Steps to a Whole Foods Diet

Before getting into specific foods, I would like to take a look some basic areas of our lives to help us decide the best course of action for our eating. It can be so easy to get caught up in the latest fad diets and to look around and see what everyone else is doing, but we need to stay grounded and determine what is best for our family. God has created each of us as individuals and placed us together in a family. As the mother, and usually the primary meal provider, it is our responsibility to look to the needs of those the Lord has entrusted us with.

Also, our goals should reflect a lifetime of stewardship with our bodies. Although losing a quick 10 pounds would be nice, our goals should be long-term. With that in mind, there are several questions we can ask ourselves to determine a healthy diet for our families.

1. What Has God Allowed?

I like to start at the beginning and look at what God has created and allowed his children to eat. Because we are no longer under the law, we are allowed to eat plants and animals. However, there are great health benefits to eating the clean animals over the unclean. I love crisp pan-fried bacon with eggs, but I try to greatly limit the amount of pork I consume because it is an unclean animal and not the healthiest choice. And if you choose to eat animal protein, it is wise to limit the amount of animal protein you consume. It is more difficult for your body to digest.

2. Eliminating Items of Concern

These could be items that family members are allergic to or foods that exasperate illnesses (ie, dairy during cold). I personally use the following list I have adapted from Shonda Parker’s (Excerpted from Naturally Healthy Family Herbalist Course) red flag list of items to avoid:

• white or enriched flour (look for this in the ingredients): devoid of all nutrients, high glycemic index, slows digestion and elimination
• sugar or corn syrup: suppresses immune system, raises blood sugar levels
• processed foods: the more processing involved=less nutrients + more additives
• preservatives: BHT, BHA, sodium nitrite and nitrates, propyl gallate, sulfur dioxide, sodium bisulfate
• caffeine, alcohol, tobacco (I would also add in sodas): depletes essential nutrients, alcohol and sodas causing weight gain
• artificial colorings and flavorings: dyes, MSG
• chemicals: artificial sweeteners (saccharine, aspartame)
• natural additives: sorbitol

3. Determining What is Most Beneficial for Individual/Family Health

Just as you will want to eliminate foods that are of concern for particular members of your family, you will also want to add in foods that have particular benefits your family may need. For our family which has a high incidence of cancers, I wanted to make sure I included foods that help fight off cancer. These include salmon (high levels of omega-3 fatty acids), flaxseed, and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Recently, I have also increased our consumption of legumes while at the same time decreasing our consumption of meat.

4. What Has the Lord Provided (or not provided)?

For most of us, there are times in our lives when we cannot afford to eat the healthiest food possible. Our family prefers to eat grass-fed beef, but sometimes it is unavailable and other times we can’t afford to. One thing I have tried to do, knowing that the price of beef, especially grass-fed beef, is high, is to extend the meat (for example, I will use only a small amount of beef in the chili and add lots of beans) or eat meals that don’t utilize meat (potato cauliflower soup with fresh baked wheat bread). When I can, I choose the healthiest of what I have available to me. And no matter what it is, I am thankful.

5. What Has the Head of the Home Allowed?

My husband is a picky eater. When we married, the only vegetables he would eat were corn and potatoes. Over the years, he has slowly come around and willingly eats several vegetables now. The key word is “slowly”! And although my husband doesn’t share my enthusiasm for eating healthy, he has allowed me to provide healthy meals for the kids and myself…he has even learned to eat a few of them as well.

One thing I have tried to do, is to make the really healthy foods at lunch when he is not home, then cook some of his favorites for dinner. Or I will make several items for dinner so that I can serve him something he likes and then serve us something healthier. Whatever the choice your husband allows, be gracious and do the best you can without complaint. Most meals can be made much healthier just by making them at home!

6. What Does Your Family Enjoy?

God gave us food to enjoy and to be blessed by. Meal time shouldn’t arrive with dreadful anticipation. Granted we can’t have our favorites at every meal, but we can strive to serve food that is pleasant. One of the things we have done is to look for healthier ways to create the foods we love. This may mean making desserts with farm fresh eggs, raw milk, and fresh ground wheat. It may mean substituting honey for processed sugar.

Join me tomorrow as I share how I got started making sourdough bread! It is a great way to add in whole grains to your diet, while at the same time building up a healthy gut (and a healthy gut means greater immunity against illness and disease!).

It was no accident that man was placed in the garden shortly after being created. From the beginning of time, the garden has been a symbol of God’s provision for man both physically and spiritually. In Genesis 2:9, we see the Lord providing trees that are both “pleasant to the sight, and good for food”. The garden, and subsequently the food that it supplies, was a gift to mankind providing fellowship, comfort, nutrition, and nourishment. God’s plan for man’s sustenance was whole, complete, and lacking nothing.

Unfortunately, sin came into the world, by food no less, and our relationship with our Creator and His provision for us changed completely. No longer would man eat freely of the goodness of the garden, but by “the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread (Gen. 3:19)”. Suddenly, the ground was cursed and mankind was relegated to toiling for our meals. And although many of us in Western culture have plenty to eat on a daily basis, there is a continual struggle in our lives as we relate to food.

For the most part, we have traded in the wisdom of the Holy One for the fads of this earth. Man now determines what is wholesome and worthy of consumption. We have delegated our health and our nutritional intake to the professionals, seeking what they deem healthy. We have bowed down before the USDA pyramid seeking restoration when we should be asking our Lord for guidance.

As American’s we spend more money on food than any other country on earth, although ironically, as a percentage of our income we spend less than any of our country. What this means is that we are rich. So rich that only a small percent of our money goes toward buying food and we still manage to outspend everyone else.

For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

Proverbs 23:21

Because of our riches, we have become gluttons. Our stores are filled to the ceilings with all kinds of products to gorge our protruding bellies. Twenty-four hours a day, we can pull up to a speaker and demand any delicacy of our choosing. Television shows, magazines, books, and the internet tantalize our taste buds with the images of melt-in-your-mouth goodness. We are surrounded by an abundance of food.

And while we continually desire more, we demand that it be given to us with very little sacrifice on our part. We want to be able to throw off restraint and eat all we want, but at the same time remain as thin as a runway model. Every meal should be an elaborate affair and we should never be forced to eat something that is not absolutely delicious. And the cost, well, don’t expect us to pay more than pocket change. After all, there are plenty of people willing to labor and toil in order to keep the cost of food to a bare minimum for us royal Americans.

With all of this abundance, we are the sickest, most malnourished nation on the planet. Cancers and illnesses are eating away at us and medical costs are skyrocketing. Everyone is walking for the cure, placing their hope in the God’s of this world. There are no lack of saviors ready to offer their miracle cure in the form of the newest diet or health regimen. And there are no lack of masses ready to throw away their money for a quick fix to their problems.

Our country is the epitome of Jeremiah 6:16:

Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

We will not walk therein. So is the cry of the world today.

But as Christians, are we not called to a better way? Should we not steward the body that the Lord has blessed us with?

What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

For many Christians, we realize that we should be eating healthy and taking care of our bodies, but with so much conflicting information it sometimes makes our heads spin just thinking about it. Most of us were raised on “SAD” (Standard American Diet) and breaking out of it is difficult. We either feel defeated right from the get-go because the change seems insurmountable, or we over-correct and jump head-long into the man-made fads that promise restoration.

So what is the answer?

Well, I don’t think giving up is the answer and fads don’t work because they are incomplete, focusing only on the part, not the whole of our health. Our goal should be our overall health. Something that is doable and sustainable. Join me this week as I cover ways that we can reform the way we eat.

• Tomorrow, I will will be discussing practical ways to move to a “whole foods” or “real foods” diet (I don’t like the word diet, as I feel that it equates it with all the other “diets” out there.).
• Join me on Wednesday when I share my newfound journey with sourdough bread.
• Thursday I am sharing a super easy homemade pomegranate jelly tutorial.
• And on Friday, I am making fresh mozzarella cheese, perfect for a Caprese Salad!

Hopscotch with us January 14th – 18th as we share another round of over 110 posts full of homeschooling activities and advice, Biblical encouragement, and much much more!