Last month we had sweet Sarah from What I Vegan sharing her thoughts on clean eating. This month Brittany from The Lily Field has agreed to be our Mom of the Month! Remember when we did that Target giveaway celebrating her blog's one year anniversary?

I absolutely love Brittany's space. She shares truth-filled stories about her life, her spirituality, recipes, and so much more! I'll stop gushing over her and let her talk food with you.

My name is Brittany from The Lily Field and I'm going to share something with you today that might
leave you clinging to your bag of Oreos and hiding behind rows of Hamburger Helper. But hear me out.
I'm just a girl who cries over sweet potatoes, but it's a good thing. Here's why...

I grew up in the Land of Plenty and somewhere along the way I was led to believe that those little
bags of gummy-shaped "fruit" snacks counted as a serving of fruit every day. You too?!
Processed, preserved, and packaged foods with an unnaturally long shelf-life never made me
lose any sleep. It's normal. Even practical. It's very futuristic-y and apparently we have arrived.
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I am so thankful that Miss Emily asked me to share about my journey
with clean eating over here on her sweet space! I LOVE talking food. I hope you do too!
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I grew up on a typical, American diet that consisted of lots of animal products,
snacks wrapped in plastic, and liquids laden with sugar. I remember opening our family fridge
as a little girl and seeing TONS of produce wilting and wasting away.
When Little Debbie was in the cupboard, the desire for a banana was absurd.

When I did eat fresh, you better believe those strawberries were dipped in sugar
and the carrot sticks in ranch. Pure, raw foods seemed bland and unappealing to me.
My brain wanted a "fix". I craved sugar. I needed dairy.
My body was dictating what I put in my mouth and it led to a serious problem.

Weight gain was a side note. There were bigger issues: anxiety, asthma, rashes, bloating, skin blemishes,
repeat urinary tract infections, debilitating headaches, heavy periods, yeast infections, mood swings,
and a weakened immune system that allowed me to get sick at the drop of a hat.
It's crazy - I've lost count of how many of you have shared with me that this is YOUR story too.

I made my rounds with doctors and specialists. I was told that most of this was normal; to be expected.
I was in my roaring 20's now - newly married, having babies, and wasn't ready for THIS. I couldn't do it.
I didn't want band-aids anymore. I didn't want the side effects of drugs and I didn't like not knowing what
the long-term damage would be. Plus I wanted to live a long, healthy life with my husband and children!
So I got off the bus and purged my system.



An elimination diet seemed like a good place to start.
Little did I know that this adventure would forever change the way I look at food.
3 months of cleansing my body with raw, organic fruits, veggies, and meats woke up me.
My issues - DISAPPEARED. I threw away all the notes for prescriptions and have never looked back.
It's like scales fell from eyes. St. Paul of nutrition right here. What I thought was "normal" all my life...
turned out to NOT be normal. You can follow-up on that story over on my blog.

Somewhere in the middle of that cleanse - in between the withdrawal symptoms - I found myself sitting
at my dining room table preparing to eat a baked sweet potato with sea salt. I had never had one before.
I thought all sweet potatoes came pre-accessorized with marshmallows and candied nuts.

I took a bite and cried. It was good. Now that my pallet was stabilized, I could actually appreciate
the natural sweetness of the potato that most people glamorize with additives! I told God that I felt like
I had been missing out on the GOOD foods that HE created for me... by buying into the American diet plan.



Everything in life seems BRIGHTER now. My eyes are not so sensitive to the sun - my skin is clearer -
my hair is longer - my waist is smaller - I feel better - my energy levels are off the charts -
I feel less anxious - less emotional in general - in short, I feel amazing.
That cleanse led me and my family into an entire new way point of view when it comes to food.

Fruits, veggies, whole grains, natural, free-range, grass-fed, hormone-free...
are words that I never thought would lovingly come out of my mouth! But I am seriously in love
with this "new normal" that we are now living and will never look back. I may still have a couple
Oreos on occasion - because I am a weak human being that can still be seduced
with chocolate cookies and the mysterious cream that comes in the middle!

But it's about a healthy LIFESTYLE with a few unhealthy SPLURGES along the way.
Not the other way around. Hope I didn't weird you out too much. Catch me over in the field
for more on family, food, and life in general! Would love some "feed"back. Ha. I'm funny. Not really.

And if I could recommend ONE resource for getting started with a cleaner diet...
check out my girl, Gwyneth Paltrow and her new book "It's All Good". The book is beautiful.
You are beautiful too! Here's to taking good care of the bodies God gave us!

And if you happen to cry over a sweet potato - don't worry.
I won't make fun of you. I understand.