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The Building Blocks of Success: My THM journey

written by

Sue King

posted on

April 3, 2020

Last week I started to tell you about my Trim Healthy Mama (THM) journey. After following the principles of Nourishing Traditions for many years, I stumbled upon Trim Healthy Mama.

To say it has been life changing for me is an understatement. I went from looking pregnant even when I wasn’t to regaining a feminine figure that I feel good about.

Balance That Blood Sugar

Goal #1: Balancing blood sugar

I learned to choose foods that have a low-glycemic index. For me this meant eliminating grains for over a year, eating non-starchy vegetables, lots of high quality protein and good fats. Kale, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, lettuce and many other non -starchy veggies occupied half or more of my plate. Berries were a mainstay of my breakfasts. And lots of fermented dairy products.

When we eat these low-glycemic foods they are digested much slower, therefore they do not cause our blood sugar to spike.

Goal #2: Eliminate Sugar and White Flour

THM is definitely sugar-free. Refined sugar and white flour are absorbed into our blood streams very quickly. When this happens continually our pancreas is overworked producing insulin to combat the blood sugar. Now this does not mean that we have to resort to artificial sweeteners. They are not a part of this plan. Instead stevia or blends of stevia/erythritol or xylitol are on-plan, as is monk fruit. I personally use stevia.

Three Building Blocks of a Healthy Diet

Building Block #1: High quality Protein

Protein is our anchor. It is digested slowly so it doesn’t spike our blood sugar. I eat some form of animal protein that we have raised on our farm at every meal. I have grass-fed beef and lamb, pasture raised pork and chicken, dairy products and free range eggs to choose from.

Building Block #2: High Quality Fats

Just like Nourishing Traditions, we use high quality fats such as extra virgin olive oil, virgin coconut oil, avocado oil, lard, tallow, butter and cream.

We use olive, coconut and avocado oil to make homemade salad dressings. Lard, tallow coconut oil and butter are used for cooking. Last but not least, fresh cream from our Jersey cow makes coffee heavenly.

Building Block #3: Low glycemic Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates boost our energy levels. With THM we consume helpful carbs like fruit, sweet potatoes, beans and whole grains. Brown rice, quinoa, oatmeal, sprouted whole grains, popcorn, beans, lentils and split peas are examples of useful carbs.

Putting it All Together

Now comes the fun part; putting this all together. On THM we do not mix fats and carbs. These are both fuels for our body. If we load up on these two fuels at every meal our body simply turns the excess into fat for storage.


Think of THM as a balance scale. The center of the scale is your protein while one side contains your fats and the other is your carbs. You never want your scale to be level; you don’t want to mix fats and carbs.

When you decide to have a meal with fats you are choosing a “satisfying” meal. Carbs are part of an “energizing” meal.

When I was trying to lose weight the next thing I learned was not to eat fats and carbs in the same meal.  Both of these are fuels that our bodies require, but when combined cause us to put on excess weight instead of shedding it.


Satisfying Meals (S)

These meals are a combination of our high quality protein, lots of non-starchy veggies with plenty of good fats.

Most of my meals fall into this category. A typical breakfast for me contains two free-range eggs scrambled with butter and coconut oil, salt, pepper, homemade onion powder and nutritional yeast. As a side I have homemade yogurt with blueberries, strawberries, saskatoons, or hascaps sweetened with stevia. Frequently supper is grass-fed beef or chicken and lots of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, peppers or carrots with homemade butter.


Energizing Meals (E)

Energizing meals consist of a lean protein and low glycemic carbs. They contain a maximum of one teaspoon of fat.

(E) meals are usually reserved for lunches. A typical lunch in the first year of THM was mixed leafy greens lightly sautéed and salmon.

By changing my eating habits and following THM I lost over fifty pounds in the first six months without starving myself. I have now maintained that weight loss for five year.

I have just skimmed the surface of this easy to follow lifestyle eating plan. I would highly recommend Trim Healthy Mama to anyone. My skinny husband and son even follow it except that they eat white potatoes.

I hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse of my health journey.

If you are new to Harmonys Way Family Farm we invite you to have a look around our website.  If you have any questions please feel free to connect with us.  If you are not a subscriber we invite you to join us on this journey called life.  With Easter just around the corner when you subscribe  you will receive our little recipe booklet The Busy Cooks Guide to Preparing Amazing Lamb absolutely free. 






Yes, Please!






P.S.:  You may know that we recently opened our online-store to serve our customers better. But, did you also know that we are now making door-to-door deliveries in Grande Prairie?


More from the blog

Are you Absolutely Satisfied with Store-Bought Pork?

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY PORK DISHES ALWAYS HAVE SO MANY SWEET SAUCES ON THEM? For many years this question never crossed my mind. Until we started raising and eating our own pasture-raised pork. But what lead us to start raising pigs?  Neither Larry nor I had much experience with pigs growing up. We started our married life buying all our pork in the grocery store, but then switched to sourcing it from a neighboring conventional pork producer. We were not aware that most of the pork that is available in the grocery stores comes from pigs that have never seen the light of day. They spend their whole life crowded into huge hog barns. They are fed an industry standard diet of grain with no green, living food at all. They are crowded into small spaces with many other pigs where their natural ability to move is restricted. Much to our surprise and horror, we discovered that the neighbor we were purchasing our pork from was raising them no differently than what we could get in the store. At that time, little did we know that eventually Larry would face a digestive issue from this type of pork. After certain meals he would feel sick to the stomach and end up with diarrhea. It got so bad before we clued into the cause. When we quit eating pork these issues went away. Now we had a dilemma. We really like pork but couldn’t eat it anymore. Being the DIY homesteaders we were back in those days we decided to buy a couple little pigs and raise them ourselves. We knew that we didn’t want to raise them in a barn. So outside they went. These were the happiest pigs I ever saw. They were free to roam around their pasture, rooting in the soil and wallowing in the mud while searching for whatever they thought was tasty to eat. We fed them grains from a neighbor, kitchen scraps and milk from our milk cow. When they were big enough to harvest, we sent them to the processor, not knowing if we would even be able to eat this pork. Much to our delight Larry had no adverse reaction to the meat. It was delicious! The meat was firm, not mushy like barn raised pork. It also had a richness to it that we had never experienced before.  No more bland and flavorless conventional pork for us.  No sauces required! We thought that we couldn’t be the only people who had experienced something similar and wished for a pleasurable eating experience. This success started us on a new farming adventure, raising pastured pork for sale. Encouraged by the success we had with our first pigs we decided to purchase our breeding herd. We have tried many breeds of pigs over the years and have settled on the Berkshire breed. They are a heritage pig that matures slower thus producing an excellent quality meat and the best lard fat that I think you can get. I have heard it said that Berkshire pork is the gold standard of pork among chefs. Besides that, they are very personable and entertaining to have around!  And mischievous. I truly believe from our personal experience that all animals that we raise for food need to be able to live in conditions that are natural for them and have the ability to express their God-given characteristics. When we domesticated animals, we became responsible to steward them well. We strive to do just this with all our animals. One of my favorite cuts of pork is the Boston Butt Roast.  It is juicy, tender, melt-in-your mouth meat. This is the cut that pulled-pork is made from. It is an economical cut that we also use to make ground pork and our special gluten-free, nitrate-free sausages. When you purchase our pasture-raised pork you will experience what real pork should taste like. We offer a variety of options when it comes to purchasing our pasture-raised pork.   Individual cuts to suit your needs. Pork Chops, Traditional salt-cured and smoked ham and bacon, Whole Tenderloin, Boston Butt Roasts, Ground Pork, Breakfast Sausages (Nitrate-free, Sugar-free and Filler-free). Coming soon!  Our "1/4 Pork Bundle."  Our newest addition to our pastured-pork line-up.  This bundle is perfect for a smaller family or if you have limited freezer space.  It will consist of a variety of the individual cuts, including Pork Chops, Pork Sirloin Steak, Ham Steak, Bacon, Ground Pork and Sausage. And, last but not least if you want to customize the cuts you receive, we have whole hogs available.   You can find all of these options in our online store. Do you want to try my simple Boston Butt Roast recipe? It’s so simple. I place the roast on a rack in my cast-iron dutch-oven. Add a little water. Sprinkle chopped onions on top (I used my home-grown dehydrated onions) salt and pepper. Roast until the internal temperature reaches 160F. I slice it and serve with apple sauce, oven roasted potatoes and a veggie.  You can purchase our pasture-raised pork from our online store or from us at the Grande Prairie Farmers Market on Fridays or Saturdays.