How Are You So Skinny?

People ask me this all the time. That's good considering I have four kids and I am pushing 40 and I HATE exercising. My husband is also in good shape - has abs a 25 year old would love - but he is not muscular by any body builder's terms. My children are also all thin and lanky, just right for their heights. We are also all very healthy.

I think it is because of our diets and activity levels. We eat no processed food. None. We do eat "junk food" but it is usually the kind that are all natural with only a couple of ingredients and all of which I can pronounce, if we have not made it ourselves. Granted eating no processed foods and whole foods only requires a bit of creativity and planning in that we must make all the food ourselves or eat raw almonds and raw tomatoes or something. But in reality, eating healthfully saves us money.

We have fewer visits to the doctor which means less co-pays.

We do not pay for medicines unless we absolutely need them which is rare.

We have a garden and grow a lot of the food.

We do not eat out very much since there are not a lot of options for whole- foodists out there.

We did not decide to eat healthy to save money. Saving money was just a natural result from our eating healthy. We decided to eat healthy to be good to our bodies. Our bodies are our temples and we get just one. We should honor it. We are killing two birds with one stone here.

As a related side note, we eat all natural foods and some organics. We also use natural remedies for their healing properties rather than running to the store the minute someone has a problem. I think healthy eating and healthy living go hand in hand. I believe God has given us everything that we need to live on the earth - all that he created was good. Even pot, even beer. Everything has a purpose if not abused. We treat aches and pains with real ginger tea. We do not treat our children's sniffles or fevers under 100 degrees. Learn to use what you have and what others have had for hundreds of years. Do you really need Theraflu to get through a sickness? How about good old fashioned rest and tea and just work through it. How about parents that treat their kids colds? Why can't they have a runny nose? Oh so you don't get inconvenienced because your 2 year old wakes up several times a night because he cannot breathe. How about a humidifier and rocking him for a while because those days will be long gone fast and in 20 years you will be wishing that you had a baby to rock for hours on end since your house feels so empty nowadays.

People nowadays don't like inconvenience. They want the easiest and fastest way to relief, to eat, to sleep, to earn money, etc., etc., etc.

Seek out things that were put here for your benefit. Falling into the trap that the newest medicine or foods have to be better is illogical thinking. Tried and true tactics for better living have lasted this long for a reason.