6 weeks ago, my husband and I watched an insane documentary about food, and what we put into our bodies.

We were struck by one statement, how we, as humans eat “food like products not food anymore”  they have been so processed that they aren’t nutritious anymore, so nutrients and vitamins get added after the process.

Something struck a chord, we fell silent, immediately, we both said “we need to change”

Here is a little history, we are very active, and fit. During my pregnancy, I was still exercising  but gaining a lot of weight. After I had my son, I had massive complications, and ballooned out 25 pounds. For me, it has been very emotional, the more I thought I was helping my body, the more ups and downs I was having.. More than the weight, I have suffered from lethargy, and extreme cases of it.  My coffee and sugar intake started to go way up – not cool. My weight stuck, and no matter how much exercising and activity I did,  my attitude and life was just not coming together the way I wanted it to.

We went out, bought a juicer, and put away our coffee machine!

First week: Quitting coffee is nothing short of extremely painful. We were physically sick, exhausted and wired at the same time. It was really difficult to go through withdrawals with an active toddler around. Here is the thing, you can’t quit coffee without all the sugar. The more highs you have with caffeine, the more sugar and starches you reach for. I know, because that was me.

Instead of coffee, we started drinking this juice.

This is pineapple, apple, celery, ginger, lemon, cucumber, spinach, and avocado – not more, nothing but nutritious. We also chop lots of veggies bake them with fish or make tuna wraps with veggies, and instead of using mayo, it is avocado and lime:

We don’t eat meat, and we have lots of quinoa and nuts.

The next step, absolutely nothing packaged, no bread or gluten, absolutely no sugar, and nothing from a can! I know, sounds like an extreme sport, but it actually is easier and more fun to cook now. Here is the thing, why would you want to put something in your body that has a longer expiry date than you?  Well, I certainly didn’t want to keep putting bad “fuel” in my body. So everything, and I mean everything is chopped, and made from scratch.

Second week: You feel foggy, but starting to pick up energy, your sleeps become very deep, and by deep, I mean, I can barely move if woken up.

Third week: Nothing but an abundance of energy! I suffer from really bad insomnia, during those periods,  I would always end up going a little loopy, drinking more coffee, and getting more emotional. But, since I started crowding out the bad with the good food, I have had better sleeps, more energy, and although I still suffer from insomnia, I don’t reach for any sugar, my emotions are steady, and I still have an incredible amount of energy.

Here is the bonus: my skin has never looked this good, my eyes are so bright I don’t wear makeup, and I have no circles under my eyes. Having spent so many years lifting weights, I never felt you could tell, it might be me be picky, but all that effort and I never felt it was paying off the way it should. Now, my muscles are compact, my cellulite is almost all gone (whaaaaat?) and now, my insomnia doesn’t make me exhausted. Yes, I am back to my pre- pregnancy weight.

As for making treats, I will, and am about to for Valentine’s day, but I use gluten-free flour and  sugar cane (which is less processed). I always use butter, I feel if you are going to bake something, it might as well be with butter, you actually eat much less of it, and you can reduce the amount of sugar more easily.

I cannot eat any processed food any more, and my body feels as if it shuts down when it has it.

Have you thought about what you put in your body?

Travel Lady with Baby