Rachael's New Year Real Food Resolutions

Rachael's daughter is now 5yrs and the twin boys are 4yrs.

This post is written by my (Julie) best friend from Phoenix.  Rachael gave me my first kombucha scoby and is to be blamed one of the reasons I'm on a real food journey; she's an excellent mother of three preschoolers and is a preacher's wife.

Get the Junk (Back!) Out

We had been successful in ridding the pantry of all taboo (according to Nourishing Traditions) ingredients, but as time slips past, some of those no-no’s surreptitiously crept in again.  They all began as “just this once” or “I need to have something easy for Sunday while we wait for Daddy.”  Slowly but surely, they have become regulars.


The following items need to be eliminated again:

◦ Cereal
◦ Packaged Snacks (with all sorts of heinous ingredients, I’m sure)
◦ Too frequent desserts

To be successful I will need to get in the kitchen to prepare the alternatives.  This is where the real work begins, right?  To help me with my plight, my daughter needs to do a candida cleanse which will necessitate getting my tail in gear.  I MUST have something prepared to satisfy the 4-year-old, “But, Mommy, I NEED a snack!”

Removing the poor food choices is never enough though, is it?  I also need to:

Add the Good Stuff--CONSISTENTLY!

I have really good intentions, honestly I do.  But as they are wont to do, busy days come and we skip the cod liver oil “just this once--we’ll do it at dinner.”   Most of the following items have been a part of our healthy lifestyle in the past, but this Mama needs to get back on the wagon!  Here are some of the things I would like to add (and keep!) this year:

◦ Fermented Cod Liver Oil
◦ Vitamins and other supplements
◦ Homemade, Soaked Bread
◦ Kombucha for the children (Mama and Daddy have been hoarding it!)
◦ At least one organ meat recipe that everyone loves (okay, tolerates would be sufficient)

Thankfully, my children help me remember their vitamins and cod liver oil, if I’ve been half-way regular in giving it to them.  I am blessed that all three of my preschoolers take their CLO right off the spoon!

The big theme that I’m seeing in these goals (and others for the new year) is that I need more routines and structure.  From cod liver oil to a regular baking day to having the children help tidy the house,

Rachael milks 3 goats for their family's raw milk.

Mama needs a routine.  And I need to stick with it!  I’ve never been much good at sticking to a system and maybe I should start out by figuring out why.  It may be that I try to overhaul my life in a single day or it could be that I don’t like being told what I have to do, even if I’m the one telling me!

If anyone out there has suggestions or what has worked for them, please leave a comment.

-Rachael