Trim Healthy Mama {Review}

I have a confession to make.  I started hearing all about Trim Healthy Mama on Facebook, my friends in the home education support group I attend and on Pinterest in the middle of last year.  I finally read Gwen's review and took the plunge, I purchased THM in January and when it arrived it sat on my bedside table for six months (this is my biggest regret... to think I could have been eating on plan for the last ten months and reached my weight goal by Christmas !?!)

I liked them on FB and read the testimony of an older lady whose health had been turned around and I shared that with my Mom and gave her my copy of the book. She has many health issues and has struggled to loose weight for the last few years, in fact she has steadily gained weight... Slowly slowly she has tried and applied the principles.  The weight numbers started going in the right direction and the inches are falling off of her. One day I noticed that she looked different and finally asked and her reply 8 kg (17.6 pounds) with THM! I was shocked. Now I knew I couldn't ignore my own weight/health issues any longer I needed this book too...

I so badly wanted to try what she was doing so I contacted THM to see if they had any review copies available.  Within hours they had responded and blessed me with a pdf copy of The Trim Healthy Mama.  I have put it onto my Galaxy Tab 2 but was finding it slow reading on there.  Thankfully this week a friend explained to me how to email it to my Kindle.  So much easier to read.

About the book

To be honest I have not finished reading this book.  It's 600 pages of information. I'm a fast reader but this stuff is paradigm changing and I find I need to re-read in order to grasp some concepts.  It's not hard it's just loads of information shared in a conversational tone. Pearl and Serene share their journey honestly and openly and are not afraid to say when they have a difference of opinion or experience in a certain area. 

I'm a tactile book girl so I took my pdf and printed the recipe section and had it spiral bound at our local stationary store.  I chose to print them single sided so that I would have the blank sides to write up my tweaks and the new recipes that I find over on {Trim Healthy Tuesday} a weekly blog hop where many Trim Healthy Mama's are sharing their creations.

I am in the process of saving to purchase a paperback version of the book in order to use tabs for easy reference as suggested by Gwen's Trim Healthy Mama Quick Start Guide.  I will be keeping it on my Kindle for easy portability and am pleased that I will have both the digital and paperback versions.

Our Experience
I am not a fan of coconut.  Period.  I really struggled with the concept of using so much coconut based products.  My mother wisely came over with some bread in a mug for lunch and needless to say the rest is history.  It was delicious and oh so very satisfying.  She made one batch and it was enough for the two of to enjoy.  That was all I needed in order to pluck up the courage to purchase ingredients and start my journey. I have made this for Paul and he is super impressed with how satisfying it is to eat.  He thought he would get hungry and have to eat but was pleasantly surprised that he did not.  I gave him bacon and eggs on bread in a mug. 

I then tried my hand at cheese cake.  Next time I will make this with more stevia. I served him this for breakfast with cream and berries.  Neither of us were hungry all morning.  He was rather surprised that this was diet food (and sceptical until I told how much weight I had lost in the first week ...) !

We are still in the early stages of using THM and I will write a follow up post after I get my head around the method. Now let me think there is something about S meals, FP meals, E meals and cross overs.  Once I get all this untangled in my head I will share more.  It's not difficult it's just a new way of classifying your food in order not to create a weight gaining environment in your body.

I was a sceptical because I was under the impression that I would be constantly counting carbs, points or something but I was encouraged to  “Never include large amounts of both fats and carbs in the same meal unless you are trying to gain or maintain weight. In other words, don’t tandem fuel.” Page 64  and "We don't want you doing a bunch of carb counting , which only leads to needless obsessions and detracts from happiness." I am pleased to say that the THM have done this work for you already by labelling the meals in the the recipe section with the letters S, FP and E.  I just haven't quiet understood how to use them yet.


I purchased

Australian THM products

• Coconut oil
• Flax meal
• Almond meal
• Cocoa
• Coconut
• Baking powder
• Vanilla Essence
• Happy Cow Cheese (full and reduced fat)
• Barley wraps
• Coconut cream
• Onion flakes
• Eggs

My grocery cupboard is being transformed.  My cravings are diminishing.  I used to crave chocolate and thought I would miss it.  The truth is I'm not.  Yes I do love chocolate but I don't have this driving urge to purchase and eat it all the time since I started THM.

Some people complain that it's expensive.  We are on a very tight budget.  There is no room to sneeze.  Yes some things are expensive and I will need to save for two or three paydays in order to purchase them but having said that the ingredients last because they are not things you need to stock up on every week.  So all I am doing is purchasing one to two items to add to my cupboard a fortnight and that is completely doable.

My numbers

• Week 1 - 1.3 kg (2.87 pounds)
• Week 2 - 1.4 kg (3.08 pounds)
• Week 3
• Week 4

I have a very long way to go but this will be a good journey.  I know that I am not going to be hungry and am not going to spend hours counting calories, points, carbs etc. I am going to enjoy becoming a Trim Healthy Mama! I will update here over the next few weeks with my numbers as I use the plan more and more foods as well as share some recipe's.

Some tasty easy recipes to try

• Singing Canary 
• The Shrinker My mom loves this drink.  The jury is still out here ;)
• Good Girl Moon Shine still need to try this one
• Caramel Apple Good Girl Moon Shine
• Spinach Bacon Breakfast Bake  
• Fooled Ya Pizza  {The Best Gluten-Free Pizza Crust EVER!} 

What some others have said

• Negatives of Trim Healthy Mama, THM oh I enjoyed this post so refreshing and encouraging. Angie has lost 17 pounds in 5 weeks and is keeping on.  She is part of the crew with me and says this is the best thing she has done for her weight loss / healthy living journey ever.  I loved this post because it is real. THM Week 9 Going Strong! Feeling Strong!
• Trim Healthy Mama Book Review over at Gwen's Nest. This is a review that sparked my interest.
• Change Your Life: Become a Trim Healthy Mama

Resources

• Trim Healthy Mama Recipes All recipes are marked {s} for higher fat, lower carb; {e} for higher carb, lower fat; or {fp)} for both low fat and low carb.
• Trim healthy mama recipes fuel pull
• Skinny Chocolate tweaked by Susan Priolo
• Trim Healthy Mama Quick Start Guide over at Gwen's Nest
• If you are looking for THM inspiration.  Pop on over to {Trim Healthy Tuesday} this is a weekly link up with recipes from all over bloggy world.  The photographs are mouth watering! 
• 10 Tips to Make Trim Healthy Mama Easier.  over at The Blue House blog. 
• Trim Healthy Mama Store
• Trim Healthy Mama bloggers to follow.
• Small things by Nona full of wonderful THM recipes 
• Trim Healthy Recipes over at Stacy Makes Cents
• Trim Healthy Me Full of great recipes 
• The Laundry Mom's have fun with THM recipes 

Buy the Book

• 
  Kindle
• Paperback
• Amazon
• Book Depository

Connect with THM

• Trim Healthy Mama Facebook Fan Page
• Trim Healthy Mama in Australia Facebook closed group.
• Allergen Free Trim Healthy Mama Facebook closed group
• Trim Healthy Mama Website
• Pinterest
• Twitter
• Forum

I just want to say thank you so much to Serene and Pearl for giving me this opportunity to shout out for your book and blessing our family.  For my readers I would love to encourage you to save up and purchase this book it is well worth it's investment.  It is a book full of helpful information, an abundant recipe section and tons of encouragement.  It is not full of difficult jargon and is a book that will transform your life and your body whether you have lots to loose or a little, whether you are pregnant or breast feeding or just needing to get healthy this book is for you. You can use all the recipes and start at any point.

Be blessed and I look forward to reading your experiences with Trim Healthy Mama.
Blessings
Chareen