Hello everyone! We've started a blog about our Eating Clean journey. Why? Because it is time for a change. We as a family want to eat healthier, weigh less, and have a higher quality of life. It's been a long time coming: Rhett has been struggling with weight issues for years, and so have I, along with issues of my self-image. We want to finally achieve our goals and we want to set a healthier example for our children. So we are going to make a change for the better in the way we eat.
I have always felt if I were to pursue a diet, that it should be as close to the Word of Wisdom as possible. It is, after all, the only diet that holds temporal and spiritual promises from God Himself. That said, I have spent a number of hours amassing dieting information- anyone with eyes and ears knows what a huge industry the diet and exercise market is. I have looked into the food pyramid, Atkins diet, the Sugar-Busters diet, other general low-carb diets, Jenny Craig, Weight-Watchers, vegetarianism, and even the Kevin Trudeau HCG diet. Some of them worked for a little bit, but most of them didn't, and few of them seemed to match up to what the Word of Wisdom says. So desperate times call for desperate measures: two summers ago, my husband and I tried an extreme high-protein, low calorie diet. So extreme that it didn't recommend exercise during the initial phase. It helped me lose 35 pounds and get to my lowest weight ever, but when the diet was over the weight came right back-- and believe me, it was NOT going to be a diet we could maintain the rest of our lives!
So here we are. Rhett has graduated college and started work as a technician in the Salt Lake area, I'm a stay at home mom (for the time being) with three rugrats under the age of five, and we are back at square one with our dieting. In addition, I had also been drinking a lot of caffeinated soda (begun while I had worked as a waitress, but it unfortunately has continued). In my research on ideas for giving up soda, I came across some sugar detox diets. They sounded more like what I wanted in a diet- they encourage more natural foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, occasional lean meat, and no processed foods). I decided to go to the bookstore and pick out a dieting book on sugar detox. However, all of those books were out of my price range, so I expanded my search and found one I could afford. It turned out to be exactly what I was looking for: The Eat-Clean Diet by Tosca Reno.
**Note: I am NOT promising that this diet works or has anything to do with the LDS church. I haven't even really tried it yet, but I am going to, along with my family. Also, I have NOT been paid by any health or fitness representative; I am merely writing our story.**
And thus begins our journey to better health and (hopefully) our goal weights. Let's be honest though: it's not like our track record on dieting has been all that great. However, I really feel like we're ready to make a lasting positive change, and we're starting by making this public announcement. I don't know how many people will read it, but I've heard that the more people you tell about your intentions to lose weight, the more you'll feel pressure (in a good way) to hold to your determination. Don't want to let everybody down, after all (including yourself). Also, even though my weight loss two years ago wasn't permanent, it did do one good thing: it showed me that I can actually do it. I can actually hold on and see results! And if we could do it then, we can surely do it now. So here we go. Follow us, if you will, as we start our first leg of the trip. Let us know what you think! I'll leave you all with a quote that I find inspirational:
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.
~Earl Nightingale
I have always felt if I were to pursue a diet, that it should be as close to the Word of Wisdom as possible. It is, after all, the only diet that holds temporal and spiritual promises from God Himself. That said, I have spent a number of hours amassing dieting information- anyone with eyes and ears knows what a huge industry the diet and exercise market is. I have looked into the food pyramid, Atkins diet, the Sugar-Busters diet, other general low-carb diets, Jenny Craig, Weight-Watchers, vegetarianism, and even the Kevin Trudeau HCG diet. Some of them worked for a little bit, but most of them didn't, and few of them seemed to match up to what the Word of Wisdom says. So desperate times call for desperate measures: two summers ago, my husband and I tried an extreme high-protein, low calorie diet. So extreme that it didn't recommend exercise during the initial phase. It helped me lose 35 pounds and get to my lowest weight ever, but when the diet was over the weight came right back-- and believe me, it was NOT going to be a diet we could maintain the rest of our lives!
So here we are. Rhett has graduated college and started work as a technician in the Salt Lake area, I'm a stay at home mom (for the time being) with three rugrats under the age of five, and we are back at square one with our dieting. In addition, I had also been drinking a lot of caffeinated soda (begun while I had worked as a waitress, but it unfortunately has continued). In my research on ideas for giving up soda, I came across some sugar detox diets. They sounded more like what I wanted in a diet- they encourage more natural foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, occasional lean meat, and no processed foods). I decided to go to the bookstore and pick out a dieting book on sugar detox. However, all of those books were out of my price range, so I expanded my search and found one I could afford. It turned out to be exactly what I was looking for: The Eat-Clean Diet by Tosca Reno.
**Note: I am NOT promising that this diet works or has anything to do with the LDS church. I haven't even really tried it yet, but I am going to, along with my family. Also, I have NOT been paid by any health or fitness representative; I am merely writing our story.**
And thus begins our journey to better health and (hopefully) our goal weights. Let's be honest though: it's not like our track record on dieting has been all that great. However, I really feel like we're ready to make a lasting positive change, and we're starting by making this public announcement. I don't know how many people will read it, but I've heard that the more people you tell about your intentions to lose weight, the more you'll feel pressure (in a good way) to hold to your determination. Don't want to let everybody down, after all (including yourself). Also, even though my weight loss two years ago wasn't permanent, it did do one good thing: it showed me that I can actually do it. I can actually hold on and see results! And if we could do it then, we can surely do it now. So here we go. Follow us, if you will, as we start our first leg of the trip. Let us know what you think! I'll leave you all with a quote that I find inspirational:
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.
~Earl Nightingale
