I can not put a finger on it, but something changes when you become a mum.
Life becomes one of extreme responsibility (more so than ever before).
How to give them the best (what is it they really need).
How to protect them from harm.
How to help them become healthy, well balanced, caring people.
Your heart aches at the thought of them ever getting sick or hurt.
Can you relate to this?
It’s through what has happened since becoming a mum, that I believe I have found the answer to why eat healthy. Please keep reading, and I will explain.
Somehow, instinctively the messages my body sent me pre-children (read my story here) were in my mind. These messages, along with my firm belief in Mother Nature, have seen me adopt a natural remedy approach to the health of my children.
Instinctively and without any formal training (but with loads of research), I have successfully managed both of my children’s common illnesses by using mainly herbs and concoctions I make from my own kitchen pantry. This is not an elaborate or neat pantry (thanks to my 3 year old who helps unstack and repack the shelves), just an ordinary simple household pantry.
So when my husband Israel was diagnosed with depression after our son was born in 2010, together we decided to hold off on anti-depressants and get to the Root Cause of his depression. Not that we don’t believe in the value of anti-depressants, we just wanted to see what we could do ourselves first.
The psychologist told us he had severe work-related depression, so we had a great starting point. We needed to change something about his work. Little did we know then what we would discover over the course of the following 2 years. We discovered it was more than the work. It was the lack of time he was spending with his family, his total lack of time and respect for body and mind and the final piece of the puzzle, the food he was eating. All these things were at the Root Cause of his depression.
How did we discover this? It wasn’t easy. There were loads of tears. Loads of struggles. Loads of soul searching. We changed his work, we changed how he treated himself, we set up one on one time with the kids, reinvested in date nights for us. But still there was something lingering in the background. I started researching depression and stumbled across the linkages between food and depression. You could say I became obsessed. Every spare moment I was researching, looking for other possible root causes. I started to ask a lot of why questions, and not just about depression. (You can read some of my why questions here. Maybe you have some of your own too).
Around this time, Israel found information on a health coaching course with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York that he thought would interest me. That was 12 months ago now, and I have learnt such an incredible amount about how lifestyle and food choices directly affect your health.
In the past 12 months, I have transitioned my family to a different, more healthful way of eating. We have weaned ourselves off certain foods which we identified affected Israel’s moods and thinking. Along the way, we’ve discovered how these foods were also affecting our 7 year old daughter’s behaviour. Her frequent and sometimes daily screaming tantrums have all but vanished. Her anxiety has also improved. Crazy to think the foods can have this much of an impact, eh? I believe this is the answer to why eat healthy!
It’s because of all of this, that I have started The Root Cause. I want to share with you what I have learnt from first-hand experience and through my training with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition about the impacts of stress and your lifestyle and food choices can have your body.
As parents, we always try to do the best we can until we know better, and when we know better, we can do better. My aim of sharing what I’ve learnt with you, is that you can know better, and then do better. I am continually learning, and will continually share with you.