Being special has its perks

I have had a wonderful opportunity to get to know some really cool folks that are as crazy and passionate about real food I as I am. Bryan and Amy Herrin with Farm2Cave contacted me last year about their gorgeous grass-fed cattle ranch and we quickly realized that we have a LOT in common including PALEO!

Seriously, how stinkin cute are they!

I now stock their delicious grass-fed beef at my shop (or will again as soon as those cows get to the desired weight...Fingers crossed for April.) But let me just brag on this meat for half a second...which probably means like a minute or two 'cause I'm wordy.

I also carry grass fed beef from US Wellness Meats...which is good. We like it a lot. But the beef from Farm2Cave is our absolute favorite!! Customers don't just come in asking for ground beef. They want the Farm2Cave ground beef. It is just that incredible. I have one sweet customer who's kids didn't like ground beef until they tried this one. And I kinda thought all ground beef was the same but it is NOT. We sold our first order shockingly fast and even though I couldn't have fit more in our freezer I wish I had ordered more. Bryan and Amy don't just grow happy cows though. They research the snot out of the processing methods and make the very best choices despite maybe extending the amount of time it takes because they choose quality first.

So Bryan and Amy not only grow yummy cows, stay well-educated on processing methods and choose the best little shop venues to sell in but they have also created a Paleo Meal Plan and Grocery Guide and I got to try it out for free!!!!!! Listen, I keep trying to convince Levi I'm the most special person on this planet and I really think my free trial is proof of that. :)

So what is this Paleo Meal Plan and Grocery Guide? Well, it is kinda like Paleo For Dummies although Amy and Bryan would never say as much because they are way too sweet to ever call anyone a dummy. But seriously, they have made eating paleo so incredibly simple and clear cut that anyone can do it. So your excuses are no longer valid....but were they ever valid anyways??

So this is what I got with the unequivocal proof of my specialness:

First there is a menu of the delicious meals that have been thoughtfully and lovingly planned for your family. And lets stop right here for a second. If you have ever sat down and tried to plan out your week's meals you know that this is not a simple process and it takes a lot of time. Who has time for that? I don't. I even went to Staples and spent a ridiculous amount of money on all that pretty robins egg blue Martha Stewart organizational stuff to help me plan meals and although it looks cool in my kitchen it serves no purpose because it still shows the same meals I wrote on in the day I got it...never touched it again. So Farm2Cave pretty much does that annoying job for you and I am all about delegating my responsibilities if possible because my time is precious and I would rather spend it with my family or on Facebook. (Totally kidding...kinda. Why are you people so darn interesting with your cute kid pics and funny memes. Be boringer...it's a word.)

Did you get a good look at that meal plan? Uhhhhhh...yeah so immediately my mouth starts watering because it all sounds amazing and I didn't have to spend hours pouring over cook books and paleo websites to create a varied and delicious meal plan.

Along with the Menu are some quick notes on how to handle different cooking methods or tips for making your meals easier such as:

I was really impressed with this personal touch. There were great tips and I loved every suggestion!

Each meal comes with a complete recipe and picture. The picture is just so important to me. I really need to know that I made something right. Plus pictures totally sell the recipe. You just know this Grilled Flank Steak with Tomatillo Salsa is going to be amazing, right?!

And then, if paleo couldn't get any easier they provide an entire grocery list for you! Below is the pantry section of the list. AND THERE ARE CHECK BOXES!!!!! I love check boxes. I mean really really love check boxes. I actually think I may need to seek help because I feel way too accomplished when I put a little mark in each box. Whatever, I just enjoy the simple things in life. I'm not crazy...right?

   

So you are kinda wanting to check off those boxes right now too huh? Well guess what? You can! Go LIKE Farm2Cave Paleo Meal Plan & Grocery Guide on Facebook or check out their website. For those of you who cannot fathom squeezing out a spare second to plan an entire week's worth of healthy meals this is your answer. It does everything short of actually cooking it for you and well for enough money I'm sure you could delegate that out as well. Actually for enough money I would cook for you! We are talking lots and lots of money though...like Christian Louboutin 

Rampoldi Ankle-Strap Red Sole Pump (in black) kind of money. 

. 

AND speaking of money...right now you can get the Farm2Cave Paleo Meal Plan & Grocery Guide at a discount with this super awesome coupon code because you are special too!!!! 

sunshine

I can't tell you how absolutely and stupidly excited I am about this code.

I'm pretty thrilled about this resource because I'm kinda sick of all the excuses why you (well, of course not you...I love you, but you know those other people) can't eat healthy. From now on I'm just gonna send this link. "Oh you don't have time?" Farm2Cave Paleo Meal Plan & Grocery Guide. "Oh, you don't know what to cook?" Farm2Cave Paleo Meal Plan & Grocery Guide. "Oh you don't know what foods are healthy?" Farm2Cave Paleo Meal Plan & Grocery Guide. 

Thank you Amy and Bryan for solving all my problems and I fully expect you to now figure out a way to make CrossFit easier on me too!

Here is our family's favorite recipe although we loved them all. Okay, actually the pancakes were the favorite but the kids votes only count for 1/2 a vote so Levi and I won two to one. 

Grilled Avocado and Pulled Pork

Ingredients: 
1 Boston butt, picnic or shoulder roast, trimmed
2 TBSP chili powder
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cumin
1 TBSP Dijon or yellow mustard
2 avocados
1 bottle of paleo friendly BBQ sauce (I used Steve's Paleo Peach BBQ found at the Sunshine Shoppe)
2 TBSP cilantro, chopped
1 Roma tomato, diced

Coat pork thoroughly with mustard. Mix all dry ingredients together and sprinkle generously on a pork roast. Allow to set at room temperature for the seasonings to set, about an hour (or refrigerate overnight if you plan ahead). Bake at 300 ̊ for 6-8 hours in oven or a crockpot on low for around 8 hours. When bone pulls out easily, the pork is done. Allow to cool enough to handle; remove from juices and use two forks to ‘pull’ or break apart. Add back a little of the juices for a moist consistency.
Cut two avocados in half, lengthwise. Carefully use knife/spoon to remove the inside, in one piece, from the skin. Slice thin sliver off the rounded side of avocado to allow it to sit flat. Place avocado in preheated skillet set on medium heat with a little oil. Turn after 2-3 minutes and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Place avocado in center of plate, hollow side up and fill with pork, top with BBQ sauce, tomato and cilantro. 

We added some mexican caulirice to our beautiful avocado pulled pork dish. Just process some fresh cauliflower until rice sized. Saute with some coconut oil and add tomatoes, cilantro, and salsa. Easy peasy.

Even I can't make bloating cute

Okay so I'm checking in with my 1 week progress report for my "I was stupid and gained weight" challenge. And things are going REALLY good! I've lost 3.4 pounds in 8 days but lets face it, most of that is water...actually probably all of it but whatever. I'll take it.

I had Addie take more progress pics of me. She cracks me up because she was my little shadow when I was doing body fat percentage pinching and before and after pics on the sweet members at our old CrossFit box. She says the exact thing I would. "You can smile. And turn. Shoulders back. Turn. Move you hair. One more turn. Alright, hard part is over darling." Seriously...just like that! She cracks me up! So when I get the nerve in June to post these pictures just remember a five year old was taking them.

But I think I kinda see a difference just from day one to day seven. I'm sure it is just lack of bloating. That is really an unfortunate word...bloating. Is puffiness any better? Pouchiness? No. Yuck. That's worse. I just searched "bloating synonyms" and came up with "billowing," "distending," "expanding," "enlarging," "filling," "puffing up," "pumping up" and "swelling up." So yeah, no. Nothing is cuter. Bloating cannot be made cute...ever.

I've had a LOT of people ask what am I eating and what my actual plan of attack is. So I thought I'd give you all the rundown.

Here are my guidelines:

1. No nuts. At ALL. This is really hard for me because almond butter is my go to sweet fix. But just 3 teaspoons is the total amount of fat I should be getting in an entire meal...and I can pretty much guarantee I eat more than 3 teaspoons. I'm also not doing any almond flour. And let me tell you, I have to do all these recipe posts for the Sunshine Shoppe's Facebook page and all I want are those no bake almond flour and heaven cookies. My mouth just watered while typing that.

2. No sugar. Levi is usually on sweets duty on the weekend. He is pretty stinkin amazing in the kitchen and so on the weekends he usually whips up some tasty bit of heaven but he has been super supportive of my little challenge so he has restrained from making any sweets even just for him and the kids...which really helps because I may lose control otherwise. Hey, it happens to the best of us. :)

3. Less fat...not no fat...less fat. So far every day in my myfitnesspal food journal I exceed my fat allowance that apparently some brilliant robot designed for me. I'm not worried at all. But in order to eat less fat I'm draining my meats (I wasn't before in hopes to gain obviously), keeping to 1/2 cup of avocado per day (because I could eat 3 whole avocados a day easy), subbing coconut milk for butter in my coffee (I know...so sad...but I wanted to eliminate ALL dairy bc my skin has been less than lovely), focusing on leaner meats like fish and chicken (which is hard because I want steak like all the time.) That was seriously the longest runon sentence yet...sorry grammar police.

4. Chilling on the sweet potatoes. It sucks.

5. Working out more...if possible. So basically I'm trying to be active twice a day. Granted, I'm a mommy and wife so I'm pretty much running around like a crazy chicken without a head 90% of the day regardless, but for about two hours of that I try to focus the crazy chickeness on something productive like fat burning and muscle building. There is a cool app called MYWOD and on it is a list of different workouts you can do without the typical CrossFit equipment. So I sometimes pick one of those in the morning if I have Addie at home and can't go for a run. I've also been meeting with a friend to walk briskly sometimes...which that totally sounds lame. Imagine speed walkers not mall walkers. And we are also meeting twice a week with an incredible coach to perfect our Olympic weightlifting form. And on top of that I am doing CrossFit as often as I can in the evenings. So yeah...staying pretty active. But it is fun and I love it.

6. Keeping a food journal. I am using myfitnesspal.com. It has the largest database of foods and I have found that it even has really obscure foods such as the paleo mayo that I order from this one tiny little company that is more farm than actual company. The food journal is tedious but it keeps me accountable. Plus it makes me more proactive about what I plan to eat or drink. I'm trying really hard to stick to a Zone Block mentality. So I want 30% protein, 40% carbs and 30% fat. The food journal helps me track that easily which is pretty cool. I can also keep track of my water intake which is really important because I have to FORCE myself to drink water. In fact, it is 10:29am right now and I've had two cups of coffee and one wheat grass drink...no water.

***Went and got water.

7. Taking a cleanse. Okay, so I'm going to attempt to handle this part delicately. Pooing is kinda important. Like really really. And after my four day stint of fried Oreos and waffles I think my whole body just needed a good cleansing.  And well, if you and I haven't had a conversation about your poo experiences we will someday because I apparently bring those lovely little conversational gems out of people so you are going to just have to deal with this awkward paragraph about my pooing issues. So here goes...I take one tablet at lunch (which has chromium to help with sugar cravings and it really is very helpful) and then at dinner I take another tablet and a capsule that works as a laxative (another unlovely word.) I did that for three days. Then I increased by one of each at each meal. You are supposed to keep increasing every three days until your poo is mushy. Well...let's just say I'm staying right where I am because mushy isn't even the correct word. I noticed around days 4 and 5 I felt kinda puny. That is normal. I wasn't alarmed because I have done this before. But one thing that did kinda catch me off guard was I started twitching. My eye was twitching so badly you could see it! It was really noticeable and I would get so embarrassed because when I was talking to people and my eye would twitch they would do this weird glance away quickly and then when they would look back up it was like they couldn't decide where to look on my face. The twitching was because I wasn't absorbing enough B-Vitamins so I have double up on my multi and I'm taking an extra B Complex just to cover my bases and it has made the twitching go away. But just a quick note: If you are wanting to try a cleanse but are on important meds that your body needs to keep you or others around you alive then you should definitely talk to your doc.

8. Drinking wheat grass drink daily. This helps with my energy levels a lot! Plus it give the above mentioned subject matter a boost and lovely shade of green. ;) I drink the Amazing Grass Wheat Grass powder in the Orange Dreamscicle flavor. Do you remember those Flintstone PushPops? It tastes like that. Well, if you dropped it in freshly mowed grass. But still, the BEST GRASS YOU HAVE EVER EATEN. It's good. Try it.

9. This is the most important one...Bought new workout clothes and shoes. Listen, it inspires me. I get excited to get to wear them so it kinda helps me stay focused on working out daily.

So that list was longer than I had anticipated this little update to be. But I wanted to mention what I've struggled with real quick...I know I'm wordy...just hold on a bit longer.

So here are the things that I'm dealing with...

1. I can make great food choices until I'm hungry. I have a threshold of hunger where I don't care what is in front of me, if it is remotely edible, it WILL be going into my mouth as quickly as possible. So Wednesdays we take the kids to church in the evening and then we totally bail and go have a dinner date. (Listen, God is cool with it.) We went to Applebees because well, this is Greenville Texas and options are limited. I am famished at this point because we had just gotten done at CrossFit Downtown and I'm fairly certain the coaches there are taking out some pent up aggression on us with these 30 minute killer WODs. But whatever...I felt like a super hero. So anyways, I'm starving and our waitress s l o w l y makes her way over to our table. "Can I get you something to drink?" she says. "Yes. Lots of water, a glass of Merlot and I need you to bring out a side salad asap with oil and vinegar. Wait...what kind of oil do ya'll have?" She doesn't know. Says it's pink. PINK! I have no nice response to that and apparently I'm being a bit abrupt because I'm hungry and Levi is trying to use The Force to make me shut up. "Will you please go look at the container of oil and let me know?" I say sweetly because The Force is strong with Levi. She comes back and says, "It says 'Salad Oil'...that is all it said." Well great. WTH is salad oil? Did they squeeze some lettuce and magically produce oil? Probably not so I just order the salad anyways because I'm about to start pouring the ketchup down my throat. Then when she finally gets around to bringing my salad it is literally finely shredded cheese with like 8 brown Romaine hearts and some croutons!  So I did what any crazy starving paleo obsessed retard would do. I got out my napkin and cleaned each piece of precious lettuce and ate it as it my life depended on it. Didn't even care that people were watching.

2. I want to weigh myself a lot! Every day. Several times a day. What is that? And then when the weight goes up .25 pounds I freak! And I KNOW BETTER! So I took the scale to the shoppe. This isn't about weight anyways...

3. Because I am sticking to the Zone blocks thingy I am not eating as much protein as I was used to. So I am not getting as full as quickly. I have had to reconfigure our meals and double the veggies so that I am eating enough to feel full.

Hopefully next week's update will be shorter and is going to go something like, "Still progressing toward my goal, still struggling, still pooing, still green." :)

Day One

I have done a bad bad thing. I am not sure how I ever thought this was a good idea. So here it is. I'm just gonna say it. Well, wait....Let me explain that I am totally and utterly freaked out about what I'm about to admit. Which is stupid because I did this on purpose but now that I'm about to admit something about myself and then I may run into you at the grocery store kinda makes me want to hurl. But whatever...self embarrassment is apparently entertaining.

Alright. Here goes. I'm really going to type it this time. Really. It's about to happen. Okay. I can do this...

I gained weight.

I weigh more today than I ever have without a person growing inside of me or on the downhill slope of that person having made his or her exit.

But here is the crazy part...I did this to myself on purpose because I'm crazy. And here is why. I am constantly hearing this, "What do you know about losing weight? You are just one of those naturally skinny people." And well that kinda sucks because before now it was true. And so stupid me decided this January that I was going to work hard at gaining weight until March and then experience what it is like to have to lose that weight before summer. Because here is the deal. I want to be able to really help people meet their health goals and a lot, actually most of the time, those goals are weight related. And I truly feel that in order for me to understand the struggle and frustration with weight loss I need to actually experience it for myself.

So let me tell you how I got here. Here, by the way is 13 pounds more than I am comfortable with, 18 more than my last year's summer weight. Which let me just say right now that I understand that my measly weight loss goal is not nearly what some people have to face and work toward losing but I just am not willing to go past this point for the sake of an experience and I completely admire and am inspired by those that have a much larger battle to fight yet still remain disciplined and focused. But you should know that psychologically I am struggling. Really struggling. Like I think about my weight A LOT! I can FEEL my clothes on me. It is not comfortable. I am barely squeezing into my jeans. Let me tell you, I work up a sweat inching those way too skinny jeans up and I'm not even going to describe the efforts I go to zip those babies.

But I digress...(okay that sounded dumb). Anyways, I have increased my calories per day to about 3500, lots of fat, we are talking sitting over a jar of coconut butter with a spoon and not caring about double dipping, and grass-fed butter on everything...EVERYTHING. (Which by the way, IS SOOOOO GOOD.) The plan was to stop this excessive caloric intake March 1. But then Levi and I decided to take a trip to see the Houston Rodeo (which was surprising cool despite the poo smell) and to see my baby sister who is 6 months pregnant with my little niece. So being the brilliant retard that I am I decided to throw caution and paleo to the wind and eat whatever my little straining heart desired.

Bad idea. Terrible idea. HUMONGO awful idea. It was fun at first. I had cream and sugar in my Starbucks coffee...which is the only way I can drink their coffee bc it tastes burnt without the sugar and lactose confusing my senses. I ate fried Oreos at the the Rodeo. Those were gross, but I still ate all four. Why did I do that? I had waffles for breakfast every day. Ummm lets see what else...onion rings, a hamburger, 6 different deserts and a gas station cappuccino (I know, classy).

And at first I was shocked because I didn't feel bad. I expected to be doubled over in pain that first night. But besides feeling gross I was fine. And that was the norm for the first two days. But then gross turned into a nagging headache which later grew into a monster headache that can only be slain with prescription meds that make my head feel hollow. (Insert joke here...totally set you up with that one.) But it wasn't just me. All of my sweet family

 were experiencing major tummy issues. And let me tell you, sharing a bathroom (one that is just two feet from your bed) when kiddos tummies are funky is NOT cool.

But back to present day. I am thrilled to be done with that. You know how if you eat a ton of sugar cookies with sprinkles and then get sick and throw up you don't ever want sugar cookies with sprinkles again? (This actually happened to me...cannot eat sugar cookies with sprinkles.) Well I kind feel that way about all nonpaleo food now. I have no desire for that yuck any more. Which is a good thing considering I need to get my butt in gear and start working on losing this weight.

I took my "before pics" today. I started keeping a food journal as well. And I'm working out twice a day. Doing paleo for weight loss is a bit more extreme than just sticking to meats, veggies, fruits, nuts and good fats. I'm not eating nuts at all. This includes nut butters and flours as well. I've increased my green veggies and decreased my starches such as sweet potatoes. OH HOW I AM GOING TO MISS SWEET POTATOES. I have eliminated all sugar. ALL SUGAR. And I'm focusing on leaner meats and not going so overboard on the protein amounts. I'm really focusing on a Zone block concept with sticking to two to three blocks of protein depending on my activity level. My goal is not to lose a certain amount of pounds but to look at my "after pic" and see a noticeable difference. It's not about hitting a particular number on the scale bc that little turkey is a liar! Or at least my conception of what my weight should be is incorrect. So it's all about the picture for me. I'm planning on ending this June 1. If I get brave I'll post both before and after pics and finally have my own weight loss story to tell.

Let me just say that hindsight is 20/20 and I would never encourage anyone to do this little experiment. This wasn't a healthy choice and diet has much larger ramifications than weight. BUT with that being said I am kinda stinkin excited to see how this weight loss thing goes. I'm one day in and gonna weigh and take progress pics every Thursday. I hope posting about it will force me to stay accountable. I know a lot of you are feeling the warmer weather and starting to think about leaning up for that vacation you just booked. So do this with me. Let's give up all the wonderful things about paleo and just be miserable together. :) NO? That doesn't sound fun to you? Well, me neither. But I guess that is kinda the point. A lot of people struggle with weight because saying no to yummy foods and yes to sweating is hard...But it will be totally worth it.

OKAY NOW LET'S TALK FOOD....

So I'm not eating this right now but it is quite the lovely treat and so easy to make.

Banana Ice Cream That Doesn't Overwhelm You With Banana Flavor (It's a serious title for a serious desert as you can obviously tell by the monster bowls we used. )

Ingredients:
1 1/2 bananas sliced and frozen
3 TBSP almond butter
2 tsp honey

Add all ingredients into a food processor or blender and process or blend until creamy and amazing. Transfer to a freezable container and let freeze a few hours. (Or just eat it out of the food processor like we did.)

Is it Spring Break Yet?

I am back...

I think. 

Maybe. 

We will see. 

I've gone back to school which has made my already crazy world even more crazy. I actually feel guilty for writing this post because I should be reading my text because I have a test next week but eh...I'm sure I'll get to it. At least I keep saying that. I'm pretty sure the only reason I'm writing is to actually avoid reading that book. 

At the beginning of the year I was so excited to be going back to school! My degree is in business right now which is appropriate considering I own a little shop but I have gotten some wild crazy hair and decided I want my PH.D in nutritional sciences. HA!!!! Seriously, reading that just made me realize how overwhelming this is. Let me explain...a business degree does not run parallel to a science degree in ANY WAY. It is almost like starting over from scratch or at least my junior year. NOT COOL. I have so many prereqs it is ridiculous. But in January somehow all of that seemed minor, like the world was just bursting with possibilities and I could accomplish anything I put my mind to!

You should have seen me all stupid and excited going up to the college to talk to an advisor and to make my schedule. It was like I was 15 again, laying out my clothes the night before, waking up an hour earlier than needed from sheer excitement, showing up ridiculously early, being overly prepared with every form of ID I could possible think of and needing to pee because I drank at least 3 cups of coffee and 2 cups of tea. But I get there looking all cute and collegey (let's face it I looked like a mom in her 30s going back to school) and I get sent all over that stinkin campus because nobody has any clue just how exactly to make my business degree work in a science masters program. At the end of my journey I was the proud new student of one single tiny class...Nutrition 101. 

Like the little dork that I am I couldn't wait to sit in a desk and have some brilliant professor feed me loads of incredible knowledge about our bodies and how they react to what we put into them. I do quite a bit of reading and researching on my own but this was different. This was the beginning of my journey of earning letters behind my name...proof that I am well educated and full of knowledge. But then the first day of class happened and it wasn't long before I realized that this journey was going to be less about actual science and more about government suggested health recommendations...which by the way, are very contrary to what I believe to be healthy based on loads of reading and my own family's experience with diet and nutrition.

Every day I go to class and I sit there looking like a little tomato about to explode because I get so stinkin frustrated at the nonsense that is being taught. The very first day of class my professor made it very clear that the paleo diet was not good because "you will definitely lose weight by doing it but the second you stop and start back to eating regular food you will gain it back." WELL DUH!!!! To me that means that it is those "regular foods" that are the problem...not the effective diet. And she LOVES grains. Grains are going to somehow save the world in her eyes. Those of us that don't eat grains are fat...seriously. She thinks grains make you skinny. I guess if by skinny she means bloated, inflamed, and calcium deficient then yeah, grains make you "skinny."  And we need to drink more milk...but only skim, 1% if you are feeling naughty and want to live it up. And she hates fats! She is a bacon hater. I can't believe such a person exists and no less one that is educating me on food! And to be honest that just has me all in a tizzy. She is constantly condemning saturated fats which we know by now are actually really important for HEALTH. But I think that is the real issue here. Everything is attributed to calories and weight loss not lack of disease or pain.

According to my professor, text, and our government recommendations, acceptable weight ranges and health are the same thing. Don't get me wrong, I completely agree that the two are connected but they aren't the same thing. I was that person that was within my normal weight range yet I was not HEALTHY. I guess to look at me someone would think I was healthy because of my size but in the inside of my body I was full of inflammation and candida leading to tummy issues and terrible migraines. So no...health and weight are not the same thing. 

I have to continue to restrain myself from speaking up in class, from saying, "hey, look here. I eat like 3 times the recommended calorie intake, gobs and gobs of grass-fed butter, red meat regularly, I don't eat any grains, or milk and yet I am the oldest person in the class room with the healthiest body." Which is actually very true. I am SHOCKED at these kids in this class. First of all, they wear pajamas in class! No kidding. Just because you put some Ugg boots on does not make your pjs an outfit people. But aside from that, most of them, like 80% or more, are very overweight and through listening to their report presentations they are also very unhealthy. 

AND GET THIS...She actually recommended using sugar substitutes. She said there is a lot of "hype" about aspartame but all the health scares are unfounded. But if you still don't want to take the gamble then she RECOMMENDS SUCRALOSE. In her mind, the less calories, the more healthy something is. Forget any other health related issues...as long as you are eating less than 2000 calories a day you are golden. Except there is this little issue of cancer. You've heard of it right? I think we have all suffered heartbreak over this not so little issue. In a study conducted at the Ramazzini Institute in Bologna, Italy  the director of this study, Dr. Morando Soffritti made this conclusion: 

"Our early studies in rats showed increases in several types of cancer, and, in our most recent aspartame studies, we observed a statistically significant increase of liver and lung tumors in male mice. This shows aspartame causes cancer in various places of the body in two different species. Health concerns over aspartame are leading consumers to switch to the widely promoted alternative: sucralose.

Now that we have found evidence of a link between sucralose and cancer in mice, similar research should be urgently repeated on rats, and large scale observational studies should be set up to monitor any potential cancer risk to human health."


I'm pretty sure all you have to have is a Facebook page to know that sugar substitutes are not good for you. But maybe I'm "liking" the wrong pages. Who knows? But seriously, how do you ignore the increased cancer rates? Or the fact that despite our country's sugar  replacements we are still a really unhealthy, obese nation? Am I the only one asking these questions?

When I politely raised my hand and sweetly asked, "If our government has had these recommendations of eating more grains, more dairy and less fat for over 20 years how come our obesity and chronic disease rates continue to rise," she just responded with, "It is because no one sticks to the guidelines." But I kinda have a problem with that. That just seems like faulty reasoning if you ask me. I understand that Americans love processed foods, McDonald's fries (dipped in a chocolate shake...that's right, I can do unhealthy too), quick easy pop in the microwave meals, boxes of cookies and crackers. But I see customers and talk to clients who are eating "healthy" according to the USDA's guidelines and its pretty little plate graphic and they are still struggling with weight and health. So apparently something isn't working. Eating sugar-filled yogurts (because Jamie Lee Curtis said to), packaged frozen meals that you just dump into a crockpot and at the end of the day you have a "home-cooked" meal, high fiber breads, and runny thin watery milk just isn't cutting it in my opinion. But she has those 3 pretty letters behind her name and I don't yet so I just have to suck it up, bite my already very swollen tongue and regurgitate (that's a gross word but fitting) inaccurate information.

How fortunate I am that I can release my frustration out on my sweet little blog. I just hope she doesn't come across it. 
If you do, Dr. FakenamebecauseIamactuallynowthinkingyoucouldreallyseethis, just understand that I will someday get those three letters. I will be part of the change. I will educate based on truth and science and I will never stop questioning, digging, and finding answers.