Thursday, August 12, 2010

Am I Following Through?

As chaotic as life is right now, I think that I am starting to get better at meeting my goal of living a handmade and natural life.  I started this blog a little more than a year ago with the goal of living a  more natural life.  I wanted to do this by buying food in it's most natural state and cooking vs buying more processed foods, being thrifty with how I spend my money,  making things that I would normally buy in a store (if possible), eating less frequently at restaurants (again making my own food as naturally as possible), making my own healthy cleaning and body products, and anything else that fits into this category.  I have certainly had my ups and downs with these goals and probably have had more downs than ups,  but I always attempt to get back on track.   

Along with the things I wrote about above, I am also trying to be a more natural/crunchy parent.  I cloth diaper, I attempted CIO but hated it and really haven't done it since (though in another blog I wrote that it worked and that I loved it until I realized it was luck that my son wnet to sleep so well for a few days), I try to make sure that the kids experience time outside and that they remain active.  I have also, along with my husband, tried to hold off early intervention referrals for the kids speech so that they have time to develop on their own time table.  We actually have maede a referral recently since we now think that they really could benefit.

I have started being better about cooking at home, using the veggies from our garden, other people's garden, or the farmer's market.  Unfortunately due to finances, I am not able to utilize organic foods and free range and grass fed meats, but when I can I try to.  I am trying to be better about choosing healthy foods and doing what ever it takes to get my little ones to eat their veggies.  I am starting to utilize a cookbook "Ddeceptively Delicious" which uses veggie purees in foods that you wouldn't think would have veggies in them as a way to "trick" my kids into eating veggies.  I will also offer them veggies so that they get used to eating veggies, but at least this way they will get the nutrients they need without knowing it.  Unfortunately, my husband was diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, which is really a name for a group of issues that he is trying to take care of.  We both have high blood pressure, he is pre-diabetic, and he has a problem with his cholesterol ratios.  This is being dealt with by his doctor through vitamins and exercise, and we want to start treating it with diet.  Unfortunately, one of the ways to treat it is a low carb diet.  Unfortunately, I love carbs!  I think we just need to decrease the amount of carbs in our diet, which is something I am always trying to do.  The other info that he found out about through an alternative medication site it that high fructose corn syrup is a major contributor to metabolic syndrome.  I try not to buy anything with HFCS, but it seems like it is in everything.  We are exercising too, which is a major change for us.  For the last few years, we have been major couch potatoes, probably because we are too tired with everything else in our lives, but that is no excuse.  It's time to continue to exercise, lose weight and get healthy.

I am also trying to find time to do my hobbies.  Unfortunately, I am now working so that eats up 4 hours of my time M-F, but I think it is really important to find time to do the things that you love.  I am attempting to get organized so that I am able to live the lifestyle that I want, which means that I'll be so much happier in the long run.  It's just going to take some time to get there, but if I do it right, it will be easy to maintain!

Always a work in progress, but am I living up to what I really want out of life?

Amy

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