Inner Beauty Workshops: My Before's & After's

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

My Before's & After's

Me - Age 42 at my daughter's Sweet 16

Yes….even I had a transformation. It may not be a large physical transformation, but was one that encompassed my body, mind and spirit. I was urged by two very close friends for me to share this with you. They wanted me to show you what I looked like before I changed my eating habits and adopted my healthy lifestyle. I was only 15lbs heavier, but I think you will agree, eating healthy changed my overall appearance. These photos were taken at my daughter’s Sweet 16 in 2007, just one month prior to my change in lifestyle. It is so true when you hear the phrases, “a picture tells a thousand words,” and “in every picture there is a story.” I am truly saddened when I look at these pictures. Here is my story why…..

I honestly felt that I was eating healthy at the time. I cooked my own meals, always ate salad, and baked all my own goods. I liked to tell people that I modeled how I ate after my grandparents. However, what I was not completely aware of was the fact that our food is GMO, contains a multitude of chemicals, is grown with a myriad of pesticides and is laden with growth hormones and antibiotics. Here I was thinking and trying to do the right things and I just wasn’t. As a result, you can see in my pictures that I am slightly heavy for my size and frame and bloated! I hardly recognize myself in these pictures. Is that my older sister?? NOPE….IT’S ME! It amazes me how different one can look on the exterior as well as feel on the interior just by changing what one eats.

In addition, the only reason I changed my eating habits was to support my husband after he got ill and needed to uptake his nutrient levels. I did not change my lifestyle for me. At least…not in the beginning. Directly after my husband got sick, I remember being completely overwhelmed and just crying and crying because I didn’t know what to do or how to eat. Especially since I thought I was already eating healthy. I didn’t give up and tried to learn as much as possible to help my husband fight his illnesses by building up his immune system….The only way to cure disease. In the process, I started to notice changes in myself; I was losing weight, I was losing the bloating, I was sleeping better and then everything just clicked. And it became not just all about my husband anymore but about me too.

I don’t know where I would be today if my husband never got sick. I truly would be a completely different person. Since I didn’t take that fork in the road, I won’t guess at the “what ifs”. Today, I am happy to share my knowledge with others and guide them down a different fork in the road.

Okay…so here they are! Since I still have the same outfit I wore for the Sweet 16, I thought it would be fun to dress in the exact same dress so you can see the difference – me at age 42, me today at age 45, just three short years of eating healthy. *These photos have NOT been photo shopped in any way. (Although I wish I knew how to do that!...LOL)