Making a Delicious Switch

Within the last month, we made a big change at our house...we decided to switch to an organic diet.

Since then, I've been going through all my food in the cupboards and using up all our groceries bought at my comfortably traditional and inexpensive grocery store. As I replace food, I'm committed to replacing those with organic goodies instead.

This has been a long time coming for me, we were trying to make the switch a few years ago, but then we moved and had to take sometime to re-adapt to a new budget structure. Then we were going to make the switch but Jairus died and I could barely make it the 3 blocks to our regular grocery store, much less think about reading labels or driving across town to a coop. Now that my mind is finally clearing and Mark and I have gotten more educated about how conventional food in America is produced, we're committed to making it work.

Its kinda tough.

We were really happy with the low grocery bills I had when shopping at Aldi. And it was truthfully  a wonderful place for our family to shop. We always had lots of produce and whole foods from there, we made the best of it. But I was growing tired of eating things that I didn't recognize the names of as being edible, tired of months of runny noses and having a single ingredient dominate every pre-made food item we ingested. Now I'm trying to make the same grocery budget s-t-r-e-t-c-h as far as possible by eating organically grown produce. I'm learning about buying in bulk to save pennies, buying from local farmers, reading labels meticulously, baking my own bread, canning and growing as much of my own food as possible. We found a local farmer by my parents house with very reasonably priced chicken and eggs, and I'm going to save my pennies to buy bulk beef in the future. We're eating smaller (healthier) portions to make the good stuff last too.

Why?

Well, many reasons. Below are some of the many places I gathered information from before making the final decision but personally it was through the testimony of friends who eat organically that Mark and I were convinced. Hearing from families who are making it work and seeing the health of their families benefit as a result. What it really came down to for me is my desire to give my family the best I can, to care for the bodies that God gave us as stewards, doing what we can to honor God through our choices and get closer to the original way He designed our bodies to intake food and nutrients. We want to continue learning to work with the bodies He made for us, rather than working against them.

Its a decision we've taken a long time to come to. We're excited and nervous and definitely having some sticker shock. But I am so looking forward to having more energy, to being healthier and to establishing healthy habits in all of us for the long term. We only get a short time to live this life. We want to honor God in everything, even how we treat our bodies. And we definitely want to enjoy some Delicious food in the process!

Whatever you eat, whatever you drink, whatever you do...do it all for the Glory of God.

 ~ 1 Corinthians 10:31

My own resources:
Can Faith Be 'Green'? (Audio sermon, free download)
Food Rules by Michael Pollan (book checked out at library)
Food Inc. (movie free on Netflix)

Articles:
Is there a difference? (Natural vs Organic)
Differences at a glance chart
The Dirty Dozen
Forgiveness Farming

I'd love to hear your thoughts on healthy eating! What works for your family?