Meet Greenola Girl Emily!

For the last 5 years, I have put myself on the back burner.  Since becoming a mom to twins, I have put all of my energy and time into being a mom, doing mom things and putting myself on the back burner, because it was the right thing to do at the time. I never even once considered if the food I was consuming was going to have an impact on my health, or my children. That thought is so disturbing to me now. 

 When I found out I was pregnant with my last baby, my son, things began to change. I started to research health during pregnancy, determined not to gain any more weight, as I was already about 50+lbs over. I started slowly increasing exercise and eating healthier. In my quest to find out about health, I came across the topic of breastfeeding. I already knew that I wanted to this time around because the first time I failed. I was determined. Once my son arrived things really changed. I knew I had to change my eating habits so that my son was getting the best nutrition possible. I joined Weight Watchers weeks after his birth and started losing weight like crazy. I was about 40lbs down when people started asking me “Don’t you feel so much better?!”  My automatic answer was, yes but the truth was I was exhausted. I chalked it up to being up all night with a new baby. Then I came across a blog about “real food” that changed my life. I decided our family was going to pledge to eat real food for a week. This was the most eye-opening week of my life. The things I was putting into my body were making me tired. Sure, I was losing weight by restricting calories, but I was still eating lots of refined sugar, flour and things that were making me feel horrible. 

I started cooking fresh, healthy, organic foods daily and I was surprised at how quickly my children adapted. They started asking me at the tender age of 4 if what they were eating had sugar in it, and if it was healthy for them. After a 65+lb weight loss, I feel full of energy since cutting down on refined sugar. Recently, we have been striving to become greener. We switched our 1 year old into cloth diapers and wipes (which we LOVE!).  Instead of buying bulk paper plate stacks, we purchased a cute new dishware set. Rather than going through case after case of bottled water, I bought everyone in our family a reusable water bottle.  I have learned to make my own body wash, shampoo, safe cleaning supplies and various other money saving, green products. This is a journey, and I am still learning new things all of the time.