I Didn’t Find the Organic Life, the Organic Life Found Me

 

I didn’t find the organic life, the organic life found me. This is a quote that I coined a few years ago when I took a look at my past to where I am now. I always say that I didn’t find the organic life, the organic life found me because it is true. I have lived an organic lifestyle for the past 9 years. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, the organic lifestyle has literally saved my life. I am who I am today because of the hardships that I went through about 9 years ago. I have never truly opened up to many people about why I live an organic lifestyle. In 2018, I am committed to being more open. So, here is my story.

Ever since I was young, I suffered from stomach issues and sensitivities. I have a nervous stomach and my nerves directly effect my digestion. As far back as I can remember, I was always nervous to go to school. I couldn’t eat breakfast in the morning before school because of how nervous I was. That lasted from first grade up until 8th grade. During high school, I started eating out a lot. My day would consist of breakfast at home, lunch at the school cafeteria, out to eat after school, and then out to eat for dinner. Let’s just say I was very unhealthy at that time. I weighed about 126 pounds at one point. I know most of you wished you weighed that much, but, I am only 4′ 10″. For me, 126 pounds is a lot (see picture below).

Certain foods that I would eat would cause serious stomach pain. I remember eating a lot of fried food and every time I did, I would come home and literally lay in a ball on the floor in excruciating pain. That also happened when I would add extra butter on popcorn at the movies, ate certain ice creams, and pizza. Rolaids and Zantac were my best friends. Even going through those painful experiences, I didn’t stop eating those foods. I was 16 years old at the time. Most 16 year olds go out to eat and don’t think about the consequences. Even though I was always into eating healthy since I was young, I stopped thinking about it from age 15-17.

In my senior year of high school, I joined the women’s varsity golf team at my school. Hidden fact about me, I have played golf since I was 7 years old. During the 4 months of playing golf and also having an aerobics class in high school, I lost about 10 pounds. Yes, I lost weight from playing golf! We trained about 3 hours everyday after school and we weren’t allowed to use a golf cart. That meant we had to walk with our heavy clubs on the course.

When I was 16, I was recommended to go see a naturopath doctor because I also had major issues with my menstruation cycle. Every month from when I was 13, I had excruciating cramps that led to vomiting. I would stay home from school once a month because of it. I was always into the natural thing and I never wanted to take birth control. When I went to the naturopath doctor, I took a hormone spit test. It tested your hormone levels throughout your cycle for the month. All of my levels were off. I started taking bio-identical hormones. The naturopath doctor also recommended that I should change my diet. He said that there are hormones in our meats, chickens, dairy, and even body products that could contribute to heavy cramps.

Of course at 16, I didn’t want to change so much at once, so I started out slow. I told my mom to just buy meat that didn’t contain hormones. Also I started to slowly change my body products as well. At this point, I hadn’t even thought about organic, it was all just natural products.

Then, as soon as I graduated high school, the bio-identical hormones were messing with all of my levels in my body and I got off of them. It started to cause crazy bouts of anxiety that I had never experienced in my life. I no longer wanted to leave my house. I no longer wanted to eat. I went from 110 pounds to 90 pounds in 2 months. The only place I would go to is my local college and home. I avoided malls, restaurants, social events, and anything that would take me out from safety which was my house. Those few months were one of the worst experiences of my life. So during that time, my mom and I both agreed to try an all organic diet. A year later, after changing to an organic diet, doing acupuncture, and other therapies, I felt so much better.

Two years later, at 20 years old, I transferred to the University of Central Florida to finish my Hospitality Management degree. While I was there, I was super committed to the organic lifestyle. Everything in my kitchen was organic. I learned to cook all these intricate recipes using organic ingredients. I would spend hours at Whole Foods Market just reading labels and learning about new products. I was lucky that I lived only 8 street lights from Whole Foods. I was at Whole Foods more than I was at my college library.

UCF didn’t have a whole nutrition program, but they did offer a nutrition class for the hospitality degree as an elective. I took it and needless to say it was my favorite class. During that class I had the epiphany that I want to work in the organic food industry somehow. I took that class my senior year and I said that as soon as I graduate, I would embark on an organic journey.

Fast forward 4 years and here we are today. I am blessed for all the pain and suffering that I went through because I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for that. Most people look at pain in their life with a question of why me? But instead, I took it as a sign of growth. It was during a time when I was transitioning from a teenager to an adult. I looked at it like I was fighting who I was to who I was about to become. If I never went through that, I would’ve never been so invested into this organic lifestyle. I knew that after that experience, my life would never be the same again because it guided me to where I was about to be heading.

The organic lifestyle has been such a prominent part of my life for the past 9 years. I honestly don’t know where I would be right now. I have met so many amazing people in this industry. I have attended many conventions and connected with amazing organic companies. I have gained so much knowledge and experience. This is truly my biggest passion in life and I will never never ever look back.

So as you can see, I didn’t find the organic life, the organic life found me. And, it has been the best thing to ever happen to me.

Happy 2018 everyone.

Love,

Sara, “S.O.Eats”