Surviving life without sugar, artificial sweeteners and diet soda. Conquering addition for a better healthier me.
November 14, 2012
I'm Josie,
Mom, daughter, sister, friend, business owner, and sugar addicted stress eater..
I was 38 when I got pregnant with my daughter. The same week I got pregnant I had a skiing accident which led to a total ACL reconstruction of my left knee. The rigorous exercise program and healthy eating habits that I had followed for ten years was put on hold. In the years that followed, my fairy tale life of love, marriage, family, health and fitness, began to unravel around me. With that, I became a stress eater and sugar my culprit.
Fast forward … My daughter is 14 and I am 80 pounds over weight, I have tried every diet including the “Raw” diet without success. Today I am challenging myself to change; change my eating habits, change the way I feel about myself, CHANGE.... I will be blogging daily, starting with today, my 53rd birthday. I will share with you my challenges, some solutions I come up with, photos, recipes and each success. It is my hope and desire to make a difference in my life as well as the lives of everyone that visits me here. Thank you for supporting me. I am now publicly accountable to myself and each of my readers. Come back often to read and see how I evolve. My goal for this year is weight loss and wellness. My diet is simple, whole foods and nothing artificial! I am using experience, logic and you to keep me going.
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. – Lao Tzu
Thank you Lauren for taking the time to send us this link.
After blowing my portion control two nights ago, I was right back on track yesterday. I have to work on eating more regular meals. I tend to get caught up working and forget to eat, which can lead to too much at one time later. I used to mindlessly eat while I worked, so I guess this is still an improvement, however, it’s all a process. I love the journey. 🙂
I just weighed myself and I’ve lost 20 pounds. We have to be willing to do what it takes even if it means giving up our favorite holiday treats.
You are doing FANTASTIC!!! This is your year!!! You just made it through the hardest time of the year, too. Congratulations!!!
Love Lauren’s recipes, too. Thanks Lauren.ReplyCancel
Janina -December 28, 2011 - 3:51 pm
I’m shouting hip hip hooray I am so inspired by your 20 lb weight loss, Josie, and I’m looking forward to my own personal count down in 2012!(…so I can fit back into most of the clothes in my closet:)I know I may have needed this extra weight for protection over the last five years but I don’t need it anymore…Thanks for the recipes, Lauren! Hip hip hooray from NJ!ReplyCancel
Sometimes I forget that even though the food I am eating is healthy and natural, portion control is still really important. Yesterday I had skipped lunch and was feeling a bit ravenous by late afternoon so I boiled 3/4 of a medium size spaghetti squash. It filled a pasta bowl and probably enough for two people. If I had planned only having that for dinner, it would been fine, but I had to cook for my family too. 2 hours after I ate the large bowl of spaghetti squash; of course with my marinara sauce on it, I was sitting down to dinner to eat chicken and broccoli stir fry. I essentially ate dinner twice. Maybe all the holiday stuff was getting to me and I caved. Anyway, I was stuffed. Spreading the calories out over the course of the day, I didn’t overeat, but having had it all so close together, I felt stuffed and consequently felt pretty crappy this morning.
I can change that today! Yesterday’s over indulgence is a close reminder.
Josephine, you are doing so incredibly well. You are an inspiration to your big sister to get small again. I know you ate a lot in a short period of time but you probably didn’t take in any more calories for the day than you usually do. It’s just a reminder not to skip meals. Keep up the great work you are doing.ReplyCancel
I’ve done it!!! Or should I say ‘I’m doing it’! I made it through my birthday, my daughters birthday, Thanksgiving, a Christmas Party food and drink fest, Christmas Eve and now Christmas Day without sugar or diet soda or artificial sweetener, or artificial anything.
The menu for Christmas dinner: Homemade pasta with meatballs and sausage. Ham and salad.. and more.. I brought my healthy marinara and shaved zucchini for my main dish. I had a big salad with some fresh mozzarella. I have been almost 100% dairy free but I did opt to have some fresh mozzarella.
Temptation runs high but I wasn’t tempted in the least.
This year, my sister decided to ask everyone to bake one type of cookie rather then one person bringing all the cookies. Then we would all take home an assortment of cookies. A “cookie exchange” she called it. My amazing nieces who win the Thanksgiving bake off every year and my sister Laura who normally brings all the delicious Christmas cookies did not disappoint and let’s not forget my sister in law Nina’s homemade pizzelle cookies my sister Ginny’s chocolate chips and Grandma’s oatmeal cookies. They were all delicious to look at but my mission is clear and commitment is strong.
I love the ornaments on my sisters tree. They remind me of when I was living in Austria. I took pictures of beautiful art work and statutes inside 13th century churches.
Ornament on MaryAnn's tree
One of my favorite pictures of the night.. My great niece Grace playing beautiful music on the player piano.
Check out this cool gift I got from my sister, Master Gardner Rosalie Donatelli. She has been a been a constant resource for me over the years for any of my wellness and nutritional questions.
Plus: The best way to start my organic garden, spreading my own seeds with my new seed spreading shovel.
Traditionally, christmas eve is a seafood event in our home. I kept it really simple tonight. We started off with chilled jumbo shrimp cocktail. Then for our first course, I made linguine marinara. For my dish, I substituted the pasta with zucchini. For the next and final course, I made sesame crusted salmon, garlic string beans and brown rice with peppers. Everything was prepared fresh and healthy and no one complained.
Christmas day will be a different story… I’ll bring my own sauce and I think I’ll use spaghetti squash instead of zucchini for a change, and I’ll have a salad and a slice of protein. The menu is homemade pasta with sausage and meat balls, salad and ham and much more. I would normally avoid the ham because of the salt but I’ll see how I feel about it later. Hopefully, I’ll fill up on the spaghetti squash and I’ll just have the salad.
More to come about the christmas holiday food feasts later, pictures and all.
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You are doing FANTASTIC!!! This is your year!!! You just made it through the hardest time of the year, too. Congratulations!!!
Love Lauren’s recipes, too. Thanks Lauren.
I’m shouting hip hip hooray I am so inspired by your 20 lb weight loss, Josie, and I’m looking forward to my own personal count down in 2012!(…so I can fit back into most of the clothes in my closet:)I know I may have needed this extra weight for protection over the last five years but I don’t need it anymore…Thanks for the recipes, Lauren! Hip hip hooray from NJ!
Lauren, thanks so much for the recipes. I will try as many of them as my particular allergic restrictions will allow. They look great.
Love the blog, keep it up!
Yup. It is a process. Keep up the good work. Lauren is so cute!