Changing Our Perspective on Why We Eat

Having the right mindset can make or break our motivation to make the necessary changes to succeed. Part of this mindset process is changing how we think about diet and exercise. Laith and I want to grow old together and live an active and disease-free life. We may not escape everything, but we know that we can set ourselves up for success by changing our diet and activity choices every day.

Very early in our marriage, Laith and I knew that eating clean was important to us, and we transitioned to purchasing organic when available. We also knew processed foods were not good for us, but we still occasionally included them, even going so far as recreating naughty snacks made from scratch because better ingredients made it better, right? We also knew sugar was not good for us, but we ate it anyway because it was “organic”. Unfortunately, better ingredients don't always equal better food, not when talking about sugar, flour, and oil.

We learned that there are also foods that are highly inflammatory and not good for us. Until we remove these inflammatory foods from our diet, illnesses, and symptoms will continue to develop over time. Inflammatory foods include processed vegetable and seed oils (canola, corn, and soybean). These are high in Omega-6 which in excess is not good for us. Most processed foods are made with these highly refined, highly inflammatory oils and contribute to chronic inflammation.

For several years, I experienced indigestion and heartburn nearly every night, and to address this I relied on large Costco-sized tubs of Tums. This worked most of the time, however, I was about to go see a doctor for it. I knew that a doctor's visit would result in being given a prescription that I didn't want. I knew deep down that the issue had to do with my food choices. Within a few days of getting off all sugar, processed foods, and inflammatory oils, I felt relief from my heartburn symptoms and rarely have heartburn anymore.

While we are fairly strict, we also have some flexibility, and we occasionally enjoy carbs we love, like homemade pizza on Friday nights. We now understand that food is for nutrition, to feed the body with necessary vitamins and minerals to help it run better. Eating foods that are nutritionally rich and satiating keeps us from snacking, and oftentimes we only eat one meal a day. Removing processed foods and oils helps heal the body, and this allows weight to be released.

Today, we eat to live, not live to eat.