You know that windblown look, that cover models and dogs alike strive for?
I think if you were open up my brain right now, it'd look about the same, because I just got back from a lecture that was mind-blowing. I normally don't put "lecture" and "mind-blowing" together, but in this case, for me personally, it fit the bill.
Lately I've been on this amazing learning curve about health & nutrition and have slowly been adapting some of our family's eating habits. I really feel like at this moment it's coming full circle and while we have not "arrived" by any sort, I think we're navigating ourselves to a path that's really better suited for us.
What's mind-blowing to me is that bits & pieces of information that I've heard about from over the years--from a very insightful chiropractor, from friends at church, from the internet, blogs, e'en Facebook, and from our doula, are seemingly all coming together now and clicking and making lots of sense.
I don't feel like I'm being vague at all, but it's possible to the outside reader I am.
Without going into crazy specifics, all I will say is that for us, to what degree we can and to what degree these foods are available, we will be doing our best to eat foods that are:
-organic or locally grown
-grass-fed
-cage-free
-less processed or pasteurized
-and less grainy
The last one is probably the hardest for us, because there are grains in everything. I used to think 100% whole wheat meant I was being really healthy, but as I'm probably about to embark on a elimination diet soon, I may be singing a very different tune.
I'm starting to think that many of the stomachaches I'm experiencing are a result of improper digestion & absorption of my foods that are causing inflammation in my gut, which leads to a host of outcomes, none of which are pleasant!
This will be difficult because I love pizza, sandwiches, stuff with toast (French, peanut butter, etc.) and it will mean experimenting with new kinds of products to achieve a similar yet different result.
I'm motivated to find the answers to these questions because I want to also provide the best foundation for nutrition for Mia & any future offspring so that they can avoid some of the pitfalls I've experienced. In our genes we pass on our intolerances, allergies and sensitivities to things and if I can help Mia succeed or feel just a bit better with some simple manipulation, it will be worth it!
Have you ever tried eliminating certain foods from your diet? How did it go??
life with a chiquita, chiquito, & a bambino and our epiphanies along the way
7 comments:
Wow! I'm excited. Also curious. Can't wait to hear more about this and what others have to say. There's not very many things I am interested in more than food, let's be honest.
For about the last year, I've made some very purposeful changes in my diet, but it's hard to know if certain benefits/positive changes I've experienced (weight loss, more energy, BETTER SKIN, better overall consistent health, although my migraines have continued) had to do exclusively with dietary changes or with other life changes/geographic locations/less stress or a combo of all of the above.
Things I generally (because we all know it's about balance and it can be stressful to quit things cold turkey or think about it every second) do:
-hardly any processed foods and/or foods with as few ingredients as possible
-mostly vegetarian, with the philosophy that more fruits and veggies = better, so I'm not really trying to AVOID meat (although it's relatively easy for me to do), but proportionally eat way more fruits and veggies than anything else
-least amount of dairy possible (this was a personal experiment to try to clear up some skin issues. Again, I don't know if that was what helped, or other things...
-organic on the things I eat most of (for instance, I pretty much eat an apple every day, so I try to buy those organic)
My overall philosophy is to eat things closest to it's natural state possibly. Also let myself have whatever I want every once in a while, in moderation. I'm a living contradiction.
This was super long. I am def. still learning, and I don't care really how other people eat, but this works for me! (I'm sure I'll care what my family eats if/when)
In the spirit of full disclosure (um, not that that's really my spirit), I am eating leftover frozen pizza right now.
AHH I FORGOT. I'm sorry. It's been a long day and I am taking over your blog. But:
I only drink water and coffee and hot tea.
I woke up this morning and almost deleted this blog because I thought maybe it was "too much," but I'm glad you're on the same wavelength I'm on, Laura! It's a lot at once, but like you said, you do it one thing at a time, and that's sort of what we've done too. Makes it easier than do some drastic overhaul where you're not happy with anything!
Hola! I normally just read your blog and smile and then don't comment, but this is a topic Josh and I are working on as well...
I feel like being "organic" is a hard thing to do in this small town of BG but once I started talking to people it seems to be fairly simple. We are going to place an order with an organic farm (beef, chicken, etc.) and we can get all our organic veggies from the farmer's market. Like Laura, we have tried to do more fruit/veggies than meat and I have cut out any soda completely and only drink coffee, water, tea. We also only try to get our carbs from the fruit/veggies and not wheat, etc. I also have cut out most dairy, though I do see myself periodically eating a block of cheese.. :) Overall, I feel great, have lost weight and just generally feel better/more energy. We are also slowly but surely changing our cleaning products (household as well as personal) it's more expensive but if it means we are healthier then it is worth the cost. I am finished now.
Hope you all are well! :)
Katie
sounds like we're on the same wavelength on these things!...i've found that kentucky, and lexington esp, are great places to embark on these kind of changes...there are local sources for meat, dairy, fruit, veg, grains which i love...i've also found that many of our friends are involved these movements and/or are farmers themselves; that helps us stay aware of local producers and such...we're trying more and more to make many of things that we previously would buy so that we know exactly what's going into them...for example, we've just learned how to make cheese and butter (still working on successfully making yogurt...). I've also been making our own bread and cereals (highly recommend the book "Health Bread in Five Minutes a Day"). It's a fun adventure, fer sure!
LOVE this post. I have started a post similar to this one so many times, but never completely follow through.
I started doing the low grain diet recently and it's not so hard...I use a lot of coconut flour and almond flour, which takes some getting use to. The Nourishing Traditions cookbook has a lot of good recipes in it. We will have to swap some recipes-I use the same ones over and over and they are getting old. We are thinking about making a trip in October to Tampa, we will let you guys know so we can get together.
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