Yesterday we took a step back into the Marshall Family’s whole food kitchen

 

I first interviewed Becky Marshall one year ago, and from that interview I walked away incredibly encouraged and inspired in my own whole food journey. Becky exhibits an incredible knowledge and refreshing humility when it comes to feeding her family real food, and helping others do the same.

Yesterday Becky began giving her own update on how the past year has transformed her family’s way of eating {read part 1 here}, and today she will conclude her update with the mental battle involved with running a whole food kitchen.

 

 

The Mental Battle {Being Confident in the Purpose of Your Toils}

 

I’ve struggled this year with feeling like the snobby organic mom who won’t let her kids eat what the other kids are eating. We had to bring our own ice cream and toppings to the homeschool ice cream party. Through that I had to remember to focus on the question, what are we gaining here?

After my son eliminated gluten his immunity drastically improved and he stopped complaining of the occasional belly ache. In the end that is the reason why our family errs on the side of caution when it comes to our food choices.

It comes down to our daily quality of life. We eat real whole foods because it makes us feel better everyday. When we aren’t eating junk and lots of sweets we don’t get sick as easily and when we are sick we are rarely down longer than 24 hours.

My kids’ moods improve and they respond better to us when they are eating well. I think that it might not be obvious to them, but they generally just have a better sense of well being and that affects everything physically and mentally.

 

A Whole Food Diet is an Always Transforming Diet

 

Starting in spring, following the advice of our naturopath, we started to allow more gluten and dairy back into our diets. So far so good, and the kids seem to be responding fine returning to our old way of eating.

Cutting back on sugar is always a challenge, especially when the cook loves sweets too. We are trying our best and my goal is to cut back even more once cold and flu season starts up. I believe the best defense against getting sick is a solid night’s sleep and a nutritious diet low in sugar.

 

Food is Not Everything {Finding the Balance}

 

In truth most people won’t be able to follow a “perfect” diet one hundred percent of the time, I know we certainly don’t.

There are days when the toddler whines for a good chunk of the day, one child decides its a good idea to take a permanent marker and write his name on your bedroom carpet, another child got out the tape and thought running around the house with an unrolling tape dispenser sounded like the best way to spend 15 minutes of his day, two of the kids brought the 5 gallon bucket of wheat berries into the living room and have been tossing them in the air for 10 minutes before you discover why they are getting along so well, one child has been talking non stop all day long wanting to discuss hypothetical situations with you, and you still haven’t touched the breakfast and lunch dishes (all true stories).

Oh, and you were supposed to go grocery shopping because there are 2 eggs, random condiments, and celery left in your fridge… life happens.

 

 

There are days when you can’t eat the way you would prefer and you just have to come up with something to feed those sweet babies the Lord has blessed you with.

That might look like you having homemade freezer meals prepared ahead of time (sometimes this looks like me, especially if we are needing to be careful with our food choices, but not always) or that might look like calling out for pizza or getting really creative with a can of diced tomatoes, refried beans, and popcorn.

The point is try your best to eat as well as you are able, but don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t perfect.

I always try to remember (try being the important word here) that the first priority in my day is to lead these little ones to know God, to nurture their hearts towards God, and giving them a desire to obey God’s Word. If that means we are eating popcorn, cheese, and frozen peas for dinner once in a while that is okay. On those days I figure God placed a different plan for the day than the roast chicken and perfectly crisp tender vegetables I had in mind.

 

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A Huge thank you to Becky and her family for giving us another honest (and very inspiring) glimpse into their kitchen and whole food way of life!

 

Stay tuned next week as we step back into the Gruetzmacher family’s whole food kitchen, and see just how the past 12 months have transformed their way of eating!

 

In the meantime, here is another great recipe from Becky!