DoyCave.com

…where Doy occasionally writes.

Tag: Motivation

  • My Magic Beans

    Business Man pushing boulder uphillWhen people find out I’ve lost over 100 pounds, the first question is, “What are you DOING? I need to do THAT!”

    I always chuckle to myself because I know that’s not what they really mean.

    What they really mean is, “What magic spell allowed you to snap your fingers and become this thin person?! I need that magic spell!”

    They may not mean that literally, but it’s kind of the sentiment. The reason I know this, my four faithful readers, is that I, too, was one of them. Only recently one of them!

    Anytime someone lost a great deal of weight, I would quiz them about what they were doing, and it didn’t matter whether it was low-carb via Michael Thurmond (bought, paid for and followed…for a month or two), Atkins (lost the weight and gained it back with a vengeance) or South Beach (got 10 pages in and decided it was too complicated) or anything else, I just wanted it to work QUICKLY. I wanted their MAGIC BEANS!

    I would watch “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition,” recounting the stories of heroic, persistent people who would lose almost 200 lbs. I would see them and think, “Look how relatively easy that was!” That’s because I was seeing a montage of workouts, condensed into five minute segments…made for TV.

    When I would begin an exercise journey, it was the waking up in the morning that got me. It was finding the clothes. It was thinking about the exertion and becoming physically sick at the thought. It was all those little hurdles you have to jump through just to make it in front of the TV and push play on the exercise DVD.

    As I write today, I’ve lost only three or four pounds in the last month or more. I will tell you that I’m still eating right. I’m not exercising consistently due to chest pains, bothering me on and off for the past few weeks, but I’m not letting that deter me from keeping up my motivation.

    I will also tell you that THIS is the most difficult part of weight loss…or the most difficult part of anything worth doing, really.

    It’s the day in. The day out. Lose a pound. Gain two pounds. Staying the course even though you aren’t getting the quick results anymore.

    It can truly wear on you, but this is where it’s so important to have made up your mind for good. I’ve had to count the cost of even a small cheat. What will a small cheat mean? A bigger cheat. A week of cheating. Derailment. I refuse to let that happen.

    And so what do I tell people who ask me what I’m doing to have lost 100 lbs?

    I’m on a strict eating plan, making meal-by-meal decisions about what I should eat in order to improve my health. Every. Single. Day. Without fail. That’s what I’m doing.

    Because that’s what it takes.

  • What do the Amish have that I DON’T?!

    Amish Farmer
    Photo by Beechwood Photography

    Unsurprisingly (for those of you who know my story), I’ve been thinking about the link between nutrition and disease for awhile now.

    My change in nutrition has not only allowed me to lose 100 lbs., but it has also reduced my blood pressure (which has gone from an average 140/90 to 120/80, and often lower), it had reduced my cholesterol (with medication, it was around 220 and is now 85 TOTAL) and has reduced much of my anxiety, which I’ve previously managed on and off with medication as well.

    And though I won’t see the results for at least another year or so, I’m believing that this way of eating is repairing the damage caused by Coronary Artery Disease, a result of my previously unhealthy diet.

    So, you can imagine I was excited (and ultimately unsurprised) to find this article in the WV Oupost about the Amish, of all people.

    According to the article (and to the medical findings contained within), the Amish don’t get autism or the learning disabilities that continue to plague the rest of the U.S. Both are on the rise in America (1 case for every 100 children now), and scientists have speculated several causes, while in Amish communities, there have been three confirmed cases of autism. EVER.

    In addition, and what really excited me, is that these same Amish communities very rarely get any of the other diseases that are literally ripping through America’s population: diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

    Why?

    The article suggests it’s their diet and lifestyle that shields them from our maladies. Namely, that they aren’t exposed to ours.

    “Their diet consists of eating organic, fresh, locally-grown produce, and of course, they do not follow the established vaccination routines.”

    In addition, they don’t eat genetically modified foods (GMO’s), they don’t use our chemically-engineered medicines or our chemically-altered foods. And they’re healthier for it!

    Dr. T. Colin Campbell found the same types of results in his massive “China Study,” which studied an unprecedented number of villages and people, detailing their nutrition and disease. In those villages where residents ate more meat, fish, dairy and processed foods as part of their diet, the more cancer, heart disease and diabetes. The less meat, fish, dairy and processed foods, the less disease.

    I know this particular article is a bit preachy and gets downright “conspiracy theory” at times. I can’t really fault them for their frustrations. However, in spite of the slant, you should be asking yourself, “What do the Amish have that I don’t?”

    They have less hospital visits, for one thing.

  • The Spoils of Perseverance

    I’m going to tell you with some amount of pride that a “mess o’ ribs” just doesn’t DO it for me anymore.

    Not long ago — only a few months, truthfully — I was a connoisseur of all things meat.

    I low carb’d it, often living on bacon-wrapped chicken and salad (with cheese and lots of dressing) as the staple of my healthy diet. I wasn’t worried about the fat. I just knew I was losing weight, and losing it fairly quickly.

    Inevitably, however, the carb cravings would catch up with me…I would engorge myself with cake or candy bars, and within a week, I was up 10 pounds and feeling awful.

    I initially struggled with my current lifestyle, too, mind you. I haven’t cheated, but getting “creative” with dinners hasn’t always been something I’ve had the time to do. And, to be truthful, this is a diet that requires PREPARATION. I can’t stress that enough to the four of you. Now, slap each other and say, “I love Justin Bieber and play with Barney toys!”

    What were we talking about again?

    Preparation, that’s right. Like preparing a blog entry that stays on topic. Yeah, like that.

    So early on with Esselstyn, I would forget to pack a lunch and, not really knowing what to do, I would just pick up salad stuff and dress it with straight Balsamic Vinegar. It wasn’t the most appetizing thing I’ve done, but I put my head down and took my lumps. It taught me to be more prepared, which I’ve mentioned before…right?!

    These were the most perilous days for me. It would’ve been easy to say, “Geez, I’ll just go to Zaxby’s and get a chicken salad. At least it’s ‘healthy.’” I would’ve been wrong, and I knew the damage it would do both to my body and my progress.

    I say all this to say that, after four months of living this way, I have indeed lost the taste and craving for FAT, and this is a triumph for me!

    I recoil at cheeseburgers with their dripping grease. I’m appalled by a slab of ribs and the pool of thick barbecue sauce and fat-congealing. I know that I would have a violent reaction to those foods if I ate them, and my body reacts accordingly. The smells don’t waft through my nose with the same allure. The sight of their pallid and muted hues hardly compares to the vibrant colors of the food I eat. They don’t hold pleasure for me. At all.

    Why am I telling you all this…as if I’ve figured it all out?

    I’m telling you this to encourage you in this one fact: IT. GETS. EASIER.

    It gets easier to stay away from the “comfort foods” that provide no real comfort at all. It gets easier to avoid the frozen pizza bites because there’s no time and nothing else on the menu tonight. It gets easier to avoid the candy aisle, grabbing something from the produce section instead. It gets easier to avoid the convenience of a drive-thru when you don’t know what else to do. It all gets easier.

    The longer you go, the easier it gets. The more you do it, the more preparation you learn.

    These days, I’m thinking ahead constantly. If I’m invited to lunch, I might direct us to a more vegan-friendly establishment where I might get the food I need. If I’m meeting up with family after work, I might have dinner for myself, so that I’m not hungry and won’t dig into the goodies. If I know we’ve run out of leftovers or the pantry’s getting low, I’ll make sure to call home, check in, and stop at the store to stock up on something I can make quickly (usually rice and beans).

    Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a fear-based motivation. I’m not constantly afraid I’ll screw up if I don’t prepare. It’s RESOLVE. I eat a certain way for very good reason. Therefore, I will prepare my food in every situation.

    I’m telling you all this because there is a point at which it will get easier and easier for you to travel the narrow road to health. One of the reasons so many doctors don’t recommend this lifestyle to their patients is because they believe it’s TOO STRICT. It certainly takes preparation, but people can learn to live in any situation. Just ask the Inuit up in Canada. Jeez.

    I’m also telling you all this because I’m a nobody. I’m a nobody who is doing this everyday.

    And if a flaky, procrastinating nobody like me can do it, you most assuredly can.

    What obstacles do you think are keeping you from healthy living?

  • Eating To Live

    Stent Placement“Eat to live. Don’t live to eat.”

    If you’ve struggled with obesity and the the foods that help it along, you’ve heard this trite cliche from a host of “normals” who don’t struggle the way we do. They pass it along anyway…probably mindlessly to a degree. It’s just one of those things you say, I guess.

    For me, however, it’s become a life-giving mantra. It’s the morning hymn that informs my breakfast. It’s the paean call of my lunches and dinners. It is my true North, navigating me through the seas of social gatherings and restaurant visits. It is the evening sunset that strengthens my resolve and reminds me to prepare for another day. It moves me forward, always.

    Please do not misunderstand, however. I don’t presume to have figured it all out. I don’t struggle with food and the complex emotions that surround it the way some do. I don’t claim to be a psychologist or nutritionist of any stripe. I’m honestly just a normal guy — thin most of my life — whose horrible eating habits and sedentary lifestyle lulled me into a state of morbid obesity which nearly took my life.

    And after some 30 hospital visits, four heart catheterizations, six stents and a battery of heavy meds — all before finishing my 40th year on earth, mind you — I realized it all had to change.

    “Why not change after visit number TEN, Brainiac?!”

    Yeah, I ask myself the same question all the time. The simple answer is…I didn’t want to change. Not enough. I didn’t have my Ebenezer.

    Ever hear of an Ebenezer? It’s a line from an old church hymn and older Bible story, which basically points to a symbol of a fresh beginning. It’s an object on which one could look and say, “Remember how things were bad? And remember how we erected this stone when we started working to change? Yeah. That was awesome.”

    Like that, but, you know…meaningful.

    My Ebenezer came on New Year’s Day, 2013. I was recovering from my stent procedure, and the cardiologist came in and drew me a picture, included in this entry. It showed me where all my stents had been placed and the level of disease in my heart. More than that, he explained what my future might look like if my lifestyle wasn’t drastically altered.

    It was grim.

    The inside of my coronary arteries, he explained, looked a lot like a dirt bike track. This “lumpy, bumpy stuff” was everywhere, and further blockages were inevitable. Maybe.

    By this time, I had seen the documentary, Forks Over Knives and my cardiologist mentioned “a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic” who was doing some research on heart disease and nutrition. He was talking about Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, who has shown in a 25-year-study that nutrition can not only halt heart disease, but actually reverse it in terminally diseased patients. You can hear some of their stories in Forks Over Knives.

    When I returned home from the hospital, I read Esselstyn’s book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease from cover to cover. I was sold. Nutrition could keep me off the bypass surgery table? My choice was clear: eat right or have my chest cracked open. Eat to live. Don’t live to eat.

    What does “Eating to Live” look like?

    Well…basically, I don’t eat anything with a face. I don’t eat anything that had a mother. No meat. No dairy, which cuts out milk, cheese, ice cream, sour cream and the like. No oil of any kind, whether from olives, canola, coconuts, peanuts or any other vegetable. No oil. NO. OIL. It damages the endothelium in my arteries and exacerbates my Coronary Artery Disease. I also stay away from high fat veggies and legumes like nuts and avocados.

    It is restrictive? Yes, it really is, but I’ll also tell you that I LOVE what I eat. The food I eat is delicious, filling and ultimately satisfying. Oh, and I eat as much of it as I want (with the exception of fruit…can’t overdo it on the sugars or you’ll start putting the pounds on).

    There’s a great list of what I CAN have, made by Dr. Esselstyn’s wife, Jane, at this website: http://www.meetup.com/Dr-Es-Vegan-No-Oil-Diet-Cleveland-Akron-Ohio/pages/SAFE_FOOD_List_by_Ann_Crile_Esselstyn/

    Since beginning this journey back in 2011, I’ve lost 85 lbs, 46 of which I’ve lost since adopting Dr. Esselstyn’s lifestyle plan in January 2013. It’s a long journey for sure, but the old saying “one day at a time” is really the way it works. You just go from day to day, doing what you know you have to do.

    I’m literally eating to live, and it means everything to me.

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