Getting Started with Trim Healthy Mama

So you may have heard a little about Trim Healthy Mama, maybe you even googled it a little bit to learn about what it is an how to do it. But you never took the first step to give it try because it looked complicated or you just weren't in a place to start focusing on your own health. If you are anything like me you were confused by the "rules" and could probably research yourself into your grave before you ever get started on the plan. So let me try to help you out with a few tips!

When I was researching the best way to kick-start my weight loss, I just couldn't do another diet. I've done them ALL! Weight Watchers, NutriSystem, calorie counting, gluten-free, etc.  I firmly believe that you should not have to cut out major food groups or healthy foods when you are trying to lose weight. I stand by my "Eat Butter, Lose Weight" post. Healthy fats have a firm place in my diet and I won't drop them. But I also wasn't able to drop pounds just by eating healthily after I had Bridget (I'm getting OLD!!!).

So, I finally decided to jump on the Trim Healthy Mama plan and I have had SUCH amazing success with it so far that I must encourage you to give it a try!!!!  You can follow my weight loss on the left with the My Fitness Pal icon and see my progress since July 15th. I started working out and counting calories until I got very frustrated that the scale wasn't moving at all. On August 10th, I finally decided to give Trim Healthy Mama a chance on recommendation from a friend. Now this particular friend is extremely petite and had to quit a few weeks in because she can't get "too skinny"...

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Yeah, I don't understand or relate to that issue at all.  But, I do know that she lost the last few pounds easily. Then, Wardee of Gnowfglins (a personal foodie hero of mine) posted her success with THM and I decided it was time to give it a try. After all, I had lost and regained the same 8 pounds repeatedly this past year and was done with all that mess!  I am currently down 8 pounds and the scale continues to move. I am eating healthy foods, tons of veggies and produce, tons of butter, eggs, avocados, and even my personal favorite: homemade sourdough bread! (I used to sell it at the farmers market!)  If you are looking for a plan to actually lose weight using science you can understand and food you love, this is definitely the one to get behind.

Here is your Trim Healthy Mama Crash course: 

• Eat tons of protein. 
• Enjoy fats and carbs, just not together. 
• Eat meals with protein and fats. 
• Eat meals with protein and carbs.
• Wait three hours before switching between a high carb and high fat meal. 
• Eat tasty food.
• Eat everything in moderation but never go hungry. 
• Don't count calories.
• Each meal is another chance to start over.

So, if you want to give it a try, here are the top 5 items you need to get started with Trim Healthy Mama!

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1. The Trim Healthy Mama Plan Book 

The book explains everything so well and highlights lots of different food combos and ideas along with a ton of go-to recipes that you will use daily! The sisters just came out with two new books:

Trim Healthy Mama Plan

Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook

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2. A high quality pure protein powder

Trim Healthy Mama Protein Powder

This is a daily staple. You will use this powder in a daily smoothie or other food. Especially after you try some of the awesome and filling recipes! My favorite is this Fat Stripping Frappa and I make one every day! It's like a huge milkshake but packed with protein powder! (I always put my probiotic in as well.)

I use the Trim Healthy Mama protein powder for two reasons

1. It is affordable! You don't end up with a 1 gallon container that cost you a fortune.
2. It only has one ingredient: Whey (Milk) Protein Isolate Powder

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3. Glucomannan Pure Powder

Glucomannan is Konjac Root Powder used to thicken various liquids!

I use a little Gluccomannan Powder in my daily "Fat Stripping Frappa" smoothie and also in my chocolate pudding (recipe found in the book). This can also be used to thicken soups or stews and sauces if you are on an "E" meal and can't use gobs of fat. I also make a strawberry vanilla topping thickened with a little glucomannan to put on pancakes, muffins, etc. So tasty!

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4. Gentle Sweet

Gentle Sweet is amazing! It is a blend of xylitol, erythritol and stevia and perfectly sweetens all of my favorite dishes!

THM Gentle Sweet

Now let me clarify that I am not a fan of artificial sweeteners like splenda or anything with aspartame. And I would prefer that the only sweeteners in my home are pure maple syrup and raw honey, but the reality is that I cannot lose weight by regularly consuming these items. I look forward to going back to "normal" once I have reached my happy zone. Until then, I am SO excited to have found Gentle Sweet!!  It is delicious and flavors all of my specialty foods like strawberry sauce, smoothies and skinny chocolate. Just make sure you don't eat a lot of it and use THM to dampen your sweet tooth. You will find that as you avoid sugar, you don't crave it anymore and the natural sugars in food begin to get stronger and more appealing. And you want to make sure your sweetener doesn't have any other ingredients than just the pure stevia/xylitol/ethyritol.

Skinny Chocolate for a little "pick-me-up"!

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5. Cocoa Powder

I have never gone through so much cocoa powder in my life as I do with Trim Healthy Mama! But everything that I make with it is healthy and nourishing. It is important to get a high quality cocoa powder and a pound is a good starting point! This cocoa powder is from Frontier, one of our foodclub sources, and it is certified fair trade. And delicious!!

Frontier Fair Trade Cocoa Powder

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And there you have it! These are 5 of the main items needed to begin Trim Healthy Mama.

If you are ready to jump in with both feet, here are a few other items that are key to add to your shopping list in addition to fresh produce and meats so you are fully prepared for Week 1! You should be able to find these in many stores like Aldi and Kroger. If not, you can get anything from Amazon!

• Flax Seeds - where to find
• Almond Flour - where to find
• Coconut Oil - where to find
• Chia Seeds - where to find
• Rolled Oats - where to find
• Unsweetened Almond Milk - where to find
• Greek Yogurt
• Cream Cheese
• Baking Powder (make your own aluminum free blend!)
• And TONS of eggs!!!

Now you are officially ready to begin. For inspiration, be sure to join us in the Trim Healthy Mama Facebook group.  You can see tons of recipes, before/after photos and hear testimonials for how THM is working for women and men in every age group and every circumstance!!  I will be posting my personal before and after photos as soon as the change is more noticeable. So far, I have lost 8 lbs and 8.5 inches and while this is a good start, but I have about 20 more to go!!  I will be some information on what I typically eat soon so stay tuned.

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Dream vs. Reality

I try to do some sort of exercise daily. Whether it is a 30 minute walk through our neighborhood, a youtube video workout, or just some squats real quick to feel like I did something measurable.

 

Sometimes I have my own entourage joining me for my walk. 

But my entourage pales in comparison to the turkey gang trolling our neighborhood for choice bugs. I spot this turkey crew on almost every walk I take. (They aren't as sinister as the skunk mob. You be sure to run the other way if you spot those punks....)

It's not that I don't appreciate my neighborhood walk. But there is a hill that is a straight vertical incline and I can't push two kids in a stroller up it. No way. So morning walks with the kids around our neighborhood are out. They can't even make it up this hill walking unless I pull them!!

There is a small lake about 1 mile away from us with the best sidewalk around it for walking and lots of wildlife for the kids to check out. I have had this dream of going around this lake for a walk since we moved here. The "plan" in my head is to go there for a walk before I get started on my workday and early enough that I won't back out after I'm tired and coming up with excuses. The best time seems to be right after I drop the kids off at the bus stop and before we get back to the house.

Doesn't that sound grand? Can't you see it now? I gently hug and kiss my two elder children and wave a swift goodbye as they jump onto their schoolbus. Then I make the short drive to the lake, put the two younger children in their pram and enjoy a leisurely and refreshing jaunt around the lake. Man that sounds good.

Reality Check: In the mornings, I am bit like Gru. I'm about as pleasant to be around, I have a similar body shape (potato, all the way) and I am usually barking orders.

There will be no laughing, talking, burping, farting, playing, or general frivolity until you have eaten and are fully dressed and ready for school!! Eat! Drink! Why aren't you wearing pants??

We wake up in plenty of time to accomplish all of this!

But the lolly-gagging. 

And the storytelling. 

And the mirror-face-making. 

It adds a minute. Or twenty.

Then getting off to the bus stop, with or without clothes for the younger two. Rough. 

The only person consistently ready for the day is Elena. She is always perky and ready to go. She is the highlight of my mornings. Along with my coffee.

 

Speaking of coffee, this walk around the lake wouldn't be possible unless I skip the coffee and drink it...later???  So many stumbling blocks in my way!!!

So, the happy little dream of taking a relaxing walk in the early morning around the peaceful lake will just have to wait. Until menopause.

For now I'll just come home and focus on the important things in life: Breakfast

 

Does the early morning routine for school-goers get any easier??  I pass the high school in the mornings and the frazzled mothers of teens speeding around me don't look any more relaxed than I am??

Does the egg count for nothing?

Bridget just moments after she was born and my sister's "congratulations" comment

One of the MAJOR bonuses to moving to Nashville is that I am much closer in proximity to my siblings and I have already had the chance to hang out with most of them in the short time we have been here. I keep hearing from my family that Bridget looks like my Granny Bridget! And like me! And I LET them get my hopes up. Because the reality is that it takes two to make a baby. Two contributors. How can one consistently cancel out the other. Eradicate any evidence that the other helped??

After all, look at this awesome photo of my dad and his family in 1950. You can clearly see how some children resemble Opa and some resemble Oma. One didn't cancel out the other completely. (My dad is front row, 2nd from the left with the trouble-makers' smirk)

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We see what we want to see. But here is the reality (damn I'm poetic):

EXHIBIT A:

Here is a picture of Jason and his class in Kindergarten. If you know Leo in real life, you can spot Jason in .02 seconds. But for those of you who don't, scroll down.

This photo made my jaw drop. I know my oldest is handsome. And I know he looks like Jason. But WOW!! God basically did a quick copy and paste job with this one.

EXHIBIT B:

Elena has been a mini-me of Jason since day 1:

EXHIBIT C:

Well Roman looks just like Jason. I know that because when Roman ran off at the store and I started backtracking to find him, a store employee approached me with him and said, 

"Are you with a man and 3 other kids?"

"Yes! And this one - thank you!"

"I saw your husband earlier and was actually looking for him because MAN do they look alike!"

And Jason's cousin (the little guy in red grabbing the antlers of a very dead deer). 

And shoot, Roman even looks more like Kiefer Sutherland than he does me?!?!

EXHIBIT D:

And just for good measure I'll toss in a few of my own baby photos. 

Making the decision to put the kids in "real" school

Leo and Elena started school last week!!!

We were so fortunate to find a small school where three Dominican sisters, in addition to a crew of amazing teachers, party with the kids all day. After coming off 2 years of homeschooling, I am so happy to have found a school that focuses on a well-rounded child, not test scores. The school is affordable because they make purchases based on need instead of keeping up with the latest trends in other schools. We don't have smart boards in the classrooms but we do have TONS of happy teachers and happy children.

Making the decision to put them in school was tough for me. Jason was very excited about this school because he works at Aquinas College with the Dominican Sisters. I was much less excited because I had agonized over the decision to homeschool the kids for so many reasons and I wasn't sure that a brick and mortar school would help me to achieve the goals I had.

At the time that I was trying to launch my business earlier this year, I realized that I just couldn't do it. I could either homeschool or earn money. Not both. And we needed to make a hard decision about where to place our priorities. At the same time that I was worrying non-stop about this big decision and figuring out whether or not to push my business to the next level, I was stressing myself to the max and I was not reaching any decision that gave me even one ounce of peace.

I finally made a bargain with God that I would do whatever he wanted me to do, just give me a sign large enough for me to read. Because I'm just not smart enough to spot the subtle hints.

Within 2 hours (TWO HOURS Y'ALL!!) I received a business telephone call from the ideal client looking to hire me!!!

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Needless to say, I didn't need a whole lot more prodding. I felt immediate peace with the decision to move to Nashville, put the kids in a FANTASTIC school, start all over in a new town (soooo not my favorite thing to do) and grow my business.

It is time to hand a couple of the kids over to the professionals, trust in God and move forward. 

GBTN: Why I brush my teeth with oil

Over the last few years, I have jumped even deeper in to natural and organic living.  My journey has extended from food items to everyday products and the majority of these products are relatively unknown and, in my opinion, underused! I wanted to take some time on my blog to share some of the best items I have discovered through my foodclub and introduce them to you.

We'll call this series Getting Back to Nature!

OraWellness Organic Brushing Blend

When I started my foodclub back in 2012, one of our members immediately asked "When can we place a bulk order for OraWellness??" I had never heard of this company, nor had I heard of brushing your teeth with oil, but after quite a bit of research, I was sold!

Quick story: A foodclub member once brought her sister, who was visiting from California, to help us sort and I force fed her home-brewed kombucha which she thought was the worst thing that had ever happened to her. Worse than that, when they left, she told her sister how disappointed she was that everyone looked so "normal". She didn't see one person in Birkenstock's and she didn't see anyone with dreads!!  We let her down...

See all the normal people?!

I have now been using this magical elixir for three years and it is about time I shared it with you all! The foodclub I left in Texas is still going strong with regular bulk orders but I'm going to have to start buying it on my own...unless I can find any locals in the Nashville area to go in on a bulk order with me - any takers?!

OraWellness is an oil based brushing blend with essential oils created to kill all the bad bugs in your mouth while at the same time supporting full mouth and dental health. It also leaves you with a "dentist-clean feeling" in your mouth every.single.time. I cannot go without it for even a day or my mouth starts to feel gritty and dirty.

From their website:

What makes the HealThy Mouth Blend so great?

• Made with Organic ingredients so you know you are getting the highest quality.
• Quickly kills the bacteria that cause gum disease while it freshens your breath.
• Supports the healing of damaged gum tissue.
• Increases saliva production which is highly beneficial to stop gum disease
• Does not contain any nasty fillers, artificial colors, flavors, or other toxins.

Ingredients:

Organic and wildcrafted essentials oils of:

~ cinnamon
~ peppermint
~ spearmint
~ clove
~ myrrh
~ manuka

in a base of Organic almond oil

If you decide to jump in and try this stuff out, you really have to get one of their toothbrushes as well.

Bass Toothbrush-Adult Size Product Description

Notice the staggered spacing of the tufts. This unique spacing allows for greater cleaning potential along and under the gum line. Best if used with the Bass brushing technique. Brushes come in red, blue, purple and green. At this time we cannot offer a choice of color. This helps us keep our cost to you as low as possible.

BPA FREE :)

MADE IN USA

As a family, all 6 of us use them (even though the brushing blend is too "spicy" for the kids).  The toothbrushes are specifically used in combination with the Bass Brushing Technique to significantly reduce bad bugs around your gumline and improve dental health.  I haven't used a conventional toothbrush in years and can't imagine going back now!!

For more information on the toothbrushes and the Bass Brushing Technique, watch this:

Will and his wife Susan, the owners of OraWellness, are super quick to respond to any and all questions! So if you have any, let me know and, if I can't answer them, I'll go straight to the source to get them answered for you!!

So there you have it, one of my favorite all natural, organic items that I tell anyone and everyone about when they give me the chance. I have a couple more staple items to share with you in the next few weeks so stay tuned...

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