God-made or Man-made
The other day, I was chatting with a girlfriend that I haven't talked to in a while. We started talking about pastry school and she made a comment, "guess you gave up on the skinny jeans" - she was referring to a pair of jeans that I admitted to her that wanted to wear a while back before school. My response "girl, I wore those last night!" She was shocked - how was that possible. How could I lose nine pounds while in pastry school. Her thoughts either:
*As mentioned, in order to make sure that my fruits and veggies are not contaminated - I shop organic (shot out to Celina author of Live Simply. Laugh Often. Love Deeply also my former healthy eating roomie) when possible. Don't want to eat fruits/veggies that are sprayed with crap that kills other species or makes it a super fat. Anyways, I am in the process of researching, so I will continue to share my findings, BUT REMEMBER PLEASE even when eating baked goods - there are always means to flavor food and baked goods with natural ingredients. So, instead of eating or making something with lemon flavor from a bottle - use fresh lemons (WHEN POSSIBLE). Also, now days there are so many restaurants that are all about feeding you none-preservative whole foods, you can now choose to go somewhere that cares about your health almost as much as you care about your health.
- I wasn't eating at school - NOPE, ask my classmates I am known as the vacuum - I try EVERYTHING we make and I pack my lunch.
- I wasn't eating at home - NOPE, I cook for dinner almost every night or we run to our favorite food spots.
- I'm watching my calories and fat, eating as she put it "bland and blah foods and there is no way that I still drink." - NOPE again, three strikes and she was out. I eat amazing foods and have one glass of wine almost every night with dinner.
So after trying to be a know-it-all (j/k if you are reading), she finally asked me what I started doing. I let her know that after going through a lifelong bout with severe (at times) stomach aches I decided, well it was suggested to me from several sources (my mother was the last straw) to take a few drastic steps. So through massive prayer and devote reading - I started changing the way I ate. And I came up with the simplest thing: I began reading the label... not the calories OR the fat grams (which I was used to reading), but the ingredients. The only foods that I eat are those with all natural ingredients - NOT your "natural sources" or "natural flavors," but I had to recognize every ingredient and it needed to be a whole food. If I saw a word that I didn't understand I would quickly look it up - just to make sure that it's not a vitamin. For instance beta carotene sounds crazy harmful, right? But it actually provides Vitamin-A, which helps reproduction systems work properly.
Long story short, for my visual learners, every time I read EACH ingredient I would think is this:
GOD-MADE
(i.e. organic* tomatoes, corn, grass-fed meat (without antibodies/hormones/preservatives)
Grass-fed because it's the natural diet of many farm animals. I want to eat the animal that has not been "messed with by man")
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OR IS IT:
FACTORY-MADE
(Products with a lot of preservatives/sodium - natural things that last eight years in a can/freezer)
(I.E. Doritoes, sodas, artificial flavors, etc.)
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Love,
Shelby S.
