I realize that most of what I've been writing about lately has been nutrition and health related, but it's become pretty central to my life and it's on my mind a lot. I spend a lot of time reading books and watching documentaries and talking about it, and while it's super interesting to me, I hope it's not too boring for everyone else! Topics around here will probably even out soon, but writing about it helps me keep track and process things, and this blog comes in pretty handy for that. So here's to more of the same for now, and the hope that you'll hang in there!
So, food. One of the biggest personal projects I've ever undertaken in my life has been the transformation of my diet from what was arguably a lot worse than the so-called Standard American Diet (which isn't great to begin with) to one that is healthy, whole, and sustainable. Here's a short list of things I've changed over the past six months:
- Stopped eating fast food.
- Stopped drinking soda.
- Cut out white sugar almost completely, and stopped using Splenda entirely.
- Switched to local, organic, grass-fed meat.
- Which I eat a lot less of nowadays (meat, in general).
- Started juicing with fresh, local, organic produce.
- Cut out most processed food with a goal of going completely unprocessed.
It's still a process, but all these changes have made a huge difference in how I feel, both physically and emotionally, and how I look. My skin is clear, and the dark circles that used to take up permanent residence under my eyes have vacated. I have plenty of energy, and I feel really, really good in general. I even sleep better, which was totally unexpected but also completely welcome. Obviously!
Food was so confusing to me for such a long time. First, it was confusion over what to eat, then confusion over how to stop craving junk and processed food and then it was exhaustion over the effort that it took to make the changes. But everything gets easier with time and consistency, and now I find myself on the other side - a place where I never really thought I'd be. It seems simple, but for someone who was raised with processed food, fast food, a massive sugar addiction, and a real lack of nutrition education, it's a minor miracle. I feel really grateful, and really blessed, and pretty proud of myself, too. It's no minor thing to completely renovate your diet and make big changes to your own health, you know? I did that. I am awesome.
Here are the documentaries, books, and resources that have helped me the most in my progress. Maybe they'll help you, too!
Documentaries:
Food, Inc.
Fresh
Ingredients
Hungry For Change
Food Matters
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead
Crazy Sexy Cancer
Books:
Salt Sugar Fat
In Defense of Food
Food Rules
The Art of Simple Food
Unprocessed
Resources:
Slow Food Tampa Bay
Florida Fresh Meat
Saturday Morning Market
The Alkaline Sisters
Raw Raw Life
