Tools Needed to Change

The Cornerstone Content Blog Challenge topic for day 12 is content that gives the tools needed to change. Back in July 2018 I needed to change my eating habits when I was diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and gallstones. I didn’t want to go on medication so after doing research I found I could change my diet. The main things that had to go were sugar, white bread, rice and potatoes. Could I do this since I always started my day at our shop with the largest McDonald’s sweet tea?

I said good-bye to the tea and I haven’t had a sip of sweet tea since July 2018! Instead I would add frozen berries or grapes to water for a hint of flavor. I also brewed orange or raspberry tea and let it get cold. These were now my favorite beverages.

Cutting out white bread was no problem since I love oat or wheat bread, I switched white rice to brown and ditched the potatoes for sweet potatoes faux potatoes made with cauliflower.

I was pleased with how my new healthy diet filled me up and also made my insides feel so much better. When I went for my lab work in October, my liver function test was normal and my gall bladder was also.

I had no problem sticking to my healthy eating and I would post updates on my progress. My latest update was January 2020, 18 months from when I started my new eating habits. I could eat without having pain or feeling bloated plus I lost about 24 pounds and 4″ in my waist. http://themarthareview.com/1-1-2-years-later/

Sometime between February and October of this year I started getting off track on my eating. No I didn’t go back to sweet tea but Lia started baking lots of goodies! I had a few pains in my stomach occasionally but didn’t think anything of it until I realized the bloating and pain was constant and a few pounds crept up without telling me!

It was time to get back on track to my healthy eating plan. So I needed to get the tools needed to change back to my healthy eating plan. The tools were to cut back on sugar and eat more fruits.

Lia started baking healthy snacks for me too! She made banana bread, delicious zucchini bread and oatmeal and raisin cookies!

I’ve been doing weekly meal updates since the beginning of November and in January 2021 I will post the results of my past 9 weeks. I already feel so much better, no stomach pain or bloating and my food moves down to my stomach like it’s suppose to. My goal wasn’t to lose weight but I’m down about 5 pounds, just about where I was last January.

Sometimes we don’t realize that the tools needed to change are right in front of us and we need to push the sugary treats away and bring on the fruit and vegetables to snack on. While I do still eat sweets occasionally I don’t go overboard. If you had a little one like Lia you would know I can’t stay away from her goodies but I’m using portion control and finding healthier recipes for her and I to try.

So come next month, I’ll have a full report and maybe some yummy, healthy recipes to share!

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Martha DeMeo

I started my blog on Christmas Day 2014 mainly to review products I received. Since then it has evolved into many other categories of lifestyles, family, money saving ideas, low cost, delicious and healthy meals plus other surprise posts. My granddaughter has her own category, Alex's Articles and the latest addition to my blog is my great granddaughter now has her category, Lia's Likings The Baby Blogger! Lia started blogger at 8 months old and she now has a Friday Story Time blog you won't want to miss! I welcome you to join the conversation, ask a question, give a suggestion or leave a comment on any blog post. I hope you enjoy Lia's Likings, she has some great posts that will make you smile!

16 Discussion to this post

  1. You are so right about this! The last couple months have been so stressful that I have strayed away from the good diet that I’ve been on since 2016. My husband and I were sweet tea drinkers too! You can’t live without tea in Texas, so we replaced the sugar with stevia, decreasing it a little at a time until we got very used to straight, unsweet tea. I like your suggestions too — will have to try that!

    • Martha says:

      Yes these last few months have been very stressful, glad I’m not alone Angie! I had to give it up cold turkey but I love a challenge. I have started using Monk Fruit sweetener is some of our baking projects, tastes just like sugar.

  2. This post is so inspiring! I didn’t realize that in only THREE months, you went from “needing medicine,” to having normal test results!! That is amazing. I mean, I knew it had worked and you were healthier again, but I guess I thought it took longer than that. I drink Tazo tea, too, but I do put sugar in it. I’ve been trying to change my eating, too, though, and am losing weight – slowly. I have been such a yo-yo dieter in the past, that I’m just trying to make changes I can stick with for a lifetime. Then, maybe I will go even harder at the health aspects. You do make it clear what the tools are for change, and I will be keeping it in mind.

    • Martha says:

      It’s been said that losing weight slower will help keep it off Jeanine. Have you tried Monk Fruit sweetener? Tastes just like sugar by it isn’t! I love Tazo tea!

  3. I probably need a wake-up call like you had to get me to change my patterns. You are smart to make adjustments over time to get back on track.
    I have been trying out some sugar substitutes like Erythritol and Allulose.

  4. Mazal tov on your new lifestyle!

  5. KateLoving says:

    Congratulations on making necessary changes to promote your health and longevity. So many refuse to do what is crucial to be healthy! I applaud your resilience!

    • Martha says:

      Thanks Kate! When I started my new plan in 2018 I know I would have to stick with it, just another challenge for me! And I don’t like to give up on them! LOL But I am feeling so much better when I eat the right foods.

  6. Martha, congratulations on using your new tools to solve liver- and digestive disharmony! And you got a bonus loss of both pounds and inches. Wow! Also, an unintended benefit of using your new toolkit is that Lia is learning about optimizing healthful eating at a very young age. Beautiful.

    • Martha says:

      Thanks Kebba, I feel so much better on the inside! While Lia will still bake her yummy treats, I thought this would also be a good time to teach her about healthy options.

  7. Alice Gerard says:

    I’m going to create a plan for healthy eating, starting in a few weeks. So I will definitely look forward to your recipes!!!! And I understand how hard it is to keep to the healthy eating plan when you’re offered delicious goodies. It’s hard to say no to a smiling two year old, bearing homemade goodies. Actually, it’s impossible!

  8. Amanda Gene says:

    Those choices look so yummy. I like tea too.

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