About three years ago I finally got fed up with feeling sick all the time, and after having been told by my PCP multiple times that I needed anti-depressants for my anxiety, I was ready to try something different.
Upon the recommendation of a good friend, I went to see a chiropractor. And beyond fixing my out-of-whack alignment, she started me on a path towards much better nutrition. It turned out that my feeling sick all the time had a lot to do with my body being drained from pregnancy and nursing for 3 years straight and not eating the right foods to remain nourished.
And though I feel a thousand times better than I did when I first went to her in 2008, I still get really frustrated with myself when it comes to our family's diet. Too much sugar. Too much refined wheat. Too much junk. - A mantra that runs through my head about once a week.
But in the last month or so I've started paying more attention to how we eat and how others eat, and I finally realized that we ARE making progress.
In our kitchen, you won't find pop, potato chips or white bread. We don't buy juice (unless we're making smoothies and then I go for the most pure juice I can find.) You won't find corn syrup (not even in our ketchup or jelly). We don't buy canned veggies anymore. And I won't purchase tomatoes in a can either. We eat natural peanut butter. Whole wheat or whole grain bread. Organic apples when we can afford them. And try to only eat fruits and veggies from the "clean 15" if we can't find or afford the organic versions of the "dirty" veggies and fruits.
On occasion, you can still find crackers in our house... and we still eat corn tortilla chips... but we're doing pretty good at staying away from food that can sit on a store shelf for months and months without spoiling.
I didn't realize that our diet was different from the average family until I started paying more attention to how others eat and what others use as staples in their home. I tend to compare our diet to people like Katie @Kitchen Stewardship or my good friend Blair and think "GAH!! Why do I still have refined sugar in my house???!!"... but I've decided it's a pathway and we're still on our journey. And it is not an easy journey by any means.
Sometimes I struggle because I know there needs to be a balance. I don't want my kids to spend their childhoods without the joys of candy or cupcakes or fruit loops... but I want those things to be treats - not daily indulgences. My goal in this whole journey is to set up my kids, and Andrew and myself, for long healthy lives.
For me it really comes down to two questions: Did God gives us bodies that are meant to fall apart and get sick all the time? Or did he give us bodies that have incredible power to heal and grow and stay healthy if we only nourish them?
I absolutely believe the latter.
