Blessings

So... it has been a TERRIBLE month!!!  With the passing of our lab and now my husband having a stroke, I gotta say, I'm exhausted.  After all, this IS about ME, right?!?  HAHAHAHAHAHA!  I'm really only making a joke here because I'm on overload with every other emotion.  The reality is, my husband had a real scare and it left me with real feelings of guilt because I've allowed (and in most cases, led the coup) us to fall off our path of healthy living that we worked so hard on over the past two years.  We backslid into unhealthy eating and missing workouts.  Welp, we just had a wake-up call in one of the biggest ways imaginable.  There are only two things more important than our health, God and the health of our spouse.  And it's a funny thing that happens when we put our priorities in check, we actually DO take care of ourselves in the process.  Enter the 17 Day Diet.... and we are now on day 6.

Health and diet books were at the top of my list for reading material while I hung out with my husband at the hospital and a battery of tests were performed.... good thing my Kindle was in my purse.  Sooooo many books to choose from and I picked a winner!  The 17 Day Diet was featured on The Dr. Phil Show and The Doctors and a quick review on You Tube from my smart phone (a nurse at the nursing station told me that it was a myth that our cell phones interfered with the medical equipment.  I don't know if that's true, but I thought I would share) confirmed my perfect purchase. I was reading my new book in less than minutes.... MAN!  I do love my Kindle.  Now the 17 Day Diet is actually four 17 day diets rolled into one with each 17 day diet serving a purpose... to get your health back on track the quickest way possible and keeping you on track while living a life of least resistance.  TOTALLY makes sense to me!!!  The beauty of all of this is it also got me back on track with living organically and enjoying raw food again.  Every day for the past 5 days we've enjoyed tons of fresh fruit and vegetables with our eggs, chicken and fish (P.S. I don't eat eggs, chicken and fish raw...hahahahaha).  Just yesterday I served up grilled chicken with buffalo sauce and celery for lunch... SOOOOO GOOD!!!!  I'm thinking that breaking down a lifestyle change into 17 day increments is pretty brilliant.  Just 11 more days to complete the sugar flush and then I can bring in complex carbohydrates for the second 17 day increment.... NICE!  Brown rice and rice noodles never sounded so good!!!  Today I'm whipping up a batch of my FAVORITE raw dressing, click HERE for deets.

A couple of tips for anyone thinking of giving this one a try.... I cooked up a ton of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and used my Food Saver to freeze it.  I then cut up a ton of celery and carrots for snacking and made an ENORMOUS salad with Organic Spring Greens, cabbage, bell peppers, cucumbers and radishes.  Learn to love salad.  They will make your life so much easier.  Finally I boiled a dozen eggs to store in the fridge so there is PLENTY of good food on-hand.  It's just so much easier on us to not have to spend so much time in the kitchen right now.  Things are just there for the grabbing and preparation times are down to almost nothing.  Finally, I used to LOVE the Sommer Size sauces.  They were all natural, sugar free and SOOOOO convenient.  I'm working on getting my hands on some for next week's meals.... why are they suddenly so hard to find????

Alright, that's it.  I was blessed with real motivation to make real changes.  I was also blessed with my husband and am so grateful that we even get the chance to "get back on the wagon" so to speak.  No more backsliding into unhealthy eating habits, no more taking our health for granted.  Sometimes blessings hurt but I'm learning to see them more clearly through the pain.  Years ago, I don't think I would have considered a stroke a blessing.  Here's to your blessings... may they be a lot less painful.