Sick

My friend is sick, her kids are sick. They are always sick. And she is sick of it.
We were able to have a sweet conversation about paradigm shifts concerning health and wellness. And now I get to help her with that shift. But, oh where to start?

I’ve been on my own journey of healing for ten years and more focused for the last five. ?I’ve seen dramatic results and changes and the wisdom of my Great Gram isn’t dying out but being passed on to my own daughters! ?Many of you who know me personally have watched this transformation up close and personal!

This is an abbreviated approach on purpose: my goal is to start with food. And I?m not getting into specifics like organics and non-gmo and coconut oil extraction methods, etc, because that is not a good beginning place. That?s later. Right now, I want to move my friend into the realm of understanding food only hurts or heals?and how a homeschooling wife and mama can have victory! ?And it can be delicious!

I?ll be hitting these areas with her as well as sending her daily articles (educational and testimonial) to read:

1. Knowledge
   1. How the gut works and what is leaky gut?
   2. What things impact the gut?
      1. Foods (dividing into inflammatory or healing)
      2. Toxins (staying brief!)
      3. Medications (staying brief)
   3. How to heal the gut?
      1. Foods
      2. Supplements (staying brief!)
      3. Detoxification (staying brief!)
      4. Protection (staying brief!)
2. ?Parameters
   1. Rules
   2. Contraction/Release
   3. The ALWAYS boundaries
   4. Gutter cheats while still in your lane survival and danger
3. Application
   1. Meal Planning (for real!)
   2. Limit recipe selections (lots of good recipes out there, but too many choices! Get one great cookbook and stick with it!)
   3. VOMS method (my own creation!) eat a buffet all week!
      1. Veggie dishes (at least two!)
      2. One pot meal
      3. Meat (just one!)
      4. Soup
   4. Foods to always have on hand
      1. Smoothie ingredients
      2. Pulled rotisserie chicken
      3. Plantain chips (let?s be real!)
      4. Kombucha, Kevita, or lemons
   5. Grocery List
      1. Write down all things from recipes
      2. Shop at your house first and cross off the list
      3. Reorganize your grocery list into sections at the grocery store (meats, produce, pantry)
         1. Try to buy all pantry online to be cheaper and to avoid danger zones at the store
         2. Be strategic and visualize walking through the grocery. AVOID the bakery area! AVOID danger aisles!
         3. Get the small shopping cart.
   6. Execution
      1. Day One: Planning and Shopping
      2. Day Two: Prepping and cook One Pot meal
      3. Day Three/Remainder of Week: Cook other meals
         1. Initially, it helped me to do all my cooking on one day.
   7. Stretching/Exploring
      1. When/how to go outside your cookbook (NOT NOW!)
4. ?Basics
   1. Kitchen Tools
      1. Knife, Blender, Strainer, Reamer, microplaner everything else is a luxury
   2. Pantry Items
      1. Fats start with fats ALWAYS (coconut oil, evoo, avocado oil, lard, tallow, duck fat, controversial palm oil, sesame seed oil)
      2. Saucy liquidy stuff (ACV, Coconut Aminos, Coconut Milk)
      3. Herbs/Spices
      4. Snacks (this is a gutter and can be dangerous!)
   3. Make-food-taste-good basics:
      1. Marinade meats (it?s all in the brine!)
      2. Root Veggie basics (fat and salt)
      3. Leafy Green cooking (fat, salt, garlic)
      4. Stir Fry (fat, coconut aminos, lemon juice, water)

I know this is just an outline, but I hope this gives you an idea of how to pursue taking charge of your health!

Peace, Love, Jesus!

PS Because I know my friend intimately, I?ve made her a selection of VOMS recipes to choose each week. I selected from my own favorite cookbooks including:

The Healing Kitchen

Autoimmune Paleo

He Won?t Know It?s Paleo

The Wellness Mama Cookbook

UltraMetabolism Cookbook (only two recipes and I?ve modified both for her alread – otherwise, this isn’t a particularly excellent cookbook. ?But it’s near to my heart because it’s the first cookbook I ever bought?after my typical amount of million hours of research and it started my understanding of the body and how delicious real foods could be.)

PPS – I am also offering AIP deserts initially because cutting that out altogether would be way too drastic of a shift for her family. As you know AIP sweets tend to be costly, and I think that will be its own deterrent. But I need to give her inside-the-parameters options so she doesn?t abandon eating well! I?ll admit that my own wellness continued the first couple of months propelled only by another pan of carob brownies and coconut milk ice cream. Ha!

PPPS – The picture above is baked kabocha?squash: sliced, oiled, salted, and a little real cinnamon. Delicious!