, I could tell sugar was the next villain when movie makers assaulted it with their good vs. evil dramatization in the January released film "Fed Up." See the trailer here.

I get a little annoyed when films say that companies "trying to make money" is a bad thing. It's like, as they collect your $9.50 entry ticket, they say out of the other sides of their mouths that corporations are bad. So this cynicism means I usually watch them once they are at Redbox.  I also sometimes need to prove I'm not easily herded with the sheep simply because the Hollywood shepherds use awesome cinematography and music... or maybe I am, so I instinctively protect myself.

For example, the month after I watched the movie Food, Inc., I couldn't function in polite society because our habits involved a lot of chicken, and beef. A mild depression ensued.  Watch the movie Fresh sometime immediately after that one if you want to come away encouraged.

Here is my husband's answer to health: planting our own food.  Here we are picking our blueberries!

So, this sugar thing was my last dietary-sheep standing.  Applause, please: like your own personal, virtual avatar, I made a big change this week.  I think you will benefit from hearing about it.  You now know me, how long I have resisted.  You know how strong I am.

Now listen.

I had my first four cups of coffee on Thursday with honey instead of sugar.  

Let that sink in.  Without mood swings, without highs and lows.  Yeah, that's how it sunk in for me, too. Everyone in my household benefitted.  I couldn't believe it.

But, I had never tried it in more than one cup before.  I had never liked the taste and decided it wasn't worth it.  This week, I finally tried it in a second cup of coffee.  I figured I lived, so I tried it in the third.  And now it's gone, that sugar in each cup.

It's definitely an acquired taste, but may I encourage you: so was coffee! You can do it.  You can!

I actually feel different: smoother.

And, unbelievably, less bitter.

Morsels of Fun!

I'm going to cut to the chase this time.  You guys are so awesome, weeding through my verbosity all the time, I'm just going to reward your perserverance!

The first morsel of education, as I told you on Monday, was that I could gain 44 nutrients if I ground my own grain.  But if I could gain, what had I been losing?  I discovered the flour I was buying had hardly any nutrients left in it!  If I could refrigerate my freshly ground grains and that would help preserve the nutrients, then since the flour I was buying had not been refrigerated, that meant it was not fresh.

Oh.  And fresh is not just one of those five letter trendy words.  Fresh means BETTER for the body.

The second morsel was that the sugars and preservatives in the bread (two words which never really scared me) could be removed and there could still exist good bread.

I didn't believe it till I tasted it.

Now, we make bread that has grain, honey, and yeast in it.  We use a dough enhancer that's all natural.  It's amazing to know there is one less [BIG] place where sugar resides in our house.  AND IT WAS SO SIMPLE.

Tune in later this week for the kicker, the third morsel that sent me over the edge into what I used to call Granola Land.

Rich food, rich story

As you read in my last post, this story just keeps getting richer.

I have never been a foodie.  I honestly just eat what's in front of me.  As I get older, I see how that could be a problem.  And yet, I don't want that to be an obsession.  I have always thought how I spend my time shows what I worship, and food has never been a satisfying idol for me :)

So - I like to keep things simple.

Enter Technology 

Do we or do we not live in the 21st century?  I purchased two machines, the Nutri Mill and the Bosch Universal Plus, to make the transition to health easier.  I have set up a business I believe in this so very much, called Wendy's Fresh Mills.  In the next few days, I will walk you through the morsels of education that blew my mind and caused me to make such a dramatic change in how we lead life at home.

We now grind our own wheat, spelt, seeds, AND the beans and rice we have been grinding for seven years.

First Morsel

The Nutri Mill was specifically built for this purpose.  Grinding the beans and rice left me with a cemetery of blenders that just couldn't cut it.  Now, we are now free to keep grinding, and grinding more types of whole grains and rices and beans, to retain the 44 nutrients that are lost in these flours if they have not been refrigerated.

Yes, folks, 44 nutrients have the potential to be lost if they are not refrigerated after the grinding process!

And that is your first morsel.  Come back on Wednesday for more.  In the meantime, visit me on Facebook at Wendy's Fresh Mills for more information.  This isn't a shameless plug.  This is a plug for your health!

From Muffintop to Muffins

Well, folks, in the final analysis, I may have gotten rid of the muffin top, but not rid of the muffins.

With a little help from the right jeans (thank you Marta for referring me to Miss Me jeans), this personal trainer is rockin the waistline.

I also ended up training for a couple of half marathons, and for some reason, that helped!  So that's that for muffin top.  Without vasering, I might add.

But the muffins... the muffins are here to stay.

A New Start

I am embracing the muffins, and making them more healthful.  My family enjoys them; nay, we love them. My vegetables love their shot at being stealth, too, crammed into muffins.  They're like Jack Bauer, in a kitchen.

I want to start to share with you ways I have changed carbs into wonderful sources of nutrition.  The story ends with major technology entering my life and making me less challenged.

Let's Start with a Prequel

But it starts with a beautiful sister-in-law, a jewelry maker intent on feeding her kids only the best (see her work at Samsara Creations).  I thought, if I could just do one thing she does for my kids, I'll be set.  And so I bought the book she told me to buy: Ruth Yaron's "Super Baby Food"

Okay folks, this is the book on healthful eating before it was a craze.  Published in 1998, her foresight is mind-blowing.

But I want to highlight p. 214: the beginning of my education with whole grains. I had no idea that a combination of whole grains and dried legumes could provide my children with the perfect protein beginning to their days.

I knew immediately the savings I would have; the nutrition? A huge bonus!

To my children now, this is called "Special Oatmeal." They ask for it! It's hard to believe, but my daughter craves ground beans and rice over instant flakes of nothingness. I crave it, too: it certainly puts a longer pause in between breakfast and snack time. Thankful for Tonya and her gift of nutrition education, and thankful for a platform with which to share it with others.

Happy to Serve

Last weekend, a dear friend drove four hours to run a half marathon with me.

We decided that it was in both of our interests to volunteer instead of run the race.

After twenty years of running, I finally gave back.

What took me so long?

Exhorting almost 1000 runners to do their best on the last mile of 13 was too much fun.  I needed tea, my throat was sore, and we actually felt like we'd run a race afterwards.

Three hours of yelling! WOW.  Deserved every bit of that lunch.

Have you registered for a race and just didn't think it was wise to follow through?  Don't hesitate to stop in to the volunteer booth.  They always need help.  We were put in at the last minute, as sentries at two crucial points, because others didn't come.  Ack!  We were needed!!  So cool.

My friend serves for a living, as head of Alabama Rural Ministry, but being based four hours away we rarely get to serve together.  This enabled us 3 hours of slightly interrupted conversation - and awesome quality time.  Plus, we got to razz the police stationed nearby.  Always a good day.

Try volunteering for that race.  You'll be glad you did!  Nice tan, too...

Status Update

Eh, not so good on the homefront nowadays.

If you look at my fitness activity, anyway.

My brain activity on the other hand: watch out!

Looking back on the week, I think I would classify my behavior more muffin than stealth.

I'm a little down: my daughter has an injury that precludes her running a little kids' race this weekend, and that is affecting me something fierce.  More importantly, it precludes her from walking very well.  That is heart-breaking.

My daughter is the one the Disney escort for Tigger asked to calm down around Tigger!  To not jump, to not run, to sit down, put her feet up - it's anti-life to this girl.

Days Gone By?  Or New Days Ahead?

I remember being like that.  I think I want that spirit again in myself.  Seeing it in her has always been a great boon to my own, but now that she can't be that way until she's healed up, I gotta come up with it myself.

I have so much good going on in my brain I have been content sitting this week.  The sitting part is not good.  It's too easy to get out of a routine.  But I have a different kind of fire under my tush and it is taking a lot to extinguish it.

It's like a mud run going on up there in my head - or warrior dash, one of those: fierce, sweaty, and fun.  My brain hasn't been this active in a long time, and I feel like I should let it go crazy and do what it's going to do.

Meanwhile... the muffin stealthily creeps...

In Which the Goodbye Is the Hello

Not all muffin tops are created equal.

You all know that by now.  There are good fats, and there are bad fats.

In my case, my bad fat was my good fat.

My bad fat encouraged me in a good way to get out there and burn some.
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I've enjoyed this "fun run" of personal training.  While financially I will be pursuing other ventures, vocationally I am recommitting myself to my own exercise and health.

Lest you think, "Oh no, another personal trainer becomes self-absorbed," I remind you to read my previous post.  This was always about sharing the joy of endorphins.  I won't stop that now.

I missed my own endorphins.  My children, as a result, missed the real me.  My husband deserves the real me, too...

So - time to reconnect.  After a month, I have finally found the 'phins.  I run after them three times a week.  They don't disappoint.

Since I've focused on getting it back, my brain has worked better, and faster.  It's all part of my inner treadmill.  Brain's gotta keep up with the feet!

My energy has resurfaced.  My eyes feel brighter.  My God is more apparent.

Thanking Him for this season of health, and for renewed energy to share.  Work is to be done.  I must be healthy to do it.  Hello, health.