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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

52 Weeks to an All-Natural Lifestyle: Update

I realized that I have not updated on how I have been doing on this journey to an all-natural lifestyle. Maybe because I have been.........overwhelmed.

I have been reading just about anything I can get my hands on and scouring the blog world to see how different women live out each of their own natural lifestyles. But there are so many resources out there and everyone has a different, and sometimes conflicting, opinion!

The key is to take baby steps. Baby steps are small changes that help you to live more healthy and more naturally, without wreaking total havoc on your diet or body. It is so easy to try to take in everything at once and want to completely change how you are living - but it is not possible. At least not for me. :)

So what small baby steps have I taken since I started this journey?

Eating more fruits and vegetables:
- I have been buying apples and oranges pretty regularly and trying to pack those with our lunches instead of greasy chips.
- The veggies have not gone over so well. We enjoy broccoli and corn, but that gets old after a while. I bought some celery, but I could not stomach that at all. I also tried nibbling on some baby carrots as a snack, but only got through two of those. Pathetic I know. I am still working on that one.

Next veggie to try is asparagus. Anyone have some good recipes?

Weaning out processed foods and making more of my own foods from scratch:
- We have successfully made our own sandwich bread since the beginning of February and I love it!
- Tried some homemade ranch dressing, but it was too runny. (Thus, why I am not sharing this recipe with you.)

I hope to soon try a wheat thin recipe I found. I will let you know the results!

More emphasis on natural home remedies for health issues:
- I tried to get Joseph to put some of the gel from our aloe vera plant on his canker sore, but he wanted none of that in his mouth. So, I still do not know if this works or not. :)
- I have also experimented with some herbal supplements, but one of them had the opposite effect that I wanted. Still need to do more research in that area before I try anything else.

Less waste:
- We have been trying to recycle every cardboard box we can. We only used to recycle big boxes like cereal and cracker boxes. Now we are more conscious about recycling and even break down the small boxes that contain butter, instant vanilla pudding, and even toothpaste.
- Joseph and I are both taking reusable lunch bags to work with us. I used to think this was so uncool when I was in high school, but now I see how many brown bags I am not wasting!
- I am also working on a DIY composter for my garden.

Well, those are a few of the areas I have been trying to improve in, but I still have a long way to go. I am continually frustrated with how much refined sugar I consume and it is really tough to get over that. I have successfully weaned my way down by having less and less sugar every day and have even gone a whole day with no sweets, but that is where it ends. The cravings set in and I am a hopeless mess until I can taste any type of chocolate bliss melting in my mouth. That would not be so bad if I stopped right there, but one taste is usually enough to send me off the deep end. :(

I will try to be better at updating this aspect of my life, but my work schedule and lack of energy when I come home from work leave very little time for me to pursue this journey the way I originally intended.
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2 comments:

Melissa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Melissa said...

I tried to delete my first comment because I went back and read it and saw all those typos... Here is the comment again without all the typos... :)

Oh, you don't know how much better you just made me feel. I was afraid I was the only adult in this world that can barely stomach veggies. Green Beans and Corn (which we all know isn't really a veggie) are the only ones I will eat plain. I will also force myself to eat carrots but I don't enjoy it--at least they don't make me gag. Everything else I have to hide in something... Some kind of casserole or soup. I really dislike this about myself. I'm trying harder to get my kids to eat more fresh veggies and salad. I buy it and feed it to the kids. I wonder when they'll start to notice that mom doesn't eat any of it! LOL!

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