Saturday, March 10, 2012

Crunchy Mama

If you would have asked me a few years ago what I would be like as a mother, I would never have expected what I have become.

I am a crunchy mama.

As in granola crunchy. Well, if I ate granola. Instead of thinking that granola equals awful.

My food came from the grocery store or a restaurant. Pasteurized, homogenized, winterized... errr... It didn't matter what you ate, as long as it was in moderation. Cleaning products were supposed to kill every possible bacterium, virus, spore, nanorobot, etc. Western medicine was the only logical way to diagnose and treat any condition, and doctors had all the answers. Vaccines save lives and don't hurt anybody.

Celiac Disease provided an easy answer to my problems. Gluten is the devil! Just avoid it and you will be ok! So much research has been done into the CD mechanism that there is no question as to how or why it develops.

Or is there?

Once I started to question things, once just going GF didn't solve my problems, I started to realize something.

No one REALLY knows what they are talking about.

Long story short, without getting too soapboxy, I became Crunchy Mama.

I only started feeling somewhat human again after FINALLY discovering SCD/GAPS and also caring exactly where my food comes from. I mean, I obviously knew it came from a farm. Unlike my college roommate who was appalled by all the fields on the way to my hometown. Not to mention seeing cows! In real life! Wow!

I know the people who produce my meat, eggs, and some of my vegetables/fruits. I know that the chickens are pastured, and the beef grass-fed. I know that they don't use pesticides, even though they don't shell out the dough for organic certification. I try to eat in season and organic as much as possible.

And honestly, that just tastes better, right?? Like the realization come June of "Hmmm... that's how a strawberry actually tastes..."

I digress. (How unusual).

I've tried to use less harsh cleaners, and I eventually want to change my toiletry stash to all more natural options. (There I go using the word natural, as though that means something. Sorry.) I also try to use less hand sanitizer, less antibac soap.

I take probiotics and try to culture my food. Heck, I'd almost consider taking worms, as is proven beneficial in a few studies. Almost.

I actually don't realize how many things I am no longer "normal" about until it comes up with my friends or family. Like when we're shopping, and I refuse to buy flame retardant PJs for the little one. Or I hear people talking about how their low fat diet isn't working very well, and I'm like duh... Or I hear on the radio that autism diagnoses are up 600% in the last 10 years. Yes, 600%. Celiac probably isn't much different. I'm sorry, that's not just better diagnostics and awareness.

I guess I'm getting used to being crunchy. Maybe I'm a crunchy honey roasted almond. That sounds good... better than granola anyway!

Crunchily,
SC