Raw Foods...the way to go?

The food industry is killing us.

I'm all about veggies and fruits, whole grains and water, water, water. I love lean meats too, such as fish and chicken. I'm not a turkey fan, but I love red meats such as steak and cheeseburgers.

Damn the cheeseburgers. They are so incredibly wonderful with their juicy goodness and even better when seasoned with garlic and topped with tomatoes, lettuce and mayo.

Damn, I love them.

If it weren't for steaks, cheeseburgers, sushi and bacon (geez), I could easily be a vegetarian.

Doesn't sound easy, does it? Yea, not to me either. As a matter of fact, as minimally as I eat meat, I truly don't think I'll ever be able to be a vegetarian...and I'm not sure I need/want to be a vegetarian to be healthy.

I'm not convinced it is necessary.

I am 100% convinced that the food industry is causing harm to the people, however. I am completely convinced that the food industry has INDUSTRY as the top priority, NOT health and well-being. Money is the object...not nutrition.

This makes me incredibly angry.

In the last decade, I've tried to adhere to (and cleave to it more and more as time goes on) the idea of a colorful plate. Why? Well, I think I was like many others (most others in America..,the fattest country in the world) ad my diet was limited to a handful of easy, generally found in fast food wrappers, foods and thus I wasn't getting the nutrition my body needed.

The American diet is basically CORN.
Growth-hormone laden BEEF.
POTATOES.
A sliver of lettuce and tomato.
OILS.
CHEESE.
SUGAR...in various forms.

That's basically it.
Of course there are variations. Maybe someone has a healthy day and eats chicken.

Of course there's the day of gluttony (Thanksgiving Day), when most people eat turkey, which is healthy...but the sides are laden with butter and sugar, thus canceling out any good the turkey did.

My colorful plate idea came about when I realized that in order to get all the vitamins and minerals we need, we have to eat a colorful variety of vegetables!

I swear, the only good thing to come from my eating disorder is a knowledge of food. Sure, it comes from a negative outlook, but that has turned around in the last few years. I don't see food as the enemy any longer.

Food, in the real, natural sense is our BFF.
The enemy?

I'm convinced the enemy is in the center aisles at the grocery store....and it lays waiting in any building where you can order food from your car. The way I see it, if food isn't worth getting out of your car to get, you shouldn't be eating it. I'm not saying you're tired, you don't want to get out. I'm saying...if that company doesn't think the food is important enough for you to get out of your car, so they have a drive-thru option, AVOID IT!

This is my challenge. I'm going to try to do this as well. I KNOW it is right. I KNOW it's the healthiest thing I could do for my body. I KNOW that all I've written here is true.

The hard part is implementing it.

This is where my colorful plate idea came. I've NEVER and will NEVER be on a diet. I've restricted, as anorexics do, but that's completely different. That was more in a sense of self-destruction and let's be honest, even those who are basically destroying themselves with diets don't have the intention of doing so.

No. EDs are a beast of their own.

I'm not here to discuss EDs today. If you have an ED and you came across my title and thought, "Oh, I could try that! No one would notice that I wasn't eating. I could say I'm just trying to be healthier...I can LIVE OFF JUICES! I'll have all my vits and mins!" Please, don't read anymore. Don't use this blog as a way to fuel your disease. Please stop reading now. Reach out for help. Know that NO number will make you feel better about yourself. I felt like shit at my lowest weight and my highest weight. It's a vicious cycle that will not end until you get help.

Enough of that. Now where was I?

The colorful plate started as an idea for me to learn to like food again. If the plate was colorful, it cheered me. No joke. When I made a colorful plate, I felt happier about eating it. It started slow...I'd add a fruit or vegetable here and there until my plate exists as it does today. I have at least 1/2 a plate of fresh fruits and veggies and the other is a protein and a grain...Sometimes I have a plate of all veggies and that is fine too. Veggies make me feel good.

So my personal challenge is to try like hell to avoid the processed stuff. You know, the center aisle stuff. Cereal, macaroni and cheese, crackers, cookies, snack chips (even the veggie kind), etc.

I'm also going to try to avoid buildings with drive-thru options.

This will not happen overnight, nor do I plan to approach it with the goal being to be completely free of these things in a month or two or even 6. To be honest, I have no idea if I'll be able to fully implement this in a year's time. All I know if I owe it to myself and my family to try it...and for their sake and mine, to try it slowly, because things done gradually have a way of sticking.

For the baby, I am really trying to eat healthier because she is eating my milk. I have seen a difference in her since I cut dairy out completely. She spits up far less. She seems happier in general and has had 0 green poops.

Humans aren't meant to drink milk from cows and I don't think she ever will again, as long as she lives in my house. It's not necessary. Plus, she will be avoiding growth hormones and pesticides by avoiding milk. Instead, as long as she can handle it, I'll get almond milk for her. It's GMO free, provides protein and has 50% more calcium than cow's milk. Plus, it's delicious.

So...what does all this mean and what does it have to do with my blog? Well, feeding our children is a mother's job, right? We are built to feed our babies. Why not try to do the VERY best we can? That's my philosophy.

Also, from a personal stand point, I'm trying to get a handle on my canker sores. I'm a bit worried, to be honest. I'm wondering if I might have Behcet's Syndrome. I don't have sores on my genitals, nor do I have swelling of the eye, but I have or have had the rest of the symptoms. Of late, the joint pain has become a problem. I can barely climb down the stairs in the morning and I am pretty much in constant discomfort. Of course, it could be nothing. I could be deficient in a vitamin or mineral, thus the ulcers. I could be stressed and not even realize it...or I could just be screwed because they tend to run in families.

All that said, I realized that one way to help all of them is to eat better. From a strictly biological stance, eating better helps the body deal with stress. It would solve an issues with a deficiency, and IF I do have Behcet's, then it could help curb the symptoms.

Besides the canker sores, I am really concerned with the lack of elasticity in my skin. I drink a lot of water, and I use lotion, but my skin still looks dry. I know many years of sun-worshipping has led to this and I'm not trying to go back to my 20-something skin. Instead, I'd like to prevent future damage and help my skin heal some by providing it what it needs....which apparently I'm NOT doing now, or it wouldn't look so sad.

I also have dark rings under my eyes. I noticed this yesterday when I looked in the mirror. I swear, it looked like I had a black eye! This could be an iron deficiency...and I do believe I am low on iron. Breastfeeding takes a lot out of a woman. I have to be sure I'm providing what my body desperately needs.

So, as is typical of me, I come up with a great plan at the worst possible time. We have like no groceries in the house right now! We have two frozen pizzas, which I couldn't eat even if I wasn't doing this, because of the cheese. We have pizza rolls...pasta (which I won't be cutting, because we only eat whole grain and I do not feel the need at this point to eliminate pasta), Spaghetti Os (blech), canned ravioli (blech), chicken noodle soup, tomato soup (will burn canker sore), Ramen Noodles (blech). None of this sounds appetizing. Maybe pasta, but the sauce will burn my canker sore.

We do have cucumbers, celery, spinach, radishes, lettuce, peppers, and grapes. I guess I could have a salad with some grapes. However, this will not make me full. WE also have raw pecans and walnuts and some peanuts. I could throw one or all of those on the salad to add protein.

If that doesn't work for me, I could always have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich just to satisfy me until we get groceries. Once we have the groceries, I should be good to start on this. My goal is to eat clean 4 days a week. For me, this is not a major feat, as I tend to eat fairly clean anyway. As I said, I want to start slow.

I want to try juicing as well. I think it would be a fabulous way to begin each day. However, I don't have a juicer, so I'll have to get one. I found a couple of cool links about juicing:

Vegetable Juicing Recipes

Fern's Nutrition

So, this is my plan. If you have a great, clean, dairy-free recipe, please share it!