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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Path to Clean Eating

For the past 2+ years our family has been moving in a direction towards healthier eating.  It started slowly by just trying to be more aware of what was in our food.  We believe strongly that what we eat and put into our bodies has a direct effect on our health and well being.  I had always shopped at Trader Joe's for a few things here and there, but knowing most of their food was preservative free, and that they cared about the ingredients that went into their food along with a great selection of organic ingredients... I fully made the switch and haven't looked back.

I began finding or developing recipes that used only TJ's ingredients and quickly got the point where I almost never went to the "regular" grocery store.  My shopping is done at TJ's, the farmer's market, and the health food store.  Like many people I also became aware of the amount of meat and dairy we were consuming and stared doing "Meatless Monday's" which led to mostly meatless or vegan cooking.  I'm at the point where almost all the meals I cook are now meatless, aside from the occasional fish or chicken dish about 1-2 times a month.

Despite the fact that we were eating really healthy I was noticing that my health wasn't very good.  I was having almost constant tummy issues and it didn't seem to matter what I ate, I'd almost constantly feel sick.  Just over a month ago I decided I'd had enough.  I decided to go on a 3 day juice fast to cleanse my system, and then move towards a super restricted diet so I could begin to rule out possible food sensitivities or intolerance.  Each day I drank about 48oz of "Mean Green Juice" from the Joe Cross documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead along with about 64oz of water.  After the 3 days of juicing I eliminated gluten, dairy, meat, grains, eggs, corn, processed foods, and sugar.  I ate only fruits, veggies, and nuts for the first 2 weeks and then slowly started adding in other things.  The goal was to feel good and then slowly add new foods to see how I felt and to help determine if they were safe foods or not.  Over the rest of the month I added rice, corn, some meat, and some sugars. 

I wasn't sure what this was going to look like for my family, and that was the most daunting part in the beginning.  I decided to keep their breakfasts and lunches normal and then make dinner for all of us based on my dietary restrictions so we could enjoy dinner as a family.  This meant transitioning to brown rice pasta's, lots of soups, salads, lentils, and mainly veggie based dinners.  Luckily the girls have been fine with everything and have even loved some of the new recipes!

I got a little over-excited at the end of the month when we went out for date night and tried dairy on my gluten free pizza which made me realize I'm definitely lactose intolerant. :-(  I'm hoping to try gluten soon and keeping everything crossed I'll find out that dairy is the source of my troubles and I'll be fine with gluten.  If not though I'll continue on doing the best I can to feed myself and my family so I'm healthy and happy and able to serve them better.  I feel so blessed to have already been on this path so the foods I'm having to make now don't at all seem weird like they would have a few years ago, and many of my standard recipes are already gluten or dairy free. 

I've been on the hunt for gluten free and diary free recipes and plan to post a few of my own as well.  Let me know in the comments if you have food restrictions in your family and how you've dealt with them.  Feel free to link me to any great recipes you love and check back soon for some recipes from me!

4 comments:

  1. My kids are allergic to corn, intolerant of soy, food dyes, and sugar. We use only sprouted wheat/grains and properly prepared traditional foods. We eat only grass fed meats and drink/eat raw dairy products. We follow the principle of a traditional diet based on Weston Price's Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and Sally Fallon's book Nourishing Traditions. We make everything from scratch except we get a box of cookies form Jovial Foods once on awhile, they use a form of ancient wheat called eikorn.

    You might be interested to know that the majority of the people who think they are lactose intolerant are simply allergic the pasteurization and homogenization the milk goes through. When milk is P&G, all of the beneficial bacteria and enzymes are killed. Raw milk is a self-digesting live food.

    Juice (even organic) is also one of those things that is full of chemicals, but it doesn't have to be labeled. It is called industry standards, as long as everyone does it, it doesn't have to be labeled. Juice's color is preserved with sodium benzoate. Synthetic vitamin C is added. Sodium benzoate + vitamin c = benzene, a Class A EPA carcinogen.

    Part of your digestive upset is most likely do to improperly prepared food. All seeds and grains have phytic acid and other anti-nutrients. If nuts and grains are not properly soaked, the enzymes that protect the seed until germination do a number on your digestion. Anti-nutrients also bind to the minerals you eat making them unavailable. Brown rice pasta is very high in phytic acid, as is brown rice.

    You also can not absorb and properly assimilate calcium and other major minerals without vitamin K2, which is only found in animal products, with the greatest amounts of K2 being found in grass-fed butter and raw milk. Fermented Cod Liver Oil is also the best way to make sure you get a quality, non-synthetic form of vitamin D in your diet.

    The GAPS diet by Dr. Tasha Campbell-McBride is a dietary protocol to actually heal the gut.

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  2. Thanks for all the info Megan!

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    1. I hope I didn't sound preachy or bossy. It has been a long journey the last 6 years(because I have been nursing most of those years my body has also become intolerant of those things and I deal with a thyroid issue). Its taken awhile to figure it all out and I have done everything from vegan(for the cleansing properties of a plant based diet) working my way back to a traditional diet. I still don't eat most seafood or pork, I just can't handle it and I tend to think that God gave the Israelite's eating guidelines because of the divine way he made our bodies.

      My youngest son had cancer last fall and I got to see first hand the healing power of the nutrient rich foods God created.

      I love all your pictures!!

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    2. Not at all Megan. I totally understand being passionate about the path you've chosen to help your family be healthy. I'm so sorry for all you've gone though but I'm glad to hear you've found something that works. I feel it's a never ending learning curve and we're definitely on the path to making the wisest choices possible to fuel our bodies and keep them healthy.

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