My Journey To Healthier Eating

The other day I was in the grocery store and I saw something I’m embarrassed to say showed a great deal of disapproval on my face.

Ugh, yeah…I’m kind of an open book.

The scene I saw was a father hurriedly walking through the frozen food section with his two kids in tow. I could tell they were on a mission because the father had that look on his face. It was the, We need to get out of here look that I’ve felt on my own face many times. Plus the kids were double stepping to catch up with him as he moved quickly down the aisle.

But the thing that immediately caught my attention was none of them had a cart. Instead each had their hands filled with boxes or bags of frozen, processed foods…not a fresh fruit or vegetable in sight.

The young girl, she was probably between eight and ten years old, was carrying a box of corn dogs on top of a few boxes of pizza. Meanwhile her bother, who appeared to be a year or two younger, hugged a large bag of frozen chicken nuggets.

To top it off, the father had several large boxes of macaroni and cheese, a couple bags of pizza rolls and some ice cream.

As my eyes scanned the scene I could feel judgement projecting out like a lighthouse beacon. And to my embarrassment, I could tell the father knew exactly what I was thinking.

Image via Lisa Leake’s blog 100 Days of Real Food Purchase Book Here

As they passed and I moved on with my shopping, I kept thinking about the scene.

“Maybe something happened that required them to need all that kind of easy food? Or maybe he’s a single dad with no time to cook?”

For the rest of the day I kept thinking of excuses for them. But the truth is…all three of their bodies clearly showed that what they had in their hands is what they eat regularly.

My heart hurts for their future.

But what other people put into their bodies is none of my business. I never want to judge and never in a million years would I shame anyone for being overweight. There are countless reasons including genetics and certain diseases that can cause weight problems.

However, when the most likely cause of being over weight is bad food being eaten, I hope sooner rather than later they’ll learn a better way.

And if I can help by sharing my journey, all the better!

Image via Danille Walker’s Against All Grain book can be purchased here

I am not overweight though. In fact, I am on the opposite end of the spectrum where I probably need to gain weight, especially since my appendix ruptured and I underwent extensive surgery in July.

But there’s a fine line here. I am a healthy eater, I always have been. So there’s no way I’m going to sit with a box of doughnuts everyday just to put on some pounds.

I want to do things healthily. And because I’m still experiencing so much inflammation in my abdomen post surgery, I decided to see if making changes to my eating habits would make a difference.

For several weeks I’ve been following bits of Lisa Leake’s 100 Days of Real Food recipes. And as mentioned in last week’s 52 Weeks of Happy the process has really made me feel happier. Not only because I know we are putting healthier foods into our bodies, but going from thinking I had no time to make anything to eat to now making breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinners for both Kevin and I, has made this very modern woman feel almost primal – in a good way – and better as a wife and caretaker of our lives.

In addition, our food intake has gone from healthy, to super healthy. So win, win!

But, I’m still not feeling completely free of inflammation. Yuck! It’s no fun not feeling completely healthy.

So after reading about grains and how they can contribute to inflammation in the body, I’ve decided to incorporate a grain free diet to see if doing so might make a difference.

I’m really enjoying these grain free sites: Danielle Walker’s Against All Grain and Carrie Vitt’s Deliciously Organic. Check them out when you have a moment.

I know this isn’t going to be easy, it’s been hard even just these past couple of days not to grab some chips or processed bread for a sandwich. Which is why I decided to make some of my own grain free bread for sandwiches this past weekend.

Here’s my first attempt. You can see the recipe in today’s later post.

If you’re looking for a way to reduce inflammation in your body, or maybe eat less of those frozen foods mentioned above, join along on my journey to healthier eating. I’d love to have you along!

Thanks for stopping by!