I am wanting to change my family over to a better diet. While I think we have made great strides at this in the last year, I think there is also lots of room for improvement. We NEED to do this. We have to stop eating so much unhealthy food. Last night we went out to dinner and Will and I were both sick afterwards from the grease. Yes, we could have ordered healthier meals but we didn't.
I am vowing here that we are hopping on the healthy, real food bandwagon. I am going to s-l-o-w-l-y make the transition to get as much processed, artificial, fake foods out of our diet as possible. While this is going to be a huge challenge for me, I feel like we need to do this.
I have started reading labels recently and am shocked at what is on the things that we are eating. I would love to switch strictly to an organic way of eating but realistically I know we probably can't afford to do this entirely. I can however, grow more of my own food and try and make more of my own meals at home. This will help me be more aware of what I am putting into my families body.
I don't think we can completely cut out chips, granola bars and ice cream forever but I do think we can certainly limit these things and be on the look out for a more healthier alternative.
It sounds tough and scary but as long as you do what is right and possible for your family you'll do great. You may be surprised after a while at how much you don't miss many of those things you think you can't do without right now.
ReplyDeleteI think when it gets tough is when we see what other people are doing and start to feel like we have to go completely organic or we'll be a failure. Any changes toward the healthy are great. You can do healthy chips and granola bars and find a happy balance with other things.
What works for me is to pick one thing at a time to get rid of or to find a substitute for. Like you said, go SLOWLY. If you try to tackle too much it can be very overwhelming and easy to fall back into old habits.
You're doing great!
~Maria
Good for you! I admire your aspirations and goals. Maybe you can teach me a thing or two. God knows Dave and I can use the incentive. Best of luck and keep us all in the loop. Love you, Grandma Anita
ReplyDeletesounds like you are right on with the idea of slowly. We have done the same thing, and have virtually eliminated most processed foods from our diet. The first step is to cut the eating out except for special occasions...so if you go out 4x a week, maybe you can cut it to 3x next week, then 2x, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhen we first started cutting back I'd crave something like McDonalds, and really, the thing I love the most is their fries...so instead of going hungry and eating a whole meal there, I'd take the boys and share a fry with them for a snack. I'd get a few fries to settle my craving, but not overdo it.
Best of luck to you as you embark on these changes!
Something I have realized while trying to eat healthier is that even if you don't go organic, there are healthier options. For most things there are options that contain artificial colors and options that don't. There is yogurt that has HFCS and yogurt that doesn't. You can choose healthier stuff, that isn't organic.
ReplyDeleteYes organic is ideal, but expensive. So I have had to pick and choose and figure out alternatives that are better for me that I can afford. For instance, dorritos has almost 30 ingredients, while fritos has 3 or 4. While fritos aren't GOOD for you, they are a much better alternative for chips than dorritos are. Good luck!
Cooking from scratch will help you control your diet and allow you to move to real foods at a comfortable pace. We don't have box anything, just ingredients to make what we want to eat. It really doesn't take a whole lot more time to cook from scratch and I control what is in our food.
ReplyDeleteI buy as much organic dairy as I can find (butter, milk, cream). I also use the farmer's market to get produce. A lot of the farmers grow chemical free, but can't afford to be certified organic.
Good luck in your journey. You will all feel so much better and everything will taste better too!
Good for you!! I'm probably going to go further down that road myself as Max is starting to eat more and more of our food. Maybe I can learn a thing or two from you on your journey!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I just read that I said the same thing as your grandma! LOL!
ReplyDeleteIt isn't so much the need for organic, but the need to eliminate processed, pre-packaged foods and cooking from scratch. Personally, I think less meat is also a good idea!
ReplyDeleteGood for you and your family! The man person and I started this change many years ago, before we even met one another. Once we got together we continued, then fell off the wagon for awhile, climbed back on for awhile, etc. But we're back on for good and have been for quite awhile.
ReplyDeleteFor us it isn't about eating organic so much as keeping processing and artificial ingredients to a dull roar. Almost all of our food is homecooked from scratch though we do keep a few more processed things on hand. Those are used infrequently, though. You can find some of the simple homecooked meals on my blog, too. ;)
Anyway, good for you! I wish you well on this journey and I'll follow along with you. :)
We started eating healthier in the New Year. We stopped somewhere for hamburgers on day and we were all sick because we weren't used to the grease anymore. We are making progress we still have some "bad" food every once and a while. Clare
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