The Daniel Plan - so far so good

In case you wanted to know how I am doing on the Daniel Plan I have lost 5 pounds so far.  I am finding it easier now that I pretty much gave up sugar and artificial sweeteners.  I did split a cupcake with bff, Jaime last night at a birthday party - but I had to - it was a Shady Maple cupcake.  I wanted to try it and I did and I confess - it did make me a little hungry for some more sweets when I got home so I did have a piece of candy but I did not go berserk. 

I am now addicted to hummus with pea pods, smokehouse almonds thanks to bff, Rami (I know I should be eating raw almonds but these are so good) and now also to Blue Diamonds Nut Crackers again smokehouse flavor. 

Today was another couple of hours spent cooking for the week.  This week my mom is eating with us, she usually likes to eat out in the afternoon with friends but her car is in the garage and she is forced to eat with me.  We had turkey chili yesterday and we are having pot roast today.  Monday is chicken fingers (home made I might not coat mine at all and just have chicken strips) with Ancient Grains and broccoli.  Tuesday is Spaghetti night, I baked meatballs, lean ground beef with chia seeds, garlic and lots of Italian seasonings.  I personally don't eat spaghetti, gives me heartburn so I will have plain pasta with garlic and olive oil and lots of veggies.  Wednesday is one of Parke's favorite, skinless chicken thighs with white beans and cherry tomatoes.   So I am set for most of the week.  Oh, also in the picture is my breakfast which is cream of rice with brown rice, apples, raisins, walnuts and lots of cinnamon.  I just scoop out a cup and add a little almond milk.  Yum.

I need to get on the exercise bandwagon yet.  I am not lazy, just can't find the time.  This week I should have more time in the evening to at least to do a little something.  Of course, I got some exercise toting totes to the attic this weekend. I am sure that burns a few calories. 

So that's your update - I am still reading the book and learning as I go.  I need to really study it more along with starting the journal.   Remember - read your labels, if you can't pronounce something, you shouldn't be eating it.

"You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat” (Matthew 5:6, MSG).

The Daniel Plan - Will Parke protest?

Parke always says to me that when I am on a diet, he is on the same diet since I change the way I cook.  The Daniel Plan is all about cooking.

Before I use to come home and say what elegant side dish would you like and I would choose from the countless noodle, potato and rice packets on the shelf - you know, the ones where you add butter or margarine, some water and milk and you think you are cooking.  But the Daniel Plan wants you to read the labels, if products have stuff you can't pronounce, forget it.  So yesterday I spent a couple hours in the kitchen preparing some of our meals for the next 3 days.

Tonight we are having mini meatloafs, with brussell sprouts and a side dish of wheatberries/lentils/brown rice. Which will probably be a lunch for me since lentils are a protein.  Don't tell Parke that I am making the meatloaf with chia seeds and oatmeal, the side dish is going to be enough for him to comprehend.

Tomorrow's dinner is actually from Facebook I think -

Chicken Parm Casserole.  I baked chicken, diced tomatoes and sauce (no sugar added) together - tomorrow I will add croutons and Mozzarella, not really on the Daniel Plan but a girls gotta party sometimes.  The side will be whole wheat pasta and some green beans.

Then Wednesday, Turkey burgers with Quinoa Pilaf (which smelled delicious!!!).  I know I am pushing the envelope here with the healthy side dishes, but who knows, maybe he will like them, then again maybe not.

In the meantime I had fun cooking.  Not missing the sugar anymore and a lot less brainfog.  I think that is a good thing.

  "But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank...”  Daniel 1:8

The Daniel Plan - Sugar Shock

Being a long time Weight Watcher Fan, I know the evils of sugar, so I substituted it with the pink stuff in my coffee.  I also drank a little coffee with my flavored creamers.  I LOVE my flavor creamers but after reading some sugar facts and trying to follow the Daniel Plan guidelines I learned a lot more that I bargained for.

Some sugar facts - The hunter-gatherer population ate about 22 teaspoons of sugar a year.  Now the average American consumes that in a day.  In the 1800's we ate about 5 pounds per year.  Now we average 152 pounds a year.

In the section entitled the Four Hormones of the Apocalypse the first two items  to cut were sugar and white flour. Go cold Turkey, and cut out all artificial sweeteners.  They key word is artificial.  Stevia is okay.  So what do  I go out and purchase - Pure Via Stevia, WRONG, guess what the ingredients in PURE Via are - first thing, ready, dextrose,  ummmmm, that's SUGAR.  Next ingredient-Reb A, what is Reb A you ask?

Rebaudioside A has the least bitterness of all the steviol glycosides in the stevia plant. To produce rebaudioside A commercially, stevia plants are dried and subjected to a water extraction process. This crude extract contains about 50% rebaudioside A; its various glycoside molecules are separated via crystallization techniques, typically using ethanol or methanol as solvent. This allows the manufacturer to isolate pure rebaudioside A 

<sup>Don't you love the ethanol or methanol as a solvent part.!  Next is cellulose powder - which from their site states:  cellulose fibers are extracted from wood and refined through multiple mechanical and chemical processes involving acids and bleaching agents.  So let me get this straight - my Pure Via Stevia is actually sugar with a chemically produced extract of the Stevia plant along with wood chips.  

So for now I am skipping the wood chips and drinking my coffee black, just wait until I tell you next time what I learned was in my creamers.

Genesis 1:  29</sup> 
And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.

The Daniel Plan - 40 Days

Right before Christmas I got an email from God that said...Wait - you don't believe me?  Okay, so it wasn't directly from God - but it was from Hackman's, close enough.  Here is what happened.

Before Christmas I received a lovely Christmas card with a gift card in it for Hackman's.  My mind suddenly raced to the gifts that I wanted to get for other people at Hackman's but there was a note in the card that said, "make sure to spend it on yourself". Oh, alright.  Then the very next day the first email I received was from Hackman's about the new book from Rick Warren entitled, "The Daniel Plan", 40 days to a Healthier Life.  

So now you see what I mean by a email from God.  I have been trying over the years to get healthier, but I seem not to make much headway.  I joined Weight Watchers.  I had success about 30 years ago on the plan loosing almost all the weight getting down to 142 pounds only to gain it back. I rejoined about 10 years ago and lost 20 pounds and have kept it off, but got stuck.  So was this Divine Intervention?  Was this book going to be what I needed?

Rick Warren is a pastor, author, etc. who wrote the popular bestselling The Purpose Driven Life, which I enjoyed doing with my book club, so this immediately peaked my interest.  Also contributing to the Daniel Plan are Dr. Daniel Amen and Dr. Mark Hyman.  So I decided to go get the book.  I walked into Hackman's, I picked it up.  Looked at it.  Put it down.  I thought maybe this isn't the book for me.  I walked around, looking for something else and there was ANOTHER display with the book in the back of the store, looked at it again, flipped through the pages, put it down. BUT a nagging thought in my head said BUY THE BOOK DARN IT!   So I did.

Once I actually sat down and started to read the book I immediately liked it.  How can you not love a book that starts out,  Chapter 1, page 1 - "Wow! Everybody's Fat!  That was Rick Warren's thought as he baptized 827 adults by immersion, which meant lowering people under the water and then lifting them back up.  He realized that not only was his congregation carrying extra baggage but he thought "But I am fat too!"  and that's what led him to do this book.    Well darn it,  I am fat to.  My knee hurts, I have high blood pressure controlled with medication,  and I suffer from brain fog.  This book celebrates the 5 F's.  FAITH - FOOD - FITNESS - FOCUS and FRIENDS.

I  am going to share what I learn from the book and my challenges along with hopefully some successes.  I am starting slow, and I will share that  tomorrow if I get a chance to blog.  So far it has certainly opened my eyes.  One thing I know, I can't do this alone, and in life we never have to do it alone, we always have God.

Food for thought:

Proverbs 16:9 says:  "We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it." (MSG)