Angela
I grew up being athletic, playing sports from Jr. High through University in addition to playing on an adult volleyball team in my 40′s. My passion for health began when I met with an nutritionist who put me on a plan (mostly plant-based, gluten free, dairy free) that helped me lose most of my post-baby weight. In addition to being an older mom (son born when I was 39), I had also had 4 miscarriages which really messed my body up. I’m considered to be secondary infertile which means the inability to carry a pregnancy to term, following the birth of one or more biological children.
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Once I lost the weight, that’s when I began to share the gift of health/wellness with others. Being a former school teacher, I love talking to others, sharing my passion and teaching people how to be more effective at home, in the workplace or at church by going beyond the ordinary and & accomplishing extraordinary things.
I am also privileged to be home with our son to homeschool him… the greatest gift of all! My husband travels a lot so we’ve been able to accompany him and to me there’s nothing better than hands-on learning & being together as a family!
Then….I had my horse back riding accident.
In July 2011 at 46, I had a horse riding accident. My injuries required a shoulder replacement. The orthopedic surgeon told me it was the worst shoulder injury he had seen. I have been recovering and looking forward to getting back in shape.
I’d be very interested to begin this journey with you! As I’m also trying to share the gift of health/wellness with people, I know I need to be just as accountable. Our (my family & I) diet has been mainly plant-based, but I’d also like to add more probiotic food as well. Although I cook healthy meals, my primary weakness is my sweet tooth & food w/ gluten (breads, muffins, etc.). My exercise also needs to increase, especially since my accident where activity has been very limited. Thank you for your time & passion to help others!
Craving sweets and breads tell me that you need more quality protein. Free Range Organic eggs in your smoothie is a great way to increase quality protein. I love my raw goats milk since I raise my own goats and I feed lots of minerals so the flavor and nutrition is great. When losing weight, more protein throughout the day is important to rebuild the body. Once the body is rebuilt, then protein can be lowered. Also eat lots of quality fats. Raw nuts, avocadoes, coconut oil, are all good choices. Quality fats help us not to be hungry all of the time. Raw sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are good snacks with lots of essential fatty acids. And they are great for your eyes and skin.
Exercise should be gentle after an accident. Walk briskly as you can and try to increase the time weekly. Work slowly and gently and rest when you need to. Don’t try to push the body too hard and then relapse.
Drink purified water each morning first thing. Drink as you walk. Drink in between meals. Proper hydration is very important to cleansing and getting the lactic acid out of the muscles.
Good health to you!!
Thanks Delores! Most of what you said, I had been doing, then relapsed after the accident.
That is why I’m so thankful to have the accountability with Dr. Haley to get me back on track… and to be a role model to those whom I already speak about nutrition! When I incorporate more quality protein, it definitely helps curb my sweet tooth. You mentioned raw eggs in smoothies… what do you think about cooked eggs (i.e.- scrambled eggs)?
The more that you cook eggs, the more protein that you tie up but we all eat gently cooked eggs daily. I like to gently cook veggies in coconut oil and then add the eggs for a wonderful omlet. I do avoid boiled eggs as I know that is harder to digest and we all need to be kind to our digestion when healing. We are like babies after injuries and we need to eat things easy to digest for a period of time. Smoothies with veggies break down the wall and make much more available. I have grown to love my spinach smoothies. Today I made a spinach/onion/carrot soup with my VitaMix. It was delicious!! And I ate too much!!
Why are you drinking reverse osmosis water? It pulls out minerals and makes it acidic. We need all of the minerals that we can get to heal our body. Minerals are the building blocks for vitamins to work and make hormones. If you are concered about water quality, use a quality water purifier that won’t pull out good minerals.
I actually recommend reverse osmosis water because of it’s high purity level. The worry over minerals is mitigated by (1) a proper diet that’s already high in minerals, (2) a daily multivitamin/mineral, which everyone should take 2-3x/day regardless of how healthy they feel their diet to be and (3) any worries over potential mineral loss (and the jury is out as to whether that’s really even a valid concern) is hugely offset by not having chlorine, fluoride, pesticides, prescription drugs, industrial waste, microbes, antibiotics, etc. in your drinking water.
Also, the blood acidity issue is, IMO, pseudoscience. The body works constantly to maintain a balanced internal pH (i.e. maintaining homeostasis), so unless you’re drinking vast amounts of water over and above your normal needs, you’re not going to make the body significantly acidic.
Your diet looks very healthy in that there’s no processed foods and everything is organic and purified. One downside however, is that I just don’t see enough protein and fat. When trying to lose weight (i.e. lose bodyfat), you should be taking in at least 30% of your calories from dietary fat…including mono’s like olive oil as well as saturated fat from meat (naturally raised) and fish (wild caught, never farmed, of course). Both carbs and protein store easier as body fat than dietary fat.
Also, I see several instances of bread. Grains are an absolute no-no, regardless of how wholesome the ingredients, when trying to lose weight. One thing I did many years ago was document the fat, carbs., and protein of everything that I ate for one week. Back then, I found that my carb. levels were a whopping 70% of my diet! It’s just too easy to see carb. levels rise and it takes more work to eat more fat (i.e. preparing food rather than simply mixing a shake).
Lastly, do you have a target daily caloric intake? The reason I ask is because a neat trick for losing weight when eating at a depressed caloric level is to have a cheat day once per week. When eating relatively low-carb., a great trick is to bump up your carb. levels by around 75g. It allows you some cheat foods and keeps the body from plateauing in its weight loss. This cheat amounts to a bowel of ice cream or 2 pieces of pizza (not a total pig-out
) and is best timed on a weekend when cravings (and temptation) tend to be at their highest.
Best of Luck!
Thanks, Michael, for all of the recommendations! We had a crazy weekend so I hadn’t fully prepared for the week, other than using/eating what we already have in the pantry/fridge.
I completely agree that I need to add more fat & protein. I love wild caught fish… I just need to make a trip to Whole Foods up North. I’ll head up there on Saturday to get some more!
Eating the homemade cornbread was something I made for my family, but of course I had to have a piece. 
In terms of caloric intake, what would you recommend for weight loss? And how do you know the calories of veggies/fruits (since that’s a big part of my diet)? We make shakes a lot in our Vitamix because it’s a great way to add more veggies throughout the day. The shake powder is a whole food based drink mix that’s 100% plant based (soy, golden chlorella, chickpea powder, tofu, pumpkin powder powder, pomegranate powder, spirulina powder, yucca powder, broccoli sprout, alfalfa sprout, radish sprout amaranth, quinoa, millet & more).
Thanks, again! Your input is very helpful!
Hello!
My recommended caloric intake for women trying to lose weight is roughly 1200-1400 calories per day. Granted, this can vary greatly depending on your metabolism, body size, hormone levels, diet, etc., but that’s a rough number I use as a guide. Too many people follow the 2000-calorie-per-day nonsense and wonder why they never lose weight. We actually need a lot less calories than we’ve been led to believe. We tend to eat more when we’re eating a lot of empty calories.
As for calories and nutritional content of various foods like fruits and veggies, the USDA actually has done something right with its Nutrient Data Laboratory: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
Finally, I’m not a fan of soy. Not only is it not a health food, but if it’s not organic it’s almost guaranteed to be GMO. Read this page for more info: http://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert
Awesome, thanks! Believe me, I know all about GMO’s so I’m very particular if/when I ever have soy/corn/alfalfa. The soy is non-GMO & unprocessed. The links look great… I’ll definitely do some more reading about the “soy” controversy. I love Westin A. Price, but don’t always have time to read a lot of his articles & studies.
Way to go sister!!! I know you can do it! I love reading all these blogs….it helps me too! If it wasn’t for you and the Lord, I wouldn’t even be on a health kick myself. Going gluten free has taken away my back muscle pain…..finally!!! You are very inspiring and thank you for all your support and health tips! Love you and keep it up!!
This is why I do what I do! To help inspire people to live a fuller more abundant life! It also helped me “practice what I preach”! I’m so glad you and I are on this journey together. Love ya sis!
When I see you dancing on the steps in Philadelphia, singing the song, “In the eye of the Tiger”, I will know you have made it.
Imagine all of us here, running with you on your journey.
Love Dad.
Thanks, Dad… it is a journey indeed!! XO
Angela this is so great! You are an inspiration to me! I’m really impressed by all the changes you have made in your life since the Cali days! I support you 100% and you are #1 in my book!! =)
Angela if you live near a Trader Joe’s they usually have wild salmon there. =)
NO Trader Joes here…yet! The closest one is in New Mexico which is why I buy my wild-caught fish at Whole Foods. Iris, YOU are the inspiring one. I remember trying your nut paste (which, by the way, I’d love the recipe for) and how you ate healthier than any of us during our teaching days.
Thanks for the support!
I’m glad to see lots of phytonutrition every day… and just in case you don’t get enough of full variety, you get some extra from http://alturl.com/dt78m . But a little more exercise would be good. It has been a few days since your power walk. When you train your legs, it is especially good for the whole body. Training the largest muscle groups have the biggest whole body strengthening and healing effect. The demand from the larger muscles create chemical (hormonal ) changes that affect the whole body – including injured parts that weren’t exercised.
Thank you! Yes, I definitely need to get into the habit of exercising daily again. I was so limited for so long but now have no excuse! I’m grateful for the reminder.
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1/29 glad to see exercise today. I think it has been 10 days.