Misconception Monday

After an amazing week with my family I will attempt to blog regularly again. Attempt...

They Henry's always eat healthy.

NOT!

While I have packed my little brain full of glorious nutrition and health information - I break and bed the rules. This doesn't exactly mean that I have ice cream every time I want ice cream. It does mean that this week I had cupcakes on two occasions this week. Next week I will not be eating cupcakes.

As a general rule the Henry's eat food for meals, that almost always means plants. At times that can mean plants on pizza! We love the Vegetarian Gourmet Pizza from Papa Murphy's.

I was watching a video on Paul Nison's blog this week where he interviewed Frederic Patenaude. I can't remember the exact quote, but Patenaude said something along the lines of, "It's not what we eat in a meal that counts, but what we eat in a day." I'm not looking to every piece of food I put in my body to provide me with perfect health, though that does make a huge impact. I first look to The Creator. Health and life are a gift from Him! Life is a gift as well and I plan to enjoy it! Sometimes that means I enjoy food that bends and breaks the rules of what I know to be healthy. They may be high in fat, salt, sugar and refined something (hello cupcake), but these things are the exception. I've worked hard and long (longer than I'd like to admit) to kick my addictions to these brain stimulating foods. They can be just like drugs. Being eight months pregnant means that the battle is raging!

In order to win this battle I change my expectations. There are seasons of total abstinence, raw food and not breaking a single one of those golden health rules. I love these seasons. I feel great. I know I'm doing my body a tremendous favor. The longer I eat this way the more I want to eat this way! Then there's the rest of the time. I don't want to set myself up for failure. That feels horrible and only leads to binging. This may not be the case for everyone, but I know myself well enough to know that if make food a religion I will fail miserably and food will fail me! I want to teach my children good lessons in health and nutrition. I want to help them make good life long decisions that will promote health and an enjoyable life. It is totally possible to have an enjoyable life on a raw food vegan diet. That just isn't a realistic life for my family.

I have my regular food patterns, the rule that I almost never dismiss. I take Barley Life every morning. I know that barley grass juice is one of the best things I can put into my body, so I don't skip it. Next I have a fruit smoothie or at least a piece of fresh, raw, ripe fruit. If I do these two things first thing in the morning I feel better all day and make better food choices all day. I also follow closely to a Levitical Diet. God gave us some rules about food that I think are most beneficial for long term health. Most days I choose to eat a plant based diet. I enjoy it and I understand the benefits that I reap from sticking with it. I don't beat myself up with my food facts, but I use them as tools in my tool belt. I use them to get what I want and to avoid what I don't want!