About Me

Howdy! My name is Rachel & I’m Texan born & raised.

Before I begin, I’d like to preface by saying my Faith is the most important thing in my life and everything comes down to it. Expect to see it brought up.

I grew up a daughter to a chiropractor, rarely visited any doctors, and as a child had probiotics, Echinacea tea and aloe juice like any other 40 year old hippie. My #1 dream in life was to marry an Aggie and become a soccer mom. After obtaining a M.R.S. Degree at Texas A&M (whoop!), along with a double major in Business Honors & Marketing and minor in Horiticulture, I married my engineer and soulmate.

 My husband is intelligent, funny, patient and understanding. He helps me in any way possible from being a floral delivery boy to building raised beds in the garden. He runs, rides a bike, lifts, plays the guitar and hunts.
 

He is my perfect-for-me man God made with me in mind. We got married, bought a house, got a dog, started a floral side business & are building a life together one day & adventure at a time. 

Two weeks after my high school graduation in 2008 I was hospitalized for 10 days. It was during this time that I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (an answer to why I had been gaining/losing weight and having horrible stomach pains for the 1.5 years prior), had 3 feet of my intestines removed, and had a life altering miracle that changed my relationship with my Lord. I tried immune suppressors for a year after the surgery, but after the year check up, when the doctor said we needed to boost the immune suppressor, my parents and I decided to pursue a different, natural route with a naturalopath. I have been drug free since 2009 without any flare ups or pain. 

After two months of being married my husband’s blood allergy test concluded he was allergic to: wheat, barley, gluten, soy, egg, dairy, peanuts, citric acid. I too had taken this blood test the year prior and found I was allergic to yeast (baker’s and brewer’s), sugar cane and eggs, in addition to being lactose intolerant. This test was the catalyst for a whole new life. We followed a gluten free/vegan with meat/semi-paleo lifestyle for about a year. Fall of 2013 I became frustrated with my adult onset acne and began this full on paleo life. Since then I have kicked sugar to the curb (except natural sugars in fruit and honey)! At the beginning of 2014 I stumbled upon the AutoImmune Protocol of Paleo and I have felt the best in my whole life while following it. I've completed the 21 Day
Sugar Detox by Diane Sanfilippo. I completed one Whole30 program and in the month of June I am currently on my second Whole30 program following an AIP regime (more on that to come in the blog).
 

I am a health fanatic: I have a strict diet, I love exercising (running, lifting some weights, yoga) and fitness in general. I enjoy learning about the nutrition of our foods and am pursuing a natural life.

 
I love dogs, especially my 90lb black lab born 6/2/12 a week before our wedding.

 

I take way too many pictures. I have a crazy organic vegetable garden.

 I love arranging flowers, especially for weddings. I enjoy researching, trying new things and not doing something ‘just because it’s the norm’. 

What you may expect to read: 
We have found we advise people on 4 main ‘pillars’ of our life based on our own experiences and research: faith, finances, food & fitness. However, we are not doctors, personal trainers or financial advisers though, so please seek professional advice before making major changes in your life. You will read my ramblings, my food experiences, my enlightenment, my travel journeys, my insights, my advice.

My day-to-day life can be found on my Instagram (@rachel_unrefined), where I spam my followers with everything from my garden to my dog to my dinners to my yoga poses to my favorite quotes to flowers.

Welcome to my blog; I'm honored to have you here!

The Road Not Taken

BY ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.