What Goes in Our Bodies

Last night, I was once again reminded about the importance of what goes into our bodies.  I feel that, overall, my family has been progressing towards the lifestyle (unprocessed, natural diet) that we want to live.  We are still taking baby steps.  I know in a earlier post, I wrote that I was going to give up my pretzels.  Well friends, I couldn't :).  My issue with pretzels is it's my "drug" of choice.  Nothing tastes better to me than a handful of pretzels.  So, I put a limit on how many pretzels I can eat per day.  I also only buy pretzels that are made from whole wheat.  Someone told me that when you eat regular pretzels it's like eating handfuls of white bread....so basically no nutritional value. 

Recently, we went to Fresh Market and stocked up on snack items that Bluffton just doesn't have (and no, you can't buy whole wheat pretzels in Bluffton - not that I've found anyway).  Let me tell you though - you will PAY for anything healthy/organic. 

My criteria for snack items are:

• Contain ingredients that are natural
• No artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives
• No hydrogenated oils
• Organic or Natural product
• Basically, no garbage in our food :).  I want to be able to look at the ingredients and say, "I know what that is".  So I know what is going into our bodies.

Something’s I really like that we purchased were:

• Barbara's Snackimals - Animal Cookies
• These "cookies" are 100% natural. 
• Fresh Market Pretzels
• Frontera Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
• Ingredients: Organic Blue Corn, Corn Oil, Sea Salt, Trace of Lime -AND THAT'S IT! 
• Terra Exotic Veggie Chips 
• This is a great substitute for potato chips...they are delish! 

We went so long without snack food that we kind of binged that night after we got home.  We were literally only eating fruits and veggies for snacks because that was all we had!  Which was probably better, but this at least gives us a little bit of variety. 

On our Fresh Market trip I noticed they had various vegetable chips (carrots, green beans, etc) sitting in the center of the store.  I thought that was kind of cool.  They were packaged in such a way that it looked fresh.  I then looked at the ingredients and there it was...hydrogenated oil!!  This is just another reminder that food may look healthy, and it may even say it's healthy on the package, but you must ALWAYS look at the ingredients!

Kami's Soap Box Moment

I think Americans have become very lackadaisical about food.  I know I certainly was.  Five years ago, if I was reading this blog, I would have thought this person was crazy.  Not so long ago, I was consuming 2-3 cans of diet coke a day (no water) and I never made veggies or fruits with any meal.  I thought I was healthy because I was thin.  Going back to my first post...are you eating food or stuff?  I don't think our bodies were meant to consume all the junk/processed food we eat.  That is why we are sick.  I know I say that a lot, BUT WE ARE SICK!  Think about how many times your kids go to the doctor.  How many times have your children been put on antibiotics?  If we're sick all the time, maybe we need to look at what we're putting into our bodies rather than the medicines we need to take. 

As I stated at the beginning of the post, I was reminded last night of the importance of proper nutrition.  Did you know that 70% off all illness has occurred before we see any symptoms?  Cancer rates, autism rates, diabetes have skyrocketed!  Some of this has to do with the toxins we come into contact outside our bodies, but it's also because of the toxins we put into our bodies.  We are what we eat.  If we eat fast food, we crave fast food.  If we eat fruits and veggies...believe it or not, we crave fruits and veggies and I am a living testimony to that.  Eating plant food/raw food will give you great cells and great cells will lead to better health!

Eating right is something I feel so passionate about because I think American's have a skewed perception on health and food.  I know it may seem like I repeat myself a lot, but I'm just trying to drive home my point :).  I want people to be healthy because I care! I'd LOVE to hear from others who are trying to make changes in their home as well!

Wishing you much health this week! Until next week... :)