Nutrition-love

It's a new week!

Is it time to re-re-re-re start that healthy eating plan?

I admit, I had a "planned cheat" this weekend during our superbowl party.  And it probably went a little overboard, but today is a new day.  I'm starting this week motivated, but not because I have to.

Last week, I finally got a taste of what it's like to live in a body that is treated kindly. 

And I'm hooked.

Let me tell you how it went.

First, I cut out sugar completely. This is something my body has been begging me to do for a long time, but I have been ignoring it. The first  three four five days were rough, but after that I honestly lost the cravings for the sweet stuff. It was wonderful. (Please note, I do not think sugar is evil, or that a diet of organic kale and spinach is the diet of the saints.  I'm just trying to listen to my own body.)

More importantly, however, I focused on getting my fruits and veggies. Lots of them, every single day. In all the reading and researching I've been doing, this one thing seems non-controversial: We need more fruits and veggies. I've heard it before, and I'm sick of hearing it, but I thought I'd try following that advice to see what happened.

An aside:

I have a very supportive husband. He consented to watch one documentary with me ("I'd really like to see what you think of this whole foods/natural eating stuff and how much better it is for us than processed foods. It seems plausible to me. Do you think I'm nuts?")  He watched it with me, did an hour or so of research, then went out and bought me a juicer.

We don't do things small in this house.

While we don't necessarily believe everything we heard in the documentary, much of it makes sense, and if something motivates my husband to eat more fruits and veggies, I'm all for it! So this week I was on a mission to make good use of our juicer, and to find things that we not only could choke down, but actually like. The short story: After a few epic fails, I did. (See my juice and smoothie recipes on pinterest)

I even put some of my best blends to the ultimate test (2 yr olds don't lie!)

photo credit:  Dr Cynthia

Read her post on the benefits of blending and juicing

The bottom line:

After a week of eating enough fruits and vegetables, I feel amazing.

I have crazy amounts of energy.  But for me, the most exciting thing is this: My body is satisfied.

Satisfied.

Normal me is almost always thinking about food, whether what I'm eating, what I want to eat, or what I shouldn't be eating.  Cravings and resisting and caving and repenting and starting it all over- this is the story of my life. And I am weary, and just plain sick of it.

But after this experiment that seemed so crazy to me (eliminating sugar and giving my body what it needs instead), I have found new hope and motivation. I could go on and on about the high energy and better mood and so forth, but I won't.

Instead, I will just say this.

I feel like a recovering addict, or a laundry-detergent craving pregnant lady, who has just tasted her first bite of food sanity.

Food sanity.

Honestly, I didn't think there was such a thing, not for me. 

But, maybe my body just needed me to treat it with kindness. With a little nutrition-love, it is satisfied.

Yes, there is still temptation in my life, and yes I still must struggle and pray and receive grace. However, I am pleasantly surprised by the blessings mixed in with the battle. God is kind, and good, and His plans for me are better than I imagined.

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Do you battle seemingly constant cravings?
Do you feel satisfied after you eat?


(Want to watch the first documentaries that inspired me? Check them out here.)