Here is a quick recap of our experiences so far. Back in 2008, we ate the Standard American Diet (SAD) and didn't think anything of it. After all, it was how we had always eaten, and while we knew some things weren't terribly healthy (hamburger helper anyone!?) we also didn't think they were terribly bad. We bought cheap grocery store meat, non organic milk, and processed foods up the wazoo. Stops at fast food joints were a common event, and most meals included at least one item out of a box. There were little changes along the way that year. I think we bought eggs at a local farm once or twice (but could never justify the expense), and we may have switched to organic milk at some point (but thought that drinking raw milk was like playing Russian Roulette). I refused to buy that fake butter in a tub crap, but didn't think twice about buying the kid lunchables or frozen kids meals for dinner.
Then came February of 2009, which rocked our world to its very core with my diagnosis of lung cancer. There is no way I could have known it at the time, but this one event single-handedly changed the entire course of our lives. With such a huge magnitude that we feel the ripple effects of it to this day. It simply changed everything. It changed me. It changed our family. It changed our lives in small ways and it changed our lives in huge ways, and it has probably changed our lives in ways that we will never be able to fully understand and appreciate. When I look back at that snapshot of my life, frozen in disbelief on the phone with the doctor, the uncontrollable anguished sobbing of someone who knows just how much they have to lose, being wheeled into that operating room, coming home with the advice from my surgeon to just go home and "Live my life" and wondering how the hell I was supposed to do that, the constant fear for the future, and finally finding that fighter inside me, who was filling me with determination that I was going to be make it, I was going to beat this, and I was going to do everything in my power to get and stay healthy. There are people who don't understand why we have changed so much over the last few years, who don't get our pursuit of health, who just simply don't understand us these days. I suppose that you can never fully understand the fire that cancer lights deep within you, until you survive it and learn to dance with the flame. I am grateful every single day for that fire, and ironically, I know with certainty that our lives would never be as magnificent and beautiful as they are today without it.
It wasn't long after my surgery that I started digging for information that could lead us to a healthier way of life. What I found along the way shocked me. I wrote this post, and clearly remember how eye opening that moment was for me. It was as if the curtains had finally been ripped open, and the sun (and the realization that everything I thought was safe and healthy was NOT) came flooding in. I think this was that first step that started this whole journey. I realized I needed to start asking questions, and finding answers, if I ever wanted to get my family to a place of better health. A few months later had me uncovering more dirty food industry secrets, this time about the additives that our food is pumped full of. I can recall the feelings of complete disgust when Matthew and I watched the movie Food Inc for the first time, and the long conversation we had on the way home about how we needed to start making some HUGE changes. And we did...slowly. And without a full picture of exactly what it was that we should be avoiding. That is abundantly clear when I look back on these posts, where I took pictures of all the food we bought for a month. I have to laugh about it now, because I remember buying those chicken nuggets at Costco thinking "Whole wheat coated chicken nuggets...these ones are WAY healthier than regular ol' chicken nuggets". Ahhhhh, how far we have come.
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
So if 2009 was the information gathering year, 2010 was the year we began using what we had learned. It was still slow going, judging by this post about our meal planning, but at least it looks like we made less processed meals than in the past. There were small changes along the way too - we began drinking raw milk from a local farm, we started getting our eggs from another farm that had free range hens, and we started eating more organic food and occasionally shopping at farmers markets (though we still thought they were too expensive). Then we had another huge shift, spurred on by the discovery of the horrors of factory farming. Now this new fork in the road really rocked our worlds. Change from this point was inevitable, we simply couldn't look at grocery store meat the same way ever again. We had lots of discussions with our kids about what we were learning too, and some of it clearly stuck. So, at the end of that year, we made our first on the farm purchase - a side of beef from a local farm. Once we had a taste of filling our freezer with meat from a local farm, we never looked back.
2011 was another year of intense learning and big changes. We began learning the old school way of doing things, like curing our own corned beef, and rendering lard. We stepped away from refined sugars, and began buying big sticky jars of local raw honey. We started delving into traditional foods via the teachings of Weston A. Price, and especially focusing on fermented foods. We bought a half of a pig to go along with the farm fresh beef in our freezer. I knew we had come leaps and bounds from where were were just a few short years ago, but something still felt a little off. It was weird because I felt like we were doing everything right, eating the way that everyone told us was healthy, and still....I didn't feel like any of us were really thriving. Time for more research, which actually takes us back for a moment to 2010....
Matthew checked out a book from the library, which although we didn't know it at the time, would plant the seed for the direction we are heading today. I don't even remember the name of the book, just that Matthew told me about this way of eating called Paleo, and that it involved lots of grass fed meats, vegetables, and no grains or dairy. I remember scoffing at that, because after all, grains are GOOD for you! That little food pyramid chart tells you so, and says that whole healthy grains should be the the basis for any healthy diet. Right?! So he abandoned the idea, though he really strongly believed in it, because I was just not in a place where I could be open to a change like that.
Fast forward back to the end of 2011. One of my very best friends was undergoing a dramatic transition right before my eyes. She had started eating Paleo in August of that year, and was shedding an incredible amount of weight. She was also learning...a LOT. During our weekly play dates, she was filling me in on what she was finding out, about grains, the effects they have on our bodies, refined sugars and its many evils, even the unexpected side effects of dairy! We had some really eye opening conversations, and I would always come home from our get togethers with new seeds of information planted. I started doing some research of my own, and all of a sudden, the paleo lifestyle started to make sense. A lot more sense than I had ever thought it would, once I started reading the science behind it. Hmmmmm....could this be the beginning of another wonderful journey on our path to good health?
YES! After many long discussions, and a lot of worry and fear on my part (what DO you pack for kids lunches if cant include sandwiches?!) we have decided to start January 2012 out with a bang. Remember the picture I posted yesterday? The one of our very messy looking kitchen?
That was the aftermath of cleaning out every bit of food in our house that contained grains, refined sugars, or dairy. And it was a LOT more than I thought it would be - if you take a look at the labels on the food in your pantry, you might be shocked too! We threw away or gave away everything that doesn't fit into our new way of eating...and our cupboards and fridge are looking mighty bare. I still don't know exactly what we are going to eat for breakfast now that toast and bagels are off the menu. Or what I will pack for school lunches. Or exactly what a world without pasta and pizza is going to look like. But I do know that I am excited to find out, and I have no doubt that our family will rise to the challenge of completely overhauling the way we eat, and I am absolutely certain that this is the final missing piece of the puzzle. The change we have been looking for all this time. I can't wait to see where this journey takes us!