Ultra-Prevention

The book that I found was Ultra-Prevention: The 6-Week Plan That Will Make You Healthy for Life, by Mark Hyman, M.D. and Mark Liponis, M.D.  I picked it up, among many others, from the library because of its claim to have a plan.  That's exactly what I needed -  a plan.  The book is divided into three parts, the last one being an outline of the six-week plan.  I found A LOT of the information in this book fascinating.  It was written by two medical doctors who spent the first part of their careers working in Emergency Rooms.  After both surviving catastrophic illness, they became committed to practicing more holistic, health-based medicine.  I felt like this provided a unique perspective on the subject, as they had seen both sides of the medical community.

The plan that they outline in Part III of the book is quite dramatic and strict.  I knew that I personally would not be able to follow it to the letter, but as I mentioned before, it provided the tools I needed to get started.

In the past, my husband and I have hopped on the "Whole Foods" band-wagon here and there, only to jump off shortly thereafter.  Shopping at a place like Whole Foods, if you are not familiar with it, can be incredibly overwhelming.  I used to think, "What is all this stuff?" "How do you prepare it?" and "Oh my gosh, look at what it costs?!"  We would be totally gung-ho to change our life, but after the sticker shock at the register, and then throwing away half of what we bought because we didn't like it/didn't know how to cook it/it simply just didn't work for us, we quickly went back to what was familiar.

After reading through the six-week plan in this book though, I thought, "I could make a change for six weeks."  It's only temporary, right?  And at the end of the six weeks, I can evaluate and decide what to do from there.  So, less than a week after returning to Memphis, I had a plan.

My initial plan was to cut out all white starches (white flour, white rice, white pasta and white potatos), as well as most of the sugar I was consuming.  (I didn't feel that it was realistic to try to cut out 100% right up front, and I wanted to set myself up for success.  So, I aimed for about a 75-80% reduction.  This included cutting out most processed/packaged foods, along with my beloved desserts.)  I also gave myself permission to not worry about how much I was spending over the next six weeks.  I didn't get frustrated if I brought a product home and didn't like it, or decided it wasn't for me, I just kept trying different things.

At first, it was tough.  I missed my sweets, and I had a hard time figuring out what to snack on.  (I quickly realized that my main meals during the day were mostly healthy.  BUT, when I reached for a snack mid-afternoon or late evening, it was almost always packaged.)  I just kept trying different things though, and after a few weeks, came up with quite a few options of healthy snacks that worked for me.  I also began having less sugar cravings as the weeks went by.  I started to really enjoy cooking because not only did the food taste good, but I knew that I was doing something really good for myself.  I discovered that the better I felt mentally about what I was doing, the better I felt physically, AND the final total of my grocery bill became less and less important.   (I read once that you can either pay more for your food now, or you can pay for a mountain of medical bills later in life.  From now on, I will be choosing the former.)

At the end of week five, I was feeling better than I ever have before.  I was sleeping well (and I have never been a great sleeper), I woke up early with no trouble (again, never been an early riser), and I had energy ALL day.  But by the end of the sixth week, I had started to feel less well.  Some of my earlier symptoms had started to return, and I wondered why.  Had I been doing anything differently in the last week?  When I thought about it, I realized that during the last week of my plan, I began eating considerably more wheat.  Now, it was never my plan to go gluten free, I had only planned to cut out white flour.  Without really realizing it though, I had not consumed much wheat at all during the first five weeks.  Could there be a link?  I had had a Celiac test - negative, and I had been tested for a wheat allergy - negative.  BUT, I have read that the medical community recognizes a difference between a gluten allergy (Celiac disease) and a gluten sensitivity.  A gluten sensitivity can cause a wide range of symptoms and is much less likely to show up on any test.

So, I cut back on gluten and by just over a week later, I was beginning to feel better again.  At this point (7 weeks after deciding to make a change), I was very excited about what I was doing, the things I was learning, and it had already started to become habit.  Now, this is not to say that I am perfect in my plan, especially because of the recent concerns about gluten.  I am still learning new things, trying new products and doing a lot of experimenting.  I believe that I will continue to discover healthier options than what I have now, and I am looking forward to it.

I decided to get this blog going again because I am excited about what I am doing and learning.  I want to share with others who may be struggling with their health, or looking for a change, or who are as overwhelmed as I was when I first started.