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First For Women Magazine November 24, 2008

With increasing evidence pointing to the dangers of pesticides and toxins in our food and contamination dominating headlines, it’s no wonder moms are skittish about the food they buy.  But for one, wariness about what she was feeding her family had a welcome side effect: major weight loss and soaring energy!  Read on for her story and tips on how you can become an “accidental” dieting success.

Rushing through the supermarket aisles, Natalie Litzell tossed the essentials in her cart…tuna fish, soda, deli meat for her sons (Trevor, 10 and Kris, 19).  After checking out, she went on to the next to-do.  “I was busy…on the go,” she recalls of that day four years ago.  “I actually ended up eating some ham as I walked out of the store.  That’s when I realized I didn’t know what I was eating.  I looked at the package of meat and did an immediate double take—the slices were glistening with odd rainbow streaks.  I had no idea why a piece of meat would have red, purple and orange hues to it.”

The next time Natalie was at the supermarket, she looked more closely at the meat selection and found another package, this time roast beef, that had the same questionable tint.  “That made me kind of nervous,” she says.  “I asked the workers in the deli department what it was exactly, and they didn’t know.”

Natalie recalled an investigative TV news program she had seen about mad cow disease and the conditions in which meat was prepared, and felt increasingly uneasy.  What am I putting in our bodies? she worried.  “I realized I couldn’t rely on anyone, not even a major grocery chain, to monitor the quality of our food.”

“I resolved to change the way we eat.”

Natalie immediately stopped purchasing deli meat, instead buying free-range chicken and salmon and shopping at markets that sold locally grown food.  “I feel blessed to live in a part of the country where high pollution isn’t an issue,” says Natalie.  “The air is clean and pure.  I can purchase several items at our farmer’s market, where food is grown in healthy soil and watered with fresh water from their own well.”

Knowing the dietary changes wouldn’t evade protest from her boys, Natalie eased them in gradually.  “Trevor probably would have rolled his eyes at me if I tried to do it all at once, so I introduced something new each week,” she says.  She also removed things, until eventually the household was free of white flour, sugar, soda and all processed foods.

That slow-and-steady transition made life easier on Natalie, a single mom working two jobs.  “It wasn’t that tough on my schedule,” she says.  “I’d do little things, like instead of always turning to deli meat, I’d use some leftover dinner options.  You can cook a turkey meat loaf and make sandwiches out of it the next day.”

“We got great benefits with minimal effort!”

Within one week of starting her diet tweaks, Natalie felt a surge of energy.  And within two weeks the weight was really coming off.  “I was able to get on an old pair of skinny jeans, which felt terrific, especially after having two kids.  I couldn’t zip them the first time, but I was determined to wear them in public again.”

Empowered by the jeans and her new found vitality, Natalie became a certified personal trainer and started nutritionist Ann Louise Gittleman’s fat-flushing detox.  All told, she lost 60 pounds.

Best of all, she accomplished her goal of ensuring her family’s health.  In fact, Trevor enjoyed a total health turnaround.  “He’s no longer overweight, he has more energy and his skin is clear.”

Today Natalie couldn’t be happier.  “I have the unlimited energy that I need for myself, my children and my clients,” she raves.  “It’s a wonderful feeling!”

FOOD-SAFETY ALERT!

Antibiotics in meat can lead to yeast overgrowth

Each year 20 million pounds of antibiotics are pumped into our meat supply.  We then consume those drugs, which, over time, impair the ability of white blood cells to fight invaders.  Ingesting antibiotic-containing meat also depletes our stores of healthy bacteria, leading to yeast overgrowth that causes brain fog, fatigue and weight gain.

Organochlorines on produce can trigger weight gain

The largest class of pesticides used on produce in the United States, organochlorines, trigger learning, attention and memory problems in kids and adults, according to numerous studies.  These pesticides are also estrogenic; studies show they create an estrogen overload that leads to mood swings, weight gain and fertility problems in both sexes.