Our Food Journey Part 1

I was raised by Hippies who had converted to Mormonism, so for most of my growing up years eating habits were pretty healthy with our "live off the land" attitude combined with the Word of Wisdom found in Doctrine & Covenants Section 89. With a mom who at one point in time had traveled the world and developed a love for other cultures eating cultural foods was more of the norm than not. However about the time my youngest sister came along more foods entered into the scene. So much so that chips and soda became the norm. Things for the most part were still made from scratch and I blissfully went off to college unaware that one could even bake a potato in a microwave, squeeze a cheese-like substance out of a packet or can, and no clue what hamburger helper even tasted like.

My first two years of college was on the typical "shoe-string" budget and midnight splurges at Dairy Queens. Then I met and married my husband, and ate my first and only box of Hamburger helper and my first and only twinkie. My husband loved eating and I delighted in cooking for him. Betty Crocker and I were inseparable. However four years and three kids later my health was different. All the changes to my health, prescriptions and weight had happened gradually, so much so that I didn't notice the change.
 
Then one day I was sitting in a continuing education class on making Homemade Bread, when the instructor said something and I suddenly had a light bulb moment. My not so great situation was suddenly brought to my awareness and I knew changes for the better needed to be made.
So slowly but surely we began to make changes to our diet. Mostly back to the way that I was eating in my early childhood with my once hippie parents.

By the worlds standards we were pretty healthy. We went from our white flour "Betty Crocker" existence to a Weston A. Price Nourishing Traditions way of eating. There were no orange bottles with white lids lining my bathroom shelves and the food tasted great. However something was missing. For how healthy we were eating I had no energy, and was dragging by 6pm everyday. Albeit I had recently delivered our fourth child, and the usual late nights and feeling tired were par for the course. But it wasn't that I just felt tired, my body felt heavy and my brain felt sluggish. In my mind there was a disconnect between the way we ate and how I thought my body should be feeling, because of it. And while I was feeling confused, God decided to throw us a curve ball with our last child... 

to continue "Our Food Journey" read:
                                                      PART 2 and PART 3