Analysis Paralysis

Does anyone else like the fact that today's date is 11.20.2011?!!

So being an ENFP, I'm not inclined toward thinking in my head.  Thinking out loud is infinitely more fun and rewarding, but usual requires an actual listener to be effective (yes, I've tried talking to myself.  and I've tried praying out loud.  the latter bears more experimentation, the former made me feel like an idiot).

However, against all natural tendencies, I've been thinking in my head a lot lately.  What I am thinking about is food, specifically the Primaleolicious thing I mentioned the other day.  All of this is no surprise in that I've always liked food, liked to cook, liked to entertain, read food magazines, food blogs, etc.  This time feels different, more overwhelming and all encompassing, because I find myself being gradually but persistently persuaded to see food as not only something to keep me alive/bond me with others/entertain me but also, medicine.

I read the following books:

Why We Get Fat

Sugar Nation

Wheat Belly

Eat Fat, Lose Fat

And I've gotten some information from these blogs (this is a sample, not an exhaustive list, and these are not in any particular order):

Wellness Mama

Kitchen Stewardship

Livin' La Vida Low Carb

Food Renegade

Paleo Parents

Whole New Mom

Mark's Daily Apple

The Healthy Home Economist

So, what's the point?  What's my conclusion?  That's just it, I'm realizing that I am barely out of the gate on the journey of figuring out "food as medicine" and what it means for me and my family.  I do know that we eat almost no processed food, we don't eat bread (except the occasional almond butter sandwich on Trader Joe's Sprouted Flourless Whole Wheat Berry Bread) or processed sugar.  So far.  We also don't drink fruit juice or soda at all, just water, raw milk and tea.  We haven't given up coffee entirely but--more because Aogu's been sick than a conscious decision--we're not going through it the way we used to.  Hm.  I wish I had spun this as a positive list of DOs rather than DON'Ts.  For the most part, that's how I feel, like it's all good!  It's great to have lost some weight (though I'm not at my goal, and full disclosure, I lost it with the HCG Diet) and to feel like my digestive system is working better than any time in recent memory.  And now, without much cohesiveness, I must abruptly end here.  Surely this "discussion" will be continued, especially if you make a comment! 

Bonus super-interesting side note quote from this Food Renegade post.  I'm including this, though it doesn't seem directly related to the above for the following reason: in the last two weeks, both of my older kids had fevers and I didn't medicate them at all, other than with a bit of honey and lemon in warm water.  They both recovered more quickly than they have in the past with Advil!
"One of the most interesting talks I sat in on was with Dr. Thomas Cowan. He spoke on the healthfulness of fevers in children. Of course, this isn’t a surprise. Most of us natural mommas don’t immediately turn to Tylenol when our babies get fevers. Instead we trust that the fever is an effective immune response, and that if we let it run its course and guide it to its end our children will heal faster and have a stronger immune system for it. But did you know that before chemo and radiation therapies were invented in the 1930s, the go-to form of cancer treatment was to induce fevers? They would get terminal, stage 4 cancer patients (people with no hope of survival) infected with high-fever inducing diseases. When their immune system successfully fought off the fever, not only was the infection gone but so was the cancer! They had success rates ranging from 20-30%. According to what we knew about infectious diseases, this kind of therapy shouldn’t work. Cancer is not an infectious disease. It shouldn’t be fought off by a fever, but it is! It turns out that when you induce a genuine fever that’s an immunological response, it starts a cascade of other effects inside the body which are protective against cancer. So, every time you let yourself or your child fight off a fever instead of reaching for the Tylenol, you’re actually improving their innate cancer fighting abilities for later in life!"