Assessment

Nearly a year ago I read a book. It changed my life, my family's life. I wrote this. The birth of a new lifestyle, a new blog, and new perspective on food.

Today I dedicated myself to reading the book again. A refresher is in order. While the family and I have stayed true to our new understanding of food there is a certain drooping in enthusiasm. So, look again.

In the spirit of assessment I am reviewing all that has occurred this past almost-year.

First, we have not darkened the door or drive-up window of a fast food establishment since the book arrived in our mailbox. No kidding. The important thing to note is that none of us want to. (Now wait a minute, I think Tom said one day he forgot to take his lunch and accepted an offer from a co-worker to have 2 fast food tacos bought for him. He said they were disgusting and he couldn't finish them, things he had until last February eaten regularly. Good test.)

Second, we've drastically reduced our consumption of processed foods and have begun buying ingredients at the store instead of mixes, pre-made soups or frozen entrees, even potato chips, crackers, cookies, and bakery items. While I'd like to say we've eliminated them I still like the convenience of Prego spaghetti sauce when I'm in a hurry, fresh and dried pasta, canned tomato paste and sauce, and organic boxed stocks when I don't have time to thaw my own. Stuff like that. Oh, and Breyers ice cream now and then, gotta have it.

Third, we consume only hormone-free whole dairy products, no low-fat or no-fat. And we eat organic, grass-fed meat.

While there are many more changes those three are the most dramatic for us. All voluntary, these changes were welcomed at the time and are still so. We plan to live this way until we die, God willing.

Results include the loss of weight, some of us twenty pounds, without really trying. We have more energy to move which helped with the weight loss, I'm sure, not to mention the change to whole foods which taste good and quickly fill us up.

Tom's doctor had been after him for years to take drugs for his cholesterol. I, being nervous about the side-effects of such drugs, had urged Tom to resist by showing him studies and reports about the drugs and about better eating habits. All it took was our corporate understanding and the choosing of delicious, whole, natural food for Tom to find satisfaction in meals and thus forget about the edible food-like substances he'd graze on in-between. His cholesterol is now 'normal', no drugs.

Energy is higher all around, moods are more stable, skin is clearer, enthusiasm abounds, self-confidence replaces introversion, and less time is spent on the computer or playing video games.

Yada, yada, yada.

It's been an interesting year.

I'm going to put all the books that I've been reading lately on the bottom shelf of my night-stand. Michael Pollan's book will be the sole top-of-the-table book until I finish it again.

I've been taking good things for granted.

Need some reminding.

Spring is on the way. And I intend to meet it, greet it, hug it, follow it, and let it work for me even as I enjoy all the burstings of life it shares.