Monday Wellness: Eating Right

Lately I have been doing all kinds of research on wellness related things. This includes: essential oils, kefir, apple cider vinegar, natural remedies, healthy eating and natural safe household cleaners.
Why have I started this?? Well 2013 left us all in the doctor's office more than we liked (we never like to go but you get the point). I was sick of taking the kids to the doctor and having them tell me "it's just a virus and it has to run it's course." Bam... I just wasted my day and money! My best friend has been telling me about some of her natural remedies for a while now and I began to really start thinking about trying some of them out. So that lead to my research which then lead to EXTREME feeling of being overwhelmed. There is SO much stuff out there for natural remedies and I had no idea where to start. After emailing my friend and another friend about what works for them. I start taking baby steps and slowly adding things to our life.

The first baby step we took was cutting out all processed foods again. Eating low carb left me with very little to no accomplishments and I felt tremendously better when we ate REAL food. So that was our step one.

I am back to making things from scratch and using NO white products. That means no white sugar, pasta, flour etc.. We use 100% whole wheat in everything. We LOVE this site for recipes and information on eating real food .
We also have cut out most sugar. The sugar that we do consume is all natural (like Honey, REAL maple syrup and real Homemade berry syrup). Did you know that for every Tablespoon of sugar you consume it suppresses your immune system for up to 6 (SIX) hours! So just think about that when your kids eat a bowl of sugary cereal and then head off to school where they come in contact with tons of germs. Here is a really interesting article about sugar and the immune system 
Basically we eat anything that we could grow ourselves, buy from a farmer or at a farmer's market and if it comes from a box then it must be organic and have 5 ingredients or less. We have found that even though we are buying a few of the more expensive organic products at the store, that we are still spending a lot less on our weekly grocery budget. You guys processed foods are EXPENSIVE!

I will admit I don't ban all sugar and processed foods from my kids diet. I might be the world's meanest mom if I did that. I do however make sure their bodies are in tip top shape to fight off illnesses by giving them real food at home (or even away from home when possible), limiting the amount of sugary treats they get anywhere and we also take apple cider vinegar daily and kefir every night. I will post about those two in the weeks to come. The benefits will AMAZE you!

So each Monday I will be posting about our journey to a healthier life. Look for posts about baby steps we have taken, essential oils, recipe or meal ideas etc... If you are like me you will find these VERY interesting and if you don't, well just skip over my blog on Mondays.

I want to add that I am in no way saying I know it all or even that we will not be going to the doctor. With Rascal's severe nut allergy, seasonal allergies, Scooter's asthma and even for things that are very evidently dr needed we will be going to our trusted drs. I am hoping, that by taking these healthier safe steps that we will be all together healthier and not running to to the store to buy some chemically laden medicine unless it is necessary. I am still learning and am VERY cautious before taking another step. I do feel very strongly about making sure my kids are living a healthy life because God gave them to me to care for and I want to make sure I am not slacking at that in any way.

So here is to a healthier 2014 that we spend glorifying God more and paying doctors less!