My Latest Health Experiment

     For months now my husband has been asking me to try to figure out why his joints are always aching and why his psoriasis won't clear up. My big question has been is it something that we are eating or a lack of something in our diet? Like a good wife I have been tweaking a little here and a little there. Adding some of this and taking out some of that. Nothing seems to be helping him.

     I have also noticed in my own body that several things seem to be going crazy. From hot flashes that keep me running to the freezer for a quick cool down to not sleeping more than 2-3 hours straight. I have been feeling so heavy and sluggish all the time. This is just not my idea of living a healthy, productive life.

     Then I stumbled upon a very interesting book called It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. This book goes into extreme detail about how certain foods and chemicals in our food cause all the problems that my self and the hubs are dealing with. This book introduces you to the “Whole 30 Plan”. The goal is to eat only whole, natural, healthy foods for just 30 days so your body can begin to heal and reset -- kinda like a factory reboot. This book totally just made sense to me. It was kind of like a light bulb moment. Eliminate some things. Eat lots of good healthy foods to heal the body. After 30 days start to slowly add back foods and see which ones are the culprits. This is something that is totally doable for my family!

     My plan is to keep a record of this entire experience on this blog with links to what my grocery list looks like for each week, what my menu is for all 3 meals each week, and finally a recipe link to everything I make. This entire experiment is built around feeding a family of 5 with a grocery budget of $160 a week.  I will be using a lot of the stocked-up chicken, fruit, and veggies that I have in my freezer. I do all my shopping at Dillon’s(Kroger), Walmart, Aldi’s, and my local farmers markets.

     Well there you have it. Stay tuned for my daily updates to see how we are all doing on this.

     I am purposely not going into very much detail on the intricate phases of this program. I really feel that you need to arm yourself with knowledge and search things out before you start a program that involves your health. If you're interested in doing something like this then read the book. Get all the facts first, don’t just take my word as the final answer.

     The book is called It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. Get a copy from a library and read it. They also have a very information-packed website.

Let the journey begin!

Week 1 Grocery list
Week 2 Grocery List
Week 3 Grocery List
Week 4 Grocery List