Our food journey

I figured it was time to write a blog post about our current food journey, since it consumes my free time (researching and preparing it). Here ya go...

We started on a journey to healthier food about 6ish years ago. Our start was to cook everything at home and use the organic things that we could afford. We didn't completely eliminate boxed or convenience food, but we did cut them out drastically. We started growing taking more of an interest in gardening and herbs and generally tried to make better choices. This also started my journey to living a more natural life and I embraced my inner hippie.

As of last year, we were using a lot of organic produce and dairy. The only convenience foods we consumed on a regular basis were cereals, breads, crackers, and cheeses. For the most part, we cooked from scratch with wholesome ingredients. However, by fall I really had to evaluate our eating habits. We had developed some terrible habits and I'm not even sure how it happened. My weakness is coke. I love an ice cold coke. Cokes can't even really be justified in my opinion unless you are having a "treat". We were eating way too much fast food because of our busy lifestyle. I was burned out completely on meal planning and cooking because of our picky eaters. However, I started realizing that we all were feeling rundown and getting sick way more than usual. I am a firm believer that the food we eat is the first thing to evaluate when your health is sub par.

We started being diligent about not using food products with more than 5 ingredients. A blog I found helpful with recommitting to this journey is right HERE. I entered research mode on our food again. Even though we were eating pretty healthy (limited preservatives, almost no food dyes, a lot of organic/natural, whole grains, etc), there was still room for improvement. As we entered December, we ate horribly. Fast food several times a week due to our crazy busy schedule and way too many holiday treats. I started praying about direction where to go and here I am.

2013 Food Goals
-Absolutely no fast food in the month of January  (really I plan to try to keep this up all year).
-Transition to 100% traditional real/whole foods diet.
-Transition to gluten free (for health reasons that we feel will help all of us).
-Work harder on meeting daily water intake.
-Have a kick ass garden this year. 

Here is our plan:

-No fast food - I'm literally planning every meal and snack for our week. On our busy days, we eat at home quick foods (like sandwiches or wraps). We are making sure to keep chopped fruits and veggies in our fridge. I look at my week and write down a detailed schedule of when I need to soak beans or make a new batch of muffins. We were consuming fast food because of lack of planning. This involves very detailed menus and meal planning and grocery trips. I'm not going to lie - this is time consuming. I shop for several hours and it takes at least an hour (maybe two) to get our weekly menu down. I feel like this will get easier as I build a database of meals we like. The weekly food prep definitely takes up more time, but it just has to be an investment of time that you are willing to make. It may mean that you have to give up an hour or two of vegging time. In the long run, it is worth it. Right now, we do a lot of fruit/veggie chopping on Sunday nights. We are making sure that Chris has a lunch packed every night after dinner. On busy mornings, I make breakfast ahead of time. This also includes make bigger batches of homemade muffins/pancakes/waffles to freeze and pull out when we are in a hurry. We pack meals or hearty snacks if we are running around during meal time. We have made it 14 days so far!

100% traditional/whole foods diet - We are using the Weston A Price Foundation for our guide. This encompasses eating whole, unprocessed foods. Consuming meats and eggs from pasture-fed animals. Eating non farm raised fish. Eating full fat milk products from pastured cows and preferably raw or fermented. Using animal fats liberally. Using traditional vegetable oils only. Adding fermented cod liver oil to our diet. Eating fresh fruits and veggies. We are eliminating whole grains, but will be preparing our legumes and nuts by soaking them. Making our own meat stocks. Using filtered water for cooking and drinking. Using unrefined salts and a good variety of herbs and spices. Using natural sweeteners in moderation.

I've been trying to eliminate all processed foods for several months, so that part won't be challenging. We have found a source for local pasture fed meat and poultry. I've stopped buying my organic meats and poultry from Costco and switched to a local source. It actually isn't any more expensive since I'm buying straight from the farmer. The eggs are a bit more difficult to locate at this time of the year, but Organic Valley eggs are the next best thing, which I can find from Earth Fare. However, at nearly $5 a dozen, we aren't consuming as many eggs right now. We don't consume that much fish right now, but that will probably be a goal I set for the future. We are on a waiting list for fresh milk from a farm in Dalton, so until then we are drinking organic whole milk. The animal fats thing is very new to us (other than butter). We are using up the butter we have now and switching to Kerrygold (which comes from pasture fed cows in Ireland). I'm very new to the whole lard and tallow thing. We are trying our best to stick to Coconut Oil and EVOO. The fermented cod liver oil is another very new concept which we will embrace in February. We are going to slowly work our way up to that one because I have a feeling everyone will hate it. The fresh fruits and veggies is something that we were already doing, but making an effort to be better at it. I'm learning more about better ways to soak our beans so that they don't cause gas. The meat stock thing is a foreign concept as well. We are also already using filtered water and the salts, herbs, and spices. We are trying harder to eliminate sweeteners as well. I'm just really going to break it down month by month and focus on changing one thing at a time. My ultimate goal is 80/20. We will eat like this 80% of the time to make up for the times when we can't. I think by making these changes, we will see our health continue to improve.

Gluten free - We tried to go gluten free about 18 months ago. It just didn't work, but we didn't do it right. This time, I've read more and have a better handle on doing it. Why are we doing it? Well, I've been praying almost all of 2012 that God would lead us to this path, if it was meant to be. There are many that claim a gluten free (and usually casein free) diet can help children on the spectrum.  I personally feel as if I've gotten confirmation that this is the way to go. How is this going to help him? Well, the theory is that kids with autism react differently to gluten/casein. Their brains treat the proteins like they are false opiate-like chemicals, which exacerbates autistic symptoms.  Basically, the kind of positive responses that many claim are: increase in social behaviors, eye contact, engagement, attention span, and social responsiveness. It can also help with ADD/ADHD - both of which affects Chris and me and possibly our daughter. Several of us have sensory issues - again, this is supposed to help. And lastly, Sam has early signs of asthma - going gluten free could possibly help. We've decided to do it as a family of five, so that we can avoid cross contaminants. We also feel like since all of us could possibly benefit, we are going to strive to be gluten free for a minimum of six months. It will probably take us at least a month to get all of the gluten out of our diet. That being said, we will make a decision sometime this fall about whether to continue our gluten free path. I should also add that we will make a decision about casein at a later time.

Water intake - We've switched to filtered water, which already helps. We've put it in a nifty little water spout container in our refrigerator, which the kids love. We pull out water bottles first thing in the morning and fill them up and just sip on them throughout the day. Most of the sources that I've read say that kids and adults should drink at least at least half of your body weight in ounces. So if Harrison weighs 50 pounds, he should drink 25 ounces of water a day. This would obviously increase with more physical activity or hotter weather. So we are just trying to be more aware of water intake. I definitely feel more energetic when I drink water. I personally have to set mini goals for myself.  I try to have at least 2 (water bottles) down by lunch time. I drink my 3rd between lunch and dinner and a 4th with dinner and before bed. It doesn't always work, but I certainly can tell a huge difference on days I'm hydrated.

Kick ass garden - Well, we just have to do it. We are getting dirt for our raised beds this month. We are starting seedlings soon as well. We have started planning what we want. Chris built a really neat bean tee-pee. For us, we just have to verbalize and follow through. We are going to tag team garden care and praying for a fruitful small back yard garden. We've both been pinning things on our garden boards on Pinterest and I feel our hearts are really into this year.

I plan on blogging again this week on some of the more detailed things I'm doing to meal plan and prepare food to keep us on track with healthy food eating.

Also, here is the kicker. My food goals have absolutely nothing to do with weight loss. I just want to nourish my body properly and feel healthy. If I happen to lose weight, it is an added bonus.

Are you doing anything this year to get your family in a healthier way of eating?