For most of my life, I have been plagued with heartburn. I get it from my father. When I was a little kid, I picked up one of the many rolls of Rolaids that my dad had everywhere and ate one, thinking it was candy. Blech! It was highly disgusting. Growing up, I could usually control the heartburn with the occasional antacid. That is until I got pregnant. Wow! The heartburn was uncontrollable. I would have it so often that, instead of sending my husband to the store for pickles and ice cream, I was making him buy me large quantities of fruity Tums. Finally, my OB had to relent and allow me to take some Zantac.
I thought it would go back to how it was before once I gave birth but no such luck. I saw a couple of doctors and they ran a test that involved drinking something fizzy and something chalky then having me roll around on an x-ray bed while they took pictures of my innards. The doc looked at me and said it was the worst case of acid reflux he had ever seen. Thus began a very long journey into the world of acid blockers.
Up until about a year ago, I did not realize that there was anything I could do about it. So, after many hours of research, I began to change they way I ate and lost a few pounds. However, there was no change in the reflux. In fact, it became worse. I tried all kinds of dietary supplements that others had success with but, as soon as I stopped taking the acid blockers, the heartburn came back with a vengeance!
So I gave up on ever getting off the pharmaceuticals.
Until now.
I read a blog post sponsored by The Village Green Network. (I have looked everywhere to find it to link to it but I can't:()
In that post, there was research cited that showed that up to 95% of all heartburn cases were caused by too little stomach acid instead of too much. WHAT???? How can that be???
Apparently, when you have too little stomach acid, the food you eat just sits in your stomach and starts to putrefy and ferment, causing the acid to to go back up the esophagus and causing...wait for it....heartburn!
As if that wasn't bad enough, because there isn't enough stomach acid to break down the food properly, it eventually moves into the small intestine in a form that it isn't supposed to be in, which in turn, can cause leaky gut. Yuck!
I honestly never thought that my problems could be caused by too little stomach acid.
The writer gave some tips to help with the digestion of your food.
First of all, she pointed out that your stomach does not have teeth so it relies on you to thoroughly chew your food before swallowing. Actually chewing until the food is the consistency of applesauce. I admit that I am so guilty of not chewing very well. I eat way too fast sometimes so I have to really focus on chewing thoroughly and s l o w l y.
Another tip was to not drink liquids with meals and for an hour after eating. The thought is that drinking water dilutes your stomach acid making it more difficult to break down your food. I am a big drinker of water. All day long I have a glass of water at my side. I never thought that I could be actually making my problem worse. If you need to have something to drink with meals, it was suggested to keep it to 4 oz. or less or to make it a fermented drink like Kombucha which adds lots of nice gut bacteria to keep things moving right along.
So my experiment will be to try these steps to eliminate my need for the medication. For the last few days, I have not taken any medication and I have been very mindful of my chewing and liquid consumption. I am not gonna lie, I have had some heartburn but not enough to warrant taking anything. I have a feeling that it may take some time for my stomach to start producing enough acid to breakdown my food because of the years of taking acid inhibitors.
I will keep you posted of my progress.
It is funny (sad) to think that the thing I have been doing to stop the heartburn may have been the one thing that kept it going.
Showing posts with label Health Matters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health Matters. Show all posts
Friday, July 26, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Eating Healthy Is Just Too Hard & Expensive
When we started to change our eating habits, I was sure that my grocery budget was going to go through the roof! I mean, buying fresh organic foods, grass fed beef and cooking from scratch wasn't going to just take all my time but it was going to cost a fortune! At least that was what I thought.
Boy, was I wrong!
Now, before you think that I didn't have to get a little creative with my food budget in the beginning, let me set the record straight right now, I had to get REAL creative. But not for the reason you might think. It wasn't because organic costs so much more, it was because I was going to be doing a lot of cooking! About that same time, we decided that we didn't really enjoy going out to eat very much because the food just wasn't very good so we were going to be eating many more meals at home. I was going to be cooking 3 meals a day just about every day. I mistakenly thought that I had to cook 3 separate meals each and every day from then on out. Thankfully, I learned to combine cooking for several meals to save me some time and money. I'll talk about that some other time.
Let's dispel myth #1-Organic costs too much.
Truth- Organic does cost a bit more than some things but not everything has to be organic. There are lists floating around in cyberspace showing the Dirty Dozen-fruits and veggies that should always be bought organic, and the Clean 15-fruits and veggies that have very little pesticide residue. So you could save money by only buying the dirty dozen organically. One thing that works well, if you live in an area that has one, is to visit your local Farmer's Market. Sometimes, local trumps organic. Ask the farmers how they grow their product. Many times food is grown organically but just not certified. You could also grow your own. Gardening can be your best friend! It is a great workout and you get rewarded for all your hard work with wonderful, fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables.
Myth #2-Processed food is cheaper
Truth-You are right on this one. Processed food is cheaper. But not in the long run. You will spend all those savings (and much more) in higher healthcare costs. Not to mention all the fun you will be missing out on by not being as healthy as you want to be.
Myth #3- I don't have time to cook from scratch.
Truth-Really? What exactly is taking all your time? Before you leave me nasty comments, hear me out. Cooking from scratch does NOT have to take hours and hours every night. It is going to require a bit more time and a bit more organization but not the hours you may be worried about. There are several "tricks" you can incorporate into your routine that will save you oodles of time. Most importantly? Plan your meals. You cannot get food on the table if you A:) don't know what your having and B:) you don't have a properly stocked pantry.
Also, make 2 or 3 meals at once. Making Spaghetti with meat sauce? Brown a few pounds of meat for tacos or casseroles for later in the week at the same time. Making beans? Cook extra for meals that week or for the freezer.
The freezer is so important in from scratch cooking. Pick a day when you have a few free hours and make several meals for the freezer. There are sooooo many blogs and websites that specialize in freezer meals. Google it and get cooking. It doesn't take long to put up a weeks worth of meals in the freezer. In a few hours your freezer will be stocked with homemade meals that will nourish the bodies of your family. No drive thru can do that!
It doesn't take much longer to make homemade foods than it does to open and cook a box of nuclear orange macaroni and cheese but the benefits of that homemade meal definitely outweigh any draw on your free time.
Something I wasn't expecting is that my grocery bill actually has gone down since we changed our eating habits. Because I am no longer buying premade, prepackaged food, I use that money to buy staples such as flour (for breadmaking), sucanat/raw honey, etc. I can make many more meals from staple foods than I can from boxes, thus saving me money. Wherever I save, I can put that savings towards organic foods that cost a bit more.
With just a little time and effort, you can feed your family "good fuel" and give them the best chance at a healthy ever after. Isn't that kind of what us parents are supposed to be doing anyway????
Boy, was I wrong!
Now, before you think that I didn't have to get a little creative with my food budget in the beginning, let me set the record straight right now, I had to get REAL creative. But not for the reason you might think. It wasn't because organic costs so much more, it was because I was going to be doing a lot of cooking! About that same time, we decided that we didn't really enjoy going out to eat very much because the food just wasn't very good so we were going to be eating many more meals at home. I was going to be cooking 3 meals a day just about every day. I mistakenly thought that I had to cook 3 separate meals each and every day from then on out. Thankfully, I learned to combine cooking for several meals to save me some time and money. I'll talk about that some other time.
Let's dispel myth #1-Organic costs too much.
Truth- Organic does cost a bit more than some things but not everything has to be organic. There are lists floating around in cyberspace showing the Dirty Dozen-fruits and veggies that should always be bought organic, and the Clean 15-fruits and veggies that have very little pesticide residue. So you could save money by only buying the dirty dozen organically. One thing that works well, if you live in an area that has one, is to visit your local Farmer's Market. Sometimes, local trumps organic. Ask the farmers how they grow their product. Many times food is grown organically but just not certified. You could also grow your own. Gardening can be your best friend! It is a great workout and you get rewarded for all your hard work with wonderful, fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables.
Myth #2-Processed food is cheaper
Truth-You are right on this one. Processed food is cheaper. But not in the long run. You will spend all those savings (and much more) in higher healthcare costs. Not to mention all the fun you will be missing out on by not being as healthy as you want to be.
Myth #3- I don't have time to cook from scratch.
Truth-Really? What exactly is taking all your time? Before you leave me nasty comments, hear me out. Cooking from scratch does NOT have to take hours and hours every night. It is going to require a bit more time and a bit more organization but not the hours you may be worried about. There are several "tricks" you can incorporate into your routine that will save you oodles of time. Most importantly? Plan your meals. You cannot get food on the table if you A:) don't know what your having and B:) you don't have a properly stocked pantry.
Also, make 2 or 3 meals at once. Making Spaghetti with meat sauce? Brown a few pounds of meat for tacos or casseroles for later in the week at the same time. Making beans? Cook extra for meals that week or for the freezer.
The freezer is so important in from scratch cooking. Pick a day when you have a few free hours and make several meals for the freezer. There are sooooo many blogs and websites that specialize in freezer meals. Google it and get cooking. It doesn't take long to put up a weeks worth of meals in the freezer. In a few hours your freezer will be stocked with homemade meals that will nourish the bodies of your family. No drive thru can do that!
It doesn't take much longer to make homemade foods than it does to open and cook a box of nuclear orange macaroni and cheese but the benefits of that homemade meal definitely outweigh any draw on your free time.
Something I wasn't expecting is that my grocery bill actually has gone down since we changed our eating habits. Because I am no longer buying premade, prepackaged food, I use that money to buy staples such as flour (for breadmaking), sucanat/raw honey, etc. I can make many more meals from staple foods than I can from boxes, thus saving me money. Wherever I save, I can put that savings towards organic foods that cost a bit more.
With just a little time and effort, you can feed your family "good fuel" and give them the best chance at a healthy ever after. Isn't that kind of what us parents are supposed to be doing anyway????
Monday, July 1, 2013
The Stuff We Teach Our Kids About Food
Growing up in the 80's, I was a product of the "convenience" generation. Drive thru's, frozen meals, diners on every corner. I never had to wait for food because it was always available.
If you had asked me then if I thought I was eating real food, I would have said "Of course it's real. Can't you see it?!".
Ahhh, the days of being blissfully unaware of what I was eating...
They say once you see something, you can't un-see it. The same is true for what you learn about food. I have seen the conditions cows, hogs and chickens live in on "factory farms". I cannot bring myself to buy that meat at the store. Every time I stand in the meat section, I just want to cry...and vomit. That isn't food the way God intended.
For the past two weeks, my husband's teenaged cousins have been visiting along with his Aunt (their grandma). Because the girls spent almost all their time at our house, eating our food, Aunt Rose brought over a bunch of food. Lots of cheese. I love cheese. She also brought over a gallon of milk that the girls hadn't finished. Since we can't get raw milk here, I buy only organic whole milk. The stuff she brought over was 2% milk that you find in any grocery store. My kids wouldn't even touch it. Now, my kids will eat pretty much anything but they are starting to realize that food is fuel. Bad fuel is bad for the body. I have been doing a lot of reading on milk lately because I really want to get a dairy cow. Did you know that decades ago, skim milk was considered waste material by dairy farmers? It was pretty much used as hog feed because it was better than just throwing it out and it put a lot of fat on them. Now it is marketed as a way to lose weight???? Yeah, tell me how that works.
The oldest cousin has a lot of food misconceptions that I find are very common with teens her age. First of all, they think butter is bad. She is always amazed when she comes to visit that we use butter. We use it a lot. And we are healthy. She has been following Weight Watchers with her dad because he has some serious health problems. According the them (WW), butter is bad and we should all be eating margarine. Not happening in this house! She has also been trained to think that bacon is the worst food ever. Now, we don't go around eating bacon every day (I am pretty sure I could eat it every day though!) but if we want some, we pull out a package of uncured nitrate/nitrite free bacon and we have some. If I was better organized, I would be saving the fat from the bacon to use in other cooking but I never think about it. There is nothing unhealthy about fat from healthy animals.
If we are going to demonize food, let's demonize the right food! Let's call out the gmo, processed, fake foods that we have been feeding our families for far too long. Let them take their rightful place among the list of "foods" that we aren't going to consume anymore. Let's stop driving our kids through the drive thru or picking up pizza most nights of the week because we are "too busy" to cook a nourishing meal. Let's fill our families' bodies with good, wholesome, REAL foods like grass fed beef, pastured pork/poultry, organic fruits and vegetables, butter and whole milk (raw if you can find it).
Think you can't afford whole foods? Next post I am going to tell you why you are thinking incorrectly.
If you had asked me then if I thought I was eating real food, I would have said "Of course it's real. Can't you see it?!".
Ahhh, the days of being blissfully unaware of what I was eating...
They say once you see something, you can't un-see it. The same is true for what you learn about food. I have seen the conditions cows, hogs and chickens live in on "factory farms". I cannot bring myself to buy that meat at the store. Every time I stand in the meat section, I just want to cry...and vomit. That isn't food the way God intended.
For the past two weeks, my husband's teenaged cousins have been visiting along with his Aunt (their grandma). Because the girls spent almost all their time at our house, eating our food, Aunt Rose brought over a bunch of food. Lots of cheese. I love cheese. She also brought over a gallon of milk that the girls hadn't finished. Since we can't get raw milk here, I buy only organic whole milk. The stuff she brought over was 2% milk that you find in any grocery store. My kids wouldn't even touch it. Now, my kids will eat pretty much anything but they are starting to realize that food is fuel. Bad fuel is bad for the body. I have been doing a lot of reading on milk lately because I really want to get a dairy cow. Did you know that decades ago, skim milk was considered waste material by dairy farmers? It was pretty much used as hog feed because it was better than just throwing it out and it put a lot of fat on them. Now it is marketed as a way to lose weight???? Yeah, tell me how that works.
The oldest cousin has a lot of food misconceptions that I find are very common with teens her age. First of all, they think butter is bad. She is always amazed when she comes to visit that we use butter. We use it a lot. And we are healthy. She has been following Weight Watchers with her dad because he has some serious health problems. According the them (WW), butter is bad and we should all be eating margarine. Not happening in this house! She has also been trained to think that bacon is the worst food ever. Now, we don't go around eating bacon every day (I am pretty sure I could eat it every day though!) but if we want some, we pull out a package of uncured nitrate/nitrite free bacon and we have some. If I was better organized, I would be saving the fat from the bacon to use in other cooking but I never think about it. There is nothing unhealthy about fat from healthy animals.
If we are going to demonize food, let's demonize the right food! Let's call out the gmo, processed, fake foods that we have been feeding our families for far too long. Let them take their rightful place among the list of "foods" that we aren't going to consume anymore. Let's stop driving our kids through the drive thru or picking up pizza most nights of the week because we are "too busy" to cook a nourishing meal. Let's fill our families' bodies with good, wholesome, REAL foods like grass fed beef, pastured pork/poultry, organic fruits and vegetables, butter and whole milk (raw if you can find it).
Think you can't afford whole foods? Next post I am going to tell you why you are thinking incorrectly.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Cutting Off Laziness at the Knees
I hear the following phrase all.the.time. "I don't have time to (fill in the blank)". I hear it a lot coming out of my own mouth, too.
Funny, everyone gets the exact same 24 hours in a day but some accomplish so much and some accomplish nothing. I am embarrassed to say that I have fallen into that second category on more than one (million) occasion.
When I first became a mom, I believed the hype that I could have it all. I had a job I loved and was extremely good at, I had just gotten married and became a mom to 3 great kids and we built our first home. Yeah, I was living the dream. So we ate out a lot. I mean how could I spend all day at work (usually at least 10 hours) and come home and cook something. It was just easier to go out. As time went on, we all gained weight and any time off from work was spent in front of the tv. At least we were all together, right?
Over the years, we added twins to the family and moved to Georgia. Prime farm country. Our kids were gonna spend all day outside taking care of the farm and being farm kids. Or maybe not. I was still working and we were still eating out a lot. Hubby and I had packed on more pounds than we cared to say. Still, nothing changed.
I am not sure what the catalyst for major change was but I started to think that I was letting my family down by not doing my job. Not the one I got paid for but the one that should have been more important, the one that should have taken priority. Hubby and I started looking at where we were and where we wanted to be and they were no where close to each other. We knew something had to change. Godslammed put it on my heart to quit my job and stay home. I argued with Him. How in the world could I afford to stay home? We had bills... lots of them. I liked my job. What would I do with myself if I was home all day? Arguing with God is truly pointless (yet we still do it). I "retired" from my job and became a full time stay at home mom. Things were tight. Very tight. But we managed. The twins were still in private school at the time so my days were spent doing things that I shouldn't have been doing, like watching soap operas and channel surfing. I wasn't really accomplishing much even though I now had "time". Then God shoved pushed me to home school our kids. I know for a fact that idea came from Him because I hated it. At first. Then I thought and prayed about it and we did it.
Now my days were full again but I felt something was missing. It was about this time when I started to fell like I should be doing something more for my family. I took good care of them but there is ALWAYS room for improvement. I felt like God was telling me something and I just wasn't listening. I still can't remember if it was a single incident or a series of them that got me to look at our eating habits. I was disgusted by what I saw. I started to do some research on the subject of nutrition. If you want a study in contradictions, then study nutrition. One "expert" will say to eat this for health. Then another "expert" will say the opposite. This happened over and over and over. I was becoming frustrated that I couldn't find the information that I needed. However, certain things were made very clear to me. One was quit looking to the doctors for health. Now, before I get raked over the coals for that, let me state that I have the utmost respect for doctors, nurses and so forth. They have saved countless lives, including those of my twins. BUT medical schools teach our doctors to treat symptoms. Treating symptoms does not cure the problem. So I fault the medical schools for this. That being said, if you go to the doctor with a complaint, chances are you will walk away with a prescription for something but no real knowledge of the cause of your problem.
So if I am going to ignore the experts, what do I do now? Then it hit me. I have always said that the Bible was God's instruction manual for us. Maybe that is where I will find my answers. "Seek and ye shall find"! There is not one mention of artificial sweeteners, pasturized homogenized milk or high fructose corn syrup in the Bible. Hmmm, maybe if God didn't mention it, I shouldn't eat it? Yes, that is a simplistic view but think about it. God designed our bodies to work in a certain way with what he provided. What happens when you put diesel in a gas motor? Lots of problems! (and no I haven't done that!)I think the same thing happens when you put something unnatural in your body.
So all of this being said, it still took a bit of effort to pull me out of my processed food comfort zone. I can cook. I am a pretty good cook if I do say so myself. But I had gotten so lazy with meals from a box that I almost forgot HOW to cook a real meal from scratch. Cooking from scratch is going to look different to everyone. For me, there are no more "boxes" in my pantry. They have been replaced with spices, flour, home canned (and some store bought cans) of goods like tomatoes and tuna, a freezer full of pastured chicken, grass fed beef, venison from hubby's hunting and some wild hogs.
There are no boxes of Kraft anything in my pantry. No hamburger helper. If I want mac and cheese, I make it myself with noodles, cheese, milk and so on. It took a little surfing the web to find out how to make some of our favorites from scratch but now that I do, I no longer have to buy it at the store. And I no longer have to wonder what is in them!
Some of my homemade from now on things are:
BBQ sauce
Salad dressings
Bread-sandwich, french, hot dog & hamburger buns, crescent and dinner rolls and the best buttermilk biscuits.
Laundry Detergent, fabric softener and non toxic bleach
All cleaning products-seriously they are so easy to make and so much better for your house!
Deodorant
Those are a few of my everyday kind of things that I make myself. Your list may look very different.
I still have so many things that I want to add to that list like homemade shampoo/conditioner, shaving cream, soap and toothpaste but all of this needs to be done in baby steps. If you jump in and try to do everything all at once, you will quickly burn out and miss the benefits of being more self reliant. Pick one thing and stick with it. Perfect it as much as possible and give it time to become part of your normal routine. Once it is second nature, pick something else to try. Before you know it, you will be bypassing many aisles at the grocery store. That is a GOOD thing!
I still have my days (sometimes weeks) of not doing a great job at keeping the pantry stocked. Right now I am out of bread and a wee bit lazy about making more but I will do it because I now cannot stand the taste of grocery store bread anymore. I have to make the commitment to my family to do my best at doing what it takes to keep us all as healthy as possible. I have embraced my calling as a mom and wife and God gives me such grace to hold my ground and push forward because I know my family is counting on me. I have come to the realization that minor discomfort for me is worth it if it is in the best interest of my family!
Funny, everyone gets the exact same 24 hours in a day but some accomplish so much and some accomplish nothing. I am embarrassed to say that I have fallen into that second category on more than one (million) occasion.
When I first became a mom, I believed the hype that I could have it all. I had a job I loved and was extremely good at, I had just gotten married and became a mom to 3 great kids and we built our first home. Yeah, I was living the dream. So we ate out a lot. I mean how could I spend all day at work (usually at least 10 hours) and come home and cook something. It was just easier to go out. As time went on, we all gained weight and any time off from work was spent in front of the tv. At least we were all together, right?
Over the years, we added twins to the family and moved to Georgia. Prime farm country. Our kids were gonna spend all day outside taking care of the farm and being farm kids. Or maybe not. I was still working and we were still eating out a lot. Hubby and I had packed on more pounds than we cared to say. Still, nothing changed.
I am not sure what the catalyst for major change was but I started to think that I was letting my family down by not doing my job. Not the one I got paid for but the one that should have been more important, the one that should have taken priority. Hubby and I started looking at where we were and where we wanted to be and they were no where close to each other. We knew something had to change. God
Now my days were full again but I felt something was missing. It was about this time when I started to fell like I should be doing something more for my family. I took good care of them but there is ALWAYS room for improvement. I felt like God was telling me something and I just wasn't listening. I still can't remember if it was a single incident or a series of them that got me to look at our eating habits. I was disgusted by what I saw. I started to do some research on the subject of nutrition. If you want a study in contradictions, then study nutrition. One "expert" will say to eat this for health. Then another "expert" will say the opposite. This happened over and over and over. I was becoming frustrated that I couldn't find the information that I needed. However, certain things were made very clear to me. One was quit looking to the doctors for health. Now, before I get raked over the coals for that, let me state that I have the utmost respect for doctors, nurses and so forth. They have saved countless lives, including those of my twins. BUT medical schools teach our doctors to treat symptoms. Treating symptoms does not cure the problem. So I fault the medical schools for this. That being said, if you go to the doctor with a complaint, chances are you will walk away with a prescription for something but no real knowledge of the cause of your problem.
So if I am going to ignore the experts, what do I do now? Then it hit me. I have always said that the Bible was God's instruction manual for us. Maybe that is where I will find my answers. "Seek and ye shall find"! There is not one mention of artificial sweeteners, pasturized homogenized milk or high fructose corn syrup in the Bible. Hmmm, maybe if God didn't mention it, I shouldn't eat it? Yes, that is a simplistic view but think about it. God designed our bodies to work in a certain way with what he provided. What happens when you put diesel in a gas motor? Lots of problems! (and no I haven't done that!)I think the same thing happens when you put something unnatural in your body.
So all of this being said, it still took a bit of effort to pull me out of my processed food comfort zone. I can cook. I am a pretty good cook if I do say so myself. But I had gotten so lazy with meals from a box that I almost forgot HOW to cook a real meal from scratch. Cooking from scratch is going to look different to everyone. For me, there are no more "boxes" in my pantry. They have been replaced with spices, flour, home canned (and some store bought cans) of goods like tomatoes and tuna, a freezer full of pastured chicken, grass fed beef, venison from hubby's hunting and some wild hogs.
There are no boxes of Kraft anything in my pantry. No hamburger helper. If I want mac and cheese, I make it myself with noodles, cheese, milk and so on. It took a little surfing the web to find out how to make some of our favorites from scratch but now that I do, I no longer have to buy it at the store. And I no longer have to wonder what is in them!
Some of my homemade from now on things are:
BBQ sauce
Salad dressings
Bread-sandwich, french, hot dog & hamburger buns, crescent and dinner rolls and the best buttermilk biscuits.
Laundry Detergent, fabric softener and non toxic bleach
All cleaning products-seriously they are so easy to make and so much better for your house!
Deodorant
Those are a few of my everyday kind of things that I make myself. Your list may look very different.
I still have so many things that I want to add to that list like homemade shampoo/conditioner, shaving cream, soap and toothpaste but all of this needs to be done in baby steps. If you jump in and try to do everything all at once, you will quickly burn out and miss the benefits of being more self reliant. Pick one thing and stick with it. Perfect it as much as possible and give it time to become part of your normal routine. Once it is second nature, pick something else to try. Before you know it, you will be bypassing many aisles at the grocery store. That is a GOOD thing!
I still have my days (sometimes weeks) of not doing a great job at keeping the pantry stocked. Right now I am out of bread and a wee bit lazy about making more but I will do it because I now cannot stand the taste of grocery store bread anymore. I have to make the commitment to my family to do my best at doing what it takes to keep us all as healthy as possible. I have embraced my calling as a mom and wife and God gives me such grace to hold my ground and push forward because I know my family is counting on me. I have come to the realization that minor discomfort for me is worth it if it is in the best interest of my family!
Monday, June 10, 2013
Healthy to Crappy in a Few Short Generations
Have you ever stopped to think what an amazing miracle our bodies are? Well, not our bodies now but our bodies back when Adam was first formed? The "first family" (and generations that followed) didn't have a doctor on every corner to get a fast fix from sickness. There was no CVS to pop into to pick up advil or tums. Early man had only God's great design and whatever he could grow to keep him healthy and vital.
Fast forward to the present day. More than half of the US population is overweight or obese. Disease strikes people younger and younger with each generation. Despite the medical advances, we are still a very sick people. We have yet to cure one thing without triggering something else.
What has happened? What changed?
The answer is easy yet complicated. Early man grew and/or raised everything that he consumed. He worked from sun up to sun down just to make sure the race survived. Everything that was eaten was done so in the manner that God gave it, meaning no additives, preservatives, etc. The air was clean. A deep breath back then filled your lungs with fresh, clean air. A deep breath in today's world fills your lungs with chemical residues, off gassing, carcinogens and pathogens.
In "the old days" man ate butter, salt and red meat. AND he had no heart disease. How did that happen??? It happened because God designed our bodies to thrive on those things and many others. Then along comes a doctor that says all that is bad and convinced us to trade in our good wholesome food for margarine, salt substitute and tofu. And heart disease skyrocketed. Say what???? We eat like the good doctor says and we get more unhealthy?
Did anyone ever stop to think that the "good doctor" was an idiot?
He wasn't the only problem. After WWII, the American people were looking for convenience. They had just come through a difficult time and they wanted "easy". Can't blame them though. Food shortages and rationing had taken their toll. Along comes the grocery store. Now, there have been general stores, country stores, what have you for many, many years but they carried staples; flour, sugar, coffee, fabric for clothes. No frozen pizza or ice cream. Mama was at home, making all the food for her family from scratch. When she ran out of bread, she didn't run to the store. She ran to her pantry and made some. She kept her family fed by gardening and farming animals.
Fast forward to today. The number one killer of our people isn't heart disease. Heart disease is a symptom of a bigger problem. Our number one killer today is processed and commercial food. And I use the term "food" very lightly. Kids today are raised on frozen chicken nuggets, nuclear orange macaroni and cheese and soda instead of eggs from the family chicken, meat from the family pig and milk from the family cow. There are children from families that are able to provide food that rarely eat fruits or vegetables. They drink soda and sports drinks instead of good old milk and water. They sit in the house and play video games instead of playing outside and doing chores. They are getting fatter and more unhealthy ALL THE TIME! Is it their fault. Nope.
The blame falls squarely on the parents. From their bad examples to their bad choices. Now, before anyone thinks that I am perfect and therefore I am speaking about everyone else, let me assure you that I am just as guilty as the next mama. I have taken my kids through a drive-thru more times than I can count. I have bought soda for my family and unfortunately still do at times. I have fed my family enough processed food to sustain a third world country (as if processed food could sustain anything but you get what I am saying). I am guilty, my friends, of taking the easy way out way too many times. My family has paid the price for my laziness. I have set such a bad example for my kids by eating too much sugar and not being very active. I have sinned. But just as God forgives me, I have to forgive myself and learn from the really dumb things I do. Most importantly, I have to not repeat those really dumb things!
I have learned that my kids pay much more attention to what I do than to what I say. That is probably true of most children. I can say "eat your veggies" but if I am not doing it, how can I expect them to? I can tell them to drink water but if I do it with a soda in my hand, what does that tell them? If I tell them to go play outside but I am sitting in the living room glued to the tv, how can I expect them to make the right choice?
Parenting is hard work. Not only are you molding tiny humans into big humans but you are (hopefully)making yourself a better human in the process. I know that I have to take my health and that of my family very seriously. I have to make the right (and difficult) choices concerning the food I feed them and where it comes from. I cannot be lazy and feed them processed food because it is easier on me. They are too important to me and are way more important than my own ease and comfort.
Over the next few weeks or so, I will be sharing posts on what our family is doing to improve our health and decrease any residual laziness...yes that one is hard!
Fast forward to the present day. More than half of the US population is overweight or obese. Disease strikes people younger and younger with each generation. Despite the medical advances, we are still a very sick people. We have yet to cure one thing without triggering something else.
What has happened? What changed?
The answer is easy yet complicated. Early man grew and/or raised everything that he consumed. He worked from sun up to sun down just to make sure the race survived. Everything that was eaten was done so in the manner that God gave it, meaning no additives, preservatives, etc. The air was clean. A deep breath back then filled your lungs with fresh, clean air. A deep breath in today's world fills your lungs with chemical residues, off gassing, carcinogens and pathogens.
In "the old days" man ate butter, salt and red meat. AND he had no heart disease. How did that happen??? It happened because God designed our bodies to thrive on those things and many others. Then along comes a doctor that says all that is bad and convinced us to trade in our good wholesome food for margarine, salt substitute and tofu. And heart disease skyrocketed. Say what???? We eat like the good doctor says and we get more unhealthy?
Did anyone ever stop to think that the "good doctor" was an idiot?
He wasn't the only problem. After WWII, the American people were looking for convenience. They had just come through a difficult time and they wanted "easy". Can't blame them though. Food shortages and rationing had taken their toll. Along comes the grocery store. Now, there have been general stores, country stores, what have you for many, many years but they carried staples; flour, sugar, coffee, fabric for clothes. No frozen pizza or ice cream. Mama was at home, making all the food for her family from scratch. When she ran out of bread, she didn't run to the store. She ran to her pantry and made some. She kept her family fed by gardening and farming animals.
Fast forward to today. The number one killer of our people isn't heart disease. Heart disease is a symptom of a bigger problem. Our number one killer today is processed and commercial food. And I use the term "food" very lightly. Kids today are raised on frozen chicken nuggets, nuclear orange macaroni and cheese and soda instead of eggs from the family chicken, meat from the family pig and milk from the family cow. There are children from families that are able to provide food that rarely eat fruits or vegetables. They drink soda and sports drinks instead of good old milk and water. They sit in the house and play video games instead of playing outside and doing chores. They are getting fatter and more unhealthy ALL THE TIME! Is it their fault. Nope.
The blame falls squarely on the parents. From their bad examples to their bad choices. Now, before anyone thinks that I am perfect and therefore I am speaking about everyone else, let me assure you that I am just as guilty as the next mama. I have taken my kids through a drive-thru more times than I can count. I have bought soda for my family and unfortunately still do at times. I have fed my family enough processed food to sustain a third world country (as if processed food could sustain anything but you get what I am saying). I am guilty, my friends, of taking the easy way out way too many times. My family has paid the price for my laziness. I have set such a bad example for my kids by eating too much sugar and not being very active. I have sinned. But just as God forgives me, I have to forgive myself and learn from the really dumb things I do. Most importantly, I have to not repeat those really dumb things!
I have learned that my kids pay much more attention to what I do than to what I say. That is probably true of most children. I can say "eat your veggies" but if I am not doing it, how can I expect them to? I can tell them to drink water but if I do it with a soda in my hand, what does that tell them? If I tell them to go play outside but I am sitting in the living room glued to the tv, how can I expect them to make the right choice?
Parenting is hard work. Not only are you molding tiny humans into big humans but you are (hopefully)making yourself a better human in the process. I know that I have to take my health and that of my family very seriously. I have to make the right (and difficult) choices concerning the food I feed them and where it comes from. I cannot be lazy and feed them processed food because it is easier on me. They are too important to me and are way more important than my own ease and comfort.
Over the next few weeks or so, I will be sharing posts on what our family is doing to improve our health and decrease any residual laziness...yes that one is hard!
Monday, June 3, 2013
The Grocery Store is Making Me Unhealthy
One of the biggest discoveries I have made on this journey to good health is that the grocery store is NOT my friend! Sure, that's where all the food is. Or is it? Ever look at the ingredients list on some of the things you buy regularly? I must warn you; you will be shocked. Or maybe you won't. Maybe you already know that if you can't pronounce it, you shouldn't eat it. If you do, you rock!!!
One of the first "lessons" I learned is that healthy food does not come from a manufacturer. It usually doesn't come in a box and it CERTAINLY does NOT have a long ingredients list!
I love bread. All kinds of bread. It's good. It's mentioned a bunch in the Bible so that is proof positive that bread is good. Unless it comes from the store. Then, not so good. Come on Tracy, bread is necessary for sopping up egg yolks and making sandwiches! I hear ya! But look at the list of what is in the bread at the store the next time you throw a loaf in your buggy. This is what is in my bread that I make at home-flour, real salt, yeast, water, honey and an egg. No additives, no preservatives. I can pronounce AND SPELL everything in it. Sure, my bread cannot sit on my counter for weeks (or months)without getting a bit of mold on it or getting stale like store bread. And sure, it takes a bit more time to make bread rather than buy it. But the benefits are huge! First, I know exactly what is in my bread. I can alter the ingredients to suit my family's tastes. I get a work out when I make it by hand (instead of in the mixer) and I have learned how to do something for myself instead of needing a company to supply me.
Now I hear all the " I don't have time to do that. I work" So do I, but my work is from home so that is a benefit for me. However, bread making does NOT take a lot of hands on time. Pick a day where you will be home for around 3 hours. Make a few loaves of bread and stick them in the freezer until needed. While you are waiting for the bread to rise, clean or wash dishes or play with the kids. Walk the dog, take a power nap. Anything. Bread making involves about 15 minutes hands on time. The rising times are about 2 hours total and bake times anywhere from 20-40 minutes. That's it. A little bit of work and you will be rewarded with the best tasting, freshest, healthiest bread. Later I will be posting my favorite sandwich bread recipe but for now, enjoy this French Bread recipe. It makes a quick 2 loaves of very tasty bread that is perfect for toasting, making french toast or garlic bread.
Now that you know that grocery store food is no bueno, start learning how to make things yourself. You will never regret learning a new skill and your body will thank you.
One of the first "lessons" I learned is that healthy food does not come from a manufacturer. It usually doesn't come in a box and it CERTAINLY does NOT have a long ingredients list!
I love bread. All kinds of bread. It's good. It's mentioned a bunch in the Bible so that is proof positive that bread is good. Unless it comes from the store. Then, not so good. Come on Tracy, bread is necessary for sopping up egg yolks and making sandwiches! I hear ya! But look at the list of what is in the bread at the store the next time you throw a loaf in your buggy. This is what is in my bread that I make at home-flour, real salt, yeast, water, honey and an egg. No additives, no preservatives. I can pronounce AND SPELL everything in it. Sure, my bread cannot sit on my counter for weeks (or months)without getting a bit of mold on it or getting stale like store bread. And sure, it takes a bit more time to make bread rather than buy it. But the benefits are huge! First, I know exactly what is in my bread. I can alter the ingredients to suit my family's tastes. I get a work out when I make it by hand (instead of in the mixer) and I have learned how to do something for myself instead of needing a company to supply me.
Now I hear all the " I don't have time to do that. I work" So do I, but my work is from home so that is a benefit for me. However, bread making does NOT take a lot of hands on time. Pick a day where you will be home for around 3 hours. Make a few loaves of bread and stick them in the freezer until needed. While you are waiting for the bread to rise, clean or wash dishes or play with the kids. Walk the dog, take a power nap. Anything. Bread making involves about 15 minutes hands on time. The rising times are about 2 hours total and bake times anywhere from 20-40 minutes. That's it. A little bit of work and you will be rewarded with the best tasting, freshest, healthiest bread. Later I will be posting my favorite sandwich bread recipe but for now, enjoy this French Bread recipe. It makes a quick 2 loaves of very tasty bread that is perfect for toasting, making french toast or garlic bread.
Now that you know that grocery store food is no bueno, start learning how to make things yourself. You will never regret learning a new skill and your body will thank you.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Low Fat No Fat Made Me Fat!
As child of the 80's, there is no diet that I haven't tried. Okay, except for the Grapefruit Diet because I despise grapefruits! Low fat, no fat, only green foods, no meat, no sweets, diet pills (so not proud of that) and everything else under the sun. I was never really fat fat, but I was chubby.
A little background on how I got that way. First, let me just say that I adore my parents. They are the best and ALWAYS tried to do what was best for me. That being said, I learned a lot of bad habits from them. My mom has a serious sweet tooth and she could live off bread and butter for the rest of her life and be perfectly happy. This, she passed on to me. Thanks mom:(
My dad was gone a lot because of his business and, since it was just me and mom at home, we ate out. A lot. Like more often than not. There was a diner close to our house that we ate at a lot. Of course there were the usual fast food restaurants too.
My dad was, and still is, a very picky eater. He only likes a limited variety of foods so, when he was home, we would have hot dogs, mac and cheese and meatloaf on a regular basis. He only liked corn and peas so that was our only vegetable. So you can probably guess that for the longest time, I was also a very picky eater.
Both of my parents worked so I was home alone after school. It was nothing for me to go through a bag of doritoes in a day or two. Ice cream was always readily available so I ate a lot of that while I waited for someone to come home. My eating habits as a kid, teenager and young adult were awful! I wasn't terribly active but I ate like all my athlete friends did. Pizza joints and McDonalds were our favorite hangouts.
The point of telling you all this is just to show what an influence parents have on their children even when they don't think they are paying attention. My parents never made me eat veggies and fruit because they weren't eating a lot of them. I was never taught about whole foods or nutrition. Our family gatherings always centered around food. Large amounts of heavy or decadent foods. No one told me to stop. No one told me to exercise. No one taught me that what I put into my body matters.
It was last year when I really made the connection that food fuels my body and if I fill it up on cheap fuel, it is going to run bad. But just knowing that fact doesn't necessarily make it easy to change. Change is hard, no matter who you are. After a year of change, I still find myself going through a drive thru when I am pressed for time. Thankfully, those times are getting further apart.
I don't think good health is a destination. I think it is making better choices as much as possible and forgiving yourself when you choose unwisely. You will eat that 2nd piece of cake at times. You will polish off everything on your plate when you should have split it with someone else. You just have to be aware when those things are happening so you can take bigger steps to prevent them next time.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Health-One Family's Trip Down the Road to Health
My family has been on a journey for about the last year or so. After years of not taking very good care of ourselves, we decided to just stop. Stop poisoning ourselves, stop abusing our bodies and then expecting them to just recover, stop setting such a bad example for our kids.
The catalyst for this was actually our parents. They all have their health woes but instead of really trying to get at the core of their ills, they just kind of ignore it (my parents) or do whatever the doctors say even though it makes them worse (hubby's parents). Because we were on the outside looking in, we had a different perspective. We decided that we did NOT want to end up like our parents. We wanted something more. Something better.
So, a little over a year ago, I started really researching what we should be doing. Can I just say WOW!!! There are BILLIONS and BILLIONS of opinions out there from experts and non experts and pretty much anyone with with half a brain. It was overwhelming to say the least! As I read one thing and could see the logic in it, I would read something else that completely contradicts it. So what is the answer? Well, I didn't exactly find the answer. What I did find was that there are different things that work for different people so I needed to find what worked for us.
Really, it would have been a whole lot easier if there was just ONE right answer!
Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to talk a little more in depth about those answers that worked for us. Please note that this is our journey and it isn't going to look like anyone else's. I just hope that it inspires you to start your own journey or at least intrigues you enough to do your own research and really think about the health of your family.
The catalyst for this was actually our parents. They all have their health woes but instead of really trying to get at the core of their ills, they just kind of ignore it (my parents) or do whatever the doctors say even though it makes them worse (hubby's parents). Because we were on the outside looking in, we had a different perspective. We decided that we did NOT want to end up like our parents. We wanted something more. Something better.
So, a little over a year ago, I started really researching what we should be doing. Can I just say WOW!!! There are BILLIONS and BILLIONS of opinions out there from experts and non experts and pretty much anyone with with half a brain. It was overwhelming to say the least! As I read one thing and could see the logic in it, I would read something else that completely contradicts it. So what is the answer? Well, I didn't exactly find the answer. What I did find was that there are different things that work for different people so I needed to find what worked for us.
Really, it would have been a whole lot easier if there was just ONE right answer!
Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to talk a little more in depth about those answers that worked for us. Please note that this is our journey and it isn't going to look like anyone else's. I just hope that it inspires you to start your own journey or at least intrigues you enough to do your own research and really think about the health of your family.
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