How I Got Here

 Baby steps. A decade of baby steps.

If I had to do it over again, I would try something like this:

1. Eliminate soda, energy drinks, alcohol, etc.
2. Reduce and ultimately eliminate eating out at restaurants. It's good for the budget and restaurants use ingredients you would not otherwise choose to eat.
3. Replace processed foods with whole foods (such as foods that grow on a farm, rather than something in a package). Do this ONE FOOD at a time. Do not attempt to change a second food until the first feels easy and natural. If you do, you risk overwhelm and burn out.
4. Replace whole foods with healthier whole foods (foods that are organic and in season).
5. Add in things you've never tried before, including herbs. Find a way to love everything God has made. (There is a way! I promise! Even the strangest food tastes amazing when it's fresh and prepared well.)

For example:

1. We started out eating boxed breakfast cereal. 
2. Switched to oatmeal with sweetener (brown sugar, honey, rapadura, raw sugar, etc.).
3. Explored natural sweeteners and combinations (nuts, raisins, stevia leaves, raw honey, fruit, dates, maple syrup)
4. Explored a variety of organic porridge grains, like wheat berries, oat groats, millet, amaranth.
5. Switched from porridge to salad and other veggie meals for breakfast in the summer. Continued to eat porridge in the winter.

What about dessert?

... and candy, and hand-outs? Because junk food shows up everywhere!

Currently we have a family pact. We turn down all desserts, candies, and hand-outs throughout the week, then we celebrate together weekly with a whole food family dessert.

I baby stepped, especially with my kids, into this too:

1. We started out eating whatever came our way.
2. I taught my kids to decline candy made with food coloring, but they still ate naturally colored treats.
3. I taught my kids about processed sugar, additives, food dyes, and flavorings. I asked them to turn down these options in public in exchange for a healthier option at home. In other words, when someone handed my child a treat, she explained that she only eats "God's sugar" and then I gave her a honey stick or dried fruit at home. It turns out honey is far sweeter and, to my surprise, my kids LOVED choosing honey or fruit at home.
4. We made a family pact. If each of us refused all treats (and all home replacements), then the whole family could celebrate together once a week. We make yummy desserts, such as coconut or zucchini flour chocolate cake, date brownies, sourdough dessert crepes, banana ice cream, smoothies, and peanut butter cups.

Years ago I was a fan of an 80-20 rule: follow these rules strictly at home, which might be 80% of my diet, and choose as best as I can when I'm out, for the other 20%. That would be easier in many ways, but I also didn't enjoy all of the benefits I've found from being strict about it. We discovered that once our bodies became completely clean, huge mental, emotional, and physical shifts occurred. The results have been worth the 100% effort.

Next page, "The Spiritual/Emotional Component"

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