Aware09: Nutrition v2

My theme for the year is awareness. I'll develop that later for you, but I came to this conclusion a couple weeks into January.

Ideally, I think, I will become a healthier, whole-er Asher throughout this year.

One of the areas that falls beneath this theme is nutrition. Jump started by a nuisance of a cough, I've had to make some substantial changes to my diet. Here's just an idea of what this looks like.

I avoid*...

• Pork, in all its forms. If it comes from a pig, I don't (generally) eat it. This one isn't all that new; I've more or less been this way since Fall 2002. Pig just isn't good for you. Step away from the bacon...
  
• White flour. I've also pretty much been this way, at least loosely, since Fall 2002. It's basically just void of anything good for your body. For the past couple months, this has been strictly avoided.
• Going further: gluten. This sacrifice has been the most challenging out of all the changes. I like pasta and bread! Essentially, gluten is in A LOT of things. The obvious implications of this are avoiding breads, pastas, etc. Though there are gluten free alternatives I've stumbled upon.
• Dairy. The only exception to this (that I make for myself) is cheese... but in small quantities. If I have more than just a little, I get a stomach pains. Yep.
  
• Refined sugars/high fructose corn syrup. Refined sugar is like glass to your immune system. HFCS metabolizes as fat and steals nutrients from your body as it tries to assimilate.

So, eating can be complicated. But it's not as hard as you might think. It's mostly a process of becoming aware of what is in the "food" we consume. As I've become more aware, here are some tricks/things I've learned along the way.

• International aisles are my/your friend. You should still label read, but other countries don't use nearly the amount of fillers that we do, and the foods are rarely as processed. I'm a big fan of asian/thai which works in my favor, since a lot of such food involves rice or rice noodles, and veggies. No fillers and no gluten.
  
• Gluten-free bread is possible. You can make your own or find mixes.
• HFCS is in pretty much everything. Even your applesauce. Look for it, and remember that there are alternatives. (Like full-circle's applesauce! It's unsweetened and I like it a lot!)
  
• Meijer has a gluten-free section, and gluten-free products are marked with "GF" on the shelf, next to the price. (They also have other labels such as "SF" for sugar free and "N" for natural)
  
• The people at Harvest Health are incredibly helpful. Ask them lots of questions. They like it, I swear.
• Corn is a grain, not a veggie, and is in everything, I swear. And they disguise it under different names, like Xanthan Gum.
• Our bodies process foods/nutrients/vitamins best in their natural form. Foods fortified with this vitamin or that mineral don't help as much as one might hope because our bodies absorb and process such things in specific ways. It's best to go to the natural source.

So, why am I becoming so passionate about this? Because I believe God wants to redeem every part of us, even our diets. I believe He created our bodies and our food to work together to keep us strong and healthy and that part of living the best possible life is treating our whole selves well and putting good things in us. I began this part of my journey several years ago and have recently become re-impassioned because of an illness. And as Rabbi Kushner says: "One of the most sublime experiences we can ever have is to wake up feeling healthy after we have been sick." I'm looking forward to such an experience and life!

If you're looking to start your own journey towards health and wholeness, I know a good friend who would love to help. Your journey may or may not include all/some of the changes I've endured, but it will bring change and promote health and balance. If you're a destination junkie like I am, it's important to realize that this is indeed a journey and could take a while. But it's like the taking the red pill in the matrix; once you know, there's no going back.

*I can provide you with info on all these things; I just didn't want to bog the blog down. Just let me know!