Eat Well, Live Well

OK, so we don’t want to be overly obsessive, here. But, there are many things in life that make us sit up and take notice of our health. The biggie, of course, is having yourself or someone close to you become ill. In my case, a few years ago, it was my husband. He began having some serious intestinal symptoms, causing him to lose about 20+ pounds in a short amount of time. He was eventually diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. That was a relief, actually, because my imagination was envisioning something much worse.

After that, my Aunt D gave us a booklet about Garden of Life. From there I got Jordan Rubin’s book Patient Heal Thyself, where he tells the amazing story of his battle with Crohn’s and what he learned from that battle. So, that led me from mild interest and occasional dabbling into a more serious quest. I started shopping regularly at Whole Foods Market and through eatwild.com found a nearby ranch that sold grass fed beef and lamb. An added bonus was the fun of visiting the farm with my son.

Well, that was in Virginia. Now we’ve moved to West Texas and do not have access to Whole Foods, which is less expensive than buying what organic might be available at your conventional grocery store, or a non-chain health food store – yikes! Anyway, that’s where not being too obsessive comes in. I’m not going to throw our budget into a tailspin trying to stick with my lofty food principles. You just have to do the best you can with what you have available to you in your community.

So, I’m trying to get up each morning and do some form of exercise to get my body moving. I’m attempting to establish the habit of daily quiet time for prayer and devotion. And I’m making the best choices I can in the grocery store by reading labels. The latter is actually easier for me than the daily disciplines. But I just keep on trying. That’s the key I think. Don’t give up – keep at it. When we stumble, and we will, we have to get up, brush off, and try again. Our health depends on it.

Another part of not being too obsessive, I think, is not being too dogmatic about those food principles. It seems there are as many theories about how to eat as there are people. One day scientific research says “this is bad” then several years later they may say “this is good” or vice versa. I just don’t think any one theory has it all right. We’re not perfect, you know. Not one of us. But, there are some common principals throughout all the theories regarding eating healthy, like eating more fresh fruit & veggies, and less processed food. So, I think as long as we are paying attention and trying to eat healthy, we are doing the best we can. That’s something to pat yourself on the back for, I think.