Reflections and Resolutions

We started out January 2010 by resolving to take a 21 day challenge. This was the beginning of our gradual change to a healthier lifestyle that has been such a blessing for our family. Since then, I have had many people ask what we eat, how we do it, what ingredients to look for in food, where to shop, and many other questions that are hard to answer without overwhelming someone. I also got overwhelmed at the beginning, but felt inspired to take everything one day at a time, one change at a time, and one goal at a time.

I began to love reading anything health-related in magazines, books, online, etc. It was a whole new world to me and it felt so empowering to have so much control over my family's health. Since learning more about natural health and healing, I have only had to take my children to the doctor one time in the past year for sickness, compared to about ten times the year before.

This week, I stumbled upon a few websites that really motivated me to keep learning more and to set new goals. We've gotten a little comfortable lately in our ways, and I know there is so much more to learn. It also made me reflect back to the steps I took to get to this point and I thought I would share.

January 2010- 21 day challenge (the quote below is from another blog I love, rhonnadesigns.blogspot.com.  She recently did a super inspiring 6 week challenge.)

 

February 2010- started learning about natural medicine (I discovered this amazing store called Take Your Vitamins.  The owner, Karen, is a registered nurse and a natural health expert.  She has helped our family so much and has introduced me to some wonderful products.  Oil of Oregano would probably be my favorite.  It’s a natural antibiotic, aka my favorite ear infection remedy.  This is strong stuff though so I would seek the advice of an expert first to get dosage instructions.  If you would have told me previously that I would end up believing in herbs and natural medicine someday, I would have laughed.  But really, it just makes so much sense.  I’ll have to do another post sometime about all the other reasons this store inspires me.)

 

March 2010- discovered Ellie Krieger’s Healthy Appetite show on the cooking channel.  (We would end our day by watching her cook healthy meals that actually looked good!  She taught me a lot about how to make simple swaps in recipes to make them cleaner.  I also loved how she would explain the nutrients and benefits in each ingredient she was using.)

You can check her videos and recipes out here. 

 

April 2010- learned about the amazing health benefits of using fresh ground wheat (approximately 44 vitamin/minerals compared to 4 synthetic vitamins in white flour!  Thanks to Shar’s for the free cooking classes! If you’ve never been, you must check them out!  She will even give you a free loaf of her bread at your first class.)

 

May 2010- starting making my own whole wheat bread every two weeks (okay, maybe I made a few batches of whole wheat cinnamon rolls too.  dee-vine…)  Tanner let me get a Bosch for Mother’s Day and I think he’s been pretty happy with that gift.  :)

 

June 2010- learned about the importance of omega 3s, especially for children and their developing brains.  I try to add ground flaxseed to baked goods or smoothies, eat walnuts and some fish, and I even got some fruit punch flavored fish oil to sneak in the girls’ juices. 

 

July 2010- baked Kate's birthday cupcakes from scratch after learning about the crazy additives in cake mixes.  Tanner was really nervous about me venturing out from the classic Funfetti mix, but he ended up liking these way better!  (Of course I made some healthier substitutions from the recipe such as swapping out half the butter for oil, half the eggs for egg whites, and reducing the sugar a little.)

 

August 2010- finally found a way to eat sweet potatoes, a super food (Please try this recipe for sweet potato pancakes asap.  I just use baby food instead of mashing my own sweet potatoes and I use 1 cup whole wheat flour and only 1/2 cup of regular flour.  Also, I always sub out butter for oil and I never add sugar to pancakes because the syrup provides plenty.)  :)

 

September 2010- ordered my first box of Utah peaches!  I know this may be unbelievable to some, but I had never tried a peach before in my life.  I was a super picky eater and I tried a lot of things this year that I just always assumed I didn’t like.  Um, I can’t believe all those years I went through without these in my life.  I did some canning (with friends), freezing for smoothies, and jam making (that didn’t turn out), but nothing compared to eating them fresh that week.  Is it September again yet?  Email utahfruitsisters@aol.com to get put on their e-mail list.

 

October 2010- planted my cute garden!  Thanks to my dad for the inspiration and for the raised bed to get it started.  I loved planting my own garden in the gorgeous fall weather.  This picture was actually taken at harvest time, but this was such a great bonding experience for our little family to plant seeds, water them, watch them grow into beautiful greens, harvest them, and then enjoy them.  Olivia especially enjoyed it and had to be reminded not to harvest the vegetables before I said they were ready.  :)  I would highly recommend to anyone!  It’s such a great and affordable way to eat organic!  Check out this awesome site for more information on gardening.   I loved this post she did on why she loves gardening.

 

November 2010- discovered that our homemade pie crust tasted just as delicious when substituting half the flour with fresh ground wheat flour and swapping out the shortening for half butter/half oil.  Phew!  The tradition of pumpkin pie devouring can continue!

 

December 2010- got a pressure cooker for Christmas after learning that it cuts cooking time and preserves nutrients (don’t worry, they make them much safer now).  I can’t even describe how much yummier steamed veggies taste now!

2011- Like I said before, I learned and accomplished a lot last year.  I have been busy with other things this year and have gotten into a pretty comfortable spot with everything.  However, I want to be continually learning and growing so I thought I would share with you my next goal I want to learn about and incorporate into my family’s health. 

-Coconut Oil, read here and here.  I am in love with the coconut oil products I have used from this company I heard about from CJane, especially their face wash.  Now I can’t wait to start using coconut oil in my cooking!

Hopefully this {long} post will be motivating to choose one goal and start working on it!  Don’t worry about anything else besides that one goal.  Then, when you feel comfortable with it add another one.  Remember, this was over the course of an entire year.  It may even take you an entire year just to read all the information in this post.  :) 

One step towards a healthier lifestyle is much better than none.  And if you did read this, tell me what your one goal is going to be and perhaps I will bring you some of my cleaner cinnamon rolls I am making this week to get you started.   What are you going to research and learn about?   What foods are you going to try and cut out from your diet?  What foods are you going to add to your diet?