Every Story Has Its Beginning

Every story of a clean start is different. Some have difference motivations, others have distinct goals, and still others have diverse levels of desperation. But all stories of a clean start have one thing in common: determination.

I have known for the past few years that my health needed to be more than just going to the gym so that I could attain some number on the tag of my jeans that I felt like I should be in. Goals alone have never been a really great motivation for me. I think of myself as having a type-A personality, but when it came to my health, simply knowing that there was a finish line somewhere was not enough motivation for me to run that race. 

But in the past years, a lot of changes have happened in my life. Health concerns began to pop up for me that were more difficult to ignore than a number on a scale, and allergies that I had explained away or ignored began to make themselves more and more obvious.

I am at the point of my clean start, my fresh beginning, and I don't think it could have come at a better time in my life. I am not usually very good at recognizing important events in my life. I am the kind of person who can only realize in hindsight when something crucial is happening. This time, my life events have been obvious enough to recognize. In the past six months I have gotten married, graduated from college, began my career in teaching, lost my last two grandparents, witnessed people that I love experience serious health concerns, and have left my childhood home.

Momentum is a powerful thing. This time, I fully recognize the significance of the events that are happening and acknowledge that determination is what causes us to stick it out when things get difficult. The love of and the love for the people around us makes healthy choices worth it, regardless of what our personal culture or our pop culture tells us we should do.

This blog will be many things for me, but it will also be a compilation of the choices that I make when it comes to food and health choices. Feel free to take the recipes that you find here and make them into whatever you need! My own health concerns are very specific, but I keep meeting more and more people who share them, which is comforting. My meals are gluten-free and unprocessed, primarily. I also try to avoid starches and sugars. Most of my recipes will use dairy, but they can be easily modified to be lactose-free.

Clean starts all have their own beginning, and this is mine.