helpful hints on switching to whole-foods {part 1}

A true fact: eating “real” food has done more for me physically than 4 years of doctoring. However, I have to start these posting by saying that I am not a doctor and all that jazz. This is just me telling you what I do.

For three years now I’ve struggled to completely change my eating habits. I’ve been trying to revert back to wholesome natural foods that nourish and help my body heal itself. (in a nutshell? veggies, meats, good fats, whole grains that have been sprouted or soaked, natural sweeteners…)

Unfortunately, six months ago I fell off the bandwagon. Truthfully, it was a rebellious act. My husband mentioned something about missing white flour/sugar and I threw in the towel. “Fine,” I thought, “I’m done trying.”

Know where that got me? Ten pounds heavier and back at square one. (I don’t recommend temper tantrums)

All that healthy eating kept my body strong for about three months. Then it crashed. Hard. So now I’m scraping things back together. I even did this amazing mature thing… you ready for this? I went to my husband and said, “Hey, honey, I really need your support in this.” It worked. Who woulda thunk? 

So! For those of you who have asked me what I’m doing, how I’m doing it and how you can too… Here are my top 5 suggestions.

1)      Create a menu plan that works for you. You don’t need some random list that you don’t have ingredients for. Start with a master meal list (think, what did we eat last week?) and fill in a menu. Not sure where to start? Buy the e-book Real{Fast}Food. (there is a give-away going on here!) There is a step-by-step process as well as printable sheets to help you establish something workable and convenient.

Read  my review of Real {Fast} Food .

2)      Get in the habit of taking those supplements! No matter what your health complaint, there are probably herbs out there that are known to help. Take them. It takes about 3 months to start noticing a difference using herbal supplements so you’ve got to get into a habit and stick with it. (I take maca and chaste tree berry to help with my PCOS. To combat thyroid issues I’ve taken kelp but, as of recently, I’ve been actually painting my skin with iodine. I switched to that method because I can tell how deficient I am. Your skin will only absorb as much iodine as your body needs, so a spot should stay yellow for 24 hours. When I first started it had absorbed in 45 minutes. Think maybe I need it?)  If you’re battling infertility, perhaps check this website for ideas? I also make my own tea with these three dried herbs (found all over my farm) and field mint. Yummy!

3)      Don’t just “cut-out” everything; find alternatives. When you “cut-out” it’s a diet. And diets rarely work. When you find alternatives, it becomes a lifestyle. Every time I get discouraged, it’s the “cut-outs” that come back. The alternatives never change. An example? I went on a hunt to find something my husband liked in his coffee as well as white sugar. Several sweeteners later we landed on a winner: Maple Syrup. That never changed, even when I allowed white sugar back in the house. (woohoo!)

4)    If the “best” feels impossible just do “better”.  I would eat sprouted whole wheat only, always. My husband frowns on such things. For a long while it was such a discouragement to me! Then I realized that even if I couldn’t do what all the books said was “best”, I could, at least, do better than bleached white flour. I buy “white whole wheat” and soak it with apple cider vinegar. Easy-peasy. I toss the flour in a bowl in the morning with warm water and 1/8 cup vinegar. The good culture in the vinegar breaks down the gluten and other hard-to-digest parts. After lunch I mix it up, let it rise and we have fresh bread for dinner on baking day!

Part 2 is coming up… in the meantime,  check out Trina’s blog posts  about Nourishing Foods

or my pinterest board on natural  health