For a few years my husband would try to introduce healthier foods to me here and there throughout our dating and first years of marriage. I was a little hesitant since I was pretty picky and a junk food lover. I had slowly began adding more vegetables into my diet thanks to him and my liking to stir fry dinners. While I was pregnant with our second daughter, it seemed he was coming across more articles explaining why certain foods were no good for us... the ingredient of high fructose corn syrup and my pregnancy craving of strawberry pop tarts were two things I specifically remember him pointing out to me during that time. I mean how in the world does a pregnant mama who craves pop tarts on a daily just give them up so easily anyways?!
Here are two articles that I found helpful when explaining why I needed to cut the pop tarts:
I will admit I definitely did not change my eating habits over night. Taking small steps like shopping organic produce, reading the labels, cutting out a handful of ingredients, switching to grass-fed meats and reducing our dairy intake are things that have taken place over the last four years. If you haven't yet discovered the convenience of the EWG website or free app then I would suggest starting there. I am all about pressing that easy button!
I never in a million years would have considered myself to be a gardener or anything plant related buuuut - here we go. Once I learn new things I feel like the next step is always to move forward and make use of that new information learned. While organic produce is better than non-organic it still isn't 100% clean, and I want to be able to provide our girls with the cleanest food possible. Granted we don't have land, a farm or all those animals that can provide all the things- we are city people... what we do have is a little bit of space to grow some produce though! So I figured why not give it a go. Plus how empowering would it be to go out to your own garden and pick your own fruits and veggies?! Those are definitely words I never thought I would hear myself say. Like EVER!
But in my search of the right seeds, soil, gardening beds, etc. etc... I have learned that again- I have to flip over that bag and READ THE LABELS. Companies are freakin' amazing at marketing and doing their job of selling us their products. I made the mistake of not quiet reading every fine line in the beginning and purchased some fertilizer and pesticides that are marketed as "green", "clean", and "organic". Nothing says green, clean and organic like the warning labels on them: CAUTION- CANCER!!! Yikes! So basically after learning my lesson, if it says that I must wear gloves, avoid skin contact, etc. then it isn't something I want to sprinkle on our produce to put in our bodies. Pinterest has some great home remedy suggestions that I have since found very helpful.
So here we are... We have began growing our own little garden(s) in our backyard and I CANNOT wait to see where this new journey goes. I still have a lot to learn along the way but we will never know unless we just go for it. And if I have learned anything from my wellness journey it is to begin something before you are an expert. I would love to know what you are growing this season?
