To start this week off already 13 pounds down, I was super pumped. To be thirteen pounds down in 2 weeks, I was blown away. Just BLOWN AWAY!!!!! I knew the average weight loss eating this way was a pound a day, but I still couldn't believe our numbers as my husband was already 26 pounds down. I will be honest, eating only fruits and vegetables for 2 weeks can get a little monotonous, so I wanted to look up some more options and explore the variety of fruits and vegetable options in the grocery store. This week, we added some cantaloupe and melons to our fruit, and that made all the difference. We also added in some unsweetened dried fruit and our favorite to snack on were dates. Dates are nature's caramels. They are super delicious and nutritious. They also contain iron and a good amount of fiber.
When it comes to the shopping, the best store bargains for produce were once again at Sprouts as they have produce from local farms and they are always on sale. I find myself in the grocery store at least once a week to get fresh produce and we also shop at Costco every 2 weeks to stock up on frozen fruits for smoothies. Whole Foods is my favorite grocery store chain to shop as I am there for the kids snacks. However, I will only get produce from there if the price is better than Sprouts or if I have a time crunch and in need of something right away. I find it very important to save where I can especially with the food cost increase these past few months.
This week, we had an eating schedule that looked like
this:
8 am: (Morning Fruit Bowl, variety of fruits including cantaloupe this week)
11 am: Snack (Carrots, or cucumber/tomato)
1 pm : Stuffed Avocados with salsa and cilantro
4 pm : Snack (Apple and 3 dates)
6 pm: Rainbow Salad (Kale, Spinach, Cucumber, Carrots, Bell Peppers, Avocado, Tomatoes, with oil free dressing) with blended green drink or fruit smoothie.
I had so many avocados as my parents sent me a care package. So I put avocado on and in everything. I stuffed them with fresh tomato salsa, I added them to our green drinks, I ate them by themselves. It was avocado overload this week and I loved it. For me, if I needed to feel full or satiated, avocado was just the thing.
This week we made our own fruit soft serve from frozen cherries and coconut milk. We blended the cherries with coconut milk and served straight from the blender. We topped it off with shredded coconut. This was delicious, I will definitely have this recipe on repeat!!! This gave us so much excitement as we tried something different and really enjoyed it.
During the week, my husband and I were working on several projects and we did not have the time to step into the gym. For most of the day, I am running around the children which I often consider my exercise time anyway. The goal is to increase exercise as we continue. We noticed my husband's blood pressure dropping very low this week. His readings were 105/70 and 98/67. Once his blood pressure dropped to 98/67, I decided to cut his blood pressure medication dosage in half. (Note: Thankfully, I am a pharmacist, so I have the knowledge to do this. ) This is an
amazing achievement as he has been on blood pressure medication for over a decade. To have his dosage cut in half after just three weeks of eating fruits and vegetables only says so much about how diet plays a role in chronic health conditions. My husband was so excited to have his medication dosage cut in half and is looking forward to how his health will continue to improve as we move forward. My blood pressure reading stayed around 101/66 this
week.
To end the week, I dropped another 4 pounds for a
total of 17 pounds down, and my husband dropped another 9 pounds for a total of 35 pounds down. WOW!!!! BLOWN AWAY!!! My husband's fasting blood sugar was also consistently below 100 this week. With these oxygen rich foods, the healing has already begun and we are already seeing the benefits. From cutting his blood pressure medication dosage in half, to losing an incredible amount of weight so quickly, we were just in awe of God. God's food was placed here to help us heal and provide our bloodstream with the necessary oxygen that is needed. It is so important to place more of God's food on our plates rather than man's
food so that we can have access to the healing that these foods provide. We don't know the true value of eating from
the Earth as we are not taught how to incorporate more of these foods on our plate. But when you start to add more of these healing foods to your diet, the less chronic disease and illnesses you will have. The more oxygen in your body, the more healing.
Super excited for what Week 4 will bring! Check out this week's Recap video below and stay tuned for Week 4!
Monique Diltz