Organically healthy

Howdy Hey Neighbor!

Tonight I though I would open up a little bit about my choice of living an organic and natural lifestyle. As alot of you know, I have only recently switched to using and consuming organic products over the past couple years. Its been a major lifestyle change and I have really been blessed by the results. 

First I want to state that I have no agenda in getting my readers to change how they live their life, but I've had many questions of why I've changed so I've decided to share a little of my reasons for changing and in what ways I've seen it benefit my life. I hope this post is both educational and enlightening for you.

I started this journey by switching to more natural products. Everywhere I looked there were articles on how preservatives were harmful and chemicals were affecting our bodies. (Thanks Dr. Oz for freaking me out haha) Now I have no gift for understanding science, it truly is a foreign concept to me. If I am going to believe something then I don't want to hear about statistics and numbers, I want to see the results. Well my first opportunity for an eye opener was when I was subbing in the middle school. I began to see this first hand in some of my ADHD kiddos. Several of them were given recommendations by doctors to avoid food with red dyes in it because it could affect their behavior and attention.

Red Dye! Its in everything!

 At first I thought this was a home remedy or rumor spread by hippie parents, but I really started to notice the difference when those certain kids would break out the candy and popsicles loaded with dyes. This got me thinking that perhaps there really was something to this idea of chemicals affecting our bodies. So I decided to try the theories out for myself. Perhaps it was a desire to lose weight, or to try and regain some of my kidney function, or just plain curiosity, Whatever it was I decided to give it a go. 

I started slowly with cutting back on the pop.. I was an avid Pepsi drinker. I'm talking 3-4 cans a day. This was my holy grail of liquid libations. But I quit cold turkey (not something I would recommend) 

After a couple weeks of only H20 and juice I started noticing something awesome! I was sleeping better and I hardly had any acne...My unfortunate constant companion since junior high..and I lost about 10 lbs. I wasn't changing anything except the soda! 

Well this pretty much sold me on the theory of food affecting our bodies. So I decided to delve a little deeper into the changing of my eating habits. 

This is basically how I decided to make the lifestyle change. It took a lot of hard work and discipline but I can honestly say I've never felt better and I have very rarely been sick in the past three years! My annual sinus infection has yet to rear its ugly head and despite working around constantly ill students while living with an auto-immune deficiency, I believe these past three years have been some of my healthiest yet. 

Despite the teasing from friends and family, I believe they have seen the results as well. I will admit I am partial to the occasional oreo or Chick fil a sandwich, but I am happy with this new lifestyle and I think that is the most important reason for deciding to switch!

One of the most amazing parts of changing how I eat and live is the incredible food I have cooked and the products I have discovered. So I've decided that through this blog I am going to share with you these things that bring me a little more contentment in the chaos. And perhaps they can bring you some too!