Losing Weight With Whole Foods

We need it to sustain life. We need to be filled & nourished by it. And we need the community that comes from eating with others. Our food choices affect everything from our moods, to our quality of sleep, our weight, our energy levels throughout our day as well as so many other things tied to our physical, emotional, & spiritual well being. All this taken into account, food, for good or bad, is powerful stuff.

I don’t often have others share their before & after stories on bring joy,  but when Alanna, a loyal & longtime reader (& commenter) in passing mentioned her sister, Wendy, who had transformed her life (quite literally!) after switching to a mostly whole foods, vegan diet, I knew I wanted others to know about it. I asked her to share her story.

Wendy worked in the fast food industry for several years (she actually worked at Wendy’s!) & as a result, some her favorite foods were hamburgers, french fries, & chicken strips. Eating these types of foods took their toll & Wendy came to a point where she knew she wanted to change.

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What I love about Wendy’s story, is how she became reconnected to her body again & “felt muscles & bones” that she had not felt in years. She didn’t do anything drastic. Rather, she took her time to reconnect, treat her body gently through nourishing it with wholesome foods & holistic exercise like yoga (why I love yoga, here), & weight loss naturally followed.

But by age 28, I tipped the scale at close to 300 pounds & my love of food had caught up with me, in a way that negatively impacted my health–I felt awful was always tired. I would sleep long hours hoping to get more energy & had little desire to exercise.

Occasionally I would drink energy drinks, but these only made me feel worse (thanks sugar & chemicals!).  My diet consisted of what I thought was normal food––although I now realize I was eating high amounts of processed meat, cheese, & refined food with little to no nutrients.

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 & how it was affecting me.  Sure, rich food satisfied my cravings (for a time) but it was obvious that my diet was wreaking havoc on my health.

Around this same time my sister shared a few documentaries about whole foods with me–Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, Food, Inc. (available for free on Amazon Prime), &

(bring joy affiliate links). The messages in the films resonated with my new awareness, & I decided to take control of my life.

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 After 6 months I had shed 40 pounds & was feeling more energetic.  It gave me the motivation to attempt an exercise program.

I started with yoga class at the college I attend.  After a couple of sessions I was amazed at feeling muscles & bones that I hadn’t felt in years. I continued learning about diet & started adding more nutrient dense plant foods to my routine.  I also added a weight lifting class to my schedule at school.

This new way of eating and activity level began a transformation of my physical body as well as my emotional landscape. In about a year’s time, I lost 120 pounds. 

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The physical changes were dramatic for sure––it’s hard to lose 120 pounds without people noticing.  While the positive attention from losing weight is nice, nothing compares to feeling empowered in my own skin. Along with the increased energy came clarity and peace that I’d been seeking when I weighed 300 pounds.

I enjoy juices, smoothies, & am passionate about organic, non-GMO plant foods.  My favorites include green juices (with kale & ginger), veggie sandwiches with avocado, & pan-Asian veggie dishes. I practice yoga daily, workout at the gym a few times a week & continue to educate myself about nutrition & health.

The foods I indulge in promote healing in my body & have no addictive pull. I love this new lifestyle & am passionate about sharing my ongoing story with others.  I know from personal experience that peace & healing is within reach & most definitely worth seeking.This is the first in a series of reader stories that I’ll be sharing this month, and maybe even beyond, depending on how much you guys like them! Today’s story is by Emily Allen with That’s What I Eat. Thank you, Emily, for sharing your inspiring story with us! If you’d like to submit your story, you can do so here.

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I’ll never forget the day I looked in the mirror and realized that I didn’t recognize the person who was looking back at me. It was about a year after my youngest was born, I was clinically obese, felt sick all the time, and was simply miserable in my body.

As I looked at my reflection, I was shocked and horrified that I had let it get to this point. At that moment, I decided that I didn’t want to feel that way anymore.

I had tried to lose weight several times throughout the years, trying every different diet plan out there. The problem was that nothing ever stuck. For some reason, this dayin the mirrorwas different, and it changed everything. I decided that I wanted to do this right.

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I wanted to actually nourish my body and focus on health rather than calories and the size of my jeans. So I started researching what I should feed my body, and the more I learned, the more I realized that what I needed to do was cut out processed food.

. I started cooking more from scratch and found lots of great recipes, and without even really trying, 70 pounds simply slipped off my body.

Cutting processed food was definitely not an easy process, but here are a few things that helped my family along the way:

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It has now been more than five years since we started the process of cutting processed food, and my weight loss has been very easy to maintain. I have had such an incredible change in the way I feel that I had to share that feeling.

So I went to school at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to become a Holistic Health Coach. I love teaching other people how to nourish their bodies with real food! I share my journey and my recipes on my site, www.thatswhatieat.com.

Eating real food has changed my life in so many ways. Most importantly, it has completely changed the way I feel. I’ve never felt healthier, happier, or more capable of handling whatever life throws at me. Everyone should get to feel this good!

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Emily Allen is a former obese girl turned Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. She lost 70 pounds by cutting processed food, an experience she documented on her site, www.thatswhatieat.com. Emily now teaches families how to cut processed foods and live their healthiest lives. She teaches cooking classes, does public speaking about healthy living, and has even appeared on local news programs featuring her recipes. Emily believes that anyone can live a healthier life, no matter their schedule or budget.

Posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but 100 Days of Real Food will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated and helps us spread our message!

Lisa is a wife, mother, foodie, blogger, and #1 New York Times Best-selling author who is on a mission to cut out processed food.We have all been there – looking to lose a few pounds so you go on the newest fad diet.  You do great for a couple days, and then it hits you – THE HUNGER!!! 

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The never ending, never satisfied hunger that comes with cutting calories all in the effort to look good in a bathing suit. 

And there is – A Real, Whole Food Diet.  By diet, we mean a habitual way of eating your entire life... not just something you use to lose weight and then go back to your original habits just to gain all of the weight back.

We define a Real, Whole Food Diet as a diet based mostly on foods that either grow from the ground or walk on it (swimming too!); basically, it is anything that doesn’t come in a box and isn’t a processed food. 

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Also, the word diet is often associated with weight loss and calorie cutting – with limiting what you eat and taking the enjoyment out of your eating.  This is not what we mean by it.

Your diet is what you eat every day.  And we want to provide you an option, through Real, Whole Foods, to eat as much food as you want.

A Real, Whole Food diet is not about subtraction. It is about substitution. It is about eating more food with less calories! You will be surprised how much you can eat when you're eating healthy!

Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan

A colorful fruit salad with raspberries, blackberries and strawberries, a grapefruit, or a red leaf lettuce salad with red peppers, green cucumbers and orange carrots... you have to think that something so appealing to the eye was made that way for a reason.  To eat!

Also