My Journey

For much of my adult life I have felt the tension of a struggle-struggle against fat, against fatigue, against negative thoughts.  Somehow I had a feeling that the key to winning the struggle might depend on what I put in my mouth.  I had certainly hear Hippocrates’ famous quote, “Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.”  And I believed it.  Over the years I tried being a vegetarian, a vegan, and for a brief, disastrous time, a raw vegan.  I watched what went into my mouth and made that a partial measure of my worth.  As I got older and settled into moderation of thinking, I was careful to base my own and my family’s diet on whole grains, abundant plants, and an avoidance of red meat and saturated fats.  I understood and “swallowed” the mainstream message of what constituted a healthy diet.  Yet despite my best efforts, excellent health and the peace of mind that should come from it eluded me.  Especially after I had children, my health problems grew.  I was always tired.  I had just enough energy to take care of my family, hold down my job, and watch TV.  Every year I gained weight.  I struggled with food cravings.  I went through a monthly cycle of mood swings.  Negativity and discontent dogged my mind.   I got my thyroid tested and found that I was hypothyroid but synthroid did not really make me feel much better.  Last summer I had an interesting conversation with my brother.  He had been following a Paleo diet—something I had never heard of.   He said that he had been avoiding carbohydrates, especially grains and eating a lot of meat and saturated fat.  He suggested that I read The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson and pointed me to his blog, Mark’s Daily Apple.  That particular blog led me to another and another.  And after reading The Primal Blueprint, my reading list grew.  I was led, inevitably to the Weston A. Price Foundation.  I also discovered The Perfect Health Diet by Paul and Shou-ching Jaminet.  Over the course of months, I came to a new conviction about what it meant to be healthy and began to strive toward a diet of whole, real foods.  I started shopping from local farmers, switched my family to raw dairy, crossed grains (other than rice) completely off my shopping list and accumulated a long list of blogs, websites, and books that I get my health information from. 

Clearly, I am still in the midst of the journey.  My understanding and convictions change as I learn, but here is where I am now:  I do not buy processed or package foods.  I give my children raw, grass-fed milk.  I buy, as much as possible, local grass-fed beef and pastured pork and chicken.  I buy local, pastured eggs.  I cook from scratch, using real, unprocessed ingredients.  I never use gluten, under any circumstance.  The only grain I use is white rice.  I try to eat fermented foods (made by me) every day.

This blog is my record of the journey toward resolving my struggle and finding health and peace.  I am honored to share it with you.