Reading a nutrition label can be depressing. Calories and fat aside, most of this stuff is crap!  Even so-called “health” food is over-processed and full of unpronounceable ingredients. It is not surprising how many people, while “well-nourished”, develop debilitating diseases such as cancer and fibromyalgia. We are eating fake food and our bodies don’t know how to deal.

I hate to admit it, but yesterday I made low-fat butterscotch blondies and I used…dark corn syrup. I might as well have worn a Cooking With Monsanto apron. I will say, though, that I believe in and try (most days. Not yesterday. Three. Cookouts.) to eat real, healthy, whole foods. There is obvious genius in eating food the way God made it: completely natural. Not a product of genetic engineering. Actual food. Simplicity.

I think the same can be said for our personal lives. We have added in a pinch of soccer practice, a generous helping of Facebook,  a teaspoon of New Girl and two tablespoons of The Walking Dead. Stir in 20 cups of overtime and three bottles of Jack Daniels, and we’ve piled so much into the mix we can’t taste the original flavor anymore. Life is full and chaotic and silence is presently absent.

It’s easy to see the benefits of getting back to basics with our food, but what about with our schedules? What would a “nutrition” label look like if we listed our daily activities? Would it be a good list, full of life-giving, beneficial ingredients? Or would it contain empty, artificial fluff that provides virtually no benefits at all?

Just as much as we have control over what we put in our bodies, we have a say in how we craft our days. Give this a try: list out your daily “ingredients” every day for a week. What is worth keeping? What could you use more of? What is it time to cut out?

My ingredients yesterday: Taking a walk outside, pulling weeds, laundry, Facebook, blogging, worrying, listening to a hilarious but slightly inappropriate audio book,  cooking healthy food, reading the Bible and journaling, crushing on a guy, work, guitar, Facebook, and blogging again.

Simplicity is cutting out the unnecessary and living in the important. Yesterday was actually surprisingly decent, ingredient-wise, but there are a few things I could have done without.

It’s always good to take a step back, evaluate how we’re managing our days, and take the necessary steps to tweak what isn’t working. I will be keeping an eye on my ingredients from now on, and adjusting the recipe until I get it right.

Love y’all.

Ang