Chak Talk with Granola Mom 4 God

Over the past year and a half, I have been working on instilling healthier eating habits with myself and my family. One mom who is ahead of me on this journey and shares so much information on her blog is Jodi at Granola Mom 4 God. The cool part about this interview is that I actually got to go meet Jodi in person! (You can see her pics. of the visit by visiting "She's Real!") She showed me several things I had questions about and we had a wonderful time talking and hanging out. Here are some of the things I asked her:

1.  Have you basically always been into healthy living/cooking or was it a gradual change? If the latter, what spurred this change on?  

In short, having children changed how we ate.  We used to be able to live off of $25 a week or less for groceries.  But I found out that I had health condition (PCOS) that was going to make having children difficult.  The answer looming ahead was going on medication . . . and I didn’t want to do that the rest of my life.  At that point, I pursued losing weight and exercising.  Well, we found out we were pregnant the day before we were going to turn adoption papers in!  However, after our first was born, through a series of events I found out my thyroid had gone caput . . . and that is when the real rabbit hole opened up . . . 

2.  What advice would you give to someone who is trying to make healthier choices for their family but is overwhelmed by all the choices, options and changes that need to be made?

Pray. Pursue reading a Sue Gregg cookbook, The Maker’s Diet by Jordan Rubin, or The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno. But the biggest thing—is that it has to be a calling—and plan on taking things slowly STEP by STEP. Don’t do fast changes.

3.  If they could make one healthy family life-style change, what would you recommend?

Eliminate white flour and sugar.

4.  How do you schedule in all your canning, Kefir-making, from-scratch cooking in your week?

I set it out before I go to bed at night and my kids help out. It just becomes part of the music of our family life . . . you get in a rhythm. Once again . . . I took it step-by-step . . . none of this occurred in a day, or a week, or even a month. I am into our 6th year of growing in the lifestyle. My new ferment this year was learning how to make water kefir soda. There is no way I could have done that 2 years ago!

(Jodi let me sample her kefir soda---I was surprised I actually thought it was good! :) Maybe in the near future I'll add that to things I can make from scratch)

5.  What items are must-have in your pantry and why?

I try to purchase things in bulk (because it is cheaper) and as close to how God made it as possible. But musts? Winter wheat berries, brown rice, candied ginger (for my water kefir soda), coconut oil!!!!!!

6.  Do you do any bulk cooking?

No . . . I freeze lots of fruit ahead of time for smoothies . . . and will do a few jars of chicken stock, but that is about as bulk as it gets for me.  I am not that organized . . . though I always thought it would be nice to have meals ahead, lots of canning accomplished, etc.  Of course, it doesn’t help that we just moved and I had to leave my garden behind this summer!   

7.  We know that any day you are expecting your newest little blessing. Do you have any tips for a new mom to prepare for the little one's birth?

Become educated. Don’t just rely on your doctor’s to tell you what to do. You have choices. God entrusted YOU to be your child’s mom. Read all that you can, not forgetting to touch on the natural birth books. And purchase a baby sling or a Moby Wrap!!

8.  What would be some of your must-have items for a new baby?

A baby sling

9.  What is your favorite family recipe?

That makes me laugh . . . a family favorite is natural peanut butter mixed with cocoa and raw honey—it has a fudge-like consistency, and Sue Gregg’s English Muffins, and chocolate peanut butter smoothies (catch the theme?)

I am living life under the conviction of bringing my family closer to God by returning to traditional ways of eating, mothering, homeschooling, cloth diapering, gardening, and sewing. You can find me at Granola Mom 4 God, my Etsy shop The Cocoon Wrap Mama, and at Totally Tots as a guest writer.