As if our grocery bills weren't high enough already, we're prepared to spend more. In some cases, this will mean spending about 50% more. Why on earth are we being so crazy?
Well, we've decided that, as a family, the money we spend on food is the greatest investment we can make in ourselves, our sustenance, and our longevity. Other than God and family, there is nothing more essential to us than food. To that end, we need to eat healthfully. Doing so will hopefully lower our chances of disease and increase our chances of happiness over the course of our lives together.
Research says that cancerous cells are produced by everyone. In a healthy body, those cells are dispelled of before they can mount up and cause trouble. In an unhealthy body, just the opposite happens. When a person is diagnosed with cancer, it is the result of many years of problems on the cellular level that had gone unnoticed.
When someone is diagnosed with something horrible like cancer, modern-day medicines treat the symptom, which is the fact that the body is not dispelling the cancerous cells. But instead, we should be treating the cause, which--according to lots of research out there--is improper nutrition.
All this we learned recently from our nutrition specialist, so we're trying to be healthy on a cellular level. We're trying to build up our immunities NOW in order to combat whatever life may throw at us in the years to come.
Improper nutrition is probably hard to spot in today's culture. We have so many food choices and opportunities that you would never guess that we could be malnourished. We certainly don't look emaciated, so it's easy to be unconcerned. As a result, most of us just eat what we want and assume that the things on the grocery store shelves have already been approved as worthy and safe.
One of worst things we can put into our bodies, I've learned, is high fructose corn syrup. Because of the way this ingredient is made and because of the way the body processes it, it's a leading cause of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Unfortunately, this horrible ingredient is in just about EVERYTHING. To avoid this silent killer, you've got to be committed to reading food labels and searching until you find something that doesn't have it. It means that food shopping can take a bit longer, too.
A friend once told me that you should only buy on the perimeter of the grocery store. These are the fresh items that don't contain preservatives and are so much healthier for you. How true and insightful!
When possible, we buy all-natural and organic. These items are more expensive, but we're hoping that the investment is worth it. Plus, we know that we are casting votes with what we buy. The more organic foods that Giant sells, the more they will stock them. And more availability means greater competition and lower prices. So, in the decades to come, buying organic may be easy, affordable, and commonplace. Let us pray for it!
