Did you find yourself sweeter and kinder after Whole30 reintro?

[MeadowLily]

Sugar Craving Buster Oil Blend

These oils have been selected to offer support while breaking your emotional and physical sugar cravings:

• 4 drops Bergamot: supports endocrine system and promotes a sense of calm and wellbeing
• 3 drops Orange: supports balanced blood sugar levels, uplifts and refreshes
• 7 drops Dill: sugar craving powerhouse, helps remove addiction to sweets
• 2 drops peppermint oil in palms and cup your hands over your nose and inhale

[MeadowLily]

Inspiration for Using Dill Essential Oil

Greek finishing salt: Mix 1/8 cup sea salt with 3 drops Lemon and 2 drops Dill food grade essential oils on a plate. Let dry - then store in air tight container.

Dill Veggie Dip: Mix 1 cup mayo, 1-2 drops Lemon, 1-2 drops Dill, 1 Tbsp chopped parsley and 1 tspn Dijon Mustard. Serve with vege.

Make a Greek Lemon Dill potato salad with homemade mayo.

Sugar Craving Buster: Fill bottle with 1/3 Dill oil and fill the rest with liquid coconut oil. Apply to wrists or throat

 

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

Never let anybody take control of your nutritional decisions. Ever.

If someone else wants to control who you really are, run like hail. Major controllers control others because they cannot control or manage much in their own lives.  It's a defense and coping skill they use that will get you nowhere good.  Run to the Forest. Run.

Freedom.  You choose.  You decide.  Don't let anyone take that from you. 

[MeadowLily]

7. Don’t be a slob.

"This may sound like the exact opposite of what I just said but loving your body does not mean you let yourself go, neglect your hygiene or wear unflattering clothes. Teenage girls seem to struggle with getting that balance right and I frequently feel the urge to mention to some girls that red lipstick and greasy unwashed hair is not an attractive combination. Being able to walk into a room full of strangers with your head held up high requires a high degree of self-respect. Sure, we all have bad days when you would rather slouch in the corner and become completely invisible, but these are the days when you gotta pull out the old “fake it till you make it”. Dreading the necessary socialising at a party? Put on your most comfortable piece of clothing (not your onesie), pull your shoulders back, lift your chin up, and walk in with a lion tamer’s confidence."

 

Reduce Your Exposure to Toxic Influences

"So be brave and give these strategies a go. Self-doubt can be paralysing and we all struggle with pressure put on us by the society’s impossible standards. Don’t just let yourself be swept away by the current of constant criticism telling you that you somehow you are not enough. Take an active stance and reduce your exposure to these toxic influences."

[MeadowLily]

Enjoy the moment without following the Urge.

The Hot System = Impulsive, immediate gratification

The Cool System = The Thinking System

Enjoy the moment without following the Urge. That means someone else's urge, too.  

Food Addiction and food misery loves company. There are food addicts who deliberately bake for others. They enjoy eating by proxy.

The food addict is not concerned with quality.  They want quantity and they want it now. Eating. All. The. Things.

Impulsive and immediate gratification. Can't wait for the cookies to fly out of the oven, eat all of the dough. Hop in the car and drive to the nearest mini-mart or drive-thru. Amassing large quantities of multi-crap for the thrill eating food fest.

The actual anticipation of eating all the things is almost more than the food addict can handle.  It leaves them breathless like they're going out on a date for the very first time.  Filled with lust for food and bakery items, donuts and gummy bears, licorice...the sky is not the limit for the food triggers you can throw in the backseat of your car.

Just get me to the drive-thru in time. Whewwww.  Every hour is the bewitching hour when you're a food addict. There's no such thing as the Finish Line either.  

It's imaginary thinking that you just eat all of the things, getting the entire bag of cookies or candy out of the way. There's always another streetcar coming around the corner with your name on it.

Jump on in, Felicias. The water is fine. Swim in those thrill eating waters until your fingers are all pruny. When you're a food addict, you don't need someone to shove their gifts in your face.

Here they come, bearing food presents just for you. Multi-crap as far as the eye can see.  Diabetic comas? Who cares. Load someone up with food that destroys their pancreas and makes a mess out of everything.

With friends like that, you're better off with a dog. 

The Cool System = The Thinking System

Cooler heads prevail.

Don't let anybody take control of your nutritional decisions. Ever.

You need to repeat that now before you're faced with the test. When you're in the throes of having multi-crap shoved in your face, you've got to have a strategy.

You can say what you mean without being mean. But don't be a yellow-bellied lily-livered sapsucker.  Let your yes be yes and your no be noooo.

You've got to mean it with everything within your being or people will run roughshod over you and figure you for a piece of milk-toast. Put your resolute face on. Give 'em the eye. 

Remember, Felicias.

  

 

[MeadowLily]

Repeating your strategies over and over again. You have to - if you want lasting change.

If you can't do it now, standing your ground with others....it's not happening after 30 days. You will fall right back into their clutches and trap. Spider web.

Practice, practice, practice. Today.

Remain resolute for 30 days and then take it back out there on the trail.  No one has to live in my body or yours.

No one has to live in your mind or thoughts.  Don't let others consume you or control you.  You are free of their manipulation. Believe it or not, others may not have your best interests at heart.

Maybe they want a food friend. Someone they can call upon to go eat pie and ice cream with.  Go to the movies and eat all of that whacky jacky HFCS theater candy with. Tag. You're it.  You're a soft soak. A push-over. Always UP for another insulin excursion and thrill eating ride.  

There's a big red bullseye on your forehead. A walking billboard for more manipulation wanted here. Use me, all you gotta do is use me.

Noooo, Felicias. You're not going out like that and don't let anyone tell you what to do when it comes to your very personal relationship with food.

That baby is yours. All yours.  No one puts baby in a corner. Not today.  Not ever.

Much Love. Felicias.  Much Love.

 

 

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

Patrick, what a beautiful man he was.

The true essence of a grape is revealed when it is squeezed. 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

When the grapes are in a vise-grip, press in further. 

But don't let anyone use you until they use you up. 

 

 

The Cool System = The Thinking System

[MeadowLily]

Enjoy the moment without following the Urge.

The Hot System = Impulsive, immediate gratification

The Cool System = The Thinking System

Do you have the urge to take all kinds of selfies of yourself, maybe sending them out into the world for others to see. Impulsively for some kind of attention.

Beautiful men do it, too. Now, I know it's for body/beauty accountability. Just make sure they're healthy selfies and something your kids can really be proud off decades down the road.

Strike a pose and strut yo'stuff. If I had found pix of my Paw doing that I would've been...well, I won't say it.  

A beautiful man is a man of integrity. Who are you when no one else is looking. Healthy selfies don't take it right up to the razor's edge of being so vain about one's outer shell that all of the internal workings of someone's being gets lost in the shuffle.

When you've blown this popstand for the very last time, what do you want to be remembered for. Six pack abs and standing there with a toilet in the background while you're pruning your feathers like a plucked chicken. 

Your children, the arrows in your quiver want more. They want to see the real you. One day, they'll enjoy hearing how loved their Paw was for his integrity.  The secret things he did when no one was looking. Not while he was admiring his six pack abs in his underpants.

These things matter.  Think before you let your hindend hang out there for everyone and their dog to see.  The real you is far more beautiful. The inner you, your spirit. 

Remember, some have let it become an addiction and we all know how that turned out. 

Kindness. Sweetness. Integrity.  How you come to the aid of others in their time of need.  How you always had a helping aid for those less fortunate.  The prayers you offered up for those that are really hurting. This is a lasting legacy that means more than all of the belly selfies in the world.  

Outer beauty and muscles fade away.  They ride off into the sunset. No one will ever care about them but they will remember you for the acts of kindness and the extra special sweet words said to someone when they're suffering.

Take time to single out those in a wheelchair. They wish they were running and jumping, leaping tall buildings and dancing with their loved ones.  Go out of your way to treat them like the extra special people they are.  If dogs can do it, why can't we. 

The most beautiful men in the world...their beauty comes shining through even with all of their clothes on. No plucked chickens needed.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/316885.php

 

Avocado has strongest effect on cholesterol levels

To reach their findings, the researchers analyzed the results of various in vivo, in vitro, and clinical studies that investigated the effects of avocado on metabolic health.

Hosseinzadeh and colleagues found that the fruit has the strongest impact on lipid levels - that is, levels of HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides.

As an example, the team points to one study of 67 adults, of whom 30 had a healthy lipid profile and 37 had mild hypercholesterolemia. After adhering to an avocado-enriched diet for 1 week, both groups showed significant reductions in total and LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

"The reported mechanism of this effect was regulating of the hydrolysis of certain lipoproteins and their selective uptake and metabolism by different tissues such as liver and pancreas," explain the authors.

"Another possible mechanism could be related to the marked proliferation of the liver smooth endoplasmic reticulum which is known to be associated with induction of enzymes involved in lipid biosynthesis."

An 'herbal dietary supplement' to help treat metabolic syndrome

The review also uncovered evidence that avocado is beneficial for weight loss. The researchers cite one study that found overweight or obese adults who ate one avocado every day for 6 weeks experienced significant decreases in body weight, body mass index (BMI), and the percentage of body fat.

Additionally, the team identified a number of studies associating avocado intake with reductions in blood pressure among patients with hypertension, and evidence suggests that the fruit might also help to reduce atherosclerosis - the narrowing or hardening of arteries caused by a buildup of plaque.

 

[MeadowLily]

Medical News Today found that eating half an avocado with lunch may aid weight loss, while more recent research linked the fruit to reduced levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, known as "bad" cholesterol.

 

[MeadowLily]

Fiber, blood sugar levels, and feeling full

A medium avocado has an impressive 10 grams of fiber. For reference, men should get 30-38 grams of fiber per day, and women need 21-25 grams, according to the Academy of Nutrition of Dietetics.

Fiber is an important part of a healthy diet because it improves digestive health and keeps the bowels regular. It's particularly helpful for people with diabetes because it helps improve blood sugar levels.

A study in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine suggests that fiber can lower fasting blood sugar levels and hemoglobin A1C levels in people with diabetes.

Soluble fiber, which is present in avocados, may also improve cholesterol levels, according to a study in the American Journal for Clinical Nutrition. This is another way this fruit may help reduce the risk of heart disease.

Avocados may also help people feel fuller for longer. This can help people control their calorie intake without feeling hungry. A study in the Nutrition Journal found that eating half of an avocado with lunch increased levels of feeling full up to 5 hours later.

 

[MeadowLily]

People with diabetes are twice as likely to have heart disease and stroke as someone without diabetes, according to the NIDDK. More importantly, heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death among people with diabetes.

There may be an additional reason that MUFAs are a ticket to better health when living with diabetes. A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition suggests that these fats may help control blood sugar and insulin levels.

The researchers found this was particularly the case when replacing some carbohydrates in the diet with MUFAs. So besides being naturally low in sugar and carbohydrates, an avocado's healthy fats can help lower blood sugar levels even more.

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

Role in Cancer Fighting

A research points to avocado being beneficial in fighting cancer.

One study has shown that avocado extract may stop or slow the growth of prostate cancer cells. Another has shown that it may help reduce the side effects of chemotherapy.

 

Avocado extract has been proven to reduce symptoms of arthritis of the bones (osteoarthritis).

Thanks to its anti-inflammatory benefits, it may even relieve other sorts of inflammatory-related aches and pains too.

 

According to the American Heart Association, a diet rich in natural sources of potassium is important for controlling blood pressure, thanks to potassium’s ability to reduce the effects of sodium in the body.

Avocados are a great natural source of potassium – with one fruit containing 28% of your recommended daily potassium intake.

Avocados are a great source of the B vitamins, which help you fight off illness and infection. They also give you plenty of Vitamin C and E – both natural immune boosters.

 

An avocado a day will cheer you up thanks to its vitamin and mineral content – especially potassium and folate.

Some studies have found a link between a lack of potassium and depression. A review of several scientific studies on the relationship between sodium, magnesium and potassium in depressed patients, found that depressed men and women all had low levels of potassium.

A 1993 study found similar – depressed patients exhibited lower potassium levels than healthy people did.

Folate, too, is important to stave off low mood and signs of depression, something researchers have recognized since the 1960s.

 

Fiber is an important component of any balanced diet – it keeps your digestive system running smoothly.

Even though fruits and veggies are absolutely loaded with fiber, it’s something that most Americans don’t get enough of.

Aim to hit your fiber target by eating more avocado – one fruit contains 13 grams, around 54% of your recommended daily fiber intake.

While you’ll need more than an avocado to build and retain strong bones, eating this fruit regularly might give you a helping hand.

Avocados contain a good helping of bone-healthy nutrients including Vitamin K, copper and folate.

Mix your avocado with a variety of other fruits and vegetables for the best bones you can build – several studies prove that eating fresh produce benefits bone health in both men and women of all ages.

 

[MeadowLily]

I don't always eat avocados but when I do....I keep them interesting.

No plastic crab/fish salad. Stay thirsty my friends. 

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

Food Addiction is very similar to the lifecycle of a star. It can start out in the nursery with HFCS added to your baby formula and end up in a black hole.

When food addiction hits the red supergiant phase, it will take the jaws of life to get yourself free. Once that fusion begins, the red supergiant expands between 10 and 1000 X larger than the sun.That's a mighty big son-uva-bee-sting. 

This fusion takes energy rather than giving it off. As all of your energy is lost, suxing the life right outta you, gravity wins and the core collapses in a massive explosion. It's instant and it blows away all of the star's outer layers. Supernova. 

Sigh and alas, you are approaching the big black hole stage. 

What happens in the black hole, stays in the black hole. Just like Vegas. 

Then one day, you crawl out of the black hole. You begin to understand the gravity of the situation. You are no longer phased by the pull of the black hole of food addiction. 

One spark can change everything. 

You make a promise to yourself that you will become stronger than all of the sadness of existing in the black hole of food addiction.

It will take more than supernova willpower. Willpower will only get you so far.  You have to want change with everything within your being.

Ernest Hemingway said it well.  

"Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what happens in all the other days that every come depend on what you do today."

If you wait for ideal conditions before you start a Whole 30 or anything, they don't really exist. You must keep sailing through sugary sharky seas and have a strategy when you land on barbarous coasts.

William Shakespeare said it's not in the seas that hold our destiny but in ourselves. 

 

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

You can't fix a broken brain with a broken brain.

The recovering food addict has a new normal.

You may never be able to eat like your old normal. Falling back into your old normal will bring food addiction right back to your doorstep.

Choices and consequences.

The Law of Addiction.

Administration of a substance to an addict will cause reestablishment of chemical dependence upon the addictive substance.

Former smokers and alcoholics. Almost instantly.

Everything in moderation for the food addict can end up in a total relapse.

How do you moderate deliberately engineered to be craved foods. When you throw diabetes into that mix and a pancreas that can no longer handle insulin excursions, you've got to make permanent changes.

[MeadowLily]

When your compensatory measures no longer work for you with cheat meals, your pancreas is becoming very sensitive to glucose.

The frequency and number of cheat meals are increasing. Thrill eating is your middle name. You become a dieting refugee.

Then someone comes along and tells you that you need to dial it down further. Reduce your food choices to two or three items, 80% fat, 15% protein and 5% good carb.

At what point are you going to be able to come back down from that temporary high and back into reality.

You think your natural balance will return after you've dialed your way of eating and life away.  It will age you quickly before your time.  

Constant deprivation and fasting and zero carb trains your body to conserve your energy even further.

When you make the switch from eating all the things to dialed down, it works temporarily.

Go back to normal portions and the body becomes very confused. It can take months and months and maybe even two or three years before your metabolism functions normally again.

After a cycle of super restriction, there will be rebound weight gain when you start eating normally again.

That's going to take some serious suxing it UP, buttercup to allow your metabolism to rebuild itself.

Hoping for weight releasing?

That's not happening until the metabolism is healed and knows that you're not going to put it through the paces of self-induced starving again.

[MeadowLily]

If your  Food Addiction came back...after a year of white knuckling it and gutting it out with sheer willpower, do not be surprised.

Food Addiction doesn't go away with willpower.

Food Addiction is managed but as I've learned over the past 3 years in food addiction recovery, it may not ever go away.

You can't pull the wool over you eyes. Stay alert and vigilant.

Recovering alcoholics must do the same thing.

[MeadowLily]

A food addict/binge eater's body will go along for the ride of constant insulin excursions while you're young.

Eventually the pancreas becomes less and less receptive until everything you do no longer works.

It results in destructive cycles of dieting and binge eating. Wild swings UP and down and corresponding attitudes that make your life and even those around you a living hail.

If you can count on less than 5 fingers the number of times you've actually add true stability with your weight and food...time to face the truth.  You need help.

Massive rationalization won't fix it. Telling yourself, Ooooo, don't be so hard on yourself won't fix it either.

Eating cues, you don't have any. They're all dust and your answers are blowing in the wind, friend.

Always sliding back off the goose between dialed down dieting efforts.

Rebounding with every single pound that you white knuckled off during the past year, sit down with someone. Face-to-Face.

You will live to repeat this history for the rest of your life and you don't want to go out like that.

Food Addiction = Chronically rewarding yourself with food.

Rewarding yourself with crappy food is not a reward. It is a punishment. 

Shawshank it.  Get yourself free.

 

[MeadowLily]

Never let anybody take control of your nutritional decisions. Ever.

That's first and last.

 

Enjoy the moment without following the URGE. 

That's between the first and last.

Others may not care that you're managing a food addiction. They're not interested in hearing about it on a constant, daily basis. They have their own struggles. I respect those boundaries.

Others may berate you for bothering to help yourself and maybe someone else. Why do you do that? It's such a total waste of time. You could have been doing something really productive.

So. What is this.

Have I actually paid attention to my own words. Do I use my head besides something to part my ears with.

Did I use the W30 for a launching pad and springboard into my own life.  Do I enjoy all of the moments without following the URGE. Urge Surfing.

Have I had fun blathering and foaming at the mouth all of these days, months and years. Am I a virtual fountain of useless information.

Have I enjoyed keeping you company while you were excited about your first W30. Yes.

It's all fun. Really.

Feeling everything ain't easy. Undoing the laces and untangling the web of food addiction - there's no such thing as the Finish Line.

I believe that momentum is a gift. Keep riding the wave and don't let yourself get beached. It's going to take true grit.

Mostly, you have to want real change more than anything else more than you want food rewards. It will take milling around and shooting the breeze with the Universe.

Maybe only the stars will be listening while you howl at the moon. Paw always said..."until you're better paid."

He thanked me for sticking with him. Thanks, for sticking with me.  Those words are right there in my remembrance.

People have come from far and near to tell me how much he meant to them, too. His best friend has all of his stories stored right in his brain, too.  We're going to get together and take that trip down memory lane with Maw.

Am I fixed? 

You manage a food addiction but I don't know if you're ever really fixed.  I have to be honest, Felicias.

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

I always have an afterthought. It's just the way my spirit rolls.

I had no idea when I posted up above...Nobody puts baby in a corner that a remake would be on the very same night. It was another copasinki coinkydink.

A confirmation. Of what, I don't know.

But you can't recreate the magic of an original or put lightning in a bottle. I watched it and I thought....what would Patrick think.

I like the original W30, ISWF.

I enjoyed the no-nonsense, staying compliant without complaint 30 day elimination protocol.

I believe that 30 days are best then give yourself the test. Reintro.

I no longer believe that a remake of any kind, trying to gut out a Whole 30 for an entire year is lightning in a bottle. 

It is virtually impossible. One non-compliant item and your Whole 30 during that year's time and it's not really a Whole 30...it is over.  A Whole 30 is 30 days.

You can give 30 days your utmost attention and care.  Carrying it on out there in giant month hunks of time, no so much.

There are those who've been around, you know. Watching them conduct W30 after W30 without ever following through with a Reintro. 

Between they may do some major off-roading or flat out binge eating. Immediately get back on the horse and try and wash it out of their hair with another W30. Eventually, we don't hear from them again.

Follow the original plan.  It is the best. 

Constantly starting over and over again? Go back to the well, ISWF,  and follow through from beginning to end. But by all means, do a reintro.  It's the best part and it gives you wisdom.

It is the launching pad and springboard for your food future.