I decided to tackle a project this summer.  My son’s room hadn’t been painted in almost 9 years.  It was in bad need of a new look.  He needed a boy room, rather than a baby room.  He went away to camp for the first time this year (he loved it), so I thought that would be the perfect time to redecorate.

 

As I was planning my painting project, I learned that latex paint contains mercury.  This freaked me out and for a split second I had hesitation about the painting job.  But then I remembered something I read in a fabulous book, Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.  This book is a must-read for anyone dealing with Candida infection, skin disorders (eczema, psoriasis), autism, dyslexia, depression, ADD, ADHD, dyspraxia (extreme clumsiness), allergies of any kind, asthma, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, OCD, IBS, constipation, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, acne, migraines, PMS, yeast infections, chronic ear or sinus infections, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, fibromialgia, multiple sclerosis, and much more, but these particular items were mentioned in the book.  This book is worth tracking down from a library if you don’t want to buy it outright.  Check out www.worldcat.org to see if it is available at a library near you and if its not, ask your local librarians if they can borrow books from other libraries.

 

Dr. Campbell-McBride points out in her book (pg. 201-202) that our bodies are equipped with a detoxification system.  She says this is, “a system which until recently we did not know much about.  It has got its headquarters in the liver and departments in every cell of the body.  The sophistication and complexity of this system is staggering to even the most knowledgeable biochemists and there is a lot we still don’t know about how it works so efficiently.”  (Emphasis mine.  I personally am not surprised at the complexity and sophistication that God designed!)  She goes on to describe in the chapter how this detoxification system works properly when our bodies get the proper nutrients, telling me that it really comes down to how we EAT!

 

So the lightbulb went on in my head and I began to realize that ALL these things the doctors, media, environmentalists, and even nutritionists are focusing on are PERIPHERALS.  They are not at the core; they are not the cause, but rather symptoms.  Rather than solve issues from the outside in, we need to first start inside and the outside will take care of itself.  The CORE issue here is DIET.  You may have heard me say it before, but I will say it again, MOST health issues can be resolved with proper diet.  This may sound extreme, but I believe it with all my heart.

 

As the lightbulb was going on in my head, this scripture came to my mind, II Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  These peripheral things that we hear we should stay away from, just bring fear into our lives.  Fear does NOT come from God; we are NOT to be motivated by fear.  It is the devil that brings fear and if we give in to this and focus all our time, energy and money on ridding our lives of these PERIPHERAL things, we won’t have time, energy and money left over to do the work of God.

 

Our PRIMARY purpose in life, as Christians, is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.  If we are isolating ourselves from the toxic, busy world, or trying to build ourselves a little Shangri-La/Utopia within the toxic world, how much time, energy, and money are we putting into furthering the gospel?  Probably not much!  You may not identify with these types, but I have read of people that pour thousands of dollars into a new home or office to make it so environmentally friendly and therefore much less toxic to the human body, or others that pull away from society and go live a pioneer life in remote places like the mountains of Colorado or Alaska, in the name of purity.  When I first read about a certain doctor that is building a new such office, my thought was one of helplessness; I don’t have the money to build a new home!  Then thoughts fill my mind of all the toxins that are in my home!  Or when I hear of people living in the pure mountain air, drinking pure mountain spring water, far away from the busy city life filled with toxins, I have to say I have a twinge of envy.  Then I ask myself, “What is my purpose here?”  Those things are not God’s will for me at this time.  People that are living the remote pioneer life are at a disadvantage of spreading the gospel.  I’m not saying it’s impossible for them, but they are limited.  Most of them are not thinking about how they can help others, but rather how they can help themselves or our earth.

 

We do NOT live in an ideal world, BUT we do NOT have to live in fear of this world because God made provision in our bodies to filter out the harmful toxins.  Our Creator is all knowing.  He knows the end from the beginning because He is outside our dimension of time.  He actually sees time as one thing, where we see things in a sequence of events.  I love this analogy I heard once.  Think of yourself watching a parade go by, you see things one at a time, in a linear manner, a float, a marching band, etc.  Now imagine you are in a helicopter above the city, looking down on the parade.  You see the beginning and the end all as one.  This is how it is with God; He sees it all at once.  He KNEW, when He created the universe, that we would be living in a world one day that was overloaded with toxins!  And so He created our bodies with a detoxification system to handle whatever is thrown at it.  Dr. Campbell-McBride spoke recently at a Weston A. Price Foundation Conference and said that if our gut health is in order (this comes from eating right), our detoxification system will even remove heavy metals from our bodies.  (Want to know more about how God is outside our dimension of time?  I encourage you to check out Cosmic Codes by Dr. Chuck Missler.)

 

Now you may be saying to yourself, “But I am VERY allergic to mold (or other various things)”.  By all means, if you are suffering, you will need to remove certain things from your diet or environment, BUT focus on the inside, healing your body so that your body can do its job.  Allergies to things like pollen, dust, toxic mold, wheat and dairy are all symptoms that something is not right inside.  I urge you to read Dr. Campbell-McBride’s book and deal with the CORE issue.

 

For those that don’t suffer from these issues, take your babysteps to remove toxins from your life, BUT don’t live in fear of these toxins and DON’T spend large amounts of money and energy trying to be rid of them.  That money and energy would be better spent helping out less fortunate people in our world.  Examples of things our society wants us to fear are germs, mold, gases from carpet and padding, mercury in paint, cell phones, computers, anything electromagnetic, pollen, dust, plastics, and personal care products to name just a few.  In the coming months I will detail some easy ways to get rid of some of these things from your life, but PLEASE know that they are peripherals.

 

I promise NEVER to use fear as a motivator in any of my articles!  I have seen that from other writers in the health community and it bothers me.  I am NOT going to live in fear and worry.  I am not going to hide myself away.  I am not going to dream of the pioneer days.  God has me in this particular time for a specific purpose.  I AM going to do what I can do, remove what toxins I can.  I WILL focus more energy on eating right.  And I DID paint my son’s room (will post pictures soon).

 

I hope this helps someone.  Remember what your purpose is here and don’t let ANYTHING get in the way of fulfilling that purpose!

I had to take a break from blogging this last month as we had the opportunity of opening our home to a relative in need.  This young lady was in need of a major change in her life and the first night she came to live with us she said she would do anything to change and was excited to learn from us.  We laid out some rules and she agreed that they were good. 

 

My husband and I are teachers.  We have a heart to teach those that are teachable and want to learn.  So we tackled every opportunity to teach character qualities, spiritual fundamentals, and practical life skills.  We knew that this would take some time, so we planned many things to teach over the coming months.  One of the first lessons we wanted to teach is that our actions speak louder than our words.  We can say we love God, but if we aren’t keeping His commandments we don’t truly love Him. (John 14:15,21)  In fact, John tells us in I John 1:4 that, “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”  Well, this woman’s actions spoke louder than her words and subsequently she is no longer with us.

 

We have no ill feelings over the situation and, in fact, I can glean many lessons from it.  She has only harmed herself and not us.

 

I was mopping my floor this morning thinking over the whole situation.  I was thinking about all the things I had planned to teach her.  Plans to teach character qualities, spiritual fundamentals, knowledge of the Bible and God’s plan and character, and practical information, like how to handle finances, how to clean house and cook.

 

But with all my plans, it still came down to her choice.  She chose not to be meek and teachable, showing us through attitude that she really didn’t want a change in her life.

 

It is the same way with God.  Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (NIV)  God has plans for every one of us, BUT it is up to us to CHOOSE to follow God.  Jeremiah 10:23 says that man is NOT to direct his own steps; we are to let God direct our steps.  Ps. 37:23 says that the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord (I particularly like the New Living Translation of this verse). 

 

What are your plans for your life?  It is certainly okay to have goals, but I think we all need to stop more often than we do and ask what God’s plans for us are.  It is our choice, we can choose to live a mediocre life or we can CHOOSE to partake of the abundant life that Jesus promised in John 10:10.  It saddens me that many Christians don’t live that abundant life.  It all comes down to our choices.  After Moses read the law to the Israelites he told them they had a choice, in Deuteronomy 30:19, to CHOOSE life or death.

 

I truly believe this means in ALL areas of our life.  We must NOT departmentalize God, put Him in a little corner of our life, go to church, do our duty, and then everything else about our life is up to us.  We are only going to have that abundant life if we allow God into those other areas of our life.

 

The important thing to remember is that every one of us has influence on those around us.  If we aren’t living that abundant life, the people around us aren’t going to want anything to do with Christianity.

 

Many times the apostle Paul compared the spiritual walk with a race.  His readers were very familiar at that time with the Olympic games in Greece.  We, too, are familiar with the Olympic games, so I would like to expand on that comparison.  Imagine this year in Beijing the Olympics is including a special race open to anyone in the world and some wealthy benefactor has paid expenses for as many people of the world that want to come and participate in this race.  All you have to do is go and pick-up your plane ticket to China.  Many people will take this man’s word to be true, and go and pick-up their plane ticket and fly to China.  Once they are there, it is their choice whether to follow the plan of the games or do their own thing.  Some will say, “Hey this is great, I got a free ticket to China, but now I’m going to do my own thing and go sightseeing.”  Others will participate in this special race, but once the gun goes off, they don’t go anywhere.  They think, “This is so great, I’m at the Olympics in Beijing”, but they’re not cooperating and not actually doing any running, as if they don’t understand why they are there.  Others are running half-heartedly, not really putting much effort into winning.  Some come upon hurdles and then stop, not knowing how to jump them.  Now if the world was watching this race on television at home, most would change the channel.  People would lose their interest in the Olympic games. 

 

What I suggest to you is that the world is watching you as a Christian, and if you aren’t following God’s plan, then you are influencing those around you and they will want to turn the channel.  They won’t want anything to do with the Christianity that you’ve got.  Those that were off sightseeing, those that never started the race, those that ran half-heartedly, and those that were blocked by the hurdles ALL hindered the world’s confidence in the Olympic games.  Christians that are doing their own thing, or are never growing, or only put half a heart into following God (I’ll go to church, but I want to have my fun, too), or come upon obstacles and crumble, ALL hinder the gospel message.  So I say to you, are you going to be one of the runners in this race, striving for the gold medal?  Paul says in I Cor. 9:24 that we should all run like we mean it, to win the prize.

 

God has many plans for you, many things to teach you, the question is, are you going to let Him teach you and lead you?  God has given us a whole book of His will.  I know it sounds cliché and many years ago, I would’ve nodded my head in agreement, but not actually taken it to heart.  I can now tell you from experience that your life will change when you diligently study God’s Word, seeking God’s kingdom first (Matt. 6:33).

On my shopping trip last week, I was happy to see that chicken had dropped ten cents per pound, but then I reached for a one-pound package of ground turkey and it jumped twenty cents!  While the rising cost of food may be frustrating, there are measures you can take to ease your budget, but why is the cost of food on the rise?

 

Crops  The production of biofuels is a big reason.  Farmers see more profit in corn, so they aren’t planting wheat as much.  For the first time in our nation’s history we are importing wheat!  This corn that the farmers are planting isn’t for your corn-on-the-cob, it’s for making ethanol, corn syrup, cornstarch, and livestock feed, to name a few.  Since ethanol has gained popularity the price of corn has increased.  We are feeling this increase at the grocery store.  If you are buying commercially raised beef and poultry, it has been feed corn.  If the cost of the feed is up, then the cost of the end product will go up, the beef, poultry, and pork.  This goes for the by-products of chicken and cows also, like milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and eggs.  To top it off, if the farmers aren’t planting as much wheat and we have to import it, then our bread products go up and bread is the staple of the American diet.  All of a sudden, alternative fuel doesn’t sound like the answer, does it?

 

(On a side note, I watched King Corn this week and it was wonderful!  I highly recommend this to everyone!  Educate yourself about the modern farm, what the government’s role in farming is, and how this is affecting the nutrition of our nation.  It is available at our local library.)

 

Fuel  America is such a prosperous nation it can afford to import many exotic produce items from other countries and ship items from one end of the country to the other.  When you go grocery shopping you may be buying apples from Washington, strawberries from Texas, mangoes from South America, etc.  As a result, our bodies and our wallets are not feeling so prosperous.  The farther away your grocery items come from, the more fuel it takes to get it to you.  With fuel prices increasing, produce prices go up, too.  Plus, for fresh produce, the farther it came from, the less nutritional value it has.  Often items are picked unripe and ripened in the truck on the way to the grocery store.  When produce is picked unripe, it will have very little vitamin and mineral content.  In days gone by, all your groceries were grown or raised in your local area.

 

What do we do?  Well, first, have no fear and put your trust in God to provide (Phil. 4:19), secondly, use your grocery money wisely by buying less packaged food, and third, buy as much locally as you can. 

 

Buying packaged food is paying a middleman to prepare it for you, paying with your wallet AND your health.  Plus you are paying for more packaging materials - plastic, cardboard, and foil, and more fuel as it has more stops between the farm and the table.  

 

It is healthiest for our economy (and ultimately, for us) to buy as much locally as we can.  There are many cooperatives and farmers’ markets around.  Check and see what is available in your local area.  Here is what is available in the Tulsa area:

 

Oklahoma Food Cooperative – Many items, like beef and poultry, to fruit and veggies, plus handmade soaps and handicrafts, all direct from the farmers.

Conrad Farms – Bixby area produce farm, plus local honey, cheeses, salsa, jellies, and more.

Carmichael Produce – Bixby area produce farm.

Jenks Farmers’ Market – May through September.

Pearl Farmers’ Market – Tulsa’s only evening market.

Cherry Street Farmers’ Market – two locations, Cherry Street and Brookside

Swan Brothers’ Dairy – Organic, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, raw milk, cream and a selection of cheeses.

Sponge

 

 

 

The IDEAL way to eat grain of any kind is either sprouted or properly soaked to neutralize the phytic acid. 

 

Jordan Rubin writes, in The Maker’s Diet:

“Before the advent of mass-manufacturing processes, it was common for long-lived peoples to soak their grains overnight and then allow them to dry in the open air until they were partially germinated or sprouted, or to go through an ancient leavening process.  From these grains they made bread and other foods.  We now know these processes effectively remove the phytates from the outer covering of the natural grains.  Phytates are substances that contain phosphorus in acidic form as well as powerful enzyme inhibitors that combine with (or “grab”) minerals in the intestinal tract and block their absorption.”¹ 

 

“Sprouting neutralizes phytic acid, a substance present in the bran of all seeds (grain is a seed) that inhibits the absorption of calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc.”²

 

When choosing leavened bread, the IDEAL is one made WITHOUT commercial yeast.

 

Jacques DeLangre writes:

“When yeast (what we know as commercial yeast) was first introduced in France at the courts of Louis XIV in March 1668, scientists already knew that the use of it would imperil the people’s health, so it was strongly rejected.”³

 

And finally a selection from fiction that shows us how bread was made in the 1870/80s:

“But how do you make the sourdough?” Mrs. Boast asked.

“You start it,” said Ma, “by putting some flour and warm water in a jar and letting it stand till it sours.”

“Then when you use it, always leave a little,” said Laura, “and put in the scraps of biscuit dough, like this, and more warm water,” Laura put in the warm water, “and cover it”, she put the clean cloth and the plate on the jar, “and just set it in a warm place,” she set it in its place on the shelf by the stove.  “And it’s always ready to use, whenever you want it.”⁴

 

So we can see that the bread we are accustomed to is very different from the bread that was eaten for thousands of years in the past.  I am quite sure this is one of many reasons we have numerous ailments our ancestors didn’t.

 

Now that we’ve talked about IDEALS, let us remember that we here are ALL about BABYSTEPS!  We must remember that EVERY little thing we change REALLY does count.  Don’t be discouraged by the last article, just because we can’t balance junk food with healthy food or exercise doesn’t mean we don’t still move forward.

 

We need to think of food in the context of GOOD, BETTER, and BEST.  A whole-wheat loaf of bread is good, one that is whole wheat and has soured is better, and one that is soured AND made without any commercial yeast is the best.  Every little bit that we change in our diet counts.  It’s just like the principle of saving money, every little bit adds up.

 

So here I present a recipe for yeast bread that uses much less commercial yeast than the typical recipe AND it is soured by a long rising time, so that the phytic acid is neutralized.  So even though it’s not the IDEAL, it is BY FAR, better than the store-bought fare.  Plus it tastes delicious.  I toured the Great Harvest Bread Company recently and was happy that my homemade bread tastes so similar to the professional’s.  J

 

This is a recipe for the cook who is familiar with making his or her own bread.  If you have never made your own bread, a good recipe to practice on is my French Loaf.  Then you can move on to this recipe.

 

This bread takes very little of my time, it just has to sit and sour a long time (about 40 hours from start to finish).  It doesn’t taste overly sour, though.  My daughter and I made some a few days ago and enjoyed a slice fresh out of the oven with butter.  It is important to follow the directions and not vary.

 

A word on gluten - some people like to add gluten flour to their homemade wheat bread so that is doesn’t come out as a brick, but I wanted to keep this loaf as close to whole food as possible.  You will see with this loaf that you won’t need that gluten flour if you just let it sit for the prescribed amount of time.  But there is a breaking point I have discovered with gluten.  Gluten is the protein of the grain, by the way.  If it is developed properly it will give your loaf structure and allow it to rise nice and high, the strands are like 2-by-4s in your house that hold up the walls, they hold little rooms of gas.  Without proper gluten development, there are no rooms of gas bubbles, it’s just like a house that is fallen, it’s a pile of rubble, or densely packed wheat that tastes like rubble.  J  Anyway, back to the point.  I have noticed that the longer the dough sits, the better the gluten is developed, BUT if it sits too long, those nice strands of gluten break and you end up with the dense, brick loaf.  L  So the moral is, follow the recipe as I have set it.  I have tried to vary the amount of yeast or the souring time and it has flopped.

 

Now for the recipe, first I make a sponge; I usually do this in the evening, as I like it to sit for 24 hours.

 

1 cup warm water

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I’ve been using hard white wheat, but have also had success with red)

1/8 teaspoon yeast (I’m using rapid rise)

 

 

 

Stir together and let sit 24 hours, stirring a couple of times during that period.

 

Dough

Then the next evening I will put the following ingredients in my Kitchenaid mixer:

 

1/2 cup warm water

1 teaspoon yeast

2 tablespoons molasses or honey (black-strap molasses is packed with minerals, especially iron; honey is good, but it’s benefits are killed at 117°F⁵, bread is usually around 185°F when done baking)

2 tablespoon melted butter

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt – I prefer Celtic Sea Salt

2 Tablespoons millet (optional, for some crunch)

 

I stir this by hand till mixed and then add my sponge.  I let the machine mix it for me while I add another cup of flour or so till the bowl is clean.  See the picture.  I will then let it knead 10 minutes in the machine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then let it rise in a buttered bowl on counter for 90 minutes.  Then put it in the fridge overnight - I want the new flour I added to have a chance to sour.  The next day I’ll set it out for a bit to warm up, from about 8am to 10am.  Then shape into a loaf, place in a buttered bread pan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let rise till it’s nice and tall (last time I made it, this took about an hour and a half since the dough is still a bit cold).  Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes.  Enjoy your wonderful high and soft loaf!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you would like to try baking a true sourdough loaf without any yeast, you might try this one.  I have not made it myself, but a friend has and says it’s good.

 

Want to learn more about phytic acid?  Take this free e-course, from someone who has done more research on this subject than I.

  

 

 

 

¹The Maker’s Diet by Jordan Rubin, pg. 138

²The Maker’s Diet by Jordan Rubin, pg. 152

³Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, quote by Jacques DeLangre, pg. 491

⁴By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

⁵Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, pg. 536

 

I think our society thinks that being healthy is a balancing act, that there are a tiny set of scales in the body.  They think that you keep these scales balanced by doing and eating healthy things, even though you eat unhealthy things also.  Hey, I know none of us eat a perfect diet!  If you eat something unhealthy, you just have to do a bit more exercise to burn it off.  If you want that dessert, you better have a salad with your meal.  If you drink some soda, you should have some water to balance it out.  This thinking is wrong and if you stay with me, I will tell you why.

 

I have to think that this originated, in part, from our parents and grandparents saying, “You have to eat all your dinner if you want dessert!”  Also, the exercise era has given people a little latitude with what they can afford to eat and stay trim (and staying trim, in our society, carries the appearance of health; not always true, folks).

 

The thing that we need to get into our heads is that it’s not all about fat, good or bad, or calories.  I said it before and I will say it again, the food we eat affects us on a cellular level.  I will show two prime examples here, although there are more.  First let’s talk about trans fat, it’s not just a bad fat that will clog your arteries and cause heart problems (if that isn’t bad enough), it will actually become a part of your very cells!  Every cell in your body has a cell wall, made primarily of fat.  When you ingest trans fatty acids, they become part of that cell wall.  For nursing mothers, trans fat replaces some of the healthy, vital fat that your baby needs, so the baby’s cell walls are also being made up of trans fat!

 

According to Tom Valentine, author of Facts on Fats and Oils¹, “When this man-made molecule of fatty acid, called trans fatty acid, gets into cell membrane construction our cells cannot function optimally – we cannot ward off viruses as well”, and, “this degeneration of the cell membrane is cumulative as we continue to eat these trans fats every day – it doesn’t improve over time, or simply vanish, it slowly gets worse and worse.”

 

My second example is sugar - it’s not just extra calories, it will rob your body of minerals, weaken your immune system, put you on the insulin roller coaster (which we talked about before), stress and fatigue your adrenal glands, and feed harmful yeast and bacteria in your digestive system (causing a host of problems that I will talk about later).  These are not things you can jog off!  This is why you won’t hear me talk about calories here.  It is all about WHAT we are eating, not necessarily HOW MUCH.

 

I was talking to my husband about this the other night and he always comes up with the best analogies.  He said, “How does your car do if you add some water in with the gasoline?”  We all know, it’s won’t run well at all, even if there is just a LITTLE bit of water added.  Our bodies are the same, a little bit of bad is still bad and our bodies won’t run optimally on food that man has adulterated.  My point is not to convince you into changing eating habits by making you feel guilty, but rather, I don’t want you to be deceived.  I want you to be well informed and make informed choices!

 

I’m asking you to renew your mind in this area, make a paradigm shift.  Just because exercise doesn’t counteract these junk food woes, doesn’t mean we stop exercising.  It means we work on cutting out the junk food.  Your sole source of trans fats is packaged food.  Don’t buy margarine or ANY butter substitute (if it’s not butter, it was made by man), don’t use shortening in your baking, don’t buy pre-made pie crust - make your own with butter.  Practically every peanut butter on the store shelf² contains trans fat; unfortunately you can’t trust the labels to give you full disclosure.  Look for PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED OIL on the ingredient listing, if it is there, DON’T buy the item.  This is listed on so many foods that most of us don’t realize.  When I mention trans fats, most people say, “I don’t use margarine, I only use butter.”  That is FANTASTIC, but trans fats are in peanut butter, chips, crackers, graham crackers, pre-made pie crusts, all canned dough, like crescent roll dough and pizza crust; cookies, snack cakes, candy, candy bars, some breads, frozen French fries, fish sticks, pizza, chicken nuggets, burritos, pot pies, cake mixes, Bisquick, canned frosting, and flour tortillas to name a few.  This is one of the reasons why these items ended up on the bottom rung above fast food on my ladder.

 

I think I’ve hammered away at the trans fat issue, let’s get back to sugar.  We can drastically limit our sugar intake by cutting out packaged food, also.  Trans fat is an item you don’t ever want, but sugar is something I know we will all eat from time to time.  A good friend of mine uses a word that fits well here - deliberate.  We must be deliberate in everything, raising our children, spending money, even how we eat.  I will deliberately eat a dessert now and then, but I try VERY hard NOT to allow sugar into my diet that I don’t deliberately want!  The two ways we are deceived into unknowingly eating sugar are through deceptive marketing and ignorance.  Many foods are marketed as healthy, but contain lots of sugar, such as breakfast cereals, sweetened yogurt, granola bars, fruit snacks (these are just candy, folks), fruit roll-ups, many juices, smoothies, and vitamin waters.  This is where those imaginary tiny scales come in again.  I think most people are aware that these foods contain sugar, but they believe the vitamins, whole grain fiber, or beneficial bacteria in that item balance it out.  I will say it again – we must shift our thinking away from this balancing act.  Remember the car running with water in the tank.  Now for ignorance, there are a lot of items that contain sugar as a flavor enhancer, but are not dessert, so we don’t really think we are eating sugar.  Things we all use, like ketchup, salad dressing, pickles, dip, Miracle Whip, salsa, and more.  This is where label reading will help you out.  Sugar is easy to pick out of ingredient listings, but also be aware of sugar’s other names – high fructose corn syrup and anything ending in –ose, dextrose, glucose, sucrose, etc.

 

So be informed, be deliberate, do what you can do and don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can somehow balance the junk food with something like veggies or exercise.  Take you babysteps and move toward the whole food that God created that fuels your body the most effectively!

 

¹ Quoted from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

² You can find natural peanut butter.  I buy Smucker’s; it only contains peanuts and salt.

All kids love macaroni and cheese.  My son never cared for the powdered cheese variety so I started buying him the creamy kind, which I liked better, too.  I am a cost-conscience mother though, so after a few boxes at $2.86 each, I decided we needed another option.  I did the math and realized I could buy a pound of Velveeta and some generic macaroni and make an individual portion of macaroni and cheese for about 25 cents!  Much better and he liked it, too (he’s a bit picky). 

 

I wasn’t raised on Velveeta, I knew full well that it was processed junk food, but I just ignored my better judgment.  We did this for a few years and then one day a friend mentioned how Velveeta has a shelf life of many, many years, unopened.  It can’t possibly be even remotely like real cheese if it can last that long at room temperature.  Velveeta is basically like plastic!  I knew this, but it was really helpful hearing it again.  Sometimes we have to hear things a few times and from a few different sources for it to sink in.

 

I decided then, no more Velveeta.  So I found a wonderful recipe for macaroni and cheese with REAL cheese and it tastes fabulous!  It did take my son a few times of trying it to “forget” about the Velveeta.  J  Not only has he forgotten about the Velveeta, he LOVES this recipe!  Sometimes when we switch our family off of a packaged food item we just need to not have that food item for a while, so they can forget about it.  Then introduce another version and if they still don’t go for it, wait a while longer.

 

This recipe is practically as easy as a boxed variety.  It makes about 6 servings as a main dish; it will be more as a side dish.  We enjoy ours with a side of broccoli with plenty of butter on it.  If you have extra time, you can add an extra special touch - toss some fresh bread crumbs with melted butter and toast in the oven till golden brown, 375°F for approximately 15 minutes.  Use these as a yummy, crunchy topping.  Mmm, so good! 

 

Bring 2 quarts of salted water to boil in a medium saucepan.

 

Add 3 cups macaroni or other small shaped pasta (14 oz.), cook until al dente; drain.  Pasta is a compromise food regardless of whether it’s whole grain or not.  Don’t be fooled by the new higher fiber varieties that promise Omega-3 and such.  They are still packaged food.  Pick pasta you enjoy and just don’t eat it every night.  J  If you have issues with wheat you can find pasta made out of other grains at the health food store.

 

After you have drained the pasta, return it to the pan and add 2 tablespoons of butter.  Turn the heat back on to medium and stir until the butter is melted.  Add 1 cup half and half or whole milk and salt (I use abut ½ teaspoon) to the pan and keep stirring.  (You can add an optional few dashes of mustard powder here.  I know it seems strange, but it is really good, even the kids like it, it adds a bit of depth.)  Add 8 ounces grated cheese (we like White Sharp Cheddar), 1 tablespoon flour (omit if you don’t eat wheat), and stir until melted and creamy.  Add an additional ½ cup of half and half or whole milk and keep stirring till heated through.  Serve immediately.

 

Note:  The key here is salting to taste.  Taste your cooking before it gets to the table.  I didn’t used to do this and now that I do, it makes a big difference.  I can salt my food once it’s at the table, but a child isn’t likely to, they just know the food doesn’t taste quite right.  Especially when we introduce new foods to our families and try to cut out some of their packaged food favorites, we want that food to taste it’s best, so don’t be afraid of this important seasoning!

How healthy do you think you are?  This isn’t about how trim you are, how much you exercise, or how many fat grams or calories you eat.  The food that we eat affects us on a cellular level and we will reap what we sow.  Sometimes the reaping doesn’t come for many years.  If it’s garbage going in, it will be garbage coming out.  This is for every one of us to take a moment and assess where we are at and then form goals to shoot for.  This is purely for evaluation purposes; there is no condemnation here.

 

We can’t take our babysteps unless we know where we are headed.  This list will help you see where you are at and help you make both short-term and long-term goals.  If you are near the bottom of the ladder, DON’T make a short-term goal of making it to the top of the ladder!  Set your sights on a step above.  Choose one thing at a time to cut out or substitute or change.

 

I’m sure that none of us fit neatly into one of these categories, we are all a mixture, but it’s good to identify which area you most fit into.  I would suggest printing this out and circling or highlighting the items that you buy/eat to see which category you most fit into.  Now this is a little different, but I’m going to ask that you read the next portions upside down.  By this I mean, start at the bottom of the ladder and read each section, going up the page.  If you print it out, start at the bottom level and read each level, moving up the page.  If you read it online, right now you can scroll all the way to the bottom and read each section moving up the page.

 

 

Whole Foods Plus - not only do you want only foods that God created and man hasn’t adulterated, but that are also ALIVE and FULL of nutrients!  These include local organic fruit and veggies, local grass-fed meat and local free-range poultry, local true free-range eggs, soaked or sprouted whole organic grains and grain products, such as sourdough bread, sprouted grain bread, tortillas, hamburger buns, etc.; raw dairy products from grass-fed cows and goats, fermented dairy products, such as yogurt, kefir and raw cheese; butter, cream, lard, animal fat, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil; soaked beans/legumes, nuts and seeds, homemade bone broths, unrefined sea salt, raw vinegar, fish from deep sea waters, lacto-fermented beverages, kombucha, naturally fermented vegetables, like pickles and sauerkraut, you make your own ketchup, mayonnaise, salad dressings, dips and ice cream; and use only whole sweeteners like raw honey, Rapadura, Sucanat, maple syrup, and date sugar.  Way to go, you are truly a nourished person!

 

 

Whole Foods – at this point you are looking only for foods that are unadulterated.  You buy organic fruit and veggies, fresh and frozen; grass-fed meat, free-range chicken, wild fish, all whole grains, you make your own bread, buy organic, hormone-free, pasteurized milk, pasteurized cheeses, commercial yogurt, butter, cream, organic, dried beans; sea salt, and you make your own broths.  Excellent, keep reading!

 

 

Mildly Processed – if you fit into this category, you care about your health and that of your family and are trying to make the best choices you can.  Now you just need a bit more education, way to go!  You are making most of you meals and buying these type of foods – Fresh and frozen fruit and veggies from the local grocery; canned tomato products, dried fruit, wheat bran, oat bran, wheat germ, whole grains, like brown rice, wheat, rye, etc.; whole grain products, like pasta, hamburger buns, and sandwich bread; unbleached white flour, organic, hormone-free, pasteurized milk, pasteurized cheeses, commercial yogurt, fats that have been processed by man, but are fairly stable, like peanut oil; butter, commercial meat from local grocery store, additive-free sausage and bacon; regular or cage-free eggs from local grocery, canned legumes/beans, farina, rolled oats, grits, commercial salt, pasteurized vinegar, commercial condiments, like ketchup and mayonnaise; pasteurized pickles and sauerkraut; seasoning packets.

 

 

Processed Ingredients – this is a step up, at least you are preparing most of your meals and hopefully eating whole fruit and veggies.  You buy commercial meat from the grocery store along with deli meat, bacon, and sausage; highly processed fats, such as vegetable oils, margarine, spreads, shortening, and fat substitutes; pasteurized, homogenized milk and milk products; bleached and fortified white flour products – hamburger buns, tortillas, bread, pasta, etc.; all kinds of refined sugar, including white sugar and brown sugar; canned fruit and veggies, fruit juice, rice milk, chips and crackers (even whole grain), canned broth, prepared sauces, like marinara, alfredo, and pesto; soy milk, tofu, veggie burgers, soy cheese, soy hot dogs, and Miracle Whip.

 

 

Prepared foods – ready to eat; requires only opening a package and/or heating it up, sometimes adding an ingredient or two.  These items are totally adulterated by man, stripped of nutrition, loaded with toxins, artificial flavors, additives, colors, artificial sweeteners, damaged oils, hydrolyzed protein and protein isolates, etc.  Frozen pizzas, fish sticks, tater tots, chicken strips and nuggets; frozen burritos, French fries, pizza rolls, lasagnas, pot pies, frozen pies, cookie dough, canned biscuits, canned rolls, cinnamon rolls, snack cakes, breakfast cereals (even whole grain), breakfast bars, granola bars, frozen meals – Lean Cuisines meals, Healthy Choice meals, etc.; TV dinners, boxed macaroni and cheese, Hamburger Helper, Cheetos, flavored chips, like Doritos, snack mixes, pretzels, flavored yogurts, processed cheese, Cool Whip, ice cream, soda pop, energy drinks, vitamin waters, protein bars, protein powder drink mixes, canned soup, fruit snacks, fruit rollups, instant oatmeal, boxed cake, brownie, muffin, and cookie mixes; canned frosting, canned pie filled, prepared pie crusts, pudding mixes (instant and non),  and Jell-O.  I’m sure there are more, but you get the idea.  Some of these seem healthy, some are bought at the health food store, but if they require little to no preparation then they have been very, VERY processed and offer very little health value.

 

 

FAST FOOD – no health value hereL

See also the book

…into my shopping cart. I really like what Leanne Ely, author of Saving Dinner, says about your grocery cart, “How healthy we are is directly related to what we throw in our shopping carts each and every week.” Visit her Saving Dinner website for loads of good information. She offers a menu mailer plan through email and numerous cookbooks (available at our library) with REAL FOOD. I love that none of her recipes call for a can of condensed soup or opening up a package of puff pastry, etc. She also has lots of crock-pot recipes for the busy mom.

Wal-Mart
2 lbs red grapes
2 mangoes
1 bunch celery
1 bunch cilantro
1 red bell pepper
1.4 lbs apples
2 lb carrots
2.4 lbs bananas
1 avocado
2 yellow chile peppers
3 whole chickens
1 lb Ground Turkey
2.25 lbs ground beef
1/3 lb sliced roast beef from deli
1 container of real shredded parmesan
1 lb mozzarella
8-oz. Pepper jack
2 lbs butter
Caesar dressing
Ketchup
Strawberry jam
Smucker’s peanut butter
Unsweetened applesauce
1 lb dry pinto beans
2 14-oz. Cans diced tomatoes
1 can pineapple chunks
2 cans pumpkin
1 can beef broth
1 bag frozen corn
large box spaghetti noodles
Egg noodles
1 can refried beans (fat free to avoid hydrog oils)
1 packet taco seasoning
1 bag chocolate chips
1 bag plain corn tortilla chips
5 lbs unbleached white flour
2 boxes baking soda
4 loaves honey wheat sandwich bread
1 pack large flour tortillas
1 package corn tortillas
1 package crunchy taco shells
Small bag Doritos (a very rare treat for the kids )

Swan’s Dairy
1 gallon milk
1.5 lbs cheddar
1 pint cream

Conrad’s (local farm)
2 dozen eggs
1 head romaine lettuce
2 tomatoes

Whole Foods
3 lbs organic brown rice
2 lbs organic unhulled barley
1 package Rapadura

Menu for 2 weeks -
Dinners:
Roast Beef Wraps with French Fries (fried in peanut oil)
Tacos
Homemade Pizza w/Turkey Italian Sausage
Chicken Parmesan
Chili
Sweet and Sour Chicken and Fried Rice
Roast Chicken legs and Caesar Salad
Chicken Wings (maybe, if we don’t have enough leftovers)

Breakfast:
Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Pumpkin Muffins
Eggs, Homemade Yogurt, Fruit and Toast
Oatmeal
Cream of Rice cereal
Eggs, Bacon & Hash Browns (weekend)

Lunches:
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Chic Breast Sandwiches w/tortilla chips
Peanut butter sandwiches for kids

Dessert on Sunday:
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toffee
Popcorn

Miscellaneous Items I will make this week:
Whole Wheat Molasses Bread
Yogurt
Buttermilk
Sour Cream

Notice that the dinner menu is for two weeks, but it’s only 8 meals. We have leftovers often to relieve me of cooking duty. 

 

 Want a healthy alternative to chips?  Make some delicious popcorn.  We have been brainwashed to think that popcorn is bad for us.  Movie theater popcorn and microwave popcorn IS bad for us, but when you make popcorn at home in a healthy fat, it is good for you!  It is a whole-grain, whole-food, high-fiber, unprocessed food.  Don’t feel guilt over popcorn anymore.

Makes about 12 cups

Heat, in a medium saucepan, covered, over medium heat:

1 ½ tablespoons coconut oil

2 popcorn kernels

When you hear the 2 kernels pop, you know the pan is heated enough.  Now add:

1/3 cup popcorn

Occasionally shake the pan during cooking.  When you no longer hear popping, turn heat off, carefully take off lid and pour into a large serving bowl.  Drizzle 2 tablespoons melted butter over and salt to taste.  Enjoy!

Helpful links -

The Many Health Benefits of Butter

Why Coconut Oil?

Which Fats are Healthy?

I am thinking back now to the last eight months of blogging.  Wow!  I really had intended on posting my favorite passages from all the various books I have read, just a way of passing on information to my friends, but this has turned into more than that.  I didn’t think I would actually be thinking of my own articles and researching information and following an outline.  This process of writing has really helped me form some philosophies and gel some things together in my mind.  Lately I’ve been asking myself what exactly is my purpose with this blog.  Why do I take my time with this?  Is it because I think everyone should eat the way I do?  Do I think I am the enlightened one and must tell everyone to change his or her ways?

As I have been thinking of this, a scripture came to my mind.  III John 2 says, “I pray that you will prosper in ALL things and be in HEALTH, just as your soul prospers.”  This answers my questions; this is where my purpose lies.  First, I want to educate you on how to have a prosperous soul/spirit, and second, I want to educate you on how to have physical prosperity and health.  Your eternal destiny is far more important than your bodily health, but you also can’t fully do the work of the Lord unless you walk in physical health.  Do you know where you are spending eternity?  Do you know what God is calling you to do?  I want to help you realize the answers to these questions.  For me, this is the big picture and I’m really glad I took some time to think about it.  I truly believe that I am held accountable to God for the influence I have on others, so I want to make sure I am using that influence properly.

 Above all, I want this blog to bring you freedom!  Freedom from being a slave to sickness, disease, disorders, aches, and pains.  I want to meet you where you’re at and help you along the way to make changes in the right direction.  I look around me and try to learn from other’s mistakes.  I see people in the health community taking sides against one another on health issues and bringing condemnation, or telling people that they have to change X, Y, and Z in order to be healthy.  I am not here to bring division and condemnation and it is certainly NOT my place to tell you what you need to change.  It is your job to pray and seek God.  Ask Him what He wants you to apply to your life.  To obey is better than sacrifice (I Sam. 15:22).  You can sacrifice everything in your life, but unless you are obeying what God specifically has for you, you won’t have peace.  None of us need to get caught in the comparison trap, myself included (II Cor. 10:12).  All of us are at different places in our growth, have different motives, different goals, and will reach a different place.  Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”  If you are listening to the Spirit of God and letting Him lead you in your decisions, rather than listening to the flesh, then there is no condemnation.  If God is leading me to implement something in my diet, but He is not leading you to it, I cannot condemn you.  If you never switched to a complete diet of whole foods, 100% of the time, you would not disappoint me; I only want you to do what God is calling you to do!

 Now don’t use this as a cop-out.  “Shannon said I didn’t have to change!”  That is not what I am saying here.  I am saying that you should seek God and His will for you in ALL areas of your life, diet included.  I can think of some examples where it would be practically impossible to eat well.  The most important thing is, are you fulfilling God’s purpose for your life?  He will provide the way for you to have physical health.  I hope you get the point.  Please don’t slip into making excuses, if you feel that God is leading you to make changes, ask Him which changes you need to make and ask Him to provide!  He will!  Trust in Him and do NOT lean on your own understanding.  (Prov. 3:5).  If I present information on here that overwhelms you, put it on the back shelf of your mind, maybe it’s not God’s timing yet or maybe it’s just not something that He wants you to change.

 So thank you for continuing to read my humble blog, I pray that you will all prosper and live in HEALTH (III John 2), that you experience the peace that surpasses understanding (Phil. 4:7), and that your life will be filled with the joy of the Lord (Neh. 8:10)!