Healthful Habit 19/52

I know, I missed {more than} a few weeks between the last Healthful Habit post and this current one. I'll go back and document all that's happened very soon. But I simply had to share our small change for this week.

Since beginning to properly prepare our grains, the question of pasta has been ever present on our minds. We could willingly give it up completely, were it not for spaghetti. Our journey to replace those noodles led us into the realm of rice pasta, a place we found we'd rather not venture. While the Ezekiel pasta does unfortunately contain sprouted organic soybeans, it's readily available at our local health food store. That makes it a decent option for when we get those spaghetti cravings. I'd still like to experiment with spaghetti squash and spelt pasta noodles... right after I get done catching up on those negligent posts.

Life

There are lots of things I'm pondering. Plenty of topics I'd love to write about. But there's this thing called life, and it seems to be taking all the energy I've got right now. Here's a snapshot of what our's looks like as of late.

• Baby girl is nine months old. Everyone tells you it goes by so fast, but I had no framework for understanding what that actually means. 
• We have this wonderful goal of completing our backyard patio, but the patchy grass and dirt view outside the window continues undisturbed. JULIE did come add an interesting rainbow of colored lines and mini-flags a few weeks ago...
• Baby girl is mobile, at least in the scooting-rapidly-around-on-my tummy sense. She also grabs the edge of every flat surface with a pursed lip expression as she attempts to chin-up her way to a standing position. This means I have even less time for anything else than I had before.
• Work. A miraculous blessing for our family. A constant source of emotional struggles as I wrestle with being a work-from-home-(mostly) mama. The topic of many late night marital discussions. And the consumer of all moments of free time (and a lot of moments that are not free) between now and the end of the school year.
• Summer is coming! I've never actually been a huge fan of the season, but all that is changing this year! Time to read. Time off. Time to garden. Time for leisurely evening strolls. Time. 
• Blessings. One unexpected after another. Sometimes hidden in unlikely places. 

Healthful Habit 7/52

Healthful Habits is a way for our family to intentionally implement a more wholesome style of living one small step at a time. The process of executing these small changes over the course of a year enables them to become lifelong habits.

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This is perhaps the most controversial of all the healthful habits we've attempted thus far. Modern nutrition experts have worked hard to convince us a low-fat diet full of polyunsaturated vegetable fats is the key to good cardiovascular health. Recent research and ancient traditional nutrition proves them wrong.

Healthful Habit 6/52

Healthful Habits is a way for our family to intentionally implement a more wholesome style of living one small step at a time. The process of executing these small changes over the course of a year enables them to become lifelong habits.

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If at first you don't succeed... try, try again!

Healthful Habit 5/52

Healthful Habits is a way for our family to intentionally implement a more wholesome style of living one small step at a time. The process of executing these small changes over the course of a year enables them to become lifelong habits.

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In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit this healthful habit sorta "grosses me out". Not the making of the chicken stock, but the preparation of the raw-chicken-that-must-be-cooked-in-order-to-have-the-bones-to-make-the-stock. However, I am fully convinced of the wonderful properties this food item has to offer and so will endure the disgusting task* of raw chicken carcass preparation* *. Plus, pastured chicken makes for some really tasty burritos and chicken gumbo soup.

Healthful Habit 4/52

Healthful Habits is a way for our family to intentionally implement a more wholesome style of living one small step at a time. The process of executing these small changes over the course of a year enables them to become lifelong habits.

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I've never been one to use a significant amount of salt. Having grown up in a home where we didn't even own a tabletop salt shaker, I guess the taste for added salt is one I've never developed. Other than the typical teaspoon amount called for when cooking, our kitchen salt container never received much attention until I stumbled upon the topic while reading Real Food. It turns out there's more to this common ingredient than I expected.

Healthful Habit 3/52

Healthful Habits is a way for our family to intentionally implement a more wholesome style of living one small step at a time. The process of executing these small changes over the course of a year enables them to become lifelong habits.

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The decision to begin purchasing grass-fed beef and pastured pork is the third healthful habit we implemented this year. Writers much more knowledgeable than I have expounded on the benefits of these products, but here are a few of the reasons that compelled us to make the change.

Real Food on a Budget (#1)

The most common questions/comments I receive when the conversation turns toward healthful habits are those related to that topic on all our stricken-economy-contientious minds: MONEY. 

Real food is often expensive. As Americans used to purchasing highly industrialized and government subsidized food products, paying $4.50 for a dozen eggs or $11.99 for a pound of bacon is enough to make any one of us choke {on our overpriced gourmet cup of coffee... just kidding.... sorta}. For our family, it's a carefully calculated cost- one we feel is worth every penny.

Living this way requires an attitude open to change. Being willing to understand what it truly costs to produce quality food. Conducting a little research to know where to buy products and what areas to make a priority. Seeking wisdom to differentiate between needs and desires. That said, we have found there are ways to save money in living a simpler life. For every expensive lifestyle change we have implemented, we have been blessed to find another area in which we could reduce our expenses. And none of them make me choke {even if I'm still drinking that cup of coffee}. 

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Budget Tip #1

In making to switch to a more healthful lifestyle, replace items as they run out. *

Healthful Habits: Baby Steps for Reducing Exposure to Toxins

Healthful Habits is a way for our family to intentionally implement a more wholesome style of living one small step at a time. The process of executing these small changes over the course of a year enables them to become lifelong habits. 

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At a recent mentoring session regarding nutrition, I was asked to suggest some "baby steps" to take when seeking to reduce exposure to environmental toxins. Never one to do well when put on the spot, I fear the information I shared was too discombobulated to be truly helpful as a checklist of baby steps. So here's the list again... in organized format with helpful little bullet points.

Healthful Habits: Chipotle

We're big Chipotle fans at our house. While we recognize there are problems regarding the sometimes limited amount of locally grown food they are able to source along with the continued presence of GMO's in their menu offerings, we are so thankful for the steps they are taking to improve our choices as American consumers. The following commercial aired during the Grammy Awards {thus, Willie Nelson}. Since we don't have television, I was only recently able to enjoy this fabulous visual critique of the darker side of the modern food industry.

For more details regarding the influence of this commercial, check out the excellent post at Food Renegade. Here's hoping more opportunities arise for the mass marketing of real food choices!

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UPDATE: My hubby pointed out that, while a very neat commercial, this depiction is not the authorial intent of Coldplay's original song. So enjoy the commercial AND the opportunity to critique the postmodern worldview.  :)

January Reading List

Inspired by my good friend, Stephanie (Facts, Facets, Fancies, and Fairy Tales), I have decided to produce a monthly reading report in an effort to bring some accountability to my literary goals.

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{William Sonoma's Baby Cookbook}

This book was a Christmas gift and has been immensely helpful thus far. Although most of the baby recipes are not complicated or even truly unique, the information shared throughout regarding the timing and introduction of foods is very helpful. As a bonus... the photography in the book enables it to grace any coffee table.

Restoration

I have worked over 45 hours in the last eight days...

Healthful Habits: A {Sorta} CSA

Healthful Habits is a way for our family to intentionally implement a more wholesome style of living one small step at a time. The process of executing these small changes over the course of a year enables them to become lifelong habits.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

{ Aristotle }

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Along with all the small changes we have been making to our lifestyle came the desire for us to consume more vegetables. It has been easy over the few years of married life to purchase the same varieties each week, so our challenge as baby girl has begun to eat "solids" is to expand the palate- at least in the fresh produce department. Thus our joy when I discovered our local health food store's "produce box" option this winter.

{Delicious Food}*

Murmurs of Autumn

I used up the last of our orchard apples this evening. They really kept beautifully this year, despite the fact I chose not to put them in plastic bags with a little water. The slightly wrinkled skin mattered little in our favorite baked apple crisp. And as I savored the taste of each wonderful bite, I was filled with anticipation for the seasons to come.

Healthful Habits: A Tale of Stickiness

Healthful Habits is a way for our family to intentionally implement a more wholesome style of living one small step at a time. The process of executing these small changes over the course of a year enables them to become lifelong habits.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

{ Aristotle }

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We as a culture have known about the dangers of non-stick for a long time. That's why you are told things like "dispose of your non-stick cookware as soon as it becomes chipped or scratched" and "never heat a non-stick pan when empty".

Several years ago, our family decided it was time to say goodbye to our non-stick skillets. Goodbyes are more fun when they're mixed with hellos.

After bidding farewell to my non-stick skillets {somewhat sentimentally since one was my first Valentine's gift from Kyle}, I finally invested in this cast-iron skillet*. No more crumpled pancakes or burnt French toast! A future with eggs cooked to perfection and crispy fried bacon awaits our family... and we are looking forward to it.

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* RELATED COMMENT:

After a little research, I came across these instructions for removing the soy-based coating on your cast iron and replacing it with one in keeping with our healthful habits.

Healthful Habit 2/52

Healthful Habits is a way for our family to intentionally implement a more wholesome style of living one small step at a time. The process of executing these small changes over the course of a year enables them to become lifelong habits.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

{ Aristotle }

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"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.

{A. A. Milne}

Healthful Habits: Water Woes

Healthful Habits is a way for our family to intentionally implement a more wholesome style of living one small step at a time. The process of executing these small changes over the course of a year enables them to become lifelong habits.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

{ Aristotle }

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{Kitchen Sink Tap Water Filtration}**

Living in the heart of Midwestern farm country, we've know for some time studies have shown our county to have one of the most polluted water supplies in the country.* Given that our place of employment is a school situated in the middle of a cornfield and drawing from an underground well, hubby and I have always preferred to carry our own bottled water. In an effort to eliminate toxic exposure and reduce our use of plastic, a few years ago we began purchasing bottled water in larger containers to refill our BPA-free water bottles.

Despite our improvements in this area, the lack of information regarding the source and purification process of our bottled water continued to disturb us. Purchasing the large amounts of water we consume also began to take its toll on our grocery budget. Just before Thanksgiving of this past year, we finally began the healthful habit we'd discussed for some time- water filtration.

While we would love to invest in a whole house filtration system, that option is not affordable within the limits of our current budget. The above filter works great for all our water for cooking, food cleaning, and drinking. Hubby has even taken to using this sink for brushing his teeth! Since the rest of our water throughout the house is not filtered, we also implemented the following habits.***

• Running a fan, opening the bathroom door, and {when possible} cracking the bathroom window when showering to reduce chlorine exposure through steam buildup****
• Allowing as little hot water as possible to come in contact with our skin in order to eliminate the additional toxic exposure of the metal/plastic in the water heater and pipes (i.e. taking cooler showers, using cold water for hand/face washing)
• Using the dishwasher as much as possible or using drops {containing sodium thiosulfate} to dechlorinate hot water before hand washing dishes
• Using the hot temperature cycle on the clothes dryer {or we could dry them in full, bright sunlight... which we don't}
• Never use hot tap water for cooking or baking.
• Avoid chlorinated swimming pools as much as possible

Overall, we have this healthful habit to be one of the easier ones to implement, and {at least to us} an important one to make. After all, "you are what you eat {er... drink}"!

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*REMOTELY RELATED COMMENT:

Investigate the contents of your own tap water supply on the Environmental Working Group site, or check with your city's supplier for a full-disclosure statement.

** RELATED COMMENT:

In making the decision of which faucet filter to purchase, the information provided on the Water Filtration Comparison site was extremely helpful. In addition to drinking water filtration, they also provide research on whole house filtration systems and shower filtration systems. There is also a wealth of information on the Environmental Working Group site regarding tap water.

***ANOTHER RELATED COMMENT:

Many of these ideas come from Growing Up Green by Deirdre Imus. While I don't know that I would recommend the book for purchase, if you can borrow a copy it's a pretty good read. She articulates the philosophy behind the "Green This!" series in this article. The most informative part of this book was the appendix where she recommends various products and websites.

****RANDOM COMMENT:

We are currently discussing/saving for the purchase of a shower filter to remove the chlorine in our bath water. With any luck this will be one of the healthful habit steps we take this year. Then we can go back to enjoying long, hot showers again!

Healthful Habit 1/52

Healthful Habits is a way for our family to intentionally implement a more wholesome style of living one small step at a time. The process of executing these small changes over the course of a year enables them to become lifelong habits.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

{ Aristotle }

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Our little change this first week of January is actually an improvement on one we started a number of years ago. We have been purchasing industrial, organic milk and eggs from large supermarkets for some time. While these versions are much better for your health than the usual mainstream options, recent research has convinced me of the following.

1) Pastured cows and chickens produce milk and eggs that are much higher in nutritional value than the products of their peers who are fed a diet consisting almost solely of organic grains. This makes logical sense since neither cows nor chickens were not created to effectively digest grain alone. According to Nina Planck in her book Real Food*, foods produced from grass-fed cows have more beta-carotene, vitamin A, antioxidants, omega-3 fats, and the polyunsaturated beneficial CLA fat. In fact, she goes so far as to claim, "Grass-fed milk is best, even if it's not organic" (70).

2) Purchasing food produced by local farms reduces harmful impacts on the environment and makes it more likely our food is free from undesired and/or unnecessary industrial processes. In addition, being able to physically visit the farm supplying your dairy products** ensures the food is being produced according to the standards you are seeking. It can be very difficult to discover how much (if any) access to pasture chickens and cows on large organic dairies truly have each day.

3) The majority of food (including milk/eggs) is healthiest when closest to its naturally occurring form. Processing that is done to make dairy products "low-fat", "skim", or even nutrient-enhanced typically removes components necessary for your body to most beneficially process the naturally-occuring nutrients***. In the past I had to virtually eliminate products containing milk from my diet due to low lactase production, since we have begun eating foods made with whole milk I am able to consume many more items with milk as an ingredient.

So here's the change implemented this week...

The eggs we purchase come from the several local chicken farms and are available at our two local natural food stores. The pasteurized****, non-homogenized milk is produced on a local dairy farm; we chose to purchase the whole or 2% versions. Incidentally, the milk is almost half the cost of the nationally distributed organic version we were previously purchasing. Both the milk and eggs are significantly more than the conventional versions available, but this is one area of our grocery budget where we feel the additional cost is worth the investment*****.

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* RANDOM COMMENT:

This is my favorite read thus far in 2012. I highly recommend!

** RELATED COMMENT:

While we do purchase local eggs and milk, the only pastured milk butter products I have been able to find in our area (including the national brands Organic Valley/Natural by Nature and local brands) are unsustainably expensive given the amount of butter we currently consume. I would love to purchase these brands or eventually learn to make my own butter. While not ideal, the USDA organic, store-brand butter available at our local Meijer is the best choice for our family at this time. We do purchase a variety of different local and/or organic cheeses; the brand/source depends on what is available and on sale at the time.

*** REMOTELY RELATED COMMENT:

The research I have read on this claim is compelling and {I think} fascinating. I hope to expound more on this topic as my own knowledge continues to grow.

**** ANOTHER RELATED COMMENT:

While a good case for the consumption of raw milk (unpasteurized) can be made, we prefer to continue using a pasteurized version; at least for the time being.

*****STILL ANOTER RELATED COMMENT:

The most common comments I receive when the topic of organic eating arises are those related to an inability to sustain the increased cost of food. For every one of those foods we deem worth the additional cost, we have found another way to reduce some other cost within our budget. Overall, the grocery category of our budget has not significantly changed even with the switch to some much higher priced items.

Healthful Habits: One Change at a Time

"Forward, forward let us range,

Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change."

{Alfred Lord Tennyson}

In October of 2009, my hubby found himself confined to our {very small} regional airport terminal for 5 hours while waiting for a new lightbulb to be delivered to replace the one that was burned out on the jet he was taking for a quick, overnight trip down south. Somewhere in the second or third hour, out of desperation he wandered into the airport bookshop looking for a diversion. The title of this book caught his eye and for the next few hours he was engrossed in its pages. While we have always made some lifestyle choices in an attempt to be more health conscious (i.e. avoiding margarine, drinking lots of water, regular exercise), it is really this moment that marks our beginning of more intentional choices to create healthful habits.

As we begin a new calendar year over two years later, our desire to become even more intentional about our consumer choices continues to grow. In order to build healthful habits in a manageable way while reducing the risk of "burnout", we are going to embrace the idea behind one little change. By making a single change to our lifestyle during each week of 2012, I hope our daily life reflects a whole host of healthful habits by the conclusion of this year. Small steps in a lifetime journey, all accomplished with little anxiety or pressure involved.

In order to accurately chronicle our entire journey, we would need to include a discussion of the changes we have implemented prior to this new year. Some of those actions include using aluminum-free deodorant, switching from bottled water to a purifying system, eliminating pesticide use in our home, reducing/ eliminating preservatives in our food, reducing exposure to plastics, incorporating organic meat/produce into our diet, and reducing/eliminating chemicals in our food/environment. As the year progresses I'll try to go back and address both our rationale and our implementation process for each of those steps. But for now I'll strive to be faithful in recording each little weekly change.

Resolutions

I have never been a fan of New Year's resolutions. Maybe it's because of my personality- I tend to procrastinate things until I can do them "all at once". As my dear hubby will attest, I've never been good at breaking small tasks down into manageable goals without trying to complete them all in one fell swoop. In fact, I'm not really a big fan of New Year's in general. Throughout the course of my life the school year has inevitably taken prestige over the calendar year, leading me to get a lot more excited about September than January. Adding to that phenomena, my employer requires us to construct instructional/personal/ spiritual/ academic goals each August to drive our upcoming year; which tend to take the place of said resolutions.

That being said, I rather fancy the idea I've seen floating around our virtual world of choosing a word for the new year. In meditating over the goals I've laid out for this school year, I kept returning to the underlying theme of TRUTH- not the reference to accurateness or correctness, but the much older English meaning of "faithfulness, quality of being true". Tracing back to even older origins we find "having or characterized by good faith", with perhaps even older connotations of "steadfast as an oak".

If I have learned something in my journey into saving grace, it's the knowledge that nothing I attempt or resolve will result in completion. I indeed desire many new changes- more gracious words, less critical ones; more faith, less doubt; more success; less failure; more kindness; less impatience. But the end of the year will reflect little that I have truly done to become all that I would like to be.

So that's my word-

{Alethia}

truth

May the year 2012 find the Word of Truth implanting faith deep within my heart, may His grace draw me into closer fellowship, may He be found faithful when I am faithless, and may the light of His glory begin to reflect upon my prone-to-wander soul.