Nutrition 101

In the course of trying to help Sarah minimize the effects of her disease I have often asked her different doctors if there could possibly be a link between the food she eats and her symptoms. With the exception of her doctor at the Cleveland Clinic each other doctor I asked responded in one of two ways: 1.) "I don't know." or 2.) I don't think so. Sarah's neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic gave me a list of foods that have been helpful to some people with MS/NMO, but not all. She told our family that the list was very restrictive and that almost no one could follow it in its entirety because of the elaborate list of 'no-no' foods, but that if we could follow it to some degree we might have some success in curbing Sarah's relapses. (The list of foods can be found here.)

I am an all or nothing girl and so I tried to follow the list in its entirety, but quickly ran out of steam and abandoned ship. Every so often throughout the last year and a half I have come back time and time again to food. So many people are sick - not just Sarah - and they are sick with a variety of things. Something has got to be the cause of all of this sickness. I tend to think that it is food. 

So, what does a girl do? If you are anything like me you go to the library or the bookstore and become exceedingly overwhelmed by all of the books in the health/nutrition/diet section. There are so many books claiming that THEIR way of eating is the correct way. Eat Paleo! Gluten Free! Plant Based! GAPS! Atkins! The list goes on and on. Each diet/way of eating claiming their way is the sure fire thing to help you become your best self. Each book claims that they have sufficient science to back up their studies. 

My normal response when I get overwhelmed is to stick my head in the sand and go back to the easy life. In this case it is comprised of the Standard American Diet (or SAD). Now I can claim that I try a little bit harder than some to feed my children healthy, but really I have no idea what I am doing, and so I end up doing just as poor of a job as the next guy in feeding my family. In fact - do you want to know what we are having for dinner tonight because I am so "health conscious"? Salad, Garlic Bread (Target brand), Stouffer's meat lasagna, and (for those of us non meat eaters) Stouffer's Macaroni and Cheese. Yep. Can you see how good of a job I am at feeding my kids a healthy diet? I deserve a mother of the year award for this well planned and thought out meal. 

Photo courtesy of:  divinehealthandwellness.wordpress.com 

So, here's the deal. I want to feed my kids healthy. And sometimes I do. In fact I would suffice it to say that 50% of the time I feed my kids a pretty healthy diet, but 50% is really not very good. I don't want to rely on the latest fad and the newest and coolest ways to feed my kids and myself. I am sick of hearing about the latest science that says, "eat this - not that". Because you know what? Tomorrow that "eat this" item is going to be the "not that" item. I don't want to yo-yo around and hope that I am doing a good job with my kids nutrition. I want to KNOW that I am. 

The only way for me to do that it to go to the source. I am learning about nutrition. I have been and will continue to scour the internet and use the Dr. Sears books that I have on nutrition and teach myself once and for all how to feed myself and my family. I want to know why B12 is so important. I want to know about triglycerides and cholesterol. I want to know which nutrients are essential. 

I am trying to teach myself everything that I need to know about nutrition. I have a composition book that I am using to take notes. These are the questions that I am going to find out the answers to:

1.) What does a healthy body need?

2.) How much does it need?

3.) Where can I get it from?

4.) What is its purpose for my body?

I feel that if I have a thorough enough foundation in nutrition I can make informed decisions about what is going into my body and my children's bodies. I do not expect changes to be made over night. I realize that this is going to take a while for me to wrap my brain around, but I am tired of feeling like an uninformed individual who is being blindly lead by the latest fads. 

I am open for suggestions on good reads. If any of you happen to have read any nutrition books then I am all ears. In the mean time I will use what I have and try to educate myself so I am no longer a sheep following the latest fad.