I was featured on Wardeh’s podcast “Know Your Food” this morning of the popular GNOWFGLINS blog/podcast. Wardeh asked if there was an event or circumstance that brought our family to change the way we lived. I fumbled my way through my answer but realized that there were several factors. As I share my journey toward living a more healthy lifestyle, think about your own, and tell us about it in the comments below.
Here’s our family’s journey toward real food, healthier skin ingredients, and fitness over the past 12 years:
2000: With a couple young children in tow, my husband and I decide to exercise more and eat less. We find Body for Life and start weight-lifting. We build up our strength but rely too heavily on the shakes and protein bars. Our real food experience would come later, but we make great strides with learning how to work out.
2002: We want to get rid of all our debt and realize that reducing our eating out to only once a month cut down on expenses. It’s a great habit to start, and we rarely eat out anymore.
2004: By now we have 5 children and we move from Colorado to California. We decide we could save money by grinding our own wheat and baking our own bread, spending only 75 cents a loaf. My mother-in-law teaches me how to make yogurt.
2005: In California, new opportunities for eating healthy are everywhere… we start participating in our local CSA and have fruits and vegetables delivered to us. We also find a source for farm fresh eggs.
2006: I hire an online fitness coach who helps me drop 4 dress sizes.
2007: Around this time we buy a sprouter for making sprouts as well as a crock for making our own sauerkraut. We start making apple kefir, we learn how to brew our own root beer, and we become really good at sourcing local beef and pigs for meat. (I teach how here.)
2008: I dabble in soap-making, but my dry, cracked skin hurts like crazy: I make my first hard lotion bar.
2009: The hard lotion is a hit and MadeOn is founded. I also find that there’s a raw milk dairy farm 10 miles from our house, so now we have local eggs, meat, fruits and vegetables, milk and grains to feed our family.
2010: I learn that there’s an entire new world of natural skin care to discover. I research ways to make other skin care products with as few ingredients as necessary. The fact that our line has no preservatives, fragrances, chemicals or other additives pleases customers and supports our business even more.
2011: By now we have 8 kids. We decide to make MadeOn our full-time family business and income, and begin a second business. Our eldest son takes over with baking bread. We learn how to make kombucha.
2012: We continue running our businesses, homeschool, and work our way to better health. My husband and I each strap on our pedometers to ensure we walk at least 10,000 steps a day.
My bucket list: 1.) Learn to make cheese and sourdough bread. 2.) Perfect my deodorant recipe and make a toothpaste my family will love. 3.) Work weight-lifting back into my morning routine.
My next blog will share our sourdough experience, featuring Wardeh’s online courses. Let’s just start with the chocolate sourdough cake*, because you must know that healthy eating doesn’t have to be yucky. I’ll also introduce you to beeswax food wraps, something I learned from her e-courses.
Now it’s your turn: what big change(s) did you make toward better health in the past 12 years? Leave a comment below:
*full disclosure: although I’ve been following GNOWFGLINS for years, I bought the book, I’m subscribed to her e-courses and webinars, and we drank the GNOWFGLINS Kool-aid (Kombucha) — okay, that last one’s a joke — Wardeh and I also connect well on a business level and are promoting each other’s businesses because we love each other’s products. (Plus, we recently connected our sons on Minecraft and now we’ve officially cemented the family connection.) Just know that if you decide to sign up for her e-courses, a portion of that money goes to support my family’s fermenting habits.