I have zero plan for this blog. Really, I write as life happens and therefore when my health and nutrition took a major overhaul -it became a regular blog topic. This post has been swirling in my head for a while now. I am going to blurt it all out as if we were sitting down on my porch over tea (but I would have water because I hate tea). Otherwise, I will obsess too long and might not even publish it.
I remember when I was in high school receiving a letter one day (remember those?) I was excited. I opened it and it was a clipping of a newspaper article that was titled Magic Weight Loss: Works Quickly, or something like that. There was a not so lovely handwritten note on it that read…”Darcy, maybe you should try this”. I think perhaps, just maybe, people shouldn’t be so incredible mean. Amazing how impacting something like that can be on a young girl. How in my young mind it helped shape my opinion of myself. Unfortunately, I have quite a few stories like that over the years- all surrounding my weight. I have been working hard the last couple years on fixing my insides and getting truly healthy for the right reasons. What a road it has been.
Earlier this year, I found Omnitrition. A plan based around healthy, unprocessed food with an intense focus to reboot your metabolism and clean out the gunk from your body. Sound like a gimic? Yeah, I thought so too. Despite some of my family and close friends having great physical success with weight loss, I resisted it. It seemed not ok to me at that time. The basis of this program is found in a book called, Weight Loss Apocalypse. I flipped through and found the words that this program would be hardest for a person who was an emotional eater and an exercise addict. Me Me Me. After much prayer and talking with my husband, I really felt like I had gone to the other side of not allowing myself to have any help with getting healthy, so that I could prove that I could do it on my own. Prideful much? Uh huh.
So, I began Omni. I needed the help. I needed to learn some more about what to eat. I needed to break up with overdosing myself with carbs, permanently.
I wish I could somehow jump through the screen and lovingly shake you and tell you what I have learned. It amazes me. I feel fantastic. When you get all the junk out of your body; what you think, how you feel, and the peace that comes with that is unparalleled.
I have looked into every type of eating I think there is from gluten free, to sugar free, to Paleo and beyond. There is pros and cons to every single one. People get riled up about these things, so walk carefully
when discussing. I think it is so important not to judge because God’s best for someone else might look different than yours. What I want to put to paper is what works for me through my experiences. I am not a health professional by any means. I am not trying to be. I journal to process. I journal to remember.
When I used to be on a steady stream of sugar and junk, I wouldn’t have said I felt THAT bad. Then we switched to as much unprocessed food as we could. I felt WAY better and I was shocked by that. I didn’t know there was a better. On this program I spent the first 66 days eating lean meat, strawberries, apples, lettuce, cucumbers, spinach, some seasonings, and water. This part is temporary (there are phases built in to eat for real life!) I took a two day break (included on the program) but I onslaughted myself with crap food and I have spent the last week feeling the true effects of sugar/carbs/starches/and chemicals on a clean system. Best lesson of all time. I thought I would gnaw off my arm this week. It has been awful. I have read articles that claim sugar can be addictive as some drugs and I didn’t believe it. I do now. I am so glad this last week, as hard as it has been, has happened because it just gave me a deeper passion for healthy living and taught me this….
When it comes to food discussions, I have said myself, and have heard so many talk about depriving themselves and having cheat days, splurge fests and so on. I have come to a realization of truth that I can not go back from even if I wanted to… God wants us ALL-100%. If you can’t stand the thought of life without cookies. Don’t eat them again until you CAN live without them. THEN and only then enjoy some. Food is not an entitlement. God made foods with tastes and gave us tastebuds. I totally think He meant for us to enjoy it, but you know what messes it up? Our man made food. I have talked to so many people and have experienced myself countless times that I’ll start Monday mentality. That I fell off the bandwagon gig. The place that is followed by self loathing for a job done poorly. I have a summer home there. Really, I do.
WHAT IF IT ISN’T US AS MUCH AS IT IS THE CAKE?
Today’s food is powerful. It is MADE by companies to be addicting. It is chemically altered to make us want more. It is colored, and filled with smells and textures to make it more appealing. What if it is the food you need to change? I had never really thought of that. Just as a recovering alcoholic wouldn’t try to get well by hanging out in a bar, I am now not sure why I wanted to be thin but still be able to eat Butterfingers for lunch.
I am not sure I would define myself as a food addict. An emotional eater? Yes. I am not sure definitions even matter. What I am sure of is that once this yuck food has truly been removed from my system, then I feel fabulous. Getting to that point feels almost impossible, but when I arrive its amazing. I have talked with many people over the past three years and one thing, across the board, remains true. We all think we eat healthier than we do. In addition, we all can probably improve on our eating every day. With the right foods in your system the lack of energy, ups and downs, and cravings disappear. Wouldn’t it be easier to maintain your health without these burdens. Never once have I felt like if I don’t get an apple I might die. Or wake up in the morning and say I need my strawberry smoothie to wake up. I THINK, no wait I KNOW this is the way God intended it. Omni has been the tool that has helped me actually learn this.
I have become an avid label reader. I have learned a LOT. There is still mountains I don’t know, but the rule we live by is as close to God created it as possible. Through this program I am learning discipline, sold outness to the cause, and how my body works.
Everyone is on their own journey and mine has gone pretty extreme. It needed to. It’s where God works best. When there is the absence of any distraction at all. He is there. It has been super hard in some ways and super not in others. Have you ever looked at those “crazy healthy” looking people and wondered how they ate so healthy everyday and why???
Now, I know.
Not that I will always be perfect.
Not that I won’t struggle and fall and dream of chocolate chip cookie dough.
It isn’t about any of that.
It’s about NOW for the first time in my life, I am not defining my own health. I am letting God do it.
I am WILLING to live WITHOUT what I want, if that’s what He asks.
and p.s. I learned that He DOES make us desserts. They are called raspberries. Please go 66 days without one crumb of crap in your mouth and let’s talk. You will see what I mean, I promise.
That God of ours did so good and I love Him.
Before, a little after before, a a little before after, after coming soon.
What 42 pounds down so far looks like.
Dear Jesus,
I have finally found the courage to admit I’ve craved food more than You. I have wept over giving up food while hardly giving a thought to You giving Your life for my freedom. I’ve been bound up by feelings of helplessness. I’ve been angry that I have to deal with this weight issue and have been mad at You for allowing this to be one of my lots in life. I’ve made excuses. I’ve pointed fingers. I’ve relied on food for things it could never give me. I’ve lied to myself about the realities of why I gain weight. I’ve settled and excused and made pithy comments justifying my issues. I’ve been enthralled by buttered bread while yawning through Your daily bread.
For all that, I am so sorry. There are not just little issues. These, for me, are sins-missing the mark of Your best for my life. With my whole heart, mind, and soul, I repent. I stand on this step and stare at the reality of my depravity and turn. I turn from the dieting mindset. I turn from what I must give up and weep no more. I remove my toe keeping open the door to my old habits and patterns, my old mind-set, my old go-to scripts. I choose freedom. I choose victory. I choose courage. And yes, above all else, I choose You.
Amen.
Taken from -Lysa Terkeurst | Made to Crave
* I am NOT a paid rep for Omni. I am just giving you my experiences. This program is an amazing fit for me and I have seen it transform the lives of my family members and I have friends who have kept the weight off for years. If you want more information about it please email me. I am just sharing because I love it so and I like to tell my friends about the things I love!
Check out my friends and family. Awesome, right???? They are shrinking before my eyes!
Be healthy today, my friends!





















































































