I always did my best to eat well, but we consumed A LOT of packaged/convenience foods prior to 2009. The turning point came for me when my little toeheaded baby was diagnosed with "milk protein induced Colitis" when he was 14 weeks old. Basically it's a fancy medical way of saying he would poop blood if I ate dairy.
Within about 5 days of cutting dairy out of my diet, my infant changed from a GERDy devil baby who constantly cried and made me realize why there are posters in labor rooms reminding you not to shake your baby, to a happy and funny little ducky.
Before I cut out dairy:
After:
Ahhhh, what a peaceful difference.
Later on, we realized he was also allergic to wheat.
Jack had only my breastmilk (and homemade baby food) for the first year of his life, so I was unable to eat anything he was allergic to. As a dairy FIEND, that was one of the hardest things I've been through. While looking for food to cook for our family, I realized that EVERYTHING processed has dairy or wheat in it. Part of it is because our own government subsidizes commodities to the point where they are so cheap that manufacturers put them in everything (be strong Sarah, stay off that soapbox).
After being faced with spending $15 for special version of my favorite foods, I realized that making my own is not only cheaper, but much more healthy for us.
Today, Jack's dairy allergy has eased up a bit, and he's outgrown the wheat allergy, but my dedication to whole real foods has remained strong. It's not a gimmick or a trend for is. It is a lifestyle.
So, why should you chose real whole food for YOUR family?
Because, real food makes snowmen happy:
It makes our tummies swing (forgive me, I needed an appropriate tie in to this adorable photo):
It's more delicious than sand:
And studies show that families that eat real food are much more glamorous than their processed-food eating counterparts:
This is science people. You can't argue with it!
