Nutrition Progress

(This post took on a life of its own. I am just writing about my food journey. I really don't want to seem preachy, I am just excited. I really hold no judgement but to myself on the subject. And I am so not even close to where I want to be yet.)

I am hooked on nutrition.  The more I study, the more I am amazed at how what we put in our bodies really does matter.  But, the more you learn the more you want to leave your old ways behind. Peter jokes that I need to stop because he is losing some things he likes, yet he does support me. Being educated brings a lot of consciousness to the table.  This is the book I can't keep my nose out of this week. This lady is living with an incurable cancer and a healthy energetic life at the same time.  She definitely has quite a mouth on her, but it is a very easy read with so much information on how the body works.

We haven't gone and changed everything all at once, but the few changes we have made are awesome.  I no longer buy refined partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.  They are bad for you! We have switched to mostly olive oil, flax oil and unrefined coconut oils which are good for you.  We use a small amount of real butter too, but very moderately(mostly for toast).  I am not afraid of fat as long as it is healthy fat in moderation.  Your body needs fat to absorb the nutrition in your food.    

Meat is another thing we have nearly cut out at home.  I promised Peter that I would still cook with meat once or twice a week, but by becoming educated about it, it has not been hard at all for me to put aside. Meat that we eat now days is so full of hormones and unnaturally farmed it is gross and the bad outweighs the good.  And pork is the worst thing ever!  Wow, that stuff stays in your system for up to 3 weeks, rotting away. ick! I will stop there, but trust me it gets worse. I am definitely more open to spending the big bucks for organic meat now, if at all.

I am not a vegetarian but happy to save it for when we are not at home.  I know it makes sense, but living it I have realized that when you cut out meat from your meals, you replace it with super healthy(less expensive) stuff instead.  Lots more beans, whole grains and veggies just comes naturally.  And even though I had been overwhelmed about it in the past, here is the secret to eating less meat: Start with anything meatless you already do and add one recipe at a time!  Just try something that sounds good and if it is a keeper, add it to your new meatless meals recipe folder. I also realized that this way of eating is natural for me.  I grew up eating less meat and that has come back to me. Bonus: If you are trying to eat healthier and think it is too expensive, start eating less meat and it will really even out the budget.

Processed lunch meats are no longer an option at home.  They are among the worst offenders, next to hot dogs.  I have discovered how to make fabulous veggie sandwiches now.  Who knew the sandwich could be so good without meat(I am a veggie lover though).  My favorite is cutting up a green onion and mixing it with cream cheese for the spread and adding cucumbers, tomatoes, and avocado with a little salt and pepper. Just thinking about it makes me hungry, yum!  I am imagining adding spinach and sprouts and trying it with hummus or making yogurt cheese instead of cream cheese.

Dairy is another thing all together.  I am almost to the point of cutting out cows milk as well.  It causes problems.  I was slower to warm up to this idea, but last week we made a big discovery. Poor little Lily has a permanent rash on her little face and diaper area that has been a mystery to us.  We ran out of milk for a couple of days and it started to clear up.  We decided to withhold milk for a couple more days and it cleared up completely.  So when we started giving her milk again....you guessed it, the rash came right back.  Now I am starting to get that milk does not do a body good. It causes mucous in the body and the protein in it is hard to digest. And back to the hormones, there are too many issues there to go into.  It is attributed to many health issues that my family currently suffers(eczema, asthma, skin problems, constant green runny noses). And for those convinced that we will die of osteoporosis if we don't get our 3 glasses a day, studies show that vegans have bone density just as good as omnivores. In the US we drink more milk than any other developed country yet we have the highest amount of this dreaded bone disease.  Wow! How do you explain that?

But oh, the cheese.  We LOVE cheese and eat a lot of it. I don't know quite how we will tackle that one. One step at a time. I am not even close to there yet. 

Oh, and grains, I love whole grains.  There are a lot out there that are not in the every day typical American diet that are fabuloso.  We were already eating mostly whole grain, but are doing even better now. 

I am also trying to get closer to eating more raw food.  We need the enzymes in food that is alive and cooked food is dead. So I am trying to be more careful about lightly sauteing and keeping it crunchy. It tastes better that way anyway.

We are eating smoothies more than ever, but I am still not to the point of having them every day yet.  I get good mommy feelings every time I watch my babies sucking them down though.  In addition to all the greens, we have added raw flax oil and liquid D3 to the mix.

Change is fun, I am enjoying all that I am learning about the body and nutrition immensely.  I am also enjoying learning how to cook all over again.  I never knew I could enjoy this journey so much.  I know I might sound like a crazy lady.  I never would have guessed that these things would be part/not part of my life so I even sound like a crazy lady to myself.  But I am okay with this brand of crazy now.