Inflammation & Commitment

Sometimes chores we'd rather not bother with turn into something of a blessing. For me this happened the other day as I was correcting settings on my calendar. I forgot that for over a year, I logged my workouts and weight. The weight is what got my attention because I began looking at the period directly before I found out about all my food sensitivities and then as far as I continued to track it until I stopped during that summer.

Why is this important? Because I forgot exactly how long it took my body to rid itself of the inflammation. For the same reason that most people tend to compress the time it took something to happen in life, I somehow began to think that the weight just started to 'fall off' after eating a clean diet for about 6 weeks. I was totally wrong! Looking at the calendar, I lost 2 to 3 lbs per month...it was slow and incremental. Had I not been as committed to this new way of life, I too would have said 'the heck with it!' and gone back to eating gluten and other offenders more often than was good for me.

I receive several e-newsletters that push magic diets and drastic detoxes that promise to remove years of inflammation in a matter of days. And I've worked with clients who, after learning of food intolerances, commit for only a short period of time (like 4 or 6 weeks), barely notice any weight change and conclude that there is no point to maintaining an allergen-free diet.

Well, my face should be proof enough for you!

When the "after" photo was taken during a trip to Costa Rice, many of my friends living down there were totally dumbstruck at how different I looked. They hadn't seen me in almost a year. I realize NOW that no one at home who saw me every day commented about how I looked because the change was SO gradual.

If I had given up after 6 weeks, I would have only lost 1 or 2 lbs which I would have chalked up to some sort of margin of error on the part of the scale. Thus, I wouldn't be where I am now- almost 20 lbs of inflammation lighter, healthier and more energized. The lesson here is that in our fast-paced society, we shouldn't just do the bare minimum effort of caring for ourselves, whether that be eating or relaxing, while expecting a grand result.

Why marginalize what could end up being the greatest transformation of your life?

Buy Food like a Pro!

Think you are a Pro when it comes to buying food at the grocery store? Take the quiz below and see how you rank!

Food Shopping IQ Quiz

1. When looking for low-fat items, do you:
A) Buy items marked "Low Fat" or "Reduced Fat"
B) Look at the number of grams of fat found on the Nutrition Label
C) Determine the percentage of calories from fat
D) Look at the percentage of fat found on the Nutrition Label

2. You generally do not buy new items at the store that you've never had before.
A) True
B) False

3. When choosing items that are low in sodium, do you:
A) Compare sodium to calories
B) Check out the milligrams of sodium found on the Nutrition Label
C) Look at the percentage of sodium found on the Nutrition Label
D) Buy items marked on the front of the packaging "Low Sodium"

4. Products enriched or fortified with vitamins and minerals are healthy options.
A) True
B) False

5. The percentages of Daily Value on the nutrition label are helpful in knowing whether something is good for me and it gives a lot of useful information.
A) True
B) False

6. When buying produce, you choose:
A) All organic, all the time. Organic is the best and worth the price!
B) Whatever is the cheapest. Organic is overrated!
C) Seasonally appropriate items & look for country of origin on labeling.
D) A mix of produce low in pesticides, not genetically modified & local.

Answer key: 1- C; 2- B; 3- A; 4- B; 5- B, 6- D

If you scored less than 5 correct or don't know the information behind the questions listed here, you may want to consider learning how to shop with easy-to-use information that always trumps the best food marketing.

You can learn to love the supermarket and become an expert at purchasing healthy food. It doesn't take much more than a desire to learn a few new priceless steps that will easily take the headache out of choosing healthy items while giving you the courage to integrate some new delicious and healthy items into your diet!
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Quiz created by Jennifer Fugo at Evolving Well, LLC. If you would like to reprint/publish this elsewhere, please provide the proper credits and website (http://www.evolvingwell.com).