A Letter.

I had a great Email the other day and because I am asked this question a lot, I wanted to share with all of you my response.  

Hi there Anne

I am following your website from a sunny South Africa.  I absolutely love your ideas.  I have a niece 8 years of age and I test a lot of your ideas on her. 

Thank you for sharing the beyond imagination arts and crafts and things to make.

I love your transformation to a healthier lifestyle.  You look fabulous!!

I want to know where can I get the recipes you used to help you lose all that weight.  I am in your “before shoes” and would love to get rid of the fat around my belly and 20 pounds will do just that.

Thanks again for sharing and keep up the “crazy” ideas we love it.

Have a wonderful day / Geniet 'n heerlike dag

Regards / Die Uwe

Isebel

Good Morning Isebel:)

Thank you so much for your Email.

 The very first thing I did was modify what I ate, which means I cut out all carbs, and sugar.  I do not eat anything processed,  no bread, pasta, potato's, rice or alcohol. and Absolutely NO Diet Drinks or anything with any Diet Chemicals in them pure Poison for your body.

I have to tell you that this was not an easy thing for me to do at first. I was addicted to sugar and carbs and the bad part is I thought I ate pretty healthy. I was sadly mistaken because when I eliminated all of these things from my diet I was left with the question " Now.. What am I going to eat?"

With that being said,There are still so many things out there that are so good for your body which heal you physically and mentally and make you feel amazing.
Some low carb dieters do not eat any fruit but I do not believe fruit will make you fat.

• I eat fruit when I crave something sweet
• Nuts when I crave something salty.
• Lots of greens and fresh vegetables when I am really hungry.
• Cheese
• Dark Organic Chocolate 85%-75%
• Organic Chicken, Turkey
• Turkey bacon occasionally (lots of salt in this)
• Tuna
• Fish
• Eggs
• Lots of water (which is also another revelation I came too)

I did this faithfully for 6 months, only indulging in an occasional  alcoholic drink or some sort of carb once every two weeks or so and when I did indulge it was just one drink or just one meal with carbs in it.

HERE are a few links to some low carb foods and recipes you can view.  http://www.lowcarbfoods.org/, http://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/foods,http://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/foods,http://metro.co.uk/2016/03/08/16-high-protein-recipes-for-when-youre-trying-to-cut-carbs-5706955/,

This was a lifestyle change for me not a diet, I have decided that I feel so good eating this way that why would I never go back to eating the way I was.  Once you eliminate  sugar out of your system your brain thinks more clearly, you have way more energy, your mood swings are far and few between and natural foods taste sweeter.

It took about 8 months to lose 20 pounds, but I did not exercise at all. Well hold on,  I did do spot exercises like the occasional leg lifts or sit ups but nothing daily. This is something that I hope to resolve this 2016 year. I am sure if you combine the low carb / no sugar diet with daily exercise the weight will come off much quicker, and you will build muscle which helps burn fat faster.

That is my next step.

 I am going to reiterate the fact that this was  not easy in the beginning, It was a BIG challenge, it was very difficult for me to give up bread, my most favorite thing in the world, but as the weeks pass it become very easy.
Stick with fresh food, nothing boxed, go for the best ingredients like organic or respectfully raised.  I still have a few pounds left to loose and that hopefully will be happening soon with a little exercise.:)  The trick is that once you get to the place you want to be, Weight wise, occasionally indulge.

Going Low carb/no sugar was well worth every bit of the little amount of detox that I went though. ( But be warned you will want to be mean and maybe even have the thought of killings things. I promise that does go away.)
It changed everything for me. Life seems a little sweeter,  my confidence is higher, my body feels stronger,  my hair is growing thicker and faster,  and I am in a size 4, which I have not been in since I was in middle school, normally I was an 8/10.

I am no spring Chicken and weight has always been a challenge for me, and turning 49 you metabolism slows and losing weight becomes much harder.   You also get saggy skin when you loose weight (I did anyway, around my stomach and neck) I used a coffee scrub that I made to help with that. The Link is here http://wobisobi.blogspot.com/2016/03/coffee-cinnamon-cocount-oil-sugar-scrub.html
 Do not get discouraged or have the scale control you, it is really is not about the weight, it is about how you feel on the inside the weight will naturally come off.
The last thing I want to do is to be on 15 different medicines as Ii age.   My goal is to stay a good weight for my size  and be proactive in my health.

I love the Saying  "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of Cure." Benjamen Franklin
I hope this helps you.

Thank you so much for your sweet letter.
Have a Beautiful day and let me know how you do.
Love,
Anne