So in the last 5 months I have taken a major initiative to clean up my life. I have changed my eating habits including where my food comes from; my cleaning habits, including the products I use; and my attitude regarding my health, including my expectations of the professionals that I employ to guide me.
I must say it has been an interesting journey.
Over the last year I heard a lot about essential oils, toxic chemical in our environment and how we have maybe been mislead on what “healthy” food looks like. I was, very obviously skeptical and also pretty darn conservative. I like my easy access grocery store. I enjoy going out and having yummy food whenever I want. But I was not well. I was suffering from migraines, dealing with tremendous hormonal issues for years and getting generally beat up by my own body. It really had to stop.
At that point a couple cool things happened, my mom started using essential oils to clean up toxins in her world and my boyfriend expressed concerns about the same. I started listening from the side, and doing the “snopes check” on everything they said. I researched essential oils on NIH.gov and I checked out cleaning products on ewg.org. I was floored.
We started to change our eating habits in May because of the article “What Happened After One Family Went Organic For Just Two Weeks” that appeared on the Huffington Post site in May. In July we took the next step by switching to locally grown produce from a CSA and supplementing with organic food from grocers when necessary. We also eliminated grains and white potatoes at that time. That change came about after watching a video of Sarah Hallberg’s TEDxPurdueU speech titled “Reversing Type 2 diabetes starts with ignoring the guidelines.”
Now, I don’t have type 2 diabetes and neither does my boyfriend. I do have family members who had it and I gained a lot of weight in 1999 that took years to lose. I related to this video on a very personal level. In the middle of July, we made the decision to go “pseudo paleo” meaning cut out the barbs unless they come with a lot of fiber on board. It has been an amazing journey.
My goal, through this blog is to share what worked and what didn’t, as I go. I’ll introduce you to other bloggers with great recipes, advice and products. I’ll share with you my Essential Oil journey with Young Living essential oils and hopefully, if I do a good job, you will find the motivation to be mindful about everything and everyone that you invite into your world.
Here’s to living an Essentially Mindful Life.
Mandy