So for anyone who has been going through life, eating whatever and whenever they wanted, a serious diet change for specific health reasons can be quite daunting. It's not easy to no longer be allowed to satisfy that craving for refined sugars (donuts, cakes, cookies, pop, juice etc), delicious starches (baked potato anyone), melt in your mouth grains (fresh cinnamon buns or baked bread), or cold, creamy dairy (ice cream, milk shakes, cheese). But I hope through my experiences, stories and recipes you will find that you don't have to be deprived of desserts and great cooking; you just have to be creative, and creativity needs inspiration and motivation.
Eleven weeks ago I ate cookies, cakes, donuts, ice cream, dressings, tarter sauce, breads, corn, chips and dips etc. I love food! Then my husband started talking about this restricted diet that could change his life and help his body to heal itself. I couldn't say no to the possibility of his being healed and whole; the strong, energetic, outgoing man I know he can be. So that weekend I got rid of $1000 worth of groceries both canned and fresh and we started all over again.
It wasn't easy saying goodbye to all that food that we had stock piled, especially since I come from a poor family and part of that was we didn't always have enough to eat. Food is important to me and if it's there I feel as if it will all be ok. You don't have to have a big fancy house, you don't have to have fancy cars or hundreds of different outfits, you don't even have to have the highest paying job. You do however HAVE to have food and clean drinking water!
So in saying all that, here's why I'm doing this. I began this journey in 100% support of my husband. Can you imagine your significant other or child being deprived of all their favorite things while you go ahead and munch on whatever you want every meal and snack? Or when you are out, if you want to go into a restaurant for a quick bite because you're hungry, but there is nothing on the menu that they can eat? I mean if they cheat, it could really mean life or death. They didn't "choose" to do this because they want to get healthier (at least not for the reasons most of us diet and exercise). No, they chose this way of life to try and get off medications that are destroying their bodies or because it's a last hope or attempt at being able to live a normal life. I couldn't just go on the way I was without him. I felt compelled to not only start this journey for him (giving away all our food and researching what he could / couldn't have) but to also start the journey with him.
Now that we are eleven weeks in I am so grateful for this change. There have been many changes beginning to take place in my family which include a career change, going down to one income and planning for our future children. The first two are givens, we cannot have the one without the other and we want to do this debt free! The third really relies on ME.
About a year ago I started thinking about getting pregnant (seriously considering all the factors) and the biggest thing on my mind was my body. I had gained 50 pounds and was living in depression, sadness and poor eating habits. I knew I didn't want to house my baby in the body I was currently supporting. I knew I had to make changes but I just couldn't seem to do something drastic enough for the weight to drop or the eating patterns to change and it was a vicious cycle of frustration and anger toward myself and my body. But when my husband started talking about this diet that could change his life forever I new I could do this for him and with him. So I did.
I have lost 20 pounds as of today, I feel so much better physically and my energy has gone way up. My joy has returned and my self confidence is seeping back in. Everything takes time. All we have is time, and as I thought about that question, "why not?" squeezed its way in. If all I have is time then why not do what I want with that time. If I want to lose weight and get a healthy body to cary my babies in, why not start today? If I wait until I'm ready to get pregnant and haven't done anything to change I will be in the same place I was 3 or 4 or 5 years ago but I won't have time to change what I should have been working on all that time ago.
So in conclusion, yes, I am doing this in support of my husband and that won't change. What has changed is my appreciation for what this way of eating is doing for me, what I couldn't do for myself. It's changing my life and I'm so grateful that my husband and I are going through this together and that it's something that is impacting our lives now and will have future blessings and benefits as well. So even though it didn't seem like a great thing at the beginning and it felt impossible (learning to cook and bake all over again) at times I am so glad and grateful to be eating this way and making these choices one day at a time.
I hope you can get to a place of peace about what you can eat and why you are doing it as well.
Have a wonderful Saturday!
Laura
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