Friday, April 29, 2011

Baby Steps For Eating Healthy


I'm a health nut. A lot of people think I am crazy. But I have my reasons. I have so many friends and have read so many stories of people who have been relieved of big-time problems just by eating healthy. Problems like infertility, asthma, food allergies, autism, seasonal allergies, fibromyalgia, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, and the list goes on and on. I just can't ignore it. What you eat affects how you live!

I wish I could, but I don't really have the time today to put together a post to convince you of the importance of good nutrition. I'm just hoping that you believe me. I mean, every mom wants her family to be healthier, right? But how to start? Who has the time to make everything from scratch? I try so hard, but I definitely don't.

When I began my real food journey after my first baby was born, I was totally overwhelmed with all the changes that I thought I "had" to make. I finally realized that I could only do one little change at a time. Once I got that one improvement down pat, I moved on to the next change I wanted to make. For instance, first I started making my own bread. The next year I started buying grain and ground it with with my cheap coffee bean grinder and the following year I finally bought a nice grain mill. So it took me about 3 years before I finally reached one of my initial goals. An easier and faster goal for me was to buy good quality milk from a local farmer because it didn't require as much time on my part. We just had to re-arrange our grocery budget so that we could afford it. That was a quick change that drastically improved my family's health. (Note: if you cut out processed foods from your grocery budget, you will find ample money left for better quality food!)

So just in case you are like I was, (wanting to change the way my family ate but not knowing where to start) I thought I'd give you some good links to help give you some direction. My biggest advice would be to start reading labels, and refuse to buy things that you cannot pronounce or items that contain high fructose corn syrup or soy. Avoiding those products will greatly improve your health. And then start on some of the worthy steps that these other bloggers mention. Good luck!

Nutritional Eating on a Budget -- Lindsay's "do-able" steps to real food
Simple Ways to Improve Your Digestion
Good Foundational Eating Habits -- Good advice from Kitchen Stewardship
Rookie Tips from Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Cheeseslave's 15 tips for Beginners
Nourished Kitchen Tips for Newbies
Making It Practical -- from WAPF

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