Real Food Family is your complete source for sound whole food nutritional guidance, meal planning and natural living. Do you feel overwhelmed with the all the contradictory information out there about health and nutrition? Well, I was too! I thought I was a super-healthy, nutrition-minded professional dancer 10 years ago. Now that I look back, I couldn’t have been more wrong. My perpetual illness and injuries should have been a sign. I’ve come a long way, and I hope to save you and your family the time and extra effort it took for me to get passionate about REAL FOOD!
Here is a list of reasons you should prioritize a nourishing diet and lifestyle, then I’ll take you through my steps to helping you get there!
1. Define Healthy?
What exactly IS healthy? Is it eating low-fat, low-carb, low-calorie, being thin, being plump, eating meat, not eating meat, being beautiful, or being able to run a marathon? There is a lot of information out there on this subject, but I have become very passionate about my convictions about REAL nutrition and healthy living. I think the most significant indicators of good health are IMMUNITY AND RESISTANCE TO DEGENERATIVE DISEASE, and the ability to PRODUCE STRONG, HEALTHY CHILDREN THAT ARE RESISTANT TO DISEASE.
2. Let FOOD Be Thy Medicine
Is it really possible to heal yourself with food? Obviously drinking a gallon of freshly pressed carrot juice will not heal a broken ankle, but diet CAN make a significant impact on avoiding degenerative disease. A nourishing diet, meaning a diet full of nutrients needed to support all the organs and systems of the body, is the foundation needed to support all aspects of health. A proper diet can keep you away from the doctor and/or hospital, but can also support a medical therapy for optimal success when conventional medicine is necessary. I work with my mom, a family physician, and when we integrate both natural and conventional approaches to health, patients have the best long-term results.
3. First Do No Harm
I like to focus on how ADDING nutrient-dense foods and natural products can support a more nourished and healthy life, but there are certainly things you should consider eliminating from your life, too. Check out the “dietary dangers” listed on my article, Optimum Health: An Overview of Nutrition. If you are interested in improving your health, why would you continue to keep things in your life that are proven to be harmful to your health? I would consider beginning by eliminating these things:
1. Drugs (unnecessary pharmaceutical, recreational, cigarettes, etc.) These things can change body chemistry, hormones, immune response, and more, and do not support holistic (or whole body) health in any way.
2. Artificial foods- processed foods, sodas/soft drinks, food colorings, artificial sweeteners, any chemical products in the ingredients list of a food product. (If you can’t buy the product at the grocery store…or farmer’s market…then don’t eat it.)
3. Chemicals in your food, body, and in your home. Research is continually surfacing to prove how carcinogenic (cancer-causing) common chemicals found in food, vaccines, cosmetics, body care and home cleaning products are. Visit the Healthy Home page to learn more.
4. Stress and unforgiveness. Mental and spiritual health is just as important to me as physical health. Although I believe life is about more than the physical…we are souls who have bodies…there is actually a neurological science behind our feelings and emotions, so these things could also be scientifically considered “physical health”. The bottom line is that we must create balance in our lives so that we can find more pleasure than heartache. We must learn to let things go- be it the jerk that cut you off on the freeway or the deep grudges and hate you hold toward others. You know yourself. Spend the time and effort you need to ensure that you experience true peace in your life. I find true peace and hope in the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ. This is, by far, the most important part of my life. I can’t imagine any sort of “health” without Him! Sometimes I post “Soul Food” posts here that have to do with my spiritual life. 🙂
4. Don’t Just Survive…THRIVE!
Why should you care about what you eat? Because you’ll live better! Sure, we humans are fully capable of surviving while we stress out, smoke, eat processed foods, and consume all sorts of drugs- both medical and recreational- and alcohol without limit. Some people think that continual headaches, fatigue, reliance on caffeine, diarrhea and constipation, weight gain, stress, sleeplessness, depression, and poorer health as we age are “normal” parts of life. I desperately disagree. I have been in that realm of “normal”. Now that I know how to THRIVE, it is VERY clear to me that a nourishing diet can truly change your life!
Now follow these steps to get involved with Real Food Family, and your new journey toward REAL FOOD and NATURAL LIVING!
1. Understand more about REAL FOOD Nutrition and Natural Living by visiting my top posts:
Optimum Health: An Overview of Nutrition
Meal Planning: Diet for Pregnant and Nursing Moms
Understanding Food Part 1: Macronutrients
Understanding Food Part 2: Micronutrients
Real Food Family is constantly posting new information about REAL FOOD nutrition and natural living, so make sure you stay connected by joining my FREE email list. You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest! I also recommend you research more about REAL nutrition at The Weston A. Price Foundation.
2. Get Cooking!
If you are not used to cooking very much, start slowly! Browse my FREE recipes to find something that really appeals to you and make it! Try watching some of my cooking videos and get used to following my techniques. Once you feel a little more comfortable in the kitchen, move to the next step:
3. Meal Planning Guides
At Real Food Family, I have 2 meal planning solutions available to you. “Real Food Family’s Complete Guide to Real Food, A Meal Planning Cookbook” is a spiral-bound workbook-style cookbook with a complete Blood Sugar Regulation diet plan with breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes, followed by 4 complete weeks of dinner recipes. Each plan has a complete and categorized shopping list. The book also includes Principles of Nutrition, a Guide to Feeding Babies and Children, Snacks and Drinks, Dessert Ideas, Basics of Lacto-Fermenting Foods, and more. Get your copy today by clicking this link.
Real Food Family also offers a weekly meal planning subscription service called Real Food Weekly. Every week I send a perfectly assembled menu of 4 nutritious dinners, extra dessert or specialty recipes, ultra-nourishing food recipes, planning notes and suggested extra meals, and a complete shopping list directly to your inbox. This printable meal plan is available only to registered members and features beautiful pictures of most of the recipes. You can be confident with your weekly meal plans because they have been created and tested by a certified Nutritional Therapist and her picky husband and kiddos! Click here to learn more and sign up for Real Food Weekly.
4. Consider Nutritional Therapy
If you’re having a hard time “fixing” your problems with diet alone, you may need a more specialized approach with Nutritional Therapy. You may also be interested in a more specific approach to taking supplements and desire a professional assessment that is customized to your individual needs. If you are in the Southern California area, you can come see me at my office. I have also set up a way to “see” clients over the internet and telephone. Learn more and set up your appointment here.
5. Get the deadly chemicals OUT of your home and the ENVIRONMENT with GET CLEAN!
I am a very proud distributor of Shaklee’s GET CLEAN line of organic home care products. These products are FAR more effective and cost-effective than ANY other “organic” home cleaning products on the market. Did you know that 90% of poison exposure occurs in the home? Your “clean” home could be more toxic than breathing the air of downtown Los Angeles! Let’s face it- you wouldn’t let your kid eat off of a surface that was just cleaned with harmful chemicals, so why would you let them crawl around on one? A chemical free home is necessary for ANYONE, but if you or someone in your family deals with upper respiratory issues including asthma, neurological disorders such as ADD or Autism, or any condition that is sensitive to chemicals, than it is ESSENTIAL that you invest in quality home care products. The best part is that they are concentrated, so not only do they work amazingly…they SAVE money!!! Click here to learn more and shop my GET CLEAN line of products!
6. Go Shopping!
Now that you are convinced you need to make some serious changes in your home, you may feel frustrated wondering, “Where the heck do I get this stuff??” Lucky for you, I have a a complete Resource Page, with links for all sorts of products like sprouted flours, grass-fed meats, quality water filters, and much, much more!!!
Do you ever shop on Amazon? Consider supporting Real Food Family by clicking on something from my Amazon page to enter the Amazon website. Real Food Family gets a tiny commission from anything you buy on Amazon when you get there via this website, so please consider supporting Real Food Family this way!