You Are What You Eat

Once the fattening holidays were past, Damon (to be known in the blog world now as Sr. D) changed his life. He needed to get his cholesterol level down in order to get life insurance which had expired, and January came with that goal. Last spring, when Uncle Brandon's family came for a visit, Aunt Mindy brought a book that has changed the way I eat, and it is what Sr. D is now abiding by. Fastidiously! For him, it's all or nothing, baby. This book is called Original Fast Foods and it has the most understandable, make-sense education on health and body systems I've ever read. (Not that I am a doctor or scholar on the subject or anything) Anyway, I have been mostly dairy and egg free and have cut back a lot on sugar and meat this past year. I am pleased about my waistline, and a chronic infection that has plagued me for 20 years has not returned this whole year.

But when Sr. D started in, it was even more drastic. He went raw for two weeks. Nothing cooked, all vegetables and fruit, nothing else. By two weeks, he was weak and constantly hungry. Then it was our Friday night date and he was pretty depressed about where we would go to eat and so took us to Souper Salad. They had gross baked potatoes (the kind that are sticky) and he ate it dipped in a little salsa. He was so happy! It was like someone had just put a Prime Rib in front of him. He felt full for the first time in forever.

So now he is enjoying life in a new way and food as well. Let me take you to our kitchen for a very brief look at our culinary changes.

This is Sr. D making our morning fruit smoothie breakfast. (One of the wonderful changes is that he is making me meals for breakfast and lunch!) He plops an apple, banana, orange, frozen blueberries, a little water and ice, and any other fruits sitting on the counter into the blender and presses "liquefy." He pours a cup for Emily then he grabs the tub of greens and shoves a couple of handfuls into the blender to whiz it up. Yum yum! I look forward to it every morning. It's like pouring life into my system. (Spencer is our photographer here and standing taller than ever on the counter for some creative shots.:)) Cheers!

For lunch he has found some great treats. A vegetable red curry over rice. It has coconut milk, red curry paste, pineapple chunks, tomato chunks, peppers, and bamboo shoots. Ooh good! He also shoves a salad into a wheat pita pocket with a touch of balsamic vinaigrette. Pictured here is a fresh concoction he created with a sliced tomato drizzled with the vinaigrette, chopped fresh basil leaves and a bit of crumbled goat cheese. We found these crackers or flat bread that add a lot of good crunch to the meal. Sometimes we add a slice of avocado to it.


On to dinner (with snacks of nuts and fruit throughout the afternoon). This next picture is a homemade marinara sauce from the Original Fast Foods book that I made last week. It was ok. A little different. Damon liked it and I was ok with it. It had canned tomatoes, sauteed zucchini, carrots, onion, garlic all whizzed in the blender. For the kids I made meatballs that were less than desirable. I had one. So my plate is pictured.


So a couple of questions that might just come up: Results? and How are the kids eating? Well, the results are really great! Sr. D has gone in to a health clinic and had his blood drawn each week so he could see results of his sacrifice. His cholesterol has come down from 318 to 232, his triglycerides have dropped more than half. And he has lost 13 pounds since January 3, 2009. He isn't snoring like he used to and because of that, I think, he sleeps better. He has more energy throughout the day. He teaches early morning seminary and last semester his body was shutting down around 8:00 every night, including weekends. Now he is still going strong at 10:00. His clothes are starting to get baggy too. Sr. D applied for life insurance and a nurse came out to take his blood. (It took 7 pokes to finally get some! Heather can relate! Sorry Heather, that must be where you got it!:)) He is confident he will be accepted.

As to the kids. They are being educated and understand the principles taught in the book, and are eating the dinners I make. They still like and eat junk, but I think overall, they are trending towards healthier eating habits. They don't like the green smoothies, but Taylor wasn't feeling too good this morning and so asked for it. Spencer has gone off milk and loves crushed Corn Flakes and almond milk that I make (virgin; no honey or vanilla. Just soaked or unsoaked almonds and water whizzed in the blender and strained).

So there you have it. A scientific study being conducted in the Janis household with good results. This has been a rather major focus of our lives this past month and finding new and delicious recipes will be a life long pursuit.