Jennifer Update: Going 100%

I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to continue my story here at Foods By God. This time I want to update you and explain why I feel like I am having the success I am this time around at eating foods created by God. 

You might wonder why I wrote “this time around” ? This actually isn’t my first time to take a class led by Mary. In fact, a little over five years ago I gained so much knowledge from a class I took taught by Mary. Perhaps, many of you are currently “gaining a lot of knowledge”, but maybe not putting everything you’re learning into practice in your life.

Last time, I did get very excited about changing my ways and I spent a fortune replacing “bad processed” food with what I thought was “good processed” food. It was expensive and it was a compromise. I did loose weight but I was also hitting the gym a lot. I thought the exercise would make up for where my diet fell short.

At that time, I also never really got rid of the migraines that I’ve had since I was a kid. I thought that I had done a lot to get healthy and I would just have to live with these migraines for the rest of my life. I wasn’t seeing huge results and what I was doing was not financially sustainable at the time for our now one-income family. Needless to say, I veered off course and went back to fast food, quick fixes of sugar, and so on.

Fast forward to December of 2012. Mary, who I've remained friends with over the five years, contacted me to help her start this blog, and I wasn’t in good health. I knew things needed to change. I have to admit, I had gone the medicine route to “fix” my ailments and I was a little skeptical that eating foods by God could really help. But, at the same time, the side effects from the medicine were awful and my brain was foggy. I was lacking energy, so much so that the thought of baking and cooking from scratch was exhausting to think about. With Mary’s wonderful encouragement, I started my journey back to health.

This time, I made a commitment to myself that I was going to go “all out” and I wasn’t going to compromise. I had to for myself and my family. I still felt skeptical about getting rid of my headaches. Fortunately, one winter I had decided to really learn to bake, so I had a lot more skills in the kitchen than the last time around. I also have a much deeper relationship with God. I’ve seem him work in every other areas of my life, so why should I not ask for His help in this area? So, I began praying for His help.

After about two months of really changing our ways, I decided to try on a pair of jeans that had been hanging in my closet for at least a year unworn. See, they had been too tight, but I really liked these jeans so I hung onto them anyway. To my amazement, they fit! So, I jumped on the scale to find that I had lost 18 pounds! Wow! I need to mention that I hadn’t exercised at all during this time. I dropped the weight so easily and you might think I was eating boring “rabbit food”. On the contrary, I was eating brownies, banana bread, and well, pretty much anything we wanted as long as it didn’t have any ingredients on Mary's list to avoid or minimize. 

Jennifer wearing the jeans that she could fit back into.

Through Mary and one of her friend’s amazing healing testimony, I started to see how I needed to commit 100% to a God made diet, so my body can stop working so hard to get the toxicity out and work on healing my headaches and my back. Oh, I didn’t mention, that I had also gone in for several rounds of steroid injections last fall for severe back and hip pain. I was with Mary early February and she asked how my back and hips were doing. I said, “Now that you mention it, they really haven’t been bothering me as much!”. She said even that can be food related. I’m starting to see the connection more and more. I am also at my longest stretch of headache free days. My body now tells me when I’ve eaten something that I shouldn’t, and I will get a headache. I’m learning to listen to my body, and since it is functioning better, I am getting the proper clues.

Mary has given us a wonderful guide to incorporate a God made diet into our lives with this blog. Don’t just read it, put this knowledge into practice.

Here’s a few things that are really contributing to our success as a family:

-I’ve made Mary’s banana bread recipe just about every week and sometimes a double batch. I make it in a glass square or rectangle cake pan to make nice small pieces for the kids. We have it when we want a quick snack, for breakfast and it’s been great in kids’ lunches. Find something to bake every week that you enjoy.

-I know the “eliminate list” and I do my best to avoid buying anything on it.

-I try not to put myself in vulnerable situations where I’ll want to grab fast food. Either by planning to eat at a place that I can trust the food, or carrying food with me.

-I always have a couple of easy meals each week that don’t require much time in the kitchen, like pinto beans and rice, breakfast for dinner, even nitrate free hotdogs and whole wheat buns with veggies.

-I stock lots of fresh in-season fruit, carrots, cheese and other easy snacks for us to grab.

-I completely cut sugar from our diet. I didn’t realize how addicted my son was to sugar. It was nice to just get it out of the house and not have to fight the battle.

-I’ve made Mary’s brownies and other “treats” for us to enjoy on occasion. That way we never really feel like we’re missing out on anything.

-The biggie: plan, plan, plan! Don’t just wing it, you will put yourself in vulnerable positions, I know, I’ve been there. Plan your meals, even have good lunch and breakfast options.

Jennifer blogs at Simple Home Managing.  If you want to meet her 'in person', click here to see her video.