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Food, who doesn’t like food?!?! But what is your food doing to your health? What we eat has a huge affect on our health. Sugar, artificial preservatives, and caffeine and all common examples of food we consume that negatively affect our body.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my sugar and coffee as much as the next momma and often consume more than I should, but I also recognize how it negatively affects my health. So what does all the sugar, caffeine, and preservatives do to your body?
Sugar (including syrups like corn syrup) is very addictive and can lead to heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Sugar also suppresses the immune system making it more difficult to fight off infections. Be aware though the sugar isn’t just coming from the desserts. Sweetners are snuck in everywhere. That bowl of cereal or yogurt or granola bar, just might be hiding a lot of sugar too. The good news is a sugar addiction can be broken in about ten days.
Caffeine is a stimulant for the body. Hello that’s why it’s so good in the morning! But that caffeine boost stimulates the body into the fight or flight mode. Long term it can increase the release of acid in the stomach, leading to stomach upset or heartburn.
Artificial preservatives can cause digestive problems, headaches, and cancer to name a few. They require a lot of energy for your body to break down and eliminate, and provide no nutritional value.
So how does someone do better? Who has time today to prepare every meal from scratch, using all fresh ingredients? I sure don’t! So how do I feed my family better without losing my mind? Keep it simple and meal plan.
When I shop I don’t buy the boxed dinner. It’s full of junk that does not feed the body. Sure I still buy some prepared foods (hello chocolate chips), but I go for food with less than 5 ingredients and no preservatives. Yes that cuts out many of my old go to salad dressings I would use as seasoning. Good news you can get a salad dressing mixer and make it yourself fairly easy. Buy whole foods and buy local food, if you cannot grow a garden. Fresh food has many enzymes, that help the body break food down, that are destroyed in processed foods.
Meal plan. I’ll admit I need some work on this one. When I do meal plan, my family eats better, variety meals (instead of an egg sandwich for the 3rd time this week). This also helps know what to buy for the week, budget better, and reduce food waste. When I have a plan for the meal I also avoid the stress of trying to figure out food with hangry children underfoot and another meal of egg sandwich.
I take 30 minutes one morning or afternoon and lay the cookbooks out and start going through the recipes. Leave the books out for the week with pages marked and the list of meals and what I need to pull out of the freezer on my cookbook stand.
Do you have a favorite meal plan strategy? Let me know! I could always use new ideas.
Wanting a community to lean into? Join the FREE Courageous + Purposeful Mommas group! This community is for the Mommas, mommas to be, in the midst of raising, and kids grown, looking for tips on building your family up and providing for them through natural methods. Tips include: gardening, bulk buying, caning,/preserving, livestock, homesteading, and home remedies. Your family is precious, and this group is to help you gain the knowledge and tools to keep your family well and not reliant on outside professionals. Remedies and tips are easy and simple for the busy momma, time is precious after all, including pregnancy, birth, young kids, and illness. Trust your Momma gut again! This community offers the resources + community you need to help get started on your journey and prepare for whatever future you envision.
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