A little over two years ago I was on a spiritual retreat and the topic of food always comes up. I always knew that food would be my last frontier in terms of my spiritual evolution but I was not at all interested in and didn't feel the need to understand the organic obsession, vegans, supplements, etc. My position at the time was "evolution". How could we ever evolve as a species if we were fighting the system, the world and the way food was changing? I felt that we will eventually evolve if we keep eating what they were feeding us. I was very empathetic to people who had to change but thank God that wasn't me because I didn't know how I would do it. Don't worry, I'm not going to get political, proselytize, criticize or judge. I'm just sharing my story of how and why I have evolved in my thought and a guide for others should you want to or need to be interested.
We live in the jungle in Costa Rica and were building our villas at the time shortly after this retreat. We had a cook for the workers and I decided to buy extra food so he could cook breakfast and lunch for us too. It would be less work for me and I could focus more on the children. It was rice and beans and fried everything else everyday for about two weeks. I was starting to notice I felt really bad, tired and like there was a rock in my lower belly. I literally opened my eyes one morning and said out loud, "I need to cleanse". I stopped the meal service.
I started talking to some of the people I know about their health journeys and possible options for me. I decided to start with a juice fast since we have a juicer and a friend lent me a book about it. I couldn't do it. It was too much for me. That is a topic for a different blog but let's just say it overwhelmed me and I was feeling the full withdrawal from my food addictions.
What it did do for me was prepare and open my mind to the possibility of changing our current diet (moderately healthy with frequent pizza , chicken wing and french restaurant outings). I was consciously experiencing first hand how food was affecting me.
A few months after that, which was exactly two years ago (July 2011), we had taken our son in for his evaluation. When we found out about all of his allergies, I was prepared to change. So, I changed our children's food. They would grow up without knowing the difference but I needed my pizza. I don't have any other vices except coffee so it was a little depressing to think I would have to give up my guilty food pleasures.
When I saw how drastically and miraculously it helped my son I started researching and reading about different practices of health and nutrition (all the while focusing solely on the needs of our sons). We started with eliminating gluten, dairy, sugar, then artificial colors, sweeteners and preservatives, chemicals and most chemicals in and around our house and in our products. All of this was and still is a learning process because of all the hidden things in everything. As I was becoming aware that grains may be an issue I ended up reading "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" by Natasha McBride. I referenced this information and chain of events in a previous blog called "Food Affects Your Mood and Psychology ".
I read this book this past January 2013. This book completely changed my outlook on
everything
. It inspired me to change our whole family's diet and lifestyle. My husband read it and he was on board which was huge and it not only became a team effort but we became a team and it united our family.
This book opened my eyes to understanding that gut health is paramount to our health in all aspects of our lives. That over the counter medications, antibiotics, fried oils, etc. damage the gut lining allowing toxins to leak into your bloodstream (leaky gut syndrome) and cause disease. It can manifest itself in different ways in different people. We could see that we all had different issues related to the same problem in both sides of our families. This is a very watered down version and I cannot do it justice so I will just have to urge you to read about it yourselves.
OK!! We are on the path. So now what? What do we do for antibiotics if we get sick? Pain? Fever?
My next blog will be about our "GAPS" journey and health and supplement references.
Right now I want to share the cutest thing that happened today. My sons have to earn their time on the ipad/iphone/wii. So in the afternoon, Oliver, my six year old was asking for a flashlight. As I was getting it, he noticed the packet of 12 electric candles. He took those instead. A short time had passed and I heard music coming from the closet. I went to open the door and both my kids were sitting with the ipad and iphone and they had set up and turned on the candles all over the place. I really enjoyed this moment.
.
How I came around to a healthier and more natural life was an evolution. A personal evolution in thought, intuition, education and choice. It was a step by step process that started out overnight but evolved and unveiled itself over time. Our path is right for us and that becomes clearer and clearer everyday.
It empowers us and strengthens us.
But it took us time to
learn about it,
face it,
accept it and
act upon it.
I hope this finds you all well in health and peace.