My Steps to a Healthy Family

I don't claim to have done anything really special to lose 25 lbs and have enough energy to manage a full day of 4 boys, large home and yard, and all that goes in between. I actually stole most ideas from one book, The Green Smoothies Diet, by Robyn Openshaw, and then I researched a little and made sure I agreed with things, and then I changed my whole family one step at a time.

It's overwhelming to change.
I was ready for it. I needed it. I had no energy and was on the verge of needing antidepressants, again, which is why I started with food rather than focusing on exercise.
And this isn't a diet until I get to my ideal weight, then we'll go back to eating normal...this is our new normal. Josh dropped 20 lbs without batting an eye. The boys all have energy and health. IF they get sickness, it is MUCH shorter and less severe. I haven't even called a doctor in months.

I realize this may seem a bit fanatical...I'm now one of 'those' people, who eats weird things at home and you wonder if my kids will get in trouble for eating sugary stuff at your house...but after all I've learned, I really believe this is the best.  And no, sugar is not banned from my house, nor will it ever be.  Moderation is still the key...but it's a new perspective on what moderation means.

Anyway, I don't want this to be all about me...I just want to outline my top suggestions to start with. Take what seems right for you, leave the rest until you feel like you're ready, or don't ever use them.  This is what has made a difference to me!

Step 1: Start a Green Smoothie habit
This what where I started because it offered immediate health benefits, and LOTS of them. I can't even describe briefly all the benefits from adding so much green and fruit to your diet...nor the amazing energy and cleansing feeling you'll have. Just try them.

This is the biggest start-up thing, and the scariest because if you're like me, you want to be baby-stepped when you do something new. It was frustrating to me at first because it meant figuring out different things for when I shopped, plus I wanted to add all the super foods I could and I had to find them. Since I've done all that, I'm willing to pass on the tips, just   ask!!
I honestly recommend getting the book above mentioned. She has recipes. I started with those, now I improvise.You can also check out some of her videos on making smoothies and what she adds at her website: greensmoothiegirl.com

Here is the recipe outline:

You'll need a decent blender (doesn't have to be expensive and high powered, but once we knew we were hooked, we bought a VitaMix...and LOVE it, for SOOOO many reasons).

Combine water and your choice of greens. (I recommend starting with spinach. It's easy to find and neutral tasting.  Kale is really good for you, but I don't love the flavor, so I add one leaf of it.) Blend them until as smooth as your blender can make them...minutes of blending is fine.
This combination should make up 1/3 to 1/2 of the total mixture, ie, if you have a total of 5 cups blender space, 2 or 2 1/2 cups should be greens/water.

Add fruit. ANY fruit. Today I added pineapple (with juice, so I did a little less water), a large apple, a pear, 2 bananas, frozen strawberries and raspberries. I thought it was fantastic.  But I've added LOTS of different things.  I love to add mangos (which I also freeze), and plums, and apricots, and peaches...seriously anything.

Drink a whole QUART. Yes a quart. That's 4 cups. It is SOOO good for your body. Once you put all the goodness into your guts, they will thank you! You don't feel hungry for hours (you can take hours to drink it too, that doesn't matter), so over all you will eat less, but your body will get MORE of what it NEEDS. I promise. It's awesome. Have your kids drink a pint. Mine drink theirs after school for a snack. They ask for it. You can add honey if your kids think they need it sweeter, but that's when I add the pineapple...like today I did all the sweet fruits we had.
OH, and the berries make it purple-ish, so it's not so hard to down than something bright green. They are kinda spendy, but I recommend the berries for the visual factor to start...unless you and the kids don't mind green!!

NOW...I have TONS more tips for smoothies, most taken from that book, and I'll list a few here, but skip on if you just want my overall healthy suggestions.

TIPS FOR SMOOTHIES:
You can freeze ANYTHING...greens included. Right now I have spinach, beet greens and kale in the freezer, besides loads of fruit I got when it was in season. If you have to buy in bulk for weeks in advance like I do, it's fine! Costco has the best price on spinach, but don't get a membership for just that. Look at local grocery adds and stock up when it's on sale then freeze a bunch. When you need them, you throw them in the blender frozen and drink up!

This is the BEST thing you can do for digestion and over-all health. You'll have better bowl movements, less hunger, and less desire for anything not so good for the body, it's really amazing. I NEVER thought Josh would let go of some foods, but he has, all on his own...smoothies are amazing. 

Now, there are TONS of super foods you can add to make your smoothies much more power packed with health.  I'll only encourage ground flax seeds or flax oil here, because it is so fantastic for your health.  It's one more thing that will help your body suck fat off too...it's amazing.  For a while, I was losing 1 lb a week and only walked a few mornings for a half hour...my diet was sucking the fat off.
If you want more really healthy suggestions to add, let me know.  I'll gladly share.

Step 2: Ditch fatty oils, and get COCONUT OIL
Seriously. I use it in EVERYTHING that calls for oil, and for some things that call for butter. I even put it on popcorn, which is YUMMY.  I looked it up myself to make sure it was worth the switch. It IS good for you...very good. I could spell out all the benefits, but there is one place that lists everything already, very concisely, so check here:
http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/robyn-recommendations/coconut-oil/coconut-oil-health-benefits/

Basically instead of just eating oil, you'll be helping your body be healthier by eating THIS oil. It's fantastic. It helps you loose weight and stay more healthy.  If you love olive oil, by all means still use it, but don't cook with it on high temps...it becomes that trans fatty acid.

It is solid below 74 degrees, so if your house is cold like mine, it'll be a white solid.  I microwave it for a bit if I need it liquid.  If you have any other questions, let me know.

You have to get virgin, unrefined oil, like mentioned in the link above. I found two places to buy it, the first you can buy one gallon cheaply. We ended up going through it fast enough that we did the second site and bought 4 gallons when we had free shipping and 20% off or something, so check the deals at both, and if you need help, just ask...I love to find coupons!!!:
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/bulkoil/a-c.html
(you're looking for the 1 gallon coconut oil UNREFINED organic for $39...I know it's a big bite of change up front, but it's the same price as olive oil, and it is SOOO good for you!!)
http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/
(you're looking for the gold label virgin oil...it's the unrefined kind, remember it has a 2-year shelf life, so you can buy in bulk and use it slowly...we use a gallon within a few months though)


Step 3: Change everything to WHOLE GRAINS

This is nothing new, I know, but it's SO much better for your body.  People say it's more expensive, but you eat less of it because you get full faster, so the cost part is questionable.

We don't have white flour in our house anymore...none.  I use whole wheat for everything, which we grind as needed in our blender because you loose some nutrients (B vitamins, I think) if the wheat flour sits longer than a week after it's ground.  You can change almost any recipe to accommodate the heavier flour, you add more leavening agents, and I like to add a little more liquid.

I have found whole wheat pasta to go on sale often enough that I'm not spending much more, if at all, when I stock up on that instead of regular.  I don't love the flavor of it, so sometimes I'll do half regular noodles and half whole wheat.  We also only have brown rice in the house.  Nothing else.  Kids don't care.  I love it.  You can buy that in bulk too, so it's not that much more.

I think this is one of the easier steps, but maybe because I had already done a lot of it.  Now, I don't make my own bread every week, I don't have time for that, but I buy whole wheat, multi-grain stuff, and organic if it's on the clearance where I get my wheat bread.

Along with this, we don't eat breakfast cereal anymore. We make whole grain pancakes, oatmeal, or I make homemade granola with some power-packed ingredients that we all really like.  We're also going to try cracked wheat/grains cereals, since we can make them at home too.  I think taking out the sugars in my kid's morning has really helped them, and me!!  Plus they stay full longer and I know what they are getting.  It's a bit more work, but Josh helps out a ton, so it's doable for us.   I have never had anyone say they didn't like the granola I make, so I'll post the recipe sometime soon.

Step 4: Reduce Milk Intake
I know the government, media, and general population will think you're nuts (you probably think I'm nuts), but after looking into it a bit, I really believe that this is another 'healthy' thing that is pushed on us because cow/dairy farmers gave the government money to make it popular.  I know, that's a little far out there, but....if I don't have milk, cheese, etc, my body feels lighter and healthier, whereas if I eat or drink it, I feel heavy and slow to digest, plus have large, hard stools (to be personal).

It kinda makes sense that we are not meant to drink a thing that is naturally occurring in cows to fatten and grow a baby cow, which, by the way, has multiple stomachs and the ability  to process and use all the stuff in that milk.  Surprise, surprise, we do not.  Our body doesn't know how to digest it, so it becomes sludge in our intestines, it decreases the intestinal ability to absorb nutrients from our other foods, and the amount of nutrients we get from the milk itself isn't as much as we can get from other things.

If you ask your grandparents they'll tell you that if a baby wasn't able to breast feed back in their day, they gave them goats milk.  THAT makes sense. Goats milk is the closest to human.  We've been giving it to Spencer, who loves it and is a large, healthy, happy kid.

Now listen, I have done extra checking on this matter because my kids' doctor always tells me how many ounces of milk my kids are supposed to get every day, and what they need from it...they don't NEED it, I've looked.  ALL the nutrients in milk are naturally occurring in foods my kids EAT.  EVEN calcium.  I looked it up on the National Institute of Health website (although this is still government funded, so it's kinda iffy...) and milk does have a lot of calcium that supposedly you absorb, but you also get a significant amount from spinach, which you'll put in your smoothies.  You can also just give your kids tums, and they'll get a good amount of calcium.  I looked at their list of foods with calcium, and Spencer, my baby, had already gotten his daily intake before dinner time without having milk (although I think he had a slice of cheese that day).

My kids' doctor also said they needed the added vitamin D and Folate that is put in milk.  That's so beyond bogus I almost called and told him he shouldn't tell people that.  You get more folate from vegetables and even some fruit than you do from one serving of milk.  Vitamin D too.  Only people that drink a lot of milk 'need' the added nutrients in milk because they don't eat enough other stuff.  Silly doctors.

So, I do still let the boys eat cheese...there is no way around that at this point.  I also give Spencer cottage cheese sometimes, which is high in the calcium.  And, to be honest, I still allow myself a serving of ice cream every day if I want it.  But since it's such a small amount, it doesn't seem to bother me....and it's my only vice, which I think you need.  Instead of milk, we have used rice milk or almond milk...almond is higher in fat, but has more nutrients.  We make it ourselves with our blender, so it's not more expensive, but it would be if you're buying it.  Soy isn't the best, but I haven't done good research into why it isn't...I think the proteins are not good for the blood somehow.  Anyway, look into it and decide what's best for YOU.

That's why I say these are steps.  It may not happen overnight, and you may not want to do certain things.  It just worked for me, and I looked into it enough to find what was the most healthy for us.

Step 5: Rethink your sugar intake
First of all, I decided if I was going to loose weight and feel good, I had to quit eating sugar, which messes with moods and all sorts of stuff in your body.  If you stop eating sugar, your tummy will flatten VERY fast.  You'll have more natural highs and energy.  You obviously won't be eating very many things that aren't all around good for you...they sneak sugar into a lot of stuff these days!

Now, this one is hard because we actually become addicted to sugar.  You'll crave it for the first few days, but after about three days, you'll be fine.  I find if I curb the cravings with fruit, it's better too.  I really went strict on myself with this for a long time, because I needed it.  Now I'm not as strict, but I'm MUCH more careful and still very picky, even when I'm baking at home....but we don't have white sugar anymore.

I decided we were going to use more honey than white sugar, but decided I should look into it and see if it was worth it, cause it is A LOT more expensive.  It IS VERY worth it.  If you eat sugar anyway, at least if you use honey can put a bunch of nutrients into your body with it!!  If you can find RAW honey, you will be doing your body some amazing favors by eating it.  And when I looked into it, you can get other organic sugars that still have the nutrients in them too.  Apparently when they make white sugar they strip it of all the nutrients to make it white. To make brown sugar they dye white sugar, which used to be brown.  So wrong.

I don't use any fake sugars, like sucralose or aspartame, because I don't think that can be good, but the organic sugars are good.  Check around and see what you can get...like Demerara...it's basically the evaporated cane juice.  

The raw honey is great, but if you cook it, it's not raw anymore, so my one suggestion here is to not waste the extra money for honey you cook with. 

Step 6: Reduce the amount of meat you eat
Here again, it is meat producers that wanted us to think we needed meat.  I used to try to get at least one serving of meat in our day, but not any more.  It isn't necessary.  I know you will all think I need some lessons in health, and how in the world do I think my kids are getting enough protein if I don't give them meat, but I've looked into this too.  We get so many good things from fruits and veggies, and even whole grains and beans and lentils, that I truly believe we ate too much meat before.  Especially in summer months, your body doesn't need it.  When you eat it, it raises your body temperature and makes you too hot. So it's good when it's cold out, but you still don't need it every day. 

This took a lot of work for me to figure out what to feed my family if we weren't eating meat every night...but somehow we've done it.  And we've replaced meat with beans too...like in our meatless tacos.  If it's important to you, I can share some ideas.

After you really think and research this one, reread the Word of Wisdom.  I gained a whole new testimony about the wisdom the Lord put there, and that it was NOT just that way for the people back then who didn't have the ability to freeze and preserve their meat.  It's for us too.  And I can literally run and not be weary.



Step 7: Reduce your portion size
This should really be step one, but I figure I'm the one who had a bigger problem with this than other people.  I simply ate too much.  I don't NEED that much food.  Josh lost his weight mostly by doing this and adding more fruits and veggies.  I always tell myself that if I still want more food, I can eat veggies.  They fill me up faster and I don't have to worry much about the calories, and I know I'm getting more of what my body needs.  Serving sizes really are a good guide to go by...eat less and make what you eat count!  And then of course we all know we should eat slower (I still don't).  Even for breakfast now I eat a very small bowl of my homemade granola and a piece of fruit.  I'm good for hours.

Exercise:
Of course this one is a no-brainer, but I'm not going to say much here--other than to do what you want.
I started simple, with walking, nothing strenuous and if I was tired, I didn't even walk fast.
Now I have added more intense exercise.  It has been incredible how quickly my muscles have strengthened and how NOT sore I have been because I'm eating what my body needs to build it up.  Anyway, that's a personal note, and I don't think you have to do intense working out to loose a lot of weight.  I sure didn't.  But I felt really good the whole time!! And feel even better now.

So, that's it.  It's a small novel and I'm sorry.  There is more I could share, but I'll spare the details for those who ask...if anyone really cares that much!  I think we all come to a point where we need something more and we are guided to people who can help us...that's how it worked for me, and continues to work.  I love how the Lord works!  I know He has a plan for my life that will require me to be in the best health I can be, and that's why I have had the energy and motivation to learn and change so much.  It's totally worth it.  I love to share it too, so feel free to ask!!
Love to all!