My Philosphy on Life

John and I both tend to be sort of anti-establishment with regards to the government, the medical profession, and other organizations that establish general "rules" for Americans to live by. We both tend to be suspicious of an organization that makes money off a product (be it medicine or food or something else) telling us that we need X amount of it a day to be healthy. (Example, would be antibiotics. Despite there being evidence that we don't need as many antibiotics and that they are actually starting to harm us, doctors still tell the vast majority of their patients that they need antibiotics for almost anything that ails them.)

So to counter act our natural suspicions, my philosophy that guides a lot of my decisions is to think back to "how it was meant to be". I think back to when the world was created by an intelligent Creator, how He intended our bodies to work and be used. What this basically does it make me (and us and our family) decide not to do most of the things that America does so easily and readily. This has really guided a lot of our decisions, obviously around birth, but also around medicine and food. To make this a little more clear, let's use birth as an example. In my opinion it is obvious that God did not make birth a flawed process. Meaning we don't need to add anything to it or take anything away from it other than what is there naturally. If it were a flawed processed, meaning we need to add something to it like epidurals, episiotomies, pitocin, etc, then the human race would have died out very quickly. We have been surviving for millions of years without any interventions with birth at all. This makes it clear to me that the best choice for myself and my children is to do birth as naturally as possible. (Again, I am NOT putting down other people's choices at ALL! Birth is scary and each couple has to make the right choices for them. For me, I am comforted by knowing that my ancestors all survived for millions of years without interventions and by knowing it is not a flawed process, and my body was made to give birth and will do so safely-for the most part-there are a few exceptions with a tiny part of the population where interventions are necessary and a blessing.)

This same thinking guides my thoughts on food too. As we are considering eating less meat and not necessarily replacing it with other forms of protein, we find ourselves wondering if it is safe. Here's our thoughts:
1. The government, who undoubtedly gets money from the meat industry has set up the guidelines on consuming meat and protein.
2. It is obviously more profitable for Americans to eat meat than to eat more vegetables.
3. This makes me suspect if the government is being guided by selfish and greedy ambitions or true and right ones.
4. How was it intended? Did our ancestors eat meat on a daily basis, or to the extent we do (20% + of our diet being meat). Most certainly not. Even if they ate it everyday, which is very doubtful, it would have only been once a day at most and would have been a tiny morsel. Most likely meat was reserved for those times when they could actually catch an animal (with their primitive hunting equipment) and then meat would have been eaten-but mind you a single catch would have been spread across a HUGE family and possibly an extended tribe or village.
5. So to us the choice is obvious that we don't need as much meat as the government says we do.

In addition to "How was it intended" guiding many of my choices, more recently I have added a second question "How long has this been around and is it proven safe?". I've started thinking about things like antibiotics, birth interventions, formula, our processed food, etc, and wondering how long has it been around in the grand scheme of things. Our earth has been here for billions of years and based off of -at best-100 years of evidence we are doing things on a consistent basis and calling it safe or healthy. Example could be trans fats. For about 20 years or so, the government said margarine a was safe, low fat alternative to butter. It had only been around a fraction of the time of human kind yet because the government and food industry said it was okay we believed and ate it. Now we find it is actually toxic to our bodies. Another example is X-rays. For several years doctors said it was safe for women to get X-rays while they were pregnant and often they used these as a pre-ultrasound. Now we find out, again, it has detrimental affects on the baby. I find myself wondering this about ultrasounds. How long have we been using them and is it long enough (against how long the earth has been here) to convince me it is safe. Probably not. (Although I am not inherently against ultrasounds.) Something that is proven safe, because we've been doing it since the dawn of time, is eating produce. That's a no brainer and not a very exciting example but proves my point. We've been eating vegetables since man existed and we have thrived so I know that it is healthy.

Anyway, this blog isn't to make me seem superior or to talk down to anyone. It's more something I've found myself thinking about a lot lately and I wanted to share it. John and I are very far from perfect. We eat a LOT of processed and unhealthy foods. I've been very guilty of blindly following fads in the past (and probably present). I give my daughter vaccines and we take medicine, despite both failing the test of "How was it intended" and "How long has this been around". I am far from perfect on following my own advice. I will also say that there are some advancements that are blessing and have helped mankind. Many treatments for illnesses have saved millions, or billions maybe, of lives that before we would have died. (Although why are the illnesses there-did our actions put them there? Another blog.) Surgeries have saved lives. Many instances where women would have died in childbirth yet are now saved occur on a regular basis. So I am in no way knocking certain advancements or saying my family will not participate in them. I guess I'm just saying we question things, a lot.