Thursday, June 12, 2008

A Little Background On the Why of Our Eating

Because of some recent conversations on the choices we have made in the area of eating, let me offer a little background.

Chris has had stomach issues for the last several years. Frequent heartburn, nausea, bloating plagued him severly for months on end. He would stop eating this or that to see if the symptoms could be relieved. He visited doctor after doctor. He had an upper GI, colonoscopy, gallbladder scan all to no avail. He was frequently perscribed heartburn medication. One doctor even suggested depression, as it could cause stomach problems. I picked up a book called The Maker's Diet and so our journey began.

This book made me think a lot about the foods I was preparing for my family. Was I really providing the very best for them in terms of quality and nutrition? After reading this book, I bought Nourishing Traditions and began reading its information and trying a few recipes.

This led me to the Weston A. Price Foundation, Real Milk, Eat Wild, and the traditional food message board of Mothering. My search for understanding continued here as well as in God's Word. After much research I have formulated my own set of guidelines for the way I provide for the health of my family.

*As a wife and mother it is my responsibility to provide the most nutritious and appealing food for my family.
*Because my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and the my families bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit we feel it is vital to treat the Spirit's temple with care. We would never abuse the spirit's temple with addicitons to alcohol or tobacco, so why would we abuse his temple by being addicted to sugar, processed foods, or carbonated beverages.
*We believe that as humans we should not try to improve upon what God has created. So we do not rely on processed or dead foods for our nutrition.
*The healthiest things we can eat are "whole" as close to the way God provided as possible-fresh fruits and vegetables, meat raised humanly and eating the diet that God intended for them, fresh raw milk and milk products, nuts, seeds, beans and whole grains.

These are the convictions that we as a family have as we seek to be good stewards of the lives God has so graciously blessed us with. We do not believe that we will attain any sort of perfection from a life lived in this way. We understand that God is the giver of life and we live in a fallen world. We are simply striving to take care of the life that God has so graciouly given us. We believe that salvation comes by God's grace through out faith, it is not because of any thing we have done.

Sooo

After reading and researching and Chris suffering on and off for years we finally discovered that Chris was palgued by low stomach acid. The symptoms mimic that of too much stomach acid, thus the many heartburn perscriptions through the years. We finally figured this out because milk helped Chris symtoms and the doctors said milk should worsen the symptoms if too much acid was the problem. Because Chris lacked acid which aids in the digestion of food, the raw milk he drank with his meals provided valuable enzymes that helped digest his meals. So Chris is doing wonderfully now with the raw milk, garlic tablet and disgestive enzymes he takes daily.

I am continuing my study in taking care of my family by taking the Naturally Healthy Family Study Course and reading The Animal Vegetable Miracle and Real Food.

I am continually learning more through much study and prayer. I want to share what I have learned with others. I will begin issuing a weekly challenge aimed at providing the very best of what God has provided for our nutrition.

Still Learning...
Holli

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