Introduction: Alannah

[Guest guest]

Hi. I joined your group today since I just bought the Nourishing

Traditions cookbook and I feel a little overwhelmed by how many

changes I'm going to have to make.

I was motivated to get the Nourishing Traditions for a couple of

reasons, but perhaps the most pressing is the development of cavities

in my 2 y.o. son. I had a lot of ambivalence about the way we have

been eating, but rationalized it away most of the time.

We are health food store shoppers. We spend a lot of money on food

every month, but our pantry is always full of organic chips, cookies,

granola bars, stuff like that. We eat free-range eggs and meat, but

don't cook every night and end up eating in restaurants that are not

free-range. We eat pizza at least 2-3 times a week because that is

what my husband and kids like. We should buy stock in Amy's Kitchen

company we buy so many pizzas from them. My husband hates fatty meats

and won't eat any chicken except the breast which is my least favorite

but I end up eating it because he's so difficult to please. He'd

probably puke if I served him liver or any other organ meats. Our

kids won't eat any meat; in fact, I have a hard time getting my 2 y.o.

to eat anything except breastmilk so I have a daunting task ahead of me.

My husband thinks that sauerkraut is the most disgusting food on the

entire planet and I'm not sure how he's going to take to me making a

lot of chutneys and stuff like that, but he's going to have to deal

with it. Also, he is totally addicted to ice cream and we spend a

fortune on organic ice cream from the health food store every month.

(Time to buy an ice cream maker and make our own from the recipes, eh?

Also, he insists that we eat a protein powder smoothie every morning

and a handful of vitamins and I'm sick of it and I think that this is

one of the reasons our 2 y.o. won't eat anything. It's too easy for

him to get his nutrients from the supplements so he has no motivation

to eat actual foods. Fortunately, he does like milk. We've always

bought organic milk, but now I'm looking into raw milk. There is a

waiting list for the dairy I visited. Here in Colorado, it's illegal

to sell raw milk products so you have to buy a share of the cow so

technically you're drinking raw milk from your own cow. You pay a

boarding fee. Thanks FDA and USDA for protecting me from myself in a

supposedly free country! My 4 y.o. thinks cow milk is disgusting

(thanks daddy) but likes ice cream; go figure.

Anyway, I'm reading the book and trying to figure out where to start.

The first thing is to get rid of the foods that we have and then go

shopping. Another challenge is that my husband has studied nutrition

all his life and is actually getting a distance M.S. from Clayton

College in Holistic Nutrition, but the man doesn't like food!!!!!!!!

He's been a member of Life Extension Foundation since 1985 and is a

huge user of supplements (we're talking hundreds of dollars per month)

Yet, he has no energy once he comes home from work. He's no dummy

(Scientist by trade) and uses his superior knowledge of the

scientific/chemistry aspects of nutrition to ridicule any of the

intuitive knowledge that I have about eating and food. At the same

time, he's lost 20 pounds in the 7 years that we've been together and

acts like it's my fault. He's down to 145# and has a 30 " waist. I

wish I did! But I end up eating some of that darn ice cream and can't

seem to get the fat off anymore. Not that I'm obese but I can pinch a

few inches. What I crave is salads, greens and MEAT!!! raw

beef/buffalo and fish. But I don't end up buying it because no one

will eat it except me. Well, hubby does like the buffalo sirloins I

make at least.

That's a little about our family. Is there anyone here who had a

similar challenge that can provide some hope and maybe strategies?

It's going to be hard on me to work so hard to create these foods if

no one will eat them. I don't want to lapse back into my passive

apathy and depression about this. I want to make serious,

long-lasting changes.

Alannah