So it's October, 18 2014 today, 13 months since we changed our diet pretty drastically. I have become pretty actively engaged in reading about food and am obsessed with watching documentaries. We started down this road because we couldn't figure out what was going on with Jade, she had been throwing up, diarrhea, constipation, etc. constantly. she had missed several months of school. Ended up in the hospital several times and we couldn't get any answers. I started doing my own research and really felt that the cause of all her problems was the food we were eating. The first thing we did was move to eating all organic, to avoid GMO's. We still weren't really eating awesomely healthy, just organic. I was still buying organic, cereal, organic, cookies, organic, chips etc. our diet has been changing daily over the course of the last year. I don't just buy something now because it says organic anymore. It is a drastic lifestyle change, I rarely eat out anymore, when I do, I am severely limited and usually end up just getting a side which is never something I would eat at home. Here's what it sounds like when I try to order something,
"Do you have anything organic, corn free, wheat free, soy free, rice free, sugar free, vegan, preferably raw, sustainable, locally grown and unprocessed or unrefined?"
"Yes, we have water."
" Is it in BPA free bottles, distilled, reverse osmosis, spring?"
"Ugh!"
Ya it's complicated. I can't eat at the in-laws, my moms, church events, parties, I really can't eat anything, anywhere. I get a lot of flack from people about it. Saying I'm overboard, but here's the thing. It has made a drastic change in Jade's health. I wasn't expecting my health to change but it has, I lost 25 lbs. 9% body fat, my arthritis is gone, my headaches are gone and my bowel issues are gone. You don't just go through significant changes like that and then go back on them. Not only that, but the more you know, the harder it is to give in, because it's not just about health anymore, it is ethical, spiritual, environmental, political etc. I see the parallels in food and religion ever time I talk about food. I feel like I have a truth and I want to share it but most people aren't willing to listen and if they do, they will refute everything you say, try to invalidate it or dispute it, because if what you say is right and true, then they have to make a change and change is hard so it's easier not to subscribe to it. I am not saying I am the know all end all. Health, diet, nutrition, Word Of Wisdom, it's all relative. Depending who you talk to. I see people posting their "healthy" recipes on Facebook and I'm going, "What?" How is THAT, considered healthy? Something that you thing may be fine one day with further study or new science ends up being unhealthy the next. It's a tough subject. I have taken everything I've studied back to the Word of Wisdom and I find that my definition of "health" is mostly in line with the Word Of Wisdom.
This post could end up being 47 pages long, if I let it. I don't want to do that but I do want to document some of my beliefs so that my children know where I stand on some issues, should I die tomorrow. So to touch on the above I will just give an example or two of why eating how I am eating is more than just for physical reasons.
Ethical: When you buy things, you are basically voting for those things with your dollars. You are saying I support this. If I wanted to have a Reese's peanut butter cup it wouldn't be that big of a deal physically if I had been eating healthy all week and exercising and it was my "Free" day right? But how do you take a free day from something you BELIEVE in? I don't believe in supporting companies that are purposely poisoning us for their gain. I can't ethically eat anything that comes from a CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation). In D&C 59:20 when talking about the things God gave us for our benefit (herbs, food, animals), He says that these things are to, "be used with judgement, not to excess neither by extortion." In America we kill 3000 cows an hour. Excess? I think so. The way these CAFO's are run, in my mind are not in keeping with good "judgment" and they are most certainly "extorting" something that God gave us for our benefit, to be used with prudence and thanksgiving. This is just the tip of the iceberg with food and ethics, I could type for days about all the ethical injustices in our food system.
Environmental: the environmental impacts of our current food system are much like the ethical impacts, they are NUMEROUS! CAFO's produce millions of tons of manure a year. That manure pollutes our air, earth and water with, gases, antibiotics, hormones, steroids, pesticides and other pathogens.
GMO's: Are going to be the death of us, but again I am not talking about food health here. GMO's environmentally are a nightmare. They are creating super weeds, super bugs and since the creation of GM crops the use of Round-up has increased by well over 400 million lbs. This is affecting our water, ground, air, insects (with major concern being bee's. Without bee's 1/3 of our food would be gone). etc.
Monocultures: Are risky because they can lead to quicker spread of disease when a crop becomes susceptible to a pathogen which can eradicate crops. It's not good for our soil. It is what is causing the rain forest to be chopped down at an alarming rate.
Oceans: 50-85% of the air we breathe comes from the ocean particularly from phytoplankton. I am concerned for the future of our oceans because of fish farming and GM fish which could contaminate oceans and breed with natural fish. Also, 75 percent of the world's fish populations are removed faster than they can reproduce. About 80 percent are already in rapid decline, and 90 percent of all large predatory fish - including tuna, sharks, swordfish, cod and halibut - have been wiped out. Scientists now believe that fisheries will collapse by 2050 if current practices continue. We are NOT living sustainably and it is destroying our planet.
Political-I've written to my senators and congressmen and have signed numerous petitions and am trying to stay actively engaged in food issues politically, but it is hard when, big pharmacy, big food and big industry are in bed with government. It is a conflict of interest to have the USDA tell us and our children what to eat and then subsidize the makers of the food they are promoting. Duh, of course they are going to tell us to eat meat, dairy and grains they subsidize the farmers that produce that meat, dairy and grain.
It doesn't make sense to me that companies can use GMO's in their food and douse it with all sorts or fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, pesticides etc. and they don't have to put a label on their food stating that it contains those ingredients, but if organic farmers wants to have an organic seal that proves that they didn't use and of that crap and just grew plain healthy crops they have to pay tons of money, do tons of paper work and jump through all sorts of hoops. It's
bass-akwards!
The number of high ranking executives that have worked for companies like Monsanto and then end up working for the FDA or the USDA or the EPA, and then go back to Monsanto or bounce around within these entities is ridiculous! HOW is it allowed? It is such a conflict of interest for the American people, but we are completely ignorant to it. Also these biotech companies have supported big name politicians, being their biggest campaign supporters, expecting what in return? Probably exactly what they are getting, a free pass to experiment on Americans without consequence or constraints while lining their pockets.
Okay. last but not least...
Spiritually: I firmly believe in transference of energy. I feel like if I eat foods from CAFO's or GM foods the energy in that food will then affect the energy in me. The energy from a cow that is confined, mistreated, in poor health, fed foods a cow has no business eating, pumped full of harmful drugs, taken away from it's family, conceived by unnatural means etc. is going to be far different energy from a cow that is treated with respect, allowed to eat its natural diet, allowed, light and room to move and allowed to reproduce naturally and care for its young. A grain/plant that is created in a lab, who's DNA has been altered, who has been created for monetary greed, grown in a mono-culture, is going to have quite different energy than a grain/ plant grown in a garden with multiple crops, who's structure is not manipulated, who is grown naturally.
Call me a quack, I don't care. I know God never intended for our food to be produced in the way that it is, we are in every sense of the word extorting what he has blessed us with for our benefit and turned it into something perverse, and I believe it does affect our spirit.
Your body houses your spirit if your body is taking in things that are harmful, that were produced unethically would it stand to reason that your spirit is being housed in an unclean place?
It is the difference between living the letter of the law in respect to the Word of Wisdom and the spirit of the law.
I don't believe God intended us to rely on others for our food. It goes against everything the church teaches us about being self-sustaining. I am at fault in this area. I don't have much of a garden, I don't can my foods. I am reliant on the super market to provide me that. I have been desperately trying to move so that I can remedy that and in the mean time, trying to learn about it.
Okay, I have stepped off of my soap box.
Homemade kombucha. This has really been a trial and error process, with more error than success. But this particular batch was AMAZING! better than anything from the store.
Spouts I grew myself from seed.
Making banana chips. This was my snack of choice til I ran out. I need to make more. They were yunmy.
Quail eggs-my brother Dan is raising quail. These little eggs are so yummy, they have a much richer flavor than chicken eggs.
Salad Supreme-I use lemon juice, olive or avocado oil, pink Himalayan sea salt and balsamic vinegar as dressing.
Flavored distilled water. Distilling water takes everything out good and bad, so to add good minerals back in, just add a little pink Himalayan sea salt, it has all of the minerals in it that naturally occur in your body. To alkaline the water add a level tsp of baking soda to one gallon.
Strawberry lime
cucumber mint
raspberry lemon
orange ginger
these were so refreshingly delicious.
Rick makes some really great banana bread. He has replaced the wheat flour with a combination of oat flour, coconut flour and spelt, replaced the butter for coconut oil and gotten rid of all the sugar by adding extra bananas. Sometime he adds sugar but when he does he less than halves it and we use an organic coconut sugar or date sugar. The chocolate chips are also a healthy version we found at Good Earth.
Tomato soup with fresh red basil, sweet basil and sauteed red onions. I sometimes eat it with a grilled cheese (organic cheese and organic, vegan and veganically grow flax and spelt bread). It was funny cause Brooke had a friend over and they were making a burrito and her friend saw her using white cheese and she said, "I don't want mozzarella on mine I want cheddar." Brooke was like, "this is cheddar it is just white because it is not dyed." her friend was like, "I really want to eat healthy like you guys." It warmed my heart. :) I don't really consider cheese healthy but when I use it, I use the best I can find and we eat it VERY sparingly.
Everyone I know, bugs me about being Vegan, which I am not nor will I ever be. I believe God ordained the animals for our use but I am very selective about where my meat and animal products comes from and what they were fed and how they were raised and I try to keep animal and animal products under 5% of my diet.
I bought this awesome sampler pack of mushrooms. They were all so unique tasting. The fat stubby ones were EXCEPTIONAL!
My current obsession is sweet potatoes, with peas and sauteed onions on top. This also has a tzatziki dip on it. I passed it up so many times at Costco. They have gotten really awesome with their organic foods selection but there are more organic foods there that I won't buy than I will. The tzatziki I stayed away from because it is a Greek yogurt which I don't do much milk products at all but I went shopping when I was extremely hungry (big mistake), the one day and I couldn't resist it. I didn't regret it either, it is delicious.
Fried, egg, sweet potato, cilantro and pepper sauce.
One of my FAVORITE snacks, avocado, tomato, lemon, balsamic vinegar, garlic and pink Himalayan sea salt.
I try not to eat too many grains either, which I feel like I probably am eating too much. My personal interpretation of the W.O.W. is that it is stricter on grains than it is meat. But sometimes fruits and veggies just don't cut it and you need to be filled more. I love my pasta salad (and my potato salad too, but that I do not have a picture of). I use a spelt noodle, veganaise, arugula, lemon, avocado oil, several different kinds of olives, peas, onions, tomatoes etc.
Let's not kid ourselves either, these changes haven't stopped with the food, we have changed our shampoo, conditioner, face soap, soap, toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant, make-up, hairspray, fingernail polish, fingernail polish remover, cotton balls, house cleaners etc. etc.
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