Margaret is Free from Food Addictions and Lost 60 Pounds!Posted: Sun, Jan 3, 2010By: Danielle Heard, MS, HHC Artemis in the City Blog Home
Addictions are a subject that Margaret knows all too well. Throughout her entire life, she has battled and overcome many forms of addiction including addictions to cigarettes and alcohol. Now at the age of 56, Margaret is conquering her last major addiction, an addiction to food, has lost 60 pounds and is obtaining the life she has always wanted! In May 2009, Margaret stood just 5’2” tall and weighed over 320 pounds. She was experiencing a number of health issues which included arthritic pain, inflammation, cellulitis, high blood pressure and considered herself to have a food disorder. The weight was a lot for her small frame to carry, and Margaret was not feeling well. She was also having trouble walking due to the pain and inflammation in her back, knees and hip. Since both of Margaret’s parents had been overweight and had died of strokes, this too weighed heavily on her mind. Margaret had tried many times to lose weight. She had even stopped eating fast food 6 years ago. Margaret’s last resort to try to control her weight included skipping meals and eating lots of raw celery and carrots. But her efforts were unsuccessful and she battled many food cravings which she eventually would give in to, especially cravings for sweets. At the recommendation of a friend, Margaret began visiting the Artemis in the City website and attending the events to learn more. After attending the lecture “Take Control of Your Health with Whole Food,” Margaret decided she needed professional help and scheduled a health history session. Within one month of a 6 month wellness program, Margaret had lost 20 pounds, her knee was no longer hurting, her blood pressure was normal, her teeth were whiter, she was not battling food cravings and she was very excited because she could now wear her cute shoes with the wedge heel! Margaret said, “I thought I had damaged my physical ability to lose weight because of the unhealthy habits I had developed. I no longer believed there was a light at the end of my tunnel, until I started following Danielle's suggestions. It felt like light was starting to appear, and I started seeing progress in my effort. The more progress I experience the more effort I want to exert, the more changes I want to make, because I now know that eating a health filled plan works." By helping Margaret dissolve old patterns and thoughts about food and equipping her with new tools and healing food theories, Margaret has been able to take control of her health and change her life. “It is amazing to me how the cravings have stopped, because I am eating what my body wants so it has nothing to crave,” said Margaret. “Not craving is helping me move through the program easier.” By August 2009, just three months after starting her wellness program, Margaret had lost 41 pounds and was awarded a certificate of achievement from the executive director of her company for her efforts to lose weight and take control of her health. Margaret also realized that food no longer controlled her life and said, "I had a revelation yesterday, as I was doing things around my house that I have not had the motivation to do or energy to do in over a year. My body is healing, but that's not it. I have been thinking about this food disorder and have decided that I do not have a food disorder any longer, because I have changed my attitude about food. I now eat to live a healthy life. In the past it was live to eat, and it did not matter what. I am excited about my physical energy, and have been swimming everyday but yesterday, because I wanted to do some things around the house. I am blessed, and grateful." By becoming more conscious of her food choices and giving her body the love and care that it needs, Margaret has been able to successfully lose weight and keep it off. She has now lost over 60 pounds, and has made it through two major holidays without gaining weight. Margaret now has the ability to look at food from a healing perspective which has given her control over her health for the first time in her life. Margaret said, "When I see my friends, and the ones dying of cancer, I feel like I have crossed over to another place. I think my success has been a combination of many things that I have been willing to do, and accept about myself. The one particular thing that has made the difference is a change in my attitude. I also had to change my focus away from the cost, and the money investment, because one way or the other I was going to have to either spend the money in medical care because of the unhealthy lifestyle, or spend the money to insure my health in preventative measures. I am worth the investment.” Today, Margaret no longer experiences back, hip and knee pain. Her cellulitis is gone. The dark skin spots on her leg caused by cellulitis are healing and almost gone. Her life-long dandruff is completely gone. Her blood pressure remains stabilized. Her skin tags around her neck are getting lighter and falling off. Margaret has lost 2 shoe sizes, 3 bra sizes and numerous sizes in clothes. She is also very excited about her developing waistline and being able to wear cute clothes. “My quality of life has improved because my range of motion has improved, clothes fit, and I have choices that I have not had in a long time,” said Margaret. “I am looking forward to the coming year and want to continue the weight loss. I am not in a hurry, and will continue to move in a healthy forward direction with Danielle's guidance and direction.” Margaret's before and after photos:
Margaret's Testimonial: "I have been working with Danielle since May 22, 2009. I was first introduced to her website by a friend a month before, but did not think much of it at that time. I was already starting to move into some frequent episodic inflammation due to my arthritis and had already started to investigate healing food sites; Artemis in the City being one. I did not really understand how to put what I was reading together into a menu or start the process until I went to hear Danielle talk at Vitamin’s Plus one Saturday afternoon. She basically confirmed what I was already beginning to gain some awareness about, and that the food I have been eating was very unhealthy, lacked nutrition, and was probably acerbating the inflammation, because I was not providing the nutrients my body requires. I filled out a history and had my first session on May 22, 2009. I knew going in I was going to have to make some drastic changes to improve my health. I thought I can either let the food continue to hurt me or I can let the food heal me. Danielle spent about 2 hours with me going over my health history and current situation, as it was pain providing the incentive to act, and prescription medication only slows the pain but does not cure the pain. I wanted to go for cure. I remember that day vividly. But what most impressed me was that she looked at me intently and said, 'I really want to help you.' I have been working with Danielle for over 7 months now and have tried to follow her direction in a way that I have not done before. I have lost over 60 lbs! I don’t have to count calories or weigh anything. I just have to follow directions and eat healthy. One of our sessions together was learning about the different foods in the health store and reading labels. I am eating real food, nothing processed or chemically treated, and my body can tell the difference. It is outstanding! Another of our sessions was over two hours of learning to use my juicer, but always in our sessions there is guidance and education. I am going to continue to work with Danielle because I have achieved a level of comfort and success working with Danielle that I have not achieved in the past and I feel very hopeful for the first time in my life.” — Margaret Cunzalo, Longview, TX Thank you very much for reading my blog and please continue to visit often. I wish you good health, happiness and love! Danielle CommentsYour comments are very important to me. I would love to hear from you. To prohibit spam, you must be a registered user to leave me a comment. All submitted comments must be approved before they are posted. You only need to submit your comment to me one time. Thank you! Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | © 2008-2024 Artemis in the City, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | © 2008-2024 Artemis in the City, LLC. All rights reserved. |