I have so many recipes and other stuff to blog...and I finally feel a little bit better so I'm catching up! I have lots of recipes coming soon so check that out.
So first of all, I am so proud of my man. A few months ago, he decided to get healthy and lose weight because he was too young for high cholesterol. So he worked really hard to lose weight, all while working hard at his job and being a good dad and husband, and going to school. He lost 45 lbs!!! Did I mention that I am proud of him? Well, recently, as a family, we have been working to get healthier. The truth is that anyone can lose weight without getting healthier. And that is what we do not want to do. The more research my husband has done, the more he has wanted to get away from processed food, white sugar and flour, and addictive and unhealthy things that America calls "food" that are not really food. Instead, we have started eating more veggies, fruits, nuts, beans and things grown instead of made in a lab. Now he has gone full vegan (no animal products like meat, fish, eggs, dairy).
Obviously because I am pregnant I hesitated to become full vegan at first (although I am not new to this, I have done it in the past and I had never felt better) so I waited to talk to my midwife before I made any serious changes. I have an amazing midwife and she said it is perfectly fine if I do (in fact, it is great). So I have been eating mostly vegan. If I have a craving for something like milk or steak, I will eat it, but for the most part I have been following along with what Ish is doing. Since we have started cooking and eating real food, we feel amazing, and I feel good about the nutrition our growing baby is getting.
So here is the reason I am blogging about this:
First of all, it is NOT to persuade anyone to become vegan. It sometimes feels like when we tell people we are vegan (and I've done this before I married Ish and had the same experience), that people get automatically defensive in a way. Like they feel like because we are doing something a certain way that they have to do it too. That is silly. If you want to go to Burger King right now, go. If you eat it in front of me, fine. I am not judging you.
I have also, many times, gotten the response, "but, that's not biblical". Well, I have done my research and it is not in any way un-biblical to be a vegan. Actually (and look for yourself), Gen 2:29 "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food". It wasn't until after the fall of man that the bible mentions any animals being used for food or clothing. So God's original intent was for us to eat seeds, things grown from trees and plants and the ground, with no mention of animals. But is it biblical or unbiblical? It's not a command from God and it's not wrong either, it's just a personal preference and conviction. (Quite a bit like a lot of things that Christian culture likes to place in the "right" or "wrong" category. But we won't go there today).
So the reason this has become a blog is just to answer the question of why for those of you who are curious. Because we have gotten a lot of questions, and we are on a journey and want to share what we are learning if you want to know.
Last night, Ish and I had a long conversation about food and the reality of how what we eat is affecting our lives. First of all, Sugar. Refined white sugar and flower is addictive. The food industry wants it that way because they can suck us in. They don't care about what it does to our bodies, they just care about what it does to their bank account. Think about it this way: sugar, high fructose corn syrup and refined white flour are made in the same way cocaine is made. Cocaine comes from a Coca plant, which in itself is not harmful and does not react in the body the way the finished product of cocaine does, but in the same way cocaine is processed and broken down to become the final drug, sugar, high fructose corn syrup and flour are also taken from their original state and broken down and processed into the final chemical. Once broken down, these things are so far from their original state that they harm our bodies. They cause diabetes, heart disease, cancers, hyperactivity in children and lots of other things, not to mention they are addicting. High fructose corn syrup is in everything; bread, juice, even sushi. Look at the labels of things and realize that it's very hard to get away from eating it! So if we are making a product, that is harmful, addictive and is killing us, then why would we call that product acceptable? Because everyone is doing it? And why would we give it to our children? We would never give cocaine to our children, but instead we will give them another "drug" and then wonder why they are overweight, hyperactive and can not pay attention?
And the biggest thing is WHY, as the church, do we make our own rules of what is acceptable and what is not? Humans are spirit, soul, and body. Why do we focus on spirit and soul and ignore the body? How is it that someone who has a cigarette addiction can feel like they can't keep coming to a church because they are "sinning" at the same time all the church people are gorging themselves on sugary crap that is destroying our bodies and making our lives shorter and very much less effective. Instead of walking in the freedom we preach about, we are bound by the addiction of food? And we don't think twice about it. We even call it acceptable because "We live in Texas". Somehow that argument makes no sense to me. (side note: I hate including myself in the "church people" category because when it comes down to it I just love Jesus and that is all, but because I go to a church I automatically fall in the church people category).
And, the silliest thing to me is this: We serve a God who heals and we ask and beg to be healed, while at the same time we are feeding our bodies things that are killing us. Things that God never intended for us to eat. I think there is so much we are missing out on. So much freedom we don't have because we are addicted to food that is killing us and causing us to be depressed and limited in our failing bodies. So many years we lose that God intended for us to live out as an effective vessel and we can't do it because we . So many amazing foods that God created for us in his beautiful world that we don't even know about, because we are eating the counterfeit stuff instead.
So that's what it comes down to for us: We just want to be free from living to eat, and we want to eat to live and live to serve our amazing God.
So first of all, I am so proud of my man. A few months ago, he decided to get healthy and lose weight because he was too young for high cholesterol. So he worked really hard to lose weight, all while working hard at his job and being a good dad and husband, and going to school. He lost 45 lbs!!! Did I mention that I am proud of him? Well, recently, as a family, we have been working to get healthier. The truth is that anyone can lose weight without getting healthier. And that is what we do not want to do. The more research my husband has done, the more he has wanted to get away from processed food, white sugar and flour, and addictive and unhealthy things that America calls "food" that are not really food. Instead, we have started eating more veggies, fruits, nuts, beans and things grown instead of made in a lab. Now he has gone full vegan (no animal products like meat, fish, eggs, dairy).
Obviously because I am pregnant I hesitated to become full vegan at first (although I am not new to this, I have done it in the past and I had never felt better) so I waited to talk to my midwife before I made any serious changes. I have an amazing midwife and she said it is perfectly fine if I do (in fact, it is great). So I have been eating mostly vegan. If I have a craving for something like milk or steak, I will eat it, but for the most part I have been following along with what Ish is doing. Since we have started cooking and eating real food, we feel amazing, and I feel good about the nutrition our growing baby is getting.
So here is the reason I am blogging about this:
First of all, it is NOT to persuade anyone to become vegan. It sometimes feels like when we tell people we are vegan (and I've done this before I married Ish and had the same experience), that people get automatically defensive in a way. Like they feel like because we are doing something a certain way that they have to do it too. That is silly. If you want to go to Burger King right now, go. If you eat it in front of me, fine. I am not judging you.
I have also, many times, gotten the response, "but, that's not biblical". Well, I have done my research and it is not in any way un-biblical to be a vegan. Actually (and look for yourself), Gen 2:29 "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food". It wasn't until after the fall of man that the bible mentions any animals being used for food or clothing. So God's original intent was for us to eat seeds, things grown from trees and plants and the ground, with no mention of animals. But is it biblical or unbiblical? It's not a command from God and it's not wrong either, it's just a personal preference and conviction. (Quite a bit like a lot of things that Christian culture likes to place in the "right" or "wrong" category. But we won't go there today).
So the reason this has become a blog is just to answer the question of why for those of you who are curious. Because we have gotten a lot of questions, and we are on a journey and want to share what we are learning if you want to know.
Last night, Ish and I had a long conversation about food and the reality of how what we eat is affecting our lives. First of all, Sugar. Refined white sugar and flower is addictive. The food industry wants it that way because they can suck us in. They don't care about what it does to our bodies, they just care about what it does to their bank account. Think about it this way: sugar, high fructose corn syrup and refined white flour are made in the same way cocaine is made. Cocaine comes from a Coca plant, which in itself is not harmful and does not react in the body the way the finished product of cocaine does, but in the same way cocaine is processed and broken down to become the final drug, sugar, high fructose corn syrup and flour are also taken from their original state and broken down and processed into the final chemical. Once broken down, these things are so far from their original state that they harm our bodies. They cause diabetes, heart disease, cancers, hyperactivity in children and lots of other things, not to mention they are addicting. High fructose corn syrup is in everything; bread, juice, even sushi. Look at the labels of things and realize that it's very hard to get away from eating it! So if we are making a product, that is harmful, addictive and is killing us, then why would we call that product acceptable? Because everyone is doing it? And why would we give it to our children? We would never give cocaine to our children, but instead we will give them another "drug" and then wonder why they are overweight, hyperactive and can not pay attention?
And the biggest thing is WHY, as the church, do we make our own rules of what is acceptable and what is not? Humans are spirit, soul, and body. Why do we focus on spirit and soul and ignore the body? How is it that someone who has a cigarette addiction can feel like they can't keep coming to a church because they are "sinning" at the same time all the church people are gorging themselves on sugary crap that is destroying our bodies and making our lives shorter and very much less effective. Instead of walking in the freedom we preach about, we are bound by the addiction of food? And we don't think twice about it. We even call it acceptable because "We live in Texas". Somehow that argument makes no sense to me. (side note: I hate including myself in the "church people" category because when it comes down to it I just love Jesus and that is all, but because I go to a church I automatically fall in the church people category).
And, the silliest thing to me is this: We serve a God who heals and we ask and beg to be healed, while at the same time we are feeding our bodies things that are killing us. Things that God never intended for us to eat. I think there is so much we are missing out on. So much freedom we don't have because we are addicted to food that is killing us and causing us to be depressed and limited in our failing bodies. So many years we lose that God intended for us to live out as an effective vessel and we can't do it because we . So many amazing foods that God created for us in his beautiful world that we don't even know about, because we are eating the counterfeit stuff instead.
So that's what it comes down to for us: We just want to be free from living to eat, and we want to eat to live and live to serve our amazing God.
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