I don’t often weigh myself, as I do not measure how I feel about myself based on weight, but rather on the way my body feels. It just happens that a healthy living will most certainly ensure a healthy weight. If you feed your body clean, nutritious, wholesome foods on a proper schedule, it will have no reason to store fat. It will burn calories that you put in, and detox itself, as needed.
Today was that rare day when I decided to step on a scale. I certainly have not felt that I had lost any weight recently, however numbers showed something different. Again, I do not strive to achieve a certain weight. I exercise and eat right, and expect for the extra weight, that is unhealthy for my body, to come off all on its own.
I am certain that if you are reading this article, you most likely are waiting for me to tell you how much I weigh. I am not sure if that is important at all, but I will give you a little background on my “weight history”, and I might even tell you the unspeakable—my weight :).
When we moved to the US 16 years ago, I was not even 17, and weight about 115-118 lbs. We explored new foods as we were getting accustomed to the new country. There was no lack of food in the US, as we at times experienced in the former USSR, especially in the late 80’s, early 90’s. However, the quality of the foods here was different. It all looked beautiful and appetizing, but artificially uniform. Let’s take apples, for example. If in Kyrgyzstan our apple trees bore apples of different sizes and shapes, in American stores they all were the same caliber and nearly all of the same shape, as if someone was growing them in a mold. American grown apples were also covered with wax, for some inexplicable reason.
I don’t think that we ever overate on foods, since moving to America, however we all started to change in sizes. Mysteriously, our waist-lines started to grow. By the age of 19 I had expanded to about 135-140 lbs. Not big, by comparison to many, but slightly uncomfortable, until I had learned to “live with it”. Interestingly enough, when I went to Kyrgyzstan for a month long visit, before starting college, I lost all excess weight, and came back slim and healthy. The cycle repeated itself, as I was going through college years. My weight went up, and then went down to about 125 lbs, as my life became busier and more demanding (demanding=stressful). It was not until later that I became aware of chemicals, additives, hormones and steroids in the foods that were causing harmful weight gain, among a host of many other perpetrators.
I met Demetrye, my husband, at about that time in my life. As we started courting, he had to undergo a brain surgery. I was his primary caregiver. My sleep was scarce at that time—actually it was a luxury; I barely had any time to slow down and actually cook a meal, so I ate whatever came my way: hospital food, fast food, etc. Joggling a full-time job, long hospital visits and handling responsibilities for two people left my body with little energy to heal itself, when there was need for it. In less than 6 months I went from size 5-6 to size 10-12. I felt uncomfortable with the extra weight, as I had never been that big in my entire life. I was more tired, I did not like the way I looked, but there was little I could or knew how to do at that time. Even after Demetrye was released from the hospital, my time was split between my job, everyday responsibilities, doctors visits, and being a full-time nurse to Demetrye. I was weighing in at about 156 lbs at the time. I am sure that you would agree that this is a long way off from 120 lbs frame.
As my weight increased so did a list of physical problems I started to experience. I am not going to go into that list at this time, there will be another day for it, but I will tell you that my “expansion” did not stop there. In another year, I maxed out at 168 lbs.
I will spare you the description of my feelings about my weight through those times. No need to dwell on something that is so predictably easy to guess. Let’s fast forward to 3-2.5 years ago.
Demetrye was healing, which meant that he could start exercising. We made it a goal to get in shape as a family. We worked out religiously 3-4 times a week. The stress was slightly reduced in my life as well. The weight started to drop. I watched as it fell to 150, and then to 145 lbs. I seemed to reach a plateau at that point. No matter what I did my weight did not budge. 145 lbs is better than 168, but was not good enough, because I still was not feeling well. It was around that time that we changed our dietary lifestyle and became vegan. Demetrye started to drop weight at a rate of a high speed car, mine was dropping too, but at a rate of a crawling turtle… I reached another plateau at about 140 lbs…
It was in the last year, as I became more RAW (eating unprocessed, uncooked foods) that my weight had finally reached the 130 lbs mark, which made me very happy. I was almost back to normal. I was hoping to drop at least another 5-10 lbs, although my husband started to mention that he would like for me to stop “slimming down”. But who am I to say “No” to my body healing itself? I don’t refuse food when I am hungry, and I ALWAYS eat until I am satisfied. If my body needs to lose a few pounds on a healthy, nutritious diet, it is more than welcome to help itself. I am certainly not planning to start stuffing my face just to keep weight on!
Let’s fast forward to a couple of months ago, when I went “Gluten Free”, i.e. cut all wheat [flour] products and do not consume any gluten grains. I was not really expecting to lose any additional weight, but less than 2 months later my body seems to have lost another 4 lbs. (just found it out this morning). It was a pleasant surprise, as I was not expecting or looking for it. So, for those of you who wanted to know my weight, if you do the math, you will be right if you got 126 lbs. I feel great. I personally would like to lose at least another 5 lbs, but I am certainly no longer concerned with my weight. I have regained control over my weight, and for that I am grateful.
So, here is the moral of my story, if you looked for one: eating whole, unprocessed foods, with living enzymes intact, will help you lead a healthy lifestyle and achieve your body’s goal weight (your body will make that progress and decision all on its own, if you provide it with all the right tools). You won’t have to count calories ever again or go half-hungry, since right foods will signal your body when to stop or start eating.
There are numerous benefits to eating the WHOLE WAY. Weight loss is only one among them. I will post about other benefits throughout the year, limiting this post to only one.
Enjoy your day! And remember: EAT HEALTHY!!! BE HAPPY!!!
Today was that rare day when I decided to step on a scale. I certainly have not felt that I had lost any weight recently, however numbers showed something different. Again, I do not strive to achieve a certain weight. I exercise and eat right, and expect for the extra weight, that is unhealthy for my body, to come off all on its own.
I am certain that if you are reading this article, you most likely are waiting for me to tell you how much I weigh. I am not sure if that is important at all, but I will give you a little background on my “weight history”, and I might even tell you the unspeakable—my weight :).
When we moved to the US 16 years ago, I was not even 17, and weight about 115-118 lbs. We explored new foods as we were getting accustomed to the new country. There was no lack of food in the US, as we at times experienced in the former USSR, especially in the late 80’s, early 90’s. However, the quality of the foods here was different. It all looked beautiful and appetizing, but artificially uniform. Let’s take apples, for example. If in Kyrgyzstan our apple trees bore apples of different sizes and shapes, in American stores they all were the same caliber and nearly all of the same shape, as if someone was growing them in a mold. American grown apples were also covered with wax, for some inexplicable reason.
I don’t think that we ever overate on foods, since moving to America, however we all started to change in sizes. Mysteriously, our waist-lines started to grow. By the age of 19 I had expanded to about 135-140 lbs. Not big, by comparison to many, but slightly uncomfortable, until I had learned to “live with it”. Interestingly enough, when I went to Kyrgyzstan for a month long visit, before starting college, I lost all excess weight, and came back slim and healthy. The cycle repeated itself, as I was going through college years. My weight went up, and then went down to about 125 lbs, as my life became busier and more demanding (demanding=stressful). It was not until later that I became aware of chemicals, additives, hormones and steroids in the foods that were causing harmful weight gain, among a host of many other perpetrators.
I met Demetrye, my husband, at about that time in my life. As we started courting, he had to undergo a brain surgery. I was his primary caregiver. My sleep was scarce at that time—actually it was a luxury; I barely had any time to slow down and actually cook a meal, so I ate whatever came my way: hospital food, fast food, etc. Joggling a full-time job, long hospital visits and handling responsibilities for two people left my body with little energy to heal itself, when there was need for it. In less than 6 months I went from size 5-6 to size 10-12. I felt uncomfortable with the extra weight, as I had never been that big in my entire life. I was more tired, I did not like the way I looked, but there was little I could or knew how to do at that time. Even after Demetrye was released from the hospital, my time was split between my job, everyday responsibilities, doctors visits, and being a full-time nurse to Demetrye. I was weighing in at about 156 lbs at the time. I am sure that you would agree that this is a long way off from 120 lbs frame.
As my weight increased so did a list of physical problems I started to experience. I am not going to go into that list at this time, there will be another day for it, but I will tell you that my “expansion” did not stop there. In another year, I maxed out at 168 lbs.
I will spare you the description of my feelings about my weight through those times. No need to dwell on something that is so predictably easy to guess. Let’s fast forward to 3-2.5 years ago.
Demetrye was healing, which meant that he could start exercising. We made it a goal to get in shape as a family. We worked out religiously 3-4 times a week. The stress was slightly reduced in my life as well. The weight started to drop. I watched as it fell to 150, and then to 145 lbs. I seemed to reach a plateau at that point. No matter what I did my weight did not budge. 145 lbs is better than 168, but was not good enough, because I still was not feeling well. It was around that time that we changed our dietary lifestyle and became vegan. Demetrye started to drop weight at a rate of a high speed car, mine was dropping too, but at a rate of a crawling turtle… I reached another plateau at about 140 lbs…
It was in the last year, as I became more RAW (eating unprocessed, uncooked foods) that my weight had finally reached the 130 lbs mark, which made me very happy. I was almost back to normal. I was hoping to drop at least another 5-10 lbs, although my husband started to mention that he would like for me to stop “slimming down”. But who am I to say “No” to my body healing itself? I don’t refuse food when I am hungry, and I ALWAYS eat until I am satisfied. If my body needs to lose a few pounds on a healthy, nutritious diet, it is more than welcome to help itself. I am certainly not planning to start stuffing my face just to keep weight on!
Let’s fast forward to a couple of months ago, when I went “Gluten Free”, i.e. cut all wheat [flour] products and do not consume any gluten grains. I was not really expecting to lose any additional weight, but less than 2 months later my body seems to have lost another 4 lbs. (just found it out this morning). It was a pleasant surprise, as I was not expecting or looking for it. So, for those of you who wanted to know my weight, if you do the math, you will be right if you got 126 lbs. I feel great. I personally would like to lose at least another 5 lbs, but I am certainly no longer concerned with my weight. I have regained control over my weight, and for that I am grateful.
So, here is the moral of my story, if you looked for one: eating whole, unprocessed foods, with living enzymes intact, will help you lead a healthy lifestyle and achieve your body’s goal weight (your body will make that progress and decision all on its own, if you provide it with all the right tools). You won’t have to count calories ever again or go half-hungry, since right foods will signal your body when to stop or start eating.
There are numerous benefits to eating the WHOLE WAY. Weight loss is only one among them. I will post about other benefits throughout the year, limiting this post to only one.
Enjoy your day! And remember: EAT HEALTHY!!! BE HAPPY!!!
