Is it ironic that as I write this post I am snacking on the delicious Lindor Truffles my dearest husband got for me? To die for… literally perhaps as I am certain that last bite took at least a few days off my life. That is certainly the one thing I look forward to in Heaven – lots of wonderful guilt-free truffles Or perhaps just enough as to not overindulge… ahem.

So back to what I wanted to talk about, creating a healthier lifestyle. This is of huge concern for me now that I am a mother. I have noticed that whatever we eat our daughter tends to eat so… that doesn’t bode very well for the poor girl at this time I’m afraid. Knowing how difficult it is to break bad habits as an adult, I want to spare her the difficulty and kick her sugar addiction before it begins.

Before I blogged about Jake and I eliminating sugar from our diet… ha!

A couple months ago I tried to implement a ridiculously difficult diet plan… ha!

So now I have (I hope) learned from my mistakes. If we really want to change our lifestyle… I mean really really want to reverse our habits and create long lasting new ones – it needs to be slow. At least for us it does, and I have been warned to take these things slowly before… perhaps now I’ll listen.

So I took the elements from the “gradual” new lifestyle program I tried to implement and wrote them all down on a chart. I won’t tell you what they all are now, that would not give you any reason to come back! But I will tell you that there are a total of 16 of them. Jake and I talked about it and he decided which one he wanted to start working on first.

For the last five weeks we have been concentrating on just basically drinking more water. You may remember this from my other post talking about Baby School. It’s not only a good model for our daughter, but it is also a great idea for us. Why water? Well… I think for one drinking more water doesn’t necessitate cutting out any bad habits like… Lindor Truffles… so we figured it was an easy in. More importantly though it is a small part of a greater quest to have a healthier life and *drum roll* healthier teeth.

Yes… I said teeth. My original diet program (and the new modified version) was not directed toward weight loss or more energy, though those things certainly might be a nice plus. But what I really had in mind in its creation was to protect and heal our teeth. One thing I am petrified of is cavities, for me or my kiddos. I am not petrified only of the cost but also of the long term consequences. I knew that in reality God had created our teeth to work – not to deteriorate. And I knew that before the high tech dentist’s office, He had given us ways to take care of our bodies naturally, so I started researching what those ways were.

I found some great resources namely Weston Price’s Research and the work of Ramiel Nagel. I was convinced after this and some other reading that I could not only protect Evangeline’s pearly whites from decay, but I could also heal mine and my dear husband’s already damaged teeth. Using the nutritionally based methods from these and others I created my own comprehensive tooth healing program thingy for my own family.

I would have liked to start the transition more quickly, but again, slowly but surely wins the race. So we’re starting slow… with water. Our goal is to drink 6-8 glasses a day, and we have been doing moderately well at it. I have definitely been drinking A LOT more than I ever have and have been noticing some benefits. For example, I haven’t used chap stick since we started! Which is definitely saying something.

Obviously water is important – our bodies are over 70% water, but why is it vital for tooth health? It’s pretty simple. When your body is dehydrated (like most American’s bodies are oddly enough…) it begins taking fluid from your extremities and non-essential places and transferring it to your vital organs to keep them working properly. This means that your lips and mouth will become too dry, causing dry mouth. Why this is a problem is because your saliva is what protects your teeth from the decay-causing bacteria in your mouth. Without enough of it, your mouth becomes dry and your teeth are vulnerable. Dry mouth is one of the two main causes of tooth decay (the other is an overly acidic mouth which I will talk about later).

The solution? Drinking enough water = no dry mouth = less cavities. Yay! Yes it’s an easy and simple step, but it’s in the right direction and every little bit helps. Now if you’ll excuse me… I’m going to go get some water.