Many years ago, a dear friend of mine shared what she was learning about nutrition in her Bradley class. It was then I began to make changes in my own diet and way of doing things. We began substituting whole wheat flour for half the flour in our bread recipe. We switched to fructose instead of regular sugar (we were told this was good for us since it was a “fruit” sugar…we’ve since been enlightened otherwise), and began using sea salt. These were simple and easy to do changes.
I also began to can and preserve regularly. Our landlord lived next door and was something of a renaissance man. He had a large garden and was more than willing to share a bit of land with us and teach me to preserve and make more whole food recipes. All he asked in exchange was that some of my cooking would make its way next door to him. 
Then we moved. It took me a bit to ease into my new region (and I’m sorry to say I never did take full advantage of all that was available there), but soon I had met people who helped me learn new things about eating better and using what was around me. We switched to a new bread recipe that was all whole wheat and began using Prairie Gold flour. We exchanged our teflon for cast iron and went to stoneware exclusively for baking. We found a raw milk source and added homemade butter and fresh cream to our diet. I switched from fructose to raw honey and raw organic sugar and got my first taste of demerara (but didn’t use it real often). We began to take elderberry juice concentrate (not nearly as often as we should, though) and for a time, I took chlorophyll. I also began ordering from a local Frontier Coop for a lot of household needs and I switched to cloth diapers.
Then we moved again. This time to the city. Let me just say city life changes things. One thing it changed in a very bad way was my eating out addiction (and my soda addiction). It was all much to readily available.
Between the time of Emily’s last surgery and her going Home, I began talking with my friend Lynnette about some new natural things I had not tried before. Lynnette had brought our family many yummy organic snacks while we were in the hospital and I wanted to continue that step in the right direction. However, Emily’s death threw me into a tailspin and I could not cook let alone cook healthy. I was barely out of the fog before I found myself pregnant and dealing with morning sickness. Throughout the pregnancy it was all I could do just to keep the status quo and of course your babymoon is no time to start something new, so now that I am 3.5 months postpartum, I feel the niggling urge once again to address the issues I left behind.
But, where to start?!?
I decided to go back to a forum I spent a brief amount of time on before Emily’s death called Cooking Traditional Foods. I would highly recommend this forum! These ladies are a wealth of knowledge! I’ve also been going back through my Nourishing Traditions book (right now I am very overwhelmed by this book!) and my Whole Foods for the Whole Family cookbook. There are also some great recipes in the MOMYS Cookbook (currently out of print–the message on this site is old).
Today, via instructions from my Whole Foods cookbook, I started some sourdough. This is something my husband has been intrigued by for several years now due to his mountain man fascination (more on that another day!). So, I’ve got that going and hope to make some things with it this week. I’m learning about soaking grains and I am trying to find a reliable raw milk source as well. I’ve begun making our peanut butter and I’m taking some new supplements (see Feelin’ Frumpy post) I am also trying to talk myself into replacing my soda addiction with a love for water (pray for me…this is not an easy one!)
I have a good 20 pounds of excess weight on me, so my desire to change things is very much fueled by a desire to lose weight, but I also see where we Americans have very little food that is in its natural state anymore. Documentaries like King Corn and Super Size Me really brought that to my attention.
What we put in our bodies matters. My body is supposed to be a temple for the Lord, not an artery-clogged fast food restaurant. What I eat matters because it says a lot about me. It tells whether I am dying to self or feeding my greed. A food addiction is scary and dangerous; it is harder to control because we must eat to live. Most addictions do not require you to continue to use the source of your addiction day in and day out.
But, I also believe that much of what fuels our addiction are the addictive additives that have become our way of life. If I learn to bring my foods back to a more natural state, I hope to find that food has less of a pull on me.
And so begins the next level of my au naturale journey! I’d love to hear about changes you have made or are making to eat and live more naturally.
May the words of my mouth and what I put in it glorify the Lord Who provides our earthly food.
Oh, and Deedee…are the recipes you have soaked or what? I’d love to check them out if you want to send them my way! Thanks!
I do understand about reconditioned tastebuds…white breads gross me out. I like hearty foods much better.
Georgiann, I do own a vita-mix (bought at the State Fair this past September!) and I did get the grain mill attachment. I heard after I bought it that some people don’t think it mills fine enough, but I’ve been satisfied w/ the product even though I do agree that it isn’t quite as fine. I’m looking forward to being able to use it instead of a blender when Micah is ready for solids!
Oh, Amy!
I too am in the same boat~Thank you so much for your post! You have made me day!
In Christ,
Leah
Great post Amy~
I was just thinking about how to make my own sourdough bread the other night! You must have read my mind!
Do you have a vita mix? I want to get one for grinding wheat berries into flour.(I’ve never done that either) They are expenicive and hubby says just use the blender….
Thank you for the time it took to put all the hyper links in….very helpful!
I will pray about your soda addiction. We do not buy soda to offen….only if we are haveing company. Water is so tasty when its nice and cold with crushed ice. I love my refrigerator dispencer!
Blessings,
Georgiann
Hi Amy! Will certainly be praying for you on this journey.
We started our healthy foods/ natural foods journey over four years ago now. It started with the constant round of illness in our family of four people – someone was always ill – insane!
I read a great book called ‘What the Bible says about healthy living’ by Dr Rex Russell since I was confused by all the contradicting advice out there and thought the Bible was a good place to start. It follows mainly the Mosaic diet and explains the science behind what God put in place for His people and why.
We also love the Sue Gregg cookbooks and have the whole set. They take ‘normal’ foods and do a healthy version of them. Lots of soaking whole grains and veggies, lowfat, nutrient rich foods in there.
I also use a mixed grain flour from our local windmill that I mix myself. This is used in several recipes I was given by another blogger (whose blog is shut down now) and I have the file if you were interested in it I could send it in an email attachment.
We are also researching special foods to help our foster children with various problems and find that a natural/nutrient rich diet helps with many of thier problems too.
And just to let you know, we now only get about one cold a year in our home, the constant runny noses have stopped, no more tummy upsets on a regular basis.
We drink water all day long with only fresh fruit juice at meal times. I only drink fruit teas and no caffiene. And when we now drink a soda or eat some fast food it tastes DISGUSTING!!! So we don’t bother any more – yuck! It is amazing how after 6 months to a year your taste buds are totally reconditioned. When we are given something processed all we can taste is chemicals! The memory of some food tastes is far better than the reality anymore.
)
Just to encourage you that it can be done and is totally worth the effort!
I used my college graduation money to buy a bread machine! I had one child at the time and another on the way and I absolutely loved it. However, a few years ago (shortly after #4 was born, I believe) I realized it wasn’t meeting our needs any more.
Enter a Bosch mixer! All my larger-than-life friends had one and raved about it, so we invested in one and I kid you not, I use the thing every single day! It is a workhorse. While it does not bake the bread for you, it makes the whole process very pleasant, and you can churn out 3-4 loaves at a time with ease.
And you don’t have to be a large family to benefit from a Bosch (and no, I’m not getting any money from raving about it! lol) We bought the cookie paddles w/ it and do all our cookies in there. I’ve done homemade butter, all my bread products, mashed potatoes, etc. I also bought the slicer/shredder and did soap flakes, cheese and a host of veggies. I recently sold off the blender, though, since the Vita Mix out-powers it.
If you are interested, I’d try one of these online merchants…
Pleasant Hill Grains
http://www.pleasanthillgrains.com
Marmee’s Dear
http://www.marmeedear.com/store
Urban Homemaker
http://www.urbanhomemaker.com/productcart/pc/home.asp
I hear you! It’s hard to do basic foods when they’re so hard to find. When we lived by a Whole Foods we made our own bread with homemade flour (bought a mill and got wheat and rye berries). We also started using tooth powder instead of toothpaste (flouride and glycerine). In cooking I’ve substituted honey for sugar and apple sauce for oil. We use REAL peanut butter (peanuts only!),100% fruit jelly, 100% juice (preferably not from concentrate), make our own seasonings for cooking (so we know what’s in it…and it’s cheaper!), cloth diapers (or non-chlorine disposable when needed), non-bleached flour, homemade all-purpose cleaner, homemade baby wipes, brown rice instead of white…and we enjoy anything grandma brings over like homemade apple/pear sauce (YUM!), pomegranate jelly, dried pears, etc. Unfortunately we returned our bread machine because it wasn’t mixing right so we’ve stopped that. Any recommendations on that?
BTW – If you ever have any great healthy recipes, I’m sure we’d all love to see them!
Hello Amy!
I found your blog via the TF forum. My family is in the process of switching to a whole foods/traditional/natural diet. Some days go very well and others… will get better with time. I look forward to following your progress.
I do receive emails from urbanhomemaker and I’m familiar with Sue Gregg, but have never used any of her cookbooks. You are not the first person to mention her, so I pbly ought to look into her stuff! Thanks!
Amy
I can identify with your journey – a little here, a little there, trying to get back to food the way God made it. (I figure that food He made is going to work better in this body He made than food made in a factory.)
We are not perfect – a lot of reality thrown in here. (And for me it’s not soda but coffee that I love.) :0
We are grinding our own wheat though and loving it and trying to make more food from scratch. (Although our schedule is so hectic for about a month, it’s tough right now.)
Just wanted to share with you two websites I love and think you’d enjoy (if you aren’t already familiar with them).
One is http://www.urbanhomemaker.com (love her) and the other is http://www.suegregg.com – love her cookbooks.
Thanks for sharing. I love your blog.
In His love,
Tina
I must ask where you lived when you orderd things from Frontier Coop. My two best girls friends work there.
Great post and something we should all do. something we are working on.
I’ve always ordered from Frontier via their wholesale catalog. Several places I’ve lived have had Frontier coops. Love it! That’s neat you had a friend who actually worked there!
Amy
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