The Long and Winding Road to Healthy Eating

 

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if I could tell you that my journey to eating healthy was easy?  The truth is my path has been like The Beatles song, The Long and Winding Road.  It’s been a struggle from the very beginning, I love to eat, but it doesn’t love me.

I’ve always wanted my food intake to be about feeling good, more energy and it had to taste fantastic. 

I had no idea what that looked like in my 20’s or 30’s but when I approached my 40’s I knew it was time to figure it out. To do that I started to read and increase my understanding on what healthy eating really means.  

Some of that research began with cookbooks by sorting through recipes.  I noticed the food that looked the best was prepared with the least amount of real food ingredients.

At 45, I started to seriously implement that research and my way of eating improved. Why did I wait so long?  I think it was because I busy and lazy.

I also realized that too many food choices are based on filling a void.  You see it everywhere and if you think about it, food is nothing more than fuel. 

So, I’m going to offer some simple advice. Don’t eat food for comfort, instead make better choices to feel your best by learning to enjoy real food.

What Figuring it out Looked Like

Figuring something out and implementing are two different things.  It’s so easy to set a goal but following through involves commitment.  

When I got serious about eating healthy, we were living on a farm where we had access to homegrown food. That made a big difference; cooking with fresh ingredients is the best and I plan to share my recipes on this blog, under good food.

Here's the thing, if you don’t grow your own food or have the desire to garden then shop at the farmer’s market or find a food co-op to join. 

Keep in mind, I don't have food allergies, nor do I have major food dislikes which means I've never had any limitations when it came to food. But I knew it was necessary to begin making better food choices and think about exercise to reach my goals.

Being active outdoors through working the land is where the exercise void was met. The result of that lifestyle taught me that diet and exercise go hand and hand.  

I was on a great path just by doing a few simple things, moving my body and eating real food.

After 50 it’s all Down Hill

When we sold our farm, I was approaching 50 and everyone was telling me it would be impossible to maintain my goals because at this age metabolism begins slowing down.  I basically needed to accept that everything was downhill moving forward.

That wasn’t going to be me and around 2019, I removed carbs, sugar and spiked my protein intake. This was a game changer, and it was the best I had ever felt in my entire life.  My husband and I did this together and we felt amazing.

Then 2020 hit; when everything shut down I did too; worse my gym membership was gone.  I slowly let a few carbs back in, what could it hurt?  This set back was temporary, right?

Temporary went on for months and during 2021, I found myself on a book tour with my husband. We were driving across Texas, making more bad food choices and eating at weird hours.  

Our health paid the price, and the pounds were coming back.  It was also the result of a major slowdown in our energy levels, and it wasn't good.

All that implementing gone and we could both feel that our health was starting to travel downhill.

Get off the Winding Road

So how would we fix this downhill path? We got off the winding road, brought forward my favorite books from past research and spiked our protein intake again.

That negative path was self-inflicted, and I only had myself to blame. But I knew it was fixable and we both had to decide if our health was worth improving.

The answer was yes.

So, I’m going to share some of my favorite books and a new resource that I also recently found.  Take it or leave it, that’s all up to you. 

• The Paleo Solution –I learned so much from this book, love it. 
• Whole 30 Slow Cooker – Great recipes to use with an instant pot.
• The Paleo Foodie – This is fun, I do a lot of experimenting with these recipes.
• My Pinterest Food Board - loaded with healthy recipes that complement paleo.
• Thinlicious – Great recipes and her program is spot on; love Ruth's podcast been listening for years.

It’s my hope that by opening up about eating healthy, it encourages you to make better choices that fit your own lifestyle.

It’s not my place to tell you what to do but wanted to pass along this information with hopes of sharing a better way to do things through real food and movement.

-Carole

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