Recent Journey to Organic

When I first started this journey with PCOS, I found a blog called PCOS Diva. After reading her blog, I thought "wow, this girl is NUTS!!". She took the PCOS diet guidelines and took them to a huge extreme. I thought, I could NEVER afford to eat that way, nor would I want to.

But one thing kept nagging me in the back of my mind ..... She argued against being a "dairy queen". That led me to research why I shouldn't have milk, and if I did, why I should drink organic. ....

It clicked in me ... OMG, every time I take a bite of anything, it is filled with hormones that make this struggle even harder than before. The worst part is ... most of these hormones are not there by an act of God, they are put there by men in order to make are animals grow faster and bigger, thus feeding more people and making them more money. Look at the way we eat, if there was a little less food to go around in the US, would any of us suffer? We'd all lose a few pounds I suspect and stop overindulging in food we don't need.

That research led me to a few documentaries on our current food system and how our food is more of a "product" than actual food. If you have Netflix like I do, you can watch them yourself. I recommend "Food Fight" and "Fresh" among others.

Now I can't fight it anymore. I am on the bandwagon for free-range, cage-free, organic meats and organic, locally produced fruits and vegetables. No, there is no taste difference between the $1.20 one dozen pack of store brand eggs and the all natural cage-free organic alternative that sells for around $2.80-$4.50 per dozen. But that extra you spend is making you healthier because you aren't getting those artificial hormones and you can be assured that the chickens they came from led a happy life. .... Whenever I am in the store and am tempted to save the $2, my husband looks at me with sad eyes and says "cheep cheep cheep cheep" like a little chick and I remember that when I purchase those eggs I am "voting" for the types of food I want to see in the store.
As far as the milk and meat goes ... there is a HUGE taste difference. The milk is creamier and the meat has a LOT more flavor. When you go to a five star restaurant, that isn't industrial Wal-Mart beef you're eating. It was most likely raised on a farm no more than 50 miles away.
Not only that, there is a video out there on the internet showing footage of a Land-O-Lakes dairy farm. I cried like a baby when I watched it. I couldn't believe that by buying the $1.98 gallons of milk or a $2 brick of butter I was telling the dairy industry that their practices were not only okay, but that I was okay with whatever means they deemed necessary to bring it to me for a low price. And that's NOT acceptable. Why should we torture these animals just to save a few dollars?? Composing myself took a little more than a few minutes, but when I finally did, I searched for footage of an organic farm. That's when I found footage from the Horizon diary farm. You could see the cows in the field playing and eating the grass. ... They were happy and healthy, the way any diary cow should be raised.
I will never ... never .... never bring the industrial food into my home again.

At the moment, the closest organic meat I can find is at the Whole Foods store 30 miles away in the city. UNACCEPTABLE. Now I am on a journey to find options closer to home.

I have now found two organic veggie farms here in town and I plan on setting up an appointment with them to tour their farms and find out how to purchase their produce.
Now I am on a mission to find eggs locally (to save some $$) and to find some organic meats too. The meats I suspect, will be a little further away and I am probably going to have to find a grocery store or butcher shop that has it ... unfortunately for me, I don't think we have any butchers anymore as they were pushed out by WalMart a long time ago. But the eggs I imagine are entirely doable.

This health mission has now extended past me and my family. It now extends beyond me and my journey. Now, I am on a journey for my own health and a journey to insure that the animals that are giving their lives for my nourishment are in turn, being provided a full, healthy, and happy life from the people who raise them. I will not allow the food I eat to come from tortured and the way I insure that is to research the things that I buy, vote with my purchasing dollars to send a message, and by encouraging my fellow PCOSgals to educate themselves on these issues. Hopefully you too will see why these changes not only need to be made for our own health, but to fight for what we stand for as human beings.

Live better, eat healthy, and get familiar with that logo by buying organic.

Being a Little Selfish

It has been 6.5 months since starting this journey with PCOS and I am asked from time to time how life is different now.

Most people are reffering to my weight loss when they ask that question. They want to know how I feel or if I have more confidence since losing a great deal of weight. The weight loss has certainly made life easier ... and I'm not shocked when I pass mirrors anymore, at least not in a bad way. But the weight loss is only part of the change.

It feels like my life has been changed in almost a fundamental way. I am still me ... I am still a nice person, I still think about others and their feelings, I still believe in Jesus and the hereafter, I still love my husband, and I still think that how I treat others will come back to me 10 fold. I am still me! ..... What has changed is my relationship with myself.

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You can't take care of others until you first take care of yourself. .... That realization is essentially how my life has changed.

If I focus on other people without putting myself into the equation .... well ... that's how people become unhealthy. Being healthy takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, and a lot of money. Three things that when focused on others can do a lot of good .... but unfortunately it means you are neglecting yourself and you can't keep up all of that goodwill for long when your health is fading. Pretty soon ... you're going to need a lot of people focusing all of their attention on you and making you better.

Being unhealthy makes you fatigued, sluggish, sickly, and unmotivated. But being healthy gives you tons of energy, drive, and of course ... you are more likely to live longer.

Being a little selfish doesn't seem so selfish anymore does it?

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Now that I've added a little "selfishness" into my life, I have to say, I've become a better wife, a better employee, and generally, a better person. I'm able to contribute more than ever before, even though more of my resources are focused on myself.
Before this change, my life was hard to manage and had frequent breakdowns ... hey, 7 day work weeks with no weekends can really drain a healthy person, let alone an unhealthy one. My hormones being out of whack made every day a challenge. But now, I do the same schedule, the same grind ... but it isn't difficult anymore. I do it without batting an eye now.

Yes, life has changed in many, many ways. .... And I'm enjoying every turn this life is throwing at me.