Making a positive change

The universe is bashing on my head to make a change.

Sheryl's blog posts
It shouldn't be a secret to anyone that I am fairly motivated by Sheryl's weight loss journey and blog. One of the very first posts I read on her blog was regarding her change to removing artificial ingredients from her diet. I can't find the original one from when she first explained it but read this one and this one if you are interested in what she has done so far.

Dr. Oz
I found her posts to be incredibly interesting because a few years ago I had read both You: On A Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management and YOU: The Owner's Manual.

Interesting enough, although I found the section regarding the five ingredients that Dr. Oz recommends to eliminate from any diet interesting it just felt too much like a....well diet. It didn't seem sustainable long term for myself and much less my husband. Now, don't get me wrong. Years ago I released the need to bring him over onto the healthy path with me. I simply now just purchase things that are good for me and rub off on him in good ways. *wink* I talking about food people! FOCUS! :)

Dr. Oz plans is to eliminate: hydrogenated oil, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, enriched flour and bleached flour. Dr. Oz makes an excellent point when he explains that sugar can be called a multitude of things: High fructose corn syrup, Evaporated cane juice, Molasses, Sucrose, Corn sugar, Dextrose

Oprah
DISCLAIMER: I have been an Oprah fan since I was teenager. If you don't feel the same way, that is okay, just skip over my posts about her because I really really love me some Oprah.

I dvr all of Oprah shows so I am usually a few days late on seeing the shows. Two nights ago my hubby and I watched the episode of the Harpo staff going vegan for a week.

A few years ago, my niece was vising from New York. We a long discussion a few years ago about what it means to be vegetarian or vegan. Not only from the food consumption perspective but also from your moral and spiritual perspective.

Another benefit of having lived in a third world country as a teenager is that from I was well aware of where my food was coming from. Not only the animals but the fruits, legumes, rice, sugar, etc. Shortages are well know. Fruits aren't in season or have to be imported. Cattle, chickens and pigs are raised for consumption. The food was planted and harvested. It is hard back breaking work. Cows were milked and the milk wasn't sold to us in containers ready for consumption.

While I do not have an issue with consuming animals and their products I do have an issue with irresponsible raising and slaughtering of animals. I agree with the comments made on the show that we need to honor the life that was given. There is a right way to treat animals, even in death.

Unfortunately, here in the US I don't have much visibility into where the food is coming and how it was handled. This has been bothering me for a few years. Yet, I haven't done much to do anything about it. Lets be frank, getting it at the supermarket is just so darn easy and affordable.

Combination of Sheryl, Oprah and Dr. Oz:
For the last six months or so, I have been focusing on eating things that have a mother or come from the earth first, before eating crap. I find that this aligns well with both the new WW Points Plus program, (hey, I was ahead of my times), Dr. Oz recommendations and what Sheryl has done.

Hubby, like myself, is a carnivore. He isn't remotely interested in going Vegan for a week, day or even meal. He is open to being Veganish (check out the Oprah link). He is open to purchasing, and spending more, on food that is harvested and produced in ways that we agree with. It was fascinating to talk to him about the process and the ideas explained on the show. He is also on board with eliminating artificial ingredients in our diet. Like I explained before, I was just going to do it and he would buy/eat whatever suits him. But having him on board with this idea is awesomeness.

The plan:
I am going to review the nutritional labels for the products we eat most often. Then take a little field trip both thru Google and Whole Foods to find some alternatives that we can both tolerate. I recognize that this may mean that we will a) eliminate a food completely, b) have to make it from scratch or c) settle for an alternative. By no means do I expect to this to be an overnight process but over the course of the next few weeks we should be at a much better place.