Food Snob?

I have never been a food snob...Organic? No nitrates? No preservatives? Non-GMO? Nah, just grab the cheapest option and lets get out of here. Well, until now. The more I learn about how important food is, the more I am dedicated to spending the extra money on whole foods (and some "as natural as possible" processed) which come with the seals mentioned above. We need food and water above all else, how did I go this long without really considering the STATE of the food I was consuming? At the moment I am not a very good food snob. I was glancing through a book about Paleo eating yesterday and learned some interesting things about marketing and terms related to food. For example: Eggs can carry the label “cage-free”, “free-range” or “certified organic” and still not be “certified humane.” farmers can not give hormones to chickens, so anything labeled hormone free is BS- it's illegal. Not only am I changing my views on food but it seems we, our family, is making an impact on others. My wife posted this comment related to a picture of GF, organic lasagna she made yesterday as the comments rolled in about our food budget and eating habits: It's hard. Do your research and start out with small changes. 6 years ago, Devanne and I were eating fast food 3 times a day. I almost never cooked. And our health suffered. Slowly I started learning how to cook and enjoy it. Almost 2 years ago, my husband and woke up and said enough is enough. We were both overweight. Devanne was overweight. I looked at my babies and didn't want that for them. It's been a long road and we definitely don't have the perfect diet but every single cent is worth it. We are not rich. No where close to it. My husband is the sole breadwinner and thinking about spending 25% of his income on food was hard. But the fact is Devanne is now healthy. My 3 year old can recite almost every vegetable in the store along with what it does for you. My other 3 year old had the chance to live a normal life, something that hadn't seemed possible before because of food. It's important to me. I refuse to let my kids grow up ignorant to one of the most essential things we put in our body. What is truly hilarious is the fact that my wife literally ate fast food 3 times a day and drank, oh say, 80-100oz of Dr. Pepper (not diet) before I met her. May it was just that she didn't have the tools or the time. I was a vegetarian and at the time was the smallest I had been in years (205 lbs). Gradually we morphed- she did start cooking meals at home but we also ate out ALOT. I gained 40-45lbs in a matter of 3 years. I don't think she gained that much but she recognized her health, the state of our family’s' health, was suffering. So many times we tried to diet, but it just did not work. Somehow we found a way over that hurdle on Jan 2nd 2012. Today we are a GF family for our daughter, Adey. I actually think Jessica has a gluten intolerance as well because she has noticed much better sleep the last 3 and a half weeks. Adey is truly benefiting from the diet change; it is really a miraculous thing. Her sleep is better, her skin is better, her language has picked up significantly, her understanding appears better...We have noticed that her belly still appears slightly distended but our thought is that it may be due to dairy- she has been having a lot of milk based things- milk in the AM and PM, keefer/greek yogurt and then a milk based smoothie in the afternoons. Milk is on the inflammatory side of things, so our naturopathic doctor recommends we cut it out. It is, however, Adey's FAVORITE thing to drink. I think she would probably like to bathe in milk. She just loves that stuff. Anyhow, we will test out Almond and Rice milk this coming week. Also, we are borrowing my good friend's juicer for a week or two and will be giving juicing a try. I am so excited, I have wanted to try juicing since I watched the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It is a fantastic look at what food can do for the body, mind and soul. Like my wife said, we aren't rich, we aren't poor either- we are actually pretty broke because of stupid money decisions made earlier and because right now we are spending a pretty penny on food. But it's worth it because we are what we eat. When we eat natural and organic foods we will live longer and be able to share in more amazing experiences together. That right there, folks, is priceless. On top of that my baby girl, Adey, is going to have the opportunity to be ALL that she can be. NOTHING is better than knowing my decisions and spending is giving her that chance. Josh