"Find your joy! Embrace a lifestyle that supports and strengthens your immune health while improving your quality of life."
This quote really hit home when thinking of how to start this blog. Many of us (I included), Struggle on a daily basis when it comes to finding that right balance of eating what you want, while also improving your quality of life.
Nowadays, the world seems like such a crazy place full of uncertainty, stress, and worry. So much so, that it sometimes feels as if you're battling this on a daily basis. That really seems to leave one option for many at the end of the day... Finding comfort. However, many times this search for comfort leads down a very risky path of questionable food choices and a sedentary lifestyle. This is a place I have found myself visiting more than I'd care to admit. And this is where the concept of this blog came into play!
Through the many years I have leaned towards a more natural lifestyle of herbal teas and herbal concoctions that I had cultivated when I was young. However, this eventually grew into a passion. A passion for finding healing in what nature had to offer and alternative ways of healing than just what doctors and pharmaceutical companies could offer. And although I had this spark for natural remedies, one thing I had found that I never really changed was my diet. It wasn't until going to herbal school that I realized that taking just herbs alone could only get you so far. For true healing one has to change their diet and lifestyle.
This is usually a really hard concept to consider for most people due to their reliance on what they are used to along with not wanting to make sacrifices in a department that brings them great joy. It is no wonder so many people have a hard time changing their diets considering all of the chemicals, additives, and preservatives that are in our food today. Believe it or not, processed foods, sweets, soda, and the like are addicting. Companies go through great trouble to create substances to add in our everyday food that caters to each taste bud so as to get the proper chemical reaction from the brain. Chocolate for instance has the ability to cause the brain to release endorphins, those "feel good" chemicals that make one happy. Now I'm not saying we should start throwing rocks at chocolate, but you get my point. They can take this idea and create a similar reaction in other foods by adding chemicals. This is only one of many reasons we should stay clear of processed foods. One great rule of thumb to avoid most processed foods when grocery shopping is to only travel along the perimeter of the store. For the most part one should avoid the inner isles where you find sweets, cereals, chips, candy, sodas, etc.
Now I'll leave you with one thought. The father of medicine Hippocrates once said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” His form of medicine was a therapeutic approach based on the healing power of nature. He believed that the body had the ability within itself to re-balance and heal itself. So, are you eating to feed your body what it needs? Or are you eating just because "It tastes good?" No matter what some might think, these two things do not have to be mutually exclusive. You can fuel your body with the proper nutrients it needs to function properly while also eating something that's tasty!