A Family History of Healthy Living

Family history is important. My mom often shares with me what life was like for her as a child.

She was born in 1948 in California – a completely different time than the world we live in today.

She lived in a small house built by her dad. They were a family of six and never had much.

Toys and gifts were sparse. My grandmother made a lot of their clothes and my grandfather worked as a truck driver for a gravel company.

Healthy Living During My Mom's Childhood

My mom's parents enjoyed working in their home garden. Her dad was proud of his organic fruits and vegetables that helped feed his family.

Eating out was a rare treat. Occasionally, her family would stop at McDonald's and order a plain hamburger for each of them.

Then they would bring home their burgers and add tomatoes, lettuce, etc. from their garden.

Mom and her family also became avid canners.  They would make their own jams and can everything from green beans to carrots.

Passing Down Traditions to the Next Generation

My mom and her siblings didn't have much, but they appreciated the small things.

The lessons she learned in her childhood have stuck throughout her life. She still appreciates the small things. And she still values healthy living.

She also has her own organic garden and enjoys working in her yard.

Healthy Living Education Continues

It's been extremely important to my wife and me to also teach our kids how to live a healthy life.

Times are different now. Families eat out more often. Most kids today have so much more than my mom could have ever dreamed of as a child.

What We Did to Promote Healthy Living for Our Kids

When our babies were old enough to start eating solids, my wife made our own organic baby food.

We also never did the whole juice-in-a-sippy-cup thing. We just gave our kids clean Berkey water to drink.

For that reason, they've always loved water. Juices and sodas are a rare, special treat for us.

Little steps like this have taught our kids how to live a healthy lifestyle.

They enjoy eating healthy fruits and vegetables. They also know how to read food labels and choose healthy options over unhealthy ones.

I can also say that we've never willingly taken our kids to McDonald's.

They've never eaten at Burger King, Taco Bell, or a host of other fast-food restaurants.

We're starting them off right so they can live long, healthy lives. That's one of the best things we can pass down to our kids.

Healthy habits really do make a difference. Our kids rarely ever get sick and doctor visits are few and far between.

Drinking clean water and eating clean food are big contributing factors.

But we still wanted to pass down the knowledge of healthy eating and drinking.

When we had kids, we knew we wanted them to have a healthy start. We started healthy habits right from the beginning.

She has passed down her knowledge of health and the history of her family to her kids.

That's something I really treasure more and more the older I get.

Will the Healthy Living Traditions Continue?

We hope the trend continues with the next generation and our kids teach their kids the things we've taught them.

I'm thankful for my mom's childhood experience, as is she. It's made her who she is and it's helped make me who I am.

Our family histories are important and we can learn from them in numerous ways.

I hope your family history is full of rich knowledge that has been passed down through the generations.