CoachE'Nation

Hey everybody,

Oh, I am super excited to be doing this series and I am flashing pompoms as I welcome you to the very first of the series on Being FitFam & Minimalist

So, if you are subscribed to our mailing list (sign up here), I already hinted that I have a very strong desire this year to upgrade the diet of my family. I maintain a maybe 50% different diet than them, but I am looking to even things out on a real upgrade.

Fitfam aside, on a personal note, and on behalf of my family too, I decided to embrace minimalism, especially with myself and my kids over whom I have total control. 

Minimalism is a style in which a small number of very simple things are used to create a particular effect… Collins Dictionary

When you combine fitfam and minimalism, you would agree with me that we would be walking a really tight rope, and while this would save me money, it would cost me time in planning, strategizing and implementing.

If you know me, I don’t see such time as wasted, instead I see it as an INVESTMENT into my health and that of my family. I want to be a REALLY good steward of everything God has so generously blessed us with, and like Joyce Meyer says in her book: “GOOD HEALTH, GOOD LIFE,” when we don’t take care of our health and fall sick, we leave our loved ones to bear the brunt of our poor choices, and that is really unfair.

OK, so enough gist. I intend to share my minimalism journey everywhere I steward real estate on the web… 

My personal faith based blog www.eziaha.com

My Stay at Home mommy blog www.stayhomemoms.ng

And of course, my fitness blog here www.coache.ng

Now let us jump into my baby steps to #MinimalistAndFitfam

The first thing the Holy Spirit DIRECTLY taught me on this journey is that instead of being quick to cut out, I should start first by plugging the holes, that is NOT BUYING again while I exhaust what I have and re-strategize on how to bring in the alternatives in a sustainable way forever.

That’s a big mistake we make with fitfam in general. We don’t make solid, long-term plans, instead we are quick to deprive ourselves, without the help of a Coach, and then we are frustrated because we are not able to sustain what we started, and then we quit.

Me, ‘I gave myself brain’ from the beginning.

I decided I would put the plug on purchases, getting rid of only the things I could easily replace with the healthy stuff.

Let’s get real practical

1, Dairy/Cow’s Milk!!!

So I quit on dairy (though I do ice cream once in a while) a couple months back, my family still enjoys it. However, my goal is to completely rid my family of milk by Q4.

My replacement would be plant based milk especially from tigernut.

Good thing I am equipped to handle it by God’s grace…

I typically purchase a lot of tiger nuts and I have a solid blender.

However, the impediment here is that it is SO MUCH EASIER to just grab milk from my cupboard, than blend and strain nut milk.

While I can batch prep and throw in the freezer, once I forget to bring it out to thaw on time, I have to quickly revert to cow’s milk since I don’t want to keep my family waiting. Also, the technicalities are just so much more, especially with consistency when using it for something like pap.

Anyways, I intend to STILL buy cow’s milk but reduce by at least 50% and up my nuts purchase. Will keep reducing it as it gets easier and I plan better, till I completely eliminate cow’s milk.

Oh, cow’s milk is just CRAP. Sorry, I don’t have anything else to say about it that would be consistent with what I believe.

2. Flavored Oats

Now, this one is the PAINFUL one because by the time the Lord came for it, I already knew He would. 

Gosh, oats is easily one of my BEST meals, so flavored oats was my indulgence. The sweetness was always suspect though, BUT I decided to play the ‘ignorance is bliss’ card. With this minimalist upgrade, I had to Google and my findings confirmed my fear…

Too much additives

Too much sugar

Too much crap!!!

So now we are back to good old rolled or quick cook oats.

If I want it sweet, I use dates, banana, raisins and what have you.

My Flavored oats variety??vs My good old fashioned oats

Now, this one is on my NO BUY list. I do have quite a bit at home to exhaust and that may honestly take me to the end of Q1, and even beyond, but I won’t be replacing. Good thing is it is SO MUCH CHEAPER to buy plain old fashioned oats so I am happy to save about 20k on that.

Yay Minimalist hehe

Flavored oats was my indulgence

3. Semo, Wheat, Poundo and the Likes

Oh, this like oats is on my NO BUY list. I also do have quite a lot in my store PLUS I got some as gifts too at Christmas. I will be giving them out once I set up my healthier alternatives, which will be

‘Amala’ aka plantain flour or yam flour

Oats swallow (oats is pricey though but we don’t eat so much swallow here)

Tigernut swallow. This one is easy because I have a TOSH LOAD of the flour at home. All I need is a binder and I am good!!!

Between all 3, I can kiss all the less healthy options goodbye.

Oh and I wanna try out my hand on pounded yam. It used to seem like such hard work when we were growing up, but now, it looks like I can handle it, especially because it will be just once a week and mostly for my boys. 

How much can they eat?

4. White rice/pasta/flour

Oh, I already started on the white rice by not buying or receiving any white rice gift once the one I had got exhausted, and I loaded up on brown rice.

Per pasta, this one is dicier because we love our pasta here. I am now hunting for brown pasta and wherever I see, I will be buying a LOT of it.

I will phase it out gradually or completely once I find the alternative.

Per flour for pancakes, I am gradually phasing it out by adding to my now reduced white flour portion, tigernut flour, plantain and banana to sweeten

5. White bread and Wheat bread

Again, like pasta, this is going to be tough but I am happy to bake bread once a week. As things stand, I am slightly disadvantaged as I don’t have a very good oven so I would have to invest in that. Then I need the knowledge too to handle that. The plan is to make tigernut and coconut bread and I am currently learning and practicing. Made one earlier this week that was a DISASTER phew. It pained me sha and hubs kept yabbing me lol.

Not giving up though.

As for wheat bread, again, it is a scam, especially commercial ones. It is even best to enjoy white bread and know that you are not exactly eating for health, than to be scammed with what we call wheat bread here. If you have Ezekiel bread, then go for it.

I have decided to bake mine, but until I sort myself out, I will keep buying store bought bread, but not as much as before, please.

Ok so there is MORE but let me stop here for now!!!

I know some of us will wonder about some of the meals I am eliminating as you thought they were healthy. The truth is that there is a WHOLE SCAM that goes on when it comes to our foods. 

Scam

Greed

Deception

And more

People just are out to make money at the expense of the health of others, and if you dig a little deeper, just a little, you would see just how much damage we do to our health when we fit into the feeding culture of this world without thinking

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Romans 12:2b MSG

As I know better, I want to do better, but like I said, I am not rushing in.

I have the whole year, or at least 9months to make my transitions.

I am going to be gracious with myself and enjoy the process

I will not be legalistic and will make sure to have fun too, bringing my family along for the ride

I will research, plan, prepare, manage my time well so I am not in the kitchen all day, and show my gratitude to God for this body and beautiful family He has blessed me with.

So, don’t be tensioned by me or my plans.

Every action I am taking is very consistent with what I believe. If I don’t do this, I am sinning. I truly want to keep food to a minimum here… we eat for health and strength, and I don’t want food taking over our lives.

I truly want to keep my kitchen and pantry healthy, clean and minimal!!!

I want us to eat farm fresh foods, and not stuff our bodies with stuff genetically modified, and produced in a factory that doesn’t help me long term.

Go to God and ask Him to show you your own pattern too, for which He also releases the GRACE for it.

And then as He does and graces you, rock it out like the Queen Mother that YOU ARE!!!

Like I said, I will share my journey with you all here and my other blogs by God’s grace, so expect Part 2 much later, where I update on how I am winning so far. Also, if you have questions or concerns you want me to address and clarify, drop a comment please.

Also would appreciate you sharing this with a friend, if this helped you in any way

In my next Post on Monday, I want to talk about why I stopped going to the Gym.

God bless you, Fam, and keep CRUSHING your fitness goals.

A FAN in your corner

CoachE’

PS

Healthy Living course is a good place to start if you want to really take your family diet seriously. 

Find it on John and Lisa Bevere’s MESSENGERX app and it is FREE and SO GOOD

3 Responses

  1. I enjoyed reading and learnt a lot too. So this post has helped me with the questions in my mind on healthy alternative replacements. So I will be easy with myself, do away with what I already have alternatives to , go easy on those I have not been able to nail its alternatives and keep asking for wisdom from the Holy Spirit on the alternatives.

    Thanks Eziaha. God bless you too.

  2. Oh coach E! I’m finally happy seeing these. I was praying that you get in line with these as well as I started learning how dangerous these foods were. I’m glad the Holy Spirit is already using you to steward this move.

    I love how you said its a sin if you don’t do this because it’s a confirmation to what the Holy Spirit told me. Sometimes, I slack and just go with the flow but the Holy Spirit has been nudging me to treat this more seriously as I would treat any other sin because He was the One that gave me the instructions and direction and not any man so listening to what people are saying as against His is a sin. And oh, I can testify to the grace, I can’t believe all I deprived myself of last year. I’m surely doing better this year. God help me.

    Thanks once again. May God bless you more ma’am

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