On your mark, get set, Gooooo!

     My name is Julie. I am a Fifty-five year old woman on a quest for healthier eating. Ohhh, I've done dozens of "diets" in the past, doing the same as millions of others. Loose 20-30 lbs. only to put back on 35-40. My reasons for loosing weight were vanity. An up coming wedding, class reunion, meeting up with old friends (OMG what would they think). But now, I am ready to get down to business and make a lifestyle change in my eating habits. I have been here before but somewhere down the line I loose hold of the reigns and fall back into some poor eating choices. I'm sick and tired of heartburn, stomach aches, nausea, constipation, headaches and of looking in the mirror and wishing for something different to be looking back. At 5'3" and 198 pounds, it is time to get a grip.

     I lost my father to cancer when he was fifty-four, I was twenty-one. Lost my mother at sixty-three to heart disease. Then just over ten years ago I lost a fifty year old brother to cancer. Four years later another brother at age fifty-one. Now, granted the latter two did not live very healthy lives. They smoked, drank more than the average person and ate like majority of Americans do, me included. But the death of my brother Jon left me numb. Watching him slowing wither away, with no hope except chemo "therapy" was sobering and gut wrenching. They MUST be a better way and I was determined to find it.
     This blog is not about my disdain for the Medicine Machine we call Allopathic Medicine and their use of prescription drugs to mask over every health problem. It is about getting to the root of the health problems facing the world. That root, I believe, has everything to do with what we put into our mouths. In our case, The American diet. My quest is finding ways to get healthy and keep healthy thereby keeping me out of the clutches of Big Pharma and Institutional medicine. There is so much evidence available proving that what we choose to eat has the biggest impact on our health and wellbeing.
 
      So, a couple of my girlfriends and I have gotten together to encourage each other in making necessary changes in our dietary intake. We have pledged to a 10 Day Challenge to NOT eat processed foods and no obvious sugars other than what comes in naturally

through fruits and vegetables. We are on Day 7 however, I will post our daily inspirations since the beginning which was Saturday June 15, 2013 and then keep a daily post thereafter. 
     It is my hope that by doing this eating program 10 days at a time, it will continue on for another 10 and another 10. You get the picture. Doesn't seem nearly as daunting just 10 days at a time. I will keep you posted.

BTW...the picture above was 4 years ago after loosing 27 lbs. on the HCG diet. I felt great. Although taking longer than normal, nearly 3.5 years later I've put those pounds back on. At the time of that picture my weight was 176. It is my current goal to get back to that this summer.

Good Health to You,
Julie