Guest Post: The Fitness Freak

Hello friends!


Today I have a special treat for you! The post you've all been eagerly waiting for! I've made a new friend in the Clean Eating/blogging world...the Fitness Freak, Nicole! Over the past few months I've been encouraged by her blog posts and recently we have been emailing back and forth. I thought it would be great to have her do a guest post to encourage others out there on their fitness journey!


Her story is a great testimony to eating right, exercising and listening to your body! I am sure many of you will be able to related to her story...I know I do! Please enjoy her post below and be sure to visit her blog, The Fitness Freak.

Nicole, The Fitness Freak

When Megan asked me to do a guest post on her blog, I was so honored. I LOVE Clean Eating and have been feeding my family that way for quite some time now. I have taken a little side road on Clean Eating, a stricter version you could say, so I thought what better place to start than with my story. We each have different ways of dealing with our health and our life choices have shaped these decisions. Mine was a very rocky path and I’m happy to say I came out the other side, happy and healthy. Here’s my story:

I have been riding the roller coaster of eating disorders since I was 13. By then I was bigger than any of my sisters or friends. I wanted to be just like all of them so I started dieting and it went downhill from there. I went from every hair brained diet known to man then eventually ended up both anorexic and bulimic. By 17 I weighed 110 lbs. on a 5' 6" body. Mind you people start to bug me about being to thin when I hit 130 lbs.

Eventually I started to become more interested in good nutrition, the kind where your food feeds you health and vitality. I became a walking nutrition dictionary. If you needed to know anything about any health food you just had to ask me. The funny thing is, I wasn't applying all of this wonderful info into my everyday life. I am an all or nothing kind of person, it has to be 100% perfect! Perfectly planned and perfectly executed.

My first real stab at becoming more healthy was when I was 20 or so. I started my journey by becoming a vegan and was vegan for two years. As time passed I became what I call, a "french fry" vegan. You know eating food just because it was vegan and not necessarily because it was good for me. This angle was not working so I stumbled back into the "typical" American diet. I also had three beautiful boys which took up a lot of my "me" time. I loved planning meals and cooking but the constant rush got the better of me. I started to cheat here and there and keep convenience food in my home.

Fast forward 10 years, I was miserable, irritable, pudgy, and tired. My doctor told me that my thyroid was not producing enough hormone and she put me on Armour Thyroid. I was still working out everyday but with no results which made me feel like a hamster on a wheel, spinning around forever and getting no where fast. I figured it must have something to do with my Hashimoto's disease or my missing gallbladder so off I went to my doctor and than an endocrinologist hoping they could tell me why I was so miserable. Nothing. The endocrinologist all-knowing advice, "Go check out Weight Watchers". Weight Watchers? Seriously? That was the long awaited answer I had been looking for? I don't think so!

In my desire for an answer I started searching high and low on the internet for answers. The Raw food lifestyle kept coming up in searches but it was not what I wanted to see. With a husband and 3 young boys in tow I knew it wouldn't work. Too much time, too much money and too much structure. I kept searching and searching and Raw just kept popping up. After awhile I started softening to the idea. I wanted to prepare to talk to my husband about it so I sorted all my info and sat down with him. I told him I couldn't live like this anymore, things needed to change. He knew I had been feeling yucky so he promised I could go Raw and he wouldn't hassle me....... too badly:) Now he's not an unreasonable person but he has been with me through many of my eating disorders so I think he was thinking it would be another one of "those".

Here I am at 33 nearing 1 year of my Raw Adventure and I'm feeling great! I would have to say that Day 2 sticks out in my mind as being the hardest. I had an awful headache, I was cranky and I was tired. The funny thing is that on that day my mind was whispering, "You need to eat junk food, this Raw thing is crazy". Of course, when I had these little whisperings, I knew that eating crud was NOT the answer but my mind was wrestling with it big time. Would the coffee and Cadbury chocolate eggs have made my headache go away, probably. Would it have made me feel better physically, uhh no!

The hardest part for me is that I am still surrounded by all of this non-Raw food. My husband and kids are not Raw so I still make them their meals but it's much easier now. Granted I don't feed them poorly. They all eat lots of fruits, vegetables, salads and chicken but there are a few indiscretions still lying around. The good thing is that I incorporate healthier foods into their diet so that we can all feel this good together! Because of the profuse amounts of fruit and vegetables it is really easy to make my family Clean Eating meals. Clean Eating works so well for them and they feel a ton better because of it! I actually prepare their meals with many of the same veggies I eat for my meals which cuts down on extra prep time. I use all of Tosca Reno's cookbooks and magazines and I have to say, I get jealous of some of the Clean Eating meals I'm missing out on.  I guess we'll see if the struggle has been worth it. I just had a bunch of blood tests done to determine if the Raw food is helping with my Hashimoto's.



Okay, so here is what I have typically been eating:

6:30 a.m.- Water with the juice of one lemon

6:45- Vegetable juice- Mostly greens with a few carrots or an apple

9:30- Green smoothie made with berries, coconut water and meat, almond milk, green powder, spinach and hemp protein powder.

11:30- Nori rolls with carrots, sprouts, avocado, spinach and Raw ginger dressing, yum! I also like salads with lots of veggies.

3:30 p.m.- Pure Bar or flax crackers with cashew hummus or fruit

6:30- Salad or veggie lettuce wrap. I love adding new veggies all the time so it doesn't get boring. I also play with my dressing. Check out my recipe page for ideas. I also have a lot of Raw recipes on my Raw blog.

I always have fresh fruits and vegetables on hand and I also keep some Raw chocolate around for a special treat.
I hope you all follow you're own journey to health and well-being, it's a long road but is so worth it! Remember, these are my thoughts and conclusions and in no way suggest that anyone else has to come to the same conclusion I have. I hope that in the end we all find our niche' when it comes to living a healthy, happy, full life:)

Nicole 

Thanks for sharing your story Nicole! Your story is sure to inspire others!

Hope you have a great weekend and Happy Easter!

love, Meg