So this obsession started my senior year in college. There was this nutritionist in my church and one day we were talking nutrition and she mentioned the idea of only eating food, real food. I was confused. She elaborated by saying one should only eat food that comes from the perimeter of the grocery store. You go down the first aisle and get your produce, across the back wall and get your meats, and down the last aisle to get your dairy. Everything else is bad for you. I questioned her. What do you mean everything else is bad? Well, she said, you should never eat anything with an ingredient that you don't know what it is. If it comes in a box, chances are it is full of preservatives, artificial flavors, and other random things that aren't really food. My next trip to the grocery store lasted three hours. I was astonished. Everything I picked up had ingredients that I couldn't pronounce.
I started slowly. But one by one, I started eliminating things from my grocery list. Pop tarts and toaster strudels were the first to go. I switched from Velveta to cheddar cheese. I bought real butter. The first thing I noticed is that all the foods I thought were healthy (i.e. 'low fat' or 'diet') were the worst. They were full of fake foods to make up for the real food that was taken out to reduce the calories. I thought, I am going to gain weight doing this because real food has more calories. But I didn't. In fact, I lost the 15 pounds that I had gained my freshman year in a matter of months. And I wasn't even trying. It just happened. I was hooked. Real food was the way to go.
Over the years I have learned more and more about healthy eating. Each time I learn something, I am compelled to act on it. Here are some of the things I have done:
-Cut out deli meat (it's processed). If I want a turkey sandwich, I have to cook a real turkey.
-Switch to whole grain (flourless) bread. Wheat four is not much better than white flour.
-Buy organic produce, especially on the things we eat the most and the 'dirty dozen'.
-Cut out nitrites, preservatives, artificial flavorings and high fructose corn syrup.
-Use honey over sugar when possible.
-Switch from cooking in non-stick pans to cast iron.
-Reduce hormone exposure by buying organic eggs, almond milk, and replacing beef with deer meat (thanks to my awesome BIL who hunts).
I'll stop there.
In addition to changing the way we eat/ prepare food, I have switched to phosphate-free cleaning products, eliminated as much plastic as possible from our home, switched to fluoride-free toothpaste, and a host of other things.
OK, I'm stopping. The point is, when I hear about something being bad for you, I feel compelled to research it. Sometimes it turns out to be a bogus claim with no real scientific data to support it. But if I do find it to be legitimate ... well, I just can't sleep until I act on my new knowledge.
And thanks to a fellow blogger who posted this article, my latest research has been on microwaves. It's driving me crazy. Now every time I use my microwave, I think about all the nutrients being zapped out of my food, (among other things). So I have decided to see if I can go the month of June without my microwave. I'm not throwing it out or anything (it's great for disinfecting sponges) and I will probably still use it to reheat coffee since there is nothing nutritious in coffee anyway. But no more cooking food or reheating leftovers in my microwave.
Ahhhh, more work for me! That's what always happens when I learn something new.
I'll let you know how it goes.
We have a convection oven. Research I have done on those says that they are fine. I have heard Asa Andrews and Josh Axe, both highly popular medical doctors with a healthy and clean living approach, approve of convection ovens. They look like microwaves but function differently, of course. I still call mine my microwave but I am not truly using one :O)
ReplyDeleteI'm proud of you, Jennifer. You inspire me to want to get back to my roots - how things were BEFORE MPT started eating at our table! All the best inspiring HIM to accompany you in this journey of healthful living! :D I have a feeling YOU'LL have better luck!
ReplyDeleteugg you always put me to shame; and i'm the biology person! yes i know what you know, but i am too lazy to do anything about it most of the time. it doesn't help to live with a limited grocery budget and in a town with no organic food store. ahhh i miss chattanooga.
ReplyDeleteKeziah will benefit the most from all this healthy eating! Although I am benefiting from your research also, keep it up, I will learn through you. I do wish we had an organic food store like Lifeway.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm - I currently have 7 of the dirty dozen produce items in my fridge right now. I never buy real butter. I've never cooked a turkey. I cook from a can/box regularly. All this plus the fact that I don't own anything cast iron must mean that I am definitely not a granola momma!
ReplyDeleteHappy non-microwaving month!!! That shouldn't be too hard. Right?? Even my non-healthy eating self could steer clear of the microwave without too much trouble.
sometimes the obsession with healthy is worse for wear than unhealthy. like the marathon runner than ran too many marathons and wore his heart out and died at the finish of an nyc race. just hope you are not the first of your line of friends to die.
ReplyDeleteI came back to see what others had to say, and there is something to be said for the unhealthiness of a health obsession, like the commenter above mentions. (true story of marathon runner dying, but I think he was in Chicago) Beef is not bad. You can get hormone free beef, such as Laura's Lean Beef. Man has lived many years, and thrived even, on beef. Plastic is not completely evil. With BPA free items and choosing not to microwave in or diswasher plastics, you can store and use them without real concern, so I've read and heard. Cast Iron even has its own issues, such as iron actually leeching into food at too high of an amount, thus causing risks and some health complications. Sometimes it is all about choosing the lesser of evils, or the lesser of evil for your family. We use honey but not usually as a total sugar substitute. It is always local honey, for the rumor is that is best, being that those bees have access to your pollen and can help with allergies and such. Going flourless is advised by some, but the Lord sustained His people on bread and grains so many times. His wisdom and goodness gave us grains and flours, and He saw it fit. To cut them out completely is not necessary, I feel, although there are a few researchers that would advise otherwise---but you can find research to support any side when it comes down to it. In this area, going whole wheat and choosing foods that are not bleached flour are best, along with moderation, which is really the issue in America. And as far as milk goes, I am totally not switching to Almond Milk…..tired it. I think I would rather die early, if that is what kills me. I cook with coconut milk but I am not just going to chug it. And if you do all these things and keep and OCD mentality about it, you add a stressor that is contradictory to the healthy choices. And then you cut all these things out and you die in a car wreck. Or skin cancer when you never spent time in the sun, like our friend Karen.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all since the marathon runner keeps coming up- did the runner die because of a health obsession or did he/she die just because his/her time was up and he/she was participating in an activity that he/she loved?
ReplyDelete8 Points to Ponder
1. It helps to read fully before imposing a disagreement onto unstated concepts.
2. If following an obsessive compulsion brings peace of mind, it is not a stressor.
3. The USA is the only country in the western world that will allow something to be put in your food that is assumed to be safe and then pull it when it proves unsafe. The rest of the world will wait until that ingredient is proved safe and then put it in your food.
4. Is it not better to be safe than sorry?
5. Just because something is read or heard does not make it true. It helps to do your own real research (I have seen my wife doing hours of research on a plethora of topics).
6. The fact that one could die in a car wreck tomorrow does not justify embracing an unhealthy life style.
7. Ignorance does not always equal bliss.
8. A blog is merely a medium to express ones thoughts to the “ether” that is our world. It is not an imposition of ideas onto other belief systems.
Woah! MP I think you misunderstood what I had to say (if that was directed towards me, which I assume that it is since no one else has said anything other than kudos). I am just letting you know some of the things I have done in my family and things that I have read and researched. It is not a comment on hate to your family to say that I do not like the taste of almond milk. It is just a reflection of mine. To assume that my comments are not ones based on readings and findings and hours of research as well is unfair and untrue. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to have a conversation with someone that will not respect the education that you have on a topic. It was just a comment on things that intrigue me, which is why I keep checking back to this post.... I like the discussion. I listen to talk radio health shows all the time (Josh Axe and Asa Andrews---well before he left my local channel) and I rarely find someone willing to banter the healthy concepts other than those that call in on the radio, so finding a place with someone i know where I can is fun to me. As a person who grew up without a father because he died a sudden death, I know it is just sometimes someone's time to go. You have no need to tell me that. Seriously. It is just that sometime we do take all precautions necessary and you find that they are not enough because Your time is your time. Some would use just that theory as a justification for an anything goes mentality. And the OCD comment is mainly based off of a client my husband currently has, so the idea of that stands fresh in my mind. The boy has an obsession with clean. It gives him peace of mind but it is ruining his life. Literally. He is in 5th grade and has no friends, washes his hands to the point of red skin, will not step in certain spots in his own house, he can not breathe when he has to encounter something "contaminated," etc. He has a peace of mind and frankly has research to back himself up on the germs are bad mindset. In a small dose his obsessions are nothing to worry about yet at its current level is becoming where he can not function. I am not saying Jennifer is this way, not you, nor your baby. I am just saying that for this person, and the comment on the runner (because I think he did wear his heart out.....but this is not a researched point, just a recollection off the world news story on such), etc, the obsession took them to a place deeper than needed to go.
ReplyDeleteFinally, a blog is a medium to say whatever in the heck you want to say. Just don't say it if you are not wanting to discuss it.
ok, as someone who just completed her first marathon, i'm going back to the runner comment here... i heard the runner had a pre-existing undiagnosed heart condition. which make the point that started this whole thing null and void.
ReplyDeletein any case, when the goal is one's health, it's about ballance, as all things are. i don't eat as healthy as my twin, but i run my butt off to burn the extra callories and sweat out the toxins. Jen hates running and has no time for exercise so she eats extremely well. we both maintain similar states of health and well-being. and since we have the same genes i think we can be looked at as valid scientific(i.e. one variable among many controls in the system) evidence that there is more than one way to reach said goal.
i think jen has shared some helpful info for those looking to approach their health in a way similar to hers. it doesn't nullify the methods of those of us who choose differently. also, since when did being well-researched and passionate about something signify obsession?
Julie: Agreed---on all accounts! Seriously.
ReplyDeleteI love running and would gladly knock out 4 miles to account for a food splurge. And perhaps the marathon runner did have pre-existing conditions, which were complicated by the race length---I admitted to not knowing.
And not being critical, but Jennifer said obsession and OCD: "I have OCD tendencies." and "So this obsession started my senior year in college." She said she lost sleep out it, not me.I am just going off her words.
I love blogs and the naptime escape to adulthood they provide for this mommy. I even love a debate--I had a speech and debate scholarship in college....but I hate how the written word does not allow for the relay of tone in a decent manner and allows for misinterpretation (and this coming from an English teacher).
I wish anonymous would come back and chime in on things.....
well, that was fun! I never comment on my own blogs because I usually feel the post stands for itself. But this post certainly generated some, .... well, I'll call it fun.
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify a couple of things - Summer, Michael Paul's comments were mainly directed at anonymous, not you. Anonymous, while I certainly encourage healthy debate on my blog, your statement, "just hope you are not the first to die" is a tad cruel and is not what I would consider healthy debate language, which is probably why my husband and sister felt the need to defend me. And lets be honest, you probably feel a bit ashamed yourself, or you wouldn't have felt the need to remain anonymous.
Well, I am turning off the fun now (i.e. closing comments), but I certainly look forward to doing another post on health issues as it definitely increased my traffic!