This is part of a series 52 Weeks to the All Natural Lifestyle.Introduction
Part 1
Part 2
Last week I shared why I have chosen to move towards an all natural lifestyle, but as I stated in that post, my why's, won't necessarily be your why's. I want to expand that a bit more this week and give you some reasons why you may want to consider making small changes towards an all natural life lifetyle.
~ Let's not deny one of the main reasons people begin toying with the idea of living the all-natural lifestyle -- weight loss. While this should not be the main motivator for it (we will see what the main motivator should be in a moment) it often is the catalyst and, it is also, more often than not, a result.
When sugar and refined, processed foods are eliminated from the diet, replaced instead with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, and fermented foods, two thing happen. One, the stomach often feels fuller with these high-fiber foods, so less is ultimately consumed. As less is consumed, weight loss inevitably results.
~ Health. This should be the number one reason up for consideration when choosing the all-natural way of life. Put junk into the body and the body will run like junk. Put healthy substances into the body and the body will become a healthy organism.
Your body will be, what you feed it.
~ Mental well being. Sugar and caffeine are addictive substances. As addictive as some drugs even. Seem far fetched? Cut yourself off from your coffee and sweets and see how you feel by the end of Day 2. If you are experiencing a horrid headache, nausea, tiredness, and fatigue, you are experiencing with-drawel and detoxification. That indicates an addiction.
These addictive substances raise us to emotional highs when we ingest them and then, as they leave our bodies, plummet us to an extreme low. We ride this roller coaster day in and day out and instead of attacking the chemical cause found in our food, we medicate. While I believe in medicated help for mental disorders, I also believe that what we eat plays a huge role alongside that medication and can either contradict the pills we are taking or supplement them.
~ A new generation of health. Every time we turn around we are hearing about the epidemic of childhood obesity. Yes, some of this is sedentary lives and processed food, but a large part of this is also because the parents don't know how to live a healthy lifestyle. As a result, their children are suffering. The cycle needs to stop and our children need to learn now to take care of their precious bodies. This change begins with us, the adults.
~ I'll be frank. The world is scary. Watch any news program regularly for a month or so, and an awareness will creep in at just how vulnerable we still are to wide-sweeping terrorism. While we should not live in fear, at the same time, we do need to be realistic as to the state of our world. Just last night, my husband and I were watching 60 minutes and we learned that there are people hacking into major computer systems in the US - from our military systems to our power plant systems. Should another horrific event unfold, this time keeping us from stores, would we be able to survive?
Those who are learning how to rely on food they make and prepare themselves, as well as learning how to garden and preserve foods, have a better chance at getting by in a state of emergency, than those who have to rely on the nearest store to carry them through a week.
~ Do you know what's for dinner? Did you know that cloned beef is now being sold, and often without consumer awareness? While the FDA has approved it as a "safe" food, I for one, am not convinced. Anything that has been tampered with, whether cloned beef or hormone laden chicken, should give us serious pause when we purchase and consume it.
~ Cancer feeds on sugar and other processed foods. That, right there, for me, is enough reason to live this way and is something I will be writing a lot about in coming months.
~ You just feel better. More mental energy, more physical energy, higher sex drive, and an over-all state of mental and emotional well being.
I'd love to hear your reasons for pursuing this lifestyle. What are they?
