"Always consult your doctor" – this phrase is everywhere.
We are told to consult our doctors before starting any exercise program, when making dietary changes, when beginning a new supplement or health modality.
Even in my certified natural health professional and certified health coach courses, we were told to use this phrase. In this situation, it wasn't so much because it's actually necessary but more-so to protect ourselves from legal liability.
Now, I'm not denying there are times when you do need to consult a doctor ... but it's NOT all the time!
If you are a reasonably healthy person, you can begin an exercise program without consulting your doctor. Just pay attention to your body and stop or slow down if it's telling you it's too much. Same with dietary changes and new supplements or health modalities – pay attention to your body.
Your body knows better what is good for it than your doctor does.
The hard truth is doctors know very little about health. Hear me out. Most medical training focuses on anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. That means they learn how the parts of the body fit together, their proper function, causes and effects of diseases and injuries, and how to use medications to fix problems.
In case you didn't catch it, their entire education trains them to identify health problems (good) and fix them with medications (bad).
They don't learn about nutrition. They don't learn about herbs or homeopathics or essential oils. They don't learn about the emotional and spiritual components of health. They don't learn how lifestyle modifications and ingredient awareness can eliminate so many common health issues.
Is it any surprise then that when you go to the doctor with any health complaint, you are almost always prescribed a drug? It could be a simple headache, and you just need to hydrate and stay away from artificial fragrance, but you'll walk out of the doctor's office with a prescription instead.
I know someone whose doctor offered only a total knee replacement as a solution to an injury. This person had no pain prior to the injury and does not want a knee replacement, but the doctor looked at one x-ray, saw there wasn't enough cartilage in the knee, and went right to knee replacement. He never examined the patient beyond the x-ray. In his mind, X=Y, and there was nothing beyond that. This patient learned more from a chiropractor visit than this so-called specialist.
So even though I may be required at times to tell you, "Consult your doctor," I will almost never actually mean it. Sure, if you've got a broken bone, are bleeding profusely, or have endured some trauma, you need to see a doctor. It can also be helpful to have x-rays, MRIs, blood work, and more done by a doctor when needed. Get the information, refuse the drugs (unless your life is in imminent danger without them), and work on actually solving the issue – because medications aren't cures.
You know your body better than anyone. If what a doctor says goes against what you feel, trust your instinct. Get a second opinion. See a naturopath or chiropractor or health coach. Do your own research. Get familiar with the range of options available to you. Only then should you decide on a path forward.
And for goodness sake, unless you're an extreme case, you don't need to consult a doctor to start doing yoga or walking. You don't need medical advice before eating more fruits and veggies and drinking less soda. And you can research supplements and other remedies for any contraindications yourself.
Check out this article to hear in doctor's own words what they wish they'd been taught in medical school. Then, feel free to click some of the categories at the top of this post to read more on topics important to you.
It’s hard to say exactly when my natural health journey began.
What I consider the first “official” step was making foods from scratch, which seems almost poetic somehow.
I believe it was in 2011 when the news broke about the ingredients in the bread at a certain sandwich chain – ingredients that were also found in yoga mats.
Should anything in a yoga mat be in my sandwich? My thought was “no!”
That led to what was probably the first real step I took toward living more naturally – knowing what was going into the food I was consuming.
In 2012, I made a resolution to make one new food item from scratch each month.
I started with bread. Looking back, it probably wasn’t the easiest place to begin, but probably in part due to the fact that it’s the item which had inspired this mission in the first place, it seemed like a logical starting point for me.
It may not be as pretty as store-bought bread, but it tastes much better, and I can feel good about what’s in it!
I learned about yeast and proofing and different types of flours, and I realized that it wasn’t as difficult as I had anticipated. Sure, it took time – a lot of it! But much of it was time waiting for the dough to rise, and I could work on other things while I waited. I could only bake bread on days I didn’t work, but if you’ve ever eaten homemade bread fresh out of the oven, you know that it’s well worth it!
My other adventures that year included other bread items, such as burger buns, pita bread, and pizza crust, as well as things like peanut butter cups, jam, and more.
My advice if you’d like to take on making food from scratch? Start with what interests you, so you’ll be more likely to stick with it. For me, it was bread, crazy as that seems. For you, it might be something simpler, and that’s fantastic! Wherever you feel led to begin, start there. But don’t be afraid to try something more difficult. It’s all a journey, and what matters is the lessons you learn along the way.
If you'd like to start baking your own bread, this was the first recipe I tried, and it's still my base that I play around with.
And if you'd like to learn more about simple – and not as simple – swap-outs for common toxins, we talk about stuff like that all the time in my free Facebook group.
If you haven't heard of Misfits Market, it's a subscription service for groceries. They reroute items rejected by grocery stores for whatever reason – this might be a potato that's smaller than ideal or an apple that's a funny shape. Nothing wrong with them, but stores only want the most perfect specimens.
When I started with Misfits a few years ago, it was strictly organic produce, but it has expanded to include all kinds of groceries now, including meat, dairy, snacks, and pantry items.
I got produce boxes every other week for about six months before I had to cancel it. Long story short, I lived in South Dakota (where they didn't deliver to at the time) and worked in Minnesota (where they did), so I had boxes sent to the office. But delivery started becoming erratic, and I wasn't in the office every day, so I cancelled the service in spring of 2021. I was very sad!
Fast forward to last week. I really only go to the grocery store every 3-4 weeks, but I would run out of produce between trips. I checked to see if Misfits had started delivery to South Dakota yet, and they had!
So I ordered a box of all organic produce, especially items that are more difficult to find organic here in the dead of winter in northeastern South Dakota. I focused on some items included on the "Dirty Dozen" list of produce with the most pesticide residue – like strawberries, apples, and bell peppers that I want to be sure to buy organic.
My Produce Box
My box arrived right on schedule, and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality. The produce I got back in 2021 would often be obviously "imperfect" in some way – nothing inedible, just funny-looking.
This box, though, was nearly perfect. I got:
- 1 nice big pineapple
- 2 avocados that are still green and a few days from ripe
- 2 mangoes – maybe smaller than "normal" mangoes
- 3 bulbs of garlic
- A bag of Honeycrisp apples with no imperfections
- A bunch (three stalks) of perfect broccoli
- 1 big cauliflower that had only the most minimal brown spots
- A bag of perfect carrots
- 3 perfect romaine hearts
- A package of almost perfect strawberries – just a few a little underripe
- A bag of mini sweet peppers - a couple small ones and a couple curvy ones
All that near-perfect organic produce was around $60, counting shipping.
How I'm Using It
Now, if you're like me and want to use a produce box to make healthier food choices, here's where Misfits is great.
First, I wash it (I wash all produce I eat the skin of, even if I grew it in my own garden), and then, I peel/chop/cut everything that will keep that way.
So I left the pineapple, mangoes, avocados, and apples alone, but I cut the broccoli and cauliflower into florets. I cut the ends off the carrots and peeled them. I shredded the lettuce into bite-sized pieces, and I topped and cut the strawberries into quarters.
Taking the time to do this means I have everything ready to use when throwing together a meal, and most important (for me at least), I'm only getting the cutting board, knife, and peeler dirty once.
To use it, my goal is simply to use something from the box in each meal. This gets me constantly thinking about how to incorporate veggies and fruits into meals.
The day after I got the box, I had an apple with peanut butter for breakfast. For lunch, I made a salad with romaine, cauliflower, and carrots and topped it with some leftover chicken-bacon-ranch mixture from our wraps the evening before. I snacked on strawberries. And for supper, I roasted broccoli, peppers, carrots, cauliflower, and cabbage (which I already had) and tossed it all into some mac and cheese.
Voila! I went from hardly eating any fruits and veggies the previous several days to getting all those great nutrients.
Can You Benefit from Misfits Market?
If you're in the same boat as me and need a little inspiration to eat more fresh produce or if you have limited access to organic produce in your area, Misfits Market might be a good fit for you.
If you're ready to give Misfits Market a try, feel free to use my code: COOKWME-VF3YHB – it will get you and me both $10 off.
Questions You May Have
Since I have found the Misfits Market website to be incredibly frustrating, I'm going to answer a few of the questions I had and save you the digging around I had to do.
What kind of produce do they have?
This was one of my biggest concerns. I didn't want to sign up and find out they had a very limited selection, but I was surprised. I have gotten all the vegetables common to a small town in the upper Midwest, plus other items that are a bit more "exotic" or seasonal, depending on where you live – like mangoes, bok choy, multi-colored carrots, and more.
They won't have all items all the time, but there has always been an ample selection for me to choose from. No complaints on that score.
What does the subscription cost?
As of this writing, in March 2023, there are two subscription plans – $35-40 a week and $40-45 a week. It appears that for both of them, you must order a minimum of $49 per box.
I can't explain that. It makes no sense to me, but that's what I'm seeing. I'm only vouching for their produce. Their website has never impressed me.
There are taxes and shipping charges, too. My first box ended up being $66.00.
Can I skip weeks?
Yes, it's easy to skip weeks. In fact, all you have to do is not fill your cart up to the $49 minimum.
Be careful with this since they do automatically add some items to your cart. For my second box, it was about $10 short of that $49, but I can't guarantee that there wouldn't be enough to reach your minimum and process. You're probably safer to go in and request to skip a box.
Am I guaranteed to get everything I order?
No, items go out of stock and get removed from your box. I had zucchini on my order, but when the box shipped, I received a notification that the zucchini wasn't included, and I was not charged for it.
This doesn't bother me, but if you're absolutely counting on receiving an item, it could be inconvenient.
Is Misfits Market really cheaper than buying at the store?
I don't have access to a lot of organic produce, and I don't pay all that much attention to produce prices at the store, but I paid $5.53 for 2 pounds of Misfits Honeycrisp apples, and I think they're $7+ for organic at my store. I also paid $1.37 for a pound of carrots, and I believe conventional carrots are around 99 cents a pound at the store. These savings are offset by the shipping charges, but then, the convenience of having it delivered to your door is worth something, too.
Overall, if you're accustomed to buying conventional produce, you're not going to save money, and there may not even be a huge difference on organic once you factor in shipping, but if you're like me, expanding your choices for organic produce and having it delivered adds value beyond the price.
If you have a question I haven't answered, feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer.
And if you're ready to order your first Misfits Market box, check out my code up above to get a discount.
Do you have any health goals for the coming year?
The beginning of a new year seems to be when many people focus on making changes, especially to their diet or weight.
When you're setting weight loss goals, you may consider popular fad diets as the method to get there. You may have had success with them yourself or know someone who did, but be careful about the plan you choose.
Here are two that have been popular but you need to be extra careful with.
Keto
Many people claim to lose weight with a keto diet, and it may not be inherently bad. However, you need to be very careful how you go about keto.
In general, any diet that cuts an entire food group is going to leave you lacking in nutrients, and keto cuts not only grains but many fruits and vegetables as well..
We were created to thrive on a balance of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. To cut any one of them completely forces our bodies to work in ways they weren't intended to.
But the biggest pitfall with keto is the food choices.
I personally watched two people go through keto for several months, and they did lose some weight. What bothered me, however, was that they would eat pork rinds with Cheez-Whiz without a second thought but turn down apples and carrots.
If you know even the basic fundamentals of nutrition, you understand that fried pork skin and fake cheese are not good for you, but apples and carrots are.
If you don't want to eat apples and carrots because of their carb count, that's your choice, but please, replace them with something that has nutritional value, not fake food.
If you’re doing keto, prioritize healthy low-carb foods rather than fake food.
Low-Fat
Again, the problem is cutting out an essential nutrient and likely replacing it with something fake and unhealthy.
You can eat a healthy low-fat diet if you’re careful to cut out the bad fats and make sure to get enough high-quality fats.
Avoid anything labeled “fat-free.” These foods have usually just had the fats replaced with something fake, and your body likely can’t process those fake ingredients.
Your body truly does require fat to function properly.
Essential fatty acids are necessary for every system in your body. You need them for healthy skin and eyes, preventing arthritis, and reducing the risk of blood clots. They activate the thyroid, reduce blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and aid the reproductive system. They are especially necessary for normal development and function of the brain.
Long story short – reaching a healthy weight is a great goal anytime, and if you are making it a priority going into the new year, please do it the right way with healthy, real food.
Don’t cut out entire food groups or nutrients. You may lose weight to start, but you’ll probably put it back on as soon as you end the restrictive diet. Plus, you’ll harm your overall health in the process.
Share your story
Have you tried any fad diets?
What were your results? Did they last?
Looking back, do you think your diet was healthy?
No shame here – we learn from our successes and mistakes.
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and like all holidays, you may be planning for success or already dreading the "failure" when it comes to making healthy choices.
You've seen all the usual tips for eating healthy at holidays, so I'm not going to repeat those. Instead, I'm giving you some unconventional advice.
Read more...
