Countdown

Hey guys...I know you're out there! lol! Are you all laying low until 2018 is in the can? I don't blame you. It's been a rough year and I think most of us are hoping for a better 2019.

There is not much we can control in this world. Most everything happens randomly, whether we are prepared for it or not. But what is the one thing that.. technically.. we CAN control? You know what I'm leading up to. That's right. Our choices, especially when it comes to our choices about diet and exercise. No one force feeds us. No one holds us back when we want to move. We are free to make good choices for ourselves, regardless of what is going on around us. It is the one thing we can control...of should control. But, as we all know, controlling ourselves can be harder then controlling climate change or politics or the price of your cable bill!

It takes a lot to make a major life change, especially if you expect it to happen all at once. It won't. It happens one choice at a time. Baby steps. When babies are learning to walk, sometimes they fall, but have you ever seen a baby not immediately try to stand right back up? They never give up and neither should you! It doesn't matter how many times you have fallen. There is going to be a day when you are standing strong and feeling empowered and in charge of your choices. Food does not control you. Your thoughts do. Once you get your thoughts in line with your desires and goals, losing weight and getting fit will be your new obsession! I can 100% promise you that there is not one single bite of food, (or an entire buffet for that matter!)  that is worth sacrificing your quality of life.

So take these last few days of 2018 and really do some soul searching and truth seeking. Your personal truth about how you've managed yourself and your choices. How many excuses or justifications you've made. How many times you were filled with regret, promising yourself to do better and be stronger. The jabbering that goes on in our heads can feel chaotic at times, but truth is quiet, peaceful, forgiving, positive. I believe that honesty with self is more a part of succeeding at weight loss then willpower.

Enough of my ramblings. I hope you have all had a lovely holiday season and are ready to welcome in the New Year with hope and enthusiasm and determination, but most of all a desire to be truthful to yourself and the peaceful knowledge that you have everything you need to make your desires for weight loss and a healthy lifestyle a reality. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Emotional Work

Doing Cambridge has it's own set of special emotions. It challenges our food issues, our sense of self esteem, our learned behaviors, conditioning from our youth, and so many other parts of our personalities. It's a LOT! Plus, eating is enjoyable and social and comforting...usually. Sometimes, for those of us with compulsive eating disorders, it can become a weapon of self destruction and loneliness. I remember my lowest times of my eating disorder, almost feeling like I was beating myself up with food. Probably sounds overly dramatic to those with lessor or different issues then I was dealing with, but it's the best way to describe what I was doing. It was a violent act against myself.

What I realized, as I progressed through this emotional maze of weight loss, was that 99% of my  viewpoint and my internal dialog was negative. I grew up a chubby kid and weight had ALWAYS been the focal point of my life. I visualized it like a wagon wheel, obesity being the hub and all other aspects of life branched off from it. Every choice I made in life had my obesity at it's center. There were no goals or ambitions made from a desire to lead a full and rewarding life. So many lost opportunities.

It was a process that took time, my emotional recovery. It was like building myself a new house to live in, brick by brick. Eventually, momentum kicked in and the bricks started seating themselves.

I consider myself a fully recovered compulsive addictive eater. That person is so far buried in my past, I can not even comprehend that was me. I still struggle with some things. I never did reach my ultimate goal of my high school weight. Not even close! lol!. But I have managed to maintain well enough to have made up for some of all those lost opportunities. The past 17 years have been some of the best, and most heartbreaking, but my miracle is that I have been able to experience these normal life events without turning to food or any other substance to cope. I'm happy about that.

Day 1, Cake For Breakfast

The past few months I have made a some halfhearted attempts to lose some weight and get back on track with my health habits. Maybe more like quarterhearted. lol! Getting careless while getting older is not a good combo. My goal has always been to age gracefully while living an active healthy life. I've worked hard for many years to achieve that, including weight loss..knee replacement...skin removal...and exercise. So why drop the ball when I turn 59? Makes no sense, but said ball was dropped and dropped HARD!

Last night I put my Cambridge on the counter and everything I use to make my Cambridge Chocolate Lava cake. I didn't want to wake up with lost momentum and change my mind. I got up, poured my coffee, and 3 minutes later I had mixed and microwave baked this:

It was a perfect start to my day. It's 2:43 as I type this post to my blog and I have also enjoyed a Rich Vanilla Shake with Watkins caramel flavor. Yummy! I'm feeling good and confident that I will complete this day successfully and continue on to Day 2.

I don't know why I got so careless the past couple of months. I know the consequences and the price I pay with weight gain and poor health. Oh well...no looking back. Only forward and no more nonsense! I'm SSing to get back on track with my weight and my numbers (blood sugar, BP, etc) and if you would like to join me, please do! 

If You're Thinking About Trying Cambridge Diet

Hello to anyone here searching for an answer to their weight issues. I am someone who has spent my entire life either knowing I was overweight, dieting trying to lose weight, giving up and eating like a fool, suffering serious health consequences for said foolishness, and finally...FINALLY  finding my way to a stable healthy weight and life.

I had used Cambridge back in the early 1980's when I was a young 20 something year old. Losing weight was not hard back then. Maintaining was elusive however! I kept it off for several years, but eventually slipped back to old habits and gained back all 80 lbs + more. I went back to trying diet after diet and not getting anywhere but discouraged.

Fast forward through a couple of pregnancies, a divorce, some health problems, and I eventually found myself at the age of 42 well over 300 lbs. It's been over 17 years now since I found Cambridge again and placed my order for 1 case of Original 330 Dutch Chocolate. I honestly didn't know if it was going to work. My body had become so weight loss resistant over the years and nothing seemed to be able to break through that. I was an emotional basket case when it came to food. It had always been a big ridiculous deal in my life and I was very weary of the never ending battle to control myself. My reservoir of hope was pretty much tapped out. But...I ordered and waited...and ate everything in my kitchen. My box came, I opened it and saw the familiar containers of Cambridge, and my hope started to bubble up again. 

I went on to lose over 120 pounds in less then 6 months. It was a total life changer. I've used Cambridge these past 17 years as a maintenance tool. No more losing and gaining it all back. If I notice a few pounds creeping back on, I simply go back to my dependable Cambridge for a day or so to get rid of it ASAP.

Don't talk yourself out of trying this. Cambridge has a money back guarantee for first time customers of a 30 Day Plan. Give it a month and get ready to be thrilled with your results. If you're not happy with it for any reason, return for a refund..no big deal. But just FYI..of the thousands of new customers I start each year, I get MAYBE 2 to 4 returns. People love what Cambridge does for them and I think you will too. Contact me for info or to get started.

Physical Needs vs Emotional Needs

We all have emotional needs and physical needs. Each has importance and neither should take from the other. Ideally we have a balance and they support each other. This is where some of us take a detour. We allow our emotional needs to take over the physical, and often at the expense of our health. When we choose a substance, in our case..food, to pacify emotional needs we are in an unbalanced state, one that is never resolved. It is a vicious cycle and rather then fix anything, it creates an overwhelming situation.

Today I am going to focus on separating emotional needs with physical. When thoughts of food creep in, I am going to stop and take a moment to determine if it is being driven by emotions or genuine hunger. My guess is that 90% of the time it is emotional! I will practice attending to the root of the want. Like a tantruming child in the grocery store that is screaming, crying, and thrashing about, the question is...is he tired? Is he hungry? Is he just wanting attention and soothing? Is he scared or feeling anxious? Is he thirsty? Is he in physical discomfort or pain? If I give him a cookie will he stop?

While a cookie may temporary distract him (us) from whatever the actual problem is, it will not fix it unless the problem is hunger..and even then a cookie is a poor choice, and  usually offered more as a bribe then a solution anyway. We just want the feelings and the resulting behavior to stop! Right?

We are not toddlers, but at some point in our lives we began using food as a band-aid to our feelings. The reward of temporary relief in no way compensates for the cost to our health or our self esteem.

Today I made a chart. It is just a piece of paper with a line in the middle drawn from top to bottom. One side says emotional, the other says physical. Over the next few days I am going to write one word on the side I identify as the catalyst for every time I think about breaking my diet and eating something. Should be interesting...but I already know how one sided this is going to end up being!

For Those Looking For Information

I've been having lots of traffic on my website lately and I know some of you have visited here as well. I wanted to let you know that I am available to answer questions or to discuss your personal goals with your health and weight. No obligation or sales pitch. My interest is to just be sure you have accurate info so you are equipped to make the best decision for yourself. Of course, I am also happy to assist in placing your order or making recommendations on which products would be the best fit for you.

Email me at pamturner@cambridgediet.org, or you can call or text me at 386-585-2528.

I look forward to working with you and hope you are excited about the changes you are about to experience!

Wisdom Teeth Disasters and Hurricane Irma!

It's been a month since I last posted to the blog. Where do I begin to tell the tale of what this past month has been like? I guess I can summarize it by saying it completely sucked. My daughter was supposed to begin her cancer radiation, but first they decided to take out her wisdom teeth the day she was supposed to start. We had already moved her in to Hope Lodge for her stay during her treatments, so after her oral surgery, we moved her back out and brought her home. A few days later she was in the hospital fighting for her life from a very rare infection from the wisdom teeth extraction. We almost lost her. Several surgeries later and a long stay in the ICU, we brought her home to recover. Well...she was once again scheduled to go and get moved in and started, but that day Hurricane Irma decided to strengthen and head right for us! We cancelled again and evacuated for 11 days.

So now...here we are for a THIRD time, all packed up and ready to make the 2 hr drive to the cancer center to begin her treatments. We are all so worn out, both physically and emotionally, that we can hardly get it together, but this time nothing will stop us...knock on wood.

Sad to say that my diet kind of got blown away with the hurricane. I had a couple of weeks of just regular eating and then this past week of just not caring. But, I have my supplies and once I get my daughter settled and I get back home I am going to get back to taking care of myself and that means Cambridge! The few pounds I regained are uncomfortable for me and I don't feel at all like myself so while she is fighting to get her health back on track, I will be doing a lesser version of the same.

My daughter has a GoFundMe page to help pay for her cancer treatments and to lessen the financial burden on my husband and myself. If you would like to contribute I will post the URL below.

Kim Turner's Cancer Treatment GoFundMe page:  https://www.gofundme.com/axgofc

June Monthly Special

Retail Customers:

Order 3 or more in Cambridge products and get a free pouch of any formula Vanilla of your choice.

**If ordering online, please note monthly special and flavor/formula in the comments field**

(one special per order)

Distributors:

Order $150 in Cambridge products and get a free pouch of any formula Vanilla of your choice. 

**If ordering online, please note monthly special and flavor/formula in the comments field**

(one special per order) 

 

Be sure to go to my website to place your order:

www.cambridgediet.org

Progress Report

I am on day 23 of my diet! Wow..time is going by quickly. I still haven't weighed and don't plan on it any time soon. I just don't want that distraction. Other then a few additions when I make my Cambridge Oats pancakes or gingerbread cake, or my Chocolate Lava Cake (recipes in previous post) I have been for the most part sole source. Now and then I will grab a slice of turkey breast sandwich meat, but that was mostly in the first week.

My husband is on day 18 and is doing great too. I'm watching his tummy melt away. He has his 3 servings of Cambridge a day along with a big salad for dinner. It consists of half a head of lettuce, some cucumber, green onions, tomato and 2 grilled chicken tenders. He uses a Zesty diet Italian dressing on it. He has been weighing and so far has lost 14.5 pounds.

 I am in that weird phase where my clothes are getting loose and even longer. I know I'm losing, and everyone tells me I am, but I don't see the changes in the mirror. I suppose a life time of dieting and a past of extreme obesity has left me with some body dysmorphic issues. No worries. I am just going to keep plugging along and I will judge my progress by when I can get back in to my skinny pants.

Too Good To Be True Cambridge Cake Recipes

 

Deep, Dark, Chocolate Lava Cake..YES!

For this I use one serving of Original 330 Dutch Chocolate or Rich Chocolate Shake (I actually use half of each) add 1 T Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder, 1/4c Splenda 0 cal sweetener, 1/2 tsp baking powder, egg white, and just enough unsweetened vanilla almond milk to make a thick batter. You could add some instant espresso powder if you like. I mix it with my little wire whip in a microwave safe cereal bowl. It should look shiny and like brownie batter consistency. Bake in microwave 1 to 1.5 minutes. It should still look moist in the center, but spring back around the rest of the cake. Cover bowl with small plate and cool upright in the bowl for a couple of minutes, then turn the whole thing over. The cake should plop out on to the plate, but if not, just loosen with a rubber spatula. When you turn it out there should be a fudgy center. Yes.. I said FUDGY! Seriously....this is so good!


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Super Oats Ginger Bread Cake

If you want some spice in your life, then you simple must make this! I use one serving of the FFL Super Oats Cereal that I first grind up in to a flour. In a microwave safe cereal bowl, mix the Oats, 1/2 tsp baking powder, about 1/4 c Splenda 0 calorie sweetener, 2 tsp cinnamon (or to taste), 1/2 tsp powdered ginger, 1/4 tsp allspice, and 1/4 tsp nutmeg. You can adjust spices to your own personal taste. We like ours spicy! Add 1 egg white and enough sugar free vanilla almond milk to make a thick cake batter consistency. Mix well and bake in microwave on high for about 1.5 minutes, or just until no wet spots remain. Cover bowl with a small plate and let cool for a few minutes, then turn over on to plate to cool. Top with sugar free whipped topping. This makes a delicious moist gingerbread cake that is almost too much for one person. Yummy!!

Day Nine And Feeling Fine!

Hey blog readers! I am on day 9 (and a half) and just wanted to check in and let you know I am still going strong. I haven't been weighing, but I can tell by my clothes that I am close to being back down to where I was the month before my gall bladder surgery. I had lost 8 pounds on Cambridge the week before and I am now working on getting that off again too. My husband commented today that he could really see the weight loss! Oh..and the big news is that he is on day 5 and has lost 6 pounds! He's doing great. Doing this together has been wonderful. No food shopping or cooking or cleaning up. I am enjoying the vacation.

If you are reading this because you are considering trying Cambridge, contact me and I can answer all your questions so you can make the best decision for yourself.

Cambridge is not like anything else out there. It can be challenging in the first few days, but the rapid weight loss and the amazing improvement in your health and energy more then compensate. It's exciting to see results from day 1! This is a safe, healthy, nutritionally complete, very low calorie diet that gives your body everything it needs except calories. If you have body fat, you already have all the calories (which is just another word for the energy that the food you eat produces) you need and your body will draw from that. Because of the balanced nutrition your lean tissues like muscle, bone, and organs are protected and just the fat is burned. The 8 years of clinical research behind Cambridge proved this. It's effective, safe, affordable, tastes great, and it works for everyone.

Questions? Contact me and I'll answer them for you.

Day 3.5 and "Recalculating"

I'm excited to be back on track. I already feel so much better then I did a week ago. Cambridge never fails me! As long as I keep my mind focused on what I want to accomplish, I will certainly be able to achieve it.

While I have for the most part maintained my weight loss of 16 years ago, I find that as I get older I have to work a little harder to feel my best and not let the pounds creep back on. This gall bladder surgery I had in Feb took me on a detour that I am now "recalculating" as the GPS lady would say.

For some reason I was incredibly hungry for about a month after surgery. It had been years since I experienced hunger so this was unexpected. The zombie gall bladder that I had been living with had completely killed my appetite for a long time and eating had become just something required, but not enjoyed. Well...that changed! lol! I have to admit I embraced feeling alive again and found that having an appetite can be a wonderful thing, but of course it also must be controlled. I did gain some weight, but enjoyed it greatly! Now I am feeling more normal appetite wise and this was a good time to get back to mindful living.

Maintaining a healthy body and weight is a job. One that you can take a vacation from periodically, but eventually you have to go back to work. The paycheck is feeling great and fully engaged in life. Being addicted to food or compulsive eating behaviors separates you from your best life. It becomes the thing before all other things that you think about. That's not living!

Weight Loss Challenge!!

I'm running a little contest for the next few weeks on my Support Board. We are having a weight loss challenge that is open to all Cambridge users who would like to join in. You can read how to enter and what the rules are here:

http://members5.boardhost.com/pam140/msg/1484974938.top

Be sure to get your beginning weight in to me tomorrow! Good luck to all who enter!!

DAY #1!

Hello blog readers! Today is the day I start getting myself back on track from my major holiday detour. I am now normally a very consistent and careful eater. Nothing like my days of the past when I ate mindlessly, not realizing how everything I was putting in my mouth was causing me so many health problems and serious limitations not to mention over 120 lbs of excess body fat. For some reason, I kind of went off the rails the past month with all the holiday foods. I can't believe how awful I feel! Bloated, sluggish, foggy headed, depressed. All of it. Blah!! So this morning I got on the scale and took a picture of the number without actually looking at it. I didn't want to start off my holiday recovery plan by feeling bad. I'll look at it in a few weeks after I've lost and then be happy at seeing what I've accomplished! Brilliant, right?

In a few more days it will be 2017. If you are wanting to set a goal of weight loss, why wait another 5 days to do it? Start now with me and we can go in to the New Year already feeling better then we do now. Go to www.cambridgediet.org and place your order. If you already have your supply ready to go, start now if you can. If you are obligated to New Year celebrating, then be ready to hit the ground running come Jan 1st. With commitment and consistency, you can reach your weight loss goal early in the year and then have the rest of it to enjoy the results.

Ok 2017..I'm ready for ya!

It's been a while since I posted anything to my blog. My apologies  for that. I do write quit a bit for my Support Board and my FaceBook page, so I hope you all take time to visit there. But being as how this is a blog, and they tend to be a little more personal at times, I decided to come here to share what my plan is for this new year that is rapidly approaching.

Like most everyone, I have overdone it with the holiday eating. Yes, I know better, but I also know it's not a death sentence because I have my beloved Cambridge to rescue me! My son and his lovely girlfriend have temporarily moved in with us and their eating habits are typical for most 20 something's. Lots of sugar, fried fast foods, pizza, and...well..you get the idea. My son likes to cook and bake and I've been lax in my normally strict eating habits. So..like all of you, I will be beginning my Cambridge Diet damage control come January. Well...I'm actually going to start right after Christmas. I feel sluggish and uncomfortable with the weight I've gained. I have a very small window with extra weight and I feel it right away. Not good.

Will you join me?

Check Out This Success Story!

Happy Halloween!

I know this is mostly a kids event, but it does signal the beginning of the Holiday season. The challenge for each of us is to get through the next 61 days (Jan 1st 2017) without backsliding in our weight loss and abandoning all hope of ever reaching our goals. Halloween is the first day of feeling obligated to have sugary treats in the house "for the kids" and the same in abundance at the workplace. Parties start being thrown and 2 months of celebrating with food, alcohol, and lots and lots of sugar is the hurdle.

I don't expect anyone to be perfect until 2017. If you can be, WOW~! I'm impressed! But it is likely you will have a slip here and there, or maybe even take a diet vacation for each actual holiday, but NEVER use this time of year as an excuse to abuse your body through unhealthy and harmful food choices, justifying it because it's tradition or expected of you by friends and family. No one has the right to challenge you about what you put in your mouth. They can chatter all they want trying to nag or influence you in to diving in, but you alone make that choice.

Each time you say "No" to a food temptation, don't dwell on it, lamenting how sad you feel or deprived. Instead, give yourself a mental "High Five" for being strong and in charge! Food is the catalyst of your obesity. If you don't abuse your body with it, your body has a fighting chance to restore health and balance and well being to you both physically and mentally.

Hurricane Matthew and Cambridge

Living here on Florida's Atlantic coast, my family was affected by the hurricane. We had to evacuate and came home to no power. Our food in both our fridges was spoiled and you couldn't get to the store to replace anything. We are still in recovery mode, dealing with damage and all the extra expenses of hotel rooms, meals out, travel, etc

Cambridge makes a wonderful emergency food supply. It's affordable at under $1.50 per meal. It doesn't take up a lot of space for an entire family's months supply. With Hurricane Matthew, a lot of people panicked and emptied the store shelves for non-perishables as the power would be out for a while and supplies would be limited. Knowing I had my Cambridge and a few gallons of water gave me peace of mind. It fits in a back pack should you need to leave quickly so it also makes a great 72 hour kit food source. 

I would encourage everyone to be prepared for unexpected emergencies such as we faced with Hurricane Matthew, or hardships such as job loss or health issues, making it impossible to work. Having an emergency supply of Cambridge, water, (and for those that don't have extra body fat, a calorie source such as peanut butter or any other shelf stable calorie dense food) can keep you strong and healthy for whatever crisis you are facing.  

Fall=Pumpkin!

This time of year it seems like everything is pumpkin flavored...and I'm ok with that! You don't need to feel left out if you are following your Cambridge Diet Plan. Just add 1 or 2 T of pure pumpkin puree (not pie filling) to your Cambridge shake along with some pumpkin pie spices and you will have a delicious festive Fall pumpkin shake! At only 5 cal per T, it is the perfect nutritive flavor enhancer. Try it in the FFL Eggnog or any of the Vanilla flavors. The Original 330 Horchatta with Tonalin CLA would be fantastic too! For something special, top with a T of fat free whipped topping and a sprinkle of cinnamon. SO GOOD!

FALL GIVEAWAY! Win a free month of Cambridge

Yes...I am giving away a FREE month's supply of Cambridge Diet! Your choice of either 5 flavors of the Original 330 Shakes, or 6 flavors of the FFL Shakes, Soups, or Oats. You must go to my website and click on the link that will take you to the info on how to enter. This is NOT a company giveaway. I am making this offer myself so please do not contact the company or any other Distributor regarding it. The deadline is September 30th so only 11 more days to enter.  Hurry and get qualified! Go to www.cambridgediet.org today!