the weight loss papers

Last week I wrote a post on an article I’d read about candida issues and what one can eat to help alleviate the problem. The article suggested eliminating certain foods from your diet as well as eating more greens and other healthy foods. In the week since, I’ve been fairly diligent in keeping up with recommended greens and elimination of those problem foods.

I do feel like it’s helping - my nasal congestion seems to be doing better and I hope will be totally gone soon. As a result of that, I can smell a lot better which is something I’ve been having trouble with for quite some time. I also seem to be losing some inches. That’s always a bonus! My pants are a bit more loose. My skin seems clearer as well.

I plan to continue this for another week or so at this point. And I am looking for a good way to get probiotics into my diet without eating yogurt and without  adding more supplements to my daily regimen. So, if you know of something, please do share!

I’ve added ground flax seed to my diet as well. It doesn’t seem to bother me as much as the flax seed oil so I like that a lot. I’m being very careful of the breads and grains I’m eating too, making sure to include whole grains and fiber rich foods.

You know, I think that many of the issues I’ve been dealing with are due mostly to my allergies. I’ve known since I was about 8-9 years old that I have food allergies but they never bothered me much so I continued to eat those foods. But I’m learning that those foods DO bother me, just not in the typical allergic reaction of hives and rashes etc ways.

In addition to ensuring I eat more greens, vegetables and other foods that help support a healthy body, I am eliminating those allergens. Even if they are things that don’t seem to “bother” me - like peanut butter. I really like peanut butter and although I don’t eat it all the time, I’m thinking it’s likely one of the culprits of the whole health and weight dilemma. I  will strive to be much more conscientious of the allergy-causing foods and to stop eating them, even in small amounts.

Thus, I have purchased some almond butter. I tried this years ago and didn’t like the taste but I found some organic almond butter when I went grocery shopping this weekend. It doesn’t contain any of the things I’m allergic to nor any junk like high fructose corn syrup and the like.

I put some in my “blended salad” that I’ve been drinking the past few days and it’s very good. It adds a light nutty flavor to it that doesn’t overwhelm the greens. I also sprinkled in a little ground flax seed. I think I may experiment a bit more by adding other vegetables, fruits and perhaps some spices like garlic or cayenne.

If you drink smoothies or other liquid “meals,” what do you put in them? Feel free to post in the comments or write a post on your blog and link back here if you’d like.

Until next time,

~ Annie

Did you eat any Easter treats yesterday? I sure did! Not only did we get a couple of treats for the kids, my mom brought over a pound cake that was delicious. Yep, I had a piece and a couple of treats. My husband knows I like the Cadbury’s Mini Eggs A LOT so he got me a bag of them. I shared most of them with him and kids, though. In years past, I’d have eaten the whole bag myself - not all at once, though - but I wouldn’t have shared many of them.
I’ve said before that I think allowing yourself a couple of treats now and then is just as essential to weight loss as eating the right foods. If you don’t allow yourself a bit of wiggle room, you’ll fail more often than not. And probably crash a lot harder, too.

I like Easter - it marks the beginning of Spring and longer days which I really like. I like the decorations too. Cute little bunnies and chicks and brightly decorated eggs. Plus the kids always enjoy hunting for the eggs. Yesterday it rained, though, so we didn’t hide any but the kids didn’t seem to mind that.

We also had ham, potatoes, carrots, broccoli and rice. It was quite good! I threw everything into a dutch oven and cooked it at 250 in the oven for a couple of hours. Well, everything but the rice, that is. I cooked that in the rice cooker.

One of the highlights of my day was early yesterday morning - my 3 year old son came into our room when he woke up. My husband and I were laying there listening to the radio and I had forgotten my husband had taken him to get his hair cut Saturday afternoon. Almost didn’t recognize the little guy! He thought that was pretty funny and laughed at me for a while.

And then when grandma got to our house yesterday afternoon, she gave each of the kids a couple of candies. He then started racing around the house and as he got back to the kitchen where were standing, he began hopping. It couldn’t have been more on queue if he’d tried! Silly little guy!

Anyway, I hope your day was entertaining as ours and if you fudged a little on your food, don’t beat yourself up over it. Just get back on track today and remind yourself it’s all good.

Not sure what tips I’ll have in store for tomorrow but I hope come back soon anyway. Try subscribing to the RSS if you haven’t already. It’s a great way to stay up on the latest posts without having to check to see if there’s anything new.

Have a great afternoon!
Annie

I don’t talk stats and such very often but I do want to just quickly post that in recent weeks, I’ve lost about 7 inches, most notably in my thighs (something which has always been a trouble spot for me). I’m at about the same weight, though, and I’m sure it’s likely due to working out - converting to muscle! That’s a good thing!

It is a bit disappointing when the scale doesn’t move, though. Now that I’m well, I’ll be amping up the workout routine again. My plan is to hit that hard come Monday. The fact that the weather is getting nicer is a huge motivator for me. I love this time of year - the transition between winter and spring - when the days are getting longer, sun is coming out, birds begin chirping and the flowers are beginning to pop up in the garden. It’s that sense of renewal and that is so inspiring!

My goal is to lose 10 pounds in March and another 7 inches. I have no idea if it’ll happen or not but I’m sure willing to try. The only problem, is that my husband and I’s anniversary is this weekend and his birthday is next weekend which I’m sure is going to mean . . . CAKE! And I *love* cake, as any good girl should.

Anyway, I hope you’ve had a good, productive week and I’ll write again soon! I’ve got some interesting posts planned for next week -

• A couple of recipes
• Some of my favorite foods
• The importance of food labels

And several more.

Stay healthy!

~ Annie

Mindset plays such a huge part in the success of ones life in everything and maybe even more so in weight loss. So, let’s talk about a weight loss mindset.

Now, in the past year and a half, there has been A LOT of hype about the law of attraction due mostly to the documentary movie “The Secret.” While the movie has some good basis and merit (and I do like it), it’s not the end-all, be-all that some would claim.

Mindset is much bigger than just the law of attraction. It encompasses more than simply asking, believing and receiving. One must do some work. Take action. You can’t just sit on your rear end and expect change to occur. Certainly visualization and focus are imperative to the whole process, but they alone aren’t enough.

It’s a lifestyle I’m talking about. And includes healthy eating habits, healthy mind habits, healthy spiritual habits and more. All areas of your life must be in congruence, in alignment. Having one thing out whack will make your efforts lopsided. They’ll be hit or miss and inconsistent.

Your mindset is what helps bring everything else together. Just like you can’t eat junk food all the time and expect to be healthy, you can’t put garbage in your mind and expect your life to be the way you want it. You can’t not brush your teeth and expect them not to all fall out eventually. It simply doesn’t work that way.

I’ve done an experiment on myself and my results using LOA for the past 6 months or so. And I’ve come to the conclusion that it does matter. It does make a difference and it does work. However, there are some huge misconceptions and important pieces left out of “The Secret.” (That, however, is a post for another time and for my main blog.)

But I do believe one can use the law of the attraction to lose weight.

Yes, I do eat healthy. Yes, I do exercise. And yes, I do use The Secret. All of these things have helped me lose over 80 pounds in the past year. I still have 50 to go before I’m at the weight I really desire - which is about what I weighed at age 18 - 110 pounds.

Every day I visualize myself at the weight I want to be. I spend a few minutes imagining that and thinking about what it feels like to be so healthy and in alignment with myself.

I am not an LOA expert by any means but I do know it has worked for me. I highly recommend anything written by Esther Hicks and also by Bob Proctor if you want to learn more about it and put it to use in your own weight loss mission.

Until next time,
~ Annie