How are you feeling today? If you are feeling a little less than stellar, the next few posts are for you. I have had a lot of people ask me what I do to keep my family and myself strong and healthy. Over the next few weeks I will attempt to answer that question one thing at a time.
I am going to assume that you are smart enough to do your own research and wise enough to check your heart before you try anything I suggest. What I will be telling you is what has worked for me and for my family, but everyone is different. Please do what is best for you.
First, let me give you My Nutritional Philosophy. It's pretty simple, really. I believe we were created by God. I believe God is really smart. I believe He also created the things we would need not just to survive, but to thrive. I believe that when we eat what God made for us, we thrive, but often when mankind gets in there and "tweaks" things, the quality of our food diminishes. We really don't fully understand our bodies or how they interact with the food we eat (or our environment, for that matter), and many of the negative effects don't show up until much later. Those beliefs inform the choices I make for our food. We simply use this motto: Eat as close to the ground as possible. That means, that when I have the choice to eat white bread or wheat, I will choose wheat because it is closer to the ground -- or the way it grew when God made it. When I have the choice between soda or water, I will choose water. I just try to choose the most natural form of whatever I am eating. Big Macs don't grow on trees, so I rarely eat them.
I don't want to be one of those people, though. You know the ones I mean. They stare at your food and pass judgement on you because you don't follow their personal food philosophy. Once, many moons ago, my husband and I were picking up the ingredients for a Frito Chili Pie (Definitely not close to the ground, but we rarely ate it even in those days.) This lady spied our grocery cart and literally began circling it. She reminded me of a wolf about to pounce on its prey -- and, um, we were it. Then she said, or rather, she hissed, "You're not going to eat that poison, are you!?!" We were both thinking, "Well, no. We just thought we would put it in our cart and take it for a little ride through the store. Then we were going to put it back on the shelf where it belongs." But you don't say everything you're thinking, do you? Then she grabbed the bananas and lettuce from her cart and shoved them at us, "You should eat this!!" Her admonition might have carried more weight with us if she had looked a little healthier, but she looked gaunt and sallow, like she was deficient in more than just tact. The Bible teaches us to eat what is set before us, and I do so in faith. I heard a fitness guru say one time, "It's not what you do some of the time, but what you do most of the time that makes the difference." Most of the time, we eat close to the ground. Some of the time, we don't. And we are happy. And we don't circle people's grocery carts at Walmart.
I have done a number of things over the years to improve our health and wellness, but recently I had a victory I had begun to think I could never win. Yep, you guessed it. I killed the sugar giant. That's right, Sugar. I don't love you anymore. You are no good for me and I don't need you anymore. I'm doing fine without you, so you can hit the road. Our relationship is over.
Starting next week I will be telling you how I killed the sugar giant this past December, and what I am doing now to stay sugar free and still feel like I get to indulge. Until next time,
