Homesteading For My Health

One of the biggest reasons I’ve decided to be relatively self-sufficient, and homestead is for my health and the health of my family. When I was growing up my mom always had to cook everything from scratch because my dad has cardiac problems and can’t have a lot of the preservatives and sodium that are packed into store bought food. So, I grew up knowing that way of life anyway. Since those days, I have since started cooking my meals the same way. They taste better, I know what's going into my food, and there's not a bunch of junk that I can't even pronounce. Sure, my homemade bread is not going to last three weeks on the counter, but who keeps bread that long anyway? Another great thing about cooking all my own food is that it keeps my mind busy. I have recently been diagnosed with severe anxiety, and if I am not doing something productive then my brain goes into panic mode which leads to horrible panic attacks. The saying “idol hands are the devil's workshop” is pretty much how I live my life now. If I don’t keep my mind busy it goes to a dark place. So instead of doing nothing, I make all my own food. It takes a little bit longer, but that’s less time that I have for idol hands. It is probably the best thing I have found so far that helps. I've also recently learned that gut health can also help reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Apparently, most of your body’s serotonin comes from your gut. I did a little research and basically learned that if you feed your body better things, then you will not only feel better physically, but mentally as well. I don’t know if this works the same for everyone because I am definitely not a doctor, but it helps me a lot.