So here's to a really good try!!
Not only do I have earthly motivation to help my family be 'healthier', but I have biblical motivation as well:
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body" 1 Cor 6:19-20
"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Cor 10:31
"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple." 1 Cor 3:16-17
Wow, if that's not motivation to take care of your earthly body in a physical and spiritual sense, I don't know what is! If I want to be effective for God, I need to take care of myself. If He says 'Go', but I'm not in shape, how can I 'go?' If he says 'Tell' but I haven't exercised myself in His word, how can I 'tell?' Something to ponder...
So I really like Lisa's page www.100daysofrealfood.com. Not only has she taken her family to an unprocessed diet, but she has great resources to help YOU do it, too! If you're new to the unprocessed way of life (like me), you're probably wondering what exactly that means. Lisa made some family rules they would follow to help them stay on track.
These are great rules, and ones we will strive to live by, but I wasn't ready to jump all the way into the deep end....yet. I also didn't want to go into the fridge and pantry and just chunk everything to start fresh. After all, we have a budget we stick to.
So hubby and I sat down to talk about some rules we were going to start with.
1. Use up all the 'processed' items we have and slowly replace with whole foods. (peanut butter happened to be first)
2. Slowly make the switch to full-fat dairy (I love my skim milk).
3. Dinners will be (to the best of our ability) unprocessed. Now, we still have some things we are using up (as in rule #1), but we're going to really try.
4. We will strive for less than 1 eat out day a week. Lisa has some guidelines that are a little more helpful and one says no eating out/no fast food AND no deep fried foods, but lets be honest, Chick-fil-A is really great every now-and-then, and I am just not ready to give that up! Plus sometimes it's nice to go to dinner with friends/family. Therefore we needed to amend this one.
I have definitely found this challenging already. No more granola bars or crackers to munch on (except Triscuts. Yes, they are still processed, but with only 3 ingredients that I can pronounce and know what they are!!). My snacks are now mostly fruits and vegetables, which are good, but I find I am eating a lot more often. Sister apparently needs lots of energy. I'm not really a 'seeds and nuts' kind of person, but I'm going to try some, though.
Another challenge is the cost of all this. Yes, we are spending more money, which stresses this planner out. However, I am still saving the family a lot of money by using cloth diapers and making our laundry detergent. (Yes, still using. Yes, still works.) This has made me feel good about spending a little more money for our grass-fed beef/organic chicken.
My final baby step is I have started reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. It's already an interesting read, and I'm only a few chapters in. We have people in our lives we respect and would trust their opinion 100%, but it's always good to do your own research/reading when you're thinking about doing something new (especially when it involves the well-being of your family). So don't take my word for it (PLEASE don't, I am in NO WAY an expert. I'm just documenting what we're up to here in Turnerville).
I think I hear a little boy that has woken up...see ya!
Enjoy!
The Turners
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