Day 42! Losing again!!! Woohoo!

(I put this on my fridge yesterday.  I am DONE with my battle with food addiction. It must change. I must change it. And I have the power to change it!  THE BATTLE ENDS NOW!)

Today I am sooooo grateful for my grandma. She rescued me when I ran out of apples this morning and brought me 3 large bags of organic granny smiths. xoxo Love you Grandma!

Today I am enjoying:

1 Quart of Water with Fresh Squeezed Lemon in it
1 Quart of Green Juice: Full bunch of Kale, lil parsley, sliver of ginger and jalapeno pepper, 1/2 lemon, 5 small granny smith apples, 4 carrots and 1 mini Italian cucumber.
1 Quart of Orange Tangerine Juice

...and I am planning on making a quart of plum/grape juice and a small green juice tonight.

So as the title states....I AM LOSING WEIGHT AGAIN! As you may or may not of realized I hit a plateau the past couple days. I was getting a bit down about it.  I made peace that my body was doing what it needed to do and that I had lost a significant amount of weight already in such a short time.  I then decided that is was a good time to evaluate myself. I realized I was getting a lil complacent. I decided to take a really nice long walk with my daughters yesterday. It felt amazing. I walked around enjoying the world around me and giving thanks for all I had. I also decided yesterday that I need to stay connected to an inspiring source, like the 10 day juice feast program I did with Natasha St. Michael from RawRadiantHealth.  I missed that motivation daily from the videos and user forums. So, with some money in our account, I decided to join juicefeasting.com for a 60 day membership and it is AWESOME so far. SO MUCH info. I cannot even begin to start. I highly HIGHLY recommend if you are thinking of doing more than 10 days on a juice feast to join the website for at least the 1 month membership. There are over like 300 videos and hundreds of documents and book references and reading and forums. It is great. I will let you know how it goes over the next few weeks.
So yeah, today I weighed in and I was down exactly 90lbs from my highest weigh in at Weight Watchers in 2007 at 324.8.  Today I weighed in and had lost half a pound and was at 234.8. Woohoo! Time for a new picture! My hubby will be back from work on Saturday so I will post a pic on Saturday afternoon! Stay Tuned.

I am so excited about my journey. I have new found excitement again and I am very proud of myself. I am finding that I can and do love myself. And what better way to show myself love than to stick thru this journey till the end?! 
Well more to come soon. I plan on making a video either tonight or tomorrow.
Until then, Have a blessed day.
Peace and love,
Laura

The Most Nutrient Dense Food based on the Andi Score by Dr. Joel Furhman

From Dr. Furhman's website eatrightamerica.com

"As a nutritarian, it’s important that you know the nutrient density of your food. Not merely vitamins and minerals, but adequate consumption of phytochemicals are essential for a normal immune system and to enable our body’s detoxification and cellular repair mechanisms that protect us from cancer and other diseases.

Nutritional science in the last twenty years has demonstrated that colorful plant foods contain a huge assortment of protective compounds, mostly unnamed at this point. Only by eating an assortment of natural foods that are nutrient-rich, can we access these compounds and protect ourselves from the common diseases that afflict Americans. Our modern, low-nutrient eating style leads to an overweight population with common diseases of nutritional ignorance and medical costs spiraling out of control. We need to flip our traditional thinking upside down, and begin eating a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and grains, as illustrated in the Eat Right America Food Pyramid.

In order to measure nutrient density, Eat Right America created rankings of foods according the nutrients they pack. This concept is explained further in Dr. Fuhrman’s book Eat for Health.

Because phytochemicals are largely unnamed and unmeasured, these rankings underestimate the healthful properties of colorful natural plant foods compared to processed foods and animal products. One thing we do know is that the foods that contain the highest amount of known nutrients are the same foods that contain the most unknown nutrients too. So even though these rankings may not consider the phytochemical number sufficiently they are still a reasonable measurement of their content.

 

Keep in mind that nutrient density scoring is not the only factor that determines good health. For example, if we only ate foods with a high nutrient density score our diet would be too low in fat. So we have to pick some foods with lower nutrient density scores (but preferably the ones with the healthier fats) to include in our high nutrient diet. Additionally, if a thin person or highly physically active individual ate only the highest nutrient foods they would become so full from all of the fiber and nutrients that would keep them from meeting their caloric needs and they would eventually become too thin. This of course gives you a hint at the secret to permanent weight control. 

Eat Right America's Nutrient Density Scoring System
To determine the scores above almost all vitamins and minerals were considered and added in. Nutrient Data from Nutritionist Pro software for an equal caloric amount of each food item was obtained. We included the following nutrients in the evaluation: Calcium, Carotenoids: Beta Carotene, Alpha Carotene, Lutein & Zeaxanthin, Lycopene, Fiber, Folate, Glucosinolates, Iron, Magnesium, Niacin, Selenium, Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Zinc, plus ORAC score X 2 (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity is a method of measuring the antioxidant or radical scavenging capacity of foods).

Nutrient quantities, which are normally in many different measurements (mg, mcg, IU) were converted to a percentage of their RDI so that a common value could be considered for each nutrient. Since there is currently no RDI for Carotenoids, Glucosinolates, or ORAC score, goals were established based on available research and current understanding of the benefits of these factors. (limited references below). The % RDI or Goal for each nutrient which the USDA publishes a value for was added together to give a total. All nutrients were weighted equally with a factor of one except for the foods ORAC score. The ORAC score was given a factor 2 (as if it were two nutrients) due to the importance of antioxidant nutrients so that measurement of unnamed anti-oxidant phytochemicals were represented in the scoring. The sum of the food’s total nutrient value was then multiplied by a fraction to make the highest number equal 1000 so that all foods could be considered on a numerical scale of 1 to 1000.

NOTE
Eat Right America's nutrient density food rankings, scoring system, and point determinations of foods is patent pending."

www.eatrightamerica.com

Top 10 Most Nutrient Dense Foods

Top 10 Super Foods

1. Collard, mustard & turnip greens – Nutrient Score: 1000
2. Kale – Nutrient Score: 1000
3. Watercress – Nutrient Score: 1000
4. Bok Choy – Nutrient Score: 824
5. Spinach – Nutrient Score: 739
6. Brussels sprouts – Nutrient Score: 672
7. Swiss chard – Nutrient Score: 670
8. Arugula – Nutrient Score: 559
9. Radish – Nutrient Score: 554
10. Cabbage – Nutrient Score: 481

So try adding some of these in your green juices often! They are FULL on nutrients/nutrition and health!!! 

Fast Food Addiction, Weight Watchers, & Juice Feasting (Video)

A Juice Feast is like Rehab for Food Addicts (Video)

Day 34: Enjoying a Day at the Fair while Juice Feasting

Today I loved the smiles and laughs of my daughters as they rode their favorite rides at the local County Fair. Yup, thats right I went to the fair while I am Juice Feasting. Was it hard you ask? Nope. Not at all. I made all my juices first thing when I woke up and took 2 juices with me! It was a wonderful day despite how crowded it was ;)

Juices I am enjoying today are:
2 quarts Green Juices (really good ones): Spinach, parsley, Carrot, 1/2 lemon and Apples.
1 quart Watermelon Juice
1 quart Mango, Pineapple, Coconut Water juice.


I am still going strong even when life seems a little more tough. I am going to talk about "Life Trials" on an upcoming YouTube Video as well as my ideas behind 92 Day Juice Feasting being like a 90 day treatment for Food Addicts. Stay tuned.

Peace & Love Friends,
Laura

Juice Feast Progress Pictures

The morning I started the Juice Feast I was 266.4. I did not take a picture (as I didn't know my 10 day journey would turn into a 92 day one ;) .Soooo...I have a picture of me from 10/07 when I was 264 (just 2 lbs less from my starting weight on this 92 day Feast) to compare with my progress pictures as I go along on this journey.

So here they are:

The size I was when I started the Juice Feast:
Starting Weight 07/01/2011 was 266.4 (this pic was taken at 264)





Day 23 of Juice Feast. Down 21.8 lbs. Weight 244.6





Side Views:

My 100 lb Weight Loss Slide Show from Weight Watchers in 2007-2008

Hi Friends,
Well here is some pictures from when I was on Weight Watchers April 2007-July 2008 and the 100+ lbs (109 total) I lost during the 15 months. I started at 324.8 at WW and I took a picture as close to every 10 lbs lost during the journey. The last picture is at 224 lbs (I never got to 214 so I dont have one at my lowest of 215.8.) You will now have a good idea of where I have come and how my body looks at different weights. I am currently (Aug 2, 2011, Day 33 on Feast, 238.0 so you can get an idea, I am close to the 2nd to last picture on the slideshow.)

I will post in the next blog post a more current picture of me taken at 244 during this journey and another when I get to 234, which will be very soon (just 4 lbs away!) I will put the pictures next to me when I was 264 from Weight Watchers which is very close to my start weight on this feast of 266. I am sorry but I didnt take a start picture of myself on this Feast as I didnt know I would be doing this long term when I signed up for the 10 day Feast program. So this is the best I got. Hope you enjoy!!!

Peace & Love,
L

Where my Journey All Began... (Video)

Making Fruit Juices + Tips and Supplement Recommendations (Video)