We are undergoing a pretty major overhaul in this house. Not brought on by the new year or any kind of master plan. It’s been brewing for several years, but the perfect storm finally hit.
I was struck down with the nasty cold/flu/fever about a week after Christmas. For the first time in about seven years, I was able to spend a day and a half laying in bed and resting while I was sick. (I rarely get sick.) Since I couldn’t sleep due to head congestion, post-nasal drip, and horrible cough, I watched a bunch of those food documentaries that have been sitting in my Netflix queue forever.
Now, before everyone starts thinking, “You can’t believe everything you see on a documentary” and “Don’t be so gullible”, I want you to know that I weigh things carefully, consider sources, compare to my own experience. I’ve told MYSELF those things many times! But to continue the story...
I’ve gone through these information overloads before. I am an avid seeker of knowledge, and can become quite obsessed with my different quests for THE TRUTH. (Fortunately, I already know the ultimate truth, about God’s gift of Jesus ;) But I generally end up feeling overwhelmed and discouraged, give up, and things remain the same in my life. There are simply too many sides to every story. But this time I was determined that a real change needed to be made.
And why did I- and my family- need to make a change anyway? Several reasons:
1. Well, for the last few years I have been so exhausted I have often needed to take a nap during the day. That might be considered normal for a homeschooling mom of four who’s trying to keep up with a part-time freelance graphic design gig. But really? A nap EVERY day? I got to the point I avoided reading to my children because I couldn’t stay awake for it!
2. Starting at the age of 18, I have struggled with depression. I have been on different meds, gone to therapy, cried out to God, and done a lot of soul-searching, but MAN! It can really be depressing to be so depressed! I was spending the little energy I had just to deal with it, and that was time I wanted/needed to be devoting to my family.
3. I had begun to experience the old middle-age weight gain that seems inevitable in our culture. It was puzzling to me on a few different levels. I wasn’t eating any differently than I previously had- in fact, in some ways I was eating “better”! I didn’t exercise regularly, but I am by no means inactive. I have four children for crying out loud- it’s not possible to sit around and eat bon-bons all day! And I was so hungry all the time. Not just bored hunger, like “Oh there’s nothing else to do, I better go eat a cheesecake”, but actual pains in the stomach that made me feel irritable and sick.
4. My brain has become a little less than “sharp” over the last five years. I know, I know, mommy-brain, pregnancy-brain, breastfeeding-brain, whatever you want to call it. But we’re talking about a person who never used to use a calendar but still knew what was going on. Now I’m wandering around the house wondering what on earth I’m doing. I actually tell my children what I’m trying to do, so that one minute later when I’m standing in my bedroom with eyes glazed over, staring into my closet, I can say, “Why am I here?” and someone can tell me to get my slippers before I’ve walked all the way back downstairs, into the kitchen, and started back to making breakfast before realizing that my feet are freezing and I need my slippers!
5. I had an epiphany: my son only ate two basic things, cheese and bread. Oh wait- he wouldn’t turn down McDonald’s chicken nuggets, either. My other son, who used to be a good eater, became addicted to cookies and ice cream while we struggled to keep it together after our six-week-old was in the hospital with a possible blood infection. Regular, nutritious meals were few and far between for a couple of weeks, and afterwards, the previously open-and-adventurous eater cried when forced to eat such bland and mundane foods as pizza. PIZZA! Because it wasn’t a cupcake.
6. Last, but not least, was the regularity with which we were eating out. For two months I carefully tracked where every penny of our money was going, and was appalled by the amount that went to eating out. And we’re not talking about eating at the neighborhood locally-grown cafe. I’m too embarrassed to say where we were getting our food. It sure is hard to summon up the strength to make real food at home, though, when you’re running on carbs and sugar. What a vicious cycle! How could I say that we couldn’t afford healthier food when so much money was being thrown down the drain buying junk?
So. That was the way of things on December 31, 2012 when I put my sick self to bed early. But for once, I made the choice to do something. I would start somewhere. Thus began the change that has already started transforming my life.
How, you ask? (Or maybe you’re thinking this sounds suspiciously like an ad for something.)
No. I decided on two things: I would make at least half of everything I ate vegetables or fruit, and to remember MODERATION IN ALL THINGS. Now, some of the documentaries I watched advocate for veganism, or only local food sources. The arguments about RAW MILK vs. PASTEURIZED MILK, FERMENTING (or not) IS ESSENTIAL, ARTIFICIAL DYES ARE KILLING US, ALMONDS POISON PEOPLE, BLAH BLAH BLAH all make my head spin. So when I am reading or watching any of these things that make me feel overwhelmed, I recite “moderation, moderation, moderation” to myself.
We are still working out exactly how this all looks for our family, but since the first of the year, we have been doing things like green smoothies at breakfast, no refined sugars, a lot less meat and dairy, and nothing that we can’t make in our own kitchen (as little processing as possible). It’s a lot of work, I’m not gonna lie, but it’s also fun! For me anyway; I love to be in the kitchen trying new things.)
I’m sure I’ll share more here on the blog, but I’ve lost 15 pounds, have a ton more energy, and find it way easier to maintain a positive outlook in life. Coincidence? I don’t believe in coincidences. And I’m so excited.
RESOURCES:
Here are the documentaries I’ve watched:
Food Matters
Ingredients
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead
Vanishing of the Bees
Vegucated
Hungry for Change
These are some that are still in my queue that need watching:
Forks Over Knives
Food Fight
Fresh
The Gerson Miracle
King Corn
Dying to Have Known
and the first one I watched, a couple of years ago: Food, Inc.
Here are some blogs/websites I’ve been loving for food inspiration:
greenplaterule.com
ohsheglows.com
chocolatecoveredkatie.com
101cookbooks.com
food52.com
thekitchn.com
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 
NOW you can discard the backing paper and you have your own little piece of laminate fabric! I love how the chair turned out, and sweet little Ezra was so pleased. 
