Real Food is not my religion.

This post by Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking really hit home with me because I have had a post about this topic swimming around in my brain for a few weeks now — Can Natural Living Become an Idol?

I realize this will come as a great surprise to many of you, but I tend to get somewhat consumed by a new project.  Try to hide your shock.

I know, I know, I’m an all or nothing kinda girl, and I make no apologies.  With my real food conversion, as with most everything I take on, I jumped in with both feet.  It was a long time in coming, really.  My mom was quite crunchy when I was young, making her own bread and yogurt and granola, and I still vividly recall the jars of sprouting alfalfa sitting on the kitchen counter.  Although she laid off a bit as we got older, she still cooked mostly from scratch, and I have always had a taste for whole foods (along with my penchant for Doritos and Coca-Cola.)

Until I discovered the freedom of returning to traditional foods and cooking methods, I was overwhelmed with the conflicting research findings and health food claims and food labeling.  I wanted to do the right thing by my family, but I found myself throwing up my hands in frustration and confusion with all the conflicting nutritional advice.

Now that I realize we don’t have to be slave to the latest research findings, that just eating the way our ancestors did before the modern diet started making us all sick, and rejecting prepared and industrially processed foods simplifies the whole subject, I have found myself firmly entrenched in the real food camp.

Unfortunately, the natural, organic lifestyle tends to have a reputation of elitism, and I am uncomfortable with that association.  The last thing I want to do is make those around me feel inadequate or discouraged or judged, and the next to last thing I want to do is raise kids with a superiority complex. Can we say PET PEEVE?  Ugh.

While I do believe that how we eat and feed our families is important, it is NOT the be all and end all.  So with everything else, there is a balance to be achieved.  And when or if my food choices become a point of pride, it is time to seriously re-evaluate what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.  Thus, the title of this post.

I am learning so much, and I find the subject fascinating, and I have received a lot of positive response, so I continue posting about the various milestones in my whole foods journey.  But please know that my intent is always to be informative and encouraging for those who have interest in the topic, and no matter what food choices we make, we must always keep our priorities in order.  As Lindsay said in her post:

Eating healthy will not guarantee my family a more peaceful longer life. It will not add a single day to my life than God has already determined. Only God knows the number of my days. (Psalms 139:16) He calls me to be faithful to care for my physical body, and this includes being wise in what I put into my body, knowing that it will affect my ability to serve the Lord; but when I raise that to a god-level, it is no longer a good thing. My security must only be found in Christ. He controls my family’s health and wellness.