Are You Missing "Real" Food?

One thing I often hear from individuals who are on 5&1 is, "I love the results I'm getting, but I sure do miss real food!"  Do you ever find yourself saying, or thinking, this, too? When I was on 5&1 to lose my 120 pounds, I confess that I often thought and said the very same thing. I loved the results I was getting, but opening up packet after packet of what I deemed "fake food" got old at times.

Then I did some thinking about what "real" food really is. Real food is food that nourishes my body. 

It's funny, but before I started on my transformational journey, I never viewed anything I ate as anything less than "real" food, no matter how nutritionally poor it was. I did eat a lot of healthy food, just way too much of it, but food void of any real nutritional value also routinely found its way into my body.

Just for fun, I did a search on the ingredients of a couple of popular foods that are commonly consumed.  Here's what I found:

Ingredients in Twinkies: 

Enriched Wheat Flour (enriched with ferrous sulfate (iron), B vitamins (niacin, thiamine mononitrate [B1], riboflavin [B2] and folic acid)) 

Sugar
Corn syrup
Water
High fructose corn syrup
Vegetable and/or animal shortening (containing one or more of partially hydrogenated soybean, cottonseed or canola oil, and beef fat)
Dextrose
Whole eggs
2% or less of:
Modified corn starch
Cellulose gum
Whey
Leavenings (sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, monocalcium phosphate)
Salt
Cornstarch
Corn flour
Corn syrup solids
Mono and diglycerides
Soy lecithin
Polysorbate 60
Dextrin
Calcium caseinate
Sodium stearol lactylate
Wheat gluten
Calcium sulfate
Natural and artificial flavors
Caramel color
Sorbic acid (to retain freshness)
Artificial color (yellow 5, red 40)

How about McDonald french fries?

Potatoes, canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, safflower oil, natural flavour (vegetable source), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain colour), citric acid (preservative), dimethylpolysiloxane (antifoaming agent) and cooked in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with THBQ, citric acid and dimethylpolysiloxane) and salt (silicoaluminate, dextrose, potassium iodide). - See more at: http://www.undergroundhealth.com/mcdonalds-reveals-17-foul-ingredients-in-their-french-fries-including-gmos/#sthash.ZDYzPnXu.dpuf

Yet we didn't view ourselves as eating "fake" food when consuming these, did we?  When we look at the ingredients in Medifast products, do you know what we find? Most of the ingredients are just food or naturally-derived; most of the unpronounceable things are part of the vitamin and minerals that our meals are fortified with.  And the Medifast products are doing something really important - they are providing the nutrition we need while helping us get to a healthy weight.

One thing I know for sure, even though I ate a lot of "natural" and even organic food at 260+ pounds and Type 2 diabetic, it was infinitely healthier for me to eat my five Medifast meals and a lean & green to get to a healthy weight rather than continue eating organic and being morbidly obese.

Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen, Take Shape for Life co-founder and Medifast medical director, recently wrote a terrific blog entitled "Think Beyond Meal Replacements." Here's a link to his article: http://www.drwayneandersen.com/health-info/articles/#/think-beyond-meal-replacements

So take heart, you ARE eating "real" food, food that is nourishing your body and helping you get to a healthy weight. As you are opening your meal replacements today, know that you are doing something that is incredibly healthy for yourself and bon appetite!  You are getting healthier with each meal and each choice . . . choose wisely :-)

Losing at a Snail's Pace

One thing that we all share in common is a desire to get to our goal weight as quickly as possible.  When I started Take Shape for Life seven years ago, I paid special attention to individuals who lost their weight quickly, because I very much wanted to follow in their footsteps.  By the time I started on this program, I'd been fighting a losing battle with obesity for over 20 years and I was ready to be done with it - as fast as possible.  I tried to set realistic expectations because I was 55 and post-menopausal, so I understood that I probably wouldn't lose as fast as someone younger than I.  But I hoped it would be a short journey from start to finish.  I'm guessing that's what you want, too!

But what happens if your progress is at a snail's pace?   How fast does a snail actually go?   One study clocked a snail at 0.00758 miles per hour - or 40 feet in one hour.  No wonder the phrase "at a snail's pace" means "slow!"  The snail may move at, well, a snail's pace, but you have to admire its perseverance.  One preacher noted that "By perseverance the snail reached the ark." 

Our willingness to persevere is often tested when our progress slows down to a snail's pace.  I had several weeks when I only lost one pound and I had three separate weeks when I didn't lose a thing - even though I stayed 100% on plan.  I won't kid you - it was frustrating and a bit discouraging.  At that point, I had a choice:  I could either keep doing what I had been doing and trust that the scale would eventually catch up, or I could allow my seeming lack of progress to be my undoing. 

Since most of you know that I DID reach my goal, there's no suspense in how this story ended :-).  I realized that I had no control over how fast I lost the weight - I could only control whether or not I chose to stay on plan.  Some weeks my efforts were rewarded with a several pound loss, but other weeks with equal effort brought little or no progress on the scale.  I didn't realize it at the time, but those snail-paced weeks taught me the value of doing what I needed to do regardless of the outcome.  Perseverance made the difference for me and it will make the difference for you, too.  You WILL reach your goal, and ultimately it doesn't matter if you get there quickly or at a snail's pace.  Once you're there, you'll have no regrets that you chose to make the journey.

We can't choose how fast our bodies release the weight, but we can choose to persevere.  The choice is yours . . . choose wisely :-)

Seven Years Ago Today . . . My Journey Began!

Seven years ago today I opened my first Medifast meal packet and began my Take Shape for Life journey - and what a journey it's been!  

I had a lot of apprehension about losing so much weight, even though I didn't even think I COULD lose it.  I was a mix of skepticism and apprehension, sprinkled with just a touch of hope.  I was apprehensive that I'd ever be able to maintain a weight loss.  I was very apprehensive about how I'd look after losing 126 pounds - would I look old and drawn?  Would I have skin hanging all over?  Would I EVER be able to enjoy food again?

There were times when this apprehension threatened to derail my progress, and I'm thankful that it didn't!  When I found myself feeling anxious about all of the unknowns, I decided to not borrow trouble and just leave everything in God's hands.  I figured I would deal with any issues when and if they came up and not waste time worrying about them in the meantime.

The good news is that none of my fears materialized!  I lost the weight quickly and because of the things I learned and the healthy habits I embraced, I celebrated my 6-year goal anniversary last month. 

My skin looks really good - not perfect, but really pretty good!  People ask me all the time if I've had plastic surgery, which I have NOT (I have nothing against it, but that's not how I choose to spend my time and my money at this point in my life).  I have a little bit of loose skin on my abdomen, but I'm not a bikini type of person to begin with; I have some loose skin on my upper arms, but my arms fit in a size 2 or 4 jacket, so it's not too bad; and I have loose skin on my upper thighs.  The upper thighs are the most pronounced area of loose skin, so I don't wear skirts above my knee and I wear walking shorts or capris (I'm too old for Daisy Duke shorts anyway!).  People tell me I look healthy - and younger than I did before losing the weight :-).

And I DO enjoy food now - and I enjoy it without feeling guilty!  For years I felt guilty much of the time I ate, because I viewed everything as either "good" or "bad" food.  No surprise, the food I liked best was in the "bad" category, and every time I ate it I did so with the feeling that I was cheating (I was always on one diet or another), so the enjoyment was tempered with guilt.  I can't tell you how freeing it is to eat something that USED to be in the "bad" category and simply say, "Wow, that was GOOD!"  There is no longer a "good" or "bad" category of food, because everything can be enjoyed in moderation and in proper portions.  This is amazingly freeing and one of the unexpected joys of reaching my goal.  

And I am healthy - most important of all!  With 9 grandchildren to keep up with, being healthy and staying healthy is incredibly important to me. When I started on program seven years ago today, we had four grandchildren and my goal was to get healthy so I would be around to dance at their weddings.  I still want that, and I want to be an active, fun grandma for them between now and those someday weddings.

I just realized that there IS one downside to reaching goal, so I'd better 'fess up!  The post-goal shopping trip can be expensive (but oh, so much fun)!  I needed everything from underwear out - pajamas and nightgowns, bathrobe, swimsuits (I actually had fun shopping for swimsuits, if you can imagine!), business clothes, sports clothes, coats, jackets . . . and then new accessories to go with my new wardrobe! Six years later, it's still wonderful to walk into any store and know that I have lots of choices and can select things that fit not only my body, but my taste.  I spent years settling for whatever I could find to fit my size 24W/3X body, and often what I found wasn't really a good color for me or reflected my taste in clothes.  Yep, having fun shopping and spending money on clothes is the only downside I can think of, but it sure doesn't feel much like a downside :-)

Don't let anything keep you from reaching your goal!  Maybe you haven't seen a healthy weight in a long time, or maybe you've NEVER seen a healthy weight, but don't let fear of the unknown keep you from getting there.  Losing weight doesn't solve every problem in our lives, but it WILL improve your life in ways you can't even imagine.   

You'll get to your goal one day, one meal, and one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)