about me

Welcome to my blog: Amy's Nutritarian Kitchen!  I began this blog adventure to help me keep track of and share my experiences with living a nutritarian lifestyle.  I am a graduate of Washington State University (Pullman, WA), and I graduated with a BS in Environmental Science and Regional Planning, GO COUGS!  I am currently working as an Office Administrator at a Civil Engineering firm in Tacoma, Washington while living in Puyallup, Washington.  My husband and I moved to western Washington recently (July 2014) when job opportunities opened up for both of us.  I enjoy trying new recipes, pilates and yoga, road trips, knitting, reading about nutrition and environmental awareness, watching movies, and just life in general!

I started this blog in September 2011 in hopes of keeping myself accountable for what I eat and how I exercise.  It has turned into a great outlet for some of my creativity, a good reason to try exciting new nutritarian recipes, and a means to spread the word about this wonderful lifestyle that changed my life.

Nutritarian is a term coined by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, who is a nutritionally-based doctor that is considered an authority on disease reversal and/or prevention through nutritional excellence.  I first read one of his most famous books, "Eat to Live" , winter of 2011 and was inspired to change my lifestyle.

Here is my story:  My journey starts with a very sad Amy.  All my life, I have always felt I was a bit or quite a bit overweight.  My heavy times were always after Christmas holidays of being home (from college) and sneaking into the kitchen to devour Christmas treat after Christmas treat.  Looking back on it now, I have realized that I had an addiction to the sugar and fat, and most importantly, I was addicted to the instant pleasure that decadent and sweet foods gave me.  

After going back to school in January of 2011, I found that I had gained nearly 10 lbs (!) over Christmas break.  I groaned at the thought of having to get back into dieting and feeling hungry and deprived all of the time, with the inevitable crash and burn.  I had tried Weight Watchers independently several times before this with little success.  I was terrible about counting points, and often under-exaggerated how many points a food item was worth just so I could feel like I wasn't starving.  I was not a person meant to have the will-power to eat little portions.  

One evening in January 2011, I went online to search for a diet book that would work for me.  I passed by the "high-protein" diets because I was never a big meat eater, and frankly, didn't know how to cook a steak to save my life.  I also passed by the "low-carb" diets because I didn't know how anyone could live without grains and breads (and it always made me think of Julia Roberts in America's Sweethearts where she never has carbs, then goes nuts on an extremely stressful day and eats half of the hotel menu).  I finally stumbled across Dr. Furman's book, Eat to Live.  It had a claim on the front cover in bold saying "LOSE 20 LBS. OR MORE IN 6 WEEKS".  I immediately thought: "That would be great, but how drastic and crazy is this?"

I took a leap of random faith and bought the book on my Kindle and finished reading the book by morning.  I took a good week to mentally process through what it had taught me, all while changing my eating habits to follow Dr. Fuhrman's recommendations.  I cleaned out my studio apartment of the bad foods I had been eating, and went full-boar into eating the Nutritarian way.  I ate this way for 5 weeks straight, hardly budging an inch (with only the occasional drink, I was in college at the time).  Here was my basic daily diet:
  • 1 lb. raw vegetables
  • 1 lb. cooked vegetables
  • 1 cup beans or legumes
  • at least 4 fresh fruits
  • up to 1 cup starchy vegetables and whole grains
  • up to 1 oz of nuts or seeds
For the first time in my life, I felt completely full and satisfied without feeling guilty about what I ate.  It was a wonderful feeling!  It was around this time that I was having issues with my long-term boyfriend at the time.  Sometimes it takes moments in your life to understand and appreciate yourself before you realize that some people close to you don't.  I broke up with that boyfriend and opened myself up to spending more time with friends and out socializing, something I felt I had been missing out on most of my college career.

That is when I met Kevin.  Kevin made me laugh and enjoy life like I never thought, or just forgot, that I could!  He made me re-realize my adventurous and fun side that had secluded itself after years of a relationship with someone who was selfish and a jealous person.  I finally felt like I was living!  Now, a few years later, Kevin and I are married and happier than ever.  I feel like the happiest person to have married my best friend and to be physically and mentally healthy after years of food addiction and a bad self image.

Today, I still have some problems with food addiction and finding my "happy weight", but, in getting to understand them better, I feel more motivation to continue eating the Nutritarian way.  Because not only my body has been healed with eating this way, but also my self opinion and worth, I will forever attribute the Nutritarian lifestyle to changing my life in so many ways.  That is why I write this blog and want to share my successes and struggles with all of you.  It is a way not only to make myself accountable, but a way to get encouragement and encourage others.

I just thank God that I stumbled upon Dr. Fuhrman's book that winter night in 2011, because it really was the start of everything great in my life.

I also want to thank my readers who give me an audience and the motivation to keep going.


If you ever have any questions or would like to have a private discussion about any of the topics I present on ANK, please email me at amysnutritariankitchen@gmail.com