Here we are, Day 6 of no sugar. And I feel great! I have only gotten about 5-6 hours of sleep the last two nights, but I have a lot more energy than I used to even when I got 8-9 hours of sleep. It does still take my body a little more time to wake up than my brain, but I am so happy that I seem to be over the worst of this whole withdrawal thing! Also, my brain feels a lot less foggy and much more clear.
Anyway...I feel like God has really been opening my eyes on how unhealthy our family eats. Really, it's not just my family, it's a lot of families (don't freak out on me, I know some of you do make healthy eating choices for your family, and get ready, because you might be getting tons of questions from me soon!). I thought I was doing a pretty good job because my kids don't (usually) eat candy, cookies, cake, or drink juice. At our house, almost all of the mac and cheese, snack crackers, and cereal bars they eat are organic. We serve them lots of vegetables, always frozen, never canned. And yes, those are good FIRST STEPS. But now I see that there is so much more I could be doing.
My ULTIMATE goal is to have no processed food in the house. Make almost all of our food from scratch. Focus even more on fruits and veggies. Stop buying our meat from the store. I want 99% of what passes my kids lips to be healthy (and mine and Josh's, too!). I say 99% because I'm not going to panic if my kids have a piece of cake at a birthday party. Or have a piece of candy on Easter. But these things are going to be on special occasions only.
My friend Brittany referred me over to Heavenly Homemaker's website, and I read their eating journey and it really prompted me to start making some real changes. Why do I feel such a strong urge to start healthy eating now?
First of all, now is better than later. But mainly, I am doing it for my kids' health. Overall, my kids are very healthy. However, these last few months have been a little harder health wise. Hannah got sick with something that turned into an ear infection, bronchitis, and pneumonia within 48 hours. She then gave it to Emma and Joel, who we got on antibiotics before it could turn that bad. A month later, a stomach bug hit our house, and it kept cycling around. Joel and I never got it (but a lot of that is probably because I was staying with my parents at that time, and Joel was breastfeeding...let's face it, that has some pretty serious health benefits!) but poor Emma got sick three times in a row. About a month ago, Emma got really sick with a kidney infection. I had never seen her so sick in my life. As you can see, my kids health has not been at it's best the past few months.
To top it all off, my 3-year-old Hannah might have an auto immune disease. I DO have an autoimmune disease. Josh has stomach issues. It is just time for us to make better choices for ourselves and our children. Plus, if I start now, my kids won't really know any different while growing up and hopefully will make the same choices when they are out on their own!
I do want to say that this is a GRADUAL change. If I go after it all at once, I know I will get overwhelmed and fail. I also know that there will probably be a lot of recipes gone horribly wrong I think taking the sugar out of our house was a great first step. Now I only drink water, and occasionally tea (unsweetened!).
I know some of you probably think I am crazy, but I really feel God leading us to do this. For those of you who DON'T think I'm crazy, does anyone want to join me? No pressure, but I definitely think it would be fun and easier if I had someone doing it along with me. If not, feel free to just leave encouragement (or feel free to tell me if you think I am in fact insane), or if you have been on a similar path, please give me any and all advice you are willing to give!
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