Table Tuesday on Wednesday

Hello all!

The Happy Hippie here! Apologies for my tardiness. On Monday I was driving through 4 states and over the Rocky Mountains, and on Tuesday I got so caught up in packing (I'm in the process of moving to an island, which is harder than you may think!) that I overlooked my duties.

Last week I was just getting into the fact that natural living and healthy living are practically the same thing. Let's pick up from there!

Natural, ok. I think I get that. How do you apply that to your own life?

The first thing I did was try my best to choose organic over conventional. There are many, many reasons I did this, but I will save that for another post with a more organic-specific focus.

The second thing I did (and this turned out to be a much bigger deal than I expected): I tried to set my table with as much locally-grown and raised food as possible. Initially, this move was more environmental than health-based. But the health benefits were amazing, and what was more: it opened my eyes to so much that I never knew about before!

For one, there are probably dozens of fruits and veggies grown by local farmers that you didn't even know could grow so well in your area! Second, you may have never heard of or eaten some of those things. Talk about having to get creative! In my experience with going local, I found that so much research went into reading up on these new things and finding recipes, that I realized how much I neglected to learn about other things I've eaten my entire life.

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. Gen 1:29

What's more: all of these new and exciting foods all possess their own nutritional benefits. And by opening up my dinner table to new things, I was putting a beautiful variety of body-nourishing foods on my table, and my body was reaping the benefits. For more truly interesting, research-based information about this, I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

In short, I feel that by respecting the earth as a gift and my home; and by becoming more interested in trying and learning all about the foods---which I now see as beautiful, unique gifts---I have access to, I am being rewarded. I'm not going to lie, I love being rewarded!

Now, for our weekly mission!

This week's mission for Sarah: to read the ingredients label of every food item you buy or eat this week. Not nutritional info, but ingredients. You'd be shocked by how many ingredients you could never identify in a line-up. Seeing what goes into your food can really affect your appetite and the way you think about what you eat. Report back about what this made you realize about your food, and how you feel about that.