My scale was stuck. Ok, really, I was the one who was stuck.

It took EIGHT years for this post to happen. That’s how long ago I gave birth to my first child and then to subsequently lose the baby weight. In the next seven years since his birth, I had two more children and nursed all three for a combined total of six and a half years. So, for those seven years straight I was eating for two. Actually, I was probably eating for three. In the last year, when my nursing was coming to an end and there were no more babies in sight, I kept eating for two (or three). It’s like I couldn’t stop. My husband is twice my size and I would eat more than him at dinner at times.

I was raised knowing how to eat right. My mother is a practicing naturopath of over 20 years, so I know what foods to eat and what to avoid. I was always in good, if not great, shape, so I had that advantage. My problem, along with eating portion sizes too big, was my sweet tooth. I had to have something sweet every day and by sweet I mean cookies or ice cream. Albeit they were organic, but they were filled with sugar. I tried for years to control my need for sweets, without much success.

As far as the weight gain, I didn’t worry about it too much as I figured I would lose it when I was ready and I was ok with it while being pregnant and nursing. In fact, I actually believed that because of pregnancy and my hitting the thirties that my body was changing naturally and I just wasn’t ever going to fit back into my pre-marriage clothes no matter what I did. However, once I was ready to try and lose the weight on my own, I found it hard to stop eating the amounts I was used to. It wasn’t happening.

So what does this have to do with you? Well, when you come to this website and become an active member of the Raising Natural Kids’ community, I have promised to teach you simple changes to help you raise your kids toxin free, while gaining knowledge that will help you to navigate the path of natural living. When YOU aren’t performing or feeling your best, it drizzles down (or sometimes pours) onto your kids. That’s what I want to share something I struggled with and the natural answer I found, with you. 

What I Did to Finally Lose the Baby Weight

During my years of starting this blog and the social media that goes along with it, I have had many people recommend and/or ask me about weight loss products, having me look into certain brands, because they know that I am ALL about label reading and only putting healthy and real foods into my body as well as into the bodies of my children. Over and over I’d look into the companies by reading the labels, looking into ingredients and calling the representatives. Each time I’d come back to my fans with an answer of NO!!!

Because… the truth is that the healthiest bodies come from eating whole foods and nothing containing filers, hidden sugars, preservatives, etc. (you get the picture).

Beyond that, these companies are claiming that their products are the best out there, that they are healthy, that they will transform people, yet their ingredients and processing tell otherwise. In order to see through the marketing of these companies, you need to have some knowledge of what shouldn’t be in the products (I will get to this in a bit).

So, when a well-respected healer friend of mine, Jodi Parker, of Higher Living Journey, told me about Purium, I was understandably cautious but willing to once again do my due diligence. Purium is a company that produces superfoods from organic, non-GMO whole foods in a way that keeps the nutrients intact AND makes them bioavailable (something many superfoods companies do not do). The company is based on the tradition of naturopathy, which operates on the premise that our bodies are self-healing if given the right tools and environment. Purium uses whole foods, all Non-GMO and organic. I read over every product – no added ANYTHING. No hidden sugars, no preservatives, no dairy, no soy, no excipients, no binders, no fillers, no irradiation, and no pesticides or herbicides. Their products are even processed mechanically rather than with heat so as to protect the essential enzymes and nutrients. Purium has an introductory 10 day program called the 10 Day Transformation. The program is designed to re-set the metabolism and detox the body using only whole, superfoods. Most people lose between 5 and 20 pounds (the average is 11 pounds) during that time. I was ready and I was in, having finally found a cleanse that actually is as clean as it is marketed to be. I discuss joining the Purium team below, but if you want to jump right to it, here’s a way to save on the cleanse – Using code Raisingnaturalkids (all one word) as your gift card code will get you $50.00 off any program.

My Results

More Energy!!!

Above all, the transformation gave me energy to run and play with my kids. Seriously, for years when they asked me to play tag or soccer or relay races, I couldn’t keep up. NOW I run circles around them – literally!  On top of this, the newfound energy got me back into working out and started me running, something I have never in my life enjoyed (I used to skip gym class on the days we went out to track).

No More Sugar Cravings and I’m Eating Normal Portions

The cleanse completely took away my sugar cravings, and kept them at bay for almost a year now. To this day, 10 months later, I still use their MVP and cocoa mint spirulina each day and these satisfy my chocolate cravings when I have them as they pop up during ‘that time of month.’ It also helped me to eat normal portion sizes again.

Back Into Pants I Wore Ten Years Ago (Way before there was any baby weight!)

As far as weight, I lost 8 pounds in the 10 days, and then, went down 2 pant sizes in 6 weeks. Now, eight months later and still using Purium products, I am down a total of 4 pant sizes, I feel great and I look good. In fact, I will be participating in my first Tough Mudder this coming summer!

The 10 Day Transformation Plan

Besides for the fact that all ingredients stand up to my strict guidelines for what I allow in my home, I like that during the ten days of the transformation, you are NOT supposed to exercise. The reasoning is that this cleanse is not meant to trick the body into believing that it is starving, as so many weight loss programs do. Those that require exercising often don’t have you on enough calories, thus once you complete the program, you gain all of the weight back. If you are an avid athlete and do not want to stop exercising, there is an athlete’s option, but I would really start by doing the 10 day.

Along with the snacks, you can choose to do 2 superfood (protein) drinks a day with 1 meal OR 3 superfood shakes (proteins) a day without a meal. I did the meal option as I couldn’t picture myself not having a meal – I like to eat! You are given all the resources and support you need, and very easy to follow guidelines.

If you decide you’d like to try the 10 Day Transformation, or any Purium product, please send me a comment (OR see my reply to Shauna’s comment below as this contains key ordering information. I have edited this post to include this after questions). I can assist you in choosing products and programs that suit your needs best, and can assist you in getting the best deal. Because I love the products both for myself and my family (they also have great supplements and products for kids), I joined the Purium crew. Using code Raisingnaturalkids (all one word) as your gift card code will get you $50.00 off any program or product when you have $75 or more in your cart.

Looking at Other Options to Lose the Baby Weight? Here’s what to Look For:

What you DO Want

• Programs offering products that are certified organic and NON-GMO.

• Programs whose products contain nourishing ingredients for the body. This means lots of different kinds of greens with natural occurring vitamins and minerals.

• Products that do NOT contain any fake sugars or preservatives. BASICALLY, you should recognize EVERY ingredient.

• Products processed on low or no heat in order to keep nutrients intact.

• Products that contain the natural form of any vitamin and nothing synthetic.

• Products containing SPROUTED grains and/or seeds and nuts. For instance, a label should read sprouted quinoa instead of just quinoa. If these grains and/or seeds or nuts aren’t sprouted the body can’t access the nutrients in them.

What you DON’T Want

• Programs with ingredients that aren’t certified organic… and there is no such thing as better than organic, as some companies have claimed.

• Programs that don’t include ingredients that nourish the body.

• Products containing hidden fake sugars, such as fructose, dextrose, glucomannan, or polydextrose.

• Products processed on medium to high heat, which kills much of the nutrients.

• Products that contain synthetic vitamins, such as folic acid.

• Products containing grains, seeds or nuts that aren’t sprouted.

• Products containing dairy or soy.