Hello world!

After years of reading healthy living blogs, I’ve set my sights on running my own “healthy living” blog numerous times.  Each time I made the decision to leap into the blogging world, I would just as quickly come up with excuses not to pursue it.  Though I’ve always lived a healthy, active life, I’ve always convinced myself that I had no “new” insight to offer.  No need to reinvent the wheel, Aimee.  The healthy living blogs out there are good.  There is only so much room for discussion on oat breakfasts, the benefits of chia seeds, and how to “sneak” in more exercise during your otherwise sedentary day.  So each time I began my endeavor, a hectic schedule, the desire for the occasional junky meal, and the worry of no one caring about my lunch would eventually win out and I would never even begin.

In hindsight, I think the true reason for all of my excuses is the same.  It’s not about lack of time or loving pizza or even the fact that there are hundreds of food blogs available.  It came down to this:  I didn’t feel good.  My body was unhealthy.  No matter how much mental satisfaction I got from choosing steel cut oats and fruit over a bowl of apple jacks and chocolate milk, I still felt like crap.  How could I get others to buy into a healthy lifestyle, when deep down, I didn’t believe it mattered much?   

I cannot even blame myself for giving up the “good” for the “bad”.  I would attempt to eat clean, but the feeling of energy and fulfillment that others described really wasn’t what I felt at all.  Why torture myself by turning down the mouthwatering foods my friends and families consumed when I felt the same pain and discomfort if I ate a veggie sub on whole wheat bread?  All that healthy food was just not sitting right with me.

It took years of fatigue, headaches, and post-meal discomfort to finally get me into the waiting room at my doctor’s office.  In fact, had it not been for Web M.D. and Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s book Deliciously G-Free (that my mother was discussing incessantly), I never would have gone to begin with.  That doctor’s visit changed my life, and with that change comes the determination to finally finish what I’ve already began hundreds of times.  Thanks to a new gluten-free diet, I have new energy, new freedom, and new inspiration to write.

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