We’re very honored to have a guest post from Shannon of Nourishing Days today. She’s a definite real food inspiration, and I think you’ll love reading about her journey, and maybe even relate to it a little.
I have a theory about real food: people are either born into it or they find it out of illness and desperation. I fall into the latter category.
I grew up eating your typical standard American diet (SAD). There was a lot of sugar, skipped breakfasts, a ton of processed food, and did I mention a lot of sugar?
Not surprisingly, I was sick a lot. Every winter I came down with severe colds, bronchitis and pneumonia. I never knew what it was like to feel well.
I was overweight from the age of 6 or so. While I played sports and enjoyed being active, I was never at a healthy weight. My last year of high school I became so frustrated with my weight issues that I tried everything to shed pounds.
Some of my efforts were good – like exercising more and just being aware of what I was putting into my mouth. Others were much more harmful – like drinking diet soda, taking “diet” pills and not eating at all. I never went as far as anorexia or bulemia, but my unhealthy relationship with food continued. I no longer ate for comfort, but now I was terrified to eat anything. Food was the enemy, so I thought, and eating as little as possible was the goal.
