Traditional Nutrition – Much More to Come

Thanks for all the kind words for Matthew! I know it’s rough for him to lose Camo his pup-brother, and I wish I could make life just happy and easy for him, and protect him from any bad feelings ever. What–it could happen!

Here’s a pic of the new short haircut:

I might actually use this one for a while on the blog too, just because I realized the one I have here is…well, a year and a half old. Am I the only person who is never ever in any pictures? I am pretty bad at taking pics, even with my family, but even when I do, I’m not actually in the pictures. I’ll say that I’ll work on that, but I’m not totally sure I will.

I know I said a few weeks ago that I was working on a blog re-design, and I am…but I over-committed myself to teaching this semester, so I’ve got a bit of a hold-up (I suppose it didn’t help that I signed up for yoga teacher training too—but that’s fun, and I’ll admit, harder than I anticipated).

I have so many informative things in my head that I want to say, but my focus is going mostly to grading papers and planning classes right now. The good news is that as of Dec 16th or so, that will be different…and I have an awesome project to work on with a friend this summer. I don’t want to say too much about it now, except that it involves food and film and hopefully a photo novella (if I get my way!).

I think I’ll give you a snippet into my food-life though–I’ve been sort of secretive about it lately, but it’s getting hard to hold back 🙂

In case you missed my prior post about this, on approximately August first, I cut all grains and pseudograins out of my diet. I also cut my sugar intake to around 10g per day or less (I don’t add it to anything and I’m not eating fruit right now). I also added in certain foods like organic pasture-fed animal products (including butter and eggs).

I’m not calling this the Paleo Diet or Low-Carb, or anything like that—there’s no name for it. It’s kind of like I’m going back in time 100 years or so and eating the way my childhood idol, Laura Ingalls, probably did 🙂

(You think I’m kidding—I’ll have to find the Laura Ingalls dress my mom made for me when I was 5–I used to wear it to school all the time with the bonnet hanging around my neck. But please don’t tell anyone about that.)

If I had to name the way I’m eating, it would be Traditional Nutrition. There are so many topics I want to cover about why I’m eating this way—meat cooked on the bone (and the relationship to bone and joint health), eggs (and choline and brain health), unpasteurized and/or full-fat dairy (especially from goats), cod liver oil (yes, I said that), and …still… veggies (mostly organic ones).

Quick summary of my benefits: clear skin, no brain fog, a billion times more energy, no joint pain (especially no knee pain), more muscle tone (but I’ve also changed my workouts, so I don’t know how much I can attribute to food), no puffiness, no digestive issues, shinier hair (I wash it less often)…my eye color changed a little too I think–or my eyes just look more clear.

I believe that we all need different nutrition habits to support our own specific and individual needs. I also believe we have some common needs, and that it’s probably as healthy for some people to be vegetarian/vegan as it is for others to be omnivores. I don’t want to get hung up on those details–-but to just focus on quality.

What about you? Do you value quality most? Or cost? Or fitting into the nutrition paradigm you’ve chosen to follow? Or taste?

Happy Tuesday!

Here’s a Rumi quote my mom sent to me yesterday:

Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking. -Rumi