More on Time and a Personal Note!

A while back I asked how much time do you spend in your kitchen. I can honestly say that unless I'm in a baking mood or I am serving a big holiday dinner I average less than an hour a day in my kitchen. I have learned the things that I need to have on hand to make many tasty dishes and I just keep them in stock. I want to try to type up a list of staples I keep in my pantry and post it soon. It really does help to have things on hand. I have tried menu planning and having a well planned shopping list but I just hate being that organized! Plus what if come Friday I don't want the meal I planned on Monday;) I really am all about keepin' it Simple! With my list of staples I will post my typical day and you will see that once you have things kind of set up dinner all but cooks itself;) I hear so often we would eat better but I hate to cook or I just don't have the time. It's really just about changing our thinking a bit! Just keep checking back here and keep trying to do your best; don't worry about being perfect and put your own personality into it! It really can be Simple, Healthy, Tasty!

Not only do you deserve to feel and look better your kids do to. I recently read in an article that "boys and girls in elementary school suffering from high blood pressure, high cholesterol and painful joint conditions; a soaring incidence of type 2 diabetes, once a rarity in pediatricians’ offices; even a spike in child gallstones, also once a singularly adult affliction. Minority youth are most severely affected, because so many are pushing the scales into the most dangerous territory." This is not good to say the least. We can't be ignorant any longer if we want our children to have a healthy lifestyle. I know what it's like to be an overweight child and try so hard to loose a few pounds only to have twice as much come back as soon as I stopped dieting. I hope you don't mind but I'm going to take a minute to share some of my own personal experience.

Starting at age 11. Yep that's me;) It seemed so unfair to me that most of my friends and my sisters could eat what they wanted and didn't gain any weight. But here I was at 11 worrying about going on a diet (now really I don't think anyone should have to worry about dieting ESPECIALLY an 11 year old girl) To me now diet is a bad word and they so do NOT work in fact they have the opposite result. But you will see as I continue.

So as far as my childhood was concerned long story short. I had weight issues the entire time. I crash dieted and did silly gimmicks like Slim Fast and No FAT dieting. I had a very supportive Mom who helped and taught me the best she knew how and well with a lot of prayer I made it through I even had my "skinny" times.

Well I got married and a year and a half later had my first baby. And yep gained over 70 pounds in that time.

Now understand at this point I had picked up many "healthy" habits that stemmed from childhood. I ate very little ground beef (I ate ground turkey instead YUCK!) Everything was "light" or "low fat" I hardly ever had a candy bar or soda. I ate whole grain bread, fruits, and vegetables. In reality I have been "health conscious" for a very long time. I hate to imagine how large and unhealthy I would have been had I not been. Really when it came down to it I still had a lot to learn and I wasn't ready to give up some of my addictions. Which were mostly sweets. Well I started to learn more and I cut out all red meat from my diet and I learned that milk wasn't all it was cracked up to be especially for children. I also didn't give my kids much sugar although I still ate way to much of it. I started to understand about diet fads. And I started sweatin' to the Oldies ;) I lost a little weight and then I had another baby! By now I was starting to become very interested in natural healing and the role nutrition played in it.

By the time my third child came I was the size I was when I had graduated from High School and I was thrilled! I was pretty much vegetarian cause I had simply lost my taste for meat. Every time I ate chicken which I always had liked, it started to taste like I was eating well, flesh;) I know it's hard to explain it was just nasty OK! All this time I had been reading and learning lots about health and herbs and since I was thrilled to be the size I was (although still overweight) I quit worrying about my weight. I just wanted to be healthy I wanted to raise my kids with good healthy habits too. I studied with the School of Natural Healing and I finally cut out all processed sugars and dairy. (We were only eating a little cheese and egg by that time anyway;) Many people called me crazy and radical at that time. I wondered how come trying to go back to the way they were originally intended was radical. To me it seemed radical to in effect poison our bodies with overly processed foods and then drug them with more toxins to try to feel better. Anyway it was amazing the difference it made once I quit worrying about appearances and decided I wanted to truly be healthy and have a healthy family!

Here I am with my fam at that time my third was about 2 years old. I wasn't even trying to loose weight and it just came off. And the crazy thing was I was eating whatever I felt like whenever I felt like it. I had NEVER known what that was like it has been so freeing! I love it I still can't get over what a wonderful blessing it is to me! I can't even imagine the weight and health issues I may be dealing with now if I had not gone down the natural health path. I am so grateful and thank the Lord every day!

Processed junk food is no longer even appealing to me in fact it is pretty tasteless compared to full nutrition, full flavor food, made with ingredients you can understand;) Like I said this to me has been so freeing I was so addicted to junk food for so long. But once it was out of my system and my body was truly nourished the cravings stopped.

I now have four children I have not had to worry about my weight for over 7 years. I no longer kill myself sweating to the oldies! (in fact it was very fun throwing those away) I enjoy nice moderate exercises like walking, Pilate's, and jumping on my mini-tramp. I don't take drugs, I use herbs and more natural things as treatments, for illness. I always drink lots of good pure water. Mostly I'm just an ingredient freak! To see what I think are good and bad ingredients go to my Ingredients! What to look for when reading food labels post.

I always feel bad when I see women struggling with weight and health issues and it's very heart wrenching to see their little girls struggling worse than I did! I want so bad to reach out and help them. But I have learned that people have to be ready they have to do things in their own way and in their own time. I hope that things on this blog can be helpful and inspiring to those who are trying to have a healthier lifestyle. I know that the examples we set and the things we teach our children will carry on for generations. My oldest daughter is now 11, she is not at all over weight like I was at her age and she is learning to cook! We have a great time in the kitchen and she understands so much about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. We can make a difference in our families lives and reverse the health epidemic that is plaguing our Country. And we can have a Tasty time doing it too!

P.S. I was 4 month pregnant in the pic of me and my daughter. She was like 9! I need to get an updated picture of me and my girls;)