Three is my favorite number and just this month alone I counseled three of the most amazing people! The first one screamed she needed an anti-inflammatory diet because she wakes up with stiff joints, aches and pains! The second wanted to continue his weight loss to avoid the big ‘C’, heart disease and diabetes and the third wanted to lose the weight she recently gained back to plan for a happy, healthy retirement.
We’ll call our first specimen Spring, like the season. Spring admits she has never really cooked for herself. She is a brilliant math brain, in addition to an accomplished musician. She is slightly underweight from lack of muscle mass and worried about her diet contributing to osteoporosis. When gathering information from Spring, she claimed that some days she might only eat a homemade smoothie in the late morning(she sleeps late) and then microwave popcorn for dinner. This type eating behavior is definitely a mini-fast, (last month’s blog) and there can be health advantages; although Spring needs REAL food and has agreed to experiment in the kitchen. We discussed how to plan and prepare an anti-inflammatory recipe once a week for the next 11 weeks. I’ll keep you posted on her determination. By the way, within 48 hours of our initial nutrition consult, Spring deliberately chose more vegetables when ordering out and selecting her pre-prepared meals and snacks. Additionally, she added ‘golden milk’(another blog from long ago) before bed and claims to have fallen asleep faster, slept better and woke up with little to NO stiffness! The body does respond favorably when fueled with hi-test.
The second specimen told me he stepped on the scale a year ago in the doctors office and couldn’t believe the number (that’s a man for you).
At this yearly physical 12 months ago, the MD voiced the importance of decreasing weight to avoid the big ‘C’, heart disease and diabetes among other chronic conditions. This brief conversation with the doctor mattered to Mr. EB and 33 pounds later, he came to see me for help with losing the last 17 pounds and 4” off the navel circumference. His current eating schedule includes about 1400 calories per day but not quite enough fiber. We added 2 pieces of ‘easy to eat’ fresh fruit(apples, grapes or bananas) in his daily plan as a means to head off his cravings for sugar on Saturdays.
On Saturdays, he drinks a pitcher of beer, which unfortunately leads him to the convenience store next to the bar for some ‘crapola’.
His weight loss has slowed recently which may be his body adapting to an extended semi-fast, leading to a slower metabolism. Together, we tweaked his meal plan and added about 380 calories of plant based food. Just like Spring, they both agreed to keep records of their eating/activity behaviors for at least 21 days. I’ll keep you posted on their motivation.
Last, but definitely not least is another female specimen who we will call the ‘Bomb’. The easy, tasty, whole food, anti-inflammatory meals the Bomb prepares for herself are full of good fats, vegetables, herbs and spices. She also enjoys animal products and will have a thick, juicy, grass fed hamburger sandwiched between 2 thick onion slices cooked in her George Foreman once in awhile. 
The Bomb’s food is SOOOOO good, she must have eaten a little too much over the winter and decided to try a 2 day per week mini-fast through March and the scale dropped 6 pounds in 5 weeks…such determination!
Three individuals who have a completely different, healthy and sustainable ‘work in progress’ meal plans for an ENJOYABLE eating journey.
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