Inside My Pantry: What's Inside Yours?

I've shared with you things that you can find in my pantry--both the good and the bad.  I've shared a little bit about how to look for healthy foods in the store, and the one thing that I hope that you'll do more than anything is start researching for yourself!  Having the knowledge allows you to make those changes in your home, and that is power.

So what other things should you look for or know about?

I'm so glad you asked. ;)  Food is fuel.  So we need food to help us survive.  But eating the right foods is important.  If we eat the wrong things, we usually feel like junk.  Basically when it comes down to it, when you eat junk, you feel like junk. If you don't feel physically amazing, then you're doing it wrong!

   

Each physical body is different.  I can be sensitive to foods that you feel fine eating.  I know what foods cause an inflammatory response in my body, and I try to omit those from my daily diet so that I can feel my best. 

What is inflammation? 

Think about it this way...remember when you were a kid and you would fall down and skin your knee?  Before it healed, it usually got red and swollen.  Sometimes it got infected.  That is the body's way of trying to heal.  It becomes inflamed in order to heal.  Inflammation is not a bad thing.  It becomes a bad thing when we have inflammation long-term, or chronic systemic inflammation. 

If you have aches, pains, and medical issues, then you could possibly have inflammation in your body and you didn't know it.  Are you struggling with any of these? 

 

If you struggle with any of these, have you tried figuring out the root cause of it?  Have you altered your diet to see how the food you've been eating has affected you? 

Some of the most common inflammatory foods are listed below.  These foods are causing aches and pains and other medical issues that we probably wouldn't even think were related to what we eat. 

 

About five years ago, I started having this pain in the side of my legs when I walked.  It started when I was still taking college classes, so I would notice it as I jetted across campus.  I kept feeling it any time I wanted to take a walk--I like to walk.  I'm not a runner.  It would frustrate me to no end because I wanted to be active. 

I decided to try and figure out what was happening, and I did a sugar detox.  I took sugar out of my diet and all grains as well.  In about 3 days time, my legs were completely "healed."  I was shocked.  After some further investigation, I now know that grains have a direct effect on the pain in my legs.  I can take Scout on walks without having to worry if I can keep up with him or not.  It was simply amazing. 

If you're dealing with some of these issues, I would definitely suggest doing an elimination diet.  This is why I am so passionate about Whole30.  Whole30 helps you take the inflammatory foods out of your diet for 30 days.  Then you slowly reintroduce those foods to see how your body reacts with them.  I learn something different every time I do a reintroduction.  I am more aware of my body's reaction to these foods, and I can make better decisions based on my experiment--my body. 

Give it a try!  I would encourage you to do so to see if you can alleviate some of your aches and pains!  Also, please reach out if you are interested more in the Whole30 program or have questions about it.  I love helping others get started with it! 

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