The Battle

We worked very hard, to get all of our toxic food out of our pantry. In fact, when done cleaning everything out of our pantry, we realized we had three items that we could leave. Whoa.

Canned salmon, cinnamon and canned tomatoes. It was work to clean out everything, but I can also say that it was the best thing we ever did, to draw that battle line that the Stallmans ARE getting healthy.

Fast forward, and the teens were faced with having to make a bake sale item for our church youth trip. I was adamantly opposed to bringing anything home to bake. I reluctantly allowed the box mixes to be brought home, and my husband would be in charge of supervising the task. Off I went, to enjoy my detox bath, journaling and then called it a night.

What shocked me is what happened next. I awoke at 1 am to the smell of baked cookies and brownies. It was intense and real. I jumped out of bed and raced to the kitchen. My teens and my husband were still awake packing and cleaning up. In that moment, I KNEW we made a big mistake.

Just by looking at Mike Jr., I realized he was also struggling. Honestly, I am not being dramatic in saying this - for me it was like watching a movie where the vampire’s throat is burning for blood. If my craving was so real and intense, then I knew my son was struggling, too. We talked, and I sent him to bed with a cold glass of water.

I then went into my room and cried. I cried because (let’s be real), I wanted to eat and I shouldn’t. I cried because, I felt I failed by letting this into our home. I cried because, I was frustrated and tired. After my deluge, something switched and I went into fierce Mama Bear mode. I went back into that kitchen, took the now packed up bake sale items and placed them on my Mike Sr.’s side of the bed (his symptoms aren’t as severe). I took all the crumbs and pieces and threw them away, pouring water on them. After all, I am fighting for the health of this family. I was so worked up, I went to take another detox bath and off to bed to get some sleep.

Upon reflection the next day, I realized this was BIG - we won the boxed mix battle! The score: Stallmans 1 - Big Food 0!!