My Moderation?

You probably don’t think about food the way I do. I think about eating the way I do because I have a disease and someone told me this was the first place I needed to start to get well. I eat better so I can live my life. You should have seen me, especially last fall--- that wasn’t living. In my effort to wipe my plate clean and start over- I have read and asked and consulted with so many health care professionals and those that are simply choosing to eat more ‘whole’ that I am literally bursting with information. Yes, that is what I spend some of my time on, reading about food. :) Why do you care? Maybe you do maybe you don’t.

Keep reading if you want.

You feel how you feel. Maybe you have diabetes, or are obese, have migraines, or experience little things everyday that you think you have to deal with because you are aging. There are over a gazillion ways to not feel good. Do I always feel good? Never. Will you age and will your body slow down and hurt? Yup. (Please don’t think I don’t know about cancer or terminal illnesses. I am well acquainted.)

Maybe you are a healthy individual. Maybe you think that where you are at is just fine. That’s awesome, I hope so.

I’ll just say this, wherever you are in your level of health, you can feel even better. You don’t need to believe me, as I have said before, I have *science to back me up. If you are a member of my faith and think that the Word of Wisdom is all about moderation, it is. I have read it front and back and up and down and read just about all the information the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has available. I follow it.

Do I push Whole30? Maybe a little bit, wannna know why? Because it’s simply an education of what happens when you put food in your mouth. When you are armed with that kind of information, it’s just easier to eat better. You know how when you see cigarettes and think ug!?? Remember how revolutionary that was for the world? Does Whole30 tell you to ‘abstain’ from things? Yes, and only so you can knowledgeably eat them as you work them back in. Maybe you are lactose intolerant and have no idea, maybe that drippy nose or throat cough you ‘always have’ can be eliminated. Maybe you don’t care! That’s okay! I just appreciate knowing there is a better way and I can strive to do it.

Whole30 so closely resembles my autoimmune protocol that it’s the info source I can share with you that generalizes eating better and why.

Isn’t this just a fad diet? Nope, it’s the oldest one in the book. It’s just flashier and says ‘do this for 30 days’. It’s this: replace the packaged foods with actual food....and this is why. That’s it.

Will I eat a cupcake again? Yes, but honestly, I care a lot less about cupcakes these days. Does that sound crazy? I actually think its empowering to move from what can’t I eat to what can I eat.

Are you eating healthy? I was, all my life, until someone (professional) told me I wasn’t. It hurt. Then I grew outta that grief and realized I was simply getting the help I needed. Now I eat healthier and I am a lot more capable of dealing with life than I was. I don’t want to spend my time on earth sick, if it’s something that I can help.

Elder Richard G Scott of the Twelve Apostles said:

“We will live for our appointed life span. However, we can improve both the quality of our service and our well-being by making careful, appropriate choices.”

I love that, we can improve the quality of our service and our well-being. 

It’s so dang true.

Am I moderate? Yes, I sure strive to be.

FOOD AND EMOTIONS are intrinsically connected. Family traditions and social connections are a lot of times centered on/around food.  Cakes on birthdays, ice-creams pints for break-ups, lemonade on a hot day, everything over the holidays and then starving in January. When you feel like your daily food-doings are being challenged, it hurts. I LOVE making my mom's chocolate chip cookies for my husband and kids, in fact, yesterday for my toddlers birthday I gave him a cookie with candles on it. I brought bananas too, but those I had to give away, the cookies were gone. :)

Sometimes just showing up makes all the difference. Changing the way you eat is intense and crazy, but even one thing better today is one step closer. I am serious about this, anything is awesome and if you falter-then so what!? You are getting somewhere! :)

I know I created some buzz about green smoothies. My point was that smoothies have a lot of sugar and--in context--a lot of sugar, even surrounded by vegetables is still a lot of sugar. That was it. :) I bet your green smoothies are way healthier than most.

Okay, the four of you that read this, I’m done. :) 

Kinda...PS Change is hard and scary for most of us, me included. Like for real. 

PPS I love giving food to people...sweet yummy psychologically pleasing food. So yeah, it's hard. My neighbors asked where all the cookies went. 

He turns three this week and loves cookies. I wasn't gonna give him squash.

 I didn't eat one though.

*Science and I mean qualitative and quantitative, true-blue information.

How I Did the Travel Thing Better

Car-Trip Edition:

I have claustrophobia and car-sickness realllllly bad. I get panic attacks in tight spaces and spending my time in a mess of metal hurtling down the road with no immediate bathroom access is not my favorite thing to do, especially without handy/healthy food. Can you even imagine. This is a lose-lose for me. I can’t even handle tight hugs or stuck zippers. Ack. Anyhoo, it was easier this time and I reallllllly love my husband and we got some great talks in without me closing my eyes and wishing the trip was over. TMI? Okay moving on...

We finally, successfully road-tripped, food-wise, thank the goodness.

In my trusty cooler I had:

Protein

Precooked and cubed chicken

Breakfast sausage

Frozen ground turkey to cook when we arrived

Vegetables

4 summer squash that had been ‘noodled’

Spinach

Tomatoes

1 Whole chopped cabbage

Fruit

Washed Strawberries

Apples

Bananas

Sides

Homemade Paleo Mayo

Toasted Pecans

Sea Salt

Coconut Aminos

Avocado

Olives

I drank more water this time, grabbed a burger patty on the road and added veggies if I needed too and went shopping while there. It’s not a perfect system, but I got to think about a lot more than what I was gonna eat. Thankfully. You may be surprised, but food is not all I think about. :) Okay, it’s a lot, but not all.

Thanks for sticking around and asking questions. 

Link to Coconut Aminos, aka, the best thing you will ever buy HERE.

Link to my trusty 'noodler' aka, you should have this already HERE.

Food Textbook HERE. Just get it. Read it. Learn. Stuff like that. :)

Before the trip.

 Packing the cooler.

Pulled together for breakfast one morning. Sweet potatoes, cabbage, 'zoodles' and roasted red peppers with a luscious splat-egg and coconut aminos on top. Mmm.

 PS As I learn, I get better at this. I've been going since January, if I knew then what I know now, dang this could have been easier. :) But we step-by-step huh?

Eating Better is Better with People Who are Eating Better.

Eating Better is Better Easier with People Who are Eating Better. :)

That’s a long way to say that having support eases the process of changing your plate. If you are still with me on this, you have hopefully made some better choices lately and/or tried to understand food a little better. YAY! Hopefully your water consumption is at an all-time high too!

So, yah, I could not do this without my support system. 

My husband and children eat the way I do----when I feed it to them. France usually eats Subway at work. He eats out with his co-workers once in awhile at a Chinese restaurant down the road. My husband and children are eating healthier without the restrictions I have, it's totally doable. I make the kids try my breakfast/lunch/dinner and then break out something if they are not feeling it (it's some work, but worth it, we are making progress). Samboy always surprises me. Today he told me I forgot his carrots and he couldn’t eat his applesauce ‘cuz I didn’t eat my carrots yet!’. For real kid? You mean this is working!? Yay! Haha. Ok, it’s taken months, but this is becoming my kid's 'new normal' too and I couldn’t be more stoked! 

Your support system is not only comprised of the people you share a roof with but with people that will hold you accountable no matter where they live! Read on:

On our road trip to see family this last week (hence no posts) I was excited that they were eating healthier as a family. They have their own system going on and are holding each other to it. The best part was the availability of healthy food in their home and the stories of success and more energy they were experiencing! 

We talked a lot about a lot, and some about food. I don’t want everything coming out of my mouth to be about what people are eating. So if you’ve felt that way---whoops! Sorry! I must have gotten on a roll and didn’t catch the social cues to cool it off. I really can get going.

I thank my husband and docs for support and my extended family and friends for the support and kind words too. YOU need a support system to do this. Ask nicely, but ask! Be accountable to someone. Remember, it could/will change their life too. Change your plate! Change your life.

So the point of today!

Just like a team, you have to have supportive teammates. On the same page. Understanding each other. Otherwise, you will stop and no one will notice and you'll be back at square one. Which if you're cool with it--your choice right?

SiDE StORY: The last thing anyone ever wants to hear at a group gathering is the food-obsessed-person saying things like ‘I can’t eat that’ and ‘I can’t eat this’ and ‘you shouldn’t eat that because it’s the devil’ (ok, a bit of an exaggeration on the last one). Etc. You get the picture. If people ask me questions, I answer. If not, I try not to draw attention to it. "Hey family! You’re eating pizza at the party tonight!? HOW COULD YOU, DO YOU EVEN CARE!? WAAAAA blah blah blah.” 

Yep, that’ll make friends.

So I try to eat beforehand and snack on everything I can when I get there, fruit and salads etc. It’s not a big deal unless you make it one. There is enough drama in the world 'ammi right? :)

LINDSAY!!!!!! I am HAPPY with MYSELF and WHO I AM. Lay off!

Um that's amazing!!!!!  That's seriously wonderful and I believe you. Guess what's even more amazing!? How you will feel when you eat even BETTER! But for real. You don't even know how good you can feel. You don't have to settle ever. You just don't.

Choices & Consequences. Even with food.

The water beast that was introduced to me. Not cheap. 64 OZ and COLD WATER ALL DAY. When it's empty at the end of the day, oh yeah, you've done it. Yesss.

Link for water bottle here.

Once Upon a Time: Part TWO...Real Life.

Let me tell you how I’ve failed.

Once upon a time, last weekend, I did food prep for a road trip to Utah. We packed the car, said our prayers and were off. Oh and guess what, I left almost ALL of my food at home.

I was now in no-autoimmunedisorderfriendly-man's land. The thought of hunger made me panic. Also, I wasn’t drinking enough water because who wants to pull over every hour when it’s already late at night and there’s a 1 and 2 year old on board. Not this girl.

We made it. I ate very little that night; nothing I shouldn’t eat, but not enough of what I should. I don’t think a fast-food burger patty, mustard, and iceberg lettuce did me any favors. Same thing the next day. We were on the run from one place to the next and I had to make it up as I went. Still not enough water. Headaches, check. We danced the night away at a wedding reception and I ate a bunch of fruit. I put my food needs on the back-burner. Hellooooo mistake! Here I am just trying to get by again, I'd been doing so well and feeling soooo GOOD! 

Sunday comes.  A BEAUTIFUL baby miracle of a boy was blessed. We joined our extended family for quality time together and I pretty much just ate a bunch of fruit and pecans.

We drive home. I’m starving and getting rather testy. I’m pretty mad at myself at this point. By Monday morning I am so wasted and dehydrated and migrainey that Atila the Hun would have run for cover and he would have been successful, I wouldn’t have had the energy to go after him. I flatlined. There I was, on my couch at 10 AM, done for the day. I couldn’t even make it to the grocery store. Feelings of failure creeped in. How could I let this happen?!

I had an ‘aha!’ moment, and what an educational moment it was. 

I felt exactly like the girl who needed an intervention these last few years. I felt HORRIBLE and I don’t miss that girl at all. The girl who justified feeling crappy because 'I’m just hormonal' or ‘tired' or nursing or not sleeping or whatever. The one who thought, it can’t be what I am eating! Eating can’t really affect my mood or attitude or confidence! PS It does. I. Don’t. Miss. Her. I am thankful that someone told me to take myself seriously. To put more effort into how I feel! That I have the power to change HER!

Mind you, this last weekend, I didn't eaten anything I shouldn't have, but let me stress this: I didn't eat ENOUGH of what I SHOULD. It goes both ways. Not just NOT eating crap, but eating WELL.  

France is the one who told me to go for it, to call the clinic, to change my life. He gave me permission to get better. I didn’t ‘NEED' his permission of course, but I NEEDED it. I needed someone to tell me to take ME seriously. I needed someone to tell me it’s okay to write about it and take selfies and be vocal and wage a war on sugar. DO I REALLY ‘NEED' SOMEONE’S PERMISSION!? NO! But oh-my-goodness sometimes it’s the push I need and I'm thankful for it!

If you need someone to tell you to change (it WILL improve your quality life) then find someone or ask me to. Give yourself permission to do this. 

But LINDSAY!? We have different bodies and challenges and etc! And it won’t work for me the way it works for you! And I don’t have an autoimmune disease and what you do is not realistic!

Sure it is. :) You will feel better, FEEL BETTER. COOL RIGHT!?

BUT LINDSAY THE WAY YOU EAT IS CRAZYSAUCE! 

Is it?

Good luck. I hope you gave yourself a pat on the back for making a small change today in the way you eat. Or a big one. Or whatever size one. Good job. Go you.

If you just ate a pan of brownies cause I wrote about how you shouldn’t (well, not directly, obvs) then oh well. Tomorrow's a new day. :) RA RA RA Gooooooooo You!

Soo I AM LOVING THE Pictures of Food YOU are sending me. And the nice notes I am getting and the success stories already. Peeps, it’s been not even been a month since I started writing and hello, you’re noticing changes! 

So once upon a time, in REAL life, this was doable. Still is. I’m not going back.

So yes, I have failed. And it stunk. Chalk it up to another learning experience. Life, *sigh*.

Yeah, I don't miss this chick. 

But look at my chubby cuddly boys! OOOOOh!! I will never NOT miss that! Mmmm

OH PS! You and me, our challenges, strengths, and weaknesses are different, but if the whole world was full of me's, eeek we'd be in a heap of trouble... and pink.

PPS It staaaaaarts with foooooood. :)

Once Upon a Time: Part One

I had a friend tell me my blog posts were funny, but she hadn’t learned anything from them. So, I asked, do you think even a teeny-tiny-bit differently about what you are eating than you did before? :)

Oh, well in that case, yes! She replied.

YESSSS! That’s the point! Wahoo! I hope YOU think differently about the food you eat too! Know that food can be a first defense. It is something you can control. Amidst all the many things you CAN’T control, this is one thing you can. 

Let’s talk about my protocol. 

Buckle-up, it's gonna get ugly. 

Ok, not really, I think I just wanted to type that.

So, once upon a time, I was put on an anti-inflammatory diet (January 20th, 2014) specific to me. Blood, stool (I can’t believe I am admitting that, when I swore I would never tell a soul) and spit. A lot of each. I was tested top to bottom (littttterally). Many insurance companies won’t let tests like that be taken unless you're showing that you absolutely need it. But, by the time you need it....you get the picture.

Anyhoo. I needed help---adrenal gland-wise, hormonally, immune system etc. I asked my doc if that was normal---he said it didn’t really matter, it’s my current normal and they were gonna change it. They were going to change it so I could get better. I was going to learn how to manage my disease. Take that HASHIMOTOS!

I knew, for close to one month beforehand, what was going to happen. I had one month to mentally prepare my foodie mind (I mean FOODIE, like LOVE food, like-I think I am an expert on food because of the Food Network Foodie, like I yell at people when they do dumb things with their Chopped 'baskets' foodie) to forgetting my current food know-how. I started grocery shopping to get into the habit and began trying-out recipes. I wanted to be ready.

When January 20th came, I had an okay knowledge base about how to eat, a stocked fridge and a cemented determination that it was now DAY ONE and I would see it through---come heck or high water. I was sick and soooo over it.

(A few of you are easing yourselves into your new 'food life' and I applaud that. When you have your DAY ONE---the one where you don’t look back---you’ll be ready.)

Day two. I wanted to quit. I woke up raging. I was starving. No amount of prep could get me through it. I cried. I was exhausted. I felt terrible. SEE, healthy food makes me feel like crap! Sheesh! Breakfast, lunch and dinner that day were the worst tasting meals of my life. Nothing got done in my household. I actually got rather angry. The ‘why me?’ moment may have happened (I will never confirm or deny that).

Day three. Worse. Worse. Worse. Who wants broccoli for breakfast? CRAZY PEOPLE THAT’S WHO! Oh and then let’s add in some headaches— super bad ones and yep, the flu. Or flu-like symptoms I later realized. I was a sugar addict going through withdrawals. I was eating grapes as if it were the apocalypse. You know why, right? Because they are one of the most densely sugared fruits out there and my brain knew it. Get this, I don’t even like grapes. For all the fruit I was consuming I had to eat tons of protein to balance it out. It was a horrendous display of nutso. (Don’t worry, we had a ton of family crises going on at the same time, just for added effect).

France was so nice to me and I was beastly. He’s my favorite.

Day 4-7. Withdrawals. Every heartbeat. 

Day 8- Now.  You guys. I learned. I learned about my own willpower. I learned about food outside of packaging. I learned what I love to eat and what I still can’t stomach (Dear eggplant, who invented YOU? I mean really). I learned what it’s like to feel good, feel clean in ma'tummy. I was liberated from that nasty feeling you get when you eat crappy and know you’ll just sleep it off and do it again tomorrow. I had so many ups and downs. The want of sugar was constant, for a long time. 

POINT OF TODAY:

You may not have an autoimmune disease, but you might be heading that direction faster than you want to realize. Diabetes, heart-disease, joint pain everything etc can be fought-by you, and you are worth it. I am not saying this will cure anything (it could!!! depending on what you've got going on!!), goodness knows I will fight for the rest of my life. I am doing this for me, I am worth it. But it will change you, you will feel different, you will be shocked. Do you need to work with a clinic to help you? If so, ask me. If you simply need to overhaul your relationship with food, stop putting it off. Get educated about why food can be your first defense. The coolest thing to me in the world is the science behind all of this. I literally received a map of my insides and how they were, or were not, functioning. How calming down the inflammation in my body would change me. I am talking at the cellular level here. Get educated so you are armed with the information you need to help yourself, your spouse, your kids, anyone really. 

To be continued....

Part Two by Friday (I can’t make any promises here, but I will strive to get it done!).

PS I know a few of you have already started changing your 'food life' and have experienced change already. Someone in particular has stopped napping in the afternoons and has more energy than before. If you are who I am talking about, please write it down and send it to me. We all wanna know. 

PPS If you need info, read It Starts with Food. It's like a food textbook, but more fun to read than it sounds. Just read it. Take some time and get educated. Okay. There ya go.

***If you know someone with an autoimmune disease or someone looking for a change, send 'em this way. Spread the word-it's a happy word. Share!****

Instagram!

@lindsayniehashi

tag your recipes #lindsayniehashi

Small Print: I am not following Whole30, but had I not found my clinic, I would be. I use all the Whole30 information and it's fabulous. Start there. For realz.

This guy wanted in on my typing after his nap, I love 'post-nap' face.

We went and picked lilacs for our living room, they died like an hour later. Oops.

I've created the PERFECT CARDBOARD PANCAKE!

JK!

Let me share something with you that may just blow your mind. Unless you don’t think about food like I do. Wait, nope, it’ll still blow your mind.

Think of American cuisine. Let’s do this family feud style. Here are my top five answers:

Hamburgers

Hotdogs

Chips

Pancakes

Mac’N’Cheese

What did you come up with?

Wait for it………

Broccoli? No you didn’t :).

I feel like one of the most life-changing bits of info I have gleamed from this whole autoimmune/better life process is this:

FORGET THE DANG PANCAKE! 

Just because you have been taught it is part of your lifestyle does not mean you have to spend your life trying to re-create it into a grass-fed, gluten free cardboard piece of disgust---just to stand on some mountain somewhere and proclaim to the world: I DID IT! I created the Frankenpancake!

Dude, let it go. Eat a pancake or don't. :)

Rant Purpose: Break out of the food mold you have yourself in. Just because mom/parent/guardian made you cookies so you in turn make them for your kids to show love only makes sense, I understand. Your mom/parent/guardian read to you too, taught you right from wrong, braided your hair and kissed your boo-boos etc, that is love also, it doesn’t have to be food. *** 

Sidenote: Making your kids cookies because you love them is not wrong. My mom loved that we loved her for making us cookies and everything else. We are just pointing out the consequences of actions here. Tis all. :)

Now, I have either made you really upset or liberated you. Hopefully you feel liberated.

Just because cookies are you thing doesn’t mean they need to be.

Just cause your Diet Coke is your hallmark doesn’t mean that can’t change.

Just because ballpark food is what Americans think is food doesn’t mean you have too agree!

SO WHAT DO I EAT LINDSAY!?!? I’M NOT STRONG ENOUGH and I HATE HEALTHY FOOD. 

You’re not trying hard enough.

 Aaaaand guess what? You have it in you. You’ve made it this far in life and that took blood, sweat, and tears. So yes, YOU (point at yourself and look at me like, ‘me?, you talking to me?)! You are tough enough. Change it. FIND THE DELICIOUS SPICES OF THE EARTH AND CREATE YOUR FOOD LIFESTYLE!

:) Have a great weekend!

Did I just lose readers? Maybe? 

****I’m not saying I’ll never eat crap again, but not today, not in the next six months. Goodness knows that my mom did make a an amazing chocolate chip cookie. And guess what? I’m 103 days in and I don’t need it anymore. Boom. Took till 101 though for me to not crave sugar every heartbeat of the day, and it slowly got easier to always avoid- now it's just a part of me. Yessssss. Just saying’. I could add something here about how we only celebrate Christmas once a year and that keeps it special or something like that. :)

Start and don’t stop, for reals. Don’t give in. Once you give in, it makes it that much easier to fail. Sounds like an addiction yah? It is. There is a good/bad to everything on this earth, including food. So it’s your choice. When you wake up 50 years from now knowing you could have avoided some aches and pains when you were younger and didn’t, wouldn’t you wanna come back and kick yourself into gear? I would. And doesn’t that ring true for just about every decision in life? Yep. When you know better, truly know better, you should strive to act better. Strive. Not try. Try is a cop-out.

I have an attitude today and boy is it showing. 

OUT

I've found another use for my sugar jar. 

Oh I just keep going? It's like an Avengers movie and you have to sit through the credits to get to everything!

Sooo,

Above all else, don't feel called-out by this, don't feel like you are the worst foodperson ever or I am judging you. I am a former sugar addict myself, 103 days clean. 

Simply feel empowered. Beat your hands on your chest 

empowered. Now. Today. It's worth it and you know it. How cool are you.

Don't need a doctor, but just info? Whole30.com is a great place to start.