In this week’s episode of The Whole Circle Podcast Jo shares all about how she lost her additive-free mojo and what she’s done to get her groove back.
Oh, my goodness, just as well we have a 7-day additive-free challenge coming up because boy oh boy had the Ling family fallen off the additive-free wagon!
Guess what? It happens! Even we’re not perfect. Sometimes life gets in the way and we can justify not adhering to a certain lifestyle because we’re too busy. Oh, that word ‘busy’…it’s a word we can use to excuse so many things in life when in actual fact even though Jo was busy, she still had time to be living additive-free, she just wasn’t making it a priority.
But that’s life guys, warts and all. Life gets in the way and sometimes you lose focus on what’s important to you, it’s all part of being human.
Life got in the way
As you may or may not know, our mum is chronically ill at the moment battling cancer. A diagnosis that has shaken our family to the core and one that has, for obvious reasons, required us to shift our focus onto supporting our mum as best as we can.
Then the Christmas holidays hit, and you know what it’s like, we all indulge a little too much and it was busy (there’s that word again) at that time because we were launching another round of Additive-Free Made Easy. So, both Jo and Shane slacked off a little bit with their food choices and she never really got back into it.
What does being slack with living additive-free look like?
They didn’t go so far as travelling through drive-throughs (no judgment to anyone else who does), they didn’t buy artificial fragrance or anything like that, but it was little things like:
- Allowing the kids to have a kinder surprise
- Buying food from the Bunnings café like jelly slices or caramel slices
- Buying the kids’ sweets/chips/biscuit as rewards for being good at swimming
- Scrolls or pizzas from Baker’s Delight
Yes, they’re not major slips up, just relaxed more than they normally would. But it all has a cumulative effect and to what end? Slowly this stuff starts creeping back in and before you know it all bets are off and additive-free living has totally gone out the window. Something that Jo could never ever let happen.
Quite frankly though at that time, Jo just couldn’t be bothered. It wasn’t that she couldn’t be bothered to prioritise her family’s health as much as she couldn’t be bothered arguing with her children. The inevitable arguments that would ensue from refusing to buy the scroll or the pizza or the kinder surprise. She just didn’t have the brain space at the time to pick those battles.
What was the tipping point?
Jo, Shane and their two kids went away on a cruise and they were completely relaxed with food, which happens when you’re on holidays.
They had a 24 hour soft serve ice-cream bar on the cruise and Jo allowed her kids one a day, which doesn’t sound bad but add that on top of all the other buffet food that wasn’t additive-free and by day 3 Jo felt shocking and bloated and Jacob’s asthma had started to flare up too. Day 4 and Eva had a terrible cold and Shane’s dermatitis had flared up as well as he felt bloated too. Jo got a cold sore too! The health concerns just kept adding up!
When they made it back to port in Sydney, Jacob’s asthma had flared up so bad that Jo had to take him to a GP in Sydney. They hadn’t been to a GP in about 2 years. It just hadn’t been necessary for them to do so.
At the end of the cruise they got home, and they all felt terrible. They didn’t feel relaxed at all, they felt like they needed a holiday to get over the holiday.
This was the point that Jo knew she had to draw the line in the sand and get back onto the additive-free wagon again. Living like they were was not sustainable and was detrimental to their health.
Thankfully for a lot of the health issues detailed above Jo had her essential oils to help support their bodies whilst they were fighting and in distress.
How hard was it to get back on track?
Saturday came around and it was time to go do all the kids sporting activities as well as the grocery shopping that Jo does on a Saturday.
They get to the butchers which just so happens to have a Baker’s Delight store next door and Eva asks for a scroll…oh boy…here comes the argument.
Jo tried to reason with her that they were back eating healthy again and she needed to choose an additive-free option. This was met with no, she wanted the scroll. Back and forth they went and in the end, Jo had her 9-year-old daughter throwing a 2-year-old tantrum.
Jo had bought a gluten-free muffin from the café next door which was a better choice, so she gave some for Eva to try. Nope, she didn’t like it! Jo remained cool, calm and collected and simply stated that she either had the muffin or she waited until they got home in about an hour and she could eat then. Eva was not happy about this but those were her choices. Once they were in the car, Jo offered the muffin again which Eva refused. About 10 minutes after this Eva picked up the muffin and said ‘oh mum, this is actually really yummy!’ Ahhh kids!
What’s the secret to living additive-free?
Being organised! Jo had slackened off on this. If she was organised, she would have pre-made some food that she would have taken with her for Eva to eat.
She usually uses Meals Made Easy (our meal planning program) to help her have food at the ready so she can avoid situations like the one above.
Thankfully she is back into that now and boy does it make life easier to be organised and prepped. She honestly doesn’t know why or how she lived without using Meals Made Easy.
Seriously guys, it takes the effort out of the kitchen. Jump into it >>> here
Get everyone back on board
The key to getting back in sync for living additive-free was that Jo and Shane were on the same page and they discussed with the kids how they were going back to living their proper additive-free lifestyle. This was key because when you’re dealing with tantrums from kids you need to know that no matter what your partner is going to be just as strong and refuse just like you.
Even if the kids are at the grandparents, get them back on board too. This is what Jo had to do.
It’s easy to lose your way
Over the years we have seen so many people saying how they have lost their way or their mojo living additive-free, so if this is you, then remember our motto #dontstressit
The beauty is you can reignite your passion and easily jump back on the wagon.
You don’t have to make it hard, just start by going back to switching up your brands for better options and gradually reintegrate it back into your life.
A lot of our previous Additive-Free Made Easy students will join our 7-day challenges or take advantage of the discount code they get for being previous alumni and re-do our Additive-Free Made Easy course again.
So, fear not! Jump back on board with Jo and get back into the additive-free lifestyle again.
Free 7-Day Additive-Free Challenge
? Beginning 27th May we are once again running our FREE 7-Day Additive-Free Challenge
What’s it all about:
➕ Learn what harmful chemicals to look out for when food shopping
➕ Get manageable daily tasks
➕ A daily dose of inspiration and tips!
➕ Recipes the whole family will love
➕ Meet like-minded people in our private FB community
➕ BONUS: Free Live Webinar Masterclass at the end of the Challenge
Start living a life of wellness and join the challenge >>> here
Interested in doing our course Additive-Free Made Easy? Then head on over to register your interest for the next round >>> here
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