Me, The Health Nut

For those of you who know me (Jaime) really well, you will know that back in Freshman year of High School I first became a bit of a health nut. Health class taught us about healthy eating and its benefits. I would constantly be reading labels to the food I was eating to see what it contained. I still ate a lot of the stuff I had been eating over the years, but was now exercising my skills of label reading and trying to add in healthy food where I could and when I thought of it.

Sophomore year of high school I started running Cross Country and Track, and with that I would pay even more attention to cut out certain things where I could; sodas, things that are partially hydrogenated, etc. My mom still did most of the cooking in the house so I ate what she made, the same things I loved all the years of growing up. Thats not saying she cooked things that were bad, she actually went out of her way to make them healthier.

Married now, I am doing the cooking myself and its MY job to watch what I am making. Fortunately, Tim already was on the track of trying to eat healthier before I met him, so he is pretty happy that I am trying to continue that today for both of us. And boy! I lucked out, he is really good at trying anything that I try making; he is really easy going about that sort of thing. Naturally, I ask him what he thinks every time I make something new, I want to make sure if he doesn't like it that I change the recipe or totally cut it out next time.

My good friend Emma and I have been spending almost a year now, nearly every week if we can, in fellowship with each other. We talk about all sorts of things, but one thing that always comes around is health and how we could better improve what we eat and how we take care of ours and our husband's bodies. Emma has a lot of things she has to keep in check with her health routine, and through her sharing, it has really motivated me to seek better health.

Back in January I singed up with this great company called Meleleuca (http://www.melaleuca.com). A GREEN wholesale company from Idaho that has all natural products and are 100% a USA based. They have amazing products! We started taking their vitamins and saw a great difference. I used to get sick for what seemed to be 10 times a year, and this year I have only been sick once for only a couple of days (I didn't even hit full strength cold). And I don't think Tim has gotten sick at all!

A couple of weeks ago Tim and I went to Sacramento to visit some good friends of ours Brian and McKenzie Helvick. They made us a really nice dinner at home and I was shocked to find out what we were actually eating. They told us about this diet that they have been doing which we had never heard of before.

Paleo! http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/

Revolutionary! The big AH HAA! This diet is also known as the "Cave Man" diet. You eat the way we were originally meant to eat. You cut out dairy, grains, legumes, starches, and processed foods & sugars.

Naturally, this is a hard thing to completely jump into, but its a great goal to aim for. Taking this diet into thought, I have started cutting out a TON of the grains and starches we used to consume. Switching my snacking to nuts, seeds, dried fruits, and carrots. I feel so much better knowing now that what I am eating isn't going to shorten my life. I used to make pasta and sauce ALL the time and I always felt so guilty for home much of that stuff we ate. WOW a weight has really been taken off my shoulders!

If any of you are feeling the way I was about what I was eating and preparing for others, I would strongly recommend this to all of you!!!


I picked this book up at Costco. It is totally worth getting.

Here are some more really great cookbooks for the family and for kids: