Our newest little Illini Fans!After a much needed break and two babies later – we are back! If you’ve followed the DuPage Family Wellness blog, you know that we are passionate about eating real food. However, over the last several weeks of welcoming newborns into our homes, we have seen firsthand how difficult it can be to actually shop and prepare real food for your family. We’ve found that planning ahead and being organized are crucial to getting a real food meal on the table and not succumbing to the ease of convenience, processed, and fast foods.
If you are trying to be healthier and interested in removing processed foods from your diet and incorporating more real foods or if you are a seasoned veteran, there are several, simple things that we have found to make eating real food possible in the midst of the busyness of life. In light of that reality, we will be posting “real food weekly challenges” over the next several weeks. These will be basic weekly cooking challenges that you can do to help make your life easier and provide real food for your family for that week. Overtime, by implementing a few of these things every week, you will find that preparing real food meals for your family will be much more doable and hopefully even enjoyable. We may also throw in some movement challenges to help incorporate more movement in your day. Time after time, we have seen how the combination of eating real, unprocessed food and moving the body have allowed people (including ourselves!) to reach their health goals! We are excited for you to do these challenges along with us and see what happens!
Along with posting these regular food challenges, we will also be offering another 5 week long RESTART® class to help you kick those sugar cravings and look and feel your best as we head into spring. The next class will begin on Wednesday April 6th from 7-8:30 the Warrenville Office and continue for 5 weeks on Wednesday nights with the last class being May 4th. Learn more here and email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with questions!
Also, Dr. Thomure is back in the office seeing patients with the following hours:
Monday: 2:00 – 6:00
Wednesday: 2:00 – 6:00
Friday: 10:00 – 1:00
Call our office at 630-448-0255, or email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) to schedule.
Eating out can be very tough! You don't always know how your food is being prepared. It seems like 90% of the options come with some sort of bread/tortilla/French fry, etc. Sauces are almost always thickened with flour or corn starch. One of my favorite ways to keep things in check is to sub out items on the menu for healthier options!! While this isn't always possible, you never know if you don't ask!
Top 5 restaurant substitutions I have managed to get- just by asking!
- Veggies instead of Tortilla Chips at a Mexican restaurant (Changarro in West Chicago did this for me!) I didn't think they'd do this for me, but I asked if there was something else besides chips to dip in the delicious salsa, and they brought me some veggies!
- Veggies instead of fries (occasionally there will be a small up charge, but well worth it!)
- A Stir Fry with extra vegetables instead of rice or noodles
- A lettuce wrap or bed of greens instead of a bun or bread. This could be with a burger, chicken, fish, heck I've even eaten an "italian beef salad"
- Oil and Vinegar instead of other salad dressing. This one I recommend because salad dressings are notorious for having all sorts of weird added ingredients and sugar. My best bet if I'm eating out is always Oil and Vinegar, because at least that way I have a better idea of what I'm eating. Sometimes if there are enough delicious ingredients in the salad, I just leave off the dressing all together.
If you are being very strict or have food allergies, you can ask your waiter about what types of oils they use for cooking and where the meat/produce came from. Depending on the restaurant, they may or may not know the answers to those questions.
If there is an option of cooking oil, my top choice would be coconut oil, or a form of animal fat (butter, lard, duckfat, etc) They have more saturated fats, and can go to high temperatures better. I would stay away from highly processed cooking oils like vegetable oil, canola oil, etc. Here is a guide for which fats to cook with, which to eat raw, and which to avoid all together!
Since I don't go out to eat very often, I typically just try to do the best I can, knowing that it is a treat, and I can't control everything about the way my food is prepared all the time.
Dr. Jamie
Need more motivation to begin eating real food and get healthy? This is what one of the participants from the last class had to say about her experience!
With Restart, I have lost almost 13 pounds. I really don't miss all the sugary foods that I was eating. I can't believe how much I enjoy eating my salads and veggies. I took away from this program, how important it is to forgive yourself if you do eat something, not on the program. Eat it, enjoy it and move on. I am motivated to stick with this way of eating since the program.
Yes, Bacon is allowed on RESTART! Eating Real Food can taste so good and we will give you some great tips and recipes!
This 5 week program to RESTART® your health begins this Monday from 7-8:30.
What is The RESTART® Program?
RESTART® is a 5-week program with a 3-week sugar detox built into it. Part nutritional class, part sugar detox, and part support group, it is a powerful and empowering combination for success!
Are You Ready?
Just like this recent RESTART® participant, you too will experience the side effects of the The RESTART® Program, which include (but are not limited to):
- Weight loss
- Better sleep
- More energy
- Boosted Immunity
- Reduced cravings for sugar and starchy carbs
- Mental clarity, calmness and even temperament
- Reduced PMS and menopausal symptoms
- An appreciation for the taste of REAL FOOD!
Click HERE to learn more or sign up!
"I never thought I could do this, but with all the information and support, it went by really fast and I feel great! You have changed my life and I thank you for that!"
"Since I did The RESTART® Program I'm off of two medications; one for asthma and the other for acid reflux.
I can't tell you how excited I am about this!"
These are just a few things people are saying about the RESTART® Program.
What is The RESTART® Program?
RESTART® is a 5-week program with a 3-week sugar detox built into it. Part nutritional class, part sugar detox, and part support group, it is a powerful and empowering combination for success!
Are You Ready?
Side effects of the The RESTART® Program may include (but are not limited to):
- Weight loss
- Better sleep
- More energy
- Boosted Immunity
- Reduced cravings for sugar and starchy carbs
- Mental clarity, calmness and even temperament
- Reduced PMS and menopausal symptoms
- An appreciation for the taste of REAL FOOD!
You will also learn:
- How to prepare mentally, physically, and emotionally to make successful changes to your diet.
- How Digestion is supposed to work and simple ways to enhance yours.
- What sugar really does in your body, the stages of dysglycemia (Hypoglycemia, Hyperglycemia, Insulin Resistance, Type 2 Diabetes), and effective ways to reduce your risk of these conditions.
- The truth about FATS and why healthy fats are essential for healthy Blood Sugar Regulation, as well as your general good health. You will learn which fats to eat, which fats to avoid, and why!
- How to move forward from the sugar detox and re-introduce foods in a healthful way back into your daily diet.
The next 5-week class begins Monday, October 26th from 7-8:30! Click HERE to learn more and sign up. Want to take RESTART® but can't do Monday nights? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. today as more class times are pending.
RESTART® Your Health Nutrition Classes AND Nourish Your Family Freezer Cooking Parties!
RESTART® is Back!
Excess weight, tiredness and fatigue, headaches, gas and bloating, brain fog, poor sleep, unbalanced hormones, high blood pressure, heartburn, or lack of energy? Do you suffer from any of these things? Like many Americans, have you accepted them as “normal?”
I hate to break it to you but nothing on the above list is “normal” and none of these things should be experienced day to day.
Thankfully, YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR HEALTH AND YOU CAN TURN THESE THINGS AROUND! Living this way does not need to be normal!
That is what the RESTART® class is for! This 5 week class provides the education, support, and a 3 week REAL FOOD CHALLENGE where we’ll be focusing on using FOOD to HEAL the body, specifically by eliminating all processed food and sugars.
Want to begin living life without those everyday complaints? Go against the normal and sign up for the next RESTART® class that will be held on Monday nights from 7-8:30 beginning OCTOBER 26th!
You can learn more and Sign up for the class here.
Nourish Your Family Freezer Cooking Party
Want to put healthy meals on the table for your family but aren’t sure where to begin? Are you too busy to cook real food from scratch? Need some new fresh ideas for meal time?
If any of these are true of you, then you would LOVE our new Nourish Your Family Freezer Cooking Parties!
We will provide the menu, recipes, pastured meat and eggs from a local farm, and run the cooking party.
You will walk away with several servings of 4 different freshly prepared meals ready for your freezer to enjoy at anytime!
You will need to bring groceries from a very basic grocery list that will be provided and the cost of the party is $75 per person.
The next party will be on Friday, October 23rd from 6-9 pm in Warrenville. Spots are very limited so sign up today by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Can’t make it to this one? That’s OK – we can come to you! Gather 4-5 friends for your very own freezer cooking party. This will be no cost for party hosts.
All of our menus are gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, and paleo with pastured meat and eggs that we will provide from a local farm.
Our Fall Menu:
-Pumpkin Chili
- Italian Stuffed Peppers
- Salmon Cakes
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Veggie Egg Cups
Are you trying to lose weight, get healthier, lower your blood pressure or cholesterol, have more energy, balance your hormones or address some other health condition?
Have you been trying to eat more natural, real foods but are not sure where to begin? Are you interested in what a healthy diet actually looks like with all of the conflicting information out there? If any of these things are true, the RESTART® class will help with all of these questions and provide you with the education and support to actually make it happen!
Why is this so important?
From underweight, tired, and unbalanced to happy, healthy, and PREGNANT!
What we put into our body will either move us toward health or toward sickness. This is my story of the impact food has had on my body.
From 2003 until 2012, the picture on the left was me. Through trying to be healthy, I began eating low calorie, low fat foods (think lean cuisines, fat free yogurt, and 35 calorie bread) and began exercising more. I lost a few pounds at first, fairly easily, so I kept going, ultimately losing 25-30 pounds in only a couple of months. My calorie intake decreased and my exercise duration and intensity increased. During this time I weighed anywhere between 95 and 110 pounds and was running marathons. I knew that this wasn’t the best long term plan but I thought that I felt pretty good and everything was fine. When looking back, I was depressed, tired, and my body was basically on the verge of completely shutting down. My cycles had stopped when this began in 2003 and never returned, my lips would turn purple at the thought of cold, and I stopped wanting to be around people or having fun.
Thankfully in 2012, everything turned around. I was introduced to a program like RESTART® and learned what foods to eat to nourish my body. I replaced my fat free yogurt, boneless skinless chicken breasts, and 35 calorie bread with whole eggs, red meat, and an abundance of vegetables. I knew I wanted to have a family one day so I was pretty desperate to do whatever it took to regain my fertility. I no longer feared foods or counted calories. I was happy. I gained the weight I needed. I had energy. I slept great. My cycles returned. I got pregnant!
This did not happen overnight, but through that initial period of “Restarting” my diet, my life and my health has been forever changed.
Now I know my story is opposite of most. However, I share it to demonstrate the power that food has on our body. If you give your body the nourishment that it needs, it will treat you well. If you don’t, overtime you will get sick. Sick can look like a lot of different things – sleep problems, hormone imbalance, fatigue, anxiety, depression, weight gain, weight loss, high blood pressure, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, the list goes on and on.
For me, changing my diet balanced my mood, hormones, and weight. What can it do for you?
Maybe you are like me, wanting to regain balance and health in your life. Maybe you are more like Sue. Her weight continued to creep up, her doctor was threatening cholesterol medicine, and she didn't want to get into a yo-yo dieting cycle. With a program similar to RESTART®, she lost 25 pounds, has kept it off for 3 years, and her doctor is happy with her cholesterol readings (no medication needed). You can read her story HERE. Maybe you are struggling with something completely different. Where ever you are, I would challenge you to put all excuses aside and consider how incorporating the nutrition that your body needs could help you tackle those problems. Join us for our next RESTART® class beginning either Sept 11th or 14th.
You can learn more and sign up here!
Sign up ends Tuesday, September 8th.
What others say about the RESTART® program?
“This class opened my eyes to the hidden sugar in foods that I previously thought were healthy. Class was interesting and informative.”
–Russ, RESTART® Participant
"Since I did The RESTART® Program I'm off of two medications; one for asthma and the other for acid reflux. I can't tell you how excited I am about this!"
-RESTART® Participant
"Just had my annual physical. Forty...count 'em... forty point drop in my cholesterol!!! My [A1C] sugar level dropped 30% and I'm down 8 pounds, too! I know I couldn't have done it without your support!"
-RESTART® Participant
"I never thought I could do this, but with all the information and support, it went by really fast and I feel great! You have changed my life and I thank you for that!"
-RESTART® Participant
"My husband and I took the class together. This was a great way to change our meals. We both understood what we were changing, why were changing it, and we encouraged each other along the way."
sj, RESTART® Participant
