Health and Perfectionism

Are you a perfectionist when it comes to your health and the foods you eat?  You might say, "No way.  My diet is NOT perfect!"  Well, neither is mine.  (Yet!)  (Okay, it will probably never be without flaw.  I will take my children to that yummy fro-yo place we all love so much a couple of times per year.  Count on it.)

My point is this . . . A few months ago I had the information I needed to know which foods are good for me and which foods are not.  I sat on that information, feeling helpless, for a couple of months because I knew there was no way, on our current budget, that we could afford to eat a perfect diet.  I said to myself and to my husband time and again, "When I get a job, we can finally eat healthy food!  I am only getting a job so that we can afford this wonderful food we need."  

I was stuck in perfectionism concerning food and health.  I thought that if I couldn't afford a meat share of local, grass-fed meats, then it was pointless to buy the local, grass-fed, raw milk that I could afford.  If I didn't have the financial means to buy sprouted oats, then I might as well keep buying Cheerios.  If I couldn't purchase soaked nut butters, then why even make sourdough bread on which we would spread conventional peanut butter?

Food and health are not the only areas in which I experience the plague of perfectionism.  I set my sights on what equals perfection to me and then I refuse to budge until I have achieved it.  Yeah, that's quite a self-made conundrum.  Don't even ask me about why I refuse to buy myself new clothes until I've lost all the weight I want to lose.  *sigh*

About a month ago, I had a stroke of brilliance.  Maybe I couldn't follow a perfect Weston A. Price/Traditional Foods diet yet, but I could start my journey toward that.  I could simply add one new food or food preparation method each week or even each month if money was tight until that elusive job opportunity knocked and I could afford do everything all perfectly-perfect.  

So, that weekend I bought my first gallon of raw milk.  The next week I made my own sourdough bread starter using flour, water, air and patience.  The money I've saving by not buying bread and bread products (pancakes, tortillas, pizza crusts, grain-based snacks, etc) pays for the extra $4.00 per gallon of milk that I'm spending over the cost of conventional, pasteurized milk.

That's just one example.  

Maybe you have the information you need to convince you that Traditional Foods, GAPS, or even Paleo or Primal is the way you should be eating.  Maybe you can't afford top-quality food.  I suggest doing a grocery-budget overhaul to see what foods you can cut out and replace with something healthier.  One food at a time.  (Fact--whole, nourishing, properly-prepared foods will keep you full longer than their conventionally processed and denatured counterparts.)

Do you drink soda or juice?  Learn to make your own Kombucha.  Do you like oatmeal for breakfast?  Learn to properly prepare it.  Want a sandwich for lunch everyday?  Start making sourdough breads.  

Even if you can only find one thing to change, do that.  Just go for it!  (My suggestion for a first step toward health is raw milk.   Two grandes per week is a gallon of raw milk where I live.)  Don't be caught up by the fact that you can't afford to do it all right now. Trade unhealthy foods for whole, nourishing foods, one at a time until you are where you want to be.  

If you are barely hanging on financially it can be tough to afford better quality food.  I am not insensitive to that fact.  I only believe that taking one single step in the right direction is better than taking no steps at all.  I'll have more tips for saving money while eating a Traditional Foods diet in the future.  For now, resign yourself to pushing perfectionism out of your path by starting your journey toward better health one new, nourishing food at a time.

If you have already accomplished this, please post a comment and share your ideas for making healthy food affordable!

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