It was the fourth week of our Costco Challenge  when my husband came home with a copy of this:

His Crossfit instructor sent it home with him and swears it will improve his performance. (The book is hyperlinked – if you want to take a look. FYI – I’m not an Amazon affiliate – just hyperlinked in case you are curious.) All I know is Paleo or Primal  is not the way our family typically eats. It’s heavy on meat, and I can go days without consuming a meat product. Take a look at one of my meal plans, and you’ll see lots of pasta and a Meatless Monday meal.

However, there are a few parts to eating Paleo that I can definitely get on board:

• Usage of Coconut Oil and Coconut Milk
• Emphasis on Vegetables

So those are two items I’ll really be playing up in our family’s diet over the next few weeks.

Because this is not the way we have always eaten, I’ve been working on ways to implement a special diet and to still stay on budget. Here are three ways I’ve already saved:

• Vitacost – Vitacost is still offering $10 off your first purchase when you shop through a referral link. They send you a code via email within minutes of sign-up that you can use towards your order. Worth it? I think so. Check out this cost comparison on coconut oil between my local health food store and Vitacost:

• There is over a $10 price difference over my local store PLUS I got an additional $10 off with my code!

• Swagbucks – I have the Swagbucks toolbar installed on my computer. I use it to search the web instead of the Google toolbar. Every time I do, I earn swagbucks. Earn 450 swagbucks, and you can redeem it for a $5 gift card to Amazon. I’ve earned enough swagbucks and gift cards that I was able to get organic raw coconut for FREE! This is definitely a workable option for anyone wanting to save on a special diet.

• Alice.com - Another great online shopping site, you can get 20% off your first order PLUS they have automatic coupons. If you are following a special diet, they have a great selection, reasonable prices, and free shipping with orders over $40. And if you follow a real food diet, they have EXCELLENT prices on organic flours by Great River Milling like whole wheat pastry flour and sunflower millet.

These are the ways I’ve already saved, but I’d love any input or suggestions you might have!

It’s been almost 6 weeks since I started taking 4X Pro-B Digestive Care.  I previously shared my story of my online purchase. So how has taking 4X Pro-B differed from some of the other steps I’ve taken to improve my digestive health?

Flaxseed and yogurt were my favorite ways to improve my digestive health.

• Flaxseed – Our family uses flaxseed as a supplement and we sprinkle it on our morning oatmeal or we add it to our baking. Flaxseed works great – but it’s not without it’s side effects. The kind of side effects that require you pass out gas masks to anyone who might be spending time with you later in the day. The good news? After about 3 days of consistent use those side effects go away. The bad news? You have to live through those 3 days.
• Yogurt – We love yogurt in our family. The only draw back to yogurt is the amount you need to eat each day to get the probiotics you need. One serving of yogurt is all I really want to eat during the day. Forget about eating 3-4.

Honestly? I wasn’t expecting big things on this supplement study. I feel pretty strongly that food is our medicine and eating a large variety of fresh, organic food is all you need to do. I really believe that the number one thing I can do for all aspects of my health is this:

However, I found taking the 4X Pro-B Supplement really easy. You take it once in the morning, you have no excessive gas, and my stomach feels flatter with less bloating. Those are some pretty big pluses in my book! In fact, the changes have been so positive, I will be continuing to use this supplement beyond this study.

Have you tried 4X Pro-B? Why not head to Costco.com and leave a review? Or let people know what you think on the Costco Facebook Page.

**This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions expressed are 100% my own.**

photo credit

I love to save money. Ever since I learned that by combining a sale with a coupon I could save hundreds of dollars, I’ve been hooked. Because I love to save money, I follow quite a few coupon sites. Many of these sites introduced me to money saving strategies, and I’ve followed them for years, applying those strategies to healthy, organic food. But I’m noticing a trend lately, and it concerns me.

First, there is Hip to Save. Hip to Save has gone Paleo – cutting out grains & dairy – and has reported:

“I am going to be very honest and state that I relied way too heavily on frozen pizza and any other easy to prepare packaged item that I had a coupon for. Yes, we were not eating by any means very healthy. I know that, trust me!”

“I feel so good. My energy is up and to be quite honest, my issues with digestion and constipation have pretty much cleared up.”

Then there is the Money Saving Mom. I love her & recommend her site wholeheartedly. Recently she has moved to a gluten free diet and wrote in a comment:

“We’ve been experimenting with it (a gluten-free diet) over the last few weeks,  so many of my recipes posted before then *aren’t* gluten-free. However, we’re excited at the difference we’re seeing in the health issues our child was having and plan to continue through the end of March, for sure.”

And finally, I am THAT Lady, Lauren (whom I feel privileged to know IRL), announced in October

“I got my final test results back last week, and the good news is those showed that I do NOT have Celiac Disease, but I do have a Gluten Intolerance Issue.”

What on earth is happening? Is Extreme Couponing leading to Extreme Food Intolerance????

Look at these numbers then draw your own conclusion:

• In 1996 America allowed industrialized farming to start using GMO (genetically modified organism) crops. GMO crops were supposed to be disease resistant and produce larger yields.

• From 1997 to 2007, the prevalence of reported food allergy increased 18% among children under age 18 years. Additionally, in 2007, 29% of children with food allergy also had reported asthma compared with 12% of children without food allergy, according to the CDC.

• US consumers redeemed 3.5 billion coupons in 2011, representing a 6.1% increase from 3.3 billion in 2010 and a 9% rise from 3.2 billion in 2009, according to a study released in January 2012 by marketing research company NCH.

In summary: In 1996 we introduce large scale GMO farming, over the next decade, as these foods became prevalent in our stores, food allergies increase, and in the last three years we’ve used a record number of coupons to purchase large quantities of those products.

What do you think? Am I drawing a fair conclusion that we’re sacrificing our health all for a cheap deal? (I’m including myself in buying something just because it was cheap/free)

Couponing to save money will always be a strategy I use in our household. However, I’m even more committed to finding solutions and answers on how to make organic, whole, and real food more accessible to more families.

Starting this week, I’m doing a Costco challenge. My goal is to feed my family of 4 entirely from Costco, buying as much organic, real and whole food as I can. It will include a shopping list, weekly meal plans & recipes. It goes over my goal of feeding my family for only $15/day. However, at the end of 4 weeks, I will still have many items from my staples list leftover! (trust me – we won’t be eating 12 pounds of organic brown rice in 4 weeks!)

Want to join me in taking control of your health?

**This site is in no way affiliated with Costco. I was not compensated by Costco, in fact, I’m guessing they’ve never heard of me.**

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