Mirrors don’t lie, at least not in good light. The lighting is bright and revealing and I turn casually from side to side, and for the first time in a while I feel oddly contented, or at least somewhat less anxious, maybe less frumpy.The reflection reveals a cute black button-up shirt I bought before I was pregnant that has suddenly been liberated from the back of the closet where it was until recently entrenched with its too-small counterparts. Suddenly it’s comfortable and flattering, unlike the last time it was on me when it was small and awkward, unable to be buttoned or pulled over my arms.
I feel like I am looking into a fun-house mirror at a thinner distortion of myself and I can’t help but wonder what happened. The figure looking back at me is ninety pounds lighter than it was just six months ago.
Not an hour later I meet up with a friend I haven't seen in a while who gives me the once over, a reaction that used to sting my over active self consciousness, and she beams with excitement, first telling me I look great, than asking how I did it. It’s a reaction and a question I have heard more than a few times lately, and it’s a great feeling.
How did I do it? The answer is extraordinarily simple: I ate exclusively natural, organic, and real foods. I quit counting calories, counting points, eating fat-free things, sugar-free things, stopped eating tiny pre-portioned meals. I started reading labels instead. I quit buying chemicals, preservatives, processed items, and began to get back to a real pastoral diet, the kind of diet our bodies were designed to ingest. No more high-fructose corn syrup. If the ingredients listed included items I couldn't pronounce or items that sounded like a chemistry lab, I didn't buy them.
How does all of this careful food selection and organic eating translate into a weight loss? First of all, natural nutrients found in organic produce, dairy, and meats help your body function more efficiently. Chemical compounds are foreign to human physiology. The body has a difficult time processing preservatives and other unnecessary compounds such as artificial flavors and colors and ends up storing them as fats. When your body does not have to deal with these substances, digestion is more efficient increasing metabolism. High metabolism equals weight loss.
You will also feel more energy from natural unfiltered nutrients which will give you energy to get moving instead of feeling tired and bloated after eating. With the extra energy you will feel motivated to exercise and burn off even more fat. You will also sleep better, another key in both physical and mental well being. You will also get sick less because the nutrients found in organic, chemical free foods provide more energy which helps your body fight off toxicity and infection.
All of the advantages of eating organic and natural foods also can motivate you to continue on this path. Once you feel the difference and start seeing the results, it becomes an addiction.
There is no question that buying organic is more expensive. We get by on an average ,single income, and with a family of four, money is usually tight anyway without adding expensive organic foods. We have committed to making it work, and in many ways have saved money. We buy bulk, we buy from food co-op's, we buy from farms, and we cook all of our own food. We also commit to eating everthing we buy. It's really not that much more expensive if you plan it out.
The birth of our youngest son coincided with the opening of a Sprouts Farmers Market, a sort of smaller Whole Foods. We started shopping there right away and found it to be an easy source of natural foods. (We define the term "natural" as containing no preservatives, hormones, antibiotics, or other chemicals. These products typically do not contain "substitutes" such as high-fructose corn syrup or emulsifiers. In the case of meats this also indicates "free-range" as opposed to caged.) We also found plenty of organic foods.
One of our first major changes was from regular skim milk to whole organic milk, a suggestion made by our pediatrician for the benefit of our toddler. At first we were a little put off by the price difference – we went from $2.50 to $6 a gallon – but we decided that keeping growth hormones and antibiotics out of our children’s diet was worth the cost. (We have since graduated to “raw” milk, a concept that is a bit unsettling for some people, but one we feel is a foundation for the health of ourselves and our boys. I will discuss raw milk in more depth later but for more information, click here.)
Consequently, we started looking at other "kid’s foods" and discovered that most contained high-fructose corn syrup and countless mysterious chemicals including artificial flavors. (For more info on the problems associated with high-fructose corn syrup, click here.) There are several natural kids’ snacks available, but we had to look pretty hard. Even the ones that appear to be natural almost always have artificial flavors, particularly fruit snacks.
Oddly enough we found that you can buy “Natural Cheetos.” Seriously. They are made of organic materials and contain no preservatives. They look kind of funny because they are not bright orange, but more of an off white, but they taste really good.
Anyway, this pickiness with kids snacks lead us to start looking at the ingredients in the food WE were eating. Look at the ingredients in a dinner roll and it’s pretty frightening: chemicals, metals, abbreviations. What was all of this stuff and why were we eating it?
We began to look at the health benefits of raw fruits and vegetables which sparked an interest in produce. The problem with produce is that it is generally heavily coated in toxic pesticides. Eating pesticide is a gruesome prospect, but it had never occurred to us that we did it all the time until I saw a list in the doctor’s office of which produce items were the worst and why you should buy organic to avoid these deadly chemicals.
The local farmers market had lots of certified organic vendors so we went and picked out some ugly, dirty veggies and fruit that turned out to better than any we had eaten in years. Another reason to eat organic: the flavors of organic foods are much more intense.
We also got away from foods that were labeled “light” and “fat-free.” Most of these items are made of inferior chemical compounds that taste similar to the “regular” item. Also, most contain high amounts of other chemicals such as Splenda or Aspartame. We prefer items that are “full fat” and contain natural raw sugar to mysterious chemical concocted in a laboratory.
We topped it off by cutting out corn-fed ground beef and switching to organic ground turkey. We love this stuff and obviously it is very light compared to beef.
Basically, we don’t eat out any more, we cook with all organic and natural foods and I have shed the pounds because of it. I am fitting into clothes I haven’t worn for years. My body feels better and I feel confident that my children are eating wholesome food and not being exposed to as many poisons as before. It’s been a smart decision, and its been a wonderful life change.
References:
Westin A. Price Foundation
Windsor Dairy
healthymenumailer.com
