Bring On The Fat

Lately we have been adding lots of butter into our diet. We use coconut oil in everything. We strive to only buy products that were made/grown locally. In fact we rarely buy anything that has been pre-made and make most everything in our kitchen. We choose full fat and never low-fat food. We like our eggs to come from chickens that have roamed freely. We even buy milk that is not homogenized. I know it looks like we have lost our minds, but let me assure you...our minds are (mostly) intact.

I used to dream of being a dietitian or personal trainer. I loved food and its relation to our bodies and I just wanted to soak up every bit of knowledge and pass it on. Then, I married a man who gagged at the sight of a vegetable or anything else that resembled "healthy food," I got busy, etc. I just kept making excuses. Well, after 9 months of eating whatever food we could possibly buy (usually cheap food means not so healthy food) or that people gave to us, we are finally done with eating poorly.  Literally, we were just eating to survive before and now we want to eat in a way that will help our bodies thrive. Eating good food is the best thing you can do for yourself, and most definitely for your children (whether you have them now or in the future). I think we can all agree that something is wrong with our society...diseases, obesity, etc. I think I am just over it all. I don't want Eden growing up thinking that eating something that resembles meat at a fast food restaurant is actually good for her body. I mean, who else is going to teach her the best foods to eat? Anyone else willing to step in here? As much as I enjoy watching The Biggest Loser, I would rather not have to have my children on the show. Dear Jillian Michaels, don't take this personally, but I don't want to meet you. Well, I want to meet you, but just not because I chose to abuse my body with harmful foods. Is she even on there anymore? I don't even know!

While we venture on this new "real foods" journey I just want to give you tips, tricks, and resources that we find while on this adventure in hopes that it may benefit you as well. Even if you are fine with eating your Big Macs each day without thinking twice about it (coughMYBROTHERcough) you still may enjoy learning just a little bit more about treating your body (and your planet) right. Oh, and Brett, please don't disown me as a sister. I truly do love you, just maybe don't love your food choices..haha. Okay, but seriously I do still want you to claim me as your sister.

So, after that ridiculously long-winded (hopefully not too preachy) post, here are a few blogs that have inspired me so far on our journey.

First, I have to give major props to one blog in particular.

via

100 Days of Real Food

Lisa is one smart woman. I wish we could be friends. I love reading about her journey and boy oh boy can this woman cook. So far we have tried her homemade honey whole wheat bread, whole wheat tortillas, berry sauce, banana ice cream, chocolate sauce, whole wheat crepes, biscuits, chicken enchiladas, pumpkin bread, granola, macaroni and cheese (I know I'm missing some), and used her recommendation for homemade creamer from Deliciously Organic (I made the pumpkin spice one for Josh). We have loved EVERY.SINGLE.ONE. No joke. We are obsessed. 

A few (very) new to me blogs have been providing me with even more wisdom. I am starting to feel the whole ignorance is bliss thing because honestly sometimes it does get a bit overwhelming (you know I always have to state the facts). However, each one of these blogs has broken it down in such a great way. In fact at Kitchen Stewardship, the goal is keeping it simple and doing baby steps. Love this!

The next blog is new to me, but I fell in love instantly. Monica, who writes Oh Sweet Escape actually commented on one of my posts so I went to check out what her blog was all about. OH.MY.WORD. She is gorgeous and super sweet to top it off. Oh and the best thing? This girl can cook. If you want to be inspired in your cooking, go now. You'll love her.

Looking to "green" up your life in all aspects, this next one is sure to give you a great place to start: Frugal Granola

Greats posts and easy to read. Lots of resources on eating and living healthy lives: The Nourished Life

Loving this blog! Another wonderful resource: Simple Organic

Great tips, especially for you moms: Keeper of the Home

I found this blog via Jamie Oliver and love it for planning out healthy meals for kids. Even if you don't have kids you can find some great inspiration: Healthy Meals and Food for Healthy Kids

Now I need to make a little disclaimer here. I am in no way a nutritionist. I know this may come as a shocker (ha!) to most of you. Technically I am just a wife and a mom who is concerned about the state of health in this generation and am refusing to follow that trend. Also all of these blogs that I have shared are just blogs that I have fallen deeply and madly in love with in recent days. Most don't even know I am writing about them (hope they don't mind!).

Here's the other thing. I don't want you to think that I expect each one of you to choose this lifestyle. I don't. We all make our own choices for ourselves and for our families and I expect you are making the best one. I respect that. I am just so over the moon excited about what we have learned and how much better we are feeling these days that I felt the need to share. I can't imagine that we will ever go back to eating processed food. Yes, we let ourselves eat it while on vacation, and we even have a treat once or twice a week. However, our overall food intake is food that would have been ingested on Little House on the Prairie. It's natural and downright good for you.

Please let me know if you have any questions or anything! I love this subject and would love to chat more on it if you would like to hear. Maybe another post will be in order?