Happy New Year 🎈 12th Mile Runners!

Please know that I am praying for each of you by name as we approach the “start line” for a brand-new year… every stride! I pray for the strength, wisdom, and peace needed in the year ahead. I appreciate your willingness to let my emails take up a bit of your inbox every two weeks or so… we all receive a lot, so thank you!

It was in January, ten years ago, that my pastor sent me to a silent retreat center for rest and recovery. Why? To heal an ever-increasing fatigue that no amount of sleep could reverse. What an experience it was! Located in a rural area south of Grand Rapids, MI, the surroundings were so quiet that the only sounds were the voices of a cow or a horse. I enjoyed three days of complete rest.

We enjoyed our meals in a log cabin (the main house), with an inviting crackling fire in a fieldstone fireplace. I say “our” because I was not alone. The retreat facility was designed for those serving in full-time ministry who needed a restorative recharge. About 20 of us gathered. We smiled at each other, but we did not speak. We ate in silence—every meal—and it was beautiful. The meals were delicious, almost heavenly! The center’s director was “the chef,” although I doubt he had the official endorsement for the title. It was all simple food…whole food. One of my favorite meals was roasted winter vegetables. This was the meal! It was utterly satisfying. Remarkably, he shared these words before beginning to pray, “Food is God’s love made edible.” I had never considered the truth of this statement before. After 3 days of eating this way —whole dairy, olive oil-roasted foods, and a great deal less processed food —my body felt quieter—nourished! Somehow, I felt as if I had treated it with kindness. Simple nutrition, along with restful sleep, restored my ability to re-engage in the 12th Mile journey of my life that I had not been able to continue.

When I returned to my everyday life, it did not take long for me to meet a woman in my town who is passionate about good-for-you food! Known by many as Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Kelly Moeggenborg aims to educate about the principles of intentional eating…for good health. Her book, Real Food for Rookies, has been an excellent resource for my family. Her website also contains almost countless suggestions for better health. You can access it here if you are interested: https://kellythekitchenkop.com/.

 Kelly is part of this 12th Mile email community; I am privileged to call her my friend. I have asked her to share some things about good food for good health.  Kelly, please share a word of encouragement that perhaps we could consider in making food choices that support better health. 

Hello, friends of Louise!

I’d love to share a few suggestions for those who are ready to consider how best to nourish themselves and their families in 2026…

• Start reading ingredient labels on everything you buy at the store and look out especially for:

• Seed oils like canola or soybean oil—avoid like the plague!  These cause inflammation and many health problems because our bodies were not made for these industrial fats.  Instead, look for foods with coconut oil, avocado oil, or olive oil; even better are animal fats like butter, lard, or beef tallow.  Animal fats are very nourishing with their fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E & K.  These help you better absorb the nutrients in everything else you’re eating.
• Never buy low-fat dairy, whole milk only!  Our kids need the healthy fats mentioned above to grow well, sleep well, and learn well.  The rest of us need them for energy, sleep, weight control, mood, heart health, digestive health, and more.  
• Never buy ultra-pasteurized milk–it’ll say it on the carton.  This milk is so denatured that it doesn’t even need to be refrigerated and would not naturally sour even if left out for months.
• Shop mainly on the perimeter of your grocery store where whole foods are found:  meat, produce, dairy.  For example, you want mostly foods without labels: ground beef should be ground beef, an apple should be an apple, etc.
• Shorter ingredient lists are always better, so you avoid dangerous chemical additives and preservatives with words that most of us don’t even know what they are, and/or nobody can pronounce.
• Anything in the middle of the store should be a rare treat and organic if possible, to avoid the above-mentioned ingredients.  We have so many more options than we used to.  For example, you can now find potato chips with only potatoes, avocado oil, and salt.  Now, these are not a health food or anything, and yes, they should be a rare treat, but at least they don’t have the dangerous seed oils and chemical preservatives that most chips do.
• Consider checking the ingredients of the foods in your fridge or cabinets and doing a purge for the new year!

• Start cooking more of your food at home with ingredients you sourced well—see above.  🙂  There are TONS of video recipes online to show you how to make pretty much everything, and it tastes so much better using your own healthy fats, plenty of sea salt, herbs, etc.

• Sign up for my newsletter for many free resources to help you further:  KellytheKitchenKop.com/free.  You’ll learn how to afford real food, how to make time for cooking real food, get a free online class, real food snack ideas, fast food at home ideas, a grocery store cheat sheet, and a lot more.

• Email me if I can help you in any way:  Kelly@KellytheKitchenKop.com.

Whoa! Well, as someone who has learned many things about food from Kelly, I know that even if you take just one thing she has shared and move “the needle” toward better, it matters. I know that she agrees too because…I have read her book, and this is how she encourages her readers!  ;o)

Blessings to you as you begin the new adventure of 2026. May you experience that food truly is God’s love made edible.

With love,

Louise Ann