NEW BLOG!

Hiya, Friends,

It's been a whole year since I've blogged!  Oh my!  I miss being in contact with you!

You can find me on my new blog, PURE MICHELLE JOY:

http://puremichellejoy.blogspot.com/

I hope to see you there!

xoxo Michelle Joy

Hiya, Folks,

It'll be 9 weeks on Friday that I have been working Kathryn Hansen's book, "BRAIN OVER BINGE."  My results have been incredible and groundbreaking.  I have STOPPED binge eating!

It is such an amazing feeling to know that FINALLY my binge eating days are over, but also one of sheer astonishment as to the simplicity of the solution.  It is natural and pure common sense.

One one level, recovery is complicated, which has made writing posts challenging. (I've written about 6 posts I never posted.)  They just became so complicated.

On another level, recovery is so simple, it's effortless most of the time.

I started working the BRAIN OVER BINGE program on September 27th, and similar to Kathryn's experience, I experienced two slips back into old behavior after the 2nd week, but these were an integral part of my recovery.  These slips were totally different now, and I actually saw binge eating for what it was, a habit I perpetuated by continuing to act on binge urges.  I saw myself think the urge, I saw myself act on it, habitually, giving creed to the irrational urge.  I wasn't even enjoying the food.  I enjoyed the food MORE at dinner time, when I was hungry.  Binge eating now seemed pointless, yet I gave in habitually, all the while seeing that the behavior now made no sense.  Binge eating was a creation of my mind, a reaction that stemmed from dieting, a behavior I chose to do, which became a destructive habit maintained by irrational and faulty beliefs.

I have been binge free since.

I eat today when I'm hungry and stop when i'm full and I ignore urges to binge.  And that's it.

The binge urges have for the most part, dissappeared.

The simple method Hansen teaches to end binge eating IS the answer.

I implore you to investigate the book or the website www.brainoverbinge.com if you suffer from binge eating.

_ _ _

I have met wonderful women on the "B.O.B." website Forum.

One of them, Mary Ann, created a Forum herself, which is found on her website.  Here we communicate with each other, and other binge sufferers can discover how to recover using B.O.B principals, and principals from other books that have been meaningful to Mary Ann.

www.AwakeningPerspectives.com
 
_ _ _

I just spent 10 days at The Better Living Lifestyle Center (www.DrArcilla.com), working as Raw and Vegan Chef.

It was wonderful creating new and exciting recipes daily, and living a high raw vegan program again!

I look forward to sharing some new recipes with you in the future.

_ _ _

All in all, I feel like, finally, everything is coming together for me.  Binge eating is gone and I'm losing weight very slowly and naturally, eating health-giving food.  I finally have high hopes for a binge-free future!

xoxo michelle joy

HOW TO STOP BINGE EATING - "BRAIN OVER BINGE" BY KATHRYN HANSEN

Hello there!

So here's the scoop.

Last I wrote, I was planning on going back to OHI (www.optimumhealth.org) in December for another 6-8 months to lose weight and stop binge eating again, by getting back on a 100% raw vegan diet, in the intensely structured environment of this most wonderful raw retreat.

My father had offered to send me.  Thank you, Dad!

I filled out the online application, sent the required essay (which unbeknownst to me needed to be under a certain number of words and had to be rewritten, ahem, SEVERAL times), sent the required photo, recommendation letters, etc..., only to hear nothing back from OHI after a week.  I called and left a message.

After another week, I called again.  And again.

On my third try, finally, someone answered in the missionary office.  "Who is calling?," Darlene, the head of missionaries asked, perplexed, not recognizing my name.  "I don't have your application.  Are you sure you sent it?"

"Uh.......it took me almost an entire DAY to get that application together.  Of course I am sure I sent it." I gave some attitude.

Well.  They never got it.

Must have been a computer glitch.

By then, with the application snafu, I was already feeling like God was just not WANTING this 2nd long term trip to OHI to happen, when my father began complaining, in ernest, about pretty hefty money problems ($6,000 dental bill and a $3,000 repair bill from the car which would no longer drive in reverse).

"Honey, I think you'll have to find something LOCAL," he admitted.

Sensing how the tide was turning, I knew it was time for me to seek out more answers, on my own.

I mourned the loss of the dream of running away to OHI for a while, and then one day, soon afterwards, searching for a cure for my incessantly continual binge eating, I found this video on youtube on HOW TO STOP BINGE EATING.

HOW TO STOP BINGE EATING

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFuOEA0oKWY

The video is of a young teenager who was bulimic, and who is no longer bulimic, after following a book called "Brain Over Binge."  True, she was only in the beginning honeymoon stage of recovery, but I had to admit, it sounded interesting.  

Really curious, I ordered the book that had made such an impact on her, "Brain Over Binge," by Kathryn Hansen, from Amazon.  (My local Barnes and Noble did not have it, nor could they order it, as it was a limited printing, I was told.)  I bought the book easily on amazon.com, here:

BRAIN OVER BINGE BY KATHRYN HANSEN - AMAZON.COM

http://www.amazon.com/Brain-over-Binge-Conventional-Recovered/dp/0984481702/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380945403&sr=8-1&keywords=brain+over+binge

The book arrived about a week later.

The book....is beyond brilliant.

Way beyond.

I know...........this blog is NO stranger to the excited, "I found the cure!" posts.

But I did.  I FOUND THE CURE!

And this is where you will find it.  In this book:



And it is so simple, you will kick yourself.

Now, granted it is only DAY 8 of NO BINGE EATING AND NO DIETING following the book..., but I KNOW with such confidence now that as long as I continue to follow the simple steps (by the way, ridiculously simple) to end binge eating outlined in Hansen's book, (as I HAVE been over these last 8 days), 

I will NEVER binge again.

You heard me right.  I will never binge again.

I know for a certainty, that if this is what I want to happen, never to binge, ever again, (and I do, never want to binge again), then I KNOW I will never binge again.

How many of you could say that....with certainty?

Now, if I WANT to binge again, I will.  

But if I don't want to, how do I know this with such certainty?

I'll be explaining in the coming days.  You just gotta hold on, there is so much to tell!

What is also interesting to note, is that over these last 8 days, I have positively increased in my desire to get back to eating more raw food, rather than the opposite, which you might think would happen, giving up dieting.

Funny.  Now that I can finally HAVE EVERYTHING I WANT (to eat), instead of wanting it all, I am left asking, "Yes, but now, what do you really CHOOSE?"
I think this time away from binge eating has served to heighten my awareness of just how BAD I feel.  And I just felt so good on raw, and want to feel good again, despite the fact that raw food eating does NOT STOP binge eating, as I proved during my frequent raw food binges over the 3.5 years I was raw.

Now, I am coming to it from a place of CHOICE rather than NEED.

And I don't think I will do 100% raw.  And I really have no fear about it.  Because I now know that stopping binge eating has NOTHING to do with food choices.

It has everything to do with the brain.

Much much more coming on that.

In conclusion, I just want to THANK GOD for leading me to this miraculous book.

(If it is right for me, God will clear a path back to OHI.  But I have an inkling that God knows that I can do this now, by myself.  How empowering.) (And now that binge eating is out of the way, I can really do whatever I want to with my diet.  So freeing!)

I am SO grateful to Kathryn Hansen for her amazing insight, for documenting her experience, and for sharing what she learned so effectively, so that other suffering binge eaters, could learn they TOO could STOP binge eating!

I look forward to sharing with you more about my experience, and more about this simple technique described in this incredibly well-written, intensely logical, amazingly practical, and most persuasive book, "Brain Over Binge."

If you are a binge eater, and you want to stop, I urge you to get the book.  You will NOT regret it.

In the meantime, you can look over Kathryn's website, www.brainoverbinge.com

KATHRYN HANSENAUTHOR OF "BRAIN OVER BINGE"

  

P.S. I know there are some of you that just enjoy raw recipes and inspiration, as you have no particular problems with binge eating.  In light of this, I've decided to shut off the automatic sending of my blog posts, after this post.  So, if you are interested in reading about this new journey with ending binge eating, please go directly to my blog to read my new posts.

I thank you for your support, look forward to better days again, and as always, ask God to bless you!
xoxo michelle joy

O.H.I. HERE I COME...AND THE BEST COOKED VEGAN MEATLOAF YOU WILL EVER TASTE!!!

Good News People!

I just filled out an application for the Missionay program at Optimum Health Institute, www.OptimumHealth.org!!!



This is the raw retreat that I went to before starting this blog, where I lost 145 lbs., and started my 3.5 year raw life.  Please pray for my acceptance back into the program!  It helped me tremendously 6 years ago, and I am praying to be blessed to be accepted back for a six month or longer stay. Pray, pray, pray!

In other news, I just wanted to give you an amazing recipe I just created.  This is a cooked vegan Meatloaf recipe that I just came up with using what I had at home, and it is so good, I can't quite believe it, and I had to share it with you.  It's not raw, but I do believe this recipe could be converted to raw vegan with some thought and work.  So, I've done the thought and work for you, and I've added those ideas below!!!

While I'm still around, I might as well ENJOY before I'm floating in a sea of wheatgrass and Rejuvelac!!!

OMG, it was the meatiest fake meatloaf I have EVER had in my LIFE!!!   So so good!

someone else's pic from online, but mine kinda looked like this!!!

COOKED VEGAN VEGGIE MEATLOAF
In large workbowl, add: 1/2 lb (uncooked dry measure) regular brown lentil beans, cooked in water
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup jarred vegan tomato sauce
1/3 cup veggie parmesan
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp Himalayan salt

In Cuisinart with S blade, process finely together: 
2 cups raw brazil nuts
1 cup old fashioned oats
1.5 cups baby bella mushrooms
1 large carrot or 3 skinny old ones like I had
1 cup of raw leeks
1 small onion
3 cloves fresh garlic
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp fresh oregano

Add processed brazil nut mixture to lentil mixture in large work bowl, and with hands, mix thoroughly until well combined.  This mixture will be very moist and will not hold together, but it will after it is cooked and well rested.  

Preheat oven to 400.

Plop the mixture into the bottom of a greased large rectangular pyrex.  Mold the mix into a meatloaf shape.  Bake on 400 for 1 hour.

Then, to create a ketchup-like topping, mix the following in a small bowl and spread ontop of the meatloaf while still in the oven.
  
1 cup vegan tomato sauce
1/4 cup agave
juice of 1 lemon

Bake for another 15 mins.  Turn off the oven and allow the meatloaf to stay in the oven for another 30 mins with the heat off.

If served now, it will be soft and delicious and hot.

But it is even better after it sits out 4 or 5 hours because it will really firm up amazingly and become almost EXACT meatloaf consistency.  OMG, SO GOOD!!

AMAZING!!!

RAW VEGAN VEGGIE MEATLOAF SUGGESTIONS: To create this meatloaf RAW VEGAN, you can sprout 1/2 lbs of lentil beans and process them in the food processor with S blade.  If you don't mind using steel cut oats, you could soak them overnight and process them as well.  I think one cup total would suffice.  If you don't want to use the oats, I think you could use 1/2 cup flax powder total and get pretty good consistency.  Instead of parmesan cheese, you could use 1/3 cup Nutritional Yeast flakes mixed with 2 Tbsp flax powder (to give cheesy flavor and elastic quality).  Instead of jarred tomato sauce, you can use 10 sun dried tomatoes, soaked and processed along with all of the other vegetables.  Try 1/2 Tbsp salt first and add more if you need it.  I would mix the whole thing up and place on teflex in the dehydrator overnight on 105.  For the topping, you could use 10 sundried tomatoes, rehydrated, blenderized with a little soak water, agave, lemon, and some salt.  You could slather that on the meatloaf in the morning and let it dry another half or whole day.

In fact, that sounds YUMMY and I am excited to try this raw version!!  If you try either version, please let me know!!!!  

xoxo michelle joy

LIFESTYLE CHANGES TRUMP ANY DIET

Article By Christopher Wanjek
Published August 21, 2013
Live Science

What's the best diet for maintaining a healthy weight and warding off chronic diseases? Is it a low-carb diet, a high-carb diet, an all-vegetable diet, a no-vegetable diet?

Researchers say you'd be better off just forgetting the word diet, according to an editorial published August 20 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Two researchers Sherry Pagoto of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass., and Bradley Appelhans of the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago call for an end to the so-called diet wars, because they are all equally as good, or bad, in helping people fight obesity.

In the end, patients only get confused thinking that one diet is superior to another, they said, when in fact changes in lifestyle, not diet types, are the true ways to prevent weight gain and the associated ills of diabetes and circulatory disease.
"The amount of resources that have gone into studying 'what' to eat is incredible, and years of research indicate that it doesn't really matter, as long as overall calories are reduced," Appelhans told LiveScience. "What does matter is 'how' to eat, as well as other things in lifestyle interventions, such as physical activity and supportive behaviors that help people stay on track [in the] long term."

The researchers cite numerous studies that demonstrated only moderate success with various types of diet that focus on macronutrients: protein, fat or carbohydrates; but regardless of diet, without a lifestyle change, the weight comes back.

Conversely, several large and recent studies such as the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study and the China Da Qing Diabetes Prevention Study found lower weight and lower incidence of diabetes among study participants many years after the study's initial completion because the subjects were taught how to lose weight through lifestyle interventions.

Lifestyle trumps diet

Pagoto described lifestyle interventions as three-prong: dietary counseling (how to control portions, reduce high-calorie foods and navigate restaurants), exercise counseling (how to set goals, target heart rate and exercise safely), and behavioral modification (how to self-monitor, problem solve, stay motivated and understand hunger).

"The 'diet' used within a lifestyle intervention can be low-fat, low-carb, etc. It doesn't matter," Pagoto said. "In fact, at least one study compared a low-fat lifestyle intervention with a low-carb lifestyle intervention, and it made no difference. The diet itself [is not] instrumental to the lifestyle interventions success; it is the behavioral piece that is key."

Pagoto agreed that a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of weight gain and heart disease. A massive study involving more than 70,000 Seventh-Day Adventists, published in JAMA in June, found that dedicated vegetarians and pesco-vegetarians (who eat fish) live longer than meat eaters. But that doesn't mean a vegetarian diet is all it takes to help you stay healthy.

"Adherence is key, and the way to destroy adherence is forcing foods on someone they do not like, do not know how to prepare, or can't afford," Pagoto said.

Why diets go wrong

Indeed, the authors wrote that the only consistent fact in all the diet studies is that adherence is the element most strongly associated with weight loss and disease risk reduction.

Pagoto described five challenges to any diet that she sees with her patients:

1. having no time to cook or exercise
2. being too stressed out
3. having family members bring junk food home
4. not having anyone to exercise with or feeling awkward exercising
5. and feel hungry all the time 

The ratio of fat to carb to protein doesn't come into play.

Most her of obese patients understand which foods are healthful and unhealthful, she said. So she works with her patients to find ways to make healthy behaviors more routine, regardless of the patient's type of diet.

Pagoto and Appelhans call for more research on diet adherence. The authors described the amount of adherence research as miniscule compared to that on studying the large fad diets.

Similarly, the general population knows more about nuances of these diets (Atkins, South Beach, the Zone), and such, than they do about the basics of adherence; and that, the authors said, is central to the obesity epidemic.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/08/21/losing-weight-lifestyle-changes-trump-any-diet/?intcmp=trending#ixzz2clJNIy8V
_______________________________________________________________________________

HI Folks, I thought this was a VERY interesting article.  The main point is - persistence wins - no matter what kind of plan we follow - 50% raw or 100% raw.  Intellectual constipation and paralysis about 'what' diet is best become irrelevent if we can't stick with it.  We need to just adhere to a healthy plan and change our behaviors for good.

xoxox michelle joy  

ATTACKED AT THE KNEES

WHAT I ATE TODAY

BR: steel cut oatmeal, 1 nectarine, 1 peach, blueberries 

SN: 1 vegan yogurt, 130 cals 

SN: some tastes of raw mock toona 

LN: guacamole and raw corn crackers 

DN: 2 homemade veggie burgers, lettuce, tomato, raw brazil nut pate', raw ranch dressing

Binge free for 11th day, yay, but today was not without significant challenges.

I was bored today and boredom is one of the biggest challenges to overcome and to not eat when one is a binge eater.  I saw it and said, "I am so bored, all I want to do is compulsively eat!"  I don't know how I managed to walk away from it relatively unscathed.

Cliff wanted to take me to work today.  So picking me up avoided any possibility of an after-work binge, that I might have succumbed to had I driven myself.  God must be cradling me in his arms to have arranged that.    

The truth was the boredom was mixed with a seriously healthy does of fear.  I am injured and experiencing significant physical distress.  The feeling I was holding water in my legs?....was not water. It is a tendonitis of sorts, exactly what I went through at Dr. Arcillas.  I have apparently overtaxed ligaments or tendons in my knees again.



But how? Starting a walking program again?  Stopping my heavy duty workouts with my trainer because I ran out of money and had to get my car fixed?  Being on my feet too long at work?  Showing a friend that funny walk Dr. Arcilla taught me that seemed to hurt my knees before?

I think all of the above have played a role in my present incapacitated predicament.

My first thougtht was to feel terribly sorry for myself and blame the Enemy, in Judeo Christian terms, Satan, and to ask why he is attacking me, (literally) "cutting me off at the knees," when I am finally doing better?

Struggling to get around, I had to ask God for help several times today to get through the day without leaning on food.

My second thought was that I am experiencing a detox, and that whatever toxins I'm releasing, are pooling in my knees (?). Is that irrational?  I may be only 50% raw, maybe less, on some days.  Dr. Arcilla seemed to think the tendonitis before was caused exclusively by detox and had nothing to do with injury or weakness or the funny walk he taught me.    

All I know is, I can barely walk and my legs want to buckle.  My knees feel like the tightest rubber bands, I am limping, and in pain.

Furthermore, I have been experiencing alot of all over body stiffness lately, come to think of it, and maybe that is from acids detoxing?  Could my diet be MORE ACIDIC NOW than it was BEFORE?  Too much fruit and grains?  

I don't know what's going on.

Tonight I am going to take Dr. Morse's HEAL ALL TEA, that my wonderful friend, Joy, sent to me.  I will mix that with the Chinese pooping tea Dr. Arcilla prescribed.  Maybe all of that will help clear whatever is inflaming me.

Unfortunately, I have to be on feet all day again tomorrow...

xoxo michelle joy        

TWO BONUS RECIPES! VEGAN VEGGIE BURGERS & RAW MOCK CHICK'N SALAD!!

Howdy on this beautiful day!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

WHAT I ATE:

BR: Green Smoothie: banana, spirulina, 2 pear, peach, pineapple, one date; steel cut oatmeal with fresh blueberry and ground up apple 

LN: Lunch Out - big salad with chick peas, roasted artichoke, roasted red pepper, fresh cukes, tomato, carrot, red onion w/ a little balsamic, 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp. russian dressing 

SN: fresh juice - 1.5 apples, pineapple, 1/2 lime, 1/2 lemon 

DN: cooked whole foods vegan dinner - 2 homemade veggie burgers, a little leftover mushroom mix with quinoa

Walk: good 40 mins walk at the zoo and at the mall.

I had a good but very trying day, emotionally.  Today was day 9, no binges, (YAY!!) but I felt ALOT of uncomfortable emotions and fears surface, namely discouragement and fear I wasn't losing weight fast enough, through much of the day.  I am absolutely positive this diet is GREAT for my binge eating (not compulsive).  But I was left feeling very worried about how it would affect my WEIGHT.  I did get weighed and there is a good loss, but I've lost ALOT more on more RADICAL diets.

Knowing my eating is under control (THANK YOU GOD) and that this eating plan is moderate and thus SUSTAINABLE helped pull through the discouragement about slow loss.  Better to lose slow and keep it off, really changing my habits, than to lose super fast and gain it all back in a week.

Cliff and I decided it is best to weigh myself no more than 1x/month.

Food wise, it was another good day.

I tried to eat less meals, but was unsuccessful.

We took a walk at a mall.

After our big breakfast, we were hungry around 3pm.

We went to this great pizza shop near the zoo we know that serves awesome salads.  I got a huge salad with such good fixings.  That was the best salad I've had in a long time.  Can we say ROASTED ARTICHOKE? OMG, wanna give up SOY?  Just roast up some canned or jarred asparagus.  I swear, those artichoke hearts had the meatiness of wheat meat or soy meat, without being BAD. They were so the bomb, I just got back from the market with two jars of what-do-you-think?  Artichoke hearts.

No processed fake-meats anymore.  Yay.

We went for a good walk at the zoo.  p.s. I pet and fed the giraffe....and pet Ollie, the goat :-) Luscious!!!!!!!!!

When we got home from the zoo, we were so parched from the heat, I made a quick cold fresh juice using a method I learned in Victoria Boutenko's raw cooking video the other night.  You just throw everything with water into the Vitamix, add a little ice, blend, pour through a nutmilk bag, and oila', fresh juice faster than any juicer I've ever used.  Fabulous!!

The veggie burgers I made for dinner are awesome but came out bland because i'm being very judicious with the salt, though it pains me.  But they ARE good. I did them 4 at a time in a teflon pan.  I made a lot, like 12. I was on my feet all night (and worked all day).  I was pooped.

Curiously, my feet did NOT hurt at work today.  (Interesting because i was on them the previous day all day AND night).

Next time i eat fish or dairy, i will let you know if they hurt.

+ + + + + + + + + + + 

VEGAN HOMEMADE VEGGIE BURGERS

1,000 FLAVOR COMBINATIONS!

For vegan homemade veggie burgers, i follow a format - veggie / nut / grain / bean.  I learned this from my friend Talia.  She had the saddest look on her face when i told her I loved boxed veggie burgers. Now Talia smiles when I tell her what I've made.   Using this format, you can make literally thousands of veggie burger flavors!

Last night I made:

veggie: redbeets, onion, thyme, mushroom, carrot, celery, garlic (food processed, raw)
nut: cashew (food processed, raw)
grain: quinoa/barley/oatmeal (left whole, cooked)
bean: red kidney beans (left whole, cooked)  

I mishmoshed it all together and formed patties.  It is actually SO much easier to bake them, which I will do next time.   duh!

+ + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + 

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Br: no breakfast: iced green tea, unsweetened 

Sn: smoothie: banana, almond milk, vanilla

Sn: starving: 4 oz. raw mock chick'n salad 

Ln: very big garden salad with 8 oz. raw mock chick'n salad and raw ranch dressing

Dn: cooked vegan whole foods dinner: 1 homemade veggie burger, 2 slices sprouted grain Ezekiel bread, sliced tomato 

Sn: late night hunger - 1 veggie burger, 3 peaches 

I woke up this morning not feeling hungry!  I guess dinner was heavier than I thought!

Boy, when it finally hit me, it hit!  The banana smoothie (only about 1 banana in it) did little to fill my belly. The raw mock chick'n salad I'd made quieted it for the moment and was MMM...so good!!

It was so good, in fact, I had a lot more for lunch. MMMMM!!!

I thought I could perhaps get away without any dinner tonight, but around 5pm, I felt famished.

And I didn't plan on having bread, but the sprouted Ezekiel was staring me in the face after Cliff's dinner.

And then 9pm, I was starving again!  Oh my.....

No walk tonight.... :-((

+ + + + + + + + + + + + 

I don't have real amounts, but here's how you can make a phenomenal raw mock chick'n.  Guestimated amounts!

RAW MOCK CHICK'N SALAD

• about 4 cups almond pulp
• scallions, maybe 1/3 cup sliced
• herbs chopped: fresh rosemary, thyme, dillweed, and some dried poultry seasoning
• chopped celery, maybe 2 cups, fine
• lemon, a few Tbsps
• salt, maybe 1/2 Tbsp
• garlic, one clove crushed
• cashew cream, about 1 cup

My legs felt heavy and my knees really bothered me today....feels like I'm holding water again. So frustrating. Despite my best efforts, there is salt everywhere and my poor tounge calls for it.  The salad out-to-eat must have had alot of hidden sodium in it.

And the mock chick'n salad has salt.  But I couldn't resist, I was so hungry.

Good news....day 10 binge free!

My co-worker at Raw Can Roll said I am indeed looking better.  That makes it all worth it.

xoxo michelle joy