One Day At A Time

ONE.

DAY.

AT.

A.

TIME.

At least that's what I've been repeating to myself endlessly since recovering from my 3rd major surgery in a 12 month span (5th surgical procedure, if ya wanna get all technical about it!!). I have arrived in Oregon to visit my family for the Holidays and I must say just not being in your own house is seriously relaxing. This whole fall has been such a CRAZY ride I'm not sure my feet are fully underneath me, but I'm getting there! Unfortunately one thing that has been neglected is this blog, whether anyone ever reads it or not I enjoy putting the information out there. I have done SO MUCH research in such a short period of time, building on the foundation of health knowledge I already had I can't help but want to share it! And for the skeptics I'll tell you what my friend MF said to me "Try it for yourself and see." That's exactly what I did, and she was right (pains me to admit!) Once I told her as such I asked her how she could stand all the resistance she gets from the world around us and she said those wise words to me, I tell them "try it for yourself and see"  I can see that look people's faces when they ask me what I'm doing food wise because I "look so good" (and then inevitably everyone feels awkward and like they have to explain themselves for telling a girl with cancer she looks good--it's OK THAT'S A GOOD SIGN!) And you know what? I do look good, and that's not me having an ego, I look good because I FEEL GOOD! I eat with intention now, I don't just eat to feed my stomach because it wants something. I have retrained it to want the things that are good for me, your stomach is LITERALLY your second brain. Once my actual brain learned what all the food I was eating and what all the chemical filled products I was using were doing to my body, my second brain (my stomach) wanted NOTHING to do with any of it anymore. How can you when you have actually read the books and done the research? But I'll tell you what really sold me was the way I feel. My energy levels are THROUGH the roof on a normal basis now, except for when the chemotherapy and hormone pills mess me up! My skin evened out and I never have skin problems anymore, and more than anything I feel like my brain is CLEAR. And when you feel good and your brain is clear you keep making healthy choices because you don't want to not feel that way. And I mess up, I mess up constantly. I've gotten drunk on one too many tequila sodas (OH let me tell ya those limits have changed) and end up paying the price. It's not even worth it, the painful stomach aches shooting gas pains and lack of sleep just don't seem worth it at all. Nothing tastes that good! And if I want a bite of that cheese or cake or cookie and have one little nibble it doesn't even taste good to me anymore. This right here is the moment, I know this point well, people check out and I see their eyes GLAZE over right after I start answering their question "so what do you eat?" (or some equivalent). When I start giving the sort of basic concept natural food spiel people interrupt and say but what can't you eat. And THIS is where the problem is, we live in this world where we ONLY concentrate on what NOT to do. EVERYONE BE GLUTEN FREE RIGHT THE FUCK NOW GLUTEN IS THE DEVIL. No, or maybe it is. Do you even know WHY? Do you know what gluten is or why you avoid it? No? Yeah didn't think so. We only concentrate on what we are being told not to do and we think if we cut that one thing out that it will fix our health problems, so we can basically do what we want if we avoid gluten or dairy or soy or whatever is trendy at the moment and that's just not how it works. Everyone has different health goals so I can't tell you exactly what will make your body totally better, I don't know what's going to make my body totally healthy either, but every single time I eat, or put on lotion, or brush my teeth I know that I am giving my body it's BEST CHANCE.  And let me be clear, I LOVE eating this way, but it isn't always easy. It is next to impossible to eat out and be "convenient" which I HATE. But I was always convenient and I then I got cancer and I won't apologize for not being convenient anymore. Take control of your own health, no one can or will do it for you. The food I eat is natural, from the earth, simple, delicious, why would I need more??? I'll also include an email I sent to my cousin when she asked for a little help, it's hard for me to help a little because one decision leads right into the next but that's why this blog is called One Day At A Time, I was told I have Stage IV incurable cancer, so yeah I was going to change everything right away. YOU DON'T HAVE DO IT ALL AT ONCE. One meal, one ingredient, start subbing things out and adjust from there!

This week I'm going to try and tackle some subjects I've posted about, add recipes, talk essential oils, household products and put out some blogs with useful information so you can start now!

Thank you all for going on this journey with me!

XOXO,

Jenny

 I know it's not realistic for everyone to do what I do but I like to just teach people so they can make decisions with awareness. You want to cut sugar so that's awesome, I'll focus on that but I'll just put some other info and you can take from it what you will!! So sugar substitutes to start using to sweeten things--Organic RAW honey, not honey, raw honey. Just trust me haha! Organic Grade A Maple Syrup, organic Coconut Sugar, and Stevia (I dont use it but plenty of paleo people do!) *I FORGOT TO INCLUDE AGAVE HERE-I USE IT IN MY COCKTAILS, its the least best of the best options so only gets used for margaritas!)  I also bake with coconut flour and almond flour or rice flour. The thing with flour is too much of it turns into sugar, that's why bread is bad. NOT necassarily the gluten like every idiot things, it's the flour that turns to sugar in your body and the fact that it's usually processed that's the problem.

A BIG RULE for me is dark leafy greens all day long, cook them into things, put them in smoothies. VEGGIES with every meal. 

OK so sugar bad, that we know. Take everything else every diet book (and probably trainer) has basically ever told us and throw it out. We gain weight because all our food is processed and there's sugar IN EVERYTHING. And soy....in everything used to preserve everything all chemical crap. ew. 

DO NOT TRUST AN ALL NATURAL LABEL. It doesn't mean shit. I mean you can check sugar content for hidden sugar but that's about it. Look at the ingredients list, nothing should have 20 ingredients and you should at least be able to pronounce it kind of. Eliminate anything that says Natural Flavors or has food coloring. Those are two of the WORST things in our food. 

I do no dairy, but I know that is NOT practical for everyone. Try and buy organic everything, one of the reasons especially women are overweight and we can't lose weight around the midsection is because of the hormones in everything. (It's why girls are developing at like 8 or 9 years old and getting their periods. Girls are being born at double the rate of boys because of the hormones in our food). Try and eat organic dairy and meat when possible, it sounds like just a hippie health thing but it's not, all the hormones and chemicals keep weight on. So just try and limit it. 

I don't do a ton of raw veggies besides like spinach in my salad. But I do hide them in smoothies, try eliminating as much dairy from your smoothies as possible....I use fruit and greens only. With a banana, almond butter or avocado to thicken it. Avocado and banana make it creamy and give it good fat, you need good fat to absorb the nutrients properly so your body lets go of the fat. Also I cook everything in high quality olive oil (most olive oils are fake, Trader Joe's organic Tunisia is real and California Olive Ranch at Whole Foods is real) and coconut oil and walnut oil or sunflower oil are great...Canola and Vegetable oil are devilish! 

OK I'll stop there and give you a typical day and resources for recipes. Follow my friend jesshiltoncooks on instagram, shes always posting healthy food and has a daughter around Mia's age she feeds really healthy too!

I do either Organic oatmeal with organic fruit cooked in for breakfast. To sweeten I use Organic Grade A Maple Syrup. Trader Joe's has it! And raw walnuts usually. (See if you can get used to raw nuts, WAY BETTER for you. Also peanuts are not a nut they're a legume (bean). They are a TERRIBLE form of fat and protein, do not listen to any trainer ever when it comes to peanut butter. just say no.) Almond butter is way better if you're trying to lose weight and stay healthy. Good fat not bad fat, I love it. We made antonio a sandwich with it and he liked it! Try different ones to find a consistency you like. I really like the raw one from Trader Joe's because it's oily and smooth. 

OR eggs cooked with veggies or quinoa or rice or something in the morning. Prepping an egg bake for the week on sundays is easy. I mix eggs and a bunch of veggies and bake it so it's still a little wet, then heat it in the morning by serving size and go,

Sometimes I have a fresh juice for a snack or fruit or nuts or something depending on the day between meals. 

LUNCH is usually a salad with literally whatever is in my fridge; today it's spinach, apples, sauerkraut (you should consider probiotics, high quality sauerkraut or kombucha are great options) cooked butternut squash, romanesco broccoli, leftover turkey, pumpkin seeds, red onion and a homemade dressing. Dressings are so easy 3/4 olive oil and add a lemon and a little dijon mustard, salt and shake it up! That goes for any dressing, oil, citrus and something to give it a little something something!! 

or honestly lunch is maybe dinner from the night before. Follow me and Jess on Pinterest and you will see alot of recipes. Hers more as I've just been starting mine. I made a sugar free gluten free dairy free, protein pumpkin bread yesterday around 5...it was gone by 10, recipe is on my pinterest! 

I do alot of protein and veggies. I don't do chicken there is a TON of bacteria and hormones in even the organic kind but the non organic is even grosser. 

I think the biggest thing is to start switching your thinking about cooking. Maybe do a big thing like soup or a huge thing of sauce and pasta but freeze alot of it (in glass) and then I cook like one or two things almost every day. That's what my friend Jess taught me, so even if I just roast a butternut squash for no reason I find a way to use it on a salad, or as a side or something. 

The biggest thing to remember is trying to limit the processed foods and sugars when you eat like this. Limit the amount of times you make a decision that isn't great, replace things instead of adding in these products. If you add in you'll gain, if you replace you'll start losing. 

I'm gonna text you some recipes I have on my phone and I'll send more as I think of them!!!

Love ya!