Processed foods do not satisfy. We are still hungry after eating empty calories and the body doesn’t know what to do with such useless intake, so it stores it away somewhere! When the body is starving to death, we cannot exercise self-control with regards to what and how much we put in our mouth!

Why Nutrition for Life?

In 1991, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Disease.  As a teenager, it became very apparent that I had a hormonal imbalance.  I started menstruating at the age of 10 yrs. Just before I turned 13 yrs. I went into surgery for what the doctors thought was appendicitis.  What they found was an ovarian cyst the size of a grapefruit.  Just because they were “in there” they took my appendix so I wouldn’t ever have to worry about THAT again.  The operating surgeon, being in a hurry to get out of town, left 6 open bleeders and I nearly hemorrhaged to death.  That collection of blood in my abdomen over the next 24 hrs. caused tremendous problems with scar tissue and adhesions that later took several laparoscopic surgeries to correct.

By the time I was 15 or 16 yrs. old, I was having 1-3 cycles per year.  By the time I married at the age of 24 yrs. my cycles were irregular, but most every month I would have significant pain as ovarian cysts would form without ovulation taking place.  That caused significant distress when my husband and I wanted children and were unable to conceive.  We had a couple miscarriages early on and then went through 5 yrs. of infertility testing/experimentation without conceiving once.  When my health was compromised with the infertility medications to the point that it became life threatening, we were done!

But childlessness was not an option for us!  We desperately wanted children and prayerfully pursued adoption.  After building our home in Draper in 1993, one of our neighbors was quite passionate about whole grains.  Faye taught me a great deal over the years, though at first she “drove me nuts”!  After her third “presentation” of incorporating whole grains into our diet, I felt greatly impressed to “do it”!  I shared my feelings with my husband, Jay, and within the week we had dry packed 800 lbs. of grain and began using them every day, moving away from all whites–white flour, white sugar, white rice, white potatoes, etc.  I felt greatly impressed to clean up generations of poor nutrition.

Interestingly, we didn’t have an “adjustment period” of getting used to the six grain mix that Faye shared with us–hard white wheat, brown rice, hulled millet, hulled barley, oat groats, and rye.  It certainly tasted different, but it didn’t make us sick!  We didn’t have a lot of gastric upset like we did when we tried to go all whole wheat in the first part of our marriage.

We dry packed #10 cans in our kitchen using equal portions of all the grains.  I learned from Faye how to make muffins and cookies using the whole grains and learned why her business was called Cookies for Dinner!  Her wholegrain cookies were loaded with good nutrition and, believe it or not, I have improved upon her initial recipes so they are packed with protein as well.  But, it took me nearly 3 yrs. of experimentation to figure out a recipe for homemade bread using the whole grains that actually had a very good texture.

There is nothing that takes the place of wholesome nutrition!  I really do practice what I share here.  Friends ask me all the time for recipes so they can actually benefit from incorporating whole grains into their diet and I am happy to share!  May my “experimentation” bless your life!