The Difficult One (Day Three)

Eating the way I am now is not so convenient for the season we're in. Holiday celebrations, get togethers, dinner parties--Christmas is traditionally a time to share food with others, and I'm not eating what 90% of my friends, family, and coworkers are.

So that makes me the one thing I hate. Difficult.

I'm now the girl who brings her own meals, or has to call ahead of time to ask what's being served. I'm the girl that gets salad from restaurants with no cheese, no croutons, and brings her own dressing.

I'm the one that asks where they buy their meat and if it's organic, only to get the evil eye from the waiter on hand. I was a server for four years, and I know "those" people; the ones like me who ask too many questions and seem to snub their nose at food anyone else would be glad to eat. No doubt they'll go back and call me "snooty" or "annoying." They'll roll their eyes as they walk back to the kitchen to speak with the chef.

I hate this more than anything. I don't want to be the difficult one.

But I don't want to be the sick one either, on multiple pills a day, unable to have children or function. I'm tired of fixing symptoms without knowing the root.

I can't feel guilty about what's right for my body. I've felt guilty most of my life, and none of that guilt has ever gotten me anything. I put others first, but without taking care of myself, I'm finally empty.

This journey is as much about healing my mind, soul, and spirit, as it is about my body. Feeding myself real food is just as much about nutrition as it is about feeding my spirit.

So I'll smile at the eye rolls and tip bigger, because I know I'm a pain, but I won't feel guilty about it anymore.

Vote with your dollar (Day Two)

Navigating the grocery store can be tricky.

I don't want to just eat organically.

I want to support companies who are against GMOs and support labeling. I want to support small business agriculture, instead of corporate businesses that have bought out the smaller ones. I want to support companies that believe what I do; that the system is broken and needs a makeover.

But how does one do that? A lot of "natural and organic" products are actually owned by larger corporations who've seen organic products as a market niche to invest in, and many of those companies are against labeling GMOs and have fought it. How does one know which companies those are and what smaller companies they own?

Enter Buycott.

It's a wonderful app that let's you scan the barcode of any product (say Almond Milk) and tells you what the parent company is that owns that brand, and if there are any conflicts with the campaigns you believe in.

So helpful!

You will love it! What you won't love is discovering how many products you thought were safe, aren't, either because of what's in the food, or their food policies. And you'll realize that shopping at Walmart is almost impossible because every brand they carry in the US contribute to our food system breakdown in huge ways. I had to go the other day, and I only came out with six things that I normally eat that don't conflict with any of my food policy beliefs.

It's eye opening, but if we don't vote with our dollar, companies will continue to abuse our food system. It worked in Europe, and it can work here. The EU banned many of the food additives and GMOs we accept, thus Kellogs and Kraft have entirely separate lines of food (with no additives and GMOs) that they export to Europe because of the demand for safe food products.

We can create that same demand by voting with each dollar we spend. If companies here see the demand, they'll change their ingredients and food policies. They know who to do so and have already done it oversees.We just cannot sit complacent, believing we can't change anything. We can. If every person just bought one organic, non GMO product in place of what they'd usually buy, profit margins for big companies like Kelloggs would take a hit.

So do your family and your country a favor. Begin to vote with your money and find tools to help you do so. Buycott is just one of thousands available (albeit the easiest to cart around!)

You can make a difference and so can I.

Why Paleo? Our food system is broken... (Day One)

So I should probably explain why I'm eating a modified paleo or (AIP) diet. AIP stands for Autoimmune Protocol diet, and since it seems my immune system has turned on itself, I thought that would be a good place to start. However, there are deeper reasons still.


Our food system is broken. 

GMOs (which have never had human trials) are rampant in our corn, soy, wheat, and rice supplies--factory farms make milk, chicken, and beef almost inedible (and gross, seriously, if you watch Food inc.  you'll see), and our government is doing nothing about it. In fact, our government subsidizes GMO corn, wheat, and soy, while organic farms are taxed and penalized out of business. Food allergies are up, and while eating gluten, corn, soy, etc free is a good thing, it misses the point. It's not just about these things, it's about the whole food system in America. And marry that with the fact that we have the highest obesity, cancer, and autoimmune rates in the world and well....

You'll start to see the writing on the wall.

I have, and it makes eating scary, because something very wrong is happening. Profits are being prioritized above people, and when that happens, nothing good can come of it.

We have got to start using caution with what we allow in our food supply.

Instead of saying "It's not dangerous till proven so..." we need to reverse it with "It's not safe until proven so." That goes for genetically modified corn that we've grown to give off it's own insecticide (which the EPA now has a hand in regulating because it is considered a chemical...so why are we eating it), added hormones and continuous exposure to antibiotics in meat, and feed lots where cows live their lives standing in poop and mud, often dying of acidosis because their stomachs weren't made to eat so much grain.

Something has to change. 

And I've got a sneaking suspicion that my AI issues are linked to the brokenness I just described. So even more than paleo, I'll be eating organic produce, grass fed meats from local farms, and raw dairy that comes from known and local sources.

Yes, it'll be expensive, but I'm prepared to spend more on what I eat if it means a life of health for myself, my husband, and our future family. That is more than worth it.

So if you want to know more about our broken food system, check out my resource page, specifically Food Inc, Frankensteer, and Farmageddon. And below is a video that describes, from a food analysts perspective, the breakdown of our food system and what we have to do to change it.