A little about my background — I have struggled with weight issues since I was in high school. About ten years ago, I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and put on oral medications. Four or five years ago, I had my gall bladder removed. You would think because of all these things, I would have been committed to a more healthy lifestyle a long time ago. So, why wasn’t I?

Here are some of the reasons: 1) during my high school years, whenever I wanted to try dieting to lose weight, my mom wanted to support and encourage me, but another family member made a habit of sabotaging us; 2) born and raised in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, the land of whoopie pies, shoo-fly pie, chicken pot pie (not baked in a pie shell), and many other high carb high sugar foods, unhealthy eating is a normal way of life; and 3) as a mom, I am much better at taking care of others than I am at taking care of myself because I always put others first.

So, if you look at the above photo, you will see the third book from the left is the most recently published THM (Trim Healthy Mama) cookbook. Three years ago, a friend encouraged me to try THM and I did, and with that friend’s constant encouragement, I succeeded in sticking to the THM healthy eating way of life for an entire year and lost fifty pounds. Then two years ago, right before Christmas, our oldest son had to have major jaw surgery, and his poor face was so swollen and bruised when he first came home, and he couldn’t really eat anything. So I committed to taking care of making sure he was getting enough nourishment in the few items (smoothies, broths, liquids) he could receive, then gradually graduating to soft foods, before slowly being able to begin incorporating normal foods back into his diet. So, because I focused all my energy on caring for him, I fell back into eating the way I had been raised to eat–the Pennsylvania Dutch way. Amazingly, though I did gain some weight back, I did not gain all fifty pounds back, even though I continued on this path for just about two years.

Then, July 10th of this year, I went to the ER with chest pains. I was given and EKG, chest x-rays, and bloodwork — all came back normal. I then realized the pain was similar to what I’d had before having my gall bladder removed, and I told the doctor, who told me that just because I didn’t have a gall bladder anymore didn’t mean I couldn’t still get gall stones. So he decided to check the ducts in my body, so I was given an ultrasound, which they had a difficult time with because my stomach was filled with gas. However, my pain was completely gone after the completion of that test. Then I began to wonder if it was all due to my bad eating habits. Well, the doctor order one more round of bloodwork, and the only thing he found was that my liver enzymes were extremely high. He decided to send me home with the stipulation that within the following three days, (this was a Wednesday), I would call my family doctor, have him order the bloodwork again, then see my family doctor. I did that, with the same conclusion. My family doctor sent me home with orders to get the bloodwork redone in a week and to get back to healthy eating, then I may or may not have to see a gastroenterologist. I went home with a new determinate to commit to the THM plan for the rest of my life because I knew it worked for me in the past for a whole year.

I returned to eating according to the THM way that very evening and haven’t looked back since and don’t plan to, because the following week’s bloodwork came back with my sugar level lower and my liver enzyme count back to normal. No trip to the gastroenterologist.

So, what is the THM way to eat, you may ask. Well, I struggle to understand the entire plan, but in a nutshell, it’s eating high protein, low-carb, and no white bread, no white sugar, and no white potatoes. It’s also eating healthy fats, but separates fats and carbs to allow the metabolism to function at its best. It’s focus is low-glycemic.

My biggest problem with the plan, in the past, is all the prep work for many of the recipes. I don’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen, nor do I really want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. That’s why you see the other two cookbooks in the above photo. The internet is full of women who eat the THM way and who enjoy creating their own THM friendly recipes. My favorite is Brianna Thomas. I’ve been following her blog since I started THM, and she has created two cookbooks of her THM friendly recipes, and she uses simple, everyday ingredients, and because she’s from a similar background to the Amish and Mennonite community in my area, many of her recipes are healthy versions of foods my family is used to eating, and the majority of her recipes are not time-consuming.

Now, I’ll just touch on the four products you can see in the above photo: the little green bottle is liquid stevia. Stevia is a natural, plant-based sweetener, not a chemical, and I love to use this liquid version in my THM drink recipes, especially the cold ones, because I don’t have to struggle to get it to dissolve. The little bag next to it is Pyure, which is a stevia/erythritol blend (natural sweetener) which I like to use in my baking. The box of 100% pure Oolong tea is a staple in the THM shrinker drink, which helps in the aid of weightloss. The final product is THM’s brand of whey protein (non-flavored) that can be added to smoothies and baking products and shakes to boost the protein, and I like that it doesn’t have a flavor that will affect the taste of the final product.

In conclusion, I am back on track with the THM plan and it wasn’t hard to get back on board, and I am committed to sticking with it for life so that I can remain healthy and live as long as possible to be here for my family and to continue writing good stories, especially since the first one is almost ready for publication. This really plan does keep my sugars and weight under control.

Sorry for the long post! I hope you found it interesting, informative, and helpful. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post in the comments section.