SHOP THE PERIMETER OF THE STORE!!
I now take notice of this!! The only thing needed in the center aisles for us anymore are beans, rice and a few things like this...
Some things are organic and some things are okay not organic for me. I think organic is overrated in some stuff but still very important in other stuff. If it's something that we eat everyday I buy it organic if I can! Most fruit is organic unless it gets cut and peeled like pineapple or avocado.
Food labels have become easy to understand... If it's something with lots and lots of ingredients in it it goes back on the shelf. If it's something with ingredients that I can't understand (the big long poisonous sounding names) it goes back on the shelf then to! (What are these things with the big long names anyway!??) I want to know what is in our food! I will still buy potato chips sometimes but I get the ones with very few ingredients and also making sure I know what those ingredients are.
My sisters like to tell me they think I have an obsession but I think it just happens over the course of time when "Baby Stepping" to healthier food options...:) They just aren't there yet...:) (I hope they get there soon though so they stop lecturing me!...:})
I used to buy lots of fresh berries since I know they are so good for you but they don't last more then a few days in the refrigerator and they are also so expensive when bought organic so I started to get the frozen mixed berry packs. Still organic with no added ingredients but they go farther and last longer for us this way! Apples, pears, grapes, mango, kiwi, lemons, oranges, grapefruits, pineapple, banana, avocado and frozen berries are our favorite fruits! It's what we load up on! When the fruit and veggie drawers are empty here it's almost a panic attack!
Today was Food sensitivity/support group day, I went to Wegman's after that was over. What a great time to go to Wegman's!! I have all these great shared ideas fresh on my mind!! I love the education and recipes that get shared here on these support group days!! (will share in a minute)
A few of our favorite Wegman's products...
I love all the coconut products!! You can pretty much trust coconut anything! I have a hard time with coconut milk since it has additives I question so we just limit it and use rice milk. I did learn how to make my own almond milk today so maybe I can give that a whirl soon?
Today's Wegman's veggies included... Asparagus, beets, celery, kale, spinach, sprouts, mushrooms, garlic and onions. I'm looking forward to getting creative with all this stuff! We are defiantly not deprived of good food since shopping only the perimeter of the store! I think the food tastes better now then ever! It takes way more effort but it's so worth it now!
Do I spend more money then when I bought all the processed stuff?? I don't think so. Sometimes it seems that way but often once I have the spices, oils, maple syrup and all that little more expensive stuff that we don't use much of and don't buy nearly every week it's mostly just the fruit and veggies. I miss the garden so much already! I saved a ton on greens this summer!!
The meat we eat I have become very particular with! Store bought meat is loaded with pesticides and antibiotics! Here it hardly ever comes from the grocery store anymore! Bacon I do get sometimes or the occasional turkey breast lunch meat from Wegman's but mostly we get meat in bulk! We butcher our own steer for beef and we hunt for venison. (I do question this sometimes when I see the deer eating the heavily sprayed soybeans along our driveway!) Chicken is something we eat a lot of to. This comes from a local farm or an organic source somewhere. Last time I got some from a market guy that had a source for me! It is GREAT tasting chicken!!
Are we exempt from sickness in our family?? NO!! We are not! Are we better then others that still eat processed foods?? No!! We are not!! I'm sorry if I ever come across this way!! I do not want to be pushy or seem ungrateful because that is not the way I feel at all! I want everybody to become aware and wake up to the fact that our country is in great danger from messing with the nature of real food the way that God intended it to be! Our children and next generation will suffer the most if we don't take action! I do realize how far off track we have become therefore it took lots of baby steps for me and I'M STILL BABY STEPPING!! I want to realize and be sensitive to others that are also baby stepping!! It feels good to have come this far but we are not all on the same path! I'm still not near where I want to be as far as our diet and life style are concerned. I have educated myself the past few years and with Jordan's experience and testimony I just want to share my education with others.
It's hard to take some of those big steps at first but I'm here to tell you that it does get better and once it becomes life style you will never want to go back to unnatural foods on an everyday regular basis! We still love to go out and treat ourselves! (minus Jordan) We still love weekend parties with friends! We still love dessert!! We love sushi!! With Dave traveling a lot he eats pretty bad sometimes...:) He can tell when it's time to get back on our normal routine again... Our bodies now feel it when we don't treat them right but at times it's still just worth it to us. Got to have some fun along with the seriousness of life!...:)
When we get out and get the chance to eat a soft pretzel or cheeseburger we do it. It's the everyday regular routine that I think is more important. Dave is reading a book called 80/20 right now... He keeps telling me a bit about it and one of these days I want to pick it up and read it but I like to think that it's an 80/20 food diet here... 80% good 20% still bad... It's better then where it was so I'll take it!
Do you have an undiagnosed sickness?? Do you have odd symptoms that your doctor cannot figure out?. Are you on drugs for stuff that was never really diagnosed? Do you have inflammation that causes pain?? Think food! Cleaning up the diet can have a huge positive impact on any kind of health issue! Children depend on us. Lets no let them down...
Today's support group was fun! It is always worth opening my home for! If you want to join in we just share on what's going on in our lives in the food line... What we have learned so far, how we have found different alternatives to different foods. We as mom's mostly have children with food sensitivities and we are striving to help heal our children and also prevention for the ones that are still healthy.
I like to think that it is not selfish of me to take care of myself first then take care of my kids. I have always tried to take time for myself in small ways sometime during the day. (I take forty minute showers if that tells you anything!! Yes even when I had babies! Ask Dave...:)) I always needed "MY" time. I got next door neighbor girls to babysit so I could go get my exercise. Exercise is still my stress outlet. If I'm grumpy it makes for grumpy kids here. If I don't feel well I can't seem to find the energy it takes to care for the kids properly let alone go the extra mile with the food sensitivity efforts!
Mom's we must take some "me time" everyday if we want to recharge for the sometimes daunting steps ahead on this day by day journey of life...:) Time spent with God is huge to! Those moments that we really take the time to listen for his voice are always so rewarding and the day often goes better then we even thought it might! We miss blessings when we don't take time to listen for the voice of God.
I'm trying to make myself rest every afternoon since school started, since my mornings start earlier here, but it has not been going so well so far...:} Dave tries to get bossy and I try to listen but something always come up...:} I know I know... I saw this today and it jumped out at me for good reason...:)
I will share a few recipes that were taste tested today... If you want to join us baby stepping mothers that gather here on Wednesdays we would love to have you!! I will try to share on here every time we gather. I will share the snack and the recipes that I can. I will share a few nuggets that I caught since I always catch some...:)
We will be jumping to every other week now though since it seems to be the trend. Every other week seems to be a much better turnout. Maybe this way it will become more priority and we can all learn from each other! I love to see lots of ladies come out! I hope this group grows some more yet! It really is always so refreshing to chat with others struggling with the same things. We gather for a cause we would like to avoid yet if we just give into it, it really is rewarding and even can be blessings in disguise. We are not alone on these food awareness journeys for sure! People are waking up to the fact that "Something is not right here!"
Today Ruthie brought a very yummy bean dip!! She kind of did like I do and just slopped it together but she did try her best to get the recipe together for us since it was such a huge hit! Thanks Ruthie!!
Bean dip...
Soak two cups of beans overnight. Drain water. Cover with water and cook- bring to a boil and cook until soft adding a garlic clove to the beans. Cool and blend in a food processor, add a fresh garlic clove. Add one Tbsp. veganaise, 1/2 tsp. sea salt, juice of one lemon. She served it with gluten free crackers... It was so yummy!!
I served this chili... Always a hit here! It was served with rice and greens.
http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/hearty-chili/
Jordan made a new pumpkin muffin recipe that was really good to. I didn't taste when the group was here today but they all said they were really good!
Pumpkin Muffin's...
6 large eggs (duck here)
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup plus two Tbsp. Coconut sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter (we used 1/2 cup coconut/GHEE butter)
3/4 cup coconut flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
5 oz. mini choc. chips
Preheat oven to 400' degrees. Whisk ingredients together and put in muffin tins (paper lined)
Bake fifteen minutes.
Jordan was up making these muffins for us before school this morning while I was making the chili...:) It was great to put fresh hot chili and rice along with a fresh warm pumpkin muffin and some fruit in the lunches today! It was pretty simple, I think I should do it this way more often! We even have leftovers for tomorrows lunches!...:)
Jordan does great with baking us something to taste on Wednesdays! He benefits from these gatherings more then the rest of us since it gets my creative juices flowing and the food is again more creative...:) I have also taken a liking to Pinterest more. At first it was annoyingly overwhelming but since I got the knack of it I'm starting to find it's my "Go To For Idea's" site. Along with a few of my other favorites I like... Here are a few of them... www.100daysofrealfood.com www.againstallgrains.com www.deliciouslyorganic.net I'm so thankful for Internet for creative ideas. Even though I'm a terrible recipe following person it still gets my brain flowing and I often just tweak the perfect combination of something for us that stems back to one of these yummy recipes! I just tweak to add what I have on hand and with this type of cooking it almost always works out just fine!
The journey has been rough but it has gotten fun... If you want to call it an obsession it's okay I guess. I think there are worse obsessions to have. As long as I prioritize things I find it's okay. I really don't have any other ongoing hobby so I have made it food for now... It really has become a hobby...:)
Enjoy this rainy evening.. It is getting chillier as the day goes on! Those warm temps were great!!
Suz, your posts are so inspiring! Two of our kiddos have reactions to certain foods... especially gluten (well, processed foods, too, but we eat very little of that already). Or maybe I should say certain gluten. They seem to be fine on the 'real' flours. What do you do about bread? Have you just quit eating it? With little ones I find it so hard to replace the bread! I certainly can get so weary of being creative enough to make healthy food my family appreciates. They're not big on veggies, so that takes even more creativity on my part! Finding good fruit here is hard. Sometimes I want the easy things of Lancaster County again! I'd love to come to your Food Support group. But, no, I don't want to move back. :) I love life in Missouri!
ReplyDeleteDo you facebook about this food journey? The smaller doses of facebook don't take as much time for me. Hey, I just had a thought! You should start a facebook food support group so I can enjoy the benefits of your Wednesday meetings! :)
Thanks for continuing this journey that many people grow weary of and quit. You are ahead of me and I like to learn from you.
~Amanda