Week 2:Water, Water, Water and Fiber too!

Urban_health_a_nista first youtube video! 7 months to Curvy Slim Challenge!

...because a picture is worth a thousand words...

My Progress as of October 2013

One thing I know for sure, the scale is indeed a HATER! No, seriously I have learned to not use the number on the scale as the ONLY measure of my progress. I love to use pictures as a measuring tool and as a "Girl get it together" motivator. Often times we have to see it to believe it. I, for one have seen it and I do believe that living healthy will pay off after while...that's a sermon, right?!? 

Eating to LIVE and not the other way around.

Ooowee Jesus...Me at my heaviest..about 4 years ago (2010)

Size 26

A breakthrough is on the way!

Size 18

Thank God I don't look like what I have been through...

Change is possible! I am a living testimony in the making! 

Be You, Be healthy, Live Alive!

Reason #126,893,000 why I need to stay on board the health and wellness train!

After reading this article on Colon Caner Prevention( <---please check it out, a must read) it spoke so clearly to me as to why I need to get fit and stay healthy. During my undergrad studies, my research focus was in cancer disparity. This was back in 2005. During this time breast cancer awareness was at an all time high. So of course my research focus became breast cancer disparity among black women. The findings were astonishing.

However, there is another cancer lurking. This one is colon cancer. After reading an article about one of my fave reality TV stars, Real (the one with the long pretty hair) of Real Chance of Love, I was shocked to find that he was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. 

Real is young, seemingly fit, seemingly healthy but still a carrier of this aggressive disease. My prayers are for him and his family as they battle this disease. 

Knowing what I know about clean eating and the dangers of processed foods or food of the devil as I call it from time to time. The public health researcher in me can't help but to conclude that colon cancer has a direct link to the foods or "foods" <--referring to processed crap, that we put into our bodies.

Think about it. The colon serves as the super highway that all of our food travels through. Most importantly, the unhealthiest foods get the longest ride on this super highway. The colon eventually leads to bowels and rectum where waste is released. The majority of processed food is simply waste.

In essence, all of the PROCESSED CRAP that is eaten goes through our colon, leaving junk behind, which can cause polyps. Polyps can eventually turn to cancer, hence the term colon cancer.

I don't know about you, but I don't want my super highway to be filled with crap and unhealthy waste. I would love for it to be filled with high fiber nutrients and living foods such has greens and other vegetables. It is foods like this that create a beautiful scenic route on our food super highway aka our colon.

From reading an article on this aggressive disease it was noted "Other risk factors include diabetes, smoking, obesity, poor diet, and a “couch potato” lifestyle." This rang an alarm SO LOUD in my head....an alarm that indicated that I needed to get up off my butt and get moving AND realize that every action has a reaction. Every morsel of food that I put in my body has to be accounted for....sooner or later. 

Living foods and processed foods have one thing is common...they can both "FILL YOU UP". However the buck stops there. That is the only thing they have in common, as far as I am concerned. 

Living, whole foods not only fill you up, but it goes on to nourish our bodies. Giving our cells and organs energy and life that allow our bodies to fight diseases and perform other necessary functions.

Processed foods do nothing. They simply fill you up and then take that long, junk filled ride down our digestive tract cause havoc and chaos within our bodies. 

Let's be proactive!

"Eating to LIVE and not the other way around."

The key

After a six-month hiatus, I have found my mojo again, for the 100th time. I must admit, I have been a part- time clean eater and a very absent gym rat. I simply lost it. What is IT? Honestly, it is hard to put into words, but I can tell you what ever it was that I had sure felt good. The desire to eat right, sweat my behind off---literally (revisit the Bum-Bum Post ), and just simply feel good about my fit chubby self. Yes I miss IT!

There is good news in view. I think I may have found the key to unlock the tomb that may hold my IT. Yes, indeed. I feel a little something stirring up, Thank Ya Jesus!

Seriously, so I am back on my grind and to kick off my mojo I have tweaked my eating schedule just a bit. I am no longer eating after 6pm- 7pm. Yes. Simply that. I have tried this for just over a week now and I am so amazed at how much this is helping me to find my IT!

Keep in mind, I am still watching my portions, drinking plenty of water, and cooking and eating clean at times. I will work on the latter soon and very soon. However, I am so proud of myself for being disciplined enough to follow through on this very task. Especially since I have found that DISCIPLE is indeed the key to SUCCESS on this journey to health and wellness. I have prayed, like for real, literally prayed and asked God to give me the will power, strength and sheer discipline to concur this obesity DEVIL!

I have come to grips that this can not happen without DIVINE intervention!

Some of benefits that I have noticed so far after a week of not eating past 6 or 7
pm are:

• Increased energy, especially in the mornings. I no longer have that stiff and groggy feeling 
• Increase in water in take. Get this, in order to keep that "hungry beast" in check, I guzzle down the H2O and it works.
• Better meal planning. What also keeps me going during that 12 hr + fast is thinking about the food (healthy of course) that I can prepare for the next day. I think it's a mental thing...
• Helped to understand my emotional eating habit. Being able to simply deny myself with no compromise has helped me to utilize other coping skills. Instead of eating I find myself doing my other hobbies....Dang I just categorized eating as a hobby---THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE! 
• More time for prayer and meditation. Yes God! Lord knows every time I see the prime time TV fast food commercials, I instantly begin to pray and I mean pray hard!
• Getting more sleep. Since I can't eat, I simply get my kiddos to bed and I follow soon after. However, the hunger pangs seem to kick in around 5am so I answer it by a workout and nice breakfast to start my day. Low carb and No wheat breakfast that is...we will discuss that one later!

"Eating to LIVE and not the other way around!"