I can’t wait for my snack!

I can’t wait for my mid-morning snack because I am going to eat the leftovers of what has now become my Favorite Hash! This morning I made “Sweet Potato Hash with Eggs” for breakfast.  The recipe came from the Ultra Mind Solution Cookbook by Mark Hyman, M.D. and it was so wonderful that I ate two entire servings!

The crispy sweetness of the potato was combined with the savory flavors from red peppers, garlic and onions with a tiny bit of jalapeno pepper for contrast.  After I ate those two servings, had my brain not reminded my mouth that I needed a protein source I could have eaten even more.

You see my husband Michael and I started our newest adventure two weeks ago.  Usually that means that we pack up the 4x4 full of camping gear and head out backcountry camping but that has not been on our dance cards lately due to his health.  No, our newest adventure keeps us close to home and our bathroom facilities and is called Six-Weeks to an Ultra Mind and was produced by Mark Hyman, M.D.

For the last two weeks we have been listening to Dr. Hyman’s seven audio CD’s, watching his 3 DVD’s and working through the exercises in his workbook. He has told us countless patient stories and about interesting new research that prompted him to develop this program. He calls himself an accidental psychiatrist as he discovered that by healing bodies with whole food diets they were healing their brains as well as their bodies. People with chronic depression, dementia, and autism were all getting better on all levels with his medical but most importantly, his dietary help.

I never thought I would see the day when Michael would consider giving up any of his potato chips, cookies, candy or wine.  Even though I had been following a gluten free and sugar free diet for a few years now with good results he was never interested in considering that what he ate could be causing his health issues.  But after listening to this doctor’s message for only one hour, he picked up the phone and ordered the entire kit.

This program is not for the faint of heart and although it is simple in terms of having only a few components to it (healthy eating, supplements, lifestyle and living clean and green) it requires work, don’t let him fool you.  But more than putting in the time and effort towards this program, what helped Michael and I most to even entertain making these changes was when we sat down recently and did our annual review and goal setting for the upcoming year.

We spent a few days looking at our governing values and life balance wheels, reviewing the past year and dreaming of how we would like our futures to be. We already had made our vision boards and now we wanted to make those a reality.  In fact I felt as if we were at an impasse and I did not know what I was going to do if Michael, of his own accord, was not willing to live a healthier lifestyle.  How could I watch him suffer each day? Would I be able to remain compassionate? How was I going to set the boundaries I needed that would enable me to live a healthy life without his illnesses interfering? Did I need to leave this relationship in order to save myself?

These were heart wrenching questions and their answers would be life changing. Then one evening I gave up all of my “doing” and sat down to be with Michael as he watched television.  This was the night that he turned on Public Television. This was the night when we met Dr. Mark Hyman with his Ultra Mind Solution. This was the night we started down the road together towards better health.