Our Family's Food Makeover: A Year in Review

I first have to confess that I did exactly what my husband told me not to do and what I set out NOT to do . . . start a blog, write a few posts, and then quit. Guilty as charged. However, the time that I would have spent keeping up with our posts was spent growing in my walk with the Lord, taking care of my family, and making all of the healthy changes to our lives that I want to tell you about today! I used the words "food makeover" in the title because that is exactly what has happened. My husband can attest to the fact that I still have moments that I feel overwhelmed by the knowledge I am gaining and feel like I haven't done nearly enough to try to keep our family healthy, but when I stop to think about how we live and what we eat today versus this time last year, I realize just how much HAS changed!

Let me start off by reaffirming what I have heard so many others say: "Change takes time." The changes in our diet, the way we think about food and nutrition, and even how we spend our money has taken a lot of work and time. The Lord encouraged me recently as I was studying the life of Abraham and realized that it was 25 years from the time God promised him a son and laid out the terms of the covenant to the time that Abraham's son Isaac was finally born! God had a lot of work to do in growing and strengthening Abraham's faith before he was ready to be the spiritual leader and father that God had called him to be. I know what we eat cannot even begin to compare to our walk with the Lord, but it was encouraging to see again how patient God is and that He doesn't expect us to change overnight! He works with us, making little changes each day as we submit to Him. Ok, back to our food journey.

As one of my first posts noted, this journey started when David and I watched a documentary called "Forks Over Knives." We have since watched other documentaries that continue to expand our knowledge about where our food comes from, what is in food that harms our bodies, and what types of nutrition our bodies need to thrive (some of them include: Vegucated, TEDtalks: Chew On This, Hungry for Change, Food Matters, and a few more I can give you if you are interested--all on Netflix). Like many people, I used to have the attitudes of "What I don't know won't hurt me," "I would rather keep doing things the way I have always done them," and "What I eat hasn't hurt me yet, so why change?" Those mindsets quickly began to change when we had children. David and I are responsible for what goes into their bodies because they are not old enough to make that decision for themselves. We also have an even higher calling to honor God with our bodies. During our time in seminary and in our church, we have been so blessed to learn about how the Gospel applies to and affects every aspect of our lives. According to Scripture, my body doesn't belong to me! It is Christ's and I want to honor Him by taking care of this temporary tent that He resides in through His Spirit.

So that is our foundation for why we feel the need to take care of our bodies by watching what we put into them. Now we'll look at some of the practical changes we have made in our lifestyle and diet:

1. After learning about how animals are treated and what is done to the meat before we consume it, we have tried to eat less meat, and when we do eat it, we try to buy organic or the closest thing to organic that we can afford. There are some smaller chicken producers that allow their chickens to be free range, feed their chickens a healthier diet, and do not give their chickens any antibiotics or steroids. One such company is Harvestland, and Wal-Mart actually carries this brand. This is a great alternative to organic because we are on a seminary budget! However, if you can afford organic or even locally raised chicken and beef, then that is the best choice in my opinion! If you are curious about what I mean when I say "what is done to the meat," I highly recommend that you watch "Food Inc." and the first 30 min of "Vegucated." This was EYE-OPENING and shocking to say the least. AND, most of the disturbing aspects of meat production are "approved" by the FDA because of the politics behind it all (i.e., the money and the connections between the big meat producers and the hot shots of the FDA).

2. One of THE biggest changes I have made is that I read every label on the food I buy. I was shocked (again =) to find out what was actually in a lot of the food I bought. Even the healthy, whole wheat bread I was buying had strange preservatives in it! Don't be fooled by the big print on the front that reads "All Natural!" If I don't recognize an ingredient, I Google it right there in the middle of the store on my phone (yes, I am that nerd). I have learned that even "healthy" cereals contain BHT, a preservative that is also found in beauty products and lotion! Same goes for EDTA! Check out this site for more information on BHT. (On this note, I encourage you to go take a look at the ingredients in a bag of shredded cheese and a can of "cream of fill-in-the-blank" soup.) I have definitely learned to be a more informed consumer. Do I always buy the very best, highest quality, most natural products? No, because we can't always afford it. But I am able to make the best possible purchases with the money that we do have. And in order to avoid a lot of weird, should-not-be-consumed ingredients, I make a lot of stuff from scratch like they did in the "good ole days." Yes, it takes more time and it took a lot of getting used to, but now I actually enjoy it and it usually  tastes better! I have found healthy homemade recipes for cream soups, macaroni and cheese (although I also fall back on Annie's Organic Mac and Cheese for my kids =), bread, bread crumbs (just put leftover homemade bread in the food processor!), breakfast foods, granola bars, sauces, salad dressings, and much more! By making food from scratch, I can also limit sugar, which seems to be in almost everything these days. This is especially helpful for my kids since sugar suppresses the immune system, and it is already hard enough to keep them well during cold and flu season!

3. We make our own deodorant! I know this sounds really weird, but not only does this deodorant NOT have harmful aluminum in it (like almost every brand on the shelf does), but it also works better than anything I have ever used before! There have been several studies on whether there is a link between aluminum in the body and the occurrence of Alzheimer's or autism. (This is a debatable topic for many. I found some convincing arguments for a link. I encourage you to research this more and let me know what you find out!) Here is a link to the recipe we use. Two tips: coconut oil melts once it reaches 76 degrees or higher, so leave it in a cool place (like a dark, cool closet) and use virgin or unrefined coconut oil if you want a fresh "coconutty" smell. I accidentally let ours melt this summer and even though it did harden again, it didn't work quite as well.

4. Use wholesome ingredients! I have learned a lot about the nutritional value of cooking with coconut oil and using freshly-milled wheat flour. You can bake with coconut oil, fry in it, use it like butter, and much more! Here is a great website on the health benefits of coconut oil. I am blessed to have The Grain Mill here in Wake Forest where I can buy wheat kernels and have them freshly milled (and get true, whole-wheat flour!), but if you don't have a store like that near you, then you can look into ordering wheat in bulk and purchasing your own (used?) mill. It is crazy how much more nutrition freshly milled flour has compared to what we buy in the store! I have also discovered quinoa. I try to replace rice with quinoa as often as I can. Quinoa has been called "the perfect grain" because of how much nutrition is packed into it. Lastly, I have discovered, and now love, kefir! Kefir is a type of cultured milk product (a lot like yogurt, but a little thinner) that is made with kefir grains. The amount of probiotics in kefir outweighs any yogurt that I know of. This was a huge blessing for us with Lily. Part of her prematurity issues included recurring constipation. When I started making smoothies with kefir she was almost instantly regular! Since we can't eat perfectly all of the time, kefir helps the intestines to get rid of the other "junk" that we end up eating.

5. We eat more fruits and veggies, and I use the "dirty dozen, clean 15" list as a guide for organic purchases. According to the Environmental Working Group,  bell peppers have up to 88 different pesticide residues on them, and I have also read that apples commonly have anywhere from 42-60 traces of different pesticide on them. You can find more information and a full list of the "dirty" and "clean" produce here. As my knowledge of food and nutrition has grown, I have often felt deceived and very discouraged. Why is this information not common knowledge?? We are hurting our precious children (and ourselves!) by putting these types of harmful chemicals into our bodies, all the while trying to eat healthy by consuming fruits and vegetables! For our family and our tight budget, I have decided to never compromise on the top 5 worst foods (apples, celery, sweet bell peppers, peaches, and strawberries). I always buy the organic options for these, and if we can afford others on a given week, then I will buy those also. To help my family consume more raw fruits and veggies, we have started juicing too. You can make just about any raw vegetable taste good by juicing it with some tasty fruits! AND, you get the most nutrition from fruits and vegetables in their raw state. (One of my budget-friendly tips is to buy fruit out of the "almost too ripe to sell anymore" cart at my local grocery store. This fruit is always marked down in price and makes great juice!) One last thought is to watch out for corn! I know corn is technically a grain, but a lot of people consider it a vegetable, so I want to mention it here. Because corn is used to feed the massive amounts of chicken, cattle, and pork that we consume, and because high-fructose corn syrup is in almost everything these days, corn is in high demand and is commonly grown from genetically modified seeds (a GMO food). According to a study by French Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini, "the effects of the GM crops were similar to that of pesticides, including inflammation disorders, and problems with livers and kidneys, two major organs involved with detoxification." You can read more about it here.

6. I buy smarter dairy! From what I have read and seen, cutting dairy out completely is the healthiest choice. However, my family and I can't quite see ourselves giving it up altogether (or at least not yet), so we compromise. I bake with alternative milks--usually almond milk or coconut milk. I avoid soy milk because over 90% of soy beans in the United States are also genetically modified and have some scary consequences (more info here). I also try to give my kids half cow's milk and half vegetarian milk. Lastly, I have learned that it is better to use the real stuff (as in real butter, full-fat half-and-half, etc.) in moderation than to use the low-fat or fake alternatives (e.g., margarine). The ingredients in the "low-fat" versions are scary! I picked up a carton of fat-free half-and-half the other day only to find out that it has high-fructose corn syrup in it! Because products like butter, half-and-half, and heavy cream contain the most fat, I always buy the organic options of these. Since fat is where most of the chemicals and antibiotics are stored in a cow, I want products from cows that haven't been fed animal by-products and GMO-ed corn and that haven't been pumped to death with antibiotics to combat filthy living conditions and always being sick. When we can afford it, I also buy organic milk. (Another budget tip is to buy a gallon of organic whole milk, divide it into two containers, and add some water. You will then have almost twice as much organic milk in a skim milk version for the price of one!)

There is a lot more that I could say, but I want to end there. I want to add that these comments are my opinions and are based on what I have read and seen. I'm sure there may be some errors, but I also believe there is a lot of truth in what I've found, truth that seems to be intentionally hidden by the people who make our food.

In sharing our family's journey with you, my desire is to encourage you in your journey to health. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by this information--I have felt that way quite often and I still do at times--but my encouragement is to take one small step at a time. It has taken our family a year to make these changes and there are still changes that we would like to make. I have to remind myself daily that my motivation is to honor God with what I put in my body and that NOTHING (not even healthy living) should come before Him! I am reminded of Paul's admonition in 1 Timothy 4, which is that physical training (or bodily fitness) has some value, but that pursuing godliness has value for this life and for the one to come! I also have a dear friend who reminds me that my purchases of healthy food should never hinder our Great Commission giving (which is our giving to missions to see that the Gospel goes out to all people). We also don't let our personal convictions about food hinder fellowship with friends and family. We don't think twice about accepting an invitation to eat with others because of what we might or might not eat. People and relationships are more important to us. We also have nights where Mommy is too tired to cook or we want to plan an easy, fun family evening and we go get pizza or grab our favorite fast food. My husband's guilty pleasure is a Whopper or Big Mac after the kids go to bed. Some men choose beer and others choose beef. Haha. We limit how often we eat out and what we eat when we do, but we still splurge every now and then!

If you have any questions or if I can help you in any way, please feel free to leave comments or email me at aprilmcwhite@gmail.com! I have been blessed to have sweet friends who have helped me learn so much about healthier living and who have encouraged me along the way. Thank you Stephanie, Lela, Melissa, and Paige! I would love to be able to help others the same way that they have helped me.