Over the last few years, health has become such a huge part of life for my family. After discovering that my oldest daughter had food allergies, I dove head first into what caused it. I uncovered so much about our food industry and how broken our food system is. I often post related articles on my personal page but I understand some people may find that too obnoxious. I wanted to create a page that people can choose to follow and read only if they are truly interested in learning what I believe. I am passionate about helping others make healthy changes in their life and thought this would be a great place to start. So this is my story...
It’s funny, I grew up with a mom that was passionate about feeding her family healthy. I call her a trend setter because she fed us organic food before it was popular. I was the kid that ate the weird food that no one had ever heard of or seen before. My mom was pretty strict with it and I rebelled (big time) in my teenage and college years. I really went off the deep end and was a regular at fast food places, eating tons of processed foods. I swore to my husband before we got married that I would never be like my mother. Ha, I am eating those words now! I’ve been told that you become more like your mother at the age of 31, and I found that to be pretty accurate in my case. I did say that I would never be a "health nut" like her but it was a whole new ballgame when we had kids. I was having pretty severe stomach problems and was trying to figure why when we got pregnant unexpectedly. I made few ‘healthy’ changes at that time but it became more dramatic when I realized my oldest had food allergies. It first appeared as a rash that my doctor called "eczema" and said it was very common in babies. To me that just didn't cut it. There had to be something causing the problem. I didn't want to just treat the symptoms, I wanted to get to the root source of issue. When I try to figure something out on my own I go all in. My husband might say more ‘off the deep end’. I research, analyze, read, then read some more and let me tell you I learned A LOT! I found that these childhood ailments considered common and normal now shouldn’t be, and were not the norm just a few years ago. The rise of allergies, asthma, autism, cancer, autoimmune disorders, and many other ‘common’ sicknesses have all risen dramatically in the last couple decades. This should NOT be our new normal and it really saddens me that so many people accept this. With my oldest daughter we determined, by food elimination, that she was allergic to gluten, soy and dairy. Her rashes cleared up as soon as we began avoiding those foods. They have popped up again and I was afraid she had developed a new allergy. My youngest daughters’ skin problems were even worse so instead of just eliminating foods, we have decided to try to heal our bodies, from the inside out. I have created this page to try to encourage others as we share our journey. We are currently in the middle of a pretty intense healing process. You will hear all about the ‘unique’ stuff we eat; fermented foods, kefir, kombucha and more. I love to eat and have really enjoyed preparing and cooking with real food. By embarking on this journey, I have enjoyed food more now than I did on the standard American diet. God has it right, real food tastes really good! I also enjoy the challenge of looking at conventional junk food and trying to create a safer, healthier alternative that you can make at home, using real ingredients! I am a big believer that God created amazing food to nourish our bodies. I think he knew what he was doing and that his way is better than an altered human-created version. I invite you to share in our families’ journey. This is the path we have chosen and what works for us might not necessarily work for you, and that’s ok. It is important to get to know your own body, listen for the cues, and trust your instincts. I urge you to take control of your health, and most importantly your children’s health. I believe our current food system is broken and it’s up to every one of us to help fix it. It starts with mothers, we are the ones voting with our dollars at the grocery stores. The most important tip I can share with someone wanting to make a change is to start small. Baby steps are the foundation. If you try to do it all at once it can be WAY too overwhelming. It has been a process for us, and continues to be an ever evolving journey.
