New Year, New You...

...that's what everyone says right? Well, believe it or not, I truly mean it. One of my best friends is very natural, holistic, and "crunchy" as some people call it. Sure, I’ve always supported going green, breastfeeding, and babywearing; however, I realized the things I truly support I wasn't necessarily living out.

While I liked to think I'd been doing good with my diet I recently realized I am CLUELESS when it comes to some things. I honestly didn’t even know we had a co-op, what it was or where it was.

The thing about me is I'm NOT afraid to ask questions. I started researching some things and realized the lifestyle and "diet" I was doing was not at all making me healthier, in fact I was ruining my body. Sure, I lost some weight, but I also lost some muscle and valuable nutrients. I can't say I'm going to go all organic, I don’t think that would be realistic, but I can tell you I'm going to make a valid effort to include more vegetables, whole grains, organic foods, etc.

I also learned from some of my research that what you eat is what you are. If you are eating junk, you feel like junk. All the chemicals, refined sugars, etc can truly play into mood. It's no wonder my kids are always crazy! In this New Year I'm going to try and make a huge effort to get my kids eating more fresh fruit and veggies. I honestly thought I was feeding them well with the canned stuff. Oops. Not all vegetables are created equal...lesson learned.

I also plan to incorporate much more exercise into our lives. I’ve always said I wanted to be an "outdoors" person but in reality I have been spending most of my time in the house on my butt. I realized I haven't really been "living." I don't want my kids to look back at the times we had and remember the good movies we watched - I want them to remember all the walks we went on, the play time at the park, the basketball games, etc.

I've also started researching supplements to improve the immune system. It seems someone is always sick around here and I'm going to do what I can to improve that! As some may know my oldest son has a chronic condition requiring frequent surgery and some research indicates the better his immune system, the better the chance of remission - obvious decision to be made there! While I may never be as good at a natural lifestyle as some, I hope I can continue learning and making gradual changes to improve my family’s quality of life. I'm glad I have such a good support system to teach me. As I've learned so far, knowledge is power!

~Melissa Churchill